297 / 652
DISC.
k1i
]
EXTRAORDINARY
WITNESS
OF
THE
SPIRIT'.
2J1
to
infer and conclude,
that
we
are born
of
God, be-
cause
we find
the
image
of God
impressed on
us,
and
those
divine qualities wrought
in us,
which
belong
only;
to
his
children.
This
has been the
subject
of
the
forego-
ing
discourse.
I
proceed
now to
consider the
extraordinary witness of
the Holy Spirit, when
in
a
more
immediate* and more
sensible
manner
he
raises
in
the hearts of some
of
his
fa-
vourités
a
powerful
and a pleasant
sense
of
their
interest
in
the love
of
God.
This extraordinary
witness may be
distinguished
into
two kinds.
1.
It
may
imply some very
uncommon and powerful
Confirmation
of
the
ordinary and rational
witness, by
most sensible
impressions
of
divine love
on
the
heart,
by
which it
is
raised
to holy
raptures,
to heavenly
joy and
assurance.
Perhaps
the apostle
Peter
may
have some
respect
to
this;
1
Peter
i.
8.
where,
speaking
of
Christ,
he adds,
whom
;having not
seen,
ye love;
in
whom,
though
.
now
ye
see
him
not,
yet
believing,
ye
rejoice
with
joy
un
-.
speakable,
and
full
of
glory. Here
it
is
supposed
in
the
text,
that
the persons
to whom he
writes were conscious
of their
own
faith
in
an
unseen Saviour,
and their
love
to
him
;
and thence they could
infer
that
they were
accept,
ed
of God
:
But without
some
peculiar and
more
uncom-
mon influences
of
the Holy Spirit, they
could
hardly
be
said to
arise
to such
joy
as was
unspeakable and
full
of
glory,
or
glorified
joy,
as
the greek
text
expresses
it,
xapa
e84aójtiEYn,
a
-kin to
that
which the saints
possess
in
the
glorified
state/
2.
There_is-yét
another sort of extraordinary
witness
of
the
spirit
;
and
that
is,
when in an
immediate
and
powerful
manner the Holy Spirit
impresses the soul with
an assurance
of
divine love,
and
gives
the
heart of
a
saint
such a full discovery
of
his
adoption, or
interest
in
the favour
of God, without
the more
slow
and argumen-
tative
method
of
comparing the dispositions
of
their
souls
with some
special
characters
of
the
children of
God
in
scripture.
The
Spirit
of God
may witness in an
extráor
*
By
the
word
immediate here
I
do not mean
without ordinances, such
as
prayer,
meditation,
&c.
but rather
sudden
and speedy.
5