I have done with the testimony of our spirit. And then from our believ- ing God in generals and valorous resting upon him, taking him at his word, comes * the testimony of God's Spirit, witnessing with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'
I say, this being done, and God letting us have trial what his strength is in us, he will not let us stand long in this uncomfortable state, but will come again and speak peace unto us ; after two days gather us up, and the
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tliird day revive us, that we may live in his sight. As if he should say, What ! hast thou believed me on my bare word ? Hast thou honoured me so as to lay the blame and fault of all my trials on thyself for thy sins, and clear my justice in all things ? Hast thou honoured me so as to magnify my mercy, to wait and hope in it for all this ? Hast thou trusted me so as to remain faithful in all thy miseries ? Then the Lord jDuts to the seal of his Spirit. As we may read Eph. i. 13, saith the apostle, ' In whom also ye trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holv Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,' &c.
Here is the difierence betwixt faith and sense. Faith doth take hold of general promises, apphes them, makes them her own, and lives and walks by them ; and so squares his life by those rules in all things, as without sense she leads us on to heaven ; but sense is another thing, when as Ps. XXXV. 3, there is a full report made unto the soul of its assured happiness. As in that place, ' Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.' When a man hath thus been gathered home by glorifying him and believing his truth, then comes a special evidence unto the soul and says, ' I am thy salvation,' which, in effect, is that which Christ in another place speaks, 'He that loveth me shall be beloved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself unto him,' John xiv. 21. And as it is Cant. i. 2, 'He will kiss us with the kisses of his mouth,' so as we shall be able to say, ' My well-beloved is mine, and I am his.' When God hath heard us cry a while until we be thoroughly humbled, then he takes us up in his arms and dandles us, makinw his Spirit after a sensible manner seal unto us the assurance of our salvation. So that a meditation of the word being past, a man having viewed his charter and his evidences, surveying heaven and the promises and privileges, with the glory to come, then the Spirit comes in and makes up a third guest ; then comes joy unspeakable and glorious, and in such a measure that the soul is wonderfully pleased. It shall not continue always so, but at some times we shall have it ; yet it endures so as that it shall never be taken quite away, as our Saviour's promise is, John xvi. 22 : ' And you now therefore have sorrow ; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you.' This is the root of all consolation, that God will not forsake us for ever, but he will come at last and have compassion of us, according unto the multitude of his mercies.
Ohj. Here some may object, "^^Tiat ! doth the Spirit never seal but upon some such hard trials after the witness of our spirit ?
Ans. I answer, The sealing of God's Spirit with our spirit is not always tied to sore, hard, and such foregoing trials immediately ; for a man may be surveying heaven, or the glory to come, or praying earnestly in much humility, with a tender melting heart, applying the promises and -RTestling with God ; then at these or some such times God's seal many times may be, and is put to our seal : ' For as the wind bloweth where it listeth, and no man discerneth the coming thereof,' John iii. 8, so may the Spirit of God seal at divers times and upon divers occasions ; yea, and why may it not seal in the time of some great suffering for the truth, as we read of the apostles. Acts v. 41, who went away from the council ' rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer any shame for his name ' ?
Lastly, for trial ; we must now see how to distinguish this testimony of the true Spirit from the counterfeit illumination of the Anabaptists and some friars, who will now and then have some strange sudden joys, the devil, no
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question, transforming himself into an angel of light to deceive them. This trial is made, 1. By three things going before ; 2. By three things follow- ing after.
First, See that the ground-worlc he sure. If a man be in the faith, and do believe the word ; if, upon believing, meditation, opening unto the knock of Christ at first, not delaying him ofi', like the lazy spouse in the Canticles, if in this case the Spirit come and fill the heart with joy, then all is sure and well. It comes with promise, because then he hath promised to enter. If a man have a dull, dead, delaying ear to open unto Christ, or apply him upon good grounds, and therewith great fantastic joys, he may assure him- self they are but idle speculations, not wrought in him by the right sancti- fication of the Spirit ; but if this joy come upon the surveying of charters, evidences, &c., it is sure, we may build upon it.