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ORDINAttlf-ViTITNESS
OP
THE
SPIRIT.
nature
we
are
very unwilling to be
accurate,
and
strict,:
and
just
in
the search
of
ourselves.
The
Spirit of
God
will
hold us
to
it,
when
we
find
great
aversions
and disin-
clination
in
our
own
hearts
to
such a
work. We, who
have so
much
sin,
are
sometimes much
afraid
to
look
into
the bottom
of
our
souls,
lest
we
should
find no
sin-
cerity
there
:
It
is
the
Spirit of truth
therefore,
that
ex-
cites
us
to
diligence
in
these
holy
enquiries.
2.
He
gives us
sometimes
a
fair
opportunity
and
occa-
sion
for the exercise
of
some
grace
in
a.clear
and
distinct
manner
;
and hereby assists
the
witness
of
our spirits.
Perhaps
by
the discovery
of
the
grace and glory
of
Christ,
in
a sermon, he
invites
our
faith,
our
love,
our
holy
joy
to
appear
:
By
a
kind providence, and some
new
signal
mercy, he
puts
us in
mind
of
thankfulness
:
Or if our
souls have lain long in a
secure
careless frame,
he
leaves
us,
it
may be,
under
so-me
spiritual
affliction,
some
terri-
ble
temptation,
and awakens us to
thoughtfulness,
re-
pentance,
holy motirnings,
and
longing desires
after God.
Thus
the
characters
of adoption appear
in
our
hearts,
that
before were
covered over with
the
dust
of
this
world,
and
búried
under
the
cares or vanities
of
life.
3.
It
is
the Spirit
of
God that
inwardly assists these
holy principles, and strengthens them in
their
exercise,
when
he
bath
given an
outward
and
providential occa-
sion to
awaken
them
:
For
as he
is
the
first
spring
of
all
the powers
of
the
new
creature,
so he
is
a
constant as-
sisting
principle
to
promote
their
holy exercise.
I-Le
dwells in
the saints for ever, and
is
an
everlasting spring
of
their
holiness.
It
is
he
that
excites and manages
the
vital
motions
of
our
souls,
and makes
it
appear
by
holy
exercises,
that
we have
spiritual
life in
us;
otherwise the
providential
occasion and
opportunity
for
the exercise
of
such a grace might
be
given,
and
pass away,
and
be
lost,.
while
the soul
itself
lies
sluggish, negligent,
and inactive,
if
the
Holy Spirit
did
not
set
it
on
work
:
" For
we
are
not of
ourselves sufficient even to think or do any
thing
truly
-
good
;"
2
Can
in. 5.
4, The Spirit
of God
sometimes assists this
witnessing
work,
by
bringing
some
word
of scripture into
the
'mind,
wherein
the
character
of
a
child
of God
is
described,
agreeable
to some holy
disposition
which
we find
working
in
our
own
hearts
:
And this makes the 'matter clear,
plain,,