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The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.*

* Psalm xxiii.

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CHAPTER VII.

The fruits of the Spirit contrasted with the works of the flesh.

I. NOTWITHSTANDING the preceding discussion, some one may still perhaps be inclined to ask, How am I to know, whether my understanding, my will, and my affections, have indeed been acted upon by the Holy Spirit of God? The question is a most important one, yet, I trust, by no means unanswerable. Would we solve it satisfactorily, let us have recourse to Scripture.

1. Some attempt to reduce the whole of the Influences of the Spirit to mere external decorum; and profanely decry as enthusiasm the belief in that supernatural change of heart, the necessity of which is so strongly incul cated by our Saviour. As if it were probable, that the diabolical sins of envy, hatred, and malice, sins perfectly compatible with outward decency, did not render a man just as much a child of hell, as the more glaring turpitude of drunkenness, fornication, and dishonesty.

2. On the other hand, some would persuade us, that almost the whole of religion consists in warm and lively feelings; and that, unless our souls are perpetually (as it were) in the third heaven, we know but little of the nature of the Spirit's influences, or of the privileges of genuine Christianity. Hence they are obviously led to imagine, that, if sensible comforts abound, they may safely conclude themselves at peace with God; but that, if they be

withdrawn, they have no longer any right to believe themselves his children. Thus the favour of the Almighty, of him who knoweth neither change nor shadow of turning, is supposed to be as variable and irregular as the human temperature. The frequent coldness. and langour of our devotions, the perpetual wandering of our thoughts from divine subjects, and the indifference with which we too often contemplate the redeeming goodness of our Lord, are indeed sad proofs of the corruption of our nature, and afford ample cause for humility and contrition: but there is no reason to think, that they are marks of unregeneracy, or tokens of God's rejection and abiding displeasure. His covenant is built upon a surer foundation than either our feelings or our faithfulness feelings, which are subject to incessant variation; and faithfulness, which the very best of us must own to be but too unfaithful.

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