¦l^S"*}*''-.':-: -'ill* 1 * ' ; 4 . YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WORKS ©F PRESIDENT EDWARDS, m FOUR VOLUMES. A REPRINT OF THE WORCESTER EDITION, -WITH VALUABLE ADDITIONS AND A COPIOUS GENERAL INMIX, TO WHICH, FOK THE FIRST TIME, HAS BEEN ADDED, AT GUEAT EIPE5BK, A COMPLETE INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS EIGHTH EDITION IN TOUR VOLUMES. VOL. III. I. A Treatise concerning Religious Affections. il. Narrative of Surprising Conver sions. IIL Thoughts on the Revival in New England. IV. An Attempt to promote Explicit Agreement in Extraordinary Prayer. CONTAINING VtBonoerning the Perseverance o? Saints. VI. On the notion of the Pre-exist- ence of Christ's Human Sool. VII. Mysteries op Scripture. VIII. Observations upon particulab Passases of Scripture. IX. Theological Q.uestions. X. Six Occasional Sermons. N£W-yORK: PUBLISHED BY LEAVITT & ALLEN", 379 BROADWAY. CONTENTS OF VOL. III. I A TREATISE CONCERNING RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, IN THREE PARTS. Page PART I. Concerning tlie nature oftlie Affections, and their importance in Re- igion .......... 1 PART II. Showing what are no certain Signs tliat Religious Affections are truly- gracious, or that tliey are not . . . . . . .22 PART III. Showing what are distinguishing Signs of truly gracious and holy Affections . . . . . . . . . 63 II. NARRATIVE OF SURPRISING CONVERSIONS . . , 23J III. THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL OP RELIGION IN NEW ENG LAND, 1740. Advertisement ,,,,,..., 274 The Author's Preface , , . . . . . .275 PART I. Showing that the extraordinary Work that has of late been gomg on in tlie land, is a glorious Work of God ..... 27"" PART II. Showing the Obligations that all are under to acknowledge, nejoice in, and promote this Work, and the great danger of the contrary . , 31 PART III. Showing, in many Instances, wherein the Subjects, or zealous Pro moters of this Work, have b-sen 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 positively, -what ought to be done to promote this Work , 405 IV, A HUMBLE ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE EXPLICIT AGREE MENT, &c, PART I. The text opened ; and an Account of the Affair proposed , . 42- xiii.8_i2 It Is unreasonable ther'efo,-; to 's^p: pose, that the love and joy of the saints in heaven, not only differ in degree ^nd circumstances, from the holy love and joy of the saints on earth, but Ts so en- tirely different in nature, that they are no affections; and merely because the^ b»ve no blood and anima: spirits to be set In motion by them, which motion o- RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 15 the blood and animal spirits is not of the essence of these affections, m men on the earth, but the effect of them ; although by (heir reaction they may make some circumstantial difference in the sensation of the mind. There is a sensa tion of the mind which loves and rejoices, that is antecedent to any effects on the fluids of the body ; and this sensation of the mind, therefore, does not de pend on (hese motions in the body, and so may be in the soul without the body. And wherever there are the exercises of love and joy, there Is that sensation of the mind, whether it be in the body or out ; and that inward sensation, or kind of spiritual sense, or feeling, and motion of the soul, is what is called af fection : the soul when it thus feels (if I may say so), and Is thus moved, is said to be affected, and especially when this inward sensation and motion are to a very high degree, as they are in the saints in heaven. If we can learn any thing of the state of heaven from the Scripture, the love and joy that the saints have there. Is exceeding great and vigorous ; impressing the heart with the strongest and most lively sensation of inexpressible sweetness, mightily moving, animating, and engaging them, making them like a flame of fire. And if such love and joy be not affections, then the word affection is of no use in language. Will any say, that the saints in heaven, in beholding the face of their Father, and the glory of their Redeemer, and contemplating his wonderful works, and particularly his laying down his life for them, have their hearts nothing moved and affected by all which they behold or consider 1 Hence, therefore, the religion of heaven, consisting chiefly In holy love and joy, consists very much in affection ; and therefore, undoubtedly, true religion consists very much in affection. The way to learn the true nature of any thing, is to go where that thing is to be found in Its purity and perfection. If we would know the nature of true gold we must view it, not In the ore, but when it is refined. K we would learn what (rue religion is, we must go where there is true religion, and nothing but true religion, and in its highest perfection, without any defect or mixture. All who are truly religious are not of this ¦world, they are strangers here, and belong to heaven ; they are born from above, heaven is their native country, and the nature which they receive by (his heavenly blr(h, is a heavenly nature, they receive an anointing from above ; that principle oftrue religion which Is in them. Is a communication of the reli gion of heaven ; their grace is the dawn of glory ; and God fits them for that - world by conforming them to it. 9. This appears fsom the nature and design of the ordinances and duties, which God hath appointed, as means and expressions of true religion. To instance in the duty of prayer : It k manifest, we are not appointed in this duty, to declare God's perfections, his majesty, holiness, goodness, and all- sufficiency, and our own meanness, emptiness, dependence, and unworthlness, and our wants and desires, to Inform God of these things, or to incline his heart, and prevail with him to be willing to show us mercy ; but suitably to affect our own hearts with the things we express, and so to prepare us to receive the blessings we ask. And such gestures and manner of external behavior In the worship of God, which custom has made to be significations of humility and reverence, can be of no further use than as they have some tendency to affect our own hearts, or the hearts of others. , And the duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to ex cite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned why wc - should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than In prose, and do It with music, but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections. 16 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. The same thing appears in the nature and design of the sacraments, whic: God hath appointed. God, considering our frame, hath not only appointed tha we should be told of the great things of the gospel, and of the redemption c Christ, and instructed in them by his word ; but also that they should be, as i Avere, exhibited to our view, in sensible representations, in the sacraments, th riiore to affect us with them. And the impressing divine things on the hearts and affections of men, i evidently one great and main end for which God has ordained that his word de liveredin the holy Scriptures, should be opened, applied, and set home upon mer in preaching. And therefore it does not answer the aim which God had i this institution, merely for men to have good commentaries and expositions o: the Scripture, and other good books of divinity ; because, although these ma; 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 tendenc; to Impress them on men's hearts and affections. God hath appointed a par ticular and lively application of his word to men in the preaching of it, as a fi means to affect sinners with the importance of the things of religion, and thei 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 thei affections, by often bringing the great things of religion to their remembrance and setting them before them in their proper colors, though they know there and have been fully instructed in them already, 2 Pet. i. 12, 13. And partlcu 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 b edified in love," Eph. Iv. 11, 12, 16. The apostle in instructing and counselHn] Timothy concerning the work of the ministry, informs him that the great endc that word which a minister is to preach, is love or charity, 1 Tim. 3, 4, 5. An another affection which God has appointed preaching as a means to promote i the saints, is joy ; and therefore ministers are called " helpers of their joy," '. Cor. i. 24. 10. It Is an evidence that true religion, or holiness of heart, lies very muc' in the affection of the heart, that the Scriptures place the sin of the heart ver much in hardness of heart. Thus the Scriptures do everywhere. It was hard ness of heart which excited grief and displeasu re in Christ towards the Jews Mark ill. 5 : " He looked round about on then, wilh anger, being grieved fc ;.he hardness of their hearts." It is from men's Laving such a heart as this, thf they treasure up wrath for themselves : Rom. Ii. 5, " After thy hardness and ini nenltent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, an revelation of the righteous judgment of God." The reason given why the hous of Israel would not obey God, was, that they were hard-hearted : Ezekiel iii. ' " But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee ; for they will not hearke unto me : for all the house of Israel are Impudent and hard-hearted." The wicl; edness of that perverse rebellious generation in the wilderness, is ascribed to th hardness of their hearts : Psal. xcv. 7 — 10, " To-day if ye Avill hear his voIc.( harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation i the wilderness ; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and s-ald, It Is a people tht do err in their heart," &.c. This is spoken of as what prevented Zedekiah' turning to the Lord: 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13," He stiffened his neck, and hardene his heart from turning to the Lord God of Israel." This principle is spoken o as that from whence men are without the fear of God, and depart from God' RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, I'l ways : Isa, Ixiii. 17, " 0 Lord, why hast (hou mace us to err from thy w-^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 di''erf were hardened, and beheved not, but 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, " Theiefore 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. Hi. 8, " Harden not your heart, as in the provocation," &c. ; ver. 12, 13, " Take heed, brethren, lest (here be in any of you an evil hear( of unbelief, in departing from the hving God: but exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day ; le.st any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." And that great work of God In conversion, which consists In delivering a person from (he 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 storty 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 undei-stand these, as contrary the one to the other. But what is a tender heart, but a heart which Is easily impressed -with what ought 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 of heart, that by his heart being tender is meant, bis heart being easily moved witb 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 I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me, I 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 af fected and moved In spiritual and divine things, as little children have in othei things. It is very plain in some places, in the texts themselves, that by hardness o{_ 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 (hey were no( bers." 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 ; but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief" Now, therefore, since it is so plain, (hat 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 (he con(rary, 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 bohness. And therefore undoubtedly, if It be so tha( sin does very much consist in hardness of heart, and so in the want of Vol. IIL 3 18 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. pious affeotions 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 affecdons, 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 being 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 lies very much in the affections. Not that I think these arguments prove, that rehgion 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 jlfigree of religion Is rather to be judged of by the fixedness and strength of the h-abit 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 p.'-oportion to outward effects and manifestations, or inward effects, in the hurry and vehemence, and sudden changes of the course of the thoughts of (he mind But yet it is evident, that religion consists so much in affection, as that without holy a.ffectlon there is no (rue religion ; and no light in the undenstanding is good, which does not produce holy affection in the heart : no habit or principle in the heart is 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 al- 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 -w^ith 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 (he 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 witii 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 jesteemlng and admiring all religious affections without distinction, it is a thing much more prevalent, to reject and discard all without distinction. Herein appears the subtilty of Satan. While he saw that affections were much in vogue RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONb. 9 knowing the greater part of the land were not versed in sucn things, and had not had much experience of great religious affections to enable them to judge 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 way 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 liecgnre, very jipparent, fliaf some of those emotions -which made a glaring^how, and were by many greatly admired, were in reality nothing ; the devIl^SesTtTo~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 andy^ 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 Chris(Iani(y turned out of doors. For_although to true religion there must Indeed be something else besides affec tion .;_vet'trae"Teltgion conists-sd much In the affectlohs, that there can be no true religiGn^w5iKoat:tliem. ~~He who has no rehgious affection, is in a state of spiritual death, and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving In fluences of the Spirit of God upon his heart. As there is no true reTigion where there is nothing else but 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 well as an 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 the great things of rehgion 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 religiou.s 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 havd high affections themselves. And let It be considered, that they who have but little religious affection, have certalnlv but little religion. And they who con- 20 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. demn others for their religious affections, and have none themselves, have no religion. There are false affections, and there are true. A man's having much af- fection, does not prove that he has any true religion : but if he has no affection^ if proves thaf^he-hasjioJiuejceiiglon. The right way, is not to reject all affto 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 rehgion 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, apd having the greatest tendency to promote the ends of the means of gi-ace. 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, formeriy the generality (at least of the common people) were in .he extreme, of looking too much to an affectionate address, in pubhc perform- I 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 appears from what has been said, that this arises from our having so little tiue 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- jated him, that is, the business of religion. And yet how common is It amono- mankind, that their affections are much more exercised and engaged in other matters, than In religion ! In things which concern men's worldly interest, their outward delights, their honor and reputation, and their natural relations, 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, ea,slly moved, dr places. And because high degi ees of joy are the proper and genuine fruits of the gospe. of Christ, therefore the angel calls this gospel, " good tidings of great joy, that should be to all people." The saints and angels in heaven, that have religion in its highest perfection, are exceedingly affected with what they behold and contemplate of God's per- _ fections and works. They are all as a pure heavenly flame of fire in their love, and in the greatness and strength of their joy and gratitude : their praises are represented, " as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder." Now the only reason why (heir affections are so much higher than the holy affections of saints on earth, is, they see the things they are affected by, more according to their (ruth, and have their affections more conformed to the nature of things. And therefore, if religious affections in men here below, are but of the same nature and kind with theirs, the higher they are, and the nearer they are to theirs In degree, the better, because therein they will be so much the more conformed to truth, as theirs are. - — From these things it certainly appears, that religious affecdons being in a very high degree, is no evidence that they are not such as have the nature of true religion. Therefore they do greatly err, who condemn persons as enthusiasts, merely because their affections are very high. ~ And on the other hand. It is no evidence that religious affections are .of a spiritual and gracious nature, because they are great. It is very manifest by the holy Scripture, our sure and infallible ruleto judge of things of this nature, that there are religious affections which are very high, that are not spiritual and saving. The Apostie Paul speaks of affections in the Galatians, which had been exceedingly elevated, and which yet he manifestly speaks of, as fearing that they were vain, and had come to nothing : Gal. iv. 15, " Where is the blessedness you spoke of? For I bear you record, that If it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me." And' in the 1 1th verse, he tells them, " he was afraid of them, lest he had bestowed upon them labor in vain." So the children of Israel were greatly affected with God's mercy to them, when they had seen how wonderfully he wrought for thern at the Red Sea, where they sang God's praise ; though they soon forgat his works. So they were greatly affected again at mount Sinai, when they saw the marvellous manife.stadons God made of himself there ; and seemed mightily engaged in their minds, and with great forwardness made answer, when (Jod proposed his holy covenant to them, saying, " All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and be obedient." But how soon was there an end to all this mighty forwardness and engagedness of affection ! How quickly were they turned aside after olher gods, rejoicing and shouting around their golden calf So great multitudes who were affected with the miracle of raising Lazarus froni the dead, were elevated to a high degree, and made a mighty ado, when Jesus presentiy after entered Into Jerusalem, exceedingly magnifying Christ, as though the ground were not good enough for the ass he rode to tread°upon ; 'and (here- ore cu( branches of palm (rees, and .s(rewed them in the way; yea', pulled off .heir garments, and spread (hem in (he way ; and cried wi(h loud voices " Ho- sanna to the Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of thp Lord RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 25 hosanna In the highest ;" so as to make the whole city ring again, and put al. into an uproar. We learn by the evangelist John, (hat the reason why (he people made this ado, was because they were affected with the miracle of raising Lazarus, John xii. 18. Here was a vast multitude crying Hosanna on this oc casion, so that it gave occasion to the Pharisees to say, " Behold, the world has gone after liira," John xii. 19, but Christ had at that time but few true disci ples. And how quickly was this ado at an end 1 All of this nature is quelled and dead, when this Jesus stands bound, with a mock robe and a crown of thorns, to be derided, spit upon, scourged, condemned and executed. Indeed, there was a great and loud outcry concerning him among the multitude then, as well as before ; but of a very different kind : it is not then, Hosanna, hosanna, but Crucify, crucify. And it Is the concurring voice of all orthodox divines, that there may bei religious affections, which are raised to a very high degree, and yet there be nothing of true religion.* II. It is no sign that affections have the nature of true religion, or that they .- , have not, that they have great effects on the body. All affections whatsoever, have In some respect or degree, an effect on the body. As was observed before, such is our nature, and such are the laws of union of soul and body, that the mind can have no lively or vigorous exercise, without some effect upon the body. So subject is the body to the mind, and so much do its fluids, especially the animal spirits, attend the motions and exercises of the mind, that there cannot be so much as an intense thought, without an effect upon them. Yea, It is questionable whether an imbodied soul ever so much as thinks one thought, or has any exercise at all, but that there is some corresponding motion or alteration ol motion, in some degree, of the fluids. In some part of the body. But universal experience shows, that tbe exercise of the affections have In a special manner a tendency to some sensible effect upon the body. And if this be so, that all affections have some effect upon the body, we may then well suppose, the greater those affections be, and the more vigor ous their exercise (other circumstances being equal) the greater will be the effect on the body. Hence it is not to be wondered at, that very great and strong exercises of the affecdons should have great effects on the body. And therefore, seeing there are very great affections, both common and spiritual ; hence It is not to be wondered at, that great effects on the body should arise from both these kinds of affections. And consequentiy these effects are no signs, (hat the affections they arise from, are of one kind or the other. Great effects on the body certainly are no sure evidences that affections are , .spiritual ; for we see that such effects oftentimes arise from great affections_ about temporal things, and when religion is no way concerned m them. And if great affections about secular tilings, that are purely natural, may have thes^'' effects, I know not by what rule we should determine that high affections about religious things, which arise in like manner from nature, cannot have the like effect. Nor, on the other hand, do I know of any rule any have to determine, that^ gracious and holy affections, when raised as high as any natural affections, and nave equally strong and vigorous exercises, cannot have a great effect on the oody. No such rule can be drawn from reason : I know of no reason, -why a Deing affected with a view of God's glory should not cause the body to faint, ac welf as being affected with a view of Solomon's glory. And no such rule has * Mr. Stoddard observes, "ThatcommonafFectionSiiresometimc«strongerthansaviB3."— Udide to Ohhist. O.2.. 26 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. as yet been produced from the Scripture ; none has ever been found in all thi late controversies which have been about things of this nature. There is i great power in spiritual affections : we read of the power which worketh ii Christians,* and of the Spirit of God being in them as the Spiritof power,f ari( of the effectual working of his power in them.J But man's nature is weak fl&sh and blood are represented in Scripture as exceeding weak ; and partlcularh with respect to its unfitness for great spiritual and heavenly operations and ex ercises. Matt. xxvi. 41, 1 Cor. xv. 43, and 50. The text we are upon speaki of "joy unspeakable, and full of glory." And who that considers what man'i nature is, and what the nature of the affections is, can reasonably doubt but tha such unutterable and glorious joys, maybe too great and mighty for weak dust ane ashes, so as to be considerably overbearing to it 1 It is evident by the Scripture that true divine discoveries, or Ideas of God's glory, when given in a great degree have a tendency, by affecting the mind, to overbear the body ; because the Scrip ture teaches us often, that if these ideas or views should be given to such a degree as they are given In heaven, the weak frame of the body could not subsist undei it, and that no man can, in that manner, see God and live. The know- j ledge which the saints have of God's beauty and glory in this world, and those holy affecdons that arise from it, are of the same nature and kind with what the J saints are the subjects of in heaven, differing only in degree and circumstances ; i what God gives them here. Is a foretaste of heavenly happiness, and an earnest j of their future Inheritance. And who shall hmit God in his giving this earnest ¦ or say he shall give so much of the Inheritance, such a part of the future reward! as an earnest of the whole, and no more 1 And seeing God has taught us ir his word, that the whole reward is such, that it would at once destroy the body is it not too bold a thing for us, so to set bounds to the sovereign God, as to say that in giving the earnest of this reward in this worid, he shall never give sc much of it, as in the least to diminish the strength of the body, when God has nowhere thus limited himself ? The Psalmist, speaking of the vehement religious affections he had, speaks of an effect in his flesh or body, besides what was in his soul, expressly distin guishing one from the other, once and again : Psal. IxxxivJ 2, "My soul longeth yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : my heart and my flesh crleti out for the living God." Here is a plain distinction between the heart anc the flesh, as being each affected. So Psal. Ixiii. 1, « My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." Here also IS an evident designed distinction between the soul and the flesh. The prophet Habakkuk speaks of his body's being overborne by a sense oJ the majesty of God, Hab. iii. 16 : •' When I heard, my belly trembled • my lip- quivered at the voice: rottenness enter into my bones, and I trembled ir myself. So the Psalmist speaks expressly of his flesh trembling, Psal cxix 120 ¦ "My flesh trembleth for fear of thee." ^ -cxix.i^u, That such ideas of God's glory as are sometimes given in this world have a tendency to overbear the body, is evident, because the Scripture gives us an ac count, that this has sometimes actually been the effect of those external mani- testations God has made of himself to some of the saints which were made to that end. viz to give them an idea of God's majesty and glory. Such instances we have in the prophet Daniel, and the apostle John. Daniel, givinff an ac- count of an external representation of the glory of Christ, says, Dan x 8 "And •here remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned into 'oorrup- • Eph. iii. 7. + 2 Tim. i. 7. t Eph. iii. 7, 20. (| Eph. i. 19. ' RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. ST tion, and I retained no strength." And the apostie John, giving an account of a like manifestation made to him, says, Rev. i. 17, " And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." It Is in vain to say here, these were only external manifes tations or symbols of the glory of Christ, which these saints beheld : for though it be true, that they were outward representations of Christ's glory, which they beheld with their bodily eyes ; yet the end and use of these external symbols or representations was to give to these prophets an idea of the thing represented, and that was the true divine glory and majesty of Christ, which is his spiritual glory ; they were made use of only as significations of this spiritual glory, and thus undoubtedly they received them, and improved them, and were affected by them. According to the end for which God intended these outward signs, they receiv ed by them a great and lively apprehension of the real glory and majesty of God's nature, which they were signs of; and thus were greatly affected, their souls swallowed up, and their bodies overborne. And I think they are very bold and daring, who will say God cannot, or shall not give the like clear and affecting ideas and apprehensions of the same real glory and majesty of his nature, to any of his saints, without the intervention of any such external shadows of It. Before I leave this head, I would farther observe, that it Is plain the Scrip ture often makes use of bodily effects, to express the strength of holy and spirit ual affections ; such as trembling,* groaning,| being sick,I crying out,|| pant- ing,§ and fainting. TI Now if it be supposed, that these are only figurative ex pressions, to represent tbe degree of affection : yet I hope all will allow, that they are fit and suitable figures to represent the high degree of those spirit ual affections, which the Spirit of God mcdces use of them to represent ; which I do not see how they would be, if those spiritual affections, let them be in never so high a degree, have no tendency to any such things ; but that on the con trary, they are the proper effects and sad tokens of false affections, and the de lusion of the devil. I cannot think, God would commonly make use of things which are very alien from spiritual affections, and are shrewd marks of the hand of Satan, and smell strong of (he bottomless pit, as beautiful figures, to represent the high degree of holy and heavenly affections. III. It is no sign that affections are truly gracious affections, or that they are not, that they cause those who have them to be fluent, fervent, and abun dant, in talking of the things of religion. There are many persons, who, if they see this in others, are greatiy preju diced against them. Their being so full of talk, is with them a sufficient ground to condemn them, as Pharisees, and ostentatious hypocrites. On the other hand, there are many, who if they see this effect in any, are very ignorant ly and imprudently forward, at once to determine that they are the true chil dren of God, and are under the saving influences of his Spirit, and speak of it as a great evidence of a new creature ; they say, " sueh a one's mouth is now opened : he used to be slow fo speak ; but now he is full and free ; he is free now to open his heart, and tell his experiences, and declare the praises of God ; it comes from him, as free as water from a fountain ;" and the like. And especially are they captivated into a confident and undoubting persuasion, that they are savingly wrought upon, if they are not only free and abundant, but very affectionate and earnest in (heir talk. But this is (he fruit of but little judgment, a scanty and short experience ; as events do abundantly show : and is a mistake persons often run Into, through "¦ Psal. cxix. 120. Ezra ix. i. Isa. Ixvi. 2, 5. Hab. iii. 16. t Rom. viii. 26. t Cant. ii. 5, mi r. 9. II Psal. Ixxxiv. 2. § Psal. xxxviii. 10, and xlii. 1, and cxix. 131. IT Psal. Ixxxiv. 2, and cxix. 81 28 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. their trusting to their own wisdom and discerning, and making their own rohons their rule, instead of the holy Scripture. Though the Scripture be full of rules, both how we should judge of our own state, and also how we should be con ducted in our opinion of others ; yet we have nowhere any rule, by which to judge ourselves or others to be in a good estate, from any such effect : for this is but the religion of the mouth and of the tongue, and what Is in the Scrip ture represented by the leaves of a tree, which, though the tree ought not to be wi(hout them, yet are nowhere given as an evidence of the goodness of the tree.That persons are disposed to be abundant in talking of things of religion, may be from a good cause, and it may be from a bad one. It may be because their hearts are very full of holy affections ; " for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh :" and It may be because persons' hearts are very full of religious affection which is not holy; for still out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. It is very much fhe nature of the affections, of whatever kind they be, and whatever objects they are exercised about, if they are strong, to dispose persons to be very much in speaking of that which they are affected with : and not only to speak much, but to speak very earnestly and fervently. And therefore persons talking abundantly and very fervently about Wie things of religion, can be an evidence of no more than this, that they are very much affected with the things of religion ; but this may be (as has been already shown) and there be no grace. That which men are greatly affected with, while the high affection lasts, they will be earnestly engaged about, and will be likely to show that earnestness in their talk and behavior ; as the greater part of the Jews, In all Judah and Galilee, did for a while, about John the Baptist's preaching and baptism, when they were willing for a season to rejoice in his light ; a mighty ado was made, all over the land, and among all sorts of persons, about this great prophet and his ministry. And so the multitude, in like manner, often manifested a great earnestness, a mighty engagedness of spirit, in every thing that was external, about Christ and his preaching and miracles, " being astonished at his doctrine, anon with joy receiving the word," following him sometimes night and day, leaving meat, drink, and sleep to hear him : once following him into the wilderness, fasting three days going to hear him ; some times crying him up to the clouds, saying, " Never man spake like this man !" being fervent and earnest in what they said. But what did these things come to, in the greater part of them 1 A person may be over full of talk of his own experiences ; commonly fall ing upon it, every where^ and in all companies ; and when it is so, it is rather a dark sign than a good one. As a tree that is over full of leaves seldom bears much fruit ; and as a cloud, though to appearance very pregnant and full of water, if it brings with it overmuch wind, seldom affords much rain to the dry and thirsty earth ; which very thing the Holy Spirit is pleased several times to J make use of, to represent a great show of religion with the mouth, without an- , s-werable fruit In the life : Prov. xxv. 24, " Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift, is like clouds and wind without rain." And the apostle Jude, speaking of some In the primitive times, that crept in unawares among the saints, and hav ing a great show of religion, were for a while not suspected, " These are clouds (says he) without water, carried about of winds," Jude ver. 4 and 12. And the apostle Peter, speaking of the same, says, 2 Pet. ii. 17, " These are clouds without water, carried with a tempest." False affections, if they are equally strong, are much more forward to de- RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 29 dare themselves, than true : because It is the nature of false religion, tc affect show and observation ; as it was with the Pharisees.* IV. It Is no sign that affections are gracious, or that they are otherwise, that persons did not make them themselves, or excite them of their own con trivance, and by (heir own strength. There are many in these days, that condemn all affections which are excited in a way that the subjects of them can give no account of, as not seeming to be the fruit of any of their own endeavors, or the natural consequence of the facul ties and principles of human nature, in such circumstances, and under such means ; but to be from the influence of some extrinsic and supernatural power upon their minds. How greatly has the doctrine of the inwkrd experience, or sensible perceiving of the immediate power and operation of the Spirit of God, been reproached and ridiculed by many of late ! They say, the man ner of the Spirit of God is to co-operate in a silent, secret, and undiscernible way with the use of means, and our own endeavors ; so that there is no distinguish ing by sense, between the influences of the Spirit of God, and the natural oper,-; ations of the faculties of our own minds. And it is true, that for any to expect to receive the saving influences of tbe Spirit of God, while they neglect a diligent improvement of the appointed means of grace. Is unreasonable presumption. And to expect (hat the Spirit of God will savingly operate upon their minds, without the Spirit's making use of means, as subservient to the effect, Is enthusiastical. It is also undoubtedly true, that the Spirit of God is very various in the manner and circumstances of his operations, and that sometimes he operates in a way more secret and gra dual, and from smaller beginnings, than at others. But if there be indeed a power, entirely different from, and beyond our power, or the power of all means and Instruments, and above the power of nature, which is requisite in order to the production of saving grace In the heart, according fo the general profession of the country ; then, certainly it is in no wise unreasonable to suppose, that this effect should very frequently be pro duced after such a manner, as to make it very manifest, apparent, and sensible that it is so. If grace be indeed o-wing to the powerful and efficacious operation of an extrinsic agent, or divine efficient out of ourselves, why Is It unreasonable to suppose it should seem to be so to them who are the subjects of it ? Is it a strange thing, that it should seem to be as It is ? When grace in the heart In deed is not produced by our strength, nor is the effect of the natural power of our own faculties, or any means or instruments, but is properly the workman ship and production of (he Spirit of the Almighty, is it a strange and unaccount able tiling, that It should seem to them who are subjects of It, agreeable to truth, and not right contrary to truth ; so that if persons tell of effects that they are conscious to in their own minds, that seem to them not to be from the natural power or operation of their minds, but from the supernatural power of some » That famous experimental divine, Mr. Shepherd, says, " A Pharisee's trumpet shall he heard to the town's end ; -when simplicity walks^ through the town uns*-en. Hence aman will sometimes covertly com mend himsell (and mmelf eveT comes in), and tells you a longslory of conversion ; and a hundrt-d to one if some Ue or other slip not out with it. Why, ihe secret meaning is, Ijrray admireine. Hence complain of wants and -weaknesses : Pray think wliat a broken-hearted Christian lavn." Parab. of the Ten Virgins. Part I pages 179, 180. And holy Mr. Flavel says thus : " 0 reader, if thy heart were right with God. and thou didst not meat Jhyseif with a vain profession, thou wouldst have frequent l.usiness with God, which thou wouldst be loth thy dearest friend, or the wife of thy bosom should be privy to. N(m est religio, ubi onmia patent. Reli- gion doth not lie open to all, to the eyes of men. Observed duties maintain our credit ; but secret duties maintain our life. It was the sayijig of a heathen, about his secret correspondency with his friend, What need the world be aequaintedwithit ? Thou andl are theatre enout^h to each oihir. There nre inclosed pleasures in religion, which noi-c but renewed spiritual souls do feelingly understand." Flavel's To-uchstone ej Smcarity, Chap II, Se.Jt. 2. 30 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. Other agent, it should at once be looked upon as a sure evidence of their being under a delusion, because things seem to them to be as they are ? For this is the objection which is made : it Is looked upon as a clear evidence, that the apprehensions and affections that many persons have, are not really from such a cause, because they seem to them to be from that cause : they declare thar what they are conscious of, seems to them evideritiy not to be from themselves, but from the mighty power of the Spirit of God ; and others from hence con demn them, and determine what they experience is not from the Spirit of God, but from themselves, or from the devil. Thus unreasonably are multitudes treated at this day by their neighbors. If it be indeed so, as the Scripture abundantly teaches, that grace in the soul is so the effect of God's power, that It is fitly compared to those effects which are farthest from being owing to any strength In the subject, such as a genera tion, or a being begotten, and resurrection, or a being raised from the dead, and creation, or a being brought out of nothing into being, and that it is an effect wherein the mighty power of God is greatly glorified, and the exceeding great ness of his power is manifested ;* then what account can be given of it, that the Almighty, In so great a work of his power, should so carefully hide his power, that the subjects of It should be able to discern nothing of it ? Or what reason or revelation have any to determine that he does so ? If we may judge by the Scripture this is not agreeable to God's manner, in his operations aqd dispensa tions; but on the contrary, il is God's manner, in the great works of his power and mercy which he works for his people, to order things so as to make his hand visible, and his power conspicuous, and men's dependence on him most evident, that no flesh should glory In his presence,! that God alone might be exalted,J and that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of man,§ and that Christ's power might be manifested in our weakness,]] and none might say mine own hand hath saved me.U So it was in most of those temporal sal vations which God wrought for Israel of old, which were types of the salvation of God's people from their spiritual enemies. So it was in the redemption of Israel from their Egyptian bondage ; he redeemed them with a strong hand, and an out stretched arm ; and that his power might be the more conspicuous, he suffered Israel first to be brought into the most helpless and forlorn circumstances. So it was in the great redemption by Gideon ; God would have his army diminished to a handful, and they without any other arms than trumpets and lamps, and earthen pitchers. So It was in the deliverance of Israel from Goliath, by a stripling with a sling and a stone. So it was in that great work of God, his calling the Gentiles, and converting the Heathen world, after Christ's ascension, after that the world by wisdom knew not God, and all the endeavors of philosophers had proved In vain, for many ages, to reform the world, and it was by everv thing become abundantly evident, that the world was utterly helpless, by any thing else but the mighty power of God. And so It was In most of (he conver sions of particular persons, we have an account of in the history of the New Testament : they were not wrought on in that silent, secret, gradual, and insensi ble manner, which is now insisted on ; but with those manifest cvidencesTof a supernatural power, wonderfully and suddenly causing a great change, which in the'ie days are looked upon as certain signs of delusion and enthusiasm. " The Apostle, in Eph. i. 18, 19, speaks of God's enlightening the minds of Christians, and so bringing them to believe in Christ, to the end that they might know the exceeding greatness of his power to them who believe. The word" *Eph.i, 17-20 +1 Cor.i. 27, 28, 29. t Isa. ii. i:-17. S2Cor.iv.^ J 2 Cor. xii. 9. tJudg.Tii.a RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 31 are, " The ey«s of your understanding being enlightened ; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inherit ance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who beheve, according to the working of his mighty power," &c. Now when the apostle speaks of their being thus the subjects of his power, in (heir enjigh(- ening and efiectual calling, to the end that they might know what his mlghtj power was to them who believe, he can mean nothing else (ban, " (hat they might know by experience." But if the saints know this power by experience, ihen they feel it and discern it, and are conscious of it ; as sensibly distinguish able from the natural operations of their own minds, which is not agreeable to a notion of God's operating so secretly, and undiscernably, (hat it cannot be known that they are the subjects of the influence of any extrinsic power at all, any othei-wlse than as they may argue it from Scripture assertions ; which is a dif- ¦ferent thing from knowing it by experience. So that it is veiy unreasonable and unscriptural to determine (hat affections are not from the gracious operations of God's Spirit, because (hey are sensibly not from the persons themselves that are the subjects of (hem. On the other hand, it Is no evidence that affections are gracious, that they are not properly produced by those who are the subjects of them, or that they arise in their minds In a manner (hey cannot account for. There are some who make this an argument In (heir own favor ; when speaking of what they have experienced, they say, " I am sure I did not make it myself; it was a fruit of no contrivance or endeavor of mine ; it came when I thought nothing of it ; if I might have the world for it, I cannot make It again when I please." And hence they determine that what they have experienced, must be from the mighty influence of the Spirit of God, and is of a saving nature ; but very ignorantly, and without grounds. What they have been (he subjects of, may indeed not be from themselves directiy, but may be from the operation of an invisible agent, some spirit besides their own : but it does not whence follow, that it was from the Spirit of God. There are other spirits who have influence on the minds of men, besides the Holy Ghost. We are directed not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits, whether they be of God. There are many false spirits, exceeding busy -with men, who often transform themselves into angels of light, and do in many wonderful ways, with great subtlUy and power, mimic the operations of the Spirit of God. And there are many of Satan's operations, which are very distinguishable from the voluntary exercises of men's own minds. They are so, in those dreadful and horrid suggestions, and blasphemous injections with which he follows many persons ; and In vain and fruitless frights and terrors, which he is the author o£ And the power of Satarr may be as immediate, and as evident in false comforts and joys, as In terrors and horrid suggestions ; and oftentimes Is so in fact. It is not In men's power to put themselves in such raptures, as the Anabaptists in Germany, and many other raving enthusiasts like them, have been the subjects of. And besides, it is to be considered that persons may have those Impressions on their minds, which may not be of their own producing, nor from an evil spirit, but from the Spirit of God, and yet not be from any saving, but a com mon influence of the Spirit of God ; and the subjects of such impressions mav be of the number of those we read of, Heb. vi. 4, 5, " that are once enlightened, and taste of the heavenly gift, and are made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and taste the good word of God, and the pow-er of the world to come ;" and yet may be wholly unacquainted wrth those " better things that accompany salvation," spoken of ver. 9. 32 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. And wtere neither a good nor evil spirit have any immediate band, persons, especially such as are of a weak and vapory habit of body, and the brain weak and easily susceptive of impressions, may have strange apprehensions and im aginations, and strong affections attending them, unaccountably arising, -which are not voluntarily produced by themselves. We see that such persons are hable to such impressions about temporal things ; and there is equal reason, why they should about spiritual things. As a person who is asleep has dreams that heis not the voluntary author of; so may .such persons, in like manner, be the sub jects of involuntary impressions, when they are awake. V. It is no sign that religious affections are truly holy and spiritual, or that they are not, that they come with texts of Scripture, remarkably brought to the mind. It Is no sign that affections are not gracious, that they are occasioned by Scrip. tures so coming to mind ; provided it be the Scripture Itself, or the truth which the Scripture so brought contains and teaches, that is the foundation of the affection, and not merely, or mainly, the sudden and unusual manner of its coming to the mind. But on the other hand, neither is it any sign that affections are gracious, that they arise on occasion of Scriptures brought suddenly and wonderfully to the mind ; whether those affections be fear or hope, joy or sorrow, or any other. Some seem to look upon this as a good evidence that their affections are saving, especially if the affections excited are hope or joy, or any other which are pleas ing and delightful. They will mention it as an evidence that all Is right, that their experience came with the word, and will say, " There were such and such sweet promises brought to my mind : they came suddenly, as if they were spoken to me : I had no hand in bringing such a text to my own mind ; I was not thinking of any thing leading to it ; it came all at once, so that I was surprised. I had not thought of it a long time before ; I did not know at first that It was Scripture ; I did not remember that ever I had read it." And it may be, they will add, " One Scripture came flowing In after another, and so texts all over the Bible, the most sweet and pleasant, and the most apt and suitable which could be devised ; and filled me full as I could hold : I could not but stand and ad mire : the tears flowed ; I was full of joy, and could not doubt any longer." And thus they think they have undoubtecl evidence that their affections must be from God, and of the right kind, and their state good : but without any manner of grounds. Hovi- came they by any s'jch rule, as that if any affections or ex periences arise with promises, and comfortable texts of Scripture, unaccountably brought to mind, without their recollection, or if a great number of sweet texts follow one another in a chain, that this is a certain evidence their experiences are saving 1 Where is any such rule to be found in the Bible, the great and only sure directory In things of.this nature ? Wha! deceives many of the less understanding and considerate sort of peo ple, in this matter, seems to be this ; that the Scripture is the word of God, and has nothing In It which is wrong, but Is pure and perfect; and therefore, those experiences which come from (he Scrlp(ure must be right. But then it should be considered, affections may arise on occasion of the Scripture, and not proper ly come from the Scripture, as the genuine fruit of the Scripture, and by a right use of It ; but from an abuse of it. All that can be argued from the purity and perfection of the word of God, with respect to experiences, is this, that those experiences which are agreeable to the word of God, are right, and cannot be otherwise ; and not that those affections must be right, which arise on oc casion of the word of God coming to the mind. RELIGIOUS A^^ECTIO^fS, 33 What evidence Is there that the devil cannot bring texts of Scripture to the mind, and misapply them to deceive persons 1 There seems tc be nothing in this which exceeds the power of Satan. It is no wo;k; of such mighty power, to bring sounds or letters to persons' minds, that we have any reason to suppose nothing short of Omnipotence can be sufficient for it. If Satan has power to bring any words or sounds at all to persons' minds, he may have power to bring words contained in the Bible, There is no higher sort of power required in men, to make the sounds which express the words of a text of Scripture, than to make the sounds which express the words of an idle story or song. And so the same power in Satan, which is sufficient to renew one of those kinds of sounds in the mind, is suflficient to renew the other : the different signification, which depends wholly on custom, alters not the case, as to ability to make or revive the sounds or letters. Or will any suppose, that texts or Scriptures are such sacred things, that the devil durst not abuse them, nor touch them 1 In this also tbey are mistaken. He who was bold enough to lay hold on Christ him self, and carry him hither and thither, into the wilderness, and into a high mountain, and to a pinnacle of the temple, is not afraid to touch the Scripture, and abuse that for his own purpose ; as he showed at the same time that he was so bold with Christ, he then brought one Scripture and another, to deceive and tempt him. And if Satan did presume, and was permitted to put Christ him self in mind of texts of Scripture to tempt him, what reason have we determine that he dare not, or will not be permitted, to put wicked men in the mind of texts of Scripture, to tempt and deceive ihem ? And if Satan may thus abuse one text of Scripture, so he may another. Its being a very excellent place of Scripture, a comfortable and precious promise, alters not the case, ns to his courage or ability. And if he can bring one comfortable text to the mind, so he may a thousand ; and may choose out such Scriptures as tend most to serve his purpose ; and may heap up Scripture promises, tending, according to the perverse application he makes of them, wonderfully to remove the rising doubts, and to confirm the false joy and confidence of a poor deluded sinner. We know the devil's instruments, corrupt and heretical teachers, can and do pervert the Scripture, to their own and others' damnation, 2 Pet. ill. 16. We see they have the free use of Scripture, in every part of it : there is no text so precious and sacred, but they are permitted to abuse it, to the eternal ruin of multitudes of souls ; and there are no weapons they make use of with which they do more execution. And there Is no manner of reason to determine, that the devil is not permitted thus to use the Scripture, as well as his instruments. For when the latter do it, they do it as his Instruments and servants, and through his instigation and influence : and doubtless he does the same he instigates others- to do ; the devil's servants do but follow their master, and do the same work that he does himself And as the devil can abuse the Scripture, to deceive and destroy men, so- may men's own folly and corruptions as well. The sin which is In men, acts like its father. Men's own hearts are deceitful like the devil, and use the same means to deceive. So that It is evident, that any person may have high affections of hope and' ioy, arising on occasion of texts of Scripture, yea, precious promises of Scrip ture coming suddenly and remarkably to their minds, as though (hey were spoken to them, yea, a great multitude ii such texts, following one another In ai wonderful manner ; and yet all this be no argument that these affections are di vine, or that they are any other than the effects of Satan's delusions. And I would further observe, that persons may have raised and joyful affec- Voi.. III. 5 34 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. tions, which may come with the word of God, and not only so, but from the wor and those affections not be from Satan, nor yet properly from the corruptions ( I their own hearts, but from some influence of the Spirit of God with the wor 'and yet have nothing of the nature oftrue and saving rehgion in them, Thi the stony ground hearers had great joy from the word ; yea, which is represen ed as arising from the word, as growth from a seed ; and their affections had, : their appearance, a very great and exact resemblance with those represented \ the growth on the good ground, the difference not appearing until It was di covered by the consequences in a time of trial: and yet there was no savin religion in these affecdon.s,* VI. It is no evidence that religious affections are saving, or that they ai otherwise, that there is an appearance of love in them. There are no professing Christians who pretend, that this is an argumei against the truth and saving nature of religious affections. But, on the oth( hand, there are some who suppose, it is a good evidence that affections are fro: the sanctifying and saving Influences of the Holy Ghost. — Their argument that Satan cannot love ; this affection being directiy contrary to the devil, who; very nature is enmity and malice. And it is true, that nothing is more excellen heavenly, and divine, than a spirit of true Christian love to God and men : it more excellent than knowledge, or prophecy, or miracles, or speaking with tl tongue of men and angels. It is tbe chief of (he graces of God's Spirit, and the lif essence and sum of all (rue religion ; and that by which we are most conforn ed to heaven, and most contrary to hell and. the devU. But yet it is ill argi ing from hence, that there are no counterfeits of it. It may be observed thi the more excellent any thing is, the more will be the counterfeits of it. Thi there are many more counterfeits of silver and gold, than of iron and copper there are many false diamonds and rubles, but who goes about to counterfe common stones 1 Though the more excellent things are, the more diflScult is to make any thing that shall be like them, in their essential nature and inte: nal virtues ; yet the more manifold will the counterfeits be, and the more wi art and subtilty be displayed, in an exact Imitation of the outward appearanc Thus there is the greatest danger of being cheated in buying of medicines thi are most excellent and sovereign, though it be most difficult to Imitate them wil any thing of the like value and virtue, and their counterfeits are good for notl ing when we have them. So it Is with Christian virtues and graces ; the sui tilty of Satan, and men's deceitful hearts, are wont chiefly to be exercised : counterfeiting those that are in highest repute. So there are perhaps r graces that have more counterfeits than love and humility ; these being virtui wherein the beauty of a true Christian does especially appear. But with respect to love ; it is plain by the Scripture, that persons may ha\ a kind of religious love, and yet have no saving grace. Christ speaks of mar professing Christians that have such love, whose love will not continue and s shall fail of salvation. Matt. xxiv. 12, 13 : " And because iniquity shall aboum the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end ti same shall be saved." Which latter words plainly show, that those spokt of before, whose love shall not endure to the en;', but wax cold, should not I saved. Persons may seem to have love to God and Christ, yea, to have very stron ? iMr. Stoddard In his Guide to Christ, speaks of it as a common thing, for persons while in a natui condition, and before they have ever truly accepted of Christ, to have Scripture promises come to thet with a great deal of refreshing : which they take as tokens of God's love, and hope that God has acoeoti 'ifim ; and so are confident of their gpod estate Pages 8, 9. Impression anno 1735. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 35 and violent affections of this nature, and yet have no grace. For this was evt« dendy the case vvith many graceless Jews, such as cried Jesus up so high, fol lowing him day and night, without meat, drink, or sleep ; such as said, " Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever (hou goest," and cried, " Hosanna to (he Son of David."* The apostle seems to intimate, that there were many in his days who had a counterfeit love to Christ, in Eph. vi. 24 : " Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." The last word, in the original, signifies in- corrupiion ; which shows, that the apostle was sensible that there were many who had a kind of love to Christ, whose love was not pure and spiritual. So also Christian love to the people of God may be counterfeited. It is evident by the Scripture, that there may be strong affections of this kind, with out saving grace ; as there were in the Galatians towards the Apostle Paul, when they were ready to pluck out their eyes and give them to him ; although the apostle expresses his fear that their affections were come to nothing, and that he had bestowed upon them labor in vain, G-al. iv. 11, 15. VII. Persons having religious affections of many kinds, accompanying one another, is not sufficient to determine whether they have any gracious affec tions or no. Though false religion is wont to be maimed and monstrous, and not to have that entireness and symmetry of parts, which is to be seen in true religion : yet ihere may be a great variety of false affections together, that may resemble gracious affections. It is evident that there are counterfeits of all kinds of gracious affections ; as of love to God, and love to the brethren, as has been just now observed ; so of godly sorrow for sin, as in Pharaoh, Saul, and Ahab, and the children of Israel in the wilderness, Exod. Ix. 27, 1 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17, -and xxvi. 21, 1 Kings xxi. 27, Numb. xiv. 39, 40 ; and of the fear of God, as in the Samari tans, " who feared the Lord, and served their own gods at the same time," 2 Kings xvii. 32, 33 ; and those enemies of God we read of, Psal. Ixvi. 3, who, " through the greatness of God's power, submit themselves to him," or, as it is in the Hebrew, " lie unto him," I. e., yield a counterfeit reverence and submis sion. So of a gracious gratitude, as in the children of Israel, who sang God's firaise at the Red Sea, Psal. cvi. 12 ; and Naaman the Syrian, after his mlracu- ous cure of his leprosy, 2 Kings v. 15, &c. So of spiritual joy, as In the stony ground hearers. Matt. xiii. 20, and par ticularly many of John the Baptist's hearers, John v. 35. So of zeal, as in Jehu, 2 Kings X. 16, and in Paul before his conversion, Gal. i. 14, Phil. ill. 6, and the unbeheving Jews, Acts xxii. 3, Rom. x. 2. So graceless persons may have earnest religious desires, which may be like Baalam's desires, which he ex presses under an extraordinary view that he had of the happy state of God's people, as distinguished from all the rest of the world. Numb, xxiii. 9, 10. They may also have a strong hope of eternal life, as the Pharisees had. And as men, while in a state of nature, are capable of a resemblance of all kinds of rehgious affections, so nothing hinders but that they may have many uf them together. And what appears In fact, does abundantly evince that it is very often so indeed. It seems commonly to be so, that when false affections are raised high, many false affections attend each other. The multitude that attended * Agreeable to this, Mr. Stoddard observes, in his Guide to Christ, that some sinners have pangs jf affection, and give an account that they find a spirit of love to God, and of their aiming at the glory of G-jd, having that which has a great resemblance of saving grace ; and that sometimes their common affections are stronger than saving. And supposes, that sometimes natural men may have such violent pange of false affection to GoA that they may think tJieJiselves willing to be damned. Pages 21, and 65. 36 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS Christ Into Jerusalem, after (hat great miracle of raising Lazarus, seem to have been moved with many religious affections at once, and all In a high degree. They seem to have been filled with admiration, and there was a show of a high affection of love, and also of a great degree of reverence, m their laying their garments on the ground for Christ to tread upon; and also of great grati tude to him, for the great and good works he had wrought, praising him with loud voices for his salvation ; and earnest desires of the coming of God's king dom, which they supposed Jesus was now about to set up, and showed great hopes and raised expectations of it, expecting it would immediately appear ; and hence were filled with joy, by which they were so animated in their acclama tions, as to make the whole city ring with the noise of them ; and appeared great in their zeal and forwardness to attend Jesus, and assist him without fur ther delay, now In the time of the great feast of the passover, to set up his king dom. And it Is easy, from nature, and (he nature of the affections, to give an account why, when one affection is raised very high, that it should excite others ; especially if the affection which is raised high, be (hat of counterfeit love, as It was In the multitude who cried Hosanna. This will naturally draw many other affections after it. For, as was observed before, love is the chief of the affec tions, and as it were the fountain of them. Let us suppose a person who has been for some time in great exercise and terror through fear of hell, and his heart weakened with distress and dreadful apprehensions, and upon the brink of despair, and is all at once delivered, by being firmly made to believe, through some delusion of Satan, that God has pardoned him, and accepts him as the ob ject of his dear love, and promises him eternal life ; as suppose through some vision, or strong idea or imagination, suddenly excited In hun, of a person with a beautiful countenance, smiling on him, and with arms open, and with blood dropping down, which the person conceives to be Christ, without any other en lightening of the understanding, to give a view of (he spiritual divine excellency of Christ and his fulness ; and of the way of salvation revealed In the o-ospel : or perhaps by some voice or words coming as if they were spoken to him, such as these, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee ;" or, " Fear not. It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," which he takes to be immediately spoken by God to him, though there was no preceding accept ance of Christ, or closing of the heart with him : I say, if we should suppose such a case, what various passions would naturally crowd at once, or one after another, into such a person's mind ! It is easy to be accounted for, from mere principles of nature, that a person's heart, on such an occasion, should be raised up to the skies -with transports of joy ; and be filled with fervent affection, to that Imaginary God or Redeemer, who he supposes has thus rescued him from the jaws of such dreadful destruction, that his soul was so amazed with the fears of, and has received him with such endearment, as a peculiar favorite ; and that now he should be filled with admiration and gratitude, and his mouth should be opened, and be full of talk about what he has experienced ; and that, for a while he should think and speak of scarce any thing else, and should seem to magnify that God who has done so much for him, and call upon others to rejoice with him, and appear with a cheerful countenance, and talk with a loud voice : and however, before his deliverance, he was full of quarrellings against the justice of God, that now It should be easy for him to submit to God, and own his un- woilbiness, and cry out against himself, and appear to be very humble before God, and lie at his feet as tame aa a lamb; and that he should now confess his unworthlness, and cry out, " Why me ? Why mei" (Like Saul, who when Samuel told him that God had appointed him to be king, makes answer " Aia RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 37 not I a Benjamlte, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin 1 Wherefore then speakest thou so to me V Much in the language of David, the true saint, 2 Sam. vii. 18, " Who am I, and what Is my father's house, that thou has brought me hither to 1") Nor is It to be wondered at, that now he should delight to be with them who acknowledge and applaud his happy circumstances, and should love all such as esteem and admire him and what he has experienced, and have violent zeal against all such as would make nothing of such things, and be disposed openly to separate, and as it were to proclaim war with all who be not of his party, and should now glory in his sufferings, and be very much tor condemn- nig and censuring all who seem to doubt, or make any diflficulty of these things ; and while the warmth of his affections lasts, should be mighty forward to take pains, and deny himself, to promote the interest of the party who he imagines favors such things, and seem earnestly desirous to increase the number of them, as the Pharisees compassed sea and land to make one proselyte.* And so I might go on, and mention many other things, which will naturally arise in such circumstances. He must have but slightly considered human nature, who thinks such things as these cannot arise in this manner, without any supernatural Inter position of divine power. As from true divine love flow all Christian affections, so from a counterfeit \ love In like manner naturally flow other false affections. In both cases, love is J the fountain, and the other affections are the streams. The various faculties, principles, and affections of the human nature, are as it were many channels from one fountain : if there be sweet water in the fountain, sweet water will from (hence flow out into those various channels ; but if (he water in the foun tain be poisonous, then poisonous streams will also flow out into all those chan nels. So that the channels and streams will be alike, corresponding one with another ; but the great difference will lie in the nature of the water. Or, man's nature may be compared to a tree, with many branches, comlrig from one root : if the sap in the root be good, there will also be good sap distributed through out the branches, and the fruit that is brought forth will be good and whole some ; but if the sap in the root and stock be poisonous, so It will be in many branches (as in the other case), and the fruit will be deadly. The tree in both cases may be alike ; there may be an exact resemblance in shape ; but the dif ference is found only in eating the fruit. It is thus (In some measure at least) oftentimes between saints and hypocrites. There is sometimes a very great si militude between true and false experiences, in their appearance, and in what Is expressed and related by the subjects of them : and the difference between them is much like the difference between the dreams of Pharaoh's chief butler and ba ker; they seemed to be much alike, insomuch that when Joseph interpreted the chief butler's dream, that he should be delivered from his imprisonment, and restored to the king's favor, and his honorable office in the palace, the chief baker had raised hopes and expectations, and told his dream also ; but he was wofully disappointed ; and though hLs dream was so much like the happy and well lioding dream of his companion, yet it was quite contrary in its issue. VIII. Nothing can certainly be determined concerning the nature of the affec tions, by this, that comforts and joys seem to follow awakenings and convictions of conscience, in a certain order. * " Associating with godly men does not prove that a man has grace : A'hithophel was David's com' pani m. Sorrows for the afflictions of the church, and desires for the convcrsios of souls, do not prove it These things may be found in carnal men, and so can be no evidence of grace." — Stoddard's Nalun of Savins Conversion., i . 82. 38 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. Many persons seem to be prejudiced against affections and experiences that come in such a method, as has been much insisted on by many divines ; first, .such awakenings, fears, and awful apprehensions, followed with such legal humbllngs, in a sense of total sinfulness and helplessness, and then, such and such hght and comfort ; they look upon all such schemes, laying do-wn such methods and steps, to be of men's devising; and particulariy 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 sta(es, 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 Ils 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 (o (hem," and so (o 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 streng(h 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 Egypt, 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 intt great distress, tbe 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 (o own herself worlhy to be called a dog ; and then he showed her mercy, and received her as a dear child. Matt, xv, 22, &c. The Apostie 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 first a great tempest, and the ,ship was covered with the waves, and just ready to sink, and the disciples were brought to cry to Jesus, " Lord save us, we perish ;" and then 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, xili. 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 hills, 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 brmgs"tbem to reflect on their sin, and to say. We are verily guilty ; and a( 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 il was witb 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 ; first, God appeared to him In all the terrors of his dreadful Majesty, so that Moses said, " I 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, " O 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 (hem, bo(h 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 works 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 unworthlness, before he Is relieved and fea.sted 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 with 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 thern 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 ; especially if It be considered what these evils are that they have a view of; which are no other (han great and manifold sins, against the Infinite majesty of the great Jehovah, and the suffering of the fierceness of his wrath to all e(ernity. 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 1" 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 of conscience do often cause terror ; yet they do not consist in it ; and terrors do often arise from other causesr'"Con- vIctioa«: of conscience, through the influences of God's Spirit, consist in conviction * Jlr. Shepard speaks of " men's being cast down as low as hell by sorrow and lying under chains ¦juaking in apprehension of terror to come, and then raised up to heaven in joy, not able to live • and vet .ot rent from lust : and s-jch are objects of pity now, and ave like to lie the obiects of terror at the itrea Jay "—Vmableof the Ten Virgins Parti, 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 flames 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 enlightenlngs of conscience really con-vinclng them of their sinfulness of heart and life. The devil, if per mitted, can terrify men as well as the Spirit of God ; it is a work natural (o him, and he has many ways of doing i(, in a manner tending to no good. He may exceedingly affright persons, by impressing on (hem 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 hke, 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 every thing they are affected with, than others ; and the impression on the imagination reacts on (he 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 ax possession of hlmselff 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 does truly consist, nor have they any thought of any particular thing wherein their hearts are sinfully defective, or fall short of what ought to be in them, or any exercises at all of corruption in (hem. 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 stand 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 j awakening and convincing Influences of the Spirit of God, it doth not thence follow that their terrors must needs issue in true comfort. The unmortified 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 hy enlightening natural conscience. The Spirit 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 T^rd, searching all the inward parts of the belly.''* Stoddard's Gvide to Christ, page 44. t The famous Mr. Perkins distinguishes between " those sorrows that come through convictions of rnnscience, and melancholic passions arising only from mere imagination, strongly conceived in the brain ; vhich, he says, usually come v n a sudden, Uke lightning into a house." — Vol. I. of his works. ^nge 3.95. Vol. IIL 6 42 RELIGIOUS AFFFCTIONS. by leading men to presumptuous, and self-exalting hopes and joy'S, as well as otiierwise. 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 chiet baker, after he had lain In the dungeon with Joseph, had a vision that raised his hopes, and he was hfted out of the dungeon, as well as the chief butler ; but it was to be hanged. But if comforts and joys do not only come after great terrors and awalfen- ings, but there be an appearance of such preparatory convictions and humilia tions, and brought about very dlstinctiy, by such steps, and in such a method, as has frequently been -ibservable in true converts ; this is no certain sign that j the light and comforts which follow are true and saving. And for these follow- I 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 po-wer of all creatures, as 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 1 may of those that are of an infinitely inferior kind. And it Is abundantiy 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 !" And at another time, " I have sinned, I have played th'e fool, I have erred exceedingly," 1 Sam, xxiv, 16, 17, and chap. xxvi. 2 1. 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 from 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 o-wn 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 j nave only exchanged some ways of (rusting in their own righteousness, for ' others (hf\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 h« aeals with him, and not be brought off from his own righteousness ; and that some men do justify Goo Tiom a partial conviction of the righteousness of their condemnation ; conscience takes notice of thei. imfulness, and tells them that they may be righteously damned ; as Pharaoh, who justified God, Exod z. 27. And they give some kind of consent to it, but many times it does not continue they have on.. pang upon them, that usually dies away after a little time. — Guide to Chnst, p. 71 . RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 43 ment, as to many things they used to depend upon. Is taken for humiliation : and (hat 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 (he Spirit of God, in (he convic tions, and comfor(s of true converts, may be sophisticated, then the order of them may be imitated. If Satan can imitate (he (hlngs (hemselves, 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 (hlngs Is harder for the devil to imitate, than their order. 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. When 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. Tha( 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 thing 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 corinection 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 menTbiTt only grace and its fruiter AmilhereforTwe^o not find 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 pecuUar to the saints ; 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 (his nature. Fourthly, Experience does greatly confirm, that persons seeming to have convictions and comfor(s following one ano(her in such a method and order, as is frequently observable in true converts, is no certain sign of grace.* I appeal to all (hose ministers in this land, who have had much occasion of dealing with souls in the late extraordinary seeison, 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 ordinarily Insisted on, as the order of the operations of the Spirit of God in conversion. Atd 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 and unconverted men cannot be certainly distinguished by the account they give of their experience ; the same relation of experiences being common to both. And that many persons have given a fait account of a work of conversion, that have carried veil in the eye of the world for several years, but have not proved w a\ at last. — Appeal to the Ijumiea, i 75, 76. 44 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. certain sign th.it a person is converted ; so a being -without it, is no evidem i that a person is not converted. For though It might be made evident to a demon stration, on Scripture principles, that a sinner cannot be 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 hothing proves It to be necessary, that all those things which are Implied or presupposed in an act of faith in Christ, must be plainly and distinctly wrought In the soul. In so many successive and separate works of the Spirit, that shall be 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 born 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 ; but 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 bones 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 be 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 tbe 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 knov.'-eth right well. My substance 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 (he 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 and untraceable, in some of the best of Christians, in the method of his operation.s, 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 tabhshed 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 of their ex perience are picked out, that have most of the appearance of such particular iteos that are insisted on ; and these are dwelt upon in thje. 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 (hat 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, in our inquiries into our own state, or directions we give to others, is the nature of the effect 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 (not where the order of doing is clearest, but) where the spiritual and divine nature of the work done, and effect wrought, is Bjost clear. IX. It is no certain sign that the religious affecdons which persons have ?re such as have In them the nature of true religion, or that they have not, 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 (he 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 this effect 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 (heir 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 I pray." Grace makes the saints delight in singing praises to God: Psal. cxxxv. 3, " Sing praises unto his name, fbr 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 (he word of God preached : it makes the gospel a joyful sound to (hem, 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 or mes 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." — Parableofthe Ten Virgins, Part II. p. 171. " If the man do not know the time of his conversion, or first closing with Christ ; the mini.ster may not draw any peremptory conclusion from thence, that he is not godly." — Stoddard's Guide to Chrisi, p. 83. " Do not think there is no compunction, or sense of sin, wrought in the soul, because you cannot so eJearly discern and feel it ; nor the time of the working, and first beginning of it. 1 have known many hat have come with their complaints, that they were never hmK.Hed they never felt it so ,- yet there it hath Deen, and many times they have seen it, by the other spectacUs, and blessed God fo' it," — Shepard'a Sound Believer, page 38. Tbe 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's: 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 I desired of the Lord, 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. 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 ray 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 from 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 of re hgion, 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; they " made long prayers, and fasted twice a week." False religion may cause persons to be loud and earnest in prayer : Isa. Iviii. 4, " Ye shall not fast as 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 tbe 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 was 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 thernselves up to them, and devote almost their whole time to them. Formerly a sort of people were very numerous in (he Romish church, called recluses, who for sook the world, and utterly abandoned the society of mankind, and shut 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 casf of sickness), to spend all their days In the exercise of devotion and converse witt God. There were also in old time, great multitudes called Hermits and Ancho rites, that left the worid to spend all their days In lonesome deserts, to give them selves up to religious contemplations and exercises of devotion ; some sorts of them having no dwellings, btrt the caves and vaults of the mountains, and no food, but (he spontaneous productions of the ear(h. I once lived, for many \non(hs, next door to a Jew (the houses adjoining one to another), and had RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 47 much opportunity daily to observe him ; who appeared to me the devoutest person that I ever saw in my life ; great part of his time being spent in acts of devotion, at his eastern window, which opened next to mine, seeming to be most earnestiy engaged, not only in the daytime, but sometimes whole nights. X. Nothing can be certainly known of the nature of religious affections by i this, that they much dispose persons with their mouths to praise and glorify 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, I 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 w^ere 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 glorified 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 tiiat cometh in the name of the Lord," a little before he was crucified I And after Christ's ascension, when the apostles had healed the impotent 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 the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's eake, said, Let the Lord be glorified." 48 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. It is no certain sign that a person is graciously affected, if, m the midst of his hopes and comforts, he is greatly affected with God's unmerited mercy to him that Is so unworthy, a«d seems greatly to extol and magnify free grace Those thai yet remain with unmortified pride and enmity against God, may, when they imagine that they have received extraordinary kindness from God, cry out of their unworthlne&s, and magnify God's undeserved goodness to them, from no olher 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 unworthlness, and cry out, " I have played the fool, I have erred exceedingly," and with great affection and admiration, to magnify and extol David's unmerited and unexam pled kindness lo 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 tbey are wrong, that thej make persons that have them exceeding confident that what they exjerlence is jdivine, 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 full and absolute assurance of hope ; 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 oi 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: glorymg in him as his portion and heritage, his rock and confidence, his shield, salvation, and high tower, and the like. Hezekiah appeals to God, as one that knew that he :\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 chap(ei-s of John (which was as it were Christ's last will and testament to his disciples, and to his whole church), often declares bis 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 the end thai 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 ot his RELIGIOUo AFFECTIONS 19 with a prayer in their presence, wherein be 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 tbey were not of the world ; and that for their sakes he sanctified himself ; an'', ihat his will was, that they should be AvIth him in his glory ; and tells his Father, that he spake those Ihino-s in his prayer, to the end, that his joy might be 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 be sufficient 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 strain ; ever speaking positively of his special relation to Christ, his Lord, and Master, and Redeemer, and his interest in, and expecfatlon of the future reward. It would be endless to take notice of all places that might be enumerated ; I shall men tion but three or four : Gal. ii. 20, " Christ liveth In me ; and (he life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of (he Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me ;" Phil. 1.21," 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 (hat he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day ;" 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, " I 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 it to be 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 be made sure on God's part. " The covenant is ordered in all things and sure :" the 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 undoubting hope and full joy, in an assurance of their future glory. Heb. 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 Vi^hlch 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 be 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 mises and oaths, let them be 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 be perfect as pertaining to the conscience, as is signified, Heb, 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, but that all Christians are directed to give all dihgence 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 blamable In them, not to know whether Christ be in them or no : 2 Cor. xiii. 5, " Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates V And It Is Implied that It is an argument of a rery blamable negligence in Christians, if they practise Christianity after sucb Vol. Ill 7 50 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS a manner as to remain uncertain of the reward, In 1 Cor. ix. 26 : "1 tfierefore so 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 worid, but tbe 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 tiiat we know him, if we keep his command ments." And verse 5, " Hereby know we that we are in him." Chap. ill. 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. r" 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 (hey are the subjects of seem to banish "~all fears of bell. '"zi- On the other hand, it is no sufficient reason to determine that men are saints, and their affections gracious, because the affections they have are attended with an exceeding confidence that their state is good, and their affections divine.* 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 m the most bold, familiar, and appropriating language in prayer, " My Father, my dear Redeemer, my sweet Saviour, my Beloved," and the like ; and it Is a common thing for him to use tbe most confident expressions before men, about the goodness of his stale ; such as, " I know certainly that God Is my Father ; I know so surely as there is a God in heaven, that he is my God ; I know I shall go to heaven, as well as if I were there ; I 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 lo be seen in many, has not the countenance of a true Christian assurance : it savors * " O professor, look carefully to your foundation : ' Be not high minded, but fear.' You have, it imay be, done and suifered many things in and for religion ; you have excellent gifts and sweet comforts ; a warm zeal for God, and high confidence of your integrity : all this may be right, for aught that I, or (it -may be) you know ; but yet, it is possible it may be false. You have sometimes judged yourselves, and pronounced yourselves upright ; but remember your final sentence is not yet pronounced by your Jud^e. And what if God weigh you over again, in his more equal balance, and should say, Mene Tekel, * Thou art w-eighed in the balance, and art found wanting?' What a confounded man wilt thou be, under such a sentence ! Quw splendent in conspectu hominis, 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 tb» Way 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 Dieted assurance ? Lo, what strong confidence, and high built persuasions, of an interest in God have sometimes been found in unsanctified ones ! Yea, so strong may this false assurance be that they dare boldly ventuie to,go to the judgment seat of God, and there defend it. Doth the Spirit'of God fill the heart of the assured believer with joy unspeakable, and full of glory, giving him, through faith, a preliba- ; tion or foretaste of heaven itself, in th;se first fruits of it ? How near to this come.'i what the Apost'a .Tuppnsea may bo found in apostates !" — Flavel's Husbandry S^irilualizeil, chap. xii. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 51 more of the spirit of the Pharisees, who never doubted but that thty were saints, and the most eminent of saints, and were bold to go to God, and come up near to him, and lift up (heir eyes, and thank him for (he great distinction he had made between them and other men ; and when Christ Intimated that they were blind and graceless, despised 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 1" If they had more of the spirit of the publican, with their con fidence, who, in a sense of his exceeding unworthlness, 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 circumstances, be as high and strong as mountains, and as violent as a tempest, when once conscience is blinded, and convictions 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 hope, he has not those things to cause him to call his hope in question, that oftentimes are the occasion of the doubting of true saints ; as, firsi, be has not (hat cautious spirit, that great , sense of the vast importance of a sure foundation, and th-at dread of being deceived. The comforts of the true saints increase awakening and caution, and 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 hypocrite has not the knowledge of his own bhndness, 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. Thirdly, The devil does not assault the hope of the hypocrite, as he does the hope of a true saint. The devil Is a great enemy to a true Christian hope, not only because 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 fife. 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 disciple, that is most privileged in this world, to be as his Master. Fourthly, He who has a false hope, has not that sight of his own corruptions, which the saint has. A true Christian has ten times so much to do with his heart and its corruptions, as a h}"pocrite : and the sins of his heart and practice, appear to him in their blackness ; they look dreadful ; and it often appears a very mysterious thing, that any grace can be consistent with such corruption, or should be in such a heart. But a false hope hides corruption, covers it all over, and the hypocrite looks clean and brigh in his own eyes. 52 :iELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. There are two sorts of hypocrites : one that are deceived with their outward aiorality and external religiori ; 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 righl- eousness, and talk much of free grace ; 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 a'ad 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 eternal 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 ; and having his Immediate testimony, a strong confidence Is the highest virtue. Hence they are bold to say, I 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 lo 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 possessed them ; and they have been earnestly pursuing the thing they have desired should come to pass, and have met wilh great diflaculty 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 High, 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 their 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 calif Sevangelical hypocrites, is like the confidence of some mad men, who think they ; are kings; they w-ill 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 being kept in a holy frame, and grace maintained in lively exercise. If the actings of grace do much decay in file 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 speak of are those of " Christians living by faith, not by sight ; their giving gloi-j to God, by trusting him in the dark ; living upon Christ, and not upon experiences ; not making their good frames the foundation of their faith :" which are excellent and Important doctrines indeed, rightly understood, but corrupt and destructive, as many understand them. The Scripture speaks of living or walking by failh, and not by sight, in no olher 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 failh In the promise of future things, without yet seeing or enjoying the things promised, or knowing tbe way how they can be fulfilled. This will be easily evident to any one who looks over the Scriptures, which speak oi 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 trust in Christ, without spiritual sight or light, and although they are in a dark dead frame, and, for tbe 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 m Christ is never exercised, any further than persons " behold as in a glass tbe glory of the Lord, and have the knowledge of tbe glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iii. 18, and iv. 6. Tbey Into whose minds " the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, does not shine, believe not," 2 Cor. iv. 5. That faith, which is without spiritual 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 sions break out." And that *' though men in such frames may seem to maintain the consolaiionof the Spirit, and not suspect their hypocrisy, under pretence of trusting the Lord's mercy; yet they cannot avoid Ihe condemnation of the world." Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part I. p. 139. Dr. Ames speaks of it as a thing, by which 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.' Cases of Conscience, Lib. IIL Chap. vii. 04 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS and faithfulness in exercise. Nor can they have the exercise cf ti ust 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 con 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 ? 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, eis It Is for them to be in the lively exercises 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 diflScult to be fulfilled, and God must be trusted out of sigb(, 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. But how different a thing is this, from trusting In God, without spiritual sight, and being at tbe same time In a dead and carnal frame ! 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- mg 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 him, 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 m, and whatever wicked things they do, because it is the great and hemous sm of unbehef ; 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 wor.st 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 beheving that he is in a good estate?* 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. 6£ faith In an eminent degree ; some of which, Christ teaches, con.mltted the un pardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. The Scripture represents faitiLaaJhat byjwhich men are brought into a good estate; and (herefore It cannot b.e. the same thing as belie-ving that tiiey are. already in a good estate, fo suppose that faith 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 tbey 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 case 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 ; Ihey are not able to reconcile such dispensations with God's favor to them ; or when they doubt whether they have any interest in tbe promises, because tbe promises from the aspect of providence appear so unlikely to be fulfilled ; the difficulties that are in the way are so many and great. Sucb 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 maybe 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 tbey are In such a frame, and have no sensible experience of the exercises of grace, but on the contrary, are much tmder 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 merciftil constltu- by faith, Heb. xi. 3. ' By faith we understand that the worlds were made by the word of God.' Faith is 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 resurrection of the dead. And if God should tell a saint that he hath grace, he might know it by believing the wordot God. But it is not this way, thiit godly men do know that they have grace. It is not revealed in the word, and the Spirit of God doth not testify it to particular persons," Stoddard's Nature of Saving Coif version, p. 83, &4, 56 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS tion of things, which God hath established, that it should be so. For so halh God contrived and constituted things, ui his dispensations towards his own peo ple, that when their love decays, and the exercises of it fail, or become we^, fear should arise ; for then they need it to restrain Ihem from sin, and to excite them to care for the good of their souls, and so to stir them up to watchfulness and diligence in religion : but God hath so ordered, that -when love rises, and IS in vio-orous exercise, then fear should vanish, and be driven a-way ; for then they need it not, having a higher and more excellent principle in exercise, to restrain them from sin, and stir them up to their duty. There are no other principles, which hum-dn nature Is under the influence of, that will eyer make men conscientious, but one of these two,/ear 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 and unavoid ably succeed 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 fight 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 spirit 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 calfing 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 lark. 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 tbey take thern and use them as eviden ;es 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, when fhey 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 Ihem, 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 Ihem, 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 Avould 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 subjects 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 gain their charity, and win their hearts. The true saints have not such a spirit of discerning that they can certainly de termine who are godly, and who are not. For though they know exp.erlmei}; tally what true religion Is, in the internal exercises of it ; yet these are what they can neither feeXTiOr-s-ee, in the heart of another.* There Is nothing in others, that coiries' -within their view, but outward manifestations and appear ances ; but the Scripture plainly Intimates, that this way of judging what Is In men by outward appearances, is at best uncertain, and liable to deceit : 1 Sam. x-vi. 7, " The Lord seeth not as man seelh ; 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."f They commonly are but poor judges, and dangerous counsellors in soul cases, who are quick and peremptory in determining persons' states, 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 of pride 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 ant, 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 tbe 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 itis uncertain, because no man can look into the heartof another and see the workings of grace there." Stod' dard's Nature of Saving Conversion, chap. xv. at the beginning. + Mr. Stoddard ol>serves, that " all visible signs are common to converted and unconverted men ; and a relation of experiences, among the rest." Appeal to the Learned, p. 75. " O how hard it is for the eye oi^ man to discern betwixt chaff and wheat ! And how many upright hearts aie now censured, whom God will clear ! How many false hearts are now approved whom God will condemn I Men ordinarily have no convictive proofs, but only probable symptoms ; which at most Deget but a conjectural knowledge of another's state. And they that shall peremptorily judge either way may possibly wrong the generation of the upright, or on the other side, absolve and justify the wicked And truly, considering what has been said, it is no wonder that dangerous mistakes are so frequentVy m.ade in this matter." Flavel's Husbandry Spiritualized, chap. xii. Vol. m. 8 58 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, ceived as eminent saints, among the saints, to fall away and come to nothing,* And this we need not wonder at, if we consider the things that have been ahea 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 resemblance 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- men(, grati(ude, joy, religious longings, and zeal for religion and the good of souk. 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 olher 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, brought 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 thlness, and extolling free grace. And may, moreover, dispose them to abound in the external duties of religion, such as prayer, hearing the word preached, singln.g, 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 doubling. 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 abihty 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 hypocci^~anffa true saint ! Doubtiess it is the glorious prerogative of the omniscIentGodTas the-great searcher of hearts, to be able well to separate between sheep and goats. And what an indecent self-exallation 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 all such : do not think that the elect shalMall. 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, They were not of us. I speak this, bee ause the Lord is shaking ; and I look for great apostasies : for God is trying all his fnends, 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 » sword and Ihey fall." Shepard' s Parab. Part I. p. 118, 119. " The saints may approve thee and God condemn thee. Hev. iii. 1, " Thou hast a name that thou Iivest, and art dead." Men may say, '1 here is a true Nalhanael ; 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 Philetus, once renowned and famous professors, and thou hast heard how they proved at last." Fta- wi • To-jchstone of Sincerity, Chap. ii. Sect. 5. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 69 determine them with respect to others' real piety, when they not only tell a plausible story, but when, in giving an account of their experiences, (hey make such a representation, and speak after such a manner, (ha( (hey feel (heir talk , that is to say, when then- talk seems to harmonize with their own experience, and their hearts are touched and affected and delighted, by what they hear them say, and drawn out by it, in dear love to them. But thLere^Jsjoot that cer tainty in^uch thmgs, and that full dependence to be had upon them, which many imagine. A true saint greatly delights in holiness ; It is a most beautiful thing in his eyes ; and God's work, in savingly renewing and making holy and happy, a poor, and before perishing soul, appears to him a most glorious work : no wonder, therefore, that his heart is touched, and greatly affected, when he hears another give a probable account of this work, wrought on his own heart, and when he sees in him probable appearances of holiness ; whether those pleas ing appearances have any thing real to answer them, or no. And If he uses the same words, which are commonly made use of, to express the affections of true salnL'j, and tells of many things following one another in an order, agreea ble to the method of the experience of him that hears him, and also speaks free ly and boldly, and with an air of assurance ; no wonder the other thinks his experiences harmonize with his own. And if, besides all this, in giving his re lation, he speaks wilh much affection; emd, above all, if in speaking he seems to show much Eiffecllon to him to whom he speaks, such an aflTectlon as the Ga latians did to the Apostle Paul ; these things will naturally have a powerful influence, to affect and draw his hearer's heart, and open wide the doors of his charity towards him. David speaks as one who had felt Ahithophel's talk, and had once a sweet savor and relish of it. And therefore exceeding great was his surprise and disappointment, when he fell ; it was almost too much for him : Psal. Iv. 12, 13, 14, " It was not an enemy — then I could have borne It ; but it was thou, a man,, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance : we took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company." It is with professors of religion, especially such as become so in a timejef outpouring'of the Spirit of God, as it is with blossoms in the spring iib£ce..are vast ""numbers "6f"tEem upon the trees, which all look faiLand«pi»ffiisI-Hg-;— but iret many'Sf'them never come to any thing. And many of those, that In a ittle time wither up, and drop off, and rot under the trees ; yet for a while look as beautiful and gay as others ; and not only so, but smell sweet, and send forth a pleasant odor ; so that we cannot, by any of our senses, certainly distinguish those blossoms which have in them that secret virtue, which will afterwards appear in the fruit, and that inward solidity and strength which shall enable them to bear, and cause them to be perfected by the hot summer sun, that will dry up the others. It is the mature fruit which comes afterwards, and not (he ' beautiful colors and smell of the blossoms, that we must judge by. So new converts (professedly so), in (heir talk about things of religion, may appear fair, and be very savory, and the saints may think they talk feelingly. They may relish their talk, and imagine (hey perceive a divine savor In it, and yet all may come to nothing. It is strange how hardly men are brought to be contented with the rules and directions Christ has given them, but they must needs go by other rules of their own inventing, that seem to them wiser and better. I know of no directions or counsels which Christ ever delivered more plainly, than the rules he has given * A time of outpouring of the Spirit of God, reviving religion, and producing the pleasant appearances of it, in new converts, is in Scripture compared to this very tling, viz., the spring season, wnen the be. nign influences of the lieavens ;ause the blossoms to put forth. Cant. ii. 11, 12. 60 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. us, to guide us In our judging of others' sincerity, viz., that we should judge of the ; . tree chiefly by the fruit : but yet this will not do ; but other ways are found out, i which are imagined to be more distinguishing and ce'tain. And woful have been tbe mischievous consequences of this arrogant setting up men's wisdom above the wisdom of Christ. I believe many saints have gone much out of the way of Christ's word, in this respect : and some of them have been chastised with whips, and (I had almost said) scorpions, to bring them back again. But many things which have lately appeared, and do now appear, may convince, that ordinarily those who have gone farthest this way, that have been most highly conceited of their faculty of discerning, and have appeared most forward, peremptorily and suddenly to determine the state of men's souls, have been hypocrites, who have known nothing of true religion. ' In the parable of the wheat and tares, it is said, Matt. xiii. 26, " When the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also." As though the tares were not .discerned, nor distinguishable from the wheat, until then, as Mr. Flavel observes,* who mentions It as an observation ol Jerome's, that " wheat and tares are so much alike, until the blade of the wheat comes to bring forth the ear, that it is next to impossible to distinguish them." And then Mr. Flavel adds, " How diflScult soever it be to discern the difference between wheat and tares ; yet doubtless the eye of sense can much easier dis criminate them, than the most quick and piercing eye of man can discern thk difference between special and common grace. For all saving graces in (he j saints, have their counterfeits in hypocrites ; there are similar works In those, ! which a spiritual and very judicious eye may easily mistake for the saving and '-genuine effects of a sanctifying spirit." As It is the ear or the fruit which distinguishes the wheat from the tares, so this Is the true Shibboleth, that he who stands as judge at the passages of Jordan, makes use of to distinguish those that shall pass over Jordan into the true Canaan, from those that should be slain at the passages. For the Hebrew word Shibboleth signifies an ear of corn. And perhaps the more full pronun ciation of Jephthah's friends. Shibboleth, may represent a full ear with fruit in it, typifymg tbe fruits of the friends of Christ, the antitype of Jephthah ; and the more lean pronunciation of the Ephralmites, his enemies, may represent their empty ears, typifying the show of religion in hypocrites, without substance and fruit. This Is agreeable to the doctrine we are abundantly taught in Scrip ture, viz., that he who is set to judge those that pass through death, whether they have a right to enter into the heavenly Canaan or no, or whether they should not be slain, -wall judge every man according to his works. We seem to be taught the same things, by the rules given far the priest's discerning the leprosy. In many cases it was impossible for the priest to deter mine whether a man had the leprosy, or whether he were clean, by the most narrow Inspection of the appearances that were upon him, until he had waited to see what tbe appearances would come to, and had shut up the person who showed himself to him, one seven days after another ; and when he judo;ed, he was to determine by the hair, which grew out of the spot that was showed him, which was as it were the fruit that it brought forth. And here, before I finish what I have to say under this head, I would say something to a strange notion some have of late been led away with of cer tainly knowing the good estate that others are in, as though it were 'imroedi- fttely revealed to them from heaven, by their love flowing out to them in an • Husbandry Spiritualized, Chap, ci; RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 61 extraordinary manner. They argue thus, that their love being very sensible and great. It may be certainly known by them who feel it, to be a true Chris tian love : and if it be a true Chrislian love, the Spirit of God must be the au thor of it : and Inasmuch as (he Spirit of God who knows certainly, whether others are the children of God or no, and is a spirit of truth, is pleased by an uncommon influence upon them, to cause their love to flow out, in an extraor dinary manner, towards such a person as a child of God ; It must needs be, that this infallible Spirit, who deceives none, knows that that person is a child of God. But such persons might be convinced of (be falseness of (heir reasoning, if they would consider whether or no it be not (heir duty, and what God requires of them, to love those as the children of God who they think are the children of God, and whom they have no reason to think otherwise of, from all that they can see in them, tbough God, who searches the hearts, knows them not to be his children. If It be their duty, then It is good, and the want of it sin ; and therefore surely the Spirit of God may be the author of It : the Spirit of God, without being a spirit of falsehood, may in such a case assist a person to do his duty, and keep bim from sin. But then they argue from the uncommon degree and special manner, in which their love flows out to the person, which they think the Spirit of God never would cause, if he did not know the object to be a child of God. But then I would ask them, whether or no it is not their duly to love all such as they are bound to think are the children of God, from all that they can see in them, to a very great degree, though God, from olher things which he sees, that are out of sight to them, knows them not to be so. It is men's/ duty to love all whom they are bound in charity to look upon as the children" of God, with a vastly dearer affection than they commonly do. As we ought to love Christ to tbe utmost capacity of our nature, so it is our duly to love those who we think are so near and dear to him as his members, with an ex ceeding dear affection, as Christ has loved us ; and therefore it Is sin In us not to love them so. We ought to pray to God that he would by bis Spirit keep us from sin, and enable us to do our duty : and may not his Spirit answer our prayers, and enable us to do our duty, in a particular instance, without lying 1 If he cannot, then the Spirit of God Is bound not to help his people to do their duty in some instances, because he cannot do it without being a spirit of false hood. But surely God is so sovereign as that comes to, that he may enable us to do our duty when he pleases, and on what occasion he pleases. When per sons think others are his children, God may have other ends In causing their exceedingly endeared love to flow out to them, besides revealing to them whe ther their opinion of them be right or no : he may have that merciful end in it, to enable them to know their duty, and to keep them from thai dreadful Infinite e' il, sin. And will they say God shall not show them that mercy in such a cfse ? If I am at a distance from home, and hear, that in my absence my house is burnt, but my family have, in some extraordinary manner, all escaped the flames ; and every thing in tbe circumstances of the story, as I hear it, makes It appear very credible, it would be sin in me, in such a case, not to feel a very ^reat degree of gratitude to God, though the story indeed be not true. And Is not God so sovereign, that he may, If he pleases, show me that mercy on that oc casion, and enable me to do my duty in a much further degree than I used to di it, and yet not incur the charge of deceitfulness In confirming a falsehood 1 It iS exceeding manifest, that error or mistake may be the occasion of a gracious exercise, and consequently a gracious influence of the Spirit of God, by Rom. xiv. 6 : "He that eateth to the Lord he eateth, and giveth God RS> RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. thanks ; and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks !" The apostie is speaking of those, who through erroneous and need less scruples, avoided eating legally unclean meats. — By this it is very evident, that there may be true exercises of grace, a true respect to the Lord, and par ticularly, a true thankfulness, which may be occasioned, both by an erroneous judgment and practice. And consequentiy, an error may be the occasion of those true holy exercises that are from the mfallible Spirit of God. And if so, it is certainly too much for us to determine, to how great a degree the Spirit of God may give this holy exercise, on such an occasion. This notion, of certainly discerning another's state, by love flgwing^QutiJS not only not foifnded on reason or Scripture, but it is anti-scnptural, it is_against the rules of Scripture ; which say not a word of any such way of judgiiigTEe^ state of others as this, but direct us to judge chiefly by the fruits that are seen in them. And It is against the doctrines of Scripture, which do plainly teach us, that (he s(ate of others' souls towards God cannot be known by us, as in Rev. ii. 17 : " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." And Rom. ii. 29, " He is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." That by this last expression, " whose praise is not of men, but of God," the apostle has respect to the insufficiency of men to judge concerning him, whether he be in wardly a Jew or no (as they could easily see by outward marks, whether men .were outwardly Jews), and would signify, that it belongs to God alone to give a determining voice in this matter, is confirmed by the same apostle's use of the 'phrase, in 1 Cor. iv. 5 : " Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart :" and then shall every man have praise of God. The apostle, in the two foregoing verses, says, " But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment : yea, I judge not mine own self For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified ; but he that judgeth me is the Lord." And again, it is further confirmed, because the apostle. In this second chapter to the Romans, directs his speech especially to those who had a high conceit of their own holiness, made their boast of God, and were confident of their own discerning, and that they knew God's will, and approved the things which were excellent, or tried the things that differ (as it is in the margin), ver. 19 : " And were confident that they were guides of the blind, and a light to them which are in darkness, instructors of the foolish, teachers of babes ; and so took upon them to judge others." See ver. 1, and 17, 18, 19, 20. And how arrogant must the notion be, that they have, who imagine they can certainly know others' godliness, when that great Apostle Peter pretends not to say any more concerning Sylvanus, than that he was a faithful brother, as he supposed ! 1 Pet. v. 12. Though this Sylvanus appears to have been a very eminent minister of Christ, and an evangelist, and a famous light in God's church at that day, and an intimate companion of the apostles. See 2 Cc». j. 19, 1 Thess i. 1, and 2 Thess. i 1. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, 63 PART III. SHOWING WHAT ARE DISTINGUISHING SIGNS OF TRULY GRACIOUS AND HOI.Y AFFECTIONS. I COME now to the second thing appertaining to the trial of religious affec tions, which was proposed, viz.. To take notice of some things, wherein those affections that are spiritual and gracious, do differ from those that are not so. But before I proceed directly to the distinguishing characters, I would pre viously mention some things which I desire may be observed, concerning the marks I shall lay down. 1. That I am far from undertaking to give such signs of gracious affections, as shall be suflScIent to enable any certainly to distinguish true affection froin false in others ; or to determine positively which of their neighbors are true pro fessors, and which are hypocrites. In so doing, I should be guilty of that arro-' gance which I have been condemning. Though it be plain that Christ has given rules to all Christians, to enable them to judge of professors of religion, whom they are concerned with, so far as is necessary for their own safety, and to pre vent their being ledjntpa snare by false teachers, and false pretenders to rehgion ; and though it be also beyond doubt, that the Scriptures do abound with rules, which may be very serviceable to ministers. In counselling and conducting souls committed to thei^ care, in things appertaining to their spiritual and eternal state ; yet it is also evident, that It was never God's design to give us any rules, by which we may cerfainly kiio-w; who of our fellow professors are his, and to make a fiill and clear separation between sheep and goats ; but that, on the contrary, it was God's design to reserve this to himself, as his prerogative. And therefore no such distinguishing signs as shall enable Christians or ministers to do this, are ever to be expected to the world's end : for no more is ever to be ex pected from any signs, that are to be found in the word of God, or gathered from it, than Christ designed them for. 2. No such signs are to be expected, that shall be sufficient to enable those saints certainly to discern their own good estate, who are very low in grace, or are such as have much departed from God, and are fallen into a dead, carnal, and unchristian frame. It Is not agreeable to God's design (as has been already | observed), that such should know their good estate : nor is it desirable that they should ; but, on the contrary, every way best that they should not ; and we have reason to bless God, that he has made no provision that such should cer tainly know the state that they are In, any other way than by first coming out of the ill frame and way they are in. Indeed it is not properly through the defect of the signs given In the word of God, that every saint living, whether strong or weak, and those who are in a bad frame, as well as others, cannot certainly know their good estate by them. For the rules In themselves are certain and infallible, and every saint has, or has had those things in himself, which are sure evidences of grace ; for every, even the least act of grace is so. But it Is through his defect to whom the signs are given. There is a twofold defect in that saint who is very low In grace, or in an ill frame, which makes it impossible for him to know certainly that he has true grace, by the best signs and rules which can be given him. First, a defect In the object, or the qualification to be viewed and examined. I do not mean an essential defect ; because I suppose the per- 64 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. son to be a real saint ; but a defect In degree : grace being very small, cannot be clearly and certainly discerned and distinguished. Things that are very small, we cannot cTearly discern their form, or distin guish them one from another ; though, as they are in themselves, their form may be very different. There Is doubtiess a great difference between the body of man, and the bodies of other animals, in the first conception in the womb : but yet if we should view the different embryos, it might not be possible for us to discern tbe difference, by reason of the imperfect state of the object ; but as it comes to greater perfection, the difference becomes very plain. The difference between creatures of very contrary qualities, is not so plainly to be seen while they are very young ; even after they are actually brought forth, as In their more perfect slate. The difference between doves and ravens, or doves and vul tures, when they first come out of the egg. Is not so evident ; but as they grow to their perfection, It Is exceeding great and manifest. Another defect attend ing the grace of those I am speaking of is Ils being mingled with so much cor ruption, which clouds and hides it, and makes It impossible for It certainly to he known. Though different things that are before us, may have in themselves many marks thoroughly distinguishing them one from another ; yet if we see them only in a thick smoke. It may nevertheless be Impossible to distinguish them. A fixed star Is easily distinguishable from a comet, in a clear sky ; but ,if we view them through a cloud, it may be Impossible to see the difference ; When true Christians are in an III frame, guilt lies on the conscience ; which ' ' will bring fear, and so prevent tbe peace and joy of an assured hope. Secondly. There Is in such a case a defect in the eye. As the feebleness of grace and prevalence of corruption, obscures the object ; so it enfeebles the sight ; it darkens the sight as to all spiritual objects, of which grace is one. Sin is like some distempers of the eyes, that make things to appear of different colors from those which properly belong to them, and like many other distempers, that put the mouth out of taste so as to disenable it from distinguishing good and wholesome food from bad, but every thing tastes bitter. ; Men in a corrupt and carnal frame, have their spiritual senses in but poor I plight forjudging and distinguishing spiritual things. For these reasons no signs that can be given, will actually satisfy persons -n such a case : let the signs that are given be never so good and infallible, and clearly laid down, they will not serve them. It Is like giving a man rules, how to distinguish visible objects in: the dark ; the things themselves may be very different, and their difference may be very well and distinctly described to him; yet all Is insufficient to enable him to distinguish them, because he is in the dark. And therefore many persons In such a case spend time In a fruitless labor, in poring on past experiences, and examining themselves by signs they hear laid down from the pulpit, or that they read In books ; when there is other work for them to do, that is much more expected of them ; which, while they neglect, all their self-examinations are like to be in vain If they should spend never so much time in them. The accursed thing is to be destroyed from their ^ ^ camp, and Achan to be slain ; and until this be done they will be in trouble. j j It is not God's design that men should obtain assurance in any other way, than i i by mortifying corruption, and Increasing in grace, and obtaining the lively'exer- cises of it. — And although self-examination be a duty of great use and impor tance, and by no means to be neglected ; yet it is not the principal means, by which the samts do get satisfaction of their good estate. Assurance is notlabe obtained so much by self-examination, as by aciion,. The Apostle Paul sought assurance chiefly this way, even by " forgetting the things that were behind. RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 65 juid reaching forth unto those things that were before, pressing (owaids the mark for the prize of the high calhng of God In Christ Jesus ; if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead," And it was by this means chiefly that he obtained assurance : 1 Cor, ix. 26, " I therefore so run, not as uncertainly." He obtained assurance of winning the prize, more by running,-- than by considering. Tbe swiftness of his pace did more towards his assurance of a conquest, than the strictness of his examination. Giving all diligence to ' grow in grace, by adding to faith, virtue, &c., is the direction that the Aposlle Peter gives us, for " making our calling and election sure, and having an entrance ministered to us abundantly, into Christ's everlasting kingdom ;" signifying to us, that without this, our eyes will be dim, and we shall be as men in the dark, that cannot plainly see things past or to come, either the forgiveness of our sins past, or our heavenly inheritance that Is future, and far off, 2 Pet. i. 5 — 11.* Therefore, though good rules to distinguish true grace from counterfeit, may tend to convince hypocrites, and be of great use to the saints, in many respects ; and among other benefits may be very useful to them to remove many needless scruples, and establish their hope ; yet I am far from pretending to lay down any sucb rules, as shall be sufficient of themselves, without other means, to en able all true saints to see their good estate, or as supposing they should be the principal means of their satisfaction. 3. Nor Is there much encouragement, in the experience of present or past times, to lay down rules or marks to distinguish between true and false affec tions, in hopes of convincing any considerable number of that sort of hypocrites, who have been deceived with great false discoveries and affections, and are once settled in a false confidence, and high conceit of their own supposed great expe riences and privileges. Such hypocrites are so conceited of their own wisdom, and so blinded and hardened with a very great self-righteousness (but very subtle and secret, under the disguise of great humility), and so invincible a fond ness of their pleasing conceit of their great exaltation, that it usually signifies nothing at all to lay before them the most convincing evidences of their hypo crisy. Their state is indeed deplorable, and next to (hose who have committed the unpardonable sin. Some of this sort of persons seem to be most out of the reach of means of conviction and repentance. But yet the laying down good rules may be a means of preventing such hypocrites, and of convincing many of other kinds of hypocrites ; and God is able to convince even this kind, and his grace is not to be limited, nor means to be neglected. And besides, such rules.. may be of use to the true saints, to detect false affections, which they may have mingled with true ; and be a means of their rehgion's becoming more pure, and like gold tried in the fire. Having premised these things, I now proceed directly to take notice of those thmgs in which true religious affections are distinguished from false. I. Affections that are truly spiritual and gracious, do arise from those influ ences and operations on the heart, which are spiritual, supernatural and divine.. I will explain what I mean by these terms, whence will appear their use to- distlnguish between those affections which are spiritual, and those which are not so. We find that true saints, or those persons who are sanctified by the Spirit of! The way to know your godliness is to renew- the visible exercises of grace. — The more the visible exercises of grace are renewed, the more certain you will be. The more frequently these actings arc- renewed, the more abiding and confirmed your assurance will he. The more men's grace is multiplied, the more their peace is multiplied ; 2 Pet. i. 2, " Grace apc, peace be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord'." Sioddjrd's^ Way to know Sincerity and Hypocrisy, p. 139 and 142. Vol. IIL S 66 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. God, are In the New Testament called spiritual persons. And their being spirit ual Is spoken of as their peculiar character, and that wherein they are distin guished from those who are not sanctified. This Is evident, because those who are spiritual are set in opposition to natural men, and carnal men. Thus the spiritual man and the natural man are set in opposition one^to another, 1 Cor. ii 14, 15 : " The natural man recelveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they ai-e4bQlishness"iihTo him ; neither can he know them, tecauafi_tBey_are spirItually-dIscernedT7"But he that is spiritual judgeth alLthlngs." The Scrip tm-e explains itself to mean an ungodly man, or one that has no grace, by a natural man : thus the Apostle Jude, speaking of certain ungodly men, that had crept in unawares among the saints, ver. 4, of his epistle, says, v. 19, " These are sensual, having not the Spirit." This (he apostle gives as a reason why they behaved themselves In such a wicked manner as he had described. Here the word translated sensual, in (he original is %pvxMoi, which is (he very same, which in those verses In 1 Cor. chap. ii. is translated natural. In the like man ner, in the continuation of the same discourse, in the next verse but one, spiritual men are opposed to carnal men ; which the connection plainly shows mean the same, as spiritual men and natural men, in the foregoing verses; "Andl, brethren, could not speak unto you, as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal ;" i. e., as in a great measure unsanctified. That by carnal the apostle means corrupt and unsanctified, Is abundantly evident, by Rom. vii. 25, and viii. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, Gal. v. 16, to the end, Col. ii. 18. Now therefore, if by natural and carnal in these texts, be intended unsanctified, then doubtless by spiritual, which is opposed thereto, is meant sanctified and gracious. And as the saints are called spiritual in Scripture, so we also find that there are certain properties, qualities, and principles, that have the same epithet given them. So we read of a " spiritual mind," Rom. viii. 6, 7, and of " spiritual wisdom," Col. I. 9, and of " spiritual blessings," Eph. i. 3. Now it may be observed, that the epithet spiritual, in these and other parallel texts of the New Testament, is not used to signify any relation of persons or things to the spirit or soul of man, as the spiritual part of man, in opposition to the body, which is the material part. Qualities are not said to be spiritual, because they have their seat in the soul, and not in the body : for there are some pro perties that the Scripture calls carnal or fleshly, which have their seat as much in the soul, as those properties that are called spiritual. Thus it is with pride and self-righteousness, and a man's trusting to his own wisdom, which the apostle calls fleshly, Col. ii. 18. Nor are things called spiritual, because they are conversant about those things that are immaterial, and not corporeal. For so was the wisdom of the wise men, and princes of this worid, conversant about spirits, and immaterial beings; which yet the apostie speaks of as natural men, totally Ignorant of those things that are spiritual, 1 Cor. chap. ii. But It in vdth relation to the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, that persQjis..or things'are termed •ipiritual in the New Testament, Spirit, as the word Is used to slgliif^helhird person In the Trinity, Is the substantive, of which Is formed the adjective spir itual, in the holy Scriptures, Thus Christians are called spiritual persons, be cause they are born of the Spirit, and because of the Indwelling and holy influ ences of the Spirit of God In them. And things are called spiritual as 'related ;o the Spirit of God ; 1 Cor. ii. 13, 14, " Which things also we speak, not in :he words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth , comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth no' :he things of the Spkit of God." Here the apostie himself expressly .signifies, ihat by spiritual things, he means the things of the Spirit of God, and thing? RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 67 which the Holy Ghost teacheth. The same is yet more abundantly apparent by viewing the whole context. Again, Rom. viii. 6, " To be carnally minded, is death ; to be spiritually minded, is life and peace." The apostie explains what he means by being carnally and spiritually minded in what follows in the 9th verse, and shows that by being spiritually minded, he means a having the In dwelling and holy influences of the Spirit of God In the heart : " But ye are not in the fiesh, but in (he Spirl(, it so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he Is none of his." The same is evident by all the context. But time would fail to produce all the evidence there is of this, in the New^ Testament. And it must be here observed, that although it is with relation to the Spirit of God and his influences, that persons and things are called spiritual ; yet not all those persons who are subject to any kind of influence of the Spirit of God, are ordinarily called spiritual in the New Testament. Tbey who have only the common influences of God's Spirit, are not so called, in the places cited above, but only those who have the special, gracious, and saving influences of God'^ Spirit ; as is e-vident, because it heis been already proved, that by spiritual men is meant godly men, in opposition to natural, carnal, and unsanctified men. And it is most plain, that the apostle by spiritually minded, Rom. viii. 6, means graciously minded. And though the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which natural men might have, are sometimes called spiritual, because they are from the Spirit ; yet natural men, whatever gifts of the Spirit they had, were not, in the usual language of the New Testament, called spiritual persons. For It was not by men's having the gifts of the Spirit, but by their having the virtues of the Spirit, that they were called spiritual; as is apparent by Gal. -vi. 1 : " Bre thren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in tbe spirit of meekness." Meekness is one of those virtues which the apostle had just spoken of, in the verses next preceding, showing what are the fruits of the Spirit. Those qualifications are said to be spiritual in the lan guage of the New Testament, which are truly gracious and holy, and pecuhar to the saints. Thus, when we read of splntual wisdom and understanding (as in Col. i. 9, " We desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding"), hereby is intended that wisdom which is gracious, and from the sanctifymg influences of the Spirit of God. For, doubtless, by spiritual wisdom is meant that which is opposite to what the Scripture calls natural wisdom ; as the spiritual man Is opposed to the natural man. And there fore spiritual wisdom is doubtless the same with that wisdom whichis from above, that the Apostle James speaks of. Jam. iii. 17 : " The wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle," &c., for this the apostle opposes to natural wisdom, ver. 15 : " This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sen sual" — the last word in the original is the same that is translated natural, in 1 Cor. ii. 14. So that although natural men may be the subjects of many influences of the Spirit of God, as is evident by many Scriptures, as Numb. xxiv. 2, 1 Sam. x. 10, and xi. 6, and xvi. 14, 1 Cor. xui. 1, 2, 3, Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6, and many others ; yet they are not, in the sense of the Scripture, spiritual persons ; neither are any of those effects, common gifts, qualities, or affections, that are from the Influence of the Spirit of God upon them, called spurifual things. The great difference lies in these two things. 1. The Spirit of God is given to the true saints (o dM'ell in them, as his proper lasting abode ; and (o influence their hearts, as a principle of new nature. 68 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. or as a divine supernatural spring of life and action. The Scriptures represen* tiie Holy Spirit not only as moving, and occasionally influencing the saints, bu{ as dwelling in them as bis temple, bis proper abode, and everlasting dwelling rplace, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 2 Cor. vi. 16, John xiv. 16, 17. And he is represented as ; being there so united to the faculties of tbe soul, that he becomes there a prin ciple or spring of new nature and life. So the saints are said to live by Christ living in them. Gal. ii. 20. Christ by his Spirit not only is in them, but lives in them-; and so that they live by his life ; so is his Spirit united to them, as a principle of life in them ; (hey do not only drink living water, but this " living water becomes a well or fountain of water," in the soul, " springing up into spiritual and everlasting life," John iv. 14, and thus becomes a principle of life in them. This living water, this evan gelist himself explains to intend the Spirit of God, chap. vii. 38, 39. The light of the Sun of righteousness does not only shine upon them, but Is so communi cated to them that they shine also, and become little images of that Sun which shines upon them ; the sap of the true vine is not only conveyed into them, as the sap of a tree may be conveyed Into a vessel, but is conveyed as sap is from a tree into one of its living branches, where it becomes a principle of life. The Spirit of God being thus communicated and united to the saints, they are from thence properly denominated from it, and are called spiritual. On the other hand, though the Spirit of God may many ways influence naturarmen ; yetTiecause it Is not thus communicated to (h-era, as~airjndwell- ing principle, tbey do not derive any denomination or character from it 7 for, there being no union, it is not their own. The light may shine upon a body that is vefy^daTlFor black ; and though that body be the subject of the light, yet, because the light becomes no principle of light in it, so as to cause the body to shine, hence that body does not properly receive its denomination from It, so as to be called a lightsome body. So the Spirit of God acting upon the soul only, without communicating itself to be an active principle in it, cannot denominate -t spiritual. A body that continues black, may be said not to have light, though the hght shines upon it : so natural men are said " not to have the Spirit," Jude 19, sensual or natural (as the word is elsewhere rendered), having not the Spirit. 1 2. Another reason why the saints and their virtues are called spiritual (which I is the principal thing) is, that tbe Spirit of God, dwelling as a vital principle in their souls, there produces those effects wherein he exerts and communicates himself in his own proper nature. Holiness is the nature of the Spirit of God, therefore he is called In Scripture the Holy Ghost. Holiness, which is as it were tbe beauty and sweetness of the divine nature, is as much the proper nature of the Holy Spirit, as heat is the nature of fire, or sweetness was the nature of that holy anointing oil, which was the principal type of the Holy Ghost in the Mo saic dispensation ; yea, I may rather say, that holiness is as much the proper nature of the Holy Ghost, as sweetness was the nature of the sweet odor of that ointment. The Spirit of God so dwells in the hearts of the saints, that he there, as a seed or spring of life, exerts and communicates himself, in this his sweet and divine nature, making the soul a partaken of God's beauty and Christ's joy, so that the saint has truly fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, in thus having the communion or participation of the Holy Ghost. Thegrace which is in the hearts of the saints. Is of the same_natur,e with Ih^-divIneEblmess, as much as it is possible for that holiness to be, whic£ K infinitely less in degree ; as the brightness that Is in a diamond which fhelun shines upon, is of the same nature witk the brightness of the sun, but only that it is as nothing to it in degree. Therefore Christ says, John iii. 6, " That which RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 69 .s born of the Spirit, is spirit;" i. e., (he grace that is begotten in the hearts of the saints, is something of the same nature with (hat Spirit, and so is properly called a spiritual nature ; after (he same manner as (hat which is born of (he flesh Is flesh, or that which is born of corrupt nature is corrupt nature. But the Spirit of God never influences the minds of natural men after this manner. Though he may influence them many ways, yet he never, in any of his Influences, communicates himself to them in his own proper nature. Indeed he never acts disagreeably to his nature, either on (he minds of saints or sinners;- but the Spirit of God may act upon men agreeably to his own nature, and not exert his proper nature In the acts and exercises of their minds : the Spirit of God may act so, that his actions may be agreeable to his nature, and yet may not at all communicate himself In his proper nature. In the effect of that action Thus, for instance, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and there was nothing disagreeable to his nature in that action ; but yet be did not at all communicate himself in that action, there was nothing of the proper nature of the Holy Spirit In that motion of the waters. And so he may act upon the minds of men many ways, and not communicate himself any more than when he acts on inamimate things. Thus not only the manner of the relation of the Spirit, who is the operator, to the subject of his operations. Is different ; as the Spirit operates In the saints, as dwelling in them, as an abiding principle of action, whereas he doth not so operate upon sinners ; but the influence and operation itself is different, and the effect wrought exceeding different. So that not only the persons are called sjiritual, as having the Spirit qf God dwelling in them ; butthose qualifications, affections, and experiences, that are^-wroughtMn them by tbe Spirit, are also spiritual, and therein differ vastly in their nature and Knd from all that a natural man Is or can be the subject of, while he remains In ajiatural state ; and also from all that men or devils can_beJbe_authors of. It is a spiritual work in this high sense ; and therefore above all other works Is peculiar to the Spirit of God. There Is no work so high and excellent ; for there Is no work wherein God doth so much communicate himself, and wherein the mere creature hath. In so high a sense, a participation of God ; so that it is expressed in Scripture by the saints " be ing made partakers of the divine nature," 2 Pet. I. 4, and " having God dwell ing in them, and they In God," 1 John iv. 12, 15, 16, and chap. Hi. 21 ; " and ha-ving Christ in them," John xvii. 21, Rom. viii. 10; "being the temples of the living God," 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; "living by Christ's life," Gal. ii. 20 ; " being made partakers of God's holiness," Heb. xil. 10 ; " having Christ's love dwelling in them," John xri'ii. 26 ; " having his joy fulfilled In them," John xvii. 13 ; " seeing light in God's hght, and being made to drink of the river of God's pleasures," Psal. xxxvi. 8, 9 ; " having fellowship with God, or communicating and partak ing with him (as the word signifies)," 1 John i. 3. Not that (he saints are made , partakers of tbe essence of God, and so are godded with God, and chrisied with / Christ, according to the abominable and blasphemous language and notions of ;• some heretics : but, to use the Scripture phrase, they are made partakers of ' God's fulness, Eph. Iii. 17, 18, 19, John I. 16, that is, of God's spiritual beauty' and Viappiness, according to the measure and capacity of a creature ; for so It Is evident the word fulness signifies in Scripture language Grace in the hearts of the saints, being therefore the most glorious work of God, wherein he com municates of the goodness of his nature, it is doubtless his peculiar work, and in an eminent manner above the power of all creatures. And the influences of the Spirit of God in this, being thus peculiar to God, and being those wherein God does, in so high a manner, communicate himself, and make the creature 70 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. partaker of the divine nature (tbe Spirit of God communicating liself in its own proper nature) ; this is what I mean by those influences that are divine, when 1 say that " truly gracious affections do arise from those influences that are spirit ual and divine." The true saints only have that which Is spiritual ; others have nothing which Is divine, in the sense that has been spoken of. They not only have not these communications of tbe Spirit of God In so high a degree as the saints, but have nothing of that nature or kind. For the Apostle James tells us, that natural men have not the Spirit ; and Christ teaches the necessity of a new birth, or of being born of tbe Spirit, from this, that he that is born of the flesh, has only flesh, and no spirit, John iii. 6. They have not the Spirit of God dwelling in them in any degree ; for the apostle teaches, that all who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, are some of his, Rom. viii. 9 — 11. And a hav ing the Spirit of God is spoken of as a certain sign that persons shall have the eternal inheritance ; for It is spoken of as the earnest of it, 2 Cor. i. 22, and v. 5, Eph. i. 14 ; and a having any thing of the Spirit is mentioned as a sure sign of being in Christ, 1 John iv. 13 : " Hereby know we that we dwell in him, because he hath given us of bis Spirit." Ungodly men not only have not so much of the divine nature as the saints, but they are not partakers of it ; which Implies that they have nothing of It ; for a being partaker of the divine nature is spoken of as the peculiar privilege of the true saints, 2 Pet. i. 4. Un godly men are not " partakers of God's holiness," Heb. xii. 10. A natural man has no experience of any of (hose things that are spiritual : the apostle teaches us, that he is so far from it, that he knows nothing about them, he is a perfect stranger (o (hem, the talk about such things is all foolishness and non sense to him, he knows not what it means ; 1 Cor. ii. 14, " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for tbey are foolishness to him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." And to the like purpose Christ teaches us that tbe world Is wholly unacquainted with the Spirit of God, John xiv. 17 : " Even tbe Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because It seeth him not, neither knoweth him." And It is fur ther evident, that natural men have nothing in them of the same nature with the true grace of the saints, because the apostle teaches us, that those of them who go farthest In rehgion have no charity, or true Christian love, 1 Cor. chap. xiii. So Christ elsewhere reproves the Pharisees, those high pretenders to reli gion, that they " had not the love of God in them," John v. 42. Hence natu ral men have no communion or fellowship with Christ, or participation with him (as these words signify), for this is spoken of as the peculiar privilege of the saints, 1 John I. 3, together with ver. 6, 7, and 1 Cor. i. 8, 9. And the Scripture speaks of the actual being of a gracious principle In the soul, tbough in its first beginning, as a seed there planted, as Inconsistent with a man's being a sinner, 1 John Iii. 9. And natural men are represented in Scripture, as hav ing no spiritual light, no spiritiial life, and no spiritual being ; and therefore conversion is often compared to opening the eyes of tiie blind, raising the dead, and a work of creation (wherein creatures are made entirely new), nnd becom ing new-born children. From these things it Is evident, that those gracious influences which the saints are subjects of, and the effects of God's Spirit which they experience, are entirely above nature, altogether of a different kind from any thing that men find within themselves by nature, or only in the exercise of natural principles ; and are things which no Improvement of those quahfications, or principles that «re natural, no advancing or exalting them to higher degrees, and nc kind of RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 7i composition of them, will ever bring men to ; because they not only iiffer irom what is natural, and from every thing that natural men experience. In degree and circumstances, but also in kind ; and are of a nature vastly more excellent. And this Is what I mean, by supernatural, when I say that gracious affections are from those influences that are supernatural. From hence It follows, that In those gracious exercises and affections which are wrought in the minds of the saints, through the saving influences of the Spirit of God, there Is a new inward perception or sensation of their minds, en tirely different in its nature and kind, from any thing that ever their minds were the subjects of before tbey were sanctified. For doubtless if God by his mighty power produces something that is new, not only in degree and circumstances, but In Its whole nature, and that which could be produced by no exalting, vary ing, or compounding of what was there before, or by adding any thing of the like kind ; I say, if God produces something thus new in a mind, that Is a per- cel-ving, thinking, conscious thing ; then doubtless something entirely new is ; felt, or perceived, or thought ; or, which Is the same thing, there is some new sensation or perception of the mind, which is entirely of a new sort, and which - could be produced by no exalting, varying, or compounding of that kind of per ceptions or sensations which the mind had before ; or there is what some meta physicians call a new simple Idea. If grace be. In the sense above described, an entirely new kind of principle, then the exercises of it are also entirely a new kind of exercises. And if there be in tbe soul a new sort of exercises which it Is conscious of, which the soul knew nothing of before, and which no improvement, composition, or management of what it was before conscious or sensible of, could produce, or any thing like It ; then It follows that the mind has an entirely new kind of perception or sensation ; and here is, as it were, a new spiritual sense that the mind has, or a principle of a new kind of percep- ' tion or spiritual sensation, which is In Ils whole nature different from any former kinds of sensation of the mind, as tasting Is diverse from any of the other senses; . and something is perceived by a true saint, In the exercise of this new sense [ of mind, in spiritual and divine things, as entirely diverse from any thing that i is perceived in them, by natural men, as tbe sweet taste of honey is diverse ' from the ideas men have of honey by only looking on it, and feeling of It. So. that the spiritual perceptions which a sanctified and spiritual person has^ar^e not onlydlverse-from all that natural men have aft«r tbe maiiner lEalthe ideas or perceptions of the same sense may differ one from another, but rather as the ideas and~seinsations of different senses do differ. -Hetrce'the work of the Spirit of God in regeiieratlon Is often in Scrij)ture-compared (o the giving a new sense, giving eyes to see, and ears to hear, unstopping the ears of the deaf, and open- mg the eyes of them that were born blind, and turning from darkness unto light. And because this spiritual sense is I-mmensely the most noble and excel lent, and that -without which all other principles of perception, and all our faculties are useless and vain ; therefore the giving this new sense, with the blessed fruits and effects of it in the soul, Is compared to a raising the dead, and to a new creation. Thls4ie:wjpiritualjieniej and the new. dispositions that attend it, are no new faculties^ but are new principles of nature. I use tbe word principles for want of a word of a more determinate signification. By a principle of nature in this place, I mean that foundation which is laid in nature, either old or new, for any particular manner or kind of exercise of the faculties of the soul ; or a natural habit or it5undation for action, giving a personal ability and disposition to exert the faculties in exercises of such a certain kind ; so that to exert the facilties 72 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. in that kind of exercises may be said to be his nature. So this new gpiritual sense is not a new faculty of understanding, but il Is a new foundation laid in the nature of the soul, for'A new kind of exercises of the same faculty-trf-Qnder- stamhng. So that new holy dlsposifioh of heart that attends this new sense is not a new faculty of will, but a foundation laid In the nature of the soul, for a new kind of exercises of the same faculty of will. The Spirit of God, In all his operations upon the minds of natural men, only moves, impresses, assists, improves, or some way acts upon natural^ principles ; but gives no new spiritual principle. Thus when the Spirit of God gives a natural man visions, as he did Balaam, he only impresses a natural principle, viz., the sense of seeing. Immediately exciting ideas of that sense ; but he gives no new sense ; neither is there any thing supernatural, spiritual, or divine In it. So If the Spirit of God Impresses on a man's imagination, either in a dream, or when he is awake, any outward Ideas of any of the senses, either voices, or shapes and colors, It Is only exciting ideas of the same kind that he has by nat ural principles and senses. So If God reveals to any natural man any se cret fact : as, for instance, something that he shall hereafter see or hear ; this is not Infusing or exercising any new spiritual principle, or giving the ideas of any new spiritual sense ; It is only impressing, in an extraordinary manner, the ideas that will hereafter be received by sight and hearing. — So in the more or dinary Influences of the Spirit of God on the hearts of sinners, he only'assis'ts natural principles to do the same work to a greater degree, which they "do- of themselves by nature. Thus the Spirit of God by his common Influences may assist men's natural ingenuity, as he assisted Bezaleel and Ahohab In the cu rious works of the tabernacle : so he may assist men's natural abilities in politi cal affairs, and improve their courage and other natural qualifications, as he is said to have put his spirit on the seventy elders, and on Saul, so as to give him another heart : so (jod may greatly^asslst natural men's reason, in their reason^ ing about secular things, or about the doctrines" of rehgion, and may -greatly advance the clearness of their apprehensions and notions of things of religion in many respects, without giving any spiritual sense. So In those., awakeriings and convictions that natural men may have, God only assists conscience, which is a natural principle, to do that work In a further degree, which It natiirally does. Conscience naturally gives men an apprehension of right and wrong, and" suggests the relation there is between right and wrong, and a retribution: the Spirit of God assists men'? consciences to do this In a greater degree, helps conscience against the stupifying influence of worldly objects and their lusts. And so many olher ways might be mentioned wherein the Spirit acts upon, as sists, and moves natural principles ; but after all il Is no more than nature moved, acted and improved ; here is nothing supernatural and divine. But the Spirit of God In his spiritual mfluences on the hearts of his saints, operates by infusing or exercising new, divine, and supernatural principles ; principles which are indeed a new and spiritual nature, and principles vastly more noble and excellent than all that is In natural men. From what has been said It follows, (hat all spiritual and gracious affections are attended with and do arise from some apprehension, idea, or sensation of mind, which is in ils whole nature different, yea, exceeding different, from all that is, or can be in the mind of a natural man ; and which the natural man discerns nothing of, and has no manner of Idea of (agreeable to 1 Cor. ii. 14), and conceives of no more than a man without the sense of tasting can conceive of the sweet taste of honey, or a man without the sense of hearing can conceive of the melody of a tune, or a man born blind can have a notion of the beauty of the rainbow. RELIGIOUS AFFEC7'I0NS. 73 But here two things must be observed, in order to the right understanding of this. 1. On the one hand it must be observed, (hat not every thing which in any respect appertains to spiri(ual affections, is new and entirely different from what' natural men can conceive of, and do experience ; some things are common to gracious affections with other affections ; many circumstances, appendages and effects are common. Thus a saint's love to God has a great many things appertaining to it, which are common with a man's natural love to a near rela tion ; love to God makes a man have desires of tbe honor of God, and a desire to please him ; so does a natural man's love to his friend make him desire his honor, and desire to please him ; love to God causes a man to delight in the thoughts of God, and to delight In the presence of God, and to desire conformi ty to God, and the enjoyment of God ; and so it is with a man's love to his friend ; and many other things might be mentioned which are common to both. But yet that idea which the saint has of the loveliness of God, and that sensation, and that kind of delight he has in that view, which is as it were the marrow and quintessence of his love, is peculiar, and entirely diverse from any thing that a natural man has, or can have any notion of And even in those things that seem to be common, there is something peculiar ; both spiritual and nat ural love cause desires after the object beloved ; but they be not the same sort of. desires : there is a sensation of soul in the spiritual desires of one that loves God J which is entirely different from all natural desires : both spiritual love and nat-| ural love are attended with delight in the object beloved ; but the sensations otj delight are not tbe same, but entirely and exceedingly diverse. Natural men may have conceptions of many things about spiritual affections ; but there is something in them which is as It were tbe nucleus, or kernel of them, that they have no more conception of, than one born blind, has of colors. It may be cleaily illustrated by this : we will suppose two men ; one is born without the sense of tasting, the other has it ; the latter loves honey, and is greatly dehghted in it, because he knows the sweet taste of it ; the other loves certain sounds and colors ; the love of each has many things that apper tain to it, which is common ; it causes both to desire and delight in the object beloved, and causes grief when it is absent, &c., but yet that idea or sensation which he who knows the taste of honey has of its excellency and sweetness, that is the foundation of his love, is entirely different from any thing the olher has or can have ; and that delight which he has in honey is wholly diverse from any thing that the other can conceive of, though they both delight in their beloved objects. So both these persons may In some respects love the same object: the one may love a delicious kind of fruit, which is beautiful to the eye, and of a delicious taste ; not only because he has seen its pleasant colors, but knows its sweet taste ; the other, perfectly ignorant of this, loves It only for its beautiful colors : there are many things seen, in some respect, to be com mon to both ; both love, both desire, and both delight ; but the love and desire, and delight of the one, is al(oge(her diverse from that of (he other. The differ ence between the love of a natural man and a spiritual man is like to this ; but only it must be observed, that in one respect It is vastly greater, viz., that the kinds of excellency which are perceived in spiritual objects, by these different kinds of persons, are In themselves vastly more diverse than the different kinds of excellency perceived in delicious fruit, by a tasting and a tasteless man ; and in another respect it may not be so great, viz., as the spiritual man may have a spiritual sense or taste, to perceive (hat divine and most peculiar excellency out in small beginnings, and in a very imperfect degree. Vol. III. 10 74 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 2. On the other nand, it must be observed that a natural man may have j those religious apprehensions and affections, which may be in many respects I very new and surprising to him, and what before he did not conceive of; and / yet what he experiences be nothing like the exercises of a principle of new nature, or the sensations of a new spiritual sense ; his affections may be very new, by extraordinarily moving natural principles in a very new degree, and ~ with a great many new circumstances, and a new co-operation of natural affec- ' tions, and a new' composition of ideas; this may be from some extiaordinary ' powerful Influence of Satan, and some great delusion ; but there is nothingbut jiature extraordinarily acted. As If a poor man that had always dwelt in a cottage and, had never looked beyond the obscure village where he was born, should in a jest be taken to a magnificent city and prince's court, and there arrayed in princely robes, and set on the throne, with the crown royal on his head, peers and nobles bowing before him, and should be made to beheve that he was now a glorious monarch ; the ideas be would have, and the affections he would experience, would in many respects be very new, and such as he had no imagination of before; but all this is no more than extraordinarily raising and exciting natural principles, and newly exalting, varying, and compounding such sort of ideas, as he has by nature ; here is nothing like giving him a new sense. Upon the whole, I think it Is clearly manifest, that all truly gracious affec tions do arise from special and peculiar Influences of the Spirit, -working that sensible effect or sensation in the souls of the saints, which are entirely different from all that Is possible a natural man should experience, not only different in degree and circumstances, but different in Its whole nature ; so that a natural man not only cannot experience that which is individually the same, but can not experience any thing but what is exceeding diverse, and Immensely below it, in Its kind ; and that which the power of men or devils is not sufficient to ! produce the like of, or any thing of the same nature. I have insisted largely on this matter, because it is of great importance and ! use evidently to discover and demonstrate tbe delusions of Satan, In many kinds ! of false religious affections, which multitudes are deluded by, and probably have been in all ages of the Christian church ; and to settie and determine many articles of doctrine, concerning the operations of the Spirit of God, and the na ture of true grace. Naw, therefore, to apply these things to the purpose of this discourse. From hence it appears, that impressions which some have made on their imagination, or the Imaginary ideas which they have of God or Christ, or hea ven, or any thing appertaining to religion, have nothing In them that Is spiritual, or of the nature of true grace. Though such things may attend what Is spirit ual, and be mixed with it, yet in themselves they have nothing that is spiritual, nor are they any part of gracious experience. Here, for the sake of common people, I will explain what is intended by impressions on tbe imagination and imaginary ideas. The imagination is that power of the mind whereby It can have a conception, or idea of things of an external or outward nature (that is, of such sort of things as are the objects of the outward senses) when those things are not present, and be not perceived by the senses. It Is called imagination from the word image ; because thereby a person can have an image of some external thing In his mind, when that thing is not present in reality, nor any thing like it. All such things as we perceive Dy our five external senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feehng, are external things : and when a person has an idea or image of any of these sorts RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 75 of things in his mind, when they are not there, and whei. ne does not really see, hear, smell, taste, nor feel them ; that Is to have an imagination of them, and these ideas are imaginary ideas : and when such kinds of ideas are strongly impressed upon the mind, and tiie image of them in the mind is very lively, almost as if one saw them, or heard them, &c., that Is called an impression on the imagin-dtlon. Thus colors and shapes, and a form of countenance, they are outward things ; because (hey are (hat sort of things which gre (he objects of the outward sense of seeing ; and therefore when any person has In his mind a lively idea of any shape, or color, or form of countenance ; that is to have an imagination of those things. So if he has an idea, of such sort of light or dark ness, as he perceives by the sense of seeing ; that Is to have an Idea of outward light, and so is an imagination. So if he has an Idea of any marks made on paper, suppose letters and words written In a book ; that is to have an external and imaginary idea of such kind of things as we sometimes perceive by our bodily eyes. And when we have the ideas of that kind of things which we perceive by any of (he other senses, as of any sounds or voices, or words spoken ; this is only to have ideas of outward things, viz., of such kind of things as are perceived by the external sense of hearing, and so that also is Imagination : and when these ideas are llvellly Impressed, almost as if tbey were really heard with the ears, this Is to have an impression on (he imagination. And so I might go on, and instance in the ideas of things appertaining to the other three senses of smelling, tasting, and feeling. Many who have had such things have very Ignorantly supposed them to be of the nature of spiritual discoveries. Tbey have had lively ideas of some external shape, and beautiful form of countenance ; and this they call spiritually seeing Christ. Some have had unpressed upon them Ideas of a great outward light ; and this they call a spiritual discovery of God's or Christ's glory. Some have had ideas of Christ's hanging on the cross, and his blood running from his wounds ; and this they call a spiritual sight of Christ crucified, and the way of salvation by his blood. Some have seen him with his arms open ready to embrace them ; and this they call a discovery of the sufficiency of Christ's grace and love. Some have had lively ideas of heaven, and of Christ on his throne there, and sblnlno- ranks of saints and angels ; and this they call seeing heaven opened to them. Some from time to time have had a lively idea of a person of a beauliftil countenance smiling upon them ; and this they call a spiritual dis covery of the love of Christ to their souls, and tasting the love of Christ. And they look upon it a suflncient evidence that these things are spiritual discoveries, and that they see them spiritually, because they say they do not see these things with their bodily eyes, but in their hearts ; for they can see them when their eyes are shut. And In hke manner, tbe imaginations of some have been im pressed with ideas of the sense of hearing ; they have had ideas of words, as if they were spoken to them, sometimes they are the words of Scripture, and sometimes other words : they have had ideas of Christ's speaking comfortable words to them. These things they have called having the inward call of Christ, hearino- the voice of Christ spiritually in their hearts, having the witness of the Spirit, and the inward testimony of iHe love of Christ, &c. The common and less considerate and understanding sort of people, are the more easily led into apprehensions that these things are spiritual things, because spiritual things being invisible, and not things that can be pointed forth with the finger, we are forced to use figurative expressions in speaking of them, and to borrow names from external and sensible objects to signify (hem by Thus" we call a clear apprehension of things spiritual by the name of light ; and a 76 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. having such an apprehension of such or such things, by the name of seeing such things ; and the conviction of the judgment, and the persuasion of the will, by the word of Christ in the gospel, we signify by spiritually hearing the call of Christ : and the Scripture itself abounds with such like figurative expressions. Persons hearing these often used, and having pressed upon them the necessity of having their eyes opened, and having a discovery of spiritual things, and seeing Christ In his glory, and having the inward call, and the like, they Igno rantly look and wait for some such external discoveries, and imaginary views as have been spoken of; and when they have them are confident, that now (heir eyes are opened, now Christ has discovered himself to them, and they are his children ; and hence are exceedingly affected and elevated with their deliver ance and happiness, and many kinds of affections are at once set in a violent motion in them. But it is exceedingly apparent that such ideas have nothing in them which is spiritual and divine, In the sense wherein it has been demonstrated that all ;' gracious experiences are spiritual and divine. These external ideas are in no I wise of such a sort, that they are entirely, and in their whole nature diverse I from all that men have by nature, perfectly different from, and vastly above ' any sensation which it is possible a man should have by any natural sense or j principle, so that In order to have them, a man must have a new spu-itual and ! divine sense given him, in order to have any sensations of that sort : so far from this, that they are ideas of the same sort which we have by the external senses, that are some of the inferior powers of the hmnan nature ; they are merely ideas of external objects, or ideas of that nature, of the same outward, sensitive kind ; the same sort of sensations of mind (differing not in degree, but only in cir cumstances) that we have by those natural principles which are common to us with the beasts, viz., (he five external senses. This is a low, miserable nolian of splritud sense, to suppose that It is only a conceiving or imagining that sort of ideas which we have by our animal senses, which senses the beasts baveTn as great perfection as we ; It Is, as It were, a turning Christ, or the divine nature in the soul, into a mere animal. There Is nothing wanting in the soul, as it is by nature, to render it capable of being the subject of all these external ideas, without any new principles. A natural man is capable of having an idea, and a lively idea of shapes, and colors, and sounds, when tbey are absent, and as capable as a regenerate man Is: so there Is nothing supernatural in them. And it is known by abundant experience, that it is not the advanc- mg or perfecting human nature, which makes persons more capable of having such lively and strong imaginary Ideas, but that on the contrary, the weakness of body and mind, and distempers of body, make persons abundantly more susceptive of such impressions.* - As to a truly spiritual sensation, not only is the manner of its coming into the mind extiaordinary, but the sensation itself is totally diverse from all that men have, or can have, in a state of nature, as has been shown. But as to these external ideas, though the way of their coming into the mind Is some times unusual, yet the ideas in themselves are not the better for that ; they are still of no different sort from what men'ha\e by their senses; they are of no higher kind, nor a whit "'jetter. For Instance, the external idea a man has now * " Conceits and whimsies abound most in men of weak reason ; children, and such as are cracked in their understanding, have most of ihem ; strength of reason banishes them, as the sun does mists and vapors. But now tlie more rational any gracious person is, by so much more is he fixed and set'led and •atisfied m the grounds of rehgion ¦ yea, there is the highest and purest reason in religion : ind when (his change is wrought upon men, A Religious affections. 77 of Christ hanging on the cross, and shedding his blood. Is no better In itself, than the external idea that the Jews bis enemies had, who stood round his cross, and saw this with their bodily eyes. The imaginary idea which men have now of an external brightness and glory of God, is no better than the idea the wicked congregation in the wilderness had of the external glory of the Lord at Mount Sinai, when they saw it with their bodily eyes ; or any better than that Idea which millions of cursed reprobates will have of the external glory of Christ at the day of judgment, who shall see, and have a very lively idea of ten thousand times greater external glory of Christ, than ever yet was conceived in any man's imagination :* yea, the image of Christ, which men conceive In their Imagina tions, is not in its own nature of any superior kind to the idea the Papists con ceive of Christ, by the beautiful and affecting images of him which they see in their churches (though the way of their receiving the idea may not be so bad) ; nor are tbe affections they have, if built primarily on such imaginations, any bellei than the affections raised in the Ignorant people, by the sight of those Images, which oftentimes are very great ; especially when these images, through the craft of the priests, are made to move, and speak, and weep, and the like.f Merely the way of persons receiving these imaginary ideas, does not alter the nature of the ideas themselves that are received; let them be received in what way they will, they are still but external ideas, or Ideas of outward appearances, and so are not spiritual. Yea, if men should actually receive such external ideas by the immediate power of the most high God upon their minds, they would not be spiritual, they would be no more than a common work of the Spirit of God ; as is evident In fact, in the Instance of Balaam, who had impressed on his mind, by God himself, a clear and lively outward representation or Idea of Jesus Christ, as " the Star rising out of Jacob, when he heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, and saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance," Numb. xxiv. 16, 17, but yet had no manner of spiritual discov ery of Christ ; that Day Star never spiritually rose in his heart, he being but a natural man. And as these external ideas have nothing divine or spiritual in their nature ) and nothing but what natural men, without any new principles, are capable of; 1 so there is nothing in their nature which requires that peculiar, inimitable and/ unparalleled exercise of the glorious power of God, In order to their production, . which It has been shown (here is in (he production of true grace. There appears to be nothing in their nature above the power of the devil. It Is certainly not above the power of Satan to suggest thoughts to men ; because otherwise he could not tempt them to sin. And if he can suggest any thoughts or Ideas at all, doubtiess Imaginary ones, or ideas of things external, are not above his pow- * " If any man should see, and behold Christ really and immediately, this is not the saving knowledge of him. I know the saints do know Christ as if immediately present ; they are not strangers by their distance : if othej^ have seen h'm more immediately, I will not dispute it. But if they have seen the Lord Jesus as immediately as it here on earth, yet Capernaum saw him so ; nay, £ome of them were disciples for a time, and followed him, John vi. And yet the Lord was hid from their eyes. Niiy, all the world shall see him in his glory, which shall amaze them ; and yet this is far short of having the saving knowledge of him, which the Lord doth communicate to the elect. So that though you see the Lord so really, as that you become familiar with him, yet, Luke xiii. 26 : * Lord have we not eat and drank,' &c. — and so perish." Shepard*s Par. of the Ten Virgins, Part I. p. 197, 198. t " Satan is transformed into an angel of light : and hence we have heard that some have heard voices ; some have seen the very blood of Christ dropping on them, and his wounds in his side : some nave seen a great light shining in the chamber ; some have been wonderfully affected with their dreams ; some in great distress have had inward witness, ' Thy sins are forgiven ;' and hence such liberty and 'oy, that they are ready to leap up and down the chamber. O adulterous generation ! this is natural and usual with men, they would fain see Jesus, and have him present to give them peace ; and hence Papist? hare his images. Wo to them that have no other manifested Christ, but such a one." IShepard's FarOr hU of the 7'm Virgins, Part I d. 198, 78 religious affections. er ;*(for the externtl ideas men have are the lowest sort of ideas. ; These idea! may be raised only by Impressions made on (be body, by movifig the anima spirits, and impressing the brain.— Abundant experience does certainly show that alterations in the body will excite imaginary or external ideas m the mind': as often. In the case of a high fever, melancholy, &c. Thesejexternal i^s are as much below tbe more intellectual exercises of the soul, as the body is^aless noble part of man than the soul. And there is not only nothing in the nature of these external ideas or imagi- nations of outward appearances, from whence we can infer that they are above the power of the devil ; but it is certain also that the devil can excite, and often hath excited such ideas. They were external ideas which he excited in the dreams and visions of the false prophets of old, who were under the influence of lying spirits, that we often read of in Scripture, as Deut. xiii. i., 1 Kings xxii. 22, Isa. xxviii. 7, Ezek. xiii. 7. And they were external ideas that he often excited in the minds of the heathen priests, magicians and sorcerers, in their visions and ecstasies, and they were external ideas that he excited in the mind of the man Christ Jesus, when he showed him all the kingdoms of the world, -with the glory of them, when those kingdoms were not really in sight, ^ And if Satan or any crea(ed being, has power to impress the mind with outward representations, then no particular sort of outward representations can ie any evidence of a divine power. Almighty power is no more requisite to represent the shape of man to the imagination, than the shape of anything else : there Is no higher kind of power necessary to form in (he brain one bodily shape or color than another : it needs a no more glorious power to represent the form of the body of a man, than the form of a chip or block ; though it be of a very beautiful human body, with a sweet smile in his countenance, or arms open, oi blood running from the hands, feet and side : that sort of power which can rep resent black or darkness to the imagination, can also represent white and shining brightness : the power and skill which can well and exactly paint a stiaw, or a stick of wood, on a piece of paper or canvass ; the same in kind, onlj perhaps further improved, will be sufficient to paint the body of a man, witii great beauty and in royal majesty, or a magnificent city, paved with gold, full of brightness, and a glorious throne, &c. So it is no more than the same sori of power that is requisite to paint one as the other of these on the brain. The samf sort of power that can put ink upon paper, can put on leaf gold. So that it is evi dent to a demonstration. If we suppose it to be in the de-vil's power to make an] sort of external representation at all on the fancy (as without doubt it is, am never any one questioned it who believed there was a devil, that had any agenc} with mankind) : I say. If so, it is demonstrably evident, that a created powe: may extend to all kinds of external appearances and Ideas in the mind. Fron hence It again clearly appears, that no such things have any thing in them tha is spiritual, supernatural, and divine, in the sense in which it has been prove( that all truly gracious experiences have. And though external ideas, througl man's make and frame, do ordinarily in some degree attend spiritual experiences yet these ideas are no part of their spiritual experience, any more than the motioi of the blood, and beating of the pulse, that attend experiences, are a part oi spiritual experience. And though undoubtedly, through men's infirmity in th( present state, and especially through the weak constitution of some persons ? " Consider how difficuJt, yea and impossible itis to determine that such a voice, vision, Oi »evela tion is of God, and that Satan cannot feign or counterfeit it : seeing he hath left no certain marks b; wliich -we may distinguish one spirit from another." Flavefi Causes and Cures qf Menfal Terrm ftause U. RELIGIOUil AFFECTIONS 79 pacious iffections which are very strong, do excite lively ideas in the imagina-* tion ; yet it is also undoubted, that when persons' affections are founded on imaginations, which is often the case, those affections are merely natural and comjnon, because they are built on a foundation that is not spiritual ; and so are entirely different from gracious affections, which, as has been proved, do ever more arise from those operations that are spiritual and divine. These imaginations do oftentimes raise the carnal affections of men to an exceeding great height :* and no wonder, when the subjects of them have an ignorant, but undoubting^ persuasion, that they are divine manifestations, which the^great Jehovah tmmediatelylhakes to their souls, therein giving them testi monies in an extraordinaiy manner, of his high and peculiar favor. Again, it is evident from what has been observed and proved of the manner in which gracious operations and effects in the heart are spiritual, supernatural and divine, that the immediate suggesting of the words of Scripture to the mind has nothing in it which is spiritual. I have had occasion to say something ol liis already ; and what has been said may be sufficient to evince it ; but if the reader bears in mind what has been said concerning the nature of spiritual influences and effects, it will be more abundantly manifest that this is no spiritual effect. For 1 suppose there is * There is a remarkable passage of Mr. John Smith, in his discourse on the shortness of a Pharisaic righteousness, p. 370, 371, of his select discourses, describing that sort of religion which is built on such a foundation as I am here speaking of. I cannot forbear transcribing the whole of it. Speaking of a sort of Christians, whose Ufe is nothing but a strong energy of fancy, he says : " Lest their religion might too grossly discover itself to be nothing else but a piece of art, there may be sometimes such extraordinary motions stirred up within them, which may prevent all their own thoughts, that they may seem to be a true operation of the divine life ; when yet all this is nothing else but the energy of their own self-love, touched with some fleshly apprehensions of divine things, and excited by them. There are such things in our Christian religion, when a carnal, unhallowed mind tal^es the chair and gets tlje expounding of them, may seem very delicious to the fleshly appetites of men ; some doctrines and notions of free grace and justification, the magnificent titles of sons of God and heirs of heaven, ever flowing streams of joy and pleasure that blessed souls shall swim in to all eternity, a glorious paradise in the world to come, always springing up with well scented and fragrant beauties, a new Jerusalem paved with gold, and be spangled with stars, comprehending in its vast circuit such numberless varieties, that a busy curiosity may spend itself about to all eternity. I doubt not but tliat sometimes the most fleshly and earthly men, that fly in their ambition to the pomp of this world, may be so ravished with the conceits of such things as these, that they may seem to be made partakers of the powers of the world to come. I doubt not but that they might be much exalted with them, as the souls of crazed or distracted persons seem to be sometimes, when their fancies play with those quick and nimble spirits, which a distempered frame of body, and unnatural heat in their heads, beget within them. Thus may these blazing comets rise up above the moon, and climb higher than the sun ; which yet, because they have no solid consistence of their own, and are of a base and earthly alloy, will soon vanish and fall down again, being only borne up by an ex ternal force. They may seem to themselves to have attained higher than those noble Christians that are gently moved by the natural force of true goodness : they seem to be pleniores Deo (i. e., more full of God) than those that are really informed and actuated by the divine Spirit, and do move on steadily and constantly in the way towards heaven. As the seed tfiat was sown in stony ground, grew up, and lengthened out its blade faster, than that which was sown in the good and fruitful soil. And as the motions of our sense, and fancy, and passions, while our souls are in this mortal condition, sunk down deeply into the body, are many times more vigorous, and make stronger impressions upon us, than those of the higher powers of the soul, which are more subtle, and remote from these mixed animal perceptions : that devotion which is there seated, may seem to have more energy and life in it, than that which gently, and with a more deUcate kind of touch spreads itself upon the understanding, and from thence mildly derivesitself through our wills and aff'ections. But however the former may be more boisterous foi a time, yet this is of a more consistent, spermatical and thriving nature. For that proceeding indeed from nothing but a sensual and fleshly apprehension of God and true happiness, is but of a flitting and fading nature ; and as the sensible powers and faculties grow more languid, or the sun of divine light shines more brightly upon us, these earthly d,evotions, like our culinary fires, will abate their heat and fervor. But a true celestial warmth will n< Ter be extinguished, because it is of an immortal nature ; and being once seatcsi vitally in the souls of n'en, it will regulate and order all the motions of it in a due manner, as the natural heat, radicated in the hearts of living creatures, hath the dominion and economy of the whole body under it. True religion is no piece of artifice ; it is no boiling up of our imaginative powers, nor the glo ying heats of passion ; though these are too often mistaken for it, when in our jugglings in religion we cast a mist before our own eyes : but it is a new nature, informing the souls of men ; it is a Godlike frame of spirit, discovering itself most of all in serene and clear minds, in deep humility, meek ness, self-denial universal love to God and all true goodness, without partiality, and without hypocrisy whereby we are taught to know God, and knowing him u love him, and conform ourselves as much aa niaj be to all that perfection which shines in him. so UELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. no person of common understanding, who will say or imagine that the bringing words (let them be what words they will) to the mind Is an effect of that na ture which It is impossible the mind of a natural man, while he remains in a state of nature, should be the subject of, or any thing like it ; or that It requires any new divine sense in the soul ; or that the bringing sounds or letters to the mind, is an effect of so high, holy, and excellent a nature, that it is impossible any created power should be the cause of It. As the suggesting words of Scripture to the mind, is only the exciting in the mind ideas of certain sounds or letters ; so it is only one way of exciting ideas in the Imagination ; for sounds and letiers are external things, that are the objects of tbe external senses of seeing and hearing. Ideas of, certain marks upon paper, such as any of the twenty-four letters, in whatever order, or any sounds of the voice, are as much external ideas, as of any other shapes or sounds whatsoever ; and therefore, by what has been already said concerning these external Ideas, it is evident they are nothing spiritual ; and if at any time the Spirit of God suggests these letters or sounds to the mind, this is a common, and not any special or gracious influence of that Spirit. And therefore it follows from what has been already proved, that those affections which have this effect for their foundation, are no spiritual or gracious affections. But let it be ob served what It Is that I say, viz,, when this effect, even the immediate and extra ordinary manner of words of Scripture's coming to the mind, is that which ex cites the affections, and I-s properly the foundation of them, then these affections are not spiritual. It may be so, that persons may have gracious affections going with Scriptures which come to their minds, and the Spirit of God may make use of those Scriptures to excite them ; when it is some spiritual sense, taste or relish they have of the divine and excellent things contained in those Scriptures, that is the thing which excites their affections, and not the extraordinary and sudden manner of words being brought to their minds. They are affected with the instruction they receive from the words, and the view of the glorious things of God or Christ, and things appertaining to them, that tbey contain and teach ; and not because the words came suddenly, as though some person had spoken them to them, thence concluding that God did as it were immediately speak to them. Persons oftentimes are exceedingly affected on this foundation ; the words of some great and high promises of Scripture came suddenly to their minds, and they look upon tbe words as directed immediately by God to them, as though the words that moment proceeded out of the mouth of God as spoken to them : so that they take it as a voice from God, immediately revealing to them their happy circumstances, and promising such and such great things to .-them : and this it is that effects and elevates them. There is no new spiritual ; imderstanding of the divine things contained in the Scripture, or new spiritual sense of the glorious things taught in that part of the Bible going before their , affection, and being the founaatlon of it. All the new understanding they have, ", or think they have, to be the foundation of their affection, Is this, that the words /'are spoken to them, because they come so suddenly and extraordinarily. And so this affection Is built wholly on the sand I Because it is built on a conclu sion for which they have no foundation. For, as has been shown, the sudden coming of the words to their minds, is no evidence that the bringing them to their minds in that manner was from God, And if It was true that God brought the words to their minds, and they certainly knew it, that would not be spir itual knowledge ; it may be without any spiritual sense : Balaam might know that the words which God suggested to him, were indeed suggested to him by God, and yet have no spiritual knowledgs. So that these affections which are RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 8 ouilt on that notion, that texts of Scripture are sent immediately from God, ar« built on no spiritual foundation, and are vain and delusive. Persons who havt their affections thus raisedj if they should be Inquired of, whether Itliey iiave ahy"new seiise of the excellency of things contained in those Scriptures, would pfo'bably say. Yes, without hesitation : but it Is true no otherwise than thus, that when they have taken up that notion, that the words are spoken immediately to them, that makes them seem sweet to them, and they own tbe things which these Scriptures say to them, for excellent things and wonderful things. As for instance supposIng^tliese^"\Vere the words which -weTe' suddenly brought to their minds. Fear not, it ii your Father s good pleasure to give you ihe kingdom ; they having confidently taken up a notion that the words were as it were im mediately spoken from heaven to them, as an immediate revelation that God was their Father, and had giv( n the kingdom to them, tbey are greatly affected by it, and the words seem sweet to thern ; and oh, tbey say, " they are excel lent things that are contained in those words !" But the reason why the pro mise seems excellent to them. Is only because they think it Is made to them Im mediately ; all the sense they have of any glory In them, is only from self-love, and from their own imagined interest in the words ; not that they had any view or sense of the holy and glorious nature of the kingdom of heaven and the spi ritual glory of that God who gives it, and of his excellent grace to sinful men, in offering and giving them this kingdom, of bis own good pleasure preceding their imagined interest in these things, and their being affected by them, and being the foundation of their affection, and hope of an interest in them. On the contrary, they first imagine they are interested, and then are highly affected with that, and then can own these things to be excellent. So that the sudden and extraordinary way of the Scripture's coming to their mind Is plainly the first foundation of the whole ; which is a clear evidence of the wreti'hed delu sion they are under. The first comfort of many persons, and what they call their conversion, is after this manner : after awakening and terror, some comfortable sweet promise comes suddenly and wonderfully to their minds ; and the manner of its coming makes them conclude it comes from God to them ; and this is the very thing that is all the foundation of their faith, and hope, and comfort : from hence they take their first encouragement to trust in God and in Christ, because they think that God, by some Scripture so brought, has now already revealed to them^i that he loves them, and has already promised them eternal life, which is very 1 absurd ; for every one of common knowledge of the principles of religion, knows \ that it is God's manner to reveal his love to men, and their interest in the pro- \ mises, after they have believed, and not before, because they must first believe^ before they have any interest in the promises to be revealed. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth and not of lies : he does not bring Scriptures to men's minds, to reveal to them that they have an interest in God's favor and promises, wheni they have none, having not yet believed : which would be the case, if God's bringing texts of Scripture to men's minds, to reveal to them that their sins were forgiven, or that it was God's pleasure to give them the kingdom, or any thing of that nature, went before, and was the foundation of their first faith. NO' promise of the covenant of grace belongs to any man, until he has first believedl ixi^Chnst; for if is by ^aiffiailone that we become interested in Christ, and the promises of thenew coy enant.made in him: and. therefore whatever spirit ap plies the promises of that.covenant to ajperson who has not first believed, as beiiig already his, musibe-aTymg spirit, and that faith which is first built on: sudnaiTapplIcation of promises is built upon a lie. God's manner is not to- Voi,.-m; ri 82 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS, brmg comfortable texts of Scripture to give men assurance of his love, and thai they shall be happy, before they have had a faith of dependence.* And if the Scripture whicb comes to a person's mind, be not so properly a promise, as an invitation ; yet If he makes the sudden or unus'tal manner of the invitation's comino- to his mind, tbe ground on which he believes that he is invited, it is not true faith; because It is built on that which is not the true ground of faith. True faith Is built on no precarious foundation : but a determination that the words of such a particular text were, by the immediate power of God, suggest ed to the mind, at such a time, as though then spoken and directed by God to him, because the words came after such a manner, is wholly an uncertain and precarious determination, as has been now shown ; and therefore Is a false and sandy foundation for faith ; and accordingly that faith which is built upon it is false. The only certain foundation which any person has to believe that he is invited to partake of "Tlie~b}essings of the gospel, is, that Ihe wordjofljoT^- clares that persons so qualified as he is, are invited, and God whodeclares it. Is true, and cannot lie. " If a sinner be once convinced of the veracity~trf^od, and that the Scriptiires are his word, he will need no more to convince and sat isfy him that he Is invited ; for the Scriptures are full of invitations to sinners, to the chief of sinners, to come and partake of the benefits of the gospel ; he will not want any new speaking of God to him ; what he hath spoken already will be enough with him. As the first comfort of many persons, and their affections at the time of their supposed conversion, are built on such grounds as these which have been men tioned ; so are their joys and hopes and other affections, from time to time afterwards. They have often particular words of Scripture, sweet declarations and promises suggested to them, which by reason of the manner of their coming, they think are immediately sent from God to them, at that time, which tbey look upon as their warrant to take them, and which tbey actually make the main ground of their appropriating them to themselves, and of the comfort they take in them, and the confidence they receive from them. Thus they imagine a kind of conversation Is carried on between God and them ; and that God, from time to time, does, as it were, immediately speak to them, and satisfy their doubts, * Mr. Stoddard in his Guide fo Christ, p. 8, says, that " sometimes men, after they have been in trouble a while, have some promises come to them, with a great deal of refreshing ; and they hope God has accepted them :" and siys that, " In this case, the mmister may tell them, that God never gives a faith of assurance, before he gives a faith of dependence ; for he never manifests his love, until men are in a state of favor and reconciliation, which is by faith of dependence. When men have comforta ble Scriptures come to them, they are apt to take them as tokens of God's love: but men must be brought mto Christ, by accepting the offer of the gospel, before they are fit for such manifestations. God's method is, first to make the soul accept of the offers of grace, and then to manifest his good estate unto him." And p. 76, speaking of them " that seem to be brought to lie at God's foot, and give an account of their closing with Christ, and that God has revealed Christ to them, and dra-vs-n their hearts to him, and they do accept of Christ," he says : "in this case, it is best to examine whether by that light that was given him, he saw Christ and salvation offered to him, or whether he saw that God loved liim, or pardoned him : for the offer of grace and our acceptance goes before pardon, and there fore, much more before the knowledge of it." Mr. Shepard, in his Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part II. p. 15, says, that " Grace and theloT» of Christ (the fairest colors under tlie sun) may be pretended ; but if you shall receive, under this ap pearance, that God witnesseth his love, first by an absolute promise, take heed there ; for under thii appearance you may as well bring in immediate revelations, and from thence come to forsake the Scrip- lures," And in Part I. p. 86, he says, " Is Christ yours"! Yes, I see it. How? By any word or promise 1 No ; this is delusion." And p, 136, speaking of thom that have no solid ground of peace, he reckons " those that content themselves with the revelation of the Lord's love without the sight of any work, or not looking to it." And says presently after, " The testimony of the Spirit does not make a man Tnore a Christian, but only evidenceth it ; as it is the nature of a witness not to make a thing to be true. But to clear and evidence it." And p. 140, speaking of them that sa^ they have the witness of the Spirit, that makes a difference between them and hypocrites, he says, " the witness of the Spirit makei not the first difference : for first a man is a believer, and in Christ, and justified, oalled and sanctified, tielore the Spirit does witness it else the Spirit should witness to an untruth and lie " RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. 83 and testifies his love to them, and promises them supports and supplies, and his olesslng In such and such cases, and reveals to them clearly theu- Interest in eternal blessings. And thus they are often elevated, and have a course of a sudden and tumultuous kind of joys, mingled with a strong confidence, and high opinion of themselves ; when Indeed the main ground of these joys, and this confidence, is not any thing contained in, or taught by these Scriptures, as they lie In the Bible, but the manner of their coming to them ; which is a cer tain evidence of their delusion. There is no particular promise in the word of \ God that Is the saint's, or is any otherwise made to him, or spoken to him, than all the promises of the covenant of grace are his, and are made to him ' and spoken to him ;* though it be true that some of these promises may be ' more peculiarly adapted to his case than others, and God by his Spirit may enable him better to understand some than others, and to have a greater sense of the preciousness, and glory, and suitableness of the blessings contained in them. But here some may be ready to say, "What, Is there no such thing as any particular spiritual application of the promises of Scripture by the Spirit ot God 1 I answer, there is doubtless such a thing as a spiritual and saving ap phcation of the invitations and promises of Scripture to the souls of men ; but it is also certain, that the nature of It is wholly misunderstood by many persons, to the great ensnaring of their own souls, and the giving Satan a vast advan tage against them, and against the interest of religion, and the church of God. The spiritual application of a Scripture promise does not consist in Its being immedlettely suggested to tbe thoughts by some extrinsic agent, and being borne into tbe mind with this strong apprehension, that it is particularly spoken and directed to them at that time ; there Is nothing of the evidence of the hand of God in this effect, as events have proved, in many notorious instances ; and it is a mean notion of a spiritual application of Scripture ; there is nothing in the nature of It at all beyond the power of the devil, if he be not restrained by God; for there is nothing in the nature of the effect that Is spiritual, implying any vital communication of God. A truly spiritual application of the word of God is of a vastly higher nature ; as much above the devil's power, as it is, so to apply the word of God to a dead corpse, as to raise it to life ; or to a stone, to turn it into an angel. A spiritual application of the word of God consists in applying it to the heart, in spiritually eiilighfening,''sanctifying influences. A" spiritual application of aii "invitation or offer of the gospel consists, In giving the soul a spiritual sense or relish of the holy and divine blessings offered, and the sweet and wonderful grace of the offerer, in making so gracious an offer, and of his holy excellency and faithfulness to fulfil what he offers, and his glo rious suflnclency for it ; so leading and drawing forth the heart to embrace the offer; and thus giving the man evidence of his title to the thing offered. And so a spiritual application of the promises of Scripture, for the comfort of the saints, consists in enlightening their minds to see the holy excellency and sweet ness of the blessings promised, and also the holy excellency of the promiser, and his faithfulness and sufficiency ; thus drawing forth their hearts to embrace * Mr. Shepard, in his Sound Believer, p. 159, of the late impression at Boston, says, " Embrace in thy bosom, not only some few promises, but all." And then he asks the question, " When may a Chris tian take a promise without presumption, as spoken to him ?" He answers, " The rule is very sweet, •^t certain ; when he takes all the Scripture, and embraces it as spoken unto him, he may then take any particular promise boldly. My meaning is, when a Christian takes hold, and wrestles witli God for the accomplishment of all the promises of tbe New Testament, when he sets all the commands be- tbre him, as a compass and guide to walk after, when he applies all the threatenings to drive him nearer unto Christ, the end of them. This no hypocrite can do ; this the saints shall do ; and by this they may know wlien the Lord spesJts in particular unto them." 84 RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS. the promisei, and thing promised ; and by this means, giving the sensible act ings of grace, enabling them to see their grace, and so their title to the prom ise. An application not consisting In this divine sense and enlightening ofJlie__ mind, but consisting only in the -word's being borne into the thoughts^ as if^im- mediately then spoken, so making persons beheve, on no other foundation, that the promise is theirs, is a blind application, and belongs to the spirit of dark ness, and not of light. When persons have their affections raised after this manner, those affections are really not raised by the word of God ; the Scripture is not the foundation of them ; it is not any thing contained in those Scriptures which come to their minds, that raise their affections ; but truly that effect, viz., the strange manner of the word's being suggested to their minds, and a proposition from thence taken up by them, which indeed is not contained 113 that Scripture, nor any other ; as that his sins are forgiven him, or that it is the Father's good pleasure to give him In particular the kingdom, or the like. There are propositions to be found in the Bible, declaring that persons of such and such qualifications are forgiven and beloved of God : but there are no propositions to be found in the Bible, declaring that such and such particular persons, independent on any previous knowledge of any qualifications, are forgiven and beloved of God : and there- ^'fore, when any person is comforted, and affected by any such proposition, it is i by another word, a word newly coined, and not any word of God contained in the Bible.* And thus many persons are vainly affected and deluded. f^ Again, it plainly appears from what has been demonstrated, that no revela tion of secret facts by immediate suggestion, is any thing spiritual and divine, in that sense wherein gracious effects and operations are so. By secret facts, I mean things that have been done, or are come to pass, or shall hereafter come to pass, which are secret in that sense that they do not ap pear to the senses, nor are known by any argumentation, or any evidence to reason, nor any other way, but only by that revelation by immediate suggestion of the ideas of them to the mind. Thus for instance, if it should be revealed to me, that the next year this land would be invaded by a fleet from France, or that such and such persons would then be converted, or that I myself should then be converted ; not by enabling me to argue out these events from any thing which now appears in providence, but immediately suggesting and bearing in upon my mind. In an extraordinary manner, the apprehension or ideas of these facts, with a strong suggestion or impression on my mind, that I had no hand in myself, that these things would come to pass : or If it should be revealed to me, that this day there is a batile fought between the armies of such and such powers in Europe ; or that such a prince in Europe was this day converted, or is now in a converted state, having been converted formerly, or that one of my neighbors is converted, or that I myself am converted ; not by having any other evidence of any of these facts, from whence I argue them, but an immediate extraordinary suggestion or excitation of these ideas, and a strong impression of them upon my mind : this is a revelation of secret facts by immediate sugges tion, as much as if the facts were future ; for the facts being past, present, or * " Some Christians have rested with a work without Christ, which is abominable : but after a man