5. That the testimony of the Spirit of God, must in the very nature of things, be antecedent to the testimony of our own spirit, may appear from this singleconsideration. We must be holy in heart and life, before we can be conscious that we are so. But we must love God before we can be holy at all, this being the root of all holiness. Now we cannot love God, ’till we know he loves us: we love him, because he first loved us. And we cannot know his love to us, ’till his Spirit witnesses it to our spirit. ’Till then we cannot believe it: we cannot say, the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Then, only then we feel
Our interest in his blood,
And cry with joy unspeakable,
Thou art my Lord, my God.
Since therefore the testimony of his Spirit must precede the love of God and all holiness, of consequence it must precede our consciousness thereof.
6. And here properly comes in, to confirm this scriptural doctrine, the experience of the children of God: the experience not of two or three, not of a few, but of a great multitude which no man can number. It has been confirmed, both in this and in all ages by a cloud of living and dying witnesses. It is confirmed by your experience and mine. The Spirit itself bore witness to my spirit, that I was a child of God,gave me an evidence hereof, and I immediately cried, Abba, Father! And this I did, (and so did you) before I reflected on, or was conscious of any fruit of the Spirit. It was from this testimony received, that love, joy, peace, and the whole fruit of the Spirit flowed. First I heard,
Thy sins are forgiven! Accepted thou art!
I listened, and heaven Sprung up in my heart.
7. But this is confirmed, not only by the experience of the children of God, thousands of whom can declare, that they never did know themselves to be in the favour of God, ’till it was directly witnessed to them by his Spirit: but by all those who are convinced of sin, who feel the wrath of God abiding on them. These cannot be satisfied with any thing less than a direct testimony from his Spirit, that he is merciful to their unrighteousness, and remembers their sins and iniquities no more. Tell any of these, “You are to know you are a child, by reflecting on what he has wrought in you, on your love, joy and peace:” and will he not immediately reply, by all this I know, I am a child of the devil. I have no more love to God than the devil has: my carnal mind is enmity against God. I have no joy in the Holy Ghost: my soul is sorrowful even unto death. I have no peace: my heart is a troubled sea: I am all storm and tempest. And which way can these souls possibly be comforted, but by a divine testimony,(not that they are good, or sincere, or conformable to the scripture in heart and life, but) that God justifieth the ungodly: him that ’till the moment he is justified, is all ungodly, void of all true holiness? Him that worketh not, that worketh nothing that is truly good, ’till he is conscious that he is accepted, not for any works of righteousness which he hath done, but by the mere, free mercy of God? Wholly and solely for what the Son of God hath done and suffered for him? And can it be any otherwise, if a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law? If so, what inward or outward goodness can he be conscious of, antecedent to his justification? Nay, is not the having nothing to pay, that is, the being conscious that there dwelleth in us no good thing, neither inward nor outward goodness, essentially, indispensably necessary, before we can be justified freely, thro’ the redemption that is in Jesus Christ? Was ever any man justified since his coming into the world, or can any man ever be justified, ’till he is brought to that point,