305 / 652
DISC.
XII.]
EXTRAORDINARY WITNESS
OF
THE
SPIRIT
t'9.
ing
been
under
a
spirit of bondage
many years, and now
even
ready
to
die
in
that
condition,
when
Rom:
viii. was
.
begun
to
be read
to him,
a little before
his
last
gasp,
stopping
at
ver.
1.
There
is
therefore
now no
condemna-
tion
to
them
that
are
in
Christ
Jesus,
who
walk not
af-
ter
the
flesh, but
after
the
Spirit
:
"
Stay, said he,
I
never
saw
so
much in those words in all
my days,
though
I
have
read
them
often,. as
I
see now.",
This
seems
to
be an
instance
of
the
sudden
and
extraordinary
influence
of
the Holy Spirit
in
his
enlightening grace,
as well
as
his
witnessing and
comforting power.
This
has
been
"the
caseo'
some holy souls
in
their
dying
hours,
or when
just
departing
from the
body,-
they have,
as
it
were,
entered into the
world
öf
sight
before they have left this
world
of
sense,
and
flesh,
and blood
;
or rather, heaven
itself bath entered into
their
spirits.
3.
When
christians
of
the
first
rank
of
piety, have
been
warmly
engaged in
most
lively acts
of
devotion, in
fervent and
holy
prayer, and they
have been
brought
near
to heaven
in the frame
of
their
spirits, they
have
had a
divine
foretaste of
the
joys
of
the
upper
world,
and
an
assurance
given them
of their
own
interest there-
in.
Daniel
.had
been engaged in
fervent and
zealous
intercession for the
church
of
God,
when
a heavenly
messenger
was
sent to
acquaint
him,
that
he
was
"
a
man greatly beloved
;"
Dan..
ix.
23.
Or,
4.
Perhaps
the
Spirit
of God
may
think
it
necessary to
uphold
some
poor
weak christians
of
the lowest
rank
of
understanding,
by some
immediate impressions
of
the
love
Of
God,
when
he
sees
that
their
love to
God
is
great
and sincere,
but
they
are
so
unskilled in
the exer-
cises
of
their rational
powers,
that
they hardly
know
how
to compare
their
hearts
with
the,
scripture, and
pass
a
determinate judgment
on themselves. Such
weak
crea-
tures,
it
may
be,
could
never come to any settled hope
Or
peace,
without
such
divine condescensions; and
especi=
ally
if
they
are
under
some special
temptation, which
gives
a confusion
or darkness
to
their
thoughts.
Thomas
was
but
a
weak
believer;
he
knew
not
how
to build
his
faith
of
a
risen Saviour on
what Christ
him-
self had foretold, or
on the
testimony
of
his brethrén3
which
were
sufficiently
just,
and
rational foundations for
his
faith
:
Therefore,
ingreat
condescension
to
his
weak.
v4