the Divine favour in his soul. It is by that alone that he can obtain " the witness of the Spirit," or " the earnest of the Spirit," or " the sealing of the Spirit," which are necessary to elevate his soul above all earthly things : as the Apostle has said ; " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faiths" It is by that, too, that he attains the Divine image on his soul, even by " the faith that purifieth the heart '^." In a word, it is by the simple exercise of faith that he receives every thing out of the fulness that is in Christ, and is filled with that " love of Christ that constrains him," as a mighty torrent, *' to live no more unto himself, but unto Him who died for him, and rose again ^"]
" But he himself is judged and discerned of no man" —
[The natural man does not discern these things. How- ever he may speculate upon such things, there is not a natural man in the whole world that truly and practically discerns them, so as to have the same fixed judgment in relation to them that the spiritual man has. The natural man knows not how to estimate the spiritual man, either in relation to his principles or conduct. Judge him indeed he will, and confidently enough ; setting him down for a weak enthusiast, if not for a designing hypocrite. But, to form a just estimate of him, he has no power. He has no idea of spiritual enjoyment ; no conception of the efficacy of faith : consequently the experience of the spiritual man appears to him a mere delusion, a fanatical con- ceit. His pretensions to joys which the natural man never experienced, appear as wild as if he claimed the possession of a sense which none but himself and a few other favoured per- sons had ever exercised. Suppose, for instance, when all the world besides were destitute of some one of the senses that we enjoy ; say, of sight, or hearing, or smelling ; and one were to profess that he was enabled by that particular organ to dis- tinguish things which the others could not perceive ; would they not account him a deceiver? Just so do the ungodly world account the true Christian, who by faith discerns the excel- lency of those things which never were discerned by the eye of sense : they are ready to exclaim, as Felix to Paul, " Thou art beside thyself: much learning (or much conceit) hath made thee mad." But Paul was " not mad :" nor are they mad who seek their happiness in the way before described. If they appear so, it is because their principles and conduct are not duly appreciated. Not that he has any new sense : for that
" 1 John V. 4. ^ Acts xv. 9. 2 Cor. iii. 18.
e 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.