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282
ORDINARY WITNESS
OF
THE
SPIRIT.
[DISC.
%í.
and
evident
to
the
conscience.
Though
this
be
not
a
congtant'method
with
God, yet surely
the
experience of
many christians can subscribe
to
the
truth
of
it, when
they
have been
searching their
own
hearts,
to
find
what
grace
is
there,
some
proper
sentence
of
scripture
has
been brought to their
minds,
wherein they
have,
as
in
a
glass,
beheld
their
own
face,
beheld
the likeness
of
the
children
of
God
in
their
own souls';
and then
they have
been constrained
to
pronounce
with holy
joy
concerning
themselves,_,¿`
Surely
I
am
a
child
of
God."
Nor
is
it
at
all
hard
to
suppose,
that
God's
Holy
Spi-
rit
should
cast
a
happy sentence
of
leis
own
word
into our
minds,
or
bring it
to
our remembrance,
in
order
to evi-
dence our adoption,
when
it
is
generally
granted
the
evil
spirit
may have such
access to our
minds
by
the organs
of
the brain, or the
fancy, as to suggest
to
our
thoughts
profane,:
impure,
malicious,
or
blasphemous
speeches,
or
to
tempt
us
to
presumption or
despair.
5.
It
might be added,
in
the last
place,
that
the dis-
cerning faculty
of the
soul
is
enabled
to
act aright
by
the
Spirit of
God, and
kept
from all
dangerous
mistakes and
self-
deceivings
in
this work
of
examination. Hereby
he
makes
it
appear,
that
such
a principle
of
faith,
or
love,
or
,repentance,
which
we
find
working
within
us, is
true
evangelical repentance,
is
sincere
love,
and
faith
un-
feigned;
and'
that
it
is
indeed
God's
own work. in the
heart
:
And
thus
he
puts
an end to
our
doubtful
fears
about
the
truth of
grace.
These
things seem to
me so
plain and
intelligible in
themselves, and so
correspondent
with
those
divine aids
of
the Holy Spirit
which
are promised
to the
children
of
God
in
all
their
serious
and
religious exercises, and with-
out
which we can do nothing
that
is
truly
good,
that I
'trust it
will
be easily
understood, and readily
received,
by those who
are
much
conversant
in
transacting
their
most
important
affairs with
God, according to
the light
of
scripture.
The
substance
of
this
testimony of
the Spirit
to
our
adoption
may be
represented-in
short,
after
this
manner
:
The
Spirit
of
God
in
his
word has
described
the
marks
and characters
of
his
children
;
and,
by his
gracious in-
fluence,
he
works these holy dispositions, these charac-
ters
in
our hearts
;
God
has given
us
a
conscience,
which