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DISC.
XII..
EXTRAORDINARY
WITNESS
OF
THE
SPIRIT.
of
the dealings
of
God
with
the spirits
of
his
people,
in
some
uncommon
cases,
though they
have
not
professed`
any such
experiences
of
their
own. So
the worthy
and
pious Mr.
Cary11,
on
Job
x.
The
Spirit
brings
in
the
witness
of
the water, and the blood, which
is his
me-
diate
work.
But
besides and
above these, be
sQmetinies,
gives a
distinct
witness
of
his own,
which
is
his immediate
work
;
and
is,
in
a
way
of
peculiarity and transcendency,;
called the
witness
of
the Spirit.
The learned
and venerable Dr.
Owen,
"in
his
Treatise.
of
Communion
with
God,
page
293, saith,
There
a,r6
two
ways
whereby
the Spirit
worketli this
joy
in
the
heart
of
believers.
1.
He
doth
it
immediately
by himself,'
without
the
consideration of
any
other acts or
\rorks.of
his,
or
the interposition
of
any reasonings,'
or
deductibis,
and conclusions. This does
not
arise from
our
reflex
consideration
of
the
love
of
God,
but rather
gives oc
casion
thereunto. He
so
sheds
abroad
the love
of
God
in
our
hearts, and
fills
them
with
gladness
by
an
imme-
diate act and operation.
Of
this
joy
there
is
no
account
to
be
given,
but
that
the Spirit worketh it
when
and how
he
will
:
He
secretly infuseth and
distils
it into the soul,
prevailing against
all
fears and sorrows,
'filling
it with
gladness,
exultations, and
sometimes with
unspeakable
raptures of
the mind."
To
this
the
Doctor
adds,
"
2.
The
Spirit works this
joy
also
rrkediately,
by
his
other
works towards
us,
(S.c.
These are after
the
corn-
mon
or ordinary manner."
That great
and evangelical
divine
Di: Goodwin,
in;
vol.
iv.
part
2,
pages 95,
96,
declares;
"
That,
besides
.
the testimony
of
the water and
the blood,
that
is,
faith
the death of Christ and sanctification, there
is
a third
testimony,
and that
is
the Holy
Ghost
himself,
which, is
immediate
;
that
is,
though
it
backs and
confirms
what
the
other
two said,
yet it quotes them not, builds
not
his
testimony
on them,
but
raises the
heart
to
see,
its
adop-
tion and sonship,
by
an
immediate discovery
of
.God's
mind and love." And a little
after
he adds,
"
This
wit-
ness
is
not
a
testimony fetched
out of
a
man's
self,
or
the.
common
work
of
the Spirit
in
man, as the
others
were,,
but
he
speaks from
himself: As
when the broad
seal.is,
put
to
by
a
king, he
writes,
Teste
.meipso
;
so dotty
the
Spirit,
speak
in the
language
of
a
king, Teste
nieipsq,
wi't