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278
ORDINARY
WITNESS
OF
THE
SPIRIT.
{DISC. XI.
tify
his
hun:an'nature,
and
to work
miracles;
John
iii.
54.
By
this
Spirit
of
holiness
he was
also raised from
the
dead
;
and thus
he
was
declared
to be
the
Son
of
God
with power,
as
some
interpret that text
:
Rom.
i.
4.
He
was
God's
first
born,
`before all
worlds; and it
is
the
same
Spirit
that
dwells
in
him,
the original
Son,
without
measure,
that
is
sent,
according
to
our measure,
to
dwell
in
us
also
:
It
is
the
same
Spirit that
raises
us from
a
death
in
trespasses and
sins
to
a
new
life:
It
is
the
same
Spirit
that
is
given to sanctify
us,
and to make
us
chil-
dren.
Go
on
yet and compare
Rom.
viii. 9,
11, 14.
with
lieb.
ii.
14.
and
you
will find,
as he
was
pleased
in
a
way
of
condescension
"
to
take
flesh
and
blood upon
him because
the children
were
partakers
of
flesh
and
blood,
that
he
might
be
like them
;"
lieb.
ii. So
he
is
pleased
to give
his own
Spirit
to men,
that
they might
be like
him
also
;
For
"
he
that
has
not
the Spirit
of
Christ
is
none
of
his;"
Rom. viii. 9.
For
this reason
he
is
not
ashamed
to call
them
brethren,
children
of
one
Father;
for
he
partook
of
their
flesh,
and they partake
of
his
Spirit.
IIIrd
Prop.
God
has given
to
each
of
our
spirits
a
power
of
reflecting upon our
own
hearts and
lives,
whereby
we
become witnesses and
judges
for
or against
ourselves; And
by
this power
we
pass
a
judgment both
concerning our particular
actions, concerning the
temper
of
our
spirits, and concerning
our state
toward God.
This
power
is
sometimes called conscience.
It
is
a
faculty
whereby
we
compare our
words,
our
thoughts,
and actions,
with some
rule;
and
that
rule
is
the
law
of
God
:
And hereby
we
judge
concerning these
particular
thoughts,
words
and
actions,
whether
they
are
good or
bad.
But
when
we
compare the habitual
frame and
tem-
per of
our
spirits,
as well as
the transactions and conduct
of
our
lives,
with
the plain description and characters
of
the
children
of
God,
that
are
given us
in his
word;
hereby
we
judge of
our
own
state, whether
it
be
a state of
sin, or
a state of
grace.
This
is
that
light
that God
has
set up
in
men, by which
they should
pass
sentence
in
their
own case, with regard
to
their
own
present
conduct,
and
their
future
hopes.
And Solomon,
for
this
reason,
calls
"
the
spirit of
inan