DISCOURSE XII. 311 we shall have the father of lies to deceive us. But if Chris- fiat's are careful and watchful in this matter, there are signs whereby the testimony of the spirit may be distinguished from his delusions. Some divines have supposed 'this testimony ofthe Spirit to be known as the sun is, by its own light ; and a man who bath seen the sun, can never mistake the moon for it ; the very glory of the sun manifests itself, and convinces every beholder. And perhaps in the ancient inspiration of the prophets, and the gifts of the Holy Spiritin the days of the apostles, there was a. divine self-distinguishing light that accompaniedthese heavenly favours, which we know not how to judge of at this distance of time ; we who never have experienced what divine inspiration, is. But the surest way of our discerning the extraordinary witnessings Or joys of the Holy Spirit, is by the effects ; which are such as these. 1. It fills the soul with great degress of humility and self-abasement, under a sense of its own vileness, guilt, and unworthiness;. as holy Job, when he saw .God in some more uncommon manifestations of his power and glory, he abhorred himself in dust and ashes; Job xlii. 4, 5. So Isaiah when he had beheld the Lordsitting upon a throne, high, and lifted up, Woe is me, saith he, -1 am a -man of unclean lips; Is. v. 1 -5. But vain delusions puff up the soul with a high con- ceit of itself ; as Simon Magus, when, by the power of the devil, he performed some strange feats, he gave out that he was some great person,; Acts viii. 9, 10. Many other instancesof the like kind might be produced out of the histories of the Chris- tiasichurch. II, By this testimonyof the Spirit the soul is led to a more sensible dependance on divine grace, havingan inward and effec- tual conviction how darkand weak it is in itself, and howpower- ful is the grace,of God, and the operation ofthe Spirit ; it makes the soul run to the protection and succour of almighty grace ; whereas vain delusions of the fancy, or temptations of the devil, rather lead the soul away from divine grace, and incline it to a sort ofself-sufficiency and dependance upon its own attainments, its own light, and its own strength. III. The witness of the Spirit does more establish the soul in the great doctrines of the gospel, and particularly in faith on ChristJesus. Many of these immediate testimonies of old were given,to the primitiveChristians with this design, to confirm them in the doctrines of grace, and in thefaith of Christ Jesus. When St. Paul was transported into the third heaven; 2 Cor. xii. and had doubtless an uncommon matsifestation of the love of God ; as soon as the next danger and trial appeared, he besought the Lord importunately, and could not be satisfied till he received
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