The reason why we can neither have grace to believe, nor know we believe, nor when we know we believe enjoy comfort without a fresh new act of the Spirit, is because the whole carriage of a soul to heaven is above nature. Where the Spirit makes a stand, we stand and can go no further. We cannot conclude from right grounds without some help of the Spirit ; some doubts, some fears will hinder the application to ourselves, even as those that live in some damnable sin cannot but grant that those that live in such a sin shall never inherit heaven ; and their conscience tells them they live in such a sin, yet self-love blinds them so, that they will not con- clude against themselves that they shall be damned ; so true believers cannot conclude for themselves without divine light and help.
It pleaseth God thus to keep every degree and act of sealing in his own hand, to keep us in a perpetual dependence upon him, and to awe us that
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we should not grieve the Spirit of grace, aud cause him to suspend either act of grace or comfort.
Joy and strong comfort come from a superadded seal of the Spirit. The works of the Spirit are of a double kind : cither in us, by imprinting sanc- tifjdng grace ; or i(})on us, by shining upon our souls in sweet feelings of joy. AVhat the Spirit worketh in us is more constant, as a new nature which is always Hke itself and worketh uniformly ; but comfort and joy are of the natui-e of such privileges as God vouchsafeth at one time and not at another, to some and not to others.
This degree of sealing in regard of joy hath its degrees likewise ; some- times it is so clear and strong, that the soul questioneth not its state in gi-ace ever after, but passeth on in a triumphant manner to that glory it looks for. Sometimes after this sealing there may be interrupting of com- fortable communion so far as to question our condition ; yet this calling into question comes not from the Spirit, which, where it once witnesseth for us, never witnesseth against us, but it is a fruit of the flesh not fully subdued, it is a sin itself, and usually a fruit of some former sin. For how- soever we should not doubt after a former witness of the Spirit, yet there will be so much weakening of sense of our assurance, as there is yielding to any lust. The knowledge of our estate in grace and comfort thereupon, though it may be weakened by neglect of our watchfulness, yet still it hath the force of an argument to assure us when the Spirit pleaseth to direct us to make use of it, because God's love varies not as our feelings doth ; and a fit doth not alter a state. The child in the womb stirs not always, yet it lives ; and that may be gathered from the former stirrings.
This degree of sealing by way of witness and comfort, is appropriated to the Holy Spirit. Every person in the blessed Trinity hath their several work. The Father chooseth us and passeth a decree upon the whole groundwork of our salvation. The Son executeth it to the full. The Sphit applieth it, and witnesseth our interest in it by leading our souls to lay hold upon him, and by raising up our souls in the assurance of it, and by breeding and cherishing sweet communion with Father and Son, who both of them seal us likewise by the Spirit. This joy and comfort is so appropriated to the Spirit, as it carrieth the very name of the Spirit, and is one of the three witnesses on earth, that witnesseth not only Christ to be a Saviour, but our Saviour, 1 John v. 7. The three witnesses on earth are, the ' Spirit, water, and blood.'* For the better conceiving of which place, we must know that the great work of Christ's redemption and justi- fication was typified in the Old Testament by blood ; and the great work of our sanctitication typified by their washing. To answer which types, when Christ's side was pierced, there came forth both blood and water, shewing that Christ came not only by blood to justify us, but by water to sanctify us. Hereupon blood and water have the power to be witnesses. The blood of Christ being sprinkled on the heart by the Spirit, doth pacify the conscience in assuring it that God is pacified by blood, as ' being ottered by the eternal Spirit,' Heb. ix. 14. This quieting power sheweth that it was the blood of God, and shed for me in particular.
The witness of water is from the power the Spirit hath to cleanse our nature, which no creature can do, but the Spirit of God. Change of nature is peculiar to the Author of nature. If we feel, therefore, our natures altered, and of unclean become holy, in some measure we may know we are the children of God, as being begotten by the Spirit of Christ, conforming f Cf note dddd, Vol. IV. page 536.— G.
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US to bis own holiness. Our spirit as sanctified can witness to us that we are Christ's,