Sir,
.....He has likewise received the water, considered as the emblem of
sanctification. To a believer, all that the Scripture teaches
concerning the nature, beauty, and necessity of holiness-as a living
principle in the heart-carries conviction and evidence. A deliverance from
the power, as well as from the guilt of sin, appears to be an important and
essential part of salvation. He sees his original and his proper happiness,
that nothing less than communion with God and conformity to him, is worth his
pursuit. And therefore he can say, "My soul thirsts for you: I delight in
the law of God after the inward man." In a word, his judgment and his
choice are formed upon a new spiritual taste, derived from the
written word, and correspondent with it, as the musical ear is
adapted to relish harmony: so that what God has forbidden, appears
hateful; what he has commanded, necessary; what he has promised,
desirable; and what he has revealed, glorious. Whoever has these
perceptions, has the witness in himself, that he has been taught of
God, and believes in his Son.
 |
| Available on Kindle for $1.99 |
Again:
From hence arises a solid evidence, that the Scripture is indeed the
word of God, because it so exactly describes what is exemplified in
the experience of all who are subjects of a work of grace.
While we are in a natural state, it is to us as a sealed book:
though we can read it, and perhaps assent to the facts, we can no
more understand our own concernments in what we read, than if it was written in
an unknown tongue. But when the mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the
Scripture addresses us as it were by name, explains every difficulty under
which we labored, and proposes an adequate and effectual remedy for
the relief of all our needs and fears.
Lastly: It follows, that the hope of a believer is built upon a foundation
that cannot be shaken, though it may and will be assaulted. It does not
depend upon occasional and changeable frames, upon any that is precarious
and questionable, but upon a correspondence and agreement with the
written word. Nor does this agreement depend upon a train of labored
arguments and deductions, but is self-evident, as light is to the
eye, to every person who has a real participation of the grace of God.
It is equally suited to all capacities.
By this the unlearned are enabled to
know their election of God, and "to rejoice with a joy unspeakable and
full of glory." And the wisest, if destitute of this perception,
though they may be masters of all the external evidences of Christianity, and
able to combat the cavils of infidels, can see no real beauty in the
truths of the Gospel, nor derive any solid comfort from them.
I have only sent you a few hasty hints: it would be easy to enlarge;
but I sat down, not to write a book, but a letter. May this
inward witness preside with power in our hearts, to animate our
hopes, and to mortify our corruptions!
