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Power then, we may fairly conclude his Influences will be ever as great as the present Circumstances of Affairs will require.

PROCEED we now in the 2d Place to consider the other Sort of Gifts which are universally vouchsafed to the Christian Church, viz. the ordinary Operations of his Grace, Illumination and Sanctification.

THE State of Nature is generally in the Holy Scripture call'd a State of Darkness; and, on the contrary, the State of Grace is call'd that of Light. Here we enjoy all those beautiful and comfortable Scenes of Things, which can be conveyed to us by so bright and glorious an Image. Our Souls are no longer perplex'd with Errors and Uncertainties; no longer tortur'd with Anxiety and Despair, but we walk in the open Light of the Son of Righteousness: Our Salvation is continually before our Face ; and the Way to attain it is plain and obvious. The Holy Scriptures, which were the immediate Dictates of the Holy Ghost, are a Lantern to our Feet, and a Guide

to our Paths; they are the Treasure of Divine Knowledge deliver'd to us in the Demonstration of the Spirit, and are abundantly able to make us wife unto Salvation. But besides this outward Converse, there is likewise an internal Communication, whereby it takes off those Clouds from the Understanding, and clears up those saving Truths of the Gospel, to enable us more fully to apprehend the Force of them. To Him are owing all the Comfort and Pleasure we receive from the affecting Sense of any Part of our Religion. To Him it is owing, that we can with Satisfaction contemplate the Eternal Godhead, in the Glory of his Attributes, and the Excellency of his Perfections, and understand what Service is most acceptable to so adorable a Being; to Him that we can with Raptures of Joy meditate upon the consummate Work of our Redemption, and be instructed in all that is necessary on our Part to reap the Advantage of it. He informs us what is the true End of our Being, wherein our main Happiness consists, and what are the proper Means of attaining it. VOL. I. What

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Whatever a Christian does or ought to know for his Soul's Health are the gracious Influences of his Communications with us. The Arts indeed which the Holy Ghost makes use of to fill our Souls with such saving Truths, are various and unaccountable; yet since our Souls are naturally full of Darkness, and over-run with Ignorance, every Glimpse of Light, every Dawning of wholesome Instruction must be derived from that Fountain of all-illuminating Grace, which can alone shew us the true Path of Life, and guide us therein with his Counsel. But the Second Operation of the Holy Ghost is that of Sanctification; for in vain would the Blessed Spirit instruct us in our Duty, if He did not likewise enable us to perform it: We have Instances too frequent and flagrant to convince us that the Corruption of fall'n Man will act against Knowledge; and to his Divine Inspirations alone it is owing that we will and do, as well as know, the Things that make for our Peace. The Effects which are wrought upon the Soul by

his gracious Influences, are in the Holy Scripture call'd Regeneration, or a Second Birth; when all the Faculties of the inner Man have left their free and natural Power of acting through Sin; then does the enlivening Spirit of God, as it breathed into Man's Nostrils the Principles of Natural Life, likewise inspire his Soul with those of a Spiritual Life ; quite different Sentiments are here infused, and all our Thoughts and Actions turn upon new Trinciples: He gives a Check to those Seeds of Corruption, which grow up in our polluted Soul, and warms us with virtuous Suggestions; these Suggestions He cherishes and improves into pious Resolutions, and those Resolutions into godly Habits: He melts down the Hardness of our Hearts, and rectifies the Perverseness of our Will: He reduces the Wildness of our Affections to a peculiar Compliance with the Will of God, and turns the Fierceness of our Appetites into the Mildness of a virtuous Subjection : He subdues every Inclination to Vice, and kindles every Defire of Virtue : He enforces all the Motives to Godliness in

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poses us to perform the Means of it in the Sincerity of a pious Zeal: He gives a spiritual Difcernment of the whole Gospel-Covenant, and powerfully engages our fulfilling the Terms of it: He fpiritualizes all our Thoughts, and sanctifies all our Actions ; in every Circumstance He renews a right Spirit within us, and purifies our Souls, even as our Father which is in Heaven is also pure.

THESE are the Blessed Effects of the Holy Spirit's operating upon our Souls; and what a comfortable Change is thereby made? We pass from the disconsolate Gloominess of uncertain Wandrings, to the Brightness of fettled Principles of acting; from the Extravagancies and Misery of a sinful and corrupted Nature, to the Regularity and Comfort of Piety and Virtue; from the Melancholy of Despair, and the dreadful Apprehenfions of eternal Vengeance, to the glorious Prospect of an happy Eternity.

THESE then are the Gifts which the Blessed Jesus gave unto Men: He endued his Apostles with Power from on High for the Eftablishment of his Church,

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