298 / 652
SS
EXTRAORDINARY WITNESS
OF
THE
SPIRIT.
[DISC.xrr.
dinary manner
to
our
adoption,
by
an inward
experi-
mental
sense
of
the love
of
God
shed
abroad
in
the
heart,
assuring
some
of
his
favourites
that
they
are
the sons
or
daughters
of
God, without any
particular
examination
of
the
heart at that
time,
or any present
reflections on the
characters
óf
adoption described
in
the bible.
I
confess
the
several
acts
of
the mind
of
man, even the
reasoning
and argumentative, acts
of
the
soul,
are
so
quick and sudden, and
the sensible
joy
that
may
arise
from them
follows in
so swift
and
close a succession,
that
it
is
sometimes very
hard to
distinguish
and
define
the bounds and
limits
of
the several actions,
perceptions,
and
impressions on the
mind. On
this
account
I
shall
not
be
solicitous to
keep
up the distinction between these
two
kinds
of
the
extraordinary
witness
of
the
Spirit,
but
shall
only
sptak of
them
in
general,
as
distinguished
from
the ordinary
witness
of
the. Spirit,
by
the more immediate
sensations of divine
love,
that
are impressed through the
peculiar favour of God
on the souls
of
some
of
his
chil-
dren.
I
am
very sensible
that, in
our present
age,
the Spirit
of God
is
so
much withdrawn from the christian
church
in all his
operations,
that
a
man exposes
himself
to the
censure
of
wild
enthusiasm, and
4.
heated
fancy,
if
he
ventures
to
discourse
at
all on
such
á
theme
as
this
But
as
I
am
persuaded
these things were
frequent matter
of
christian experience
in
the primitive days
of
the
gospel,
and
in
scenes
of sharp persecution,
so
I
am
satisfied
that
God
has
notutterly
with
-held
his
divine favours
of
this kind
from
his
churches and
his
children, for sixteen
hundred
years
together;
,and
I
hope
I,shall
make
it appear,
.
that
a,
supposition of this
extraordinary
witness
of
the Spirit
may
be
maintained, without
giving a
loose
to all
the rov-
ing dreams
of
a
distempered brain, or
to
the
bold pre
-
st1mptions
of
weak
and conceited men or
false.
and deceit-
ful
impostors.
The
method
of
my
discourse
is
this,
1.
I will
offer some very
probable
proofs
that
there
has
been,
and
is
such
a
thing
as
the
extraordinary
witness
of
the
Spirit
of God.
II.
I
shall
mention
a
few
of
the special seasons
or
oc-
casions
of
such
a
divine
favour.