Wherefore after their affections have been tossed up and down for a season, under the power and torment of this con- viction, they come unto one or other of these issues with them. For either they utterly decay, and the mind loseth all sense of any impressions from them, so as that they wonder in them- selves whence they were so foolish as to be tossed and troubled with such melancholy fancies, and so commonly prove as bad a sort of men as live upon the earth; or they take up in a formal, legal profession wherein they never at- tain to be spiritually minded. This is the best end that our
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affectians towards spiritual things, not guided by the light of faith, do come unto.
2. Faith hath a clear prospect into, and apprehension of, spiritual things, as they are in themselves, and in their own nature. It is true, the light of it cannot fully com- prehend the nature of all those things which are the ob- jects of its affections; for they are infinite and incompre- hensible, such as are the nature of God, and the person of Christ ; and some of them, as future glory, are not yet clearly revealed : but it discerns them all in a due manner, so as that they may in themselves, and not in any corrupt representation, or imagination of them, be the object of our affections. They are, as the apostle speaks, ' spiritually dis- cerned;' 1 Cor. ii. 14. which is the reason why the natural man cannot receive them, namely, because he hath not abi- lity spiritually to discern them. And this is the principal end of the renovation of our minds, the principal quality and effect of faith, namely, the communication unto our minds, and the acting in us, of a spiritual saving light, whereby we may see and discern spiritual things as they are in their own nature, kind, and proper use : see Ephes. i. 17 — 19. * That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the know- ledge of him : the eyes of your understanding being en- lightened ; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.' 2 Cor. iv. 6, * God shines in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ.' The end God designs, is to draw our hearts and affections unto himself. And unto this end, he gives unto us a glorious internal light, whereby we may be enabled to discern the true nature of the things that we are to cleave unto with love and delight. Without this we have nothing but false images of spiritual things in our minds ; not always as unto the truth or doctrine concerning them, but as unto their reality, power, and efficacy. This is one of the prin- cipal effects of faith, as it is the principal part of the renova- tion of our minds, namely, to discover in the soul and repre- sent unto the affections things spiritual and heavenly, in their
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nature, beauty, and genuine excellency. This attracts them if they be spiritually renewed, and causeth them to cleave with delight unto what is so proposed unto them. He that believes in Christ in a due manner, who thereon discovers the excellency of his person, and the glory of his mediation, will both love him, and on his believing 'rejoice with joy imspeakable, and full of glory.' So is it in all other in- stances ; the more steady is our view by faith of spiritual things, the more firm and constant will our affections be in cleaving unto them. And wherever the mind is darkened about them, by temptation or seduction from the truth, there the affections will be quickly weakened and impaired. Wherefore,
3. Affections thus led unto, and fixed on spiritual and heavenly things under the light and conduct of faith, are more and more renewed, or made in themselves more spiritual and heavenly. They are in their cleaving unto them, and delight in them, continually changed and assimi- lated unto the things themselves ; becoming more and more to be what they are, namely, spiritual and heavenly.
This transformation is wrought by faith, and is one of the most excellent faculties and operations; see 2 Cor. iii. 18. And the means whereby it works herein, are our affections. In them as we are carnal, we are conformed unto this world ; and by them as sanctified, ' are we transformed in the re- newing of our minds ;' Rom. xii. 2. And this transformation is the introduction of a new form or nature into our souls, diverse from that wherewith we were before endued. So is it described, Isa. xi. 6 — 9. A spiritual nature they were changed into : and it is twofold.
1 . Original and radical as to the substance or essence of it, which is the effect of the first act of divine grace upon our souls, when we are made new creatures. Herein our af- fections are passive ; they do not transform us, but are trans- formed.