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SHOWING
WHAT ARE NO CERTAIN SIGNS THAT RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS ARE
GRACIOUS, OR THAT THEY ARE NOT. I.
I would mention some things, which are no signs one way or the
other, either that affections are such as true religion
consists in, or that they are otherwise; that we may be
guarded against judging of affections by false signs. II.
I would observe some things, wherein those affections which
are spiritual and gracious, differ from those which are not
so, and may be distinguished and known. First,
I would take notice of some things, which are no signs that
affect titans are gracious, or that they are not. It
is no sign one way or the other, that religious affections are
very great, or raised very high. Some
are ready to condemn all high affections: if persons appear to
have their religious affections raised to an extraordinary
pitch, they are prejudiced against them, and determine that
they are delusions, without further inquiry. But if it be, as
has been proved, that true religion lies very much in
religious affections, then it follows, that if there be a
great deal of true religion, there will be great religious
affections; if true religion in the hearts of men be raised to
a great height, divine and holy affections will be raised to a
great height. Love
is an affection, but will any Christian say, men ought not to
love God and Jesus Christ in a high degree? And will any say,
we ought not to have a very great hatred of sin, and a very
deep sorrow for it? Or that we ought not to exercise a high
degree of gratitude to God for the mercies we receive of him,
and the great things he has done for the salvation of fallen
men? Or that we should not have very great and strong desires
after God and holiness? Is there any who will profess, that
his affections in religion are great enough; and will say,
"I have no cause to be humbled, that I am no more
affected with the things of religion than I am; I have no
reason to be ashamed, that I have no greater exercises of love
to God and sorrow for sin, and gratitude for the mercies which
I have received?" Who is there that will bless God that
he is affected enough with what he has read and heard of the
wonderful love of God to worms and rebels, in giving his only
begotten Son to die for them, and of the dying love of Christ;
and will pray that he may not be affected with them in any
higher degree, because high affections are improper and very
unlovely in Christians, being enthusiastical, and ruinous to
true religion? Our
text plainly speaks of great and high affections when it
speaks of "repining with joy unspeakable, and full of
glory:" here the most superlative expressions are used,
which language will afford. And the Scriptures often require
us to exercise very high affections: thus in the first and
great commandment of the law, there is an accumulation of
expressions, as though words were wanting to express the
degree in which we ought to love God: "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with
all thy mind, and with all thy strength." So the saints
are called upon to exercise high degrees of joy:
"Rejoice," says Christ to his disciples, "and
be exceeding glad," Matt. 5:12. So it is said, Psalm
68:3, "Let the righteous be glad: let them rejoice before
God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." So in the book
of Psalms, the saints are often called upon to shout for joy;
and in Luke 6:23, to leap for joy. So they are abundantly
called upon to exercise high degrees of gratitude for mercies,
to "praise God with all their hearts, with hearts lifted
up in the ways of the Lord, and their souls magnifying the
Lord, singing his praises, talking of his wondrous works,
declaring his doings, &c." And
we find the most eminent saints in Scripture often professing
high affections. Thus the Psalmist speaks of his love, as if
it were unspeakable; Psal. 119:97, "O how love I thy
law!" So he expresses a great degree of hatred of sin,
Psal. 139:21, 29: "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate
thee? And am not I grieved with them that rise up against
thee? I hate them with perfect hatred." He also expresses
a high degree of sorrow for sin: he speaks of his sins
"going over his head as a heavy burden that was too heavy
for him: and of his roaring all the day, and his moisture
being turned into the drought of summer," and his bones
being as it were broken with sorrow. So he often expresses
great degrees of spiritual desires, in a multitude of the
strongest expressions which can be conceived of; such as
"his longing, his soul's thirsting as a dry and thirsty
land, where no water is, his panting, his flesh and heart
crying out, his soul's breaking for the longing it hath,"
&c. He expresses the exercises of great and extreme grief
for the sins of others, Psal. 119:136, "Rivers of water
run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." And
verse 53, "Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the
wicked that forsake thy law." He expresses high exercises
of joy, Psal. 21:1: "The king shall joy in thy strength,
and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice." Psal.
71:23 "My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto
thee." Psal. 63:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, "Because thy loving
kindness is better than life; my lips shall praise thee, Thus
will I bless thee, while I live: I will lift up my hands in
thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and
fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; when
I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night
watches. Because thou hast been my help; therefore in the
shadow of thy wings will I rejoice." The
Apostle Paul expresses high exercises of affection. Thus he
expresses the exercises of pity and concern for others' good,
even to anguish of heart; a great, fervent, and abundant love,
and earnest and longing desires, and exceeding joy; and speaks
of the exultation and triumphs of his soul, and his earnest
expectation and hope, and his abundant tears, and the travails
of his soul, in pity, grief, earnest desires, godly jealousy,
and fervent zeal, in many places that have been cited already,
and which therefore I need not repeat. John the Baptist
expressed great joy, John 3:39. Those blessed women that
anointed the body of Jesus, are represented as in a very high
exercise of religious affection, on occasion of Christ's
resurrection, Matt. 28:8: "And they departed from the
sepulcher with fear and great joy." It
is often foretold of the church of God, in her future happy
seasons here on earth, that they shall exceedingly rejoice:
Psal. 89:15, 16, "They shall walk, O Lord, in the light
of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the
day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted."
Zech. 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh," &c.
The same is represented in innumerable other places. And
because high degrees of joy are the proper and genuine fruits
of the gospel 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 perfections 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 their
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 truth, 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 affections
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 rule to judge of things of this nature, that there
are religious affections which are very high, that are not
spiritual and saving. The Apostle 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. 4:15, "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 11th 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 them at the Red Sea, where they
sang God's praise; though they soon forgot his works. So they
were greatly affected again at mount Sinai, when they saw the
marvelous manifestations God made of himself there; and seemed
mightily engaged in their minds, and with great forwardness
made answer, when God 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 other gods, rejoicing and
shouting around their golden calf! So great multitudes who
were affected with the miracle of raising Lazarus from the
dead, were elevated to a high degree, and made a mighty ado,
when Jesus presently after entered into Jerusalem, exceedingly
magnifying Christ, as though the ground were not good enough
for the ass he rode to tread upon; and therefore cut branches
of palm trees, and strewed them in the way; yea, pulled off
their garments, and spread them in the way; and cried with
loud voices, "Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the
highest;" so as to make the whole city ring again, and
put all into an uproar. We learn by the evangelist John, that
the reason why the people made this ado, was because they were
affected with the miracle of raising Lazarus, John 12:18. Here
was a vast multitude crying Hosanna on this occasion, so that
it gave occasion to the Pharisees to say, "Behold, the
world has gone after him," John 12:19, but Christ had at
that time but few true disciples. And how quickly was this ado
at an end! 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 be religious affections, which are raised to a very high
degree, and yet there be nothing of true religion.[1] 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 of motion, in some
degree, of the fluids, in some part of the body. But universal
experience shows, that the 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 vigorous 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 affections 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 consequently these
effects are no signs, that 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 in them. And if great
affections about secular things, that are purely natural, may
have these 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 have equally strong and
vigorous exercises, cannot have a great effect on the body. No
such rule can be drawn from reason: I know of no reason, why a
being affected with a view of God's glory should not cause the
body to faint, as well as being affected with a view of
Solomon's glory. And no such rule has as yet been produced
from the Scripture; none has ever been found in all the late
controversies which have been about things of this nature.
There is a great power in spiritual affections: we read of the
power which worketh in Christians,[2]
and of the Spirit of God being in them as the Spirit of power,[3]
and of the effectual working of his power in them.[4]
But man's nature is weak: flesh and blood are represented in
Scripture as exceeding weak; and particularly with respect to
its unfitness for great spiritual and heavenly operations and
exercises, Matt. 26:41, 1 Cor. 15:43, and 50. The text we are
upon speaks of "joy unspeakable, and full of glory."
And who that considers what man's nature is, and what the
nature of the affections is, can reasonably doubt but that
such unutterable and glorious joys, may be too great and
mighty for weak dust and ashes, so as to be considerably
overbearing to it? 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 Scripture 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 under it, and that no man can, in that manner, see
God and live. The knowledge which the saints have of God's
beauty and glory in this world, and those holy affections that
arise from it, are of the same nature and kind with what the
saints are the subjects of in heaven, differing only in degree
and circumstances: what God gives them here, is a foretaste of
heavenly happiness, and an earnest of their future
inheritance. And who shall limit 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? And seeing God has taught us in 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 world, he shall never give so 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 distinguishing one from the other,
once and again: Psal. 84:2, "My soul longeth, yea, even
fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh
crieth out for the living God." Here is a plain
distinction between the heart and the flesh, as being each
affected. So Psal. 63:1, "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 bodies being overborne by a
sense of the majesty of God, Hab. 3:16: "When I heard, my
belly trembled: my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness
enter into my bones, and I trembled in myself." So the
Psalmist speaks expressly of his flesh trembling, Psal.
119:120: My flesh trembleth for fear of thee." That
such ideas of God's glory as are sometimes given in this
world, have a tendency to overhear the body, is evident,
because the Scripture gives us an account, that this has
sometimes actually been the effect of those external
manifestations 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, giving an account of an
external representation of the glory of Christ, says, Dan.
10:8, "And there remained no strength in me; for my
comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no
strength." And the apostle John, giving an account of the
manifestation made to him, says, Rev. 1:17, "And when I
saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." It is in vain to
say here, these were only external manifestations 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 are 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 received 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 Scripture often makes use of bodily effects, to express
the strength of holy and spiritual affections; such as
trembling,[5]
groaning,[6]
being sick,[7]
crying out,[8]
panting,[9]
and fainting.[10]
Now if it be supposed, that these are only figurative
expressions, to represent the degree of affection: yet I hope
all will allow, that they are fit and suitable figures to
represent the high degree of those spiritual affections, which
the Spirit of God makes use of them to represent; which I do
not see how they would be, if those spiritual affections, let
them be in never to high a degree, have no tendency to any
such things; but that on the contrary, they are the proper
effects and sad tokens of false affections, and the delusion
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 the
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 abundant, in talking of the things of
religion. There
are many persons, who, if they see this in others, are greatly
prejudiced 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 ignorantly and
imprudently forward, at once to determine that they are the
true children 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, "such a one's mouth is now opened: he
used to be slow to 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 their talk. But
this is the fruit of but little judgment, a scanty and short
experience; as events do abundantly show: and is a mistake
persons often run into, through their trusting to their own
wisdom and discerning, and making their own notions 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 conducted 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 Scripture represented by the leaves of a tree,
which, though the tree ought not to be without 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 the 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
the 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 everything 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? A
person may be over full of talk of his own experiences;
commonly falling upon it, everywhere, 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 make use of, to represent a
great show of religion with the mouth, without answerable
fruit in the life: Prov. 25:24, "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 having a great
show of religion, where 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. 2:17, "These are
clouds without water, carried with a tempest." False
affections, if they are equally strong, are much more forward
to declare themselves, than true: because it is the nature of
false religion, to affect show and observation; as it was with
the Pharisees.[11] 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 contrivance and by their 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 faculties 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 inward 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 manner
of the Spirit of God is to co-operate in a silent, secret, and
undiscernable way with the use of means, and our own
endeavors; so that there is no distinguishing by sense,
between the influences of the Spirit of God, and the natural
operations of the faculties of our own minds. And
it is true, that for any to expect to receive the saving
influences of the Spirit of God, while they neglect a diligent
improvement of the appointed means of grace, is unreasonable
presumption. And to expect that 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 gradual,
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 to the
general profession of the country; then, certainly it is in no
wise unreasonable to suppose, that this effect should very
frequently be produced after such a manner, as to make it very
manifest, apparent, and sensible that it is so. If grace be
indeed owing 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 indeed 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 workmanship and production of the Spirit of
the Almighty, is it a strange and unaccountable thing, 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 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 that what they are conscious of,
seems to them evidently not to be from themselves, but from
the mighty power of the Spirit of God; and others from hence
condemn 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 generation, 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 greatness of his
power is manifested;[12]
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 and
dispensations; but on the contrary, it 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,[13]
that God alone might be exalted,[14]
and that the excellency of the power might be of God and not
of man,[15]
and that Christ's power might be manifested in our weakness,[16]
and none might say mine own hand hath saved me.[17]
So it was in most of those temporal salvations 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 outstretched 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 everything become abundantly evident,
that the world was utterly helpless, by anything else but the
mighty power of God. And so it was in most of the conversions
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 insensible manner, which is now insisted
on; but with those manifest evidences of a supernatural power,
wonderfully and suddenly causing a great change, which in
these days are looked upon as certain signs of delusion and
enthusiasm. The
Apostle, in Eph. 1:18, 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 words are,
"The eyes of our understanding being enlightened; that ye
may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power," &c.
Now when the apostle speaks of their being thus the subjects
of his power, in their enlightening and effectual calling, to
the end that they might know what his mighty power was to them
who believe, he can mean nothing else than, "that they
might know by experience." But if the saints know this
power by experience, then they feel it and discern it, and are
conscious of it; as sensibly distinguishable from the natural
operations of their own minds, which is not agreeable to a
motion of God's operating so secretly, and undiscernably, that
it cannot be known that they are the subjects of the influence
of any extrinsic power at all, any otherwise than as they may
argue it from Scripture assertions; which is a different;
thing from knowing it by experience. So
that it is very unreasonable and unscriptural to determine
that affections are not from the gracious operations of God's
Spirit, because they are sensibly not from the persons
themselves that are the subjects of them. 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 they cannot account for. There
are some who make this an argument in their 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 the
subjects of, may indeed not be from themselves directly, but
may be from the operation of an invisible agent, some spirit
besides their own: but it does not thence 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
subtlety 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 of. And the power of Satan 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 common influence of
the Spirit of God; and the subjects of such impressions may be
of the number of those we read of, Heb. 6:4, 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 power of the world to come;" and yet may be
wholly unacquainted with those "better things that
accompany salvations" of spoken of ver. 9. And
where neither a good nor evil spirit have any immediate hand,
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 imaginations, and strong
affections attending them, unaccountably arising, which are
not voluntarily produced by themselves. We see that such
persons are liable 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 he is not
the voluntary author of; so may such persons, in like manner,
be the subjects 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 Scriptures 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 pleasing 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
anything 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 admire: the
tears flowed; I was full of joy, and could not doubt any
longer." And thus they think they have undoubted evidence
that their affections must be from God, and of the right kind,
and their state good: but without any manner of grounds. How
came they by any such rule, as that if any affections or
experiences 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? Where is any such rule to be found in
the Bible, the great and only sure directory in things of this
nature? What
deceives many of the less understanding and considerate sort
of people, 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 the Scripture must be right. But
then it should be considered, affections may arise on occasion
of the Scripture, and not properly 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 occasion of the word of God coming to the mind. What
evidence is there that the devil cannot bring texts of
Scripture to the mind, and misapply them to deceive persons?
There seems to be nothing in this which exceeds the power of
Satan. It is no work 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 sufficient 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?
In this also they are mistaken. He who was bold enough to lay
hold on Christ himself, 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 himself 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 them?
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, as 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. 3:16. 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 joy, arising on occasion of texts of Scripture,
yea, precious promises of Scripture coming suddenly and
remarkably to their minds, as though they were spoken to them,
yea, a great multitude of such texts, following one another in
a wonderful manner; and yet all this be no argument that these
affections are divine, 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 affections, which may come with the word of God, and
not only so, but from the word, and those affections not be
from Satan, nor yet properly from the corruptions of their own
hearts, but from some influence of the Spirit of God with the
word and yet have nothing of the nature of true and saving
religion in them. Thus the stony ground hearers had great joy
from the word; yea, which is represented as arising from the
word, as growth from a seed; and their affections had, in
their appearance, a very great and exact resemblance with
those represented by the growth on the good ground, the
difference not appearing until it was discovered by the
consequences in a time of trial: and yet there was no saving
religion in these affections.[18] VI.
It is no evidence that religious affections are saving, or
that they are otherwise, that there is an appearance of love
in them. There
are no professing Christians who pretend, that this is an
argument against the truth and saving nature of religious
affections. But, on the other hand, there are some who
suppose, it is a good evidence that affections are from the
sanctifying and saving influences of the Holy Ghost.—Their
argument is that Satan cannot love; this affection being
directly contrary to the devil, whose very nature is enmity
and malice. And it is true, that nothing is more excellent,
heavenly, and divine, than a spirit of true Christian love to
God and men: it is more excellent than knowledge, or prophecy,
or miracles, or speaking with the tongue of men and angels. It
is the chief of the graces of God's Spirit, and the life,
essence and sum of all true religion; and that by which we are
most conformed to heaven, and most contrary to hell and the
devil. But yet it is in arguing from hence, that there are no
counterfeits of it. It may be observed that the more excellent
anything is, the more will be the counterfeits of it. Thus
there are many more counterfeits of silver and gold, than of
iron and copper: there are many false diamonds and rubies, but
who goes about to counterfeit common stones? Though the more
excellent things are, the more difficult it is to make
anything that shall be like them, in their essential nature
and internal virtues; yet the more manifold will the
counterfeits be, and the more will art and subtlety be
displayed, in an exact imitation of the outward appearance.
Thus there is the greatest danger of being cheated in buying
of medicines that are most excellent and sovereign, though it
be most difficult to imitate them with anything of the like
value and virtue, and their counterfeits are good for nothing
when we have them. So it is with Christian virtues and graces;
the subtlety of Satan, and men's deceitful hearts, are wont
chiefly to be exercised in counterfeiting those that are in
highest repute. So there are perhaps no graces that have more
counterfeits than love and humility; these being virtues
wherein the beauty of a true Christian does especially appear. But
with respect to love; it is plain by the Scripture, that
persons may have a kind of religious love, and yet have no
saving grace. Christ speaks of many professing Christians that
have such love, whose love will not continue, and so shall
fail of salvation, Matt. 24:12, 13: "And because iniquity
shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. But he that
shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Which latter words plainly show, that those spoken of before,
whose love shall not endure to the end, but wax cold, should
not be saved. Persons
may seem to have love to God and Christ, yea, to have very
strong and violent affections of this nature, and yet have no
grace. For this was evidently the case with many graceless
Jews, such as cried Jesus up so high, following him day and
night, without meat, drink, or sleep; such as said,
"Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,"
and cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David."[19] The
apostle seems to intimate, that there were many in his days
who had a counterfeit love to Christ, in Eph. 6:24:
"Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity." The last word, in the original, signifies incorruption;
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, without 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,
Gal. 4:11, 15. VII.
Persons having religious affections of many kinds,
accompanying one another, is not sufficient to determine
whether they have any gracious affections 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 there 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. 9:27, 1 Sam. 24:16, 17, and
31:21, 1 Kings 21:27, Numb. 14:39, 40; and of the fear of God,
as in the Samaritans, "who feared the Lord, and served
their own gods at the same time," 2 Kings 17:32, 33; and
those enemies of God we read of, Psal. 66:3, 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 submission.
So of a gracious gratitude, as in the children of Israel, who
sang God's praise at the Red Sea, Psal. 106:12; and Naaman the
Syrian, after his miraculous cure of his leprosy, 2 Kings
5:15, &c. So
of spiritual joy, as in the stony ground hearers, Matt. 13:20,
and particularly many of John the Baptist's hearers, John
5:35. So of zeal, as in Jehu, 2 Kings 10:16, and in Paul
before his conversion, Gal. 1:14, Phil. 3:6, and the
unbelieving Jews, Acts 22:3, Rom. 10:2. So graceless persons
may have earnest religious desires, which may be like Baalam's
desires, which he expresses 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. 23:9, 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 religious affections, so nothing
hinders but that they may have many of 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 Christ into Jerusalem,
after that 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, in their laying their garments on
the ground for Christ to tread upon; and also of great
gratitude 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 kingdom, 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 acclamations, 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 further
delay, now in the time of the great feast of the Passover, to
set up his kingdom. And it is easy, from nature, and the
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 that 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
affections, 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 object of his dear love, and
promises him eternal life; as suppose through some vision, or
strong idea or imagination, suddenly excited in him, 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 enlightening of the
understanding, to give a view of the spiritual divine
excellency of Christ and his fullness; and of the way of
salvation revealed in the gospel: 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 acceptance 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 anything 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 unworthiness, and cry out against
himself, and appear to be very humble before God, and lie at
his feet as tame as a lamb; and that he should now confess his
unworthiness, and cry out, "Why me? Why me?" (Like
Saul, who when Samuel told him that God had appointed him to
be king, makes answer, "Am not I a Benjamite, of the
smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of
all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Wherefore then
speakest thou so to me?" Much in the language of David,
the true saint, 2 Sam. 7:18, "Who am I, and what is my
father's house, that thou has brought me hitherto?") 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 for condemning and censuring all who seem to doubt,
or make any difficulty 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.[20]
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
interposition 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 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 thence flow out into those
various channels; but if the water in the fountain be
poisonous, then poisonous streams will also flow out into all
those channels. 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, coming
from one root: if the sap in the root be good, there will also
be good sap distributed throughout the branches, and the fruit
that is brought forth will be good and wholesome; 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 difference 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 similitude 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 baker; 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 woefully disappointed; and though his dream was so
much like the happy and well boding dream of his companion,
yet it was quite contrary in its issue. VIII.
Nothing can certainly be determined concerning the nature of
the affections, by this, that comforts and joys seem to follow
awakenings and convictions of conscience, in a certain order. 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 humblings,
in a sense of total sinfulness and helplessness, and then,
such and such light and comfort; they look upon all such
schemes, laying down such methods and steps, to be of men's
devising; and particularly if high affections of joy follow
great distress and terror, it is made by many an argument
against those affections. But such prejudices and objections
are without reason or Scripture. Surely it cannot be
unreasonable to suppose, that before God delivers 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
different states, first a state of condemnation, and then in a
state of justification and blessedness: and as God, in the
work of the salvation of mankind, deals with them suitably to
their intelligent rational nature; so its seems reasonable,
and agreeable to God's wisdom, that men who are saved should
be in these two states sensibly; first, that they should,
sensibly to themselves, be in a state of condemnation, and so
in a state of woeful 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 sufficiency and God's
mercy through him. And
that it is God's manner of dealing with men, to "lead
them into a wilderness, before he speaks comfortably to
them," and so to order it, that they shall be brought
into distress, and made to see their own helplessness and
absolute dependence on his power and grace, before he appears
to work any great deliverance for them, is abundantly manifest
by the Scripture. Then is God wont to "repent himself for
his professing people, when their strength is gone, and there
is none shut up or left," and when they are brought to
see that their false gods cannot help them, and that the rock
in whom they trusted is vain, Deut. 32:36, 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. 2:23, and 5:19. And before God
wrought that great deliverance for them at the Red Sea, they
were brought into great distress, the wilderness had shut them
in, they could not turn to the right hand nor the left, and
the Red Sea was before them, and the great Egyptian host
behind, and they were brought to see that they could do
nothing to help themselves, and that if God did not help them,
they should be immediately swallowed up; and then God
appeared, and turned their cries into songs. So before they
were brought to their rest, and to enjoy the milk and honey of
Canaan, God "led them through a great and terrible
wilderness, that he might humble them and teach them what was
in their heart, and so do them good in their latter end,"
Deut. 8:2, 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 Physician, without any
money or price, and was healed by him, Luke 8:43, 44. Before
Christ would answer the request of the woman of Canaan, he
first seemed utterly to deny her, and humbled her, and brought
her to own herself worthy to be called a dog; and then he
showed her mercy, and received her as a dear child, Matt.
15:22, &c. The Apostle Paul, before a remarkable
deliverance, was "pressed out of measure, above strength,
insomuch that he despaired even of life; but had the sentence
of death in himself, that he might not trust in himself, but
in God that raiseth the dead," 2 Cor. 1:8, 9, 10. There
was first a great tempest, and the ship was covered with the
waves, and just ready to sink, find 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. 8:24, 25, 26. The leper, before he is cleansed, must
have his mouth stopped, by a covering on his upper lip, and
was to acknowledge his great misery and utter uncleannesss by
rending his clothes, and crying, "Unclean, unclean,"
Lev. 13:45. And backsliding Israel, before God heals them, are
brought to "acknowledge 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. 3:23, 24, 25. Joseph, who was
sold be his brethren, and therein was a type of Christ, brings
his brethren into great perplexity and distress, and brings
them to reflect on their sin, and to say, We are verily
guilty; and at last to resign up themselves entirely into his
hands for bondmen; and then reveals himself to them, as their
brother and their savior. And
if we consider those extraordinary manifestations which God
made of himself to saints of old, we shall find that he
commonly first manifested himself in a way which was terrible,
and then by those things that were comfortable. So it was with
Abraham; first, a horror of great darkness fell upon him, and
then God revealed himself to him in sweet promises, Gen.
15:12, 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 earthquakes and devouring fire, and then a
still, small, sweet voice, 1 Kings 19. So it was with Daniel;
he first saw Christ's countenance as lightning, that terrified
him, and caused him to faint away; and then be is strengthened
and refreshed with such comfortable words as these, "O
Daniel, a man greatly beloved," Dan. 10. So it was with
the apostle John, Rev. 1. 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 himself to
them, both ordinary and extraordinary. But
there are many things in Scripture which do more directly
show, that this is God's ordinary manner in working salvation
for the souls of men, and in the manifestations God makes of
himself and of his mercy in Christ, in the ordinary 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 as 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 circumstances, and to humble himself, and
own his unworthiness, before he is relieved and feasted by his
father, Luke 15. 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.
7:11. 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. 72:6, representing his refreshing,
comforting influences on the wounded spirit. Our first
parents, after they had sinned, were first terrified with
God's majesty and justice, and had their sin, with its
aggravations, set before them by their Judge, before they were
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. 6:18, 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. 32 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 lightning 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 showing
them their sins, and by bringing the self-righteous Jews off
from their own righteousness, telling them that they were
"a generation of vipers," and showing them their
danger of "the wrath to come," telling them that
"the axe was laid at the root of the trees," &c. And
if it be indeed God's manner (as I think the foregoing
considerations show that it undoubtedly is), before he gives
men the comfort of a deliverance from their sin and misery, to
give them a considerable sense of the greatness and
dreadfulness of those evils, and their extreme wretchedness by
reason of them; surely it is not unreasonable to suppose, that
persons, at least oftentimes, while under these views, should
have great distresses and terrible apprehensions of mind;
especially if it be considered what these evils are that they
have a view of; which are no other than great and manifold
sins, against the infinite majesty of the great Jehovah, and
the suffering of the fierceness of his wrath to all eternity.
And the more so still, when we have many plain instances in
Scripture of persons that have actually been brought into
great distress, by such convictions, before they have received
saving consolations: as the multitude at Jerusalem, who were
"pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest
of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 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?" From
these things it appears to be very unreasonable in professing
Christians 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.[21]
This seems to be what some persons lay a great weight upon;
esteeming great terrors an evidence of the great work of the
law as 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 causes. Convictions
of conscience, through the influences of God's Spirit, consist
in conviction of sinfulness of heart and practices and of the
dreadfulness of sins as committed against a God of terrible
majesty, infinite holiness and hatred of sin, and strict
justice in punishing 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 enlightenings of
conscience really convincing them of their sinfulness of heart
and life. The devil, if permitted, can terrify men as well as
the Spirit of God, it is a work natural to him, and he has
many ways of doing it, in a manner tending to no good. He
may exceedingly affright persons, by impressing on them images
and ideas of many external things, of a countenance frowning,
a sword drawn, black clouds of vengeance, words of an awful
doom pronounced,[22]
hell gaping, devils coming, and the like, not to convince
persons of things that are true, and revealed in the word of
God, but to lead them to vain and groundless determinations;
as that their day is past, that they are reprobated, that God
is implacable, 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 particular 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 everything they are affected with, than others; and the
impression on the imagination reacts on the affection, and
raises that still higher; and so affection and imagination act
reciprocally, one on another, till their affection is raised
to a vast height, and the person is swallowed up, and loses as
possession of himself.[23] 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 weighted, 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 anything 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 them. And many think
also they have great convictions of their actual sins, who
truly have none. They tell how their sins are set in order
before them, they see them 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 gave been guilty of
in the course of their lives, coming into view, that they are
affected with the aggravations of. And
if persons have had great terrors which really have been from
the awakening and convincing influences of the Spirit of God,
it doth not thence follow that their terrors must needs issue
in true comfort. The unmortified corruption of the heart may
quench the Spirit of God (after he has been striving) by
leading men to presumptuous, and self-exalting hopes and joys,
as well as otherwise. It is not every woman who is really in
travail, that brings forth a real child; but it may be a
monstrous production, without anything of the form or
properties of human nature belonging to it. Pharaoh's chief
baker after he had lain in the dungeon with Joseph, had a
vision that raised his hopes and he was lifted out of the
dungeon, as well as the chief butler; but it was to be hanged. | ||||
