IHortbwestern THnivetsltg llbratB Evaneton, IFlllnots 21 9 THE WORKS OF PRESIDENT EDWARDS. In jFour Uolumegf. with VALUABLE ADDITIONS AND A COPIOUS GENERAL INDEX, and A COMPLETE INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS. VOL. III. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 530 Broadway. 1881. 5, ?, V. 3 Z\ l3Cb » • • « • •••,« * » • • . • « • » • • « : •-• ! ••• • » • •• • • • CONTENTS OF VOL. Ill I. A TREATISE CONCERNING RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, IN THREE PARTS. PAGB PART I. Concerning the nature of the Affections, and their importance in Religion ......... 1 PART II. Sliowing what are no certain Signs that Religious Affections are truly gracious, or that they are not . . . . . .22 PART III. Showing what are distinguishing Signs of truly gracious and holy Affections . . . . . . . . .63 II. NARRATIVE OF SURPRISING CONVERSIONS . . .231 III. THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN NEW ENG¬ LAND, 1740. Advertisement ......... 274 The Author's Preface ........ 275 PART 1. Showing that the extraordinary Work that has of late been going on in the land, is a glorious Work of God ..... 277 PART 11. Showing the Obligations that all are under to acknowledge, rejoice in, and promote this Work, and the great danger of the contrary . . 310 PART III. Showing, in many Instances, wherein the Subjects, or zealous Pro¬ moters of this Work, have been injuriously blamed . . . 333 PART IV. Showing what things are to be corrected or avoided in promoting this Work, or in our behavior under it . . . . . 349 PART V. Showing positiv^y, what ought to be done to promote this Work . 405 IV. A HUMBLE ATTltMPT TO PROMOTE EXPLICIT AGREE¬ MENT, &c. PART I. The text opened; and an Account of the Affair proposed . . 429 PART II. Motives to a Compliance with what is proposed . . . 439 PART III. Objections Answered ....... 465 Conclusion 505 V. CONCERNING THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS . . .509 VI. REASONS AGAINST DR. WATT'S NOTION OF THE PRE-EX- ISTENCE OF CHRIST'S HUMAN SOUL . . . .633 VII. MYSTERIES OF SCRIPTURE 537 VIII. OBSERVATIONS UPON PARTICULAR PASSAGES OF SCRIP¬ TURE 547 IX. THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS 554 X. SIX OCCASIONAL SERMONS. 1 SERMON I. The Church's Marriage to her Sons, and her God . . . 559 II. The ttue Excellency of a Gospel Minister .... 580 HI. Christ the Example of Ministers ..... 593 IV. God's awfulJudgment in the Breaking and Withering of the Strong Rods of Community ....... 604 V. The Sorrows of the Bereaved spread before Jesus . . . 612 VI. True Saints, when absent from the Body, are present with the Lord . 624 A TREATISE CONOERNmG RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, IN THREE PARTS. INTRODUCTION. There is no question whatsoever, that is of greater importance to mankind, and that i more concerns every individual person to be well resolved in, than this : MTiai xre the distinguishing qualifications of those thai are in favor with God, and entitled to his eternal rewards ? Or, which comes to the same thing. What- is the nature of true religion 7 And wherein do lie the distinguishing notes o/ that virtue and holiness that is acceptabte in the sight of God ? But though it be of such importance, and though we have clear and abundant light in ihe word of God to direct us in this matter, yet there is no one point, wherein professing Christians do more differ one from another. It wou.d be endless to reckon up the variety of opinions in this point, that divide the Christian world ; making manifest the truth of that declaration of^our Saviour," Strait is the gate and narrow is the way, that leads to life, and few there be that find it." The consideration of these things has long engaged me to attend to this matter, with the utmost diligence and care, and exactness of search and inquiry, that I have teen capable of. It is a subject on which my mind has been peculiarly intent, ever since I first entered on the study of divinity. But as to the success of my inquines it must be lefl to the judgment of^the reader of the following treatise. I am sensible it is much more difficult to judge impartially of that which is the sub¬ ject of this discourse, in the midst of the dust and smoke of such a state of controversy, as this land is now in, about things of this nature. As it is more difficult to write im¬ partially, so it is more difficult to read impartially. Many will probably be hurt in Jieir spirits, to find so much that appertains to religious affection, here condemned: and perhaps indignation and contempt will be excited in others by finding so mucn here justified and approved. And it may be, some will be ready to charge me with inconsistence with myself, in so much approving some things, and so much condemn¬ ing others ; as I have found this has always been objected to by some, ever since the beginning of our late controversies about religion. It is a hard thing to be a hearty zealous friend of what has been good and glorious, in the late extraordinary appear¬ ances, and to rejoice much in it; and at the same time to see the evil and pernicious tendency of what has been bad, and earnestly to oppose that. But yet, I am humbly Out fully persuaded, we shall never be in the way of truth, nor go on in a way accept¬ able to God, and tending to the advancement of Christ's kingdom, till we do so. There lb jideed something very mysterious in it, that so much good, and so much bad, should be mixed together in the church of God; as it is a mysterious thing, and what has Suzzled and amazed many a good Christian, that there should be that which is so ivine and precious, as the saving grace of God, and the new and divine nature dwell- jrg in tie same heart, with so much corruption, hypocrisy, and iniquity, in a particu- ar saint Yet neither of these is more mysterious than real. And neither of them is a new or lare thing. It is no new thing, that much false religion should prevail, at a time of great reviving of true religion ; and that at such a time multitudes of hypo¬ crites should spring up among true saints. It was so in that great reformation, ana revival of religion, that was in Josiah's time ; as appears by Jer. iii. 10, and iv. 3, 4, ana also by the great apostasy that tt^ere was in the land, so soon after his reign. So X INTRODUCTION. it was in that great ontpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews, that was in the days of John the Baptist; as appears by the great apostasy of that people so soon after so general an awakening, and the temporary religious comforts and joys of many: John y. 35, "Ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light." So it was in those great •jommotions that were among the multitude, occasioned by the preaching of Jesus Christ; of the many that were then called, but few were chosen ; of the multitude that were roused and afl'ected by his preaching, and at one time or other appeared mightily engaged, full of admiration of Christ, and elevated with joy, but few were true disciples, that stood the sr^ock of the great trials tliat came afterwards, and en dured to the end. Many were like the stony ground, or thorny ground; and but few comparatively, like the good ground. Of the whole heap that was gathered great pan was chafl', that the wind afterwards drove away; and the heap of wheat that was left, was comparatively small; as appears abundantly, by the history of the New Testa¬ ment. So it was in that gi eat outpouring of the Spirit that was in the apostles' days ; as appears by Matth. xxiv. 10—13. Gal. iii. 1, and iv, 11, 15. Phil. ii. 21, and iii. 18, 19, and the two epistles to the Corinthians, and many other parts of tlie New Tes¬ tament And so it was in the great reformation from Popery. It appears plainly to have been in the visible church of God, in times of great reviving of religion. Iron time to time, as it is with the fruit trees in the spring; there are a multitude of blos¬ soms, all of which appear fair and beautiful, and there is a promising appearance ai young fruits; but many of them are but of short continuance; they soon fall off, and never come to maturity. Not that it is to be supposed that it will always be so; for though there never will, m this world, be an entire purity, either in particular saints, in a perfect freedom from mixtures of corruption; or in the church of God, without any mixture of h3rpocrites with saints, and counterfeit religion, and false appearances of grace with true religion, and real holiness: yet it is evident, that there will come a time of much greater purity in the church of God, than has been in ages past; it is plain by these texts of Scripture, Isa. Iii. 1. Ezek. xliv. 6, 7, Joel iii. 17. Zech. xiv. 21. Psal. Ixix. 32, 35, 36. Isa. XXXV. 8, 10, chap. iv. 3, 4. Ezek. xx. 38. Psal. xxxvii. 9, 10, 21, 29. And one great reason of it will be that at that time God will give much greater light to his people, to oistinguish between true religion and its counterfeits. Mai. iii. 3, " And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purgo them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteous¬ ness." With ver. 18, which is a continuation of the prophecy of the same happy times. '' Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not." It is by the mixture of counterfeit religion with true, not discerned and d;stinguish- eu, thtti the devil has had his greatest advantage against the cause and kingdom of Jhrist, all along hitherto. It is by this means, principally, that he has prevailed against all revivings of religion, that ever have been, since the first founding of the Christian church. By this, he hurt the cause of Christianity, in and after the apostolic age, much more than by all the persecutions of both Jews and Heathens. The apostles, in all their epistles, show themselves much more concerned at the former mischief, than the latter. By this, Satan prevailed against the reformation, began by Luther, Zuinglius, &c., to put a stop tv" its progress, and bring it into disgrace ; ten times more, than by all those bloody, cruel, and before unheard of persecutions of the church of Rome. By this, principally, has he prevailed .against revivals of religion, that have been in our nation since the reformation. By this he prevailed against New England, to quench the love and spoil the joy of her espousals, about a hundred years ago. And I think, I have had opportunity enough to see plainly that by this the devil has pre¬ vailed against the late great revival of religion in New England, so happy an i prom¬ ising m its beginning. Here, most evidently, has been the main advantage Satan has had against us; by this he has foiled us. It is by this means, that the daughter of Ziot. in this land now lies on the ground, m such piteous circumstances as we now behild her ; with her garments rent, her face disfigured, her nakedness exposed, her limbs broken, and weltering in the blood of her own wounds, and in no wise able to arise , and this, so quickly after her late great joys and hopes : Lam. i. 17, " Zion epreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Loi d hath « ommand- ed concerning Jacoh, tliat his adversaries shall be round about him : Jerusalem is as a menstrnous woman among them." I have seen tlie devil prevail the same way, against rwo great revivings of religion in this country. Satan goes on with mankind, as he began with them. He prevailed against our first parents, and cast them out of par- INTRODUCTION xi adiBe, and suddenlv brought all" their happiness and glory to aft end, by appearing to be a friend to their happy paradisaic state, and pretending to advance it to higher de¬ grees. So the same cunning serpent, that beguiled Eve through his subtiity, by per¬ verting us (rom the simplicity that is in Christ, hath suddenly prevailed to deprive us of that fair prospect, we had a little while ago,' of a kind of paradisaic state of the church of God in New England. ■ ■■ i After religion has revived in tlie churich of God, and enemies appear, people that are engaged to defend its cause, are commonly most exposed, where they are .east ensible of danger. While they are wholly intent upon the opposition that appears openly before them, to make head against that, and do neglect carefully to look all around them, the devil comes behind them, and gives a fatal stab unseen; and has opportunity to give a more home stroke, and wound the deeper, because he strikes at his leisure, and according to his pleasure, being obstructed by no guard or resistance. And so it is ever likely to be in the church, whenever religion revives remarkably, till we have learned well to distinguish between true and false religion, between sav¬ ing affections and experiences, and those manifold fair shows, and glistering appear¬ ances, by which they are counterfeited; the consequences of which, when they are not distinguished, are often inexpressibly dreadful. ^ this means, the devil gratifies him self, by bringing it to pass, that that should be offered to God, by multitudes, under a notion of a pleasing acceptable service to him, that is indeed above all things abomi nable to him. By this means he deceivpa grppt rnultitndes about the statejpf_their .souls ;_roakmg think they are somefring,when_they are nothing; and so eter¬ nally undoes them ; and notjjnryao^ but establishes many in a strong confidence of xhp.ir eminent, holiness, who.are-in God's sight some of the vuest of hypocrites. By this means, he many ways damps and wounds religion in the hearts of the-saints, obscures and deforms it by corrupt mixtures, causes their religious affections wofully to degen¬ erate, and sometimes, for a considerable time, to be like tlie manna that bred worms and stank; and dreadfully ensnares and confounds the minds of others of the saints and brings them into great difficulties and temptation, and entangles them in a wilder¬ ness, out of which they can by no means extricate themselves. By this means, Satan mightily encourages the hearts of open enemies of religion, and strengthens their hmids, and fills them with weapons, and makes strong their fortresses; when, at the same time, religion and the church of God lie exposed to them, as a city without waVls By this means, he brings it to pass, that men work wickedness under a notion of doing God service, and so sin without restraint, yea with earnest forwardness and zeal, anc. with all their might By this means, he brings in even the friends of religion, insen¬ sibly to themselves, to do the work of enemies, by destroying religion in a far more effectual manner than open enemies can do, under a notion of advancing it. By this means the devil scatters the ffock of Christ, and sets them one against another, and that with great heat of spirit, under a notion of zeal for God ; and religion, by degrees degenerates into vain jangling; and during the strife, Satan leads both parties far ou of the right way, driving each to great extremes, one on the right hand, and the other on the left, according as he finds they are most inclined, or most easily moved and swayed, till the right path in the middle is almost wholly neglected. And in the midst of this confusion, the devil has great oppo'-tunity to advance his own interest, and make it strong in ways innumerable, and get the government of all into his own hands and work bis own will. And by what is seen of the terrible consequences of this counterfeit religion, when not distinguished from true religion, God's people in general have their minus unhinged and unsettled in things of religion, and know not where to set their foot, or what to think or do ; and many are brought into doubts, whether 'here be any thing in religion; and heresy, and infidelity, and atheism greatly prevail. Therefore it greatly conerns us to use our utmost endeavors clearly to discern, and have it well settled and established, wherein true religion does consist. Till this be done, it may be expected, that great revivings of religion will be but of short continu¬ ance; till this be done, there is but little good to be expected of all our warm debates in coi.versation and from the press, not knowing clearly and distinctly what we ought tc contend for. My design is to contribute my mite, and use my best (however feeble) endeavors to this end, in the ensuing treatise ; wherein it must be noted, that my design is some¬ what diverse from the design of what I have formerly published, which was to show the distinguishing marks of a work of the Spirit of God, including both his common and sa\-ing operations ; but what aiimaiuow, is to show the nature and signs of the INTRODUCTION. iffraciotis operations of God's Spirit, by which they are to be distinguished from alL jthings whatsoever, that thejnimfa of men are the subject of, which-ara, not of a say- 'ing nature. If I have succeeded, in this my aim, in any tolerable measure, I hope it wm tend to promote the interest of religion. And whether I have succeeded to bring any light to this subject or no, and however my attempts may be reproached in these captious and censorious times, I hope in the mercy of a gracious God, for the accept- ance of the sincerity of my endeavors; and hme also for the candor and prayers of the true followers of the meek and charitable Lamb of God. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. » PART I. concerning the nature of the affections, and their importance IN religion. 1 Peter i. 8.—Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and lull of glory. In these words, the apostle represents the state of the minds of the Christians he wrote to, imder the persecutions they, were then the subjects of. These per¬ secutions are what he has respect to, in the two preceding verses, when he speaks of the trial of their faith, and of their being in heaviness through manifold temptations^ Such trials are of threefold benefit to true religion. Hereby the truth of it is manifested, and it appears to be indeed true religion; they, above all othei things, have a tendency to distinguish between true religion and false, and to cause the difference between them evidently to appear. Hence they are called by the name of trials, in the verse nextly preceding the text, and in innumera¬ ble other places; they try the faith and religion of professors, of what sort it is, as apparent gold is tried in the fire, and manifested, whether it be true gold or no. And the faith of true Christians being thus tried and proved to he true, is " found to praise, and honor, and glory," as in that preceding verse. And then, these trials are of further benefit to true religion ; they not only manifest the truth of it, but they make its genuine beauty and amiableness re¬ markably to appear. True virtue never appears so lovely, as when it is most' oppressed; and the divine excellency of real Christianity, is never exhibited with such advantage, as when under the greatest trials: then it is that true faith appears much more precious than gold ! And upon this account is " found to praise, and honor, and glory." And again, another benefit that such trials are of to true religion, is, that they purify and increase it. They not only manifest it to be true, but also tend to refine it, and deliver it from those mixtures of that which is false, which en cumber and impede it; that nothing may be left but that which is true. They tend to cause the amiableness of true religion to appear to the best advantage, as was before observed; and not only so, but they tend to increase its beauty, by establishing and confirming it, and making it more lively and vigorous, and purifying it from those things that obscured its lustre and glory. As gold that is tried in the fire, is purged from its alloy, and all remainders of dross, and comes forth more solid and beautiful; so true fiiith being tried as gold is tried in the fire, becomes more precious, and thus also is " found unto praise, and honor, and Vol, III 1 2 religious affections. glory." The apostle seems to have respect to each of these benefits, that perse¬ cutions are of to true religion, in the verse preceding the text. And in the text, the apostle observes how true religion operated in the Christians he wrote to, under their persecutions, whereby these benefits of perse¬ cution appeared in them ; or what manner of operation of true religion, in them, it was, whereby their religion, untler persecution, was manitLoted to be true religion, and eminently appeared in the genuine beauty and amiableness of true religion, and also appeared to be increased and purified, and so was like to be " found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." And there were two kinds of operation, or exercise of true religion, in them, under their sufferings, that the apostle takes notice of in the text, wherein these benefits appeared. 1. Love to Christ: " Whom having not ) et seen, ye love." The world was ready to wonder, what strange principle it was, that influenced them to expose themselves to so great sufferings, to foisake the things that were seen, and renounce all that was dear and pleasant, which was the object of sense. They seemed to the men of the world about them, as though they were beside themselves, and to act as though they hated themselves; there was nothing in their view, that could induce them thus to suffer, and support them under, and carry them through such trials. But although there was nothing that was seen, nothing that the world saw, or that the Christians themselves ever saw with their bodily eyes, that thus influenced and supported them, yet they had a supernatu¬ ral principle of love to something unseen; they loved Jesus Christ, for they saw him spiritually whom the world saw not, and whom they^ themselves had never seen with bodily eyes. 27"Joy in Christ. Though their outward sufferings were very grievous, yet their inward spiritual joys were greater than their sufferings; and these supported them, and enabled them to suffer with cheerfulness. There are two things which the apostle takes notice of in the text concern¬ ing this joy. 1. The manner in which it rises, the way in which Christ, though unseen, is the foundation of it, viz., by faith; which is the evidence of things not seen : " In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice." 2. The nature of this joy ; " unspeakable and full of glory." Unspeakable in the kind of it; very different from worldly joys, and carnal delights ; of a vastly more pure, sublime, and heavenly nature, being something supernatural, and truly divine, and so ineffably excellent; the. sublimity and exquisite sweetness of which, there were no words to set forth. Unspeakable also in degree j it pleasing God to give them this holy joy, with a liberal hand, and in large meas¬ ure, in their state of persecution. Their joy was full of glory. Although the joy was unspeakable, and no words were sufficient to describe it, yet something might be said of it, and no words more fit to represent its excellency than these, that it was full of glory ; or, as it is in the original, glorified joy. In rejoicing with this joy, their minds were filled, as it were, with a glorious brightness, and their natures exalted and perfected. It was a most worthy, noble rejoicing, that did not corrupt and de¬ base the mind, as many carnal joys do; but did greatly beautify and dignify it; it was a prelibation of the joy of heaven, that raised their minds to a degree ol heavenly blessedness ; it filled their minds with the light of God's glory, and made themselves to shine with some communication of that glory. Hence the prcmosition or doctrine, that I would raise from these words, is this: Doctrine. . True.religion., in great part, consists in holy affections. We see that the apostle, in observing and remarking the operations and ex- RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS; 3 ercises of religion in the Christians he wrote to, wherein their religion appeared to be true and of the right kind, when it had its greatest trial of what sort it was, being tried by persecution as gold is tried in the fire, and when their reli¬ gion not only proved true, but was most pure, and cleansed from its dross and mixtures of that which was not true, and when religion appeared in them n^ost in its genuine excellency and native beauty, and was found to praise, and honor; and glory ; he singles out the religious affections of love and joy, that were thea in exercise in them; these are the exercises of religion he takes notice of, wherein their religion did thus appear true and pure, and in its proper glory. Here 1 would, 1. Show what is intended by the affections. 2. Observe some things which make it evident, that a great part of .rte religion lies in the affections. I. It may be inquired, what the affections of the mind are ? I answer iJThe affections are no other than the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of_the soul. God has endued the soul with two faculties: one is that by which it is ca¬ pable of perception and speculation, or by which it discerns, and views, and judges of things ; which is called the understanding. The other faculty is that by which the soul does not merely perceive and view things, but is some way inclined with respect to the things it views or considers ; either is inclined to them, or is disinclined and averse from them_; or is the faculty by which the souljioes not behold things, ^ an indifferent unaffected spectator, but either as liking or disliking, pleased or displeased, approving or rejecting. This faculty is called by various names; it is sometimes called the inclination: and, as it has respect to the actions that are determined and governed by it, is called the ivill : and the mind, with regard to the exercises of this faculty, is often called the heart. The exercise of this faculty are of two sorts; either those by which the soul is carried out towards the things that are in view, in approving of them, being pleased with them, and inclined to them; or those in which the soul op¬ poses the things that are in view, in disapproving of them, and in being dis¬ pleased with them, averse from them, and rejecting them. And as the exercises of the inclination and will of the soul are various in their kinds, so they are much more various in their degrees. There are some exercises of pleasedness or displeasedness, inclination or disinclination, wherein the soul is carried but a little beyond a state of perfect indifference.—And ftiere are other degrees above this, wherein the approbation or dislike, pleasedness or aversion, are stronger, wherein we may rise higher and higher, till the soul comes to act vigorously and sensibly, and the actings of the soul are with that strength, that (through the^Jaws of_the union _which the^Creator has fixed between the soul and the body) the motion of the blood and animal spirits be¬ gird to be sensibly altered ; whence oftentimes arises some bodily sensation, es¬ pecially about the heart and vitals, that are the fountain of the fluids of the body : from whence it comes to pass, that the mind, with regard to the exer¬ cises of this faculty, perhaps in all nations and ages, is called the heart. And, it is to be noted, that they are these more vigorous and sensible exercises of this faculty that are called the affections. The will, and the affections of the soul, are not two faculties ; the affections are not essentially distinct from the will, nor do they differ from the mere act¬ ings of the will, and inclination of the soul, but only in the liveliness and sensi- leness of exercise. 4 RELIGIOUS VFFECTIONS. It must be confessed, that language is here somewhat imperfect, and the meaning of words in a considerable measure loose and unfixed, and not precise¬ ly limited by custom, which governs the use of language. In some sense, th' aflfection of the soul differs nothing at all from the will and inclination, and the will never is in any exercise any further than it is affected; it is not moved out of a state of perfect indifference, any otherwise than as it is affected one way or other, and acts nothing any further. But yet there are many actings of the will and inclination, that are not so commonly called affections: in every thing we do, wherein we act voluntarily, there is an exercise of the will and inclina¬ tion, it is our inclination that governs u^n our acdpnsj but all the actings of the inclination and will, in all our common actions of life, are not ordinarily called affections. Yet, what are commonly called affections are not essentially different from them, but only in the degree and manner of exercise. In every act of the will whatsoever, the soul either likes or dislikes, is either inclined or disinclined to what is in view: these are not essentially different from those affections of love and hatred : that liking or inclination of the soul to a thing, if it be in a high degree, and be vigorous and lively, is the very same thing with the affection of love ; and that disliking and disinclining, if in a greater degree, is the very same with hatred. In every act of the will for, or towards something not present, the soul is in some degree inclined to that thing ; and that inclin¬ ation, if in a considerable degree, is the very same with the affection of desire. And in every degree of the act of the will, wherein the soul approves of some¬ thing present, there is a degree of pleasedness; and that pleasedness, if it be in a considerable degree, is the very same with the affections of joy or delight. And if the will disapproves of what is present, the soul is in some degree displeased, and if that displeasedness be great, it is the very same with the affection of grief orsorrow. Such seems to be our nature, and such the laws of the union of soul am' body, that there never is in any case whatsoever, any lively and vigorous exer¬ cise of the will or inclination of the soul, without some effect upon the body, in some altpration of the motion of its fluids, and especially of the animal .spirits. And, on the other hand, from the same laws of the union of the_spul and^dyj the constitution of the body, and the motion of its fluids, may promote the exer- cise of the affections. But yet it is not the body, but the mind only, that is the proper seat of the affections. The body of man is no more capable of be¬ ing really the subject of love or hatred, joy or sorrow, fear or hope, than the body of a tree, or than the same body of man is capable of thinking and under¬ standing. As it is the soul only that has ideas, so it is the soul only that is pleased or displeased with its ideas. As it is the soul only that thinks, so it is tluj soul only that loves or hates, rejoices or is grieved at what it thinks of. Nor are these motions of the animal spirits, and fluids of the body, any thing proper¬ ly belonging to the nature of the affections, though they always accompany them, in the present state; but are only effects or concomitants of the affections that are entirely distinct from the affections themselves, and no way essential to them; so that an unbodied spirit may be as capable of love and hatred, joy or •sorrow, hope or fear, or other affections, as one that is united to a body. The affections and passions are frequently spoken of as the same; and yet in the more common use of speech, there is in some respect a difference ; and affection is a word that in its ordinary signification, seems to be something more extensive than passion, being used for all vigorous lively actings of the will or inclination; but passion for those that are more sudden, and whose effects on the animal spirits are more violent, and the mind more overpowered, and less in its own commajvl RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 5 As all the exeicises of the inclination and will, are either in approving and liking, or disapproving and rejecting; so the affections are of two sorts; they are those by which the soul is carried out to what is in view, cleaving' to it, or seeking it; or those by which it is averse from if, and opposes it. Of the former sort are love, desirCiJiope, joy, gratitude, complacence. Of the latter Tdnd are hatred, fear, anger, grief, and such like ; which it is need¬ less now to stand particularly to define. A nd there are some affections wherein there is a composition of each of the aforementioned, kinds of actings of the will; as in the affection of there is something of the former kind, towards the person suffering, and something of the latter towards what he suffers. And so in zeal, there is in it high appro¬ bation of some person or thing, together with vigorous opposition to what is conceived to be contrary to it. There are other mixed affections that might be also mentioned, but I hasten II. The second thing proposed, which was to observe some things that ren¬ der it evident, that true religion, in great part consists in the affections. And here, 1. What has been said of the nature of the affections makes this evident, and may be sufficient, without adding any thing further, to put this matter out of doubt; for who will deny that true religion consists in a great measure, in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart ? That religion which God requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference : God, in his word, greatly insists upon it, that we be good in earnest, " fer¬ vent in spirit," and our hearts vigorously engaged in religion: Rom. xii. 11, " Be ye fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Deut. x. 12, " And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul V and chap. vi. 4, 6, " Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord : And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy might." It is such a fervent vigorous engagedness of the heart in religion, that is the fruit of a real circumcision of the heart, or true re¬ generation, and that has the promises of life; Deut. xxx. 6," And the Lord thy God will ciroumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." If we be not in good earnest in religion, and our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing. The things of religion are so great, that there can be no suitableness in the exercises of our hearts, to their nature and importance, unless they be lively and powerfid. In nothing is vigor in the actings of our inclinations so requisite, as in religion; and in nothing is luke- warmness so odious. True religion is evermore a powerful thing; and the power of it appears, in the first place in the inward exercises of it in the heart, where is the principal and original seat of it. Hence true religion is called the power of godliness, in distinction from the external appearances of it, that are the form of it, 2 Tim. iii. 5 : " Having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it." The Spirit of God, in those that have sound and solid religion, is a spiiit of powerful holy affection ; and therefore, God is said " to have given the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," 2 Tim. i. 7. And such, when they receive the Spirit of God, in his sanctifying and saving influences, are said to be "baptize' with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;" by reason of the 6 RELIGlOLd AFFECTIONS, power and fervor of those exercises the Spirit of God excites in theL" hearts, whereby their hearts, when grace is in exercise, may be said to '' burn within themas is said of the disciples, Luke xxiv. 32. The business of religion is from time to time compared to those exercises, wherein men are wont to have their hearts and strength greatly exercised and engaged, such as running, wrestling or agonizing for a great pfiae-tuLcrowii, and fighting with strong enemies that seek our lives, and warring as those, that by violence take a city "or kingdom. And tlmugh true grace has vanous degrees, and there are some that are but babes in Christ, in whom the exercise of the inclination and will, towards divine and heavenly things, is comparatively weak; yet every one that has the power of godliness in his heart, has his inclinations and heart exercised towards God and divine things, with such strength and vigor that these holy exercises do prevail in him above all carnal or natural affections, and are effectual to over¬ come them: for every true disciple of Christ " loves him above father or mother, wife and children, brethren and sisters, houses and lands: yea, than his own life." From hence it follows, that wherever true religion is, there are vigorous exercises of the incfmation and will towards divine objects: but by what was said before, the vigorous, lively, and sensible exercises of the will, are no other than the affections of the soul. The Author of the human nature has not only given affections to men, but has made them very much the spring of men's actions. As the affections do not only necessarily belong to the human nature, but are a very great part of it 5 so (inasmuch as by regeneration persons are renewed in the whole man, •and sanctified throughout) holy affections do not only necessarily belong to true religion, but are a very great part of it. And as true religion is oF a practical nature, and God hath so constituted the human nature, that the affections are very much the spring of men's actions, this also shows, that true religion must ■consist very much in the affections. Such is man's nature, that he is very inactive, any otherwise than he is influenced by some affection, either love or hatred, desire, hope, fear, or some other >rhpse affections we spp tn hp thp springs that set men agoing, in all the affairs of life,, and engage them in all their pursuits: these are the things that put men forward, and carry them along, in all their worldly business; and especially are men excited and animated by these, in all affairs wherein they are earnestly engaged, and which they pursue with vigor. We see the world of mankind to be exceeding busy and active; and the affections of men are the springs of the motion : take away all love and hatred, all hope and fear, ah anger, zeal, and affectionate desii a, and the world would be, in a great measure motionless and dead j there would be no such thing as activity amongst mankind, or any earnest pursuit whatsoever. It is affection that engages the covetous man, and him that is greedy of worldly profits, in his pursuits; and it is by the affections, that the ambitious man is put forward in his pursuit of worldly glory; and it is the affections also that actuate the voluptuous man, in his pursuit of pleasure and sensual delights: the world continues, from age to age, in a conti¬ nual commotion and agitation, in a pursuit of these things j but take away all affection, and the spring of all this motion would be gone, and the motion itself would cease. And as in worldly things, worldly affections are very much the spring of men's motion and action; so in religious matters, the spring of their actions is very much religious affection; he that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion 3. Nothing is more manifest in fact, than that the things of religion take RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 7 nold of men's soulSi no further than ihey affect them. There are multitudes mat often hear the word of God, and therein hear of those things that are infinitely great and important, and that most nearly concern them, and all that is hearO seems to be wholly ineffectual upon them, and to make no alteration in their disposition or behavior; and the reason is, they are not affected with what they hear. There are many that often hear of the glorious perfections of God, his almighty power and boundless wisdom, his infinite majesty, and that holiness of God, by which he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, and the heavens are not pure in his sight, and of God's infinite good¬ ness and mercy, and hear of the great works of God's wisdom, power and goodness, wherein there appear the admirable manifestations of these perfec¬ tions ; they hear particularly of the unspeakable love of God and Christ, and of the great things that Christ has done and suffered, and of the great things of another world, of eternal misery in bearing the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and of endless blessedness and glory in the presence of God, and the enjoy¬ ment of his dear love; they also hear the peremptory commands of God, and his gracious counsels and warnings, and the sweet invitations of the gospel; I say, they often hear these things and yet remSin as they were before, with no sensible alteration in them, either in heart or practice, because they are not affected with what they hear; and ever will be so till they are affected.—I am bold to assert, that there never was any considerable change wrought in the mind or conversation of any person, by any thing of a religious nature, that ever he read, heard or saw, that had not his affections moved. Never was a natural man engaged earnestly to seek his salvation; never were any such brought to cry after wisdom, and lift up their voice for understanding, and to wrestle with God in prayer for mercy; and never was one humbled, and brought to the foot of God, from any thing that ever he heard or imagined of his own unworthiness and deserving of God's displeasure; nor was ever one induced to fly for refuge imtQ_Christ,_while his heart remained unaffected. Nor was there ever a saint awakehed out of a cold, lifeless frame, or recovered from a declin¬ ing state in religion, and brought back from a lamentable departure from God, without having his heart affected. And in a word, there never was any thing considerable brought to pass in the heart or life of any man living, by the things of religion, that had not his heart deeply affected by those things. 4. The holy Scriptures do everywhere place religion very much in the affec¬ tion ; such as fear, hope, love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compas¬ sion, and zeal. The Scriptures place much of religion in godly fear; insomuch, that it is often spoken of as the character of those that are truly religious persons, that they tremble at God's word, that they fear before him, that their flesh trembles for fear of him, and that they are afraid of his judgments, that his excellency makes them afraid, and his dread falls upon them, and the like: and a com- pellation commonly given the saints in Scripture, is " fearers of God," or," they that fear the Lord." And because the fear of God is a great part of true god¬ liness, hence true godliness in general, is very commonly called by the name of the fear of God ; as every one knows, that knows any thing of the Bible. So hope in God and in the promises of his word, is often spoken of in the Scripture, as a V(3-y considerable part of true religion. It is mentioned as one of the three great things of which religion consists, 1 Cor. xiii. 13. Hope in the Lord is also frequently mentioned as the character of the saints: Psal. cxlvi 5, " Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God." Jer. xvii. 7, " Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Loid, and s RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. whose hope the Lord is." Psal. xxxi. 24, " Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." And the like in many other places. Religious fear and hope are, once and again, joined together, as jointly constituting the character of the true saints; Psal. xxxiii. 18, " Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy." Psal. cxlvii. 11, " The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." Hope is so great a part of true religion, that the apostle says, " we are saved by hope," Rom. viii. 24. And this is spoken of as the helmet of the Christian soldier. 1 Thess. v. 8, " And for a helmet, the hope of salvation ;" and the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, which preserves it from being cast away by the storms of this evil world." Heb. vi. 19, " Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail." It is spoken of as a great fruit and benefit which true saints receive by Christ's resurrection: 1 Pet. 1. 3, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resur- reciiun of Jesus Christ from the dead." The Scriptures place religiort very much in the affection of love, in love to God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jove to the people of God, and to mankind. The texts in which this is manifest, both in the Old Testament and New, are innumerable. But of this more afterwards. The contrary affection of hatred also, as having sin for its object, is spoken of in Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion. It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished; Prov. viii. 13, " The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." And accordingly the saints are called upon to give evidence of their sincerity by this; Psal. xcvii. 10, "Ye that love the Lord hate evil." And the Psalmist often mentions it as an evidence of hia sincerity ; Psal. 2, 3, " I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes ; I hate the work of them that turn aside." Psal. cxix. 104, " I hate every false way." So ver. 127. Again, Psal. cxxxix 21, " Do I not hate them, 0 Lord, that hate theef" So holy desire, exercised in longings, hungerings, and thirstings after God and holiness, is often mentioned in Scripture as an important part of true reli¬ gion ; Isa. xxvi. 8, " The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remem¬ brance of thee." Psal. xxvii. 4, " One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple " Psal. xlii. 1, 2, " As the hartpanteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God ; my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall I come and appear before God V Psal. Ixiii. 1, 2, " My soul thirsteth for thee, my , ffesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power and thy glory, so as 1 have seen thee in the sanctuary." Psal. Ixxxiv. 1, 2, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Psal. cxix. 20, " My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times." So Psal. Ixxiii. 25, and cxliii. b, 7, and cxxx. 6. Cant. iii. 1, 2, and vi. 8. Such a holy desire and thirst of soul is mentioned, as one thing which renders or denotes a man truly blessed, in the beginning of Christ's sermon on the mount. Matt. v. 6 : " Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." And this ooly thirst is spoken of, as a great thing in the condition of a parti ipation of RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 9 the blessings of eternal life; Rev. xxi. 6, " I will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely." The Scriptures speak of holy joy, as a great part of true religion. So it is represented in the text. And as an important part of religion, it is often ex¬ horted to, and pressed, with great earnestness; Psal. xxxvii. 4, " Delight thy • self in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Psal. xcvii 12, " Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous." So Psal. xxxiii. I, " Rejoice in the Lord, 0 ye righteous." Matt. v. 12, " Rejoice, and be exceeding glad." Phil, hi. 1, " Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord." And chap. iv. 4, " Rejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say. Rejoice." 1 Thess. v. 16, " Rejoice ever¬ more." Psal. cxlix. 2, " Let Israel rejoice in him that made him ; let the children of Zion be joyful in their king." This is mentioned among the princi pal fruits of the Spirit of grace ; Gal. v. 21, " The fruit of the Spirit is love," &c. The Psalmist mentions his holy joy, as an evidence of his sincerity. Psal. cxix. 14, " I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches." Religious sorrow, mourning, and brokenness of heart, are also frequently spoken of as a great part of true religion. These things are often mentioned as distinguishing qualities of the true saints, and a great part of their character; Matt. V. 4, " Blessed are they that mourn ; for they shall be comforted." Psal. xxxiv. 18, " The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Isa. Ixi. 1, 2, " The Lord hath anointed me, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all that .mourn." This godly sorrow and brokenness of heart is often spoken of, not only as a great thing in the dis¬ tinguishing character of the saints, but that in them, which is peculiarly accep¬ table and pleasing to God; Psal. li. 17, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise." Isa. Ivii. 15, " Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, 1 dwell in the high and holy place ; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Chap. Ixvi. 2, " To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit." Another affection often mentioned, as that in the exercise of which much of true religion appears, \s gratitude; especially as exercised in thankfulness and praise to God. This being so much spoken of in the book of Psalms, and other parts of the holy Scriptures, I need not mention particular texts. Again, the holy Scriptures do frequently speak of compassion or mercy, as a very great and essential thing in true religion ; insomuch that good men are in Scripture denominated from hence; and a merciful man and a good man are equivalent terms in Scripture; Isa. Ivii. 1, " The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away." And the Scripture chooses out this quality, as that by which, in a peculiar manner, a righteous man is de¬ ciphered ; Psal. xxxvii. 21, " The righteous showeth mercy, and givethand ver. 26, " He is is ever merciful, and lendeth." And Prov. xiv. 21, " He that honoreth the Lord, hath mercy on the poor." AndCol.iii. 12, " Putye on,asthe elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies," &c. This is one of those great things by which those who are truly blessed are described by our Saviour; Matt. V. 7, " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." And this Christ also speaks of, as one of the weightier matters of the law ; Matt, xxiii. 23," Wo jnto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mer¬ cy, and faith." To the like purpose is that, Mic. vi. 8, " He hatn showed thee. 0 man, what is good : and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, Vol.. HI 2 10 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. and Inve mercy, and walk humbly with thy God 1" And also that, Hos. vi. 6, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice." Which seems to have been a text much delighted in by our Saviour, by his manner of citing it once and again. Matt. ix. 13, and xii. 7. Zeal is also spoken of, as a very essential part of the religion of true saints. It is spoken of as a great thing Christ had in view, in giving himself for our redemption; Tit. ii. 14, " Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." And this is spoken of, as the great thing wanting in the lukewarm Laodiceans, Rev. iii. 15, 16, 19. I have mentioned but a few texts, out of an innumerable multitude, all over the Scripture, which place religion very much in the affections. But what has been observed, may be sufficient to show that they who would deny that much of true religion lies in the affections, and maintain the contrary, must throw away what we have been wont to own for our Bible, and -get some other rule, by which to judge of the nature of religion. 5. The Scriptures do represent true religion, as being summarily compre- ' bended in love, the chief of the affections, and fountain of all other affections. So our blessed Saviour represents the matter, in answer to the lawyer, who asked him, which was the great commandment of the law Matt. xxii. 37—40 : " Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great command¬ ment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Which last words signify as much, as that these two commandments comprehend all the duty prescribed, and the religion taught in the law and the prophets. And the apostle Paul does from time to time make the same representation of the matter ; as in Rom. xiii. 8, " He that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law." And ver. 10, " Love is the fulfilling of the law." And Gal. v. 14, " For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor aS thyself." So likewise in 1 Tim i. 5, " Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart," &c. So the same apostle speaks of love, as the great¬ est thing in religion, and as the vitals, essence and soul of it; without which, the greatest know ledge and gifts, and the most glaring profession, and every thing else which appertains to religion, are vain and worthless ; and represents it as the fountain from whence proceeds all that is good, in 1 Cor. xiii. through¬ out ; for that which is there rendered charity, in the original is ayanri, the pro¬ per English of which is lave. Now, although it be true, that the love thus spoken of includes the whole of a sincerely benevolent propensity of the soul towards God and man ; yet it may be considered, that it is evident from what has been before observed, that this propensity or inclination of the soul, when in sensible and vigorous exer¬ cise, becomes affection, and is no other than affectionate love. And surely it is such vigorous and fervent love which Christ speaks of, as the sum of all reli¬ gion, when he speaks of loving God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds, and our neighbor as ourselves, as the sum of all th it was taught and prescribed in the law and the prophets. Indeed it cannot be supposed, when this aflPection of love is here, and in other Scriptures, spoken of as the sum of all religion, that hereby is meant the act, exclusive of the habit, or that the exercise of the unrierstanding is excluded, which is implied in all reasonable affection. But it is doubtless true, and evi¬ dent fiom these Scripture^hat the essence of all true religion lies in holy love; RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 11 and that in this divine aftection, and an habitual disposition to it, and that lipht which is the foundation of it, and those things which are the fruits of it, con¬ sists the whole of religion. From henCyC it clearly and certainly appears, that great part of true religion consists in the aff'ections.^^„,S. The same thing appears in the nalure and design of the sacraments, which God hath appointed. God, considering our frame, hath not only appointed that we should be told of the great things of the gospel, and of the redemption oi Christ, and instructed in them by his word; but also that they should be, as it were, exhibited to our view, in sensible representations, in the sacraments, the more to affect us with them. And the impressing divine things on the hearts and affections of men, is evidently one great and main end for which God has ordained that his word de¬ livered in the holy Scriptures, should be opened, applied, and set home upon men, in preaching. And therefore it does not answer the aim which God had in / this institution, merely for men to have good commentaries and expositions on the Scripture, and other good books of divinity; because, although these may tend as well as preaching to give men a good doctrinal or speculative under¬ standing of the things of the word of God, yet they have not an equal tendency to impress them on men's hearts and affections. God hath appointed a par¬ ticular and lively application of his v/ord to men in the preaching of it, as a fit means to affect sinners with the importance of the things of religion, and their own misery, and necessity of a remedy, and .the glory and sufficiency of a reme¬ dy provided; and to stir up the pure minds of the saints, and quicken their affections, by often bringing the great things of religion to their remembrance, and setting them before them in their proper colors, though they know them, and have been fully instructed in them already, 2 Pet. i. 12, 13. And particu¬ larly, to promote those two affections in them, which are spoken of in the text, love and joy: " Christ gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; that the body of Christ might-be edified in love," Eph. iv. 11, 12, 16. The apostle in instructing and counselling Timothy concerning the work of the ministry, informs him that the great end of that word which a minister is to preach, is love or charity, 1 Tim. 3, 4, 5 And another affection which God has appointed preaching as a means to promote in the saints, is joy ; and therefore ministers are called " helpers of their joy," 2 Cor. i. 24. 10. It is an evidence that true religion, or holiness of heart, lies very much in the affection of the heart, that the Scriptures place the sin of the heart very much in hardness of heart. Thus the Scriptures do everywhere. It was hard¬ ness of heart which excited grief and displeasu -e in Christ towards the Jews, Mark iii. 5; " He looked round about on then with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." It is from men's Laving such a heart as this, that they treasure up wrath for themselves; Rom. ii. 5, " After thy hardness and im- nenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." The reason given why the house of Israel would not obey God, was, that they were hard-hearted: Ezekiel iii. 7, " But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee ; for they will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted." The wick¬ edness of that perverse rebellious generation in the wilderness, is ascribed to the hardness of their hearts ; Psal. xcv. 7—10, "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work : forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said. It is a people that do err in their heart," &c. This is spoken of as what prevented Zedekiah's turning to the Lord: 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13," He stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning to the Lord God of Israel." This principle is spoken of, as that from whence men are without the fear of God, and depart from God's RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. ways; Isa. .xiii 17, " 0 Lord, why hast thou mace us to err from thy v^ys and hardened our heart from thy fear ?" And men's rejecting Christ, and op¬ posing Christianity, is laid to this principle : Acts xix. 9, " But when dhen were hardened, and believed not, hut spake evil of that way before the multi¬ tude." God's leaving men to the power of the sin and corruption of the heart is often expressed by God's hardening their hearts : Rom. ix. 18, " Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." John xii. 40, " He hath blinded their minds, and hardened their hearts." And the apostle seems to speak of " an evil heart that departs from the living God, and a hard heart," as the same thing : Heb. iii. 8, " Harden not your heart, as in the provocation," &c.; ver. 12, 13," Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God : but exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day; lest any of you b^e hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." And that great work of God in conversion, which consists in delivering a person from the power of sin, and mortifying corruption, is expressed, once and again, by God's " taking away the heart of stone, and giv¬ ing a heart of flesh," Ezek. xi. 19, and chap, xxxvi. 26. Now by a hard heart,is plainly meant an unaffected heart, or a heart not easy to be moved with virtuous affections, like a stone, insensible, stupid, unmoved, and hard to be impressed. Hence the hard heart is called a stony heart, and is opposed to a heart of flesh, that has feeling, and is sensibly touched and moved We read in Scripture of a hard heart, and a tender heart; and doubtless we are to understand these, as contrary the one to the other. But what is a tendei heart, but a heart which is easily impressed with what ou_ght to affect it ? God commends Josiah, because his heart was tender; and it is evident by those things which are mentioned as expressions and evidences of this tenderness ol heart, that by his heart being tender is meant, his heart being easily moved with religious and pious affection; 2 Kings xxii. 19, " Because thine heart was ten¬ der, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what ' spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they shouk become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me, 1 also have heard thee, saith the Lord." And this is one thing, wherein it is necessary we should " become as little children, in order to our entering into the kingdom of God," even that we should have our hearts tender, and easily at • fected and moved in spiritual and divine things, as little children have in oth« things. It is very plain in some places, in the texts themselves, that by hardness of heart is meant a heart void of affection. So, to signify the ostrich's being without natural affection to her young, it is said, Job xxxix. 16, " She harden¬ eth her heart against her young ones, as though they were not hers." So a per¬ son having a heart unaffected in time of danger, is expressed by his hardening his heart: Prov. xxviii. 14, " Happy is the man that feareth alway j but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief." Now, therefore, since it is so plain, that by a hard heart, in Scripture, is meant a heart destitute of pious affections, and since also the Scriptures do so frequently place the sin and corruption of the heart in hardness of heart; it is evident, that the grace and holiness of the heart, on the contrary, must, in a great measure, consist in its having pious affections, and being easily suscep¬ tive of such affection. Divines are generally agreed, that sin radically and fundamentally consist in what is negative, or privative, having its root and foundation in a privation or want of holiness. And therefore undoubtedly, if it be so that sin does very much consist in hardness of heart, and so in the want of Vol. HI. -3 18 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, pious aflections of heart, holiness does consist very much in those pious affec tions. I am far from supposing that all affections do show a tender heart: hatred. anger, vainglory, and other selfish and self-exalting affections, may greatly pre¬ vail in the hardest heart. But yet it is evident, that hardness of heart and tenderness of heart, are expressions that relate to the affection of the heart, and denote the heart's heing susceptible of, or shut up against certain affections ; of which I shall have occasion to speak more afterwards. Upon the whole, I think it clearly and abundantly evident, that true religion Jies very much in the affections. Not that I think these arguments prove, that ' religion in the hearts of the truly godly, is ever in exact proportion to the degree \ of affection, and present emotion of the mind : for undoubtedly, there is much / affection in the true saints which is not spiritual; their religious affections are often mixed; all is not from grace, but much from nature. And though the affections have not their seat in the body; yet the constitution of the body may very much contribute to the present emotion of the mind. And the degree of religion is rather to be judged of by the fixedness and strength of the habit that is exercised in affection, whereby holy affection is habitual, than by the degree of the present exercise ; and the strength of that habit is not always in proportion to outward effects and manifestations, or inward effects, in the hurry and vehemence, and sudden changes of the course of the thoughts of the mind But j;etJLis. evident, that, religion consists SO much in affection, as that without holy affectjo^ there is no true religion; and ndlighrin the" tmderstanding is jypod, which doesnnot"j^o3uce"Ebly affection m the heart: no habit or principle in the heartTs good, which has no such exercise; and no external fruit is good, which does not proceed from such exercises. Having thus considered the evidence of the proposition laid down, I proceed to some inferences. 1. We may hence learn how great their error is, who are for discarding at- religious affections, as having nothing solid or substantial in them. There seems to be too much of a disposition this way, prevailing in this land at this time. Because many who, in the late extraordinary season, appeared to have great religious affections, did not manifest a right temper of mind, and run into many errors, in the time of their affections, and the heat of their zeal; and because the high affections of many seem to be so soon come to nothing, and some who seemed to be mightily raised and swallowed up with joy and zeal, for a while, seem to have returned like the dog to his vomit • hence religious af¬ fections in general are grown out^of credit with great numbers, as though true religion did not at all consist in them. Thus we easily and naturally run from one extreme to another. A little while ago we were in the other extreme ; there was a prevalent disposition to look upon all high religious affections as eminent exercises of true grace, without much inquiring into the nature and source of those affections, and the manner in which they arose; if persons did but appear to be indeed very much moved and raised, so as to be full of re¬ ligious talk, and express themselves with great warmth and earnestness, and to be filled, or to be very full, as the phrases were; it was too much the manner, without further examination, to conclude such persons were full of the Spirit of God, and had eminent experience of his gracious influences. This was the ex¬ treme which was prevailing three or four years ago. But of late, instead of esteeming and admiring all religious affections without distinction, it is a thing much more prevalent, to reject and discard all without distinction. Herein appears the sul tilty of Satan. While he saw that affections were much in vogue RELIGIOUS AFFECnONb 19 knowing the greater part of the land were not versed in sucn things, and han not had much experience of great religious affections to enable them to judge I well of them, and distinguish between true and false; then he knew he could best play his game, by sowing tares amongst the wheat, and mingling falst affections with the works of God's Spirit: he knew this to be a likely wa^ to delude and eternally ruin many souls, and greatly to wound religion in the saints, and entangle them in a dreadful wilderness, and by and by, to bring all religion into disrepute. But now, when the ill consequences of these false affections appear, and it is become very apparent, that some of those emotions which made a glaring show, and were by many greatly admired, were in reality nothing ; the i devil sees it to be for his interest to go another way to work, and to endeavor to his utmost to propagate and establish a persuasion, that all affections and sensible emotions of the mind, in things of religion, are nothing at all to be re¬ garded, but are rather to be avoided, and carefully guarded against, as things of a pernicious tendency. This he knows is the way to bring all religion to a mere lifeless formality, and effectually shut out the power of godliness, and every thing which is spiritual, and to have all true Christianity turned out of doors. For although to true religion there must indeed be something else besides affec- tion ; ypj true reTigion conists SO much in the~a3^tlons7that there cainie~rio~" true religion without them. He wT)b~has no religious affectibnTis in a slate^tff— spiritual death, andls"wholly destitute of the powerful, quickenmg, saving in¬ fluences of the Spirit of God upon his heart. As there is no true religion where ihere is nothing else hut affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection. As on the one hand, there must be light in the understand¬ ing, as welTas mi affected fervent heart; where there is heat without light, there can be nothing divine or heavenly in that heart; so on the other hand, where there is a kind of light without heat, a head stored with notions and speculations, with a cold and unaffected heart, there can be nothing divine in that light, that knowledge is no true spiritual knowledge of divine things. If tlie great things of religion are rightly understood, they will affect the heart. The reason why men are not affected by such infinitely great, important, glorious, and wonderful things, as they often hear and read of, in the word of God, is undoubtedly be¬ cause they are blind ; if they were not so, it would be impossible, and utterly inconsistent with human nature, that their hearts should be otherwise than strongly impressed, and greatly moved by such things. This manner of slighting all religious affections, is the way exceedingly to harden the hearts of men, and to encourage them in their stupidity and senseless¬ ness, and to keep them in a state of spiritual death as long as they live, and bring them at last to death eternal. The prevailing prejudice against religious af¬ fections at this day, in the land, is apparently of awful effect to harden the nearts of sinners, and damp the graces of many of the saints, and stun the life and power of religion, and preclude the effect of ordinances, and hold us down in a state of dulness and apathy, and undoubtedly causes many persons greatly to offend God, in entertaining mean and low thoughts of the extraordinary work he has lately wrought in this land. And for persons to despise and cry down all religious affections, is the way to shut all religion out of their own hearts, and to make thorough work in ruin¬ ing their souls. They who condemn high affections in others, are certainly not likely to have high affections themselves. And let it be considered, that they who have but little religious affection, have certainlv but little religion. And they who con- 20 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. demn others lor their religious affections, and have none themselves, have nc religion. There are false affections, and there are true. _A man's having much^- fection, does not prove thatTieTras any true religion: but if he has no affection, it proves that he has no true religion. The right way, is not to reject all affeo tions, nor to approve all; but to distinguish between affections, approving some, and rejecting others; separating between the wheat and the chaff, the gold and the dross, the precious and the vile. 2. If it be so, that true religion lies much in the affections, hence we may infer, that such means are to be desired, as have much of a tendency to move the affections. Such books, and .such a way of preaching the word, and admin¬ istration of ordinances, and such a way of worshipping God in prayer, and singing praises, is much to be desired, as has a tendency deeply to affect the hearts of those who attend these means. Such a kind of means would formerly have been highly approved of, and applauded by the generality of the people of the land, as the most excellent and profitable, and having the greatest tendency to promote the ends of the means of grace. But the prevailing taste seems of late strangely to be altered : that pathetical manner of praying and preaching, which would formerly have been admired and extolled, and that for this reason, because it had such a tendency to move the affections, now, in great multitudes, immediately excites disgust, and moves no other affections, that those of displeasure and contempt. Perhaps, formerly the generality (at least of the common people) were in Jie extreme, of looking too much to an affectionate address, in public perform¬ ances ; but now, a very great part of the people seem to have gone far into a contrary extreme. Indeed there may be such means, as may have a great ten¬ dency to stir up the passions of weak and ignorant persons, and yet have no great tendency to benefit their souls : for though they may have a tendency to excite affections, they may have little or none to excite gracious affections, or any affections tending to grace. But undoubtedly, if the things of religion, in the means used, are treated according to their nature, and exhibited truly, so as tends to convey just apprehensions, and a right judgment of them; the more they have a tendency to move the affections the better. 3. If true religion lies much in the affections, hence we may learn, what great cause we have to be ashamed and confounded before God, that we are no more affected with the great things of religion. It appeare from what has been said, that this arises from our having so little true religion. God has given to mankind affections, for the same purpose which he has given all the faculties and principles of the human soul for, viz., that they might be subservient to man's chief end, and the great business for which God has cre¬ ated him, that is, the business of religion. And_y^^ how common usjLamong mankind, that_their affections are much more exercised and engaged in other matters, than in religion 1 In things which concern men's worldly jnter^t, their outward delights, their honor and reputationTand'theif^MturaTrelations, they have their desires eager, their appetites vehement, their love warm and af¬ fectionate, their zeal ardent; in these things their hearts are tender and sensi¬ ble, easily moved, deeply impressed, much concerned, very sensibly affected, and greatly engaged; much depressed with grief at worldly losses, and highly rais¬ ed with joy at worldly successes and prosperity. But how insensible and un¬ moved are most men, about the great things of another world ! How dull are their affections! How heavy and hard their hearts in these matters ! Here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude smalL RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 21 How they can sit and hear of the infinite height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, of his giving his infinitely dear Son, to be offered up a sacrifice for the sins of men, and of the unparalleled love of the innocent, and holy, and tender Lamb of God, manifested in his dying ago¬ nies, his bloody sweat, his loud and bitter cries, and bleeding heart, and all this for enemies, to redeem them from deserved, eternal burnings, and to bring to un¬ speakable and everlasting joy and glory; and yet be cold, and heavy, insensible, and regardless ! Where are the exercises of our affections proper, if not here'? What is it that does more require them 1 And what can be a fit occasion of their lively and vigorous exercise, if not such a one as this 1 Can any thing be set in our view, greater and more important ? Any thing more wonderful and surprising ? Or more nearly concerning our interest 1 Can we suppose the wise Creator implanted such principles in the human nature as the affections, to be of use to us, and to be exercised on certain proper occasions, but to lie still on such an occasion as this 1 Can any Christian who believes the truth of these things, entertain such thoughts 1 If we ought ever to exercise our affections at all, and if the Creator has not unwisely constituted the human nature in making these principles a part of it, when they are vain and useless; then they ought to be exercised about those objects which are most worthy of them. But is there any thing which Chris¬ tians can find in heaven or earth, so worthy to be the objects of their admira¬ tion and love, their earnest and longing desires, their hope, and their rejoicing, and their ferm ent zeal, as those things that are held forth to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ? In which not only are things declared most worthy to affect us, but they are exhibited in the most affecting manner. The glory and beauty of the blessed Jehovah, which is most worthy in itself, to be the object of our ad¬ miration and love, is there exhibited in the most affecting manner that can be conceived of, as it appears, shining in all its lustre, in the face of an incarnate, infinitely loving, meek, compassionate, dying Redeemer. All the virtues of the Lamb of God, his humility, patience, meekness, submission, obedience, love and compassion, are exhibited to our view, in a manner the most tending to move our affections, of any that can be imagined; as they all had their greatest trial, and their highest exercise, and so their brightest manifestation, when he was in the most affecting circumstances ; even when he was under his last suf¬ ferings, those unutterable and unparalleled sufferings he endured, from his tender love and pity to us. There also the hateful nature of our sins is manifested in the most affecting manner possible : as we see the dreadful effects of them, in what our Redeemer, who undertook to answer for us, suffered for them. And there we have the most affecting manifestation of God's hatred of sin, and his wrath and justice in punishing it; as we see his justice in the strictness and in- flexibleness of it; and his wrath in its terribleness, in so dreadfully punishing our sins, in one who was infinitely dear to him, and loving to us. So has God disposed things, in the affair of our redemption, and in his glorious dispensations, revealed to us in the gospel, as though every thing were purposely contrived in such a manner, as to have the greatest possible tendency to reach our hearts in the most tender part, and move our affections most sensibly and strongly. How great cause have we therefore to be humbled to the dust, that we are no more itfected ! 22 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. PART II. hkowinq what are no certain signs that religious affections are trulf oba. cioos, or that they are not. If any one, on the reading of what has been just now said, is ready to acquit himself, and say, " I am not one of those who have no religious affections ; 1 am often greatly moved with the consideration of the great things of religion Jet him not content himself with this, that he has religious affections: for as we observed before, as we ought not to reject and condemn all affections, as though true religion did not at all consist in affection ; so on the other hand, we ought not to approve of all, as though every one that was religiously affected had true grace, and was therein the subject of the saving inUuences of the Spirit of God; and that therefore the right way is to distinguish among religious affec¬ tions, between one sort and another. Therefore let us now endeavor to do this; and in order to do it, I would do iwo things. I. I would mention some things, which are no signs one way or the other, either that affections are such as true religion consists in, or that they are other¬ wise ; that we may be guarded against judging of affections by false signs. II. I would observe some things, wherein those affections which are spir¬ itual and gracious, differ from those which are not so, and may be distinguished and known. First, I would take notice of some things, which are no signs that affec¬ tions are gracious, or that they are not. I. It is no sign one way or the other, that religious affections are very great, or raised very high. Some are ready to condemn all high affections: if persons appear to have their religious affections raised to an extraordinary pitch, they are prejudiced against them, and determine that they are delusions, without further inquiry. But if it be, as has been proved, that true religion lies very much in religious affections, then it follows, that if there be a great deal of true religion, there will be great religious affections; if true religion in the hearts of men be raised to a great height, divine and holy affections will be raised to a great height Love is an affection, but will any Christian say, men ought not to love God «ind Jesus Christ in a high degree 1 And will any say, we ought not to have a very great hatred of sin, and a very deep sorrow for it 1 Or that we ought not to exercise a high degree of gratitude to God for the mercies we receive of him, and the great things he has done for the salvation of fallen men 1 Or that we should not have very great and strong desires after God and holiness 1 Is there any who will profess, that his affections in religion are great enough; and will say, " I have no cause to be humbled, that I am no more affected with the things of religion than 1 am ; I have no reason to be ashamed, that I have no greater exercises- of love to God and sorrow for sin, and gratitude for the mer¬ cies which I have received V Who is there that will bless God that he is affected enough with what he has read and heard of the wonderful love of God to worms and rebels, in giving his only begotten Son to die for them, and of the dying love of Christ; and will pray that he may not be affected with them in any higher degree, because high affections are improper, and very unlovely in Christians, being enthusiastical, and ruinous to true religion 7 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 23 Our text plainly speaks of great and high affections when it spiaks of" re- joi;.,ing with joy unspeakable, and full of gloryhere the most superlative expressions are used, which language will afford. And the Scriptures often require us to exercise very high affections: thus in the first and great command¬ ment of the law, there is an accumulation of expressions, as though words were wanting to express the degree in which we ought to love God : " Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy min11. Sorrows for the afflictions of the church, and desires for ihe conversion of souls, do not prove it These things may be found in carnal men, and so can be no evidence of grace."—Stoddard's Isatmi of Conversfion 1. 82. 38 BELIGI0U3 AFFECTIONS. Many persons seem to be prejudiced against affections and expeiLencps that come in such a method, as has been much insisted on by many divines; first, such awakenings, fears, and awfuj apprehensions, followed with such legal humblings, in a sense of total sinfulness and helplessness, and then, such and sych light and comfort; they look upon all such schemes, laying down such methods and steps, to be of men's devising; and particularly if high affections of joy follow great distress and terror, it is made by many an argument against those affections. But such prejudices and objections are without reason or Scripture. Surely it cannot be unreasonable to suppose, that before God deli¬ vers persons from a state of sin and exposedness to eternal destruction, he should give them some considerable sense of the evil he delivers from ; that they may be delivered sensibly, and understand their own salvation, and know something of what God does for them. As men that are saved are in two exceeding dif¬ ferent states, first a state of condemnation, and then in a state of justification and blessedness ; and as God, in the work of the salvation of mankind, deals with them suitably to their intelligent rational nature ; so its seems reasonable, and agreeable to God's wisdom, that men who are saved should be in these two states sensibly; first, that they should, sensibly to themselves, be in a state of condemnation, and so in a state of woful calamity and dreadful misery, and so afterwards in a state of deliverance and happiness; and that they should be first sensible of their absolute extreme necessity, and afterwards of Christ's suf¬ ficiency and God's mercy through him. And that it is God's manner of dealing with men, to " lead them into a wilderness, before he speaks comfortably to them," and so to order it, that they shall be brought into distress, and made to see their own helplessness and abso¬ lute dependence on his power and grace, before he appears to work any great deliverance for them^ is abundantly manifest by the Scripture. Then is God wont to " repent himself for his professing people, when their strength is gone, and there is none shut up or left," and when they are brought to see that their false gods cannot help them, and that the rock in whom they trusted is vain, Deut. xxxii. 36, 37. Before God delivered the children of Israel out of Eg)'pt, they were prepared for it, by being made to " see that they were in an evil case," and to cry unto God, because of their hard bondage," Exod. ii. 23, and v. 19. And before God wrought that great deliverance for them at the Red Sea, they were brought intc great distress, the wilderness had shut them in, they could not turn to the right hand nor the left, and the Red Sea was before them, and the great Egyptian host behind, and they were brought to see that they could do nothing to help themselves, and that if God did not help them, they should be immediately swallowed up; and then God appeared, and turned their cries into songs. So before they were brought to their rest, and to enjoy the milk and honey of Canaan, God " led them through a great and terrible wilderness, that he might humble them and teach them what was in their heart, and so do them good in their latter end," Deut. viii. 2, 16. The woman that had the issue of blood twelve years, was not delivered, until she had first " spent all her living on earthly physicians, and could not be healed of any," and so was left helpless, having no more money to spend ; and then she came to the great Phy¬ sician, without any money or price, and was healed by him, Luke viii. 43, 44. Before Christ would answer the request of the woman of Canaan, he first seem¬ ed utterly to deny her, and humbled her, and brought her to own herself worthy to be called a dog; and then he showed her mercy, and received her as a dear child. Matt. xv. 22, &c. The Apostle Paul, before a remarkable deliverance was " pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that he despaired even RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 39 of life ; but had the sentence of death in himself, that he might not trust in him¬ self, but in God that raiseth the dead," 2 Cor. i. 8, 9, 10. There was fust a great tempest, and the .ship was covered with the waves, and just ready to sink, ind the disciples were brought to cry to Jesus, " Lord save us, we peiish and ihen the winds and seas were rebuked, and there was a great calm. Matt, viii 24, 25, 26. The leper, before he is cleansed, must have his mouth slopped, by a covering on his upper lip, and was to acknowledge his great misery and utter uncleanness, by rending his clothes, and crying, " Unclean, unclean," Lev. xiii. 45. And backsliding Israel, before God heals them, are brought to " acknow¬ ledge that they have sinned, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord,*' and to see that " they lie down in their shame, and that confusion covers them," and " that in vain is salvation hoped for from the lulls, and from the multitude of mountains," and that God only can save them, Jer. iii. 23, 24, 25. Joseph, who was sold by his brethren, and therein was a type of Christ, brings his brethren into great perplexity and distress, and brings them to reflect on their sin, and to say. We are verily guilty; and at last to resign up themselves en¬ tirely into his hands for bondmen; and then reveals himself to them, as their brother and their saviour. And if we consider those extraordinary manifestations which God made of himself to saints of old, we shall find that he commonly first manifested himself in a way which was terrible, and then by those things that were comfortable. So it was with Abraham ; first, a horror of great darkness fell upon him, and then God revealed himself to him in sweet promises. Gen. xv. 12, 13. So it was with Moses at Mount Sinai; fiist, God appeared to him in all the terrors of his dreadful Majesty, so that Moses said, " 1 exceedingly fear and quake," and then he made all his goodness to pass before him, and proclaimed his name, " The Lord God gracious and merciful," &c. So it was with Elijah; first, there is a stormy wind, and earthquake, and devouring fire, and then a still, small, sweet voice, 1 Kings xix. So it was with Daniel ; he first saw Christ's coun¬ tenance as lightning, that terrified him, and caused him to faint away; and then he is strengthened and refreshed with such comfortable words as these, " 0 Dan- niel, a man greatly beloved," Dan. x. So it was with the apostle John, Rev. i. And there is an analogy observable in God's dispensations and deliverances which he works for his people, and the manifestations which he makes of him¬ self to them, both ordinary and extraordinary. But there are many things in Scripture which do more directly show, that this is God's ordinary manner in working salvation for the souls of men, and in the manifestations God makes of himself and of his mercy in Christ, in the or¬ dinary wmrks of his grace on the hearts of sinners. The servant that owed his prince ten thousand talents, is first held to his debt, and the king pronounces sentence of condemnation upon him, and commands him to be sold, and his wife and children, and payment to be made ; and thus he humbles him, and brings him to own the whole of the debt to be just, and then forgives him all. The prodigal son spends all he has, and is brought to see himself in extreme circum¬ stances, and to humble himself, and own his unworthiness, before he is relieved and feasted by his father, Luke xv. Old inveterate wounds must be searched to the bottom, in order to healing : and the Scripture compares sin, the wound of the soul, to this, and speaks of healing this wound without thus searching of it, as vain and deceitful, Jer. vii. 11. Christ, in the work of his grace on the hearts of men, is compared to rain on the new mown grass, grass that is cut down with a scythe, Psal, Ixxii. 6, representing his refreshing, comforting influences on the wounded spirit. Our first parents, after they had sinned, were first terri- 40 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. fied witli God's majesty and justice, and had their sin, with its aggravations, set before them by their Judge, before they where relieved by the promise of the seed of the woman. Christians are spoken of as those " that have fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them," Heb. vi. 18, which representation implies great fear and sense of danger, preceding. To the like purpose, Christ is called " a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, and as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land," Isa. xxxii. at the beginning. And it seems to be the natural import of the word gospel, glad tidings, that it is news of deliverance and salvation, after great fear and distress. There is also reason to suppose, that God deals with particular believers, as he dealt with his church, which he first made to hear his voice in the law, with terrible thunders and lightnings, and kept her under that schoolmaster to prepare her for Christ; and then comforted her with the joyful sound of the gospel from Mount Zion. So likewise John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Christ, and prepare men's hearts for his reception, by show¬ ing them their sins, and by bringing the self-righteous Jews off' from their own righteousness, telling them that they were " a generation of vipers," and showing them their danger of " the wrath to come," telling them that " the axe was laid at the root of the trees," &c. And if it be indeed God's manner (as I think the foregoing considerations show that it undoubtedly is), before he gives men the comfort of a deliverance from their sin and misery, to give them a considerable sense of the greatness and dreadfulness of those evils, and their extreme wretchedness by reason of them ; surely it is not unreasonable to suppose, that persons, at least oftentimes, while under these views, should have great distresses and terrible apprehensions of mind j especially if it be considered what these evils are that they have a view of; which are no other than great and manifold sins, against the infinite majesty of the great Jehovah, and the suffering of the fierceness of his wrath to all eternity. And the more so still, when we have many plain instances in Scripture of persons that have actually been brought into great distress, by such convictions, before they have received saving consolations : as the multitude at Jerusalem, who were " pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles. Men and brethren, what shall we do V And the apostle Paul, who trembled and was astonished, before he was comforted ; and the gaoler, when " he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved 1" From these things it appears to be very unreasonable in professing Chris¬ tians to make this an objection against the truth and spiritual nature of the comfortable and joyful affections which any have, that they follow such awful apprehensions and distresses as have been mentioned. And, on the other hand, it is no evidence that comforts and joys are right, because they succeed great terrors, and amazing fears of hell.* This seems to be what some persons lay a great weight upon ; esteeming great terrors an evi¬ dence of the great work of the law wrought on the heart, well preparing the way for solid comfort; not considering that terror and a conviction of conscience are different things. For though convictions (ffjconscience do ofteryjai^e terror ; yet they do not consist in it; and terrors do often arise from other causes. Con¬ viction' of conscience, through the influences of God's Spirit, consist in conviction ^ Mr. Shcpard speaks of " men's being cast down as low as hell by sorrow and lying under ehains •|uaking in apprehension of terror to come, and then raised up to heaven in joy, not able to live i and yet •ot rent from lust: and s'lch arc oKj« cts of pity now, and are like to lie the objects of terror at the great day"—Parabltof the Ten ViT^ins Par L p. 125. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 41 of sinfulness of heart and practice, and of the dreadfulness of sin, as committed against a God of terrible majesty, infinite holiness and hatred of sin,^ and strict justice in punisning of it. But there are some persons that have frightful apprehensions of hell, a dreadful pit ready to swallow them up, and (lames just ready to lay hold of them, and devils around them, ready to seize them; who at the same time seem to have very little proper enlightenings of conscience really convincing them of their sinfulness of heart and life. The devil, if per- mitted, can territy men as well as the Spirit of God ; it is a work natural to him, and he has many ways of doing it, in a manner tending Jo no good. He may exceedingly affrignt persons, by impressing on them images and ideas of many external things, of a countenance frowning, a sword drawn, black clouds of vengeance, words of an awful doom pronounced,* hell gaping, devils coming, and the like, not to convince persons of things that are true, and revealed in the word of God, but to lead them to vain and groundless determi¬ nations ; as that their day is past, that they are reprobated, that God is implaca ble, that he has come to a resolution immediately to cut them off, &.c. And the terrors which some persons have, are very much owing to the par¬ ticular constitution and temper they are of. Nothing is more manifest than that some persons are of such a. temper and frame, that their imaginations are more strongly impressed with eveiy thing they are affected with, than others ; and the impression on the imagination reacts on the affection, and raises that still higher; and so affection and imagination act reciprocally, one on another, till their af¬ fection is raised to a vast height, and the person is swallowed up, and loses a* possession of himself.f And some speak of a great sight they have of their wickedness, who really, when the matter comes to be well examined into and thoroughly weighed, are found to have little or no convictions of conscience. They tell of a dreadful hard heart, and how their heart lies like a stone ; when truly they have none of those things in their minds or thoughts, wherein the hardness of men's heart does really consist. They tell of a dreadful load and sink of sin, a heap of black and loathsome filthiness within them; when, if the matter be carefully inquired into, they have not in view any thing wherein the corruption of nature doe® truly consist, nor have they any thought of any particular thing wherein their hearte are sinfully defective, or fall short of what ought to be in them, or any exercises at all of corruption in them. And many think also they have great convictions of their actual sins, who truly have none. They tell how their sins are set in order before them, they see them starid encompassing them round in a row, with a dreadful, frightful appearance; when really they have not so much as one of the sins they have been guilty of in the course of their lives, coming into view, that they are affected with the aggravations of. And if persons have had great terrors which really have been from the awakening and convincing influences of the Spirit of God, it doth not th^ence follow that their terrors must needs issue in true comfort. The unmor-tified cor¬ ruption of the heart may quench the Spirit of God (after he has been striving) " " The way of the Spirit's working when it does convince men, is by enlightening natural conscience. The Sp irit does not work by giving a testimony, but by assisting natural conscience to do its work. Natural conscience is the instrument in the hand of God to accuse, condemn, terrify, and to urge to duty. The Spirit of God leads men into the consideration of their danger, and makes them to be affected there with ; Prov. xx. 17, " The spirit of man is the candle of the Tjord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.** Stoddard's Guide to Christ, page 44. t The famous Mr. Perkins distinguishes between " those sorrows that come through convictions of ronscience, and melancholic passions arising only from mere imagination, strongly cmceivtd in the t)rain; v hi< h, he says, usually come via sudden Hke lightning into a house."—Vol I. of his works page 385. Voi. III. 6 42 RELIGIOUS AFFitTIONS. by leading men to presumptuous, and self-exalting hopes and joys, as well as otherwise. It is not every woman who is really in travail, that brings forth a real child; but it may be a monstrous production, without any thing of the form or properties of human nature belonging to it. Pharaoh's chief baker, after he had lain in the dungeon with Joseph, had a vision that raised his hopes, and he was lifted out of the dungeon, as well as the chief butler j but it was to be hanged. But if comforts and joys do not only come after great terrors and awaken¬ ings, but there be an appearance of such preparatory convictions and humilia¬ tions, and brought about very distinctly, by such steps, and in such a method, as has frequently been observable in true converts; this is no certain sign that the light and comforts which follow are true and saving. And for these follow¬ ing reasons: First, As the devil can counterfeit all the saving operations and graces of the Spirit of God, so he can counterfeit those operations that are preparatory to grace. If Satan can counterfeit those effects of God's Spirit, which are special, divine and sanctifying, so that there shall be a very great resemblance, in all that can be observed by others; much more easily may he imitate those works of God's Spirit which are common, and which men, while they are yet his own children, are the subjects of. These works are in no wise so much above him as the other. There are no works of God that are so high and divine, and above the powers of nature, and out of reach of the power of all creatures,jis. those works of his Spirit, whereby he forms the creature in his own image, and makes it to be a partaker of the divine nature. But if the devil can be the author of such resemblances of these as have been spoken of, without doubt he may of those that are of an infinitely inferior kind. And it is abundantly evident in fact, that there are false humiliations and false submissions, as well as false comforts.* How far was Saul brought, though a very wicked man, and of a haughty spirit, when he (though a great king) was brought, in conviction of his sin, as it were to fall down, all in tears, weeping aloud, before David his own subject (and one that he had for a long time mortally hated, and openly treated as an enemy), and condemn himself before him, crying out, " Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil 1" And at another time, " I have sinned, I have played the fool, I have erred exceedingly," 1 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17, and chap. xxvi. 21. And yet Saul seems then to have had very little of the influences of the Spirit of God, it being after God's Spirit had departed from him, and given him up, and an evil spirit fiom the Lord troubled him. And if this proud monarch, in a pang of affection, was brought to humble himself so low before a subject that he hated, and still continued an enemy to, there doubtless may be appearances of great conviction and humiliation in men, before God, while they yet remain enemies to him, and though they finally continue so. There is oftentimes in men who are terrified through fears of hell, a great appearance of their being brought off from their own righteousness, when they are not brought off from it in all ways, although they are in many ways that are more plain and visible. They nave only exchanged some ways of trusting in their own righteousness, for others tha^t are more secret and subtle. Oftentimes a great degree of discourage' * The venerable Mr. Stoddard observes, " A man may say, that now he can justify God however he aeals vvith him, and not be brought off from his own righteousness ; and that some men do justify GoO 'lom a partial conviction of the riglit^ousness of their condemnation ; conscience takes notice of thei Binfulness, and tells them that, they may be righteously damned ; as Pharaoh, who JustiRed God, Exod 1. 27. And they give some kind of consent to it, hut many times it does not continue they have only a pang upon them, that us»ially dies away after a little time.—&uide to Chnst^ p. 71. KELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 43 ment, as to many things they used to depend upon, is taken for humilii.tion ; and that is called a submission to God, which is no absolute submission, but has some secret bargain in it, that it is hard to discover. Secondly^ If the operations and effects of the Spirit of God, in the convic- tions, and comforts of true converts, may be sophisticated, then the order of them may be imitated. If Satan can imitateHhe things themselves, he may easily put them one after another, in such a certain order. If the devil can make A, B, and C, it is as easy for him to put A first, and B next, and C next, as to range them in a contrary order. The nature of divine things is harder for the devil to imitate, than their oider. He cannot exactly imitate divine operations in their nature, though his counterfeits may be very much like them in external appear¬ ance ; but he can exactly imitate their order. W hen counterfeits are made, there is no divine power needful in order to the placing one of them first, and another last. And therefore no order or method of operations and experiences is any certain sign of their divinity. That only is to be trusted to, as a certain evidence of grace, which Satan cannot do, and which it is impossible should be brought to pass by any power short of divine. Thirdly, We have no certain rule rule to determine how far God's own Spirit may go in those operations and convictions which in themselves are not spiritual and saving, and yet the person that is the subject of them never be con¬ verted, but fall short of salvation at last. There is no necessary connection in the nature of things, between any tiling that a natural man may experience while in a state of nature, and the saving grace of God's Spirit. And if there be no connection in the nature of things, then there can be no known and cer¬ tain connection at all, unless it be by divine revelation. But there is no revealed certain connection between a state of salvation, and any thing that a natural man can be the subject of, before he believes in Christ. God has revealed no certain connection between salvation, and any qualifications in men, but only grace and its fruits. And therefore we do not finc]_any legal convictions, oi com- forts, following these legal convictions, in any certain method or order, ever once mentioned in the Scripture, as certain signs of grace, or things peculiaiMto the saints j although we do find gracious operations and effects themselves,^ so ^mentioned, thousands of times. Which should be enough with Christians who are willing to have the word of God, rather than their own philosophy, and experiences, and conjectures, as their sufficient and sure guide in things of this nature. Fourthly, Experience does greatly confirm, that persons seeming to have convictions and comforts following one another in such a method &nd order, as is frequently observable in true converts, is no certain sign of grace.* I appeal to all those ministers in this land, who have had much occasion of dealing with souls in the late extraordinary season, whether there have not been many who do not prove well, that have given a fair account of their experiences, and have seemed to be converted according to rule, i. e., with convictions and affections, succeeding distinctly and exactly, in that order and method, which has been .rrdinarily insisted on, as the order of the operations of the Spirit of God in con"^ersion. Ai;d as a seeming to have this distinctness as to steps and method, is no ♦ Mr. Stoddard, who had much experience of things of this nature, long ago observed, that converted sndunconverted men cannot be certainly distinguished by the account they gw'e of their experience ; the same relation of experiences being commm to both And that many persons have given a faii account ol a work of conversion, that have carried veil in the eye of the vrorid for several years, hut have not nroved w .11 at last.—Aoncoi to the I^arnea. ' 76. 14 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. certain sign that a person is converted ; so a being without it, is no evidem y that a person is not converted. For though it might be made evident to a demon stration, on Scripture principles, that a sinner cannot he brought heartily to receive Christ as his Saviour, who is not convinced of his sin and misery, and of his own emptiness and helplessness, and his just desert of eternal condemna¬ tion ; and that therefore such convictions must be some way implied in what is wrought in his soul; yet nothing proves it to he necessary,that all those things which are implied or presupposed in an act of faith in Christ, must he plainly and distinctly wrought in the soul, in so many successive and separate works of the Spirit, that shall he each one plain and manifest, in all who are truly con¬ verted. On the contrary (as Mr. Shepard observes), sometimes the change made in a saint, at first work, is like a confused chaos ; so that the saints know not what to make of it. The manner of the Spirit's proceeding in them that are horn of the Spirit, is very often exceeding mysterious and unsearchable: we, as it were, hear the sound of it, the effect of it is discernible ; hut no man can tell whence it came, or whither it went. And it is oftentimes as difficult to know the way of the Spirit in the new birth, as in the first birth; Eccl. xi. 5, " Thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, or how the hones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God, that worketh all." The ingenerating of a principle of grace in the soul, seems in Scripture to he compared to the conceiving of Christ in the womb. Gal. iv. 19. And therefore the Church is called Christ's mother, Cant. iii. 11. And so is every particular believer. Matt. xii. 49, 50. And the conception of Christ in the womb of the blessed virgin, by the power of the Holy Ghost, seems to be a designed resemblance of the conception of Christ in the soul of a believer, by the power of the same Holy Ghost. And we know not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow, either in the womb, or heart that conceives this holy child. The new creature may use that language in Psal. cxxxix. 14, 15, " I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My suiistance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret." Concerning the generation of Christ, both in his person, and also in the hearts of his people, it may be said, as in Isa. liii. 8, " Who can de¬ clare his generation V We know not the works of God, that worketh all. " It is the glory of God to conceal a thing" (Prov. xxv. 2), and to have "his path as it were in the mighty waters, that his footsteps may not be known and especially in the works of his Spirit on the hearts of men, which are the high¬ est and chief of his works. And therefore it is said, Isa. xl. 13, " Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him 1" It is to be feared that some have gone too far towards directing the Spirit of the Lord, and marking out his footsteps for him, and limiting him to certain steps and methods. Experience plainly shows, that God's Spirit is unsearchable anjL untraceable, in some of the best of Christians, in the method of his operations, in their conversion. Nor does the Spirit of God proceed discernibly in the steps of a particular established scheme, one half so often as is imagined. A scheme of what is necessary, and according to a rule already received and es¬ tablished by common opinion, has a vast (though to many a very insensible) influence in forming persons' notions of the steps and method of their own ex¬ periences. I know very well what their way is; for I have had much oppor¬ tunity to observe it. Very often, at first, their experiences appear like a con¬ fused chaos, as Mr. Shepard expresses it: but then those passages or their ex¬ perience are picked out, that have most of the appearance of such particular steos that are insisted on; and these are dwelt upon in the thoughts, and these RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 45 are told of from time to time, in the relation they give; these parts grow brighter and brighter in their view; and others, being neglected, grow more and more obscure: and what they have experienced is insensibly strained to bring all to an exact conformity to the scheme that is established. And it be¬ comes natural for ministers, who have to deal with them, and direct them that insist upon distinctness and clearness of method, to do so too. But yet there has been so much to be seen of the operations of the Spirit of God, of late, that they who have had much to do with souls, and are not blinded with a seven-fold vail of prejudice, must know that the Spirit is so exceeding various in the manner of his operating, that in many cases it is impossible to trace him, or find out his way. What we have principally to do with,2n our in^iries into our own state, or directions we give to others, is the nature oF the efiecd that God has brought to pass in the soul. As to the steps which the Spirit of God took to bring that effect to pass, we may leave them to him. We are often in Scripture express¬ ly directed to try ourselves by the nature of the fruits of the Spirit; but no¬ where by the Spirit's method of producing them.* Many do greatly err in their notions of a clear work of conversion; calling that a clear work, where the successive steps of influence, and method of experience are clear; whereas that indeed is the clearest work (noi wbetfcAhe-omer" ofTdAmgLls_clearest^ but) V here the spiritual and divine nature of the work done^ and ^ffectjwrought, is & ost clear. IX. It is no certain sign that the religious affections which persons have are such as have in them the nature of true religion, or that they have rmtj that they dispose persons to spend much time in religion, and to be zealously en¬ gaged in the external duties of worship. This has, very unreasonably of late, been looked upon as an argument against the religious affections which some have had, that they spend so much time in reading, praying, singing, hearing sermons, and the like. It is plain from the Scripture, that it is the tendency of true grace to cause persons to delight in such_religious exercises. True grace had thiseffect on Anna the pro¬ phetess : Luke ii. 27, " She departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." And grace had this effect upon the primi¬ tive Christians in Jerusalem; Acts ii. 46, 47, " And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God." Grace made Daniel delight in the duty of prayer, and solemnly to attend it three times a day, as it also did David: Psal. Iv. 17, " Evening, morning, and at noon will 1 pray." Grace makes the saints delight in singing praises to God; Psal. cxxxv. 3, " Sing praises unto his name, for it is pleasant." And cxlvii. 1, " Praise ye the Lord ; for it is good to sing praises unto our God ; for it is pleasant, and praise IS comely." It also causes them to delight to hear the word of God preached: it makes the gospel a joyful sound to them, Psal. Ixxxix. 15, and makes the feet of those who publish these good tidings to be beautiful: Isa. lii. 7, " How ♦ Mr. Shepard» speaking of the soul's closing with Christ, says, " As a child cannot tell how his soul 'i'mcs into it, nor it may be when; but afterwards it sees and feels that life ; so that he were as bad as a beast, that, should deny an immortal soul ; so here."—Parableof the Ten Virgins, Part II. p. 171. " If the man do not know the time of his conversion, or first closing with Christ; the minister may not draw any peremptory conclusion from thence, that he is not godly."—StoddarfVs Guide tn Christy p. 03. " Do not think there is no compunction, or sense of sin, wrought in the soul, because you cannot so dJearly discern and feel it; nor the time of the working, ano Hrsl Ireginning of it. i have known many that have come with their complaints, that they tucre never hwiMed they never felt it so ; yet there it hath oeen, and many times they have seen it, by the other spectacks, and blessed Uoa fo- it ^-^Shepard' Sound Believer page 38. The late impression in Boston. 46 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings &c. It makes them love God'r public worship : Psal. xxvi. 8, " Loid, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth." And xxvii. 4, " One thing have 1 desired of the Lord, that will 1 seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." Psai. Ixxxiv. 1, 2, &c., " How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord.—Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, 0 Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee. Blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways of them, who passing through the valley of Baca—go firora strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." Ver- 10, " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand." This is the nature of true grace. But yet, on the other hand, persons' being disposed to abound and to be zealously engaged in the external exercises ofre- ligion, and to spend much time in them, is no sure evidence of grace; because such a disposition is found in many that have no grace. So it was with the Is¬ raelites of old, whose services were abominable to God ; they attended the " new moons, and Sabbaths, and calling of assemblies, and spread forth their hands, and made many prayers," Isa. i. 12—15. So it was with the Pharisees; thej " made long prayers, and fasted twice a week." False religion may cau^e persons to be loud and earnest in prayer : Isa. Iviii. 4, "Ye shall not fast is ye do this day, to cause your voice to be heard on high." That religion which is not spiritual and saving, may cause men to delight in religious duties and ordi¬ nances : Isa. Iviii. 2, " Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God : they ask of me the ordinances of justice : they take delight in approaching to God." It may cause them to take delight in hearing the word of God preached, as it was with Ezekiel's hearers; Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32, " And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them : for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not." So it waa with Herod ; he heard John the Baptist gladly, Mark vi. 20. So it was with others of his hearers, " for a season they rejoiced in his light," John v. 35. So the stony ground hearers heard the word with joy. Experience shows, that persons, from false religion, may be inclined to be exceeding abundant in the external exercises of religion; yea, to give thernsel^ up to them, and devote almost their whole time to them. Formerly a sort of people were very numerous in the Romish church, called reclmes, who for¬ sook the world, and utterly abandoned the society of mankind, and sliut them¬ selves up close in a narrow cell, with a vow never to stir out of it, nor to see the face of any of mankind any more (unless that they might be visited in cast of sickness), to spend all their days in the exercise of devotion and converse witl God. There were also in old time, great multitudes called Hermits and Ancho rites, that left the world to spend all their days in lonesome deserts, to give them¬ selves up to religious contcmjdations and exercises of devotion ; some sorts of them having no dwellings, bi^ the caves and vaults of the mountains, and no food, but the spontaneous j roductions of the earth. I once lived, for many •nonth-s. next door to a Jew (the houses adjoining oi e to another), and had RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 47 louch opportunity daily to observe him ; who appeared tc me the devoutest person that I ever saw in my life; great part of his time heir g spent in acts of devotion, at his eastern window, which opened next to mine, seeming to be most earnestly engaged, not only in the daytime, hut sometimes whole nights. X. Nothing can he certainly known of the natiir^of religious affections by this, that they much dispose persons with their mouths to praise and gipriiy God^ This indeed is implied in what has been just now observed, of abounding and spending much time in the external exercises of religion, and was also hinted before ; but because many seem to look upon it as a bright evidence of gra¬ cious affection, when persons appear greatly disposed to praise and magnify God, to have their mouths full of his praises, and affectionately to be calling on others ♦o praise and extol him, 1 thought it deserved a more particular consideration. No Christian will make it an argument against a person, that he seems to have such a disposition. Nor can it reasonably be looked upon as an evidence for a person, if those things that have been already observed and proved, be duly considered, viz., that persons, without grace, may have high affections towards God and Christ, and that their affections, being strong, may fill their mouths, and incline them to speak much, and very earnestly, about the things they are affected with, and that there may be counterfeits of all kinds of gra¬ cious affection. But it will appear more evidently and directly, that this is no certain sign of grace, if we consider what instances the Scripture gives us of it in those that were graceless. We often have an account of this, in the multi¬ tude that were present when Christ preached and wrought miracles; Mark ii. 12, " And immediately he arose, took up his bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion." So Matt. ix. 8, and Luke v. 26. Also Matt. xv. 31, " Insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorifted the God of Israel." So we are told, that on occasion of Christ's raising the son of the widow of Nain, Luke vii. 16, " There came a fear on all : and they glorified God, saying. That a great prophet is risen Up among us ; and. That God hath visited his people." So we read of their glorifying Christ, or speak¬ ing exceeding highly of him ; Luke iv. 15, " And he taught in their syna¬ gogues, being glorified of all." And how did they praise him, with loud voices, crying, " Hosanna to the Son of David ; hosanna in the highest; blessed is he that Cometh in the name of the Lord," a little before he was crucified ! And after Christ's ascension, when the apostles had healed the imjmtent man, we are told, that all men glorified God for that which was done. Acts iv. 21. When the Gentiles in Antioch of Pisidia, heard from Paul and Barnabas, that God would reject the Jews, and take the Gentiles to be his people in their room, they were affected with the goodness of God to the Gentiles, " and glorified the word of the Lord but all that did so were not true believers ; but only a certain elect number of them ; as is intimated in the account we have of it. Acts xiii. 48 : " And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord : and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." So of old the children of Israel at the Red Sea, " sang God's praise; but soon forgat his works." And the Jews in Ezekiel's time, " with their mouth showed much love, while their heart went after their covetousness." And it is foretold of false professors, and real enemies of religion, that they should show^ a forward¬ ness to glorify God : Isa. Ixvi. 5, " Hear ffie word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hated jou, that cast you out for my name's rake, said. Let the Lord be glorified." 48 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. It is no certain ajn that a person is graciously affected, if, in the midst of his hopes and comforts, he is greatly affected with God's unmerited mercy tc him that is so unworthy, aiid seems greatly to extol and magnify free grai,e Those that yet remain with unmortiffed pride and enmity against God, may, when they imagine that they have received extraordinary kindness from God, cry out of their unworthine&s, and magnify God's undeserved goodness to them, from no other conviction of their ill deservings, and from no higher principle than Saul had, who, while he yet remained with unsubdued pride and enmity against David, was brought, though a king, to acknowledge his unworthiness, and crj'out, " I have played the fool, 1 have erred exceedingly," and with great affection and admiration, to magnify and extol David's unmerited and unexam¬ pled kindness to him, 1 Sam. xxv. 16—19, and xxvi. 21, and from no higher principle than that from whence Nebuchadnezzar was affected with God's dis¬ pensations, that he saw and was the subject of, and praises, extols and honors the King of heaven ; and both he, and Darius, in their high affections, call upon all nations to praise God, Dan. iii. 28, 29, 30, and iv. 1, 2, 3, 34, 35, 37, and vi. 25, 26, 27. XI. It is no sign that affections are right, or that they are wrong, that they, make persons that have them exceeding confident that what they exj erience^is divine, and that they are in a good estate. It is an argument with some, against persons, that they are deluded if they pretend to be assured of their good estate, and to be carried beyond all doubting of the favor of God; supposing that there is no such thing to be expected in the church of God, as a fujl and absdute assurance of hope j unless it be in some very extraordinary circumstances; as in the case of martyrdom; contrary to the doctrine of Protestants, which has been maintained by their most celebrated writers against the Papists; and contrary to the plainest Scripture evidence. It is manifest, that it was a common thing for the saints that we have a history or particular account of in Scripture, to be assured. God, in the plainest and most positive manner, revealed and testified his special favor to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Daniel, and others. Job often speaks of his sincerity and uprightness with the greatest imaginable confidence and assur¬ ance, often calling God to witness to it; and says plainly, " I know that my Re¬ deemer liveth, and that I shall see him for myself, and not another," Job xix. 25, &c. David, throughout the book of Psalms, almost everywhere speaks without any hesitancy, and in the most positive manner, of God as his God : glorying in him as his portion and heritage, his rock and confidence, his shield, salvation, and Meh tower, and the like. Hezekiah appeals to God, as one that knew that he I'.ad walked before him in truth, and with a perfect heart, 2 Kings XX. 3. Jesus Christ, in his dying discourse with his eleven disciples, in the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John (which was as it were Christ's last will and testament to his disciples, and to his whole church), often declares his special and everlasting love to them in the plainest and most positive terms; and promises them a future participation with him in his glory, in the most ab¬ solute manner; and tells them at the same time that he does so, to theend that their joy might be full: John xv. 11, " These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." See also at the conclusion of his whole discourse, chap. xvi. 33 : " These things have f spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Christ was not afraid of speaking too plainly and positively to them; he did not desire to hold them in the least suspense. And he concluded that last discourse of hi RELIGIOLio AFFECTIONS 19 with a prayer in their presence, wherein he speaks positively to his Father of those eleven disciples, as having all of them savingly known him, and believed in him, and received and kept his word ; and that they were not of the world ; and that for their sakes he sanctified himself; and ihat his will was, that they should he with him in his glory; and tells his Father, that he spake those things in his prayer, to the end, that his joy might he fulfilled in them, verse 13. By these thing? it is evident, that it is agreeable to Christ's designs, and the con¬ trived ordering and disposition Christ makes of things in his church, that there should he suihcient and abundant provision made, that his saints might have full assurance of their future glory. The Apostle Paul, through all his epistles speaks in an assured stram ; ever speaking positively of his special relation to Christ, his Lord, and Master, and Redeemer, and his interest in, and expectation of the future reward. It would he endless to take notice of all places that might he enumerated; I shall men¬ tion hut three or four; Gal. ii. 20, " Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for mePhil. i. 21, " For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain 2 Tim. i. 12, " I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, " 1 have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day." And the nature of the covenant of grace, and God's declared ends in the appointment and Constitution of things in that covenant, do plainly show itjc_ he God's design to make ample provision for the saints having an assured hope of eternal life, while living here upon earth. For so are all things ordered and contrived in that covenant, that every thing might he made sure on God's part. " The covenant is ordered in all things and surethe promises are most full, and very often repeated, and various ways exhibited ; and there are many wit¬ nesses, and many seals; and God has confirmed his promises with an oath. And God's declared design in all this, is, that the heirs of the promises might have an undouhting hope and full joy, in an assurance of their future glory. Heh. vi. 17, 18, " Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath : that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." But all this would he in vain, to any such purpose, as the saints' strong consolation, and hope of their obtaining future glory, if their interest in those sure promises in ordinary cases was not ascertainable. For God's pro- mLses and oaths, let them he as sure as they will, cannot give strong hope and comfort to any particular person, any further than he can know that those pro¬ mises are made to him. And in vain is provision made in Jesus Christ, that believers might he perfect as pertaining to the conscience, as is signified, Heh ix. 9, if assurance of freedom from the guilt of sin is not attainable. It further appears that assurance is not only attainable in some very extra¬ ordinary cases, hut that all Christians are directed to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure, and are told how they may do it, 2 Pet. i. 5—8. And it is spoken of as a thing very unbecoming Christians, and an argument of something very hlamahle in them, not to know whether Christ he in them or no: 2 Cor. xiii. 5, " Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye he reprobates V And it is implied that it is an argument of a very hlamahle negligence in Christians, if they practise Christianity after such Vol. Ill 7 50 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS a manner as to remain uncertain of the reward, in 1 Cor. ix. 26 : "1 theretoK BO run, as not uncertainly." And to add no more, it is manifest, that Christians' knowing their interest in the saving benefits of Christianity is a thing ordinarily attainable, because the apostle tells us by what means Christians (and not only the apostles and martyrs) were wont to know this: 1 Cor. ii. 12, " Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." And 1 John ii. 3, " And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his command¬ ments." And verse 5, " Hereby know we that we are in him." Chap. iii. 14, " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren ;" ver. 19, " Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall as¬ sure our hearts before him ver. 24, " Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." So chap. iv. 13, and chap. v. 2, and verse 19. Therefore it must needs be very unreasonable to determine, that persons are hypocrites, and their affections wrong, because they seem to be out of doubt of their own salvation, and the affections they are the subjects of seem to banish all fears of hell. On the other hand, it is no sufficient reason to determine that men are sainjs, and their affections gracious, because the affections they have are attenderTwith an exceeding confidence that their state is good, and their affections diving.* Nothing can be certainly argued from their confidence, how great and strong soever it seems to be. If we see a man that boldly calls God his Father, and commonly speaks in the most bold, familiar, and appropriating languag^in prayer^!' My Father,jny dear Redeemer, my sweet Savfiour, my Beloved," and the like j and it is a common thing for him to use the most confident expressions before men, about the goodness of his state j such as, " I know certainly that God is my Father ; I know so surely as there is a God in heaven, that he isLCoy God ; I know I shall go to heaven, as well as if I were there j 1 know that God is now manifesting himself to my soul, and is now smiling upon me;" and seems to have done for ever with any inquiry or examination into his state, as a thing sufficiently known, and out of doubt, and to contemn all that so much as inti¬ mate or suggest that there is some reason to doubt or fear whether all is right; such things are no signs at all that it is indeed so as he is confident it is.f Such an overbearing, high-handed, and violent sort of confidence as this, so affecting to declare itself with a most glaring show in the sight of men, which is to be seen in many, has not the countenance of a true Christian assurance: it savors • " O professor, look caref'illy to your foundation: *Be not high minded, but fear.* You have, it may be, clone and suffered many things in and for religion ; you have excellent gifts and sweet comforts; a warm zeal for God, and high confidence of your iittegrity : all this may be right, for aught that I, or (it may be) you know ; but yet, it is possible it rna> be false. You have sometimes judged yourselves, and pronounced yourselves upright: but remember your final sentence is not yet pronounced by your Judge. And what if God weigh you over again, in his mce equal balance, and should say, Mene Tekel, *Thou art weighed in the balarice, and art found wanting V What a confounded man wilt thou be, under such a sentence ! Qxub splendent in concpectu kominisj sordent in conspectu judicis; things that are highly esteemed of men, are an abomination in the sight of God: He seeth not as man seeth. Thy heart may be false, and thou not know it: yea, it may be false, and thou strongly confident of its integrity."—Fla- veVs Touchstone of Sincerity, chap. ii. sect. 5. Some hypocrites are a great deal more confident than many saints *^-^Stoddard's Discourse on th$ yVay to know Sincerity and Hypocrisy^ p. 128, . " Doth the work of faith, in some believers, bear upon its top branches the full ripe fruits of a Olessed assurance ? Lo, what strong confidence, and high buib persuasions, of an interest m God, have sometimes been found in unsanctified ones ! Yea, so strong may this false assurance be, that they dare boldly venture to go to the judgment seat of God, and there defend it. Doth the Spirit of God fill the heart of the assured believer witli joy unspeakable, and full o^ glory, giving him, through faith, a prelib« lion or foretaste of heaven itself, in tK;se first fruits of it ? How near to this come.s what the Apopfle suppoaes may be found in apostates — ^laveVs Husbandry ^iritualuiedi chap. xii. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 51 more ot the spirit of the Pharisees, who never doubted hut that thuy were saints, and the most eminent of saints, and were bold to go to Godj and com§_ up near to himj and lift up their eyes, and thank hirn for the great distinction he had made between them and other men j and when Christ intimated that they^ were blind and graceless, desfiised the suggestion : John ix. 40, " And some of the Pharisees which were with him, heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also ?" If they had more of the spirit of the publican, with their con¬ fidence, who, in a sense of his exceeding unworthiness, stood afar off, and durst not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, and cried out of himself as a sinner, their confidence would have more of the aspect of the confidence of one that humbly trusts and hopes in Christ, and has no confidence in himself. If we do but consider what the hearts of natural men are, what principles they are under the dominion of, what blindness and deceit, what self-flattery, self-exaltation, and self-confidence reign there, we need not at all wonder that their high opinion of themselves, and confidence of their happy circumi>tcrj:es, be as high and strong as mountains, and as violent as a tempest, when once conscience is blinded, and eonvictions killed, with false high affections, and those forementioned principles let loose, fed up and prompted by false joys and comforts, excited by some pleasing imaginations, impressed by Satan, trans¬ forming himself into an angel of light. When once a hypocrite is thus established in a false hop^ he has not tho^ things to cause him tQ caTITui hopeln questToUi^ that oftentimes are the oecasion of the doubting of true saints; as, first, h^ha^not that cautious spirit, that great sense of the vast irnportance of_a sure foundation, and that dread of being deceived. The comforts of the true saints increase awakening and caution,jm^ a lively sense how great a thing it is to appear before an infinitely holy, just and omniscient Judge. But false comforts put an end to these things and dreadfully stupify the mind. Secondly, The hypqerite has not the knowledge .of his own blindness, and the deceitfulness of his own_heart, and that mean opinion of his own understanding, that the true saint has. Those that are delud¬ ed with false discoveries and affections, are evermore highly conceited of their light and understanding. ThirdlyfiYhe devil does not assault the hope of the hypocrite,L<'^^'6 '^oe_s the hope of a true saint. The devil is a great enemy to a true Christian hope, not only beeause it tends greatly to the comfort of him that hath it, but also because it is a thing of a holy, heavenly nature, greatly tending to promote and cherish grace in the heart, and a great incentive to strictness and diligence in the Christian life. But he is no enemy to the hope of a hypo¬ crite, which above all things establishes his interest in him that has it. A hypo¬ crite may retain his hope without opposition, as long as he lives, the devil never disturbing it, nor attempting to disturb it. But there is perhaps no true Chris¬ tian but what has his hope assaulted by him. Satan assaulted Christ himself upon this, whether he were the Son of God or no: and the servant is not above his Master, nor the disciple above his Lord ; it is enough for the diseiple, that is most privileged in this world, to be as his Master. Fourthly, He who has a /alse hope, has not that sight of his own corruptions, which the saint has. A true Christi^has tenjtimes so much to do with his heart and its corruptions,"as a h} pocrite: and ^h^sins of his heart and practice, appear to him in their blackness ; tFeyTook dreadful; ancf it often appears a very mysterious thing, that any grace can be consistent with such corruption, or should be in such a heart. Bu^ a false hope hides corruption, covers it all over, and the hypocrite looks clean and brigh in his own eyes. 52 "lELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. Theie are two sorts of hypocrites; one th^t are deceived with their oiitwaid morality and external religion ; many of whom are professed Arminians, in the doctrine of justification : and the other, are those that are deceived with false discoveries and elevations; who often cry down works, and men's own rights eousness, and talk much of free grace j but at the same time make a righteous¬ ness of their discoveries and of their humiliation, and exalt themselves to heaven with them. These two kinds of hypocrites, Mr. Shepard, in his exposition of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, distinguishes by the name of legal and evangeli¬ cal hypocrites; and often speaks of the latter as the worst. And it is evident that the latter are commonly by far the roost confident in their hope, and with the most difficulty brought off from it; I have scarcely known the instance of such a one, in my life, that has been undeceived. The chief grounds of the confidence of many of them, are the very same kind of impulses and supposed revelations (sometimes with texts of Scripture, and sometimes without) that so many of late have had concerning future events; calling these impulses about their good estate, the witness of the Spirit; entirely misunderstanding the nature of the witness of the Spirit, as I shall show hereafter. Those that have had visions and impulses about other things, it has generally been to reveal such things as they are desirous and fond of: and no wonder that persons who give heed to such things, have the same sort of visions or impressions about their own eterna. salvation, to reveal to them that their sins are forgiven them, that their names are written in the book of life, that they are in high favor with God, &c., and espe¬ cially when they earnestly seek, expect, and wait for evidence of their election and salvation this way, as the surest and most glorious evidence of it. Neither is it any wonder, that when they have such a supposed revelation of their good estate, it raises in them the highest degree of confidence of it. It is found by abundant experience, that those who are led away by impulses and imagined revelations, are extremely confident; they suppose that the great .Jehovah has declared these and those things to them 3 and having his immediate testimony, a strong confidence is the highest virtue. Hence they are bold to say, 1 know this or that—I know certainly—I am as sure as that I have a being, and the like; and they despise all argument and inquiry in the case. And above all things else, it is easy to be accounted for, that impressions and impulses about that which is so pleasing, so suiting their self-love and pride, as their being the dear children of God, distinguished from most in the world in his favor, should make them .strongly confident; especially when with their impulses and revela¬ tions they have high affections, which they take to be the most eminent exer¬ cises of grace. I have known of several persons, that have had a fond desire of something of a temporal nature, through a violent passion that has pos.sessed them; and they have been earnestly pursuing the thing they have desired should come to pass, and have met with great difficulty and many discouragements in it, but at last have had an impression, or supposed revelation, that they should obtain what they sought; and they have looked upon it as a sure promise from the Most fligh, which has made them most ridiculously confident, against all manner of reason to convince them to the contrary, and all events working against them. And there is nothing hinders, but that persons who are seeking ^heir salvation, may be deceived by the like delusive impressions, and be made confident of that, the same way. The confidence of many of this sort of hypocrites, that Mr. Shepard call? evangelical hypocrites, is like the confidence of some mad men, who think they are kings; they will maintain it against all manner of reason and evidence. And in one sense, it is much more immovable than a truly gracious assurance; RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 53 a true assurance is not upheld, but by the soul's heing kept in a holy frame, and grace maintained in lively exercise. If the actings of grace do much decay lu the Christian, and he falls into a lifeless frame, he loses his assurance: but this kind of confidence of hypocrites will not be shaken by sin; they (at least some of them) will maintain their boldness in their hope, in the most corrupt frames and wicked ways; which is a sure evidence of their delusion.* And here I cannot but observe, that there are certain doctrines often preached to the people, which need to be delivered with more caution and explanation than they frequently are ; for, as they are by many understood, they tend greatly to establish this delusion and false confidence of hypocrites. The doctrines 1 sp«ik of are those of " Christians living by faithj_not by si^ht j their giving glory to God, by trusting him in the dark j living upon Christ, and not upon experiences ; not making their^ood frames the foundation of their faith w hich are excellent and important doctrines indeed, rightly understood, but corrupt and destructive, as many understand them. The Scripture speaks of living or walking by faith, and not by sight, in no other way than these, viz., a being governed by a respect to eternal things, that are the objects of faith, and are not seen, and not by a respect to temporal things, which are seen ; and believing things revealed, that we never saw with bodily eyes ; and also living by faith in the pit)mise of future things, without yet seeing or enjoying the things promised, or knowing the way how they can be fulfilled. This will be easily evident to any one who looks over the' Scriptures, which speak of faith in opposition to sight; as 2 Cor. iv. 18, and V. 7, Heb. xi. 1, 8, 13, 17, 27, 29, Rom. viii. 24, John xx. 29. But this doctrine, as it is understood by many, is, that Christians ought firmly to be¬ lieve and tiust in Christ, without spiritual sight or light, and although they are in a dark dead frame, and, for the present, have no spiritual experiences or dis¬ coveries. And it is truly the duty of those who are thus in darkness, to come out of darkness into light and believe. But that they should confidently believe and trust, while they yet remain without spiritual light or sight, is an anti-scrip¬ tural and absurd doctrine. The Scripture is ignorant of any such faith in Christ of the operation of God, that is not founded in a spiritual sight of Christ. That believing on Christ, which accompanies a title to everlasting life, is a " seeing the Son, and believing on him," John vi. 40. True faith in Christ is never exercised, any further than persons " behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iii. 18, and iv. 6. They into whose minds " the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, does not shinC, believe not," 2 Cor. iv. 5. That faith, which is without spiritucd light, is not the faith of the children of the light, and of the day; but the presumption of the children of darkness. And therefore to press and urge them to believe, without any spirit¬ ual light or sight, tends greatly to help forward the delusions of the prince of darkness. Men not only cannot exercise faith without some spiritual light, but they can exercise faith only just in such proportion as they have spiritual light. Men will trust in God no further than they know him; and they cannot be in the exercise of faith in him one ace further than they have a sight of his fulness ♦ Mr. Shepard speaks of it, as a " presumptuous peace, that is not interrupted and broke by evil works." And says, that "the spirit will sigh, and not sing in that bosom, whence corrupt dispositions and pas* siors 1 reak out." And that " thougii men in such frames may seem to maintain the consolation of the Spirit, and uot suspect their hypocrisy, under pretence of trusting the Lord's mercy; yet they cannot avoid the condemnation of the world." Parable of the Ten Virgkis, Part I. p. 139. Dr. Ames speaks of it as a thing, hy w hich the peace of a wicked man may be distinguished from the peace of a godly man, " that the peace of a wicked man continues, whether he performs the duties of piety and righteousness or no ; provided those crimes are avoided that appear horrid to nature itself.' Caeesof Comaejice, Lib. ill. Chap, vii. t>4 KELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS and faithfulness in exercise. Nor can they haA e the exercise cf ti «sl In God, any further than they are in a gracious frame. They that are in a dead carnal frame, doubtless ought to trust in God; because that would be the same thing as coming out of their bad frame, and turning to God; but to exhort men com fidently to trust in God, and so hold up their hope and peace, though they are not in a gracious frame, and continue still to be so, is the same thing in effect, as to exhort them confidentially to trust in God, but not with a gracious trust: and what is that but a wicked presumption 1 It is just as impossible for men to have a strong or lively trust in God, when they have no lively exercises of grace, or sensible Christian experiences, as it is for them to be in the lively exeicises of grace, without the exercises of grace. It is true, that it is the duty of God's people to trust in him when in darkness, and though they remain still in darkness, in that sense, that they ought to trust in God when the aspects of his providence are dark, and look as though God had forsaken them, and did not hear their prayers, and many clouds gather, and many enemies surround them, with a formidable aspect, threatening to swallow them up, and all events of providence seem to be against them, all circum¬ stances seem to render the promises of God difficult to be fulfilled, and God must be trusted out of sight, i. e., when we cannot see which way it is possible for him to fulfil his word ; every thing but God's mere word makes it look un¬ likely, so that if persons believe, they must hope against hope. Thus the ancient Patriarchs, and Job, and the Psalmist, and Jeremiah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, and the Apostle Paul, gave glory to God by trusting in God in darkness. And we have many instances of such a glorious victorious faith in the eleventh of Hebrews. Bnt how different a thing is this, from trusting in God, without spiritual sight, and being at the same time in a dead and carnal frame I There is also such a thing as spiritual light's being let into the soul in one way, when it is not in another ; and so there is such a thing as the saints trust¬ ing in God, and also knowing their good estate, when they are destitute of some kinds of experience. As for instance, they may have clear views of God's sufficiency and faithfulness, and so confidently trust in him, and know that they are his children ; and at the same time, not have those clear and sweet ideas of his love as at other times: for it was thus with Christ himself in his last pas¬ sion. And they may have views of much of God's sovereignty, holiness, and all sufficiency, enabling them quietly to submit to hirn, and exercise a sweet and most encouraging hope in God's fulness, when they are not satisfied of their own good estate. But how different things are these, from confidently trusting in God, without spiritual light or experience ! Those that thus insist on persons living by faith, when they have no experi¬ ence, and are in very bad frames, are also very absurd in their notions of faith. What they mean by faith is, believing that they are in a good estate. Hence they count it a dreadful sin for them to doubt of their state, whatever frames they are in, and whatever wicked things they do, because it is the great and heinous sin of unbelief; and he is the best man, and puts most honor upon God, that maintains his hope of his good estate the most confidently and immovably, when he has the least light or experience; that is to say, when he is in the worst and most wicked frame and way ; because, forsooth, that is a sign that he is strong in faith, giving glory to God, and against hope believes in hope. But what Bible do they learn this notion of faith out of, that it is a man's confident¬ ly believing that he is in a good estate 1* If this be faith, the Pharisees had • " Men do not know that they are godly by believing that they are godly. We know many things RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 5t faith in an eminent degree; some of which, Christ teaches, coii.iTiitted the un¬ pardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. The Scripture represents faith as that by which men are brought into a good estate; and therefore it cannot be the 3ame thing as believing that they are already in a good estate. To suppose that Taith consists in persons believing that they are in a good estate, is in effect the same thing, as to suppose that faith consists in a person's believing that he has faith, or believing that he believes. Indeed persons doubting of their good estate, may in several respects arise from unbelief. It may be from unbelief, or because they have so little faith that they have so little evidence of their good estate: if they had more experi¬ ence of the actings of faith, and so more experience of the exercise of grace, they would have clearer evidence that their state was good; and so their doubts would be removed. And then their doubting of their state may be from unbe¬ lief thus, when, though there be many things that are good evidences of a work of grace in them, yet they doubt very much whether they are really in a state of favor with God, because it is they, those that are so unworthy, and have done so much to provoke God to anger against them. Their doubts in such a ease arise from unbelief, as they arise from want of a sufficient sense of, and reliance on, the infinite riches of God's grace, and the sufficiency of Christ for the chief of sinners. They may also be from unbelief, when they doubt ot their state, because of the mystery of God's dealings with them; they are not able to reconcile such dispensations with God's favor to them; or when they doubt whether they have any interest in the promises, because the promises from the aspect of providence appear so unlikely to be fulfilled; the difficulties that are in the way are so many and great. ' Such doubting arises from want of depend¬ ence upon God's almighty power, and his knowledge and wisdom, as infinitely above theirs. But yet, in such persons, their unbelief, and their doubting ot their state, are not the same thing; though one arises from the other. Persons may be greatly to blame for doubting of their state, on such grounds as these last mentioned ; and they may be to blame, that they have no more grace, and no more of the present exercises and experiences of it, to be an evi¬ dence to them of the goodness of their state; men are doubtless to blame for Deing in a dead, carnal frame; but when they are in such a frame, and have no sensible experience of the exercises of grace, but on the contrary, are much under the prevalence of their lusts and an unchristian spirit, they are not to ' blame for doubting of their state. It is as impossible, in the nature of things, that a holy and Christian hope should be kept alive, in its clearness and strength, in such circumstances, as it is to keep the light in the room, when the candle is put out; or to maintain the bright sunshine in the air, when the sun is gone down. Distant experiences, when darkened by present prevailing lust and corruption, never keep alive a gracious confidence and assurance; but that sickens and decays upon it, as necessarily as a little child by repeated blows on the head with a hammer. Nor is it at all to be lamented, that persons doubt of their state in such circumstances : but, on the contrary, it is desirable and every way best that they should. It is agreeable to that wise and merciful constitu- by faith, Hel>. xi. 3. * By faith we understand that the worlds were maiie by the word of Ood.* Faith it the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1. Thus men know the Trinity of persons of the Godhead; that Jesus Christ is the Son of God ; that he that believes in him will have eternal life ; the resurrectioB of the dead. And if God should tell a saint that he hath grace, he might know it by believing the word of God. But it is net this way, that godly men do know that they have grace. It is not revealed in the and the Spirit of God doth not testify it to paiticular persons.'* Stoddard"a Nature of Saving Con- wersiont p. 83, 84. 66 lELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS tion cf things, which God hath established, that it should be so. For so hath God contrived and constituted things, in his dispensations towards his own peo- ple, that when their loveTlecaysTand the exercises of "it fa1I,^^rT)ecome weak, fear should aris^j for then they" neecTTTto restrain them from sTn, arid to excite jhem to care for the good of their souls, and so to stir them up to watchtulness andUihgence in religion; but God hath so ordered, thafvidieh love rises, and IS in vigorous exercise, fhSTfear should vanish, and be driven away ; for then they' need Itjiot, having a higher and more excellent principle in exercise, to 'restrain them ir0iir-sin,-aiMl stir them, up to, their duty. There are no other prmcipTS^ which human nature is under the influence of, that will ever make men cortscietrtioTts, but one of these \vio,fe.ar or love ; and therefore, if one of these should not prevail as the other decays, God's people, when fallen into dead and carnal frames, when love is asleep, would be lamentably exposed in¬ deed : and therefore God has wisely ordained, that these two opposite principles of love and fear should rise and fall, like the two ^opposite scales_of a balance; when one rises the other sinks. As light and darkness necessarily anfTunavoid- ably sucked each other; if light prevails, so much does darkness cease, and no more; and if light decays, so much does darkness prevail; so it is in the heart of a child of God: if divine love decays and falls asleep, and lust prevails, the light and joy of hope go out, and dark fear and doubting arises; and if, on the contrary, divine love prevails and comes into lively exercise, this brings in the brightness of hope, and drives away black lust, and fear with it. Love is the spirit of adoption, or the childlike principle; if that slumbers, men fall under fear, which is the spirit of bondage, or the servile principle; and so on the con¬ trary. And if it be so, that love, or the spii it of adoption, be carried to a great height, it quite drives away all fear, and gives full assurance ; agreeable to that of the apostle, 1 John iv. 18, " There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." These two opposite principles of lust and holy love, bring hope and fear into the hearts of God's children, in proportion as they prevail; that is, when left to their own natural influence, without something adventitious, or accidental intervening; as the distemper of melancholy, doctrinal ignorance, prejudices of education, wrong instruction, false principles, peculiar temptations, &c. Fear is cast out by the Spirit of God, no other way than by the prevailing of love-; nor is it ever maintained by his Spirit but when love is asleep. At such a time, in vain is all the saint's self-examinations, and poring on past expe¬ rience, in order to establish his peace, and get assurance. For it is contrary to the nature of things, as God hath constituted them, that he should have assu¬ rance at such a time. They therefore do directly thwart God's wise and gracious constitution of things, who exhort others to be confident in their hope, when in dead frames; under a notion of of" living by faith, and not by sight, and trusting God in the dark, and living upon Christ, and not upon experiences and warn them not to doubt of their good estate, lest they should be guilty of the dreadful sin of unbelief. And it has a direct tendency to establish the most presumptuous hypo¬ crites, and to prevent their ever calling their state in question, how much so¬ ever wickedness rages, and reigns in their hearts, and prevails in their lives; under a notion of honoring God, by hoping against hope, and confidently trust¬ ing in God, when things look very Jark. And doubtless vast has been the mischief that has been done this way. Persons cannot be said to forsake Christ, and live on their experiences of the exercises of grace, merely because they take thetn and use them as eviden ces of grace ; for there are no other evidences that they can or ought to take RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 57 But then may persons be said to live upon their experiences. wh<'n thej make a righteousness of them, and instead of keeping their eye on God's gloiy and Christ's excellency, they turn their eyes off these objects without them, on to themselves, to entertain their minds, by viewing their own attainments, and high experiences, and the great things they have met with, and are bright and beautiful in their own eyes, and are rich and increased with goods in their own apprehensions, and think that God has as admiring an esteem of them, on the same account, as they have of themselves: this is living on experiences, and not on Christ; and is more abominable in the sight of God, than the gross immo¬ ralities of those who make no pretences to religion. But this is a far different thing from a mere improving experiences as evidences of an interest in a glori¬ ous Redeemer. But to return from this digression, I would mention one thing more under the general head that I am upon. XII. Nothing can be certainly concluded concerning the nature of religious affections, that any are the sulyects of, from this, that the outward manifesta¬ tions of them, and the relation persons give of them, are very affecting and pleas¬ ing to the truly godly, and such as greatly^ain their charity, and win their hearts. The true saints haye not such a spirit of discerning that tbey can certainly de- terminejvvho are godly, and who are not. For though they know experimen- tally what true religion is, in the internal _ex^rcrses of it; yet these are what they can neither few, nor see, in the heart of another.* There is nothing in "^therSi{haTc"6mes"within t"Heir view, but outward manifestations and appear ances ; but the Scripture plainly intimates, that this way of judging w hat is ir men by outward appearanceSj is at best uncertain, and liable to deceit: 1 Sam xvi. 7, " The Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the outward ap pearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Isa. xi. 3, " He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears."t They commonly are but poor judges, and dangerous counsellors in soul cases, who are quick and peremptory in determining persons' slates, vaunting themselves in their extraordinary faculty of discerning and distinguishing, in these great affairs; as though all was open and clear to them. They betray one of these three things; either that they have had but little experience; or are persons of a weak judgment; or that they have a great degree ofjrride and self-confidence, and so ignorance of themselves. Wise and experienced men will proceed with great caution in such an affair. When there are many probable appearances of piety in others, it is the duty of the saints to receive them cordially into their charity, and to love them anc. rejoice in them, as their brethren in Christ Jesus. But yet the best of men may be deceived, when the appearances seem to them exceeding fair and bright, even so as entirely to gain their charity, and conquer their hearts. It has been a common thing in the church of God, for such bright professors, that are re- • Men may have the knowledge of their own conversion: the knowledge that other men have of it is nncerlaint because no man can look into the heartof another and see the workings of grace there." Sfo(^ dard's Nafvre of Saving Conversion., chap. xv. at the beginning. t Mr. Stoddard observes, that "all visible signs are common to converted and unconverted men; and a relation of experiences, among the rest." Appeal to the Leai-ned, p. 75. " O how hard it is for the eye of man to discern betwixt chaff and wheat! And how many upright hearts are now censured, whom God will clear! How many false hearts are now approved whom God will condemn ! Men ordinarily have no convictive proofs, but only probable symptoms ; which at most oeget nut a conjectural knowledge of another's state. And they that shall peremptorily judge either way may poasilily wrong the generation of the upright, or on the other side, alisolveand justify the wicked And truly, considering what has been said, it is no wonder that dangerous mistakes are so frequently made in this matter." FlaveVs Husbandry Spiritualized, chap. xii. VOL. HI. 8 68 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. ceived as eminent saints, among the saint^, to fall away and come to nothing.* And this we need not wonder at, if we considei' the things that have been alrea- ' dy observed ; what things it has been shown may appear in men who are alto¬ gether graceless. Nothing hinders but that all these things may meet togethe» in men, and yet they be without a spark of grace in their hearts. They may have religious affections of many kinds together ; they may have a sort of affec¬ tion towards God, that bears a great lesemblance of dear love to him ; and so a kind of love to the brethren, and great appearances of admiration of God's perfections and works, and sorrow for sin, and reverence, submission, self-abase¬ ment, gratitude, joy, religious longings, and zeal for religion and the good of souls. And these affections may come after great awakenings and convictions of conscience ; and there may be great appearances of a work of humiliation : and counterfeit love and joy, and other affections may seem to follow these, and one another, just in the same order that is commonly observable in the holy af¬ fections cf true converts. And these religious affections may be carried to a great height, and may cause abundance of tears, yea, may overcome the nature of those who are the subjects of them, and may make them affectionate, and fervent, and fluent, in speaking of the things of God, and dispose them to be abundant in it; and may be attended with many sweet texts of Scripture, and precious promises, b|^ought with great impression on their minds ; and may dis¬ pose them with their mouths to praise and glorify God, in a very ardent man¬ ner, and fervently to call upon others to praise him, crying out of their unwor- thiness, and extolling free grace. And may, moreover, dispose them to abound in the external duties of religion, such as prayer, hearing the word preached, singing, and religious conference ; and these things attended with a great re¬ semblance of a Christian assurance, in its greatest height, when the saints mount on eagles' wings, above all darkness and doubting. I think it has been made plain, that there may be all these things, and yet there be nothing more than the common influences of the Spirit of God, joined with the delusions of Satan, and the wicked and deceitful heart.—To which I may add, that all these things may be attended with a sweet natural temper, and a good doctrinal knowledge of religion, and a long acquaintance with the saints' way of talking, and of expressing their affections and experiences, and a natural ability and subtilty in accommodating their expressions and manner of speaking to the dis¬ positions and notions of the hearers, and a taking decency of expression and be¬ havior, formed by a good education. How great therefore may the resemblance be, as to all outward expressions and appearances, between a hypocrite and a true saint! Doubtless it is the glorious prerogative of the omniscient God, as the great searcher of hearts, to be able well to separate between sheep and goats. And what an indecent self-exaltation and arrogance it is, in poor, fal¬ lible, dark mortals, to pretend that they can determine and know, who are real¬ ly sincere and upright before God, and who are not! Many seem to lay great weight on that, and to suppose it to be what may ♦ " Be not offended, if you see great cedars fall, stars fall from heaven, great professors die and decay; do not think they be ali such: do not think that the elect shall fall. Truly, some are such that when they fall, one would think a man truly sanctified might fall away, as the Arminians think; 1 John ii. 19, Tkey were not of us. I speak this, because the Lord is shaking ; and 1 look for great apostasies : for God is trying ali his friends, through all the Christian world. In Germany what profession was there! Who would have thought it ? The Lord, who delights to manifest that openly, which was hid secretly, sends a sword and they fall." SheparrVs Parab. Part I. p. 118, 119. " The saints may approve thee and God condemii thee. Rev. lii. 1, " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead " Men may say. i here is a true Naihanaol; and God may say, There is a self-cozen¬ ing Pharisee. Reader, thou hast heard of Judas and Demas, of Ananias and Sapphira, of Hymeneus and Phiietus, once renowned and famous professors, and thou hast heard how they proved »t last." Fla ttCt T