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themselves that they belong to him, and that they fhall certainly have their Portion in the Refurrection of the Juft. And this I take to be the full Meaning of the Phrafe in my Text, of being fealed.

III. My third and last Enquiry is, How, and in what Senfe the Spirit doth feal us to that Day. There are three Notions of it.

The firft of which is very falfe, though commonly received.

The fecond is true, but yet not full; nor, I suppose, principally intended in this

Place.

And therefore I conceive the third is to be preferred.

i. The firft Account of the Spirit's fealing is this. We commonly take the Spirit's fealing us to the Day of Redemption, to be his teftifying to our Hearts that God is reconciled to us, and hath forgiven us all our Sins. We fancy that he doth, as it were, whisper it into our Ears; we feem to hear a Voice within us that bids us be of good Comfort, for God hath accepted us. Now when we have thefe Suggestions, we believe that then the Spirit doth feal us, and witness with our Spirit: But when we find our Minds cloudy and melancholy, so that we think not fo well of ourselves, then we believe that we are in a State of Desertion, that God hath forfaken us, and refuses to feal us with the Holy Ghoft. Now, acH cording

VOL. V.

cording to this Notion, the Sense of my Text muft be, Have a Care that you do not grieve the Holy Spirit; for if you do, he will not teftify to your Minds that you are the Children of God, but you fhall be in a very doubtful and uncertain Condition, and want all that Comfort and Joy in the Holy Ghost, which otherwife you might have. But to this I fay, that tho' I doubt not but that God fometimes, and in some particular Cafes, is pleafed to manifest his Goodness to the Souls of pious Perfons in an extraordinary Manner, and to fill them with inexpreffible Joy and Confolation, and to poffefs them with an undoubted Affurance of their eternal Happiness, more particularly at the Hour of Death, or in a Time of difficult Trials, especially in the Cafe of Martyrdom: Yet I deny utterly, that this is the fealing of the Spirit spoken of in the Text, and that for thefe Reafons; First of all, there is no Text of Scripture that gives Countenance to fuch an Inter pretation of the fealing of the Spirit; for all thofe that I know of, place his Sealing in his being within us, and not in his fuggefting to our Minds a good Opinion of ourfelves: And thus it is we muft interpret Rom. 8. that famous Text of St. Paul, of the Spirit's witneffing with our Spirits, that we are the Sons of God; as any one will be convinced, who carefully examines the Context, and

16.

confiders

confiders the Occafion upon which these Words are made use of.

Sedondly, It is no where promised by God in Scripture, that Men fhall ordinarily have that Teftimony of the Goodness of their Condition that this Notion implieth, and confequently the fealing of the Spirit cannot confit in it. The ordinary Way of coming to an Affurance of our future Happiness is, by reasoning with our own Hearts, examining and comparing our Lives and Actions with the Rule that Chrift hath given us to walk by. If our Confciences, upon fuch an Examination, give us in Evi dence that we have fincerely performed the Conditions of the Chriftian Covenant required on our Parts, viz. that we do truly believe and repent; then we may conclude that we are in a safe and good Condition. I fay, this is the Way that the Scripture Lam.3.40. chalketh out to us for the gaining of Affu- Gal. 6. 4. rance; and no Man can come to it otherwife, unless God be pleased to deal with him in an extraordinary and miraculous Way, which, I fuppofe, every one is not to expect.

Thirdly, If the fealing of the Spirit be the Spirit's poffeffing our Minds with a ftrong Perfuafion that our Sins are forgiven, what will become of them who never had this strong Perfuafion, and yet, for all that, are very honeft, and fincere, and devout Christians? There are a great many in the H 2

World,

2 Cor. 13.

5.

World, who truly defire and endeavour to ferve God as well as they can, and live honest and virtuous Lives, and hope well too in the Mercies of God, but yet have none of those extraordinary overflowing Confolations of the Spirit that this Notion fuppofeth Nay, many of them are frequently apt to diftruft their own Condition, as thinking they are not fo good as they fhould be; Nay, and perhaps they may die in that Opinion. What fhall we fay of fuch? that they are not fealed by the Spirit to the Day of Redemption? God forbid ! I fhould much lefs doubt of the Happiness of fuch a Perfon in the World to come, tho' I faw him go out of this World unfatisfied as to his future State, than I should of one who had those sweet and comfortable Inspirations of his being the Child of God, if I faw that he had been lefs careful in his Life and Converfation than the other.

But Fourthly, That ftrong Affurance which we fometimes feel in our Minds that we are in a good Condition, cannot be the Spirit's fealing to the Day of Redemption upon this Account; that at this rate, the Spirit's fealing us would be no Seal of God at all; viz. it would be a very fallible Seal, and the Man who had it, might for all that be in a miferable Condition. The plain Englif is, that there is nothing in this Perfuafion or Confidence of our good Condi

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tion (unless it be fetched from fome other Ground than this ftrong Impulse on our Minds) but what a very wicked Man may have as well as the beft. A wicked Man may at fome Times, and in fome Humours, especially when his Brains are heated, and his Blood runs quick in his Veins, and he hath for fome Time vigorously bent his Mind to the applying of Chrift's Righte ousness to his own Soul: I fay, in fuch a Fit of Devotion as this, he may easily be brought to fancy himself as true a Believer, and as great a Saint, as the best of them; tho' in the mean time there is no real lafting Change made upon his Heart, but when the Heat is over, he becomes the fame Man he was before. All that I mean is this, that if there be no other Notion of the Seal of the Spirit of God but this that I am speaking against, it may oftentimes prove no more than a ftrong Fancy: and the Perfon that will the most eafily come by this Seal, will not be he who ftudies to ferve God beft, but he who hath the most lively and brisk Imagination; which is, in effect, to make the Seal of the Spirit of God a Foundation for all the Enthusiasm in the World.

2. But fecondly, Leaving this extravagant Notion of the Seal of the Spirit, let us come to a more fober and juftifiable one. Many very learned Interpreters do conceive, that the Spirit of God, whereby we are fealed to the Day of Redemption, is to

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