287 / 652
iatsc.
xi.]
ORDINARY WITNESS
OF
TIfE
SPIRIT.
877
in our
souls,
lays
the
foundation of
these evidences
iet
the
heart
with
power,
and
makes, then"
appear
in
the life with
beauty and praise.
Therefore
the
children
of God are
said to be
"
born of
the Spirit
;"
Jo/in
iii. 5, 6.
It
is
he
that
takes
us
out of
the kingdom
of
Satan, the
family
of death
and
hell,
and
brings us
into the
family
of
God, and
the kingdom
of
hiS
grace.
It
is
he
that,
by
his
divine
influences,
translates
tts from
darkness into
the
kingdom
of
Christ.
It
is
he
that
takes
away all
trie
wild
and
savage
marks
of
an unclean beast from the
soul,
and
gives
it the disposition and the
character of
the
sheep
of
Jesus.
It
is,
the
blessed
Spirit
who,
by
his
sanctifying
and
renewing
work,
stamps the image
of
God
on the
soul,
forms the features and
resemblance
of
the
divine
nature,
and imprints
on
the heart
such gracious habits and dispo-
sitions
as
render
It
like to
God. Thus the
child
of God
bears
the
Father's
likeness,
as
the
figures
engraved
on
the
seal are copied
out
on the wax.
And this some have
called
the
"
seal
of
the
Holy
Spirit
;"
».
i.
13.
and
iv.
3O.
And
as the
Spirit
of
God
works
these divine
principles
of
holiness
in
the heart,
so
he
is
said to be given to
us,
to
dwell
in us
;
i.
e.
to
preserve those
holy
principles
which
belong
to
the children and heirs
of
God
:
And
in
this
sense
-he
may be
called
an
"
earnest
of their
future
inhe-
ritance
;"
Lph.
i.
Blessed
are your
souls, who have
the
fore
-
mentioned
characters
impressed upon you. Rejoice
in
your
own
happy state, and
bless
the
eternal
Spirit,
who
has
stamped
the
likeness
of God upon
you
;
who has
begotten you
again
to a
new life, by
the power
of
the
word
working
effectually
upon your
hearts
;
who
has
translated
you
from the houshold
of
sin
and Satan,
and
made
you
the
children
of
the most
high
God,
Here
also
we
may
remark,
that
in
this
we
bear a re-
semblance to
Christ Jesus,
the only begotten
Son,
It
was
by
the
descent
of
this
Spirit
on
the
blessed
virgin
and
by
the overshadowing power
of
the
Most
High,
that'
the
child
Jesus
was
formed
;
and therefore
that
holy
thing
which was'
born
of
the virgin, was
called
"
the
Son
of
God
;"
Luke
i.
The
resemblance holds yet
further
:.
For
"
the
Spirit
was
given to
dwell in
Christ without
measue,
to
sane-
.
3