In manifold ways besides these we
become conscious of this new life; there are many quieter and secret
moments in which it is strongly felt, tho only deep in our inmost
heart. But notwithstanding this, I think all, without exception, must
confess that we are by no means conscious of this new life as an
entirely continuous state; on the contrary, each of us loses sight
of it only too often, not only among friends, among disturbances and
cares, but amid the commendable occupations of this world. But this
experience, my dear friends, humbling as it is, ought not to make us
unbelieving, as if perhaps our consciousness of being a new creature
in Christ were a delusion, and what we had regarded as indications
of this life were only morbid and overstrained emotions. As the Lord
convinced His disciples that He had flesh and bones, so we may all
convince ourselves and each other that this is an actual life; but in
that case we must believe that, tho in a hidden way and not always
present to our consciousness, yet it is always in existence, just as
the Lord was still in existence even at the times when He did not
appear to His disciples; and had neither returned to the grave, nor as
yet ascended to heaven.
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