295 / 652
Drsc.
dRI1rNßRY
WITNESS
OF
TírE
sPr&IT'.
25,
drowLY
in despair, when they could
but
lay hold
of
that
one bough.
Many a christian,
under
great
difficul-
ties,
inward tumults, doubts, and darknesses of spirit,
have
been enabled
to hold on
their
way by
living
upon
some
one
plain scripture, and
finding
the
sense
of
it
transcribed
into
their
own
hearts. Some one evidence
of
true faith, or holy
love,
of
repentance, or
heavenly
-
mindedness, has been
set
in
such
a
divine light before
them,
that
they
could
not
well
mistake
;
and
this
has
borne
up
their
hope
in
an
hour of
temptation. But
I
must add,
'
5.
Though
you
ought
to bless
God
for any
mark of
his
children
in
your hearts,
yet
you
ought not
to
content
yourself
with
one
mark,
since
the
scripture
has
given us
many.
The
faculties
of our
nature are
various,
and
they have
their various
operations: The
passions
or
affections
of our
souls
are
many, and some
of
them
are
frequently
in
exercise
:
Now
all the
passions and facul-
ties
of nature,
with all
their operations, should
be
con-
formable
to
the rule
of
the
word
of
God;
and
when
it
is
so,
there
appears a
variety
of
marks
of
the children
of
God
upon,
us,
even as
many
as
there are
powers or pas-
sions belonging to
our
souls.
Whether
it
be love,
it
is
love to God, and the
children
of
God,
for they
are
born
of
the same
Father
:.Whether
it
be
hatred,
it
is
hatred
to
sin,
and
to
;
all
that
displeases
God
:
If
it
be delight,
it
is
a
delight
in
he_
avenly things,
and in
holy
ordinances
:
If
it
be
desire,
it
is
a desire
after
God, after
a
sense
of
his
love,
a greater acquaintance
with him,
a more exact
con
-
formity to
him,
and a
breathing after
the heavenly
state,
where
we
shall never
sin
against him,
Thus
since
the
several powers
and
principles
in
our nature being sanc-
tified, yield
us
several distinct evidences
of
adoptiop,
let
us
not
be
contented
ith one
of
them,
but
press
forward
`toward a
stronger hope
of our
sonship.
Let
us
labour
and
pray
that
all the springs
of
action
within
us
being
sanctified by
the Holy Spirit,
may yield
the fruits
of
ho-
liness,
may shine
bright
in
a
way
of
evidence, and raise
our hope
to full
assurance.
6.
When
you have
found any comfortable and
solid
hopes of your adoption,
by
the Holy
Spirit
witnessing in
this rational
way
with
your
spirits,
that
you
are'the
chil-
dren of God, walk
in
the chearful
sense
of
it
continually
;