12 INWARD WITNESS TO CHRISTIANITY. lament themmuch oftener than we can suppress them. And as the fancy andappetites of innocent Adam submitted to his reason, so, doubtless, if his Maker were pleased to reveal any sublimer truth to him, whichhis reason could not comprehend, then reason itself submitted to thatrevelation, believed the word ofa speaking God, and resigned the throne to faith. _ His naturalpowers had no uneasy contest, there was no civil war nor rebellion amongst them to interrupt his happiness. And thus shall it be again, but in a more glorious manner, when we are raised fromall the ruins of our fallen state, andeter- nal life is madecomplete in heaven. But before we arrive at that final glory, the same sorb of happiness is begun in every believer in a state of grace. These are the beginnings of eternal life, the earnests and the pledges of the perfect blessedness which we hope for ; and this arises from our faith in the Sonof God. For when we have attained a good hope of forgiving grace through the blood of Christ, and believe that we are beloved of God our Maker, what have we then to do but to abide in his love,? We learn to despise those tempting objects that would awaken our intemperatepassions, and walk onward in peace and pleasure towards our completefelicity. For since God is become our God through the mediation of his Son, we have no need to seek the meaner delights of sense and appetite, because we possess the supreme. We have the Son of God himself for ourleader and example, and he that believes on the Sonof God, walksas he also walked. Besides these moral or persuasive helps that belong to the christian life, wehavealso the-Spirit of God given to reform our natures, to put all our misplacedand disjointed powers into their proper order again, and to maintain this divine harmony and peace. It is the blessed Spirit that inclines reason to submit to faith, and makes the lower faculties submit to reason, and obey the will of our Maker, and then gives us the pleasure of it. And if at any time, through the power of temptation, the violence of appetite; and the imperfection of grace, this blessed harmony and,order he disturbed, and this pleasure interrupted ; the soul of thechristian is never easy till it rise againbyrepentance, and recur to the Son of God, to fetch new and vigorous supplies of the Spirit, and of this eternal life from him, andthereby it regains its peace and pleasure. But these thoughts naturally lead me on to the second part of this subject,viz. holiness. Thusmuch shall suffice therefore concerning the first part of 'eternal life, which consistsin happiness, viz. pardon ofsin, peace ofconscience, the favour of God, the sense of his love, and the pleasurable harmony of our natural powers. These are found in true believers, and-this is a noble witness,to christianity to prove it divine.
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