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Show ter, and her Friends have as much perfuaded her at firll,a~ at la(l. At lafl'her will enclineth, !he knbweth not which way, but en· eli ned it is, and doubtlefs by the fecret work of Gods Providence influencing her will, and ml king her willing to, and dcfirous of that union , the fir I\ motion to which (he received with llight carelefnefs, and pe.haps contempt. But to relurn, This inclination of rhe will mu!t be before the S:>ul can be fahl to be Chrills in this Spiritti'al Scnfe. ' Chrill mull tirfi have been at work with the Soul making it willing, but it mull be willing; It mull re· ceive Chri(t, and with purpofe of heart gipe "P itjelfto the Lord before it becomes his. The Prophet, Jfaiah 56. 6. calleth it, A j oyning of our, felvu to rhe Lord, and ta~ing ~old of hi< Covenant, The Souls confent r6 be the Lords, is nenelfary to make it his. 2. Nor will a meer verbal co»f'nt do it ; There muff be an ac· . tual pUJfuit of this con[entto, anli acceptation· of the Lord Jejus by obedience to his Command!, and a devoting of our felves to his Service. The Soul mu(t1illtend and defjgn for Chril\, (as I rold you 8(rnard interl'rtts this Text.') "{:He Prophet ljaiah excellent· Jy expounds i~1 Ejay 56.6. by a fmlingofGod, a !oiling the name of the Lord to be his fervant, kjeping hi< Sabbath, ( a fpeciu of worlhip put for the whole: Ver •• 4· a chujing tbt thing! that pleafe God. That perfon.is faid to be anothers that gives up him, or her felf,to the fervice, deriotioJi and intmft of another : A,nd hi this fenfe the Soul mull be able to fay, I am hit, before it .can fay, My Beloved i1 milte, Not that the Soul mull be able to read per feel ion in its heart or life, but that the bent and fcope, and defign of its heart is for the Lord; that it hath chofen the way of the Lord,and ordinarily walketh in it, though fometime~ through.igri?rance or errour by temptation it is drawn afide,though fomeumes throug!l weaknefs it llumbles and falleth: as who lives & finnet!vnot again I\ God ? The rigbteom manfoUs [evm-timn a'da!: though the Soul (as Saint PaHI exprelfeth it, Rom.7. ) fomeumes cannot do what it would, and doth do the things it would not. In thts fe~ca, I fay,the Soul mull be able to fay, I am hi<,_before or a~oon as 1~ c~n fay, m' Beloved i1 mine: in truth and wtthout vamty, ~hnll tn the order of things i< firll ours before me are b" ; he lovet!L us firll, he gives to us firll. Burin the order of our knb~l~dg we cannot difcern, we cannot comfortably conclude,thatChull 1s ours, until we difcern, and be able in fome meafurc.to conclude that we m~. ~ Hi'IP Me ko11l is ~~YJ:t: Now the demonfitation ott his truth, will not beailliculr from reflecting upon what I h~ve had occafion in the ,handling of this Verfe before ~o tell yo?, vt:ot:, That there are blif two ways im•ginable, by whtch a Soul may come to know irs interell in Chrill Th7 one from the more extraordinary teflimoHy oft be Spirit, fo; ( fatth the Apollk, _) I Cor. 2, I I. The thingt Of God lt,Horr>ah no man b~~ by the S~mt of God. 2, By the more ortliliary operation of I he Sjmll, upholdtng the Soul to the difeeruing ibe trrith ofiu grace which as a proper elfeel moll chtainly declareth the caufe. 1 lhali eafily prove to you, thai unlcfs the Soul firll, oi'at the fame time knows, and be able to fay, tl!at it i1 C~rift1 it can never fay Chri(f ii mine. ' 1 For fir.ll, Can!~ be imagined t~al lh~,SJiirit of Cluill by any extraordinary WJ!nefs !pould telhfy CHrilis I ove and an aCTual interell in Chrill, unto that Soul thati5yet unwiOi~gand difobedienl ; that is yet in a lhltl: of ulibelief,that hath n'otyet much fo as a willing inind to wa!k WI~ IT C~d, to f~rv~ and o~·ey him; it may indeed thus hell? a Sou l, trdullled at 1ts own imperfect walkinf_s _ 'Ytth God, and in lOme fit ofmCiancholly;or unde~ fame tempta. !ton, dt from fomemlllake !ie concluding fadly againlt itfelf: but . 1t fo fhelps tht Soli! at th'e fame time lliewing it its r;niHake not perf wading it of an inlc!rtl\ in Chrill, lhough it be in a 1\a:e oi' unbelief and impenitency. A:t the fame time th!t it takes away_ the Soul~ fadnelfes and its heart·akln,ll, and trouble upon this ac~ count, It mull allb' take' away · its own 1\eait-condemnings too. · - 22. Shall the Soul be abre to fay, my Befoveii< m/He concluding from the ejfe{Js to the caufe, tHe Spifi't' of G'od in' the mean time only in an ordiniry courfe affi!ling it to fee the truth ofits grace; then the Propofitio~ is pla(n: for all fuch evidences mull be fetched from the.ptoxer. e~~s, wHich nothing but fuch caufes can produce. For E:xamjlk, we /nay conclude thus; Thit body breathetb, or hath fon~,the~efo~e the Soul is not. yet departed from it:and thcconclufion IS g'o6d, lit caufe the Soul 1s the only thing that can caufe refp!ration or fenfe in the Body. But 'fC cannot conclude thus; Th1s Body hath warmth in it, therefore the Soul is not dep. arted from it : becaufe experience tells us that the warmth may for a rime be contitTUed in a cfeacf body, by ;he heat caufed by the difeafe, thar ?it ided the Soul from it or 'from a fire, or cloaths,&c. Now there IS no other proper elfe~s of a Conjug~l union of the R r r Soul |