SPIRITUAL JUDGMENT AND TASTE.

"EVERY true believer is made partaker of a spiritual, holy judgment and taste; by which, without a long train of reasoning, he as it were directly relishes or disrelishes certain dispositions and actions, and finds himself delighted or disgusted with them. This is the grand defect in unregenerate men, which is supplied in regeneration. As some persons, having the same mental faculties as their neighbours, are totally destitute of a relish or taste for the beauties of poetry or harmony, or for this or the other science: they take no delight in them, have no relish for them, no taste or judgment about them; but appear totally stupid and insensible to them in the eyes of all who have a relish and taste for them: so it is in all natural men with respect to spiritual things. Only, whereas it is no duty to relish poetry, music, sculpture, or painting, and therefore the want of taste for them is no sinful defect, it is the duty of every rational being to love and delight in holiness, to have a taste for it; and no man can be destitute of such a taste without being of a very bad and sinful disposition....Natural men may, by reason and argument, be convinced in their judgment and conscience that holiness is in many things right and reasonable, and sin wrong and unreasonable; but still they have not any love in their hearts to the one, or dislike to the other. They do not perform duty therefore because it is pleasant, sweet, and delightful to them, or avoid sin

because it is odious, irksome, and offensive to them; but from other motives, and for other ends. But the regenerate man has this defect supplied; and the principle of divine life, implanted in the soul by the Holy Ghost, operates mainly in this way-if this be not the very nature of it. Hence godly men in scripture all speak of it as their experience, to have such a taste and relish for spiritual excellency. They are in raptures with beauties of holiness, and of a holy God. They speak of tasting sweetness in God's statutes, more than in honey and the honey-comb. The name of Christ is. refreshing to this spiritual sense, as ointment poured forth his love is better than wine: praising God affords higher satisfaction to the soul than marrow and fatness to the bodily appetite. Innumerable passages in scripture represent this as the experience of believers. Hence it is that they, and they only, find Christ's yoke easy, and his burden light; God's commandments not grievous: wisdom's ways ways of pleasantness; to do God's will, and to finish his work, (after their Saviour's example,) their meat and drink. This is not so much from the present privileges they enjoy, or the reward they hope for, as from the agreeableness of spiritual things to the taste and relish of their souls. They hunger and thirst after righteousness, and are athirst for God, even for the living God. This is the element in which they live; and, when they are out of God's ways, they are out of their element, as a fish out of the water, and cannot enjoy pleasure, but are, as it were, in a dying condition. In this sense it is said, that he who is born of God cannot sin: for, in exact proportion

as he has a taste for holiness, relishes it, experiences sweetness, and sees beauty in it, he has a distaste, disrelish, and loathing for sin; sees deformity in it, and is disgusted with it."

CHARACTER OF CHRIST.

"THE peculiar object of this spiritual taste is, the beauty and excellency of holy things-God's perfections and law, Christ's character, and his image in his people. Especially the true believer sees a loveliness in every part of Christ's character and conduct. He entirely admires his sweet humility, condescension, meekness, self-denial, zeal, wisdom, gentleness, compassion, and active love; his regard to his Father's honour, rejoicing in his sovereignty, respect for his ordinances, resignation, patience, devotion. All he said, and all he did, appears the perfection of beauty; every temper and every disposition, the matter and the manner of every action, quite what they should be: and he learns to account every thing beautiful or deformed, lovely or odious, in his own and other men's tempers and conduct, as it accords with or is contrary to this perfect copy.-Every true believer is, in some little measure, of this mind and judgment: and none but the true believer is so and in him it grows exactly as he grows in grace.

"This being so, he habituates himself, in some little degree, to judge of every thing by this rule: and thus his taste is formed, and he insensibly relishes and finds pleasure in those things and persons who have this beauty in them, and in pro

portion as they have more or less of it. On the contrary he disrelishes, and is pained and uneasy with those persons and things which are unlike Christ, and that in proportion to their unlikeness to him. And thus also he finds sweetness and pleasure in keeping God's commandments, in imitating Christ's example, in attending God's ordinances, in reading, praying, hearing, meditation, watching, and doing good. He loves the brethren, and takes delight in their society: and, on the contrary, finds pain and uneasiness in ungodly company, in neglect of duty, in levity, and in wrong tempers. And this becomes natural to him, so far as grace prevails, and is for that reason habitual and abiding: but no obedience that is not pleasant, natural, unforced, will last: and therefore no other religion than this can be relied upon to continue to the end, in all circumstances and against all temptations....

"It is by implanting and maintaining this holy taste, and rendering it quick and vigorous, that the Holy Spirit leads the children of God, and makes them wise to know, and willing to do their duty and enables them to act decidedly, in a thousand instances of daily occurrence, as they ought to act, without requiring time to deliberate at every step about their conduct, or to produce express precept for it. Their judgment is formed upon the word, and is made by it; but the holy relish they have for spiritual excellency, and disrelish for the contrary, makes those, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil, at first thought to perceive a beauty or defor

'Heb. v. 14.

mity in this or the other temper or conduct, respecting which others may hesitate, as the ear trieth sounds, and the mouth tasteth meats."

ZEAL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

"EVERY true believer, in proportion to the degree of his spiritual knowledge, and faith, has the glory of God at heart. The discoveries he has made, under the teaching of God's word and Spirit, of the infinite loveliness and glory of the divine character, as they influence his own mind to admire, adore, love, and delight in God, and to find: unspeakable sweetness in this; so they convince him how right and reasonable it is in itself, and how much it is for their happiness that others should do the same. He is deeply sensible that God's excellencies are worthy to be manifested; that the manifestation of them, and their glory, was an end worthy to be proposed by God in all his works, as the last end, to which all others. should be subordinated. The display of these glorious excellencies, in the works of creation, providence, government, and redemption, is so bright, that he both grieves and wonders that so many rational creatures are blind to it. The whole appears worthy of universal attention, admiration, love, and adoring praise. He sees that this is no more than God's due; and that all who do not pay it rob him of his due. He would therefore most gladly, if he could, have all rational creatures to know and love, to worship, and obey,