Part 3

Part 3.

I come now to the second thing appertaining to the trial of religious affections, which was proposed, namely 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 previously 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 sufficient to enable any certainly to distinguish true affection from false in others; or to determine positively which of their neighbors are true professors, and which are hypocrites. In so doing, I should be guilty of that arrogance 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 prevent their being led into a snare by false teachers, and false pretenders to religion; And though it be also beyond doubt, that the Scriptures do abound with rules, which may be very serviceable to ministers, in counseling and conducting souls committed to their 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 certainly know, who of our fellow-professors are his, and to make a full 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 expected 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 certainly 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 don't mean an essential defect; because I suppose the person 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 clearly discern their form, or distinguish them one from another; though, as they are in themselves, their form may be very different. There is doubtless 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 the 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 state. The difference between doves and ravens, or doves and vultures, 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 attending the grace of those I am speaking, is its being mingled with so much corruption, which clouds and hides it, and makes it impossible for it certainly to be 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 ill frame, guilt lies on the conscience; which will bring fear, and so prevent the 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 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 light for judging and distinguishing spiritual things.

For these reasons, no signs that can be given, will actually satisfy, persons in 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. It is not God's design that men should obtain assurance in any other way, than by mortifying corruption, and increasing in grace, and obtaining the lively exercises of it. And although self-examination be a duty of great use and importance, and by no means to be neglected; yet it is not the principal means, by which the saints do get satisfaction of their good estate. Assurance is not to be obtained so much by self-examination, as by action. The Apostle Paul sought assurance chiefly this way, even by forgetting the things that were behind, and reaching forth unto those things that were before, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling 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 Corinthians 9:26: I therefore so run, as not uncertainly. He obtained assurance of winning the prize, more by running, than by considering. The 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, etcetera is the direction that the Apostle 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, and 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 Peter 1:5-11.

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 such rules, as shall be sufficient of themselves, without other means, to enable 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 affections, 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 experiences 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 fondness 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 hypocrisy. Their state is indeed deplorable, and next to those that 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 religion's becoming more pure, and like gold tried in the fire.

Having premised these things, I now proceed directly to take notice of those things in which true religious affections are distinguished from false.

1. Affections that are truly spiritual and gracious, do arise from those influences 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 distinguish 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 God, are in the New Testament called spiritual persons. And their being spiritual is spoken of as their peculiar character, and that wherein they are distinguished 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 Corinthians 2:14, 15. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. The Scripture 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, verse 4 of his epistle, says, verse 19. These are sensual, having not the Spirit. This the Apostle gives as a reason why they behaved themselves in such a wicked manner as he had described. Here the word translated sensual, in the original is psychikos; which is the very same, which in those verses in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is translated natural. In the like manner, in the continuation of the same discourse, in the next verse but one, spiritual men are opposed to carnal men; which the context shows mean the same, as spiritual men and natural men in the preceding verses; And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal; that is, as in a great measure unsanctified. That by carnal the Apostle means corrupt and unsanctified, appears not only here, by Romans 7:25 and 8:1, 4-6, where in these texts, he intended the flesh; while spiritual, which is opposed thereto, is of the Spirit and holy.

And as persons are called spiritual in Scripture, so we also find that there are certain Properties, Qualities, and Principles, that have names given them. So we read of a spiritual Mind, spiritual Understanding and spiritual Wisdom, Colossians 1:9. And of spiritual things.

Now observe that the Epithet spiritual, in these and other parallel Texts of the new Testament, is not used to signify the Relation of Persons or Things to the Spirit or Soul of Man, as the spiritual Part: Things are not said to be spiritual, because they have their Seat in the Soul, and not in the Body: For there are some Properties which the Scripture calls fleshly or carnal, which have their seat much in the Soul, as these 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; Colossians 2:18. 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 World, conversant about Spirits, and immaterial Beings; which yet the Apostle speaks of as natural Men, totally ignorant of those Things that are spiritual, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. But it is with Relation to the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, that Persons or Things are termed spiritual, in the New Testament. Spirit, as the Word is used to signify the third Person in the Trinity, is the Substantive, of which is formed the Adjective spiritual, in the holy Scriptures. Thus Christians are called spiritual Persons, because they are born of the Spirit, and because of the Indwelling and holy Influences of the Spirit of God in them. And Things are called spiritual as related to the Spirit of God; 1 Corinthians 2:13, 14. Which Things also we speak, not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual Things with spiritual. But the natural Man receives not the Things of the Spirit of God. Here the Apostle himself expressly signifies, that by spiritual Things, he means the Things of the Spirit of God, and Things which the Holy Ghost teacheth. The same is yet more abundantly apparent by viewing the whole Context. Again, Romans 8:6. To be carnally minded is Death: But to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace. The Apostle 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 Indwelling and holy Influences of the Spirit of God in the Heart. But you are not in the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any Man has 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. They 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's Spirit: As is evident, because it has 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, Romans 8:6, means graciously minded. And although 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 Galatians 6:1. Brethren, if any Man be overtaken in a Fault, you which are spiritual restore such a one in the 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 Language of the New Testament, which are truly gracious and holy, and peculiar to the Saints.

Thus when we read of spiritual Wisdom and Understanding (as in Colossians 1:9). We desire that you 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 sanctifying 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 therefore spiritual Wisdom is doubtless the same with that Wisdom which is from above, that the Apostle James speaks of, James 3:17. The Wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, etc. for this the Apostle opposes to natural Wisdom, Verse 15. This Wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual - the last Word in the Original is the same that is translated natural, in 1 Corinthians 2:14.

So that although natural Men may be the Subjects of many Influences of the Spirit of God, as is evident by many Scriptures, as Numbers 24:2, 1 Samuel 10:10, and 11:6, and 16:14, 1 Corinthians 13:1, 2, 3, Hebrews 6:4, 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 spiritual Things. The great Difference lies in these two Things.

1. The Spirit of God is given to the true Saints to dwell in them, as his proper lasting Abode; and to influence their Hearts, as a Principle of new Nature, or as a divine supernatural Spring of Life and Action. The Scriptures represent the Holy Spirit, not only as moving, and occasionally influencing the Saints, but as dwelling in them as his Temple, his proper Abode, and everlasting Dwelling-Place; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, John 14:16, 17. And he is represented as being there so united to the Faculties of the Soul, that he becomes there a Principle or Spring of new Nature and Life.

So the Saints are said to live by Christ living in them, Galatians 2:20. 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; they 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 4:14, and thus becomes a Principle of Life in them; this living Water, this Evangelist himself explains to intend the Spirit of God, Chapter 7:38, 39. The Light of the Sun of Righteousness does not only shine upon them, but is so communicated 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 natural Men; yet because it is not thus communicated to them, as an indwelling Principle, they do not derive any Denomination or Character from it; for there being no Union it is not their own. The Light may shine upon a Body that is very dark or 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 it spiritual. A Body that continues black, may be said not to have Light, though the Light shines upon it; so natural Men are said yet to have the Spirit, Jude 19. Sensual, or natural (as the Word is elsewhere rendered) having not the Spirit.

2. Another Reason why the Saints and their Virtues are called spiritual, (which is the principal Thing) is that the 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 the 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 Ointment, which was the principal Type of the Holy Ghost in the Mosaic 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 Odour 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 Partaker 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. The Grace which is in the Hearts of the Saints, is of the same Nature with the divine Holiness, as much as it is possible for that Holiness to be, which is infinitely less in Degree; as the Brightness that is in a Diamond which the Sun shines upon, is of the same Nature with the Brightness of the Sun, but only that it is as nothing to it in Degree. Therefore Christ says, John 3:6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit; that is the Grace that is begotten in the Hearts of the Saints, is something of the same Nature with that Spirit, and so is properly called a spiritual Nature; after the same Manner as that which is born of the 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 the 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 moved upon the Face of the Waters, and there was nothing disagreeable to his Nature in that Action; but yet he 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 inanimate 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 does 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 spiritual, as having the Spirit of God dwelling in them; but those Qualifications, Affections and Experiences that are wrought in them by the Spirit, are also spiritual, and therein differ vastly in their Nature and Kind from all that a natural Man is or can be the Subject of, while he remains in a natural State; and also from all that Men or Devils can be the 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 does so much communicate himself, and wherein the mere Creature has, in so high a Sense, a Participation of God; so that it is expressed in Scripture by the Saints being made Partakers of the divine Nature, 2 Peter 1:4 and having God dwelling in them, and they in God, 1 John 4:12, 15, 16 and Chapter 3:21 and having Christ in them, John 17:21 Romans 8:10 being the Temples of the living God, 2 Corinthians 6:16 living by Christ's Life, Galatians 2:20 being made Partakers of God's Holiness, Hebrews 12:10 having Christ's Love dwelling in them, John 17:26 having his Joy fulfilled in them, John 17:13 seeing Light in God's Light, and being made to drink of the River of God's Pleasures, Psalm 36:8, 9 having Fellowship with God, or communicating and partaking with him (as the Word signifies) 1 John 1:3. Not that the Saints are made Partakers of the Essence of God, and so are Godded with God, and Christed 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 Fullness, Ephesians 3:17, 18, 19 John 1:16 that is, of God's spiritual Beauty and Happiness, according to the Measure and Capacity of a Creature; for so it is evident the Word Fullness signifies in Scripture Language. Grace in the Hearts of the Saints, being therefore the most glorious Work of God, wherein he communicates 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 makes the Creature Partaker of the divine Nature (the Spirit of God communicating itself in its own proper Nature) This is what I mean by those Influences that are divine, when I say that truly gracious Affections do arise from those Influences that are spiritual 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 the 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 a being born of the Spirit, from this, that He that is born of the Flesh, has only Flesh, and no Spirit, John 3:6. 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, Romans 8:9, 10, 11. And an having 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 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5 Ephesians 1:24 and an having any Thing of the Spirit is mentioned as a sure Sign of being in Christ, 1 John 4:13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, because he has given us of his 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 Peter 1:4. Ungodly Men are not Partakers of God's Holiness, Hebrews 12:10. A natural Man has no Experience of any of those 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 to them, the Talk about such Things is all Foolishness and Nonsense to him, he knows not what it means, 1 Corinthians 2:14. The natural Man receives not the Things of the Spirit of God; for they are Foolishness to him; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned. And to the like Purpose Christ teaches us that the World is wholly unacquainted with the Spirit of God, John 14:17. Even the Spirit of Truth, when the World cannot receive; because it sees him not, neither knows him. And it is further 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 furthest in Religion, have no Charity, or true Christian Love, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. So Christ elsewhere reproves the Pharisees, those high Pretenders to Religion, that they had not the Love of God in them, John 5:42. Hence natural 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 1:3 together with Verse 6, 7 and 1 Corinthians 1:8, 9. And the Scripture speaks of the actual Being of a gracious Principle in the Soul, though in its first beginning, as a Seed there planted, as inconsistent with a Man's being a Sinner, 1 John 3:9. And natural Men are represented in Scripture as having no spiritual Light, no spiritual Life, and no spiritual Being; and therefore Conversion is often compared to opening the Eyes of the Blind, raising the Dead, and a Work of Creation, (wherein Creatures are made entirely new) and becoming new born Children.

From these Things it is evident, that those gracious Influences which the Saints are the 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 Qualifications, or Principles that are natural, no advancing or exalting them to higher Degrees, and no Kind of Composition of them, will ever bring Men to; because they not only differ from 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, entirely different in its Nature and Kind, from any Thing that ever their Minds were the Subjects of before they 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, varying 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 perceiving, 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 Perceptions or Sensations which the Mind had before; or there is what some Metaphysicians 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 the 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 new Kind of Perception or spiritual Sensation, which is in its 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 is perceived in them, by natural Men, as the sweet Taste of Honey is diverse from the Ideas Men get of Honey by only looking on it, and feeling of it. So that the spiritual Perceptions which a sanctified and spiritual Person has, are not only diverse from all that natural Men have, after the Manner that the Ideas or Perceptions of the same Sense may differ one from another, but rather as the Ideas and Sensations of different Senses do differ. Hence the Work of the Spirit of God in Regeneration is often in Scripture compared to the giving a new Sense, giving Eyes to see, and Ears to hear, unstopping the Ears of the Deaf, and opening the Eyes of them that were born Blind, and turning from Darkness unto Light. And because this spiritual Sense is immensely the most noble and excellent, 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.

This new spiritual Sense, and the new Dispositions that attend it, are no new Faculties, but are new Principles of Nature. I use the 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 Foundation for Action, giving a Person Ability and Disposition to exert the Faculties in Exercises of such a certain Kind; so that to exert the Faculties in that Kind of Exercises, may be said to be his Nature. So this new spiritual Sense is not a new Faculty of Understanding, but it is a new Foundation laid in the Nature of the Soul, for a new Kind of Exercises of the same Faculty of Understanding. So that new holy Dispositions 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, namely the sense of seeing, immediately exciting ideas of that sense; but he gave no new sense; neither was 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 natural principles and senses. So if God reveals to any natural man, any secret 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 ordinary influences of the Spirit of God on the hearts of sinners, he only assists 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 Aholiab in the curious works of the tabernacle: so he may assist men's natural abilities in political 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 God may greatly assist natural men's reason, in their reasoning about secular things, or about the doctrines of religion, 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 awakenings 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 naturally 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's consciences to do this in a greater degree, helps conscience against the stupefying influence of worldly objects and their lusts. And so there are many other ways might be mentioned wherein the Spirit acts upon, assists and moves natural principles; but after all, it is no more than nature moved, acted and improved; here is nothing supernatural and divine. But the Spirit of God in his spiritual influences 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, that all spiritual and gracious affections are attended with, and do arise from some apprehension, idea or sensation of mind, which is in its whole nature different, yea exceedingly 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 Corinthians 2:14) 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.

But here two things must be observed in order to the right understanding of this.

1. On the one hand it must be observed, that not every thing which in any respect appertains to spiritual 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 relation: Love to God makes a man have desires of the 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 conformity 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 love and natural, cause desires after the object beloved; but they are not the same sort of desires; there is a sensation of soul in the spiritual desires of one that loves God, which is entirely different from all natural desires: Both spiritual love and natural love are attended with delight in the object beloved; but the sensations of delight are not the 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 the Nucleus, or kernel of them, that they have no more conceptions of, than one born blind has of colors.

It may be clearly 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 delighted 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 appertain to it, which is common; it causes both to desire and delight in the object beloved, and causes grief when it is absent, etc. But yet, that idea or sensation which he who knows the taste of honey, has of its excellence and sweetness, that is the foundation of his love, is entirely different from any thing the other 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 seem, in some respect, to be common to both; both love, both desire, and both delight; but the love, and desire, and delight of the one, is altogether diverse from that of the other. The difference between the love of a natural man and spiritual man is like to this; but only it must be observed, that in one respect it is vastly greater, namely that the kinds of excellence which are perceived in spiritual objects, by these different kinds of persons, are in themselves vastly more diverse, than the different kinds of excellence perceived in delicious fruit, by a [tasting] and a [seeing] man; and in another respect it may not be so great, namely as the spiritual man may have a spiritual sense or taste, to perceive that divine and most peculiar excellence, but in small beginnings, and in a very imperfect degree.

2. On the other hand, it must be observed, that a natural man may have those religious apprehensions and affections, which may be in many respects 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 affections, and a new composition of ideas; this may be from some extraordinarily powerful influence of Satan and some great delusion; but there is nothing but nature 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 believe that he was now a glorious monarch; the ideas he 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 is no more, than only 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 affections 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 it 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 cannot experience any thing but what is exceedingly 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 the 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 settle and determine many articles of doctrine, concerning the operations of the Spirit of God, and the nature of true grace.

Now 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 Heaven, 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 spiritual, 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 the common People, I will explain what is intended by Impressions on the 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 are 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 Kind of Things as we perceive by our five external Senses, Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting and Feeling, are external Things. And when a Person has an Idea, or Image of any of these Sorts of Things in his Mind, when they are not there, and when he 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 Kind of Ideas are strongly impressed upon the Mind, and the Image of them in the Mind is very lively, almost as if one saw them, or heard them, etcetera that is called an Impression on the Imagination. Thus Colors, and Shapes, and a Form of Countenance, they are outward Things; because they are that Sort of Things which are the 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 Darkness, 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 the other Senses, as of any Sounds or Voices, or Words spoken; this is only to have Ideas of outward Things, namely 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 livelily impressed, almost as if they were really heard with the Ears, this is to have an Impression on the 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. They have had lively Ideas of some external Shape, and beautiful Form of Countenance; and this they call spiritually seeing Christ. Some have had impressed 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 shining 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 beautiful Countenance smiling upon them; and this they call a spiritual Discovery of the Love of Christ to their Souls, and tasting the Love of Christ. And they look upon it a sufficient 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 like Manner, the Imaginations of some have been impressed 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, hearing the Voice of Christ spiritually in their Hearts, having the Witness of the Spirit, and the inward Testimony of the Love of Christ, etcetera.

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 them by. Thus we call a clear Apprehension of Things spiritual by the Name of Light; and an 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 ignorantly 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 their Eyes are opened, now Christ has discovered himself to them, and they are his Children; and hence are exceedingly affected and elevated with their Deliverance and Happiness, and many Kinds of Affections are at once set in a violent Motion in them.

But it is exceeding 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 wise of such a Sort, that they are entirely, and in their whole Nature diverse 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 Principle, so that in order to have them, a Man must have a new spiritual 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 human 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 Circumstances) that we have by those natural Principles which are common to us, with the Beasts, namely the five external Senses. This is a low, miserable Notion of spiritual 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 have in 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 incapable 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 they 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 advancing 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, makes Persons abundantly more susceptive of such Impressions.

As to a truly spiritual Sensation, not only is the Manner of its coming into the Mind extraordinary, 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 sometimes unusual, yet the Ideas in themselves are not the better for that; they are still of no different Sort from what Men have by their Senses; they are of no higher Kind, nor a whit better. For Instance, the external Idea a Man has now of Christ hanging on the Cross, and shedding his Blood, is no better in itself, than the external Idea that the Jews his 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 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 Imaginations, is not in its own Nature, of any superior Kind to the Idea the Papists conceive 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 the Affections they have, if built primarily on such Imaginations, any better 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. 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, Numbers 24:16, 17. But yet had no Manner of spiritual Discovery 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; 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 there is in the 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, doubtless imaginary ones, or Ideas of Things external are not above his Power; for the external Ideas Men have are the lowest Sort of Ideas. These Ideas may be raised only by Impressions made on the Body, by moving the animal Spirits, and impressing the Brain. Abundant Experience does certainly show, that Alterations in the Body will excite imaginary or external Ideas in the Mind; as often, in case of a high Fever, Melancholy, etcetera. These external Ideas are as much below the more intellectual Exercises of the Soul, as the Body is a less noble Part of Man than the Soul.

And there is not only nothing in the Nature of these external Ideas or Imaginations 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 has 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 Deuteronomy 13:1, 1 Kings 22:22, Isaiah 28:7, Ezekiel 13:7, Zechariah 13:4. 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 created Being, has Power to impress the Mind with outward Representations, then no particular Sort of outward Representations can be 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 any Thing else: There is no higher Kind of Power necessary to form in the Brain one bodily Shape or Color than another: It needs a no more glorious Power to represent the Form of the Body of 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, or Blood running from Hands, Feet, and Side: That Sort of Power which can represent Black or Darkness to the Imagination, can also represent White and shining Brightness: The Power and Skill which can well and exactly paint a Straw, or a Stick of Wood, on a Piece of Paper or Canvas; the same in Kind, only perhaps further improved, will be sufficient to paint the Body of a Man, with great Beauty and in royal Majesty, or a magnificent City, paved with Gold, full of Brightness, and a glorious Throne, etc. So it is no more than the same Sort of Power that is requisite to paint one as the other of these on the Brain. The same Sort of Power that can put Ink upon Paper, can put on Leaf-Gold. So that it is evident to a Demonstration, if we suppose it to be in the Devil's Power to make any Sort of external Representation at all on the Fancy, (as without Doubt it is, and never any one questioned it who believed there was a Devil, that had any Agency with Mankind) I say, if so, it is demonstrably evident that a created Power may extend to all Kinds of external Appearances and Ideas in the Mind.

From hence it again clearly appears, that no such Things have any thing in them that is spiritual supernatural and divine, in the Sense in which it has been proved that all truly gracious Experiences have. And though external Ideas, through 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 Motion of the Blood, and Beating of the Pulse, that attends Experiences, are a Part of spiritual Experience. And though undoubtedly, through Men's Infirmity in the present State, and especially through the weak Constitution of some Persons, gracious Affections which are very strong, do excite lively Ideas in the Imagination; yet it is also undoubted, that when Person's Affections are founded on Imaginations, which is often the Case, those Affections are merely natural and common, 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 evermore 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 immediately makes to their Souls, therein giving them Testimonies, in an extraordinary 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 of this 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 I suppose there is 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 Nature 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 Letters are external Things, that are the Objects of the external Senses of Seeing and Hearing. Ideas of certain Marks upon Paper, such as any of the 24 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 observed what it is that I say, namely When this Effect, even the immediate and extraordinary Manner of Words of Scripture's coming to the Mind, is that which excites the Affections, and is 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 they contain and teach; and not because the Words came suddenly, as though some Person had spoke 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 come suddenly to their Minds, and they look upon the 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 Circumstance, and promising such and such great Things to them: And this is that which elevates them. There is no new spiritual understanding of the Scripture, or new spiritual view of the glorious Things taught in that Part of the Bible, going before their Affection, and being the Foundation 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; because it is built on a Conclusion 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 know it, that would not be the spiritual Knowledge; it may be without any spiritual sense. A person might know that the Words which God sent to him, were indeed suggested to him by God, and yet have no spiritual Knowledge. So that these Affections which are built on that Notion, that Texts of Scripture are sent immediately from God, are built or no spiritual Foundation, and are vain and delusive. Persons who have their Affections thus raised, if they should be enquired of whether they have any new Sense of the Excellency of Things contained in those Scriptures, would probably 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 take the Things, which those Scriptures say to them, for excellent Things, and wonderful Things. As for Instance, supposing these were the Words which were suddenly brought to their Minds, Fear not,—it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom; they having confidently taken up a Notion that the Words were as it were immediately spoken from Heaven to them, as an immediate Revelation, that God was their Father, and had given the Kingdom to them, they are greatly affected by it, and the Words seem sweet to them; and oh, they say, they are excellent Things that are contained in those Words! but the Reason why the Promise seems excellent to them, is only because they think it is made to them immediately: 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 spiritual Glory of that God who gives it, and or his excellent Grace to sinful Men, in offering and giving them this Kingdom, of his 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 Scriptures coming to their Mind, is plainly the first Foundation of the whole; which is a clear Evidence of the wretched Delusion they are under.

The first Comfort of many Persons, and what they call their Conversion, is after this Manner. After Awakening and Terrors, 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 that he loves them, and has already promised them eternal Life. Which is very 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 Promises, 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 Favour and Promises, when 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. There is no Promise of the Covenant of Grace belongs to any Man, until he has first believed in Christ; for it is by Faith alone that we become interested in Christ, and the Promises of the new Covenant made in him. And therefore whatever Spirit applies the Promises of that Covenant to a Person who has not first believed, as being already his, must be a lying Spirit; and that Faith which is first built on such an Application of Promises, is built upon a Lie. God's Manner is not to bring comfortable Texts of Scripture to give Men Assurance of his Love, and that they shall be happy, before they have had a Faith of Dependence. And if the Scripture which comes to a Person's Mind, be not so properly a Promise, as an Invitation; Yet if he makes the sudden or unusual Manner of the Invitation's coming to his Mind, the 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, suggested to the Mind, at such a Time, as though then spoken and directed by God to [〈◊〉], 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 the Blessings of the Gospel, is that the Word of God declares that Persons so qualified as he is, are invited, and God who declares it is true and cannot lie. If a Sinner be once convinced of the Veracity of God, and that the Scriptures are his Word, he will need no more to convince and satisfy 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 has 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 mentioned; 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 they look upon as their Warrant to take them; and which they 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 and testifies his Love to them, and promises them Supports and Supplies, and his Blessing in such and such Cases, and reveals to them clearly their 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 [〈◊〉] to them; which is a certain 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 Promise of the Covenant of Grace are his, and are made to him, all 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 [〈◊〉] of the Blessings contained in them.

But here, some may be ready to [〈◊〉], What, is there no such Thing as any particular [〈◊〉] Application of the Promises of Scripture by the Spirit of God? I answer, There is doubtless such a Thing as a spiritual and [〈◊〉] Application of the [〈◊〉] as 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 [〈◊〉] of their own Souls, and the giving Satan a vast Advantage 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 immediately suggested to the [〈◊〉] by some [〈◊〉] Agent, and being borne into the Mind with this strong Apprehension, that it is particularly spoken and [〈◊〉] to them at that Time. There is nothing on the Evidence of the Hand of God in this Effect, as Events have proved in many [〈◊〉] Instances; and it is a [〈◊◊〉] of a spiritual Application of Scripture; there is nothing in the Nature of it at all beyond the Power of the Devil, if he [〈◊◊〉] 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 enlightening, sanctifying Influences. A spiritual Application of an Invitation or Offer of the Gospel consists in giving the Soul a spiritual Sense or Relish of the holy and divine Blessings offered, and also the sweet and wonderful Grace of the Offerer, in making so gracious an Offer, and of his holy Excellency and [〈◊〉] to fulfill what he offers, and his glorious Sufficiency 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 [〈◊〉] spiritual, Application of the Promises of Scripture, for the Comfort of the Saints, consists in enlightening their Minds to see the holy Excellency and Sweetness of the Blessings Promised, and also the holy Excellency of the Promiser, and his Faithfulness and Sufficiency, thus drawing forth their Hearts to embrace the Promiser, and Thing promised; and by this Means, giving the sensible Actings of Grace, enabling them to see their Grace, and so their Title to the Promise. An Application not consisting in this divine [〈◊〉] and Enlightening of the Mind, but consisting only in the Words [〈◊〉] borne into the Thoughts, as if immediately then spoken, so making Persons believe, on no other Foundation, that the Promise is theirs; is a blind Application, and belongs to the Spirit of Darkness, 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, [〈◊〉] the strange Manner of the Words being suggested to their Minds, and a Proposition from thence taken up by them, which indeed is not contained in 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 [〈◊〉] 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 precious Knowledge of any Qualifications, are forgiven and beloved of God. And therefore when any Person is comforted, and affected by any such Proposition, it is 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.

Again, it plainly appears from what has been demonstrated, That no Revelation 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 appear 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 Battle 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 Neighbours is converted, or that I my self 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 Suggestion, as much as if the Facts were future; for the Facts being past, present, or future alters not the Case, as long as they are secret and hidden from my Senses and Reason, and not spoken of in Scripture, nor known by me any other Way than by immediate Suggestion. If I have it revealed to me, that such a Revolution is come to pass this Day in the Ottoman Empire, it is the very same Sort of Revelation, as if it were revealed to me that such a Revolution would come to pass there this Day come twelve-month; because, though one is present and the other future, yet both are equally hidden from me, any other Way than by immediate Revelation. When Samuel told Saul that the Asses which he went to seek were found, and that his Father had left caring for the Asses and sorrowed for him; this was by the same Kind of Revelation, as that by which he told Saul, that in the Plain of Tabor, there should meet him three Men going up to God to Bethel, (1 Samuel 10. 2, 3.) though one of these Things was future and the other was not. So when Elisha told the King of Israel the Words that the King of Syria spake in his Bed-chamber, it was by the same Kind of Revelation with that by which he foretold many Things to come.

It is evident that this Revelation of secret Facts by immediate Suggestion, has nothing of the Nature of a spiritual and divine Operation, in the Sense fore-mentioned. There is nothing at all in the Nature of the Perceptions or Ideas themselves, which are excited in the Mind, that is divinely excellent, and so, far above all the Ideas of natural Men; though the Manner of exciting the Ideas be extraordinary. In those Things which are spiritual, as has been shown, not only the Manner of producing Effect, but the Effect wrought is divine, and so vastly above all that can be in an unsanctified Mind. Now simply the having an Idea of Facts, setting aside the Manner of producing those Ideas, is nothing beyond what the Minds of wicked Men are susceptible of, without any Goodness in them; and they all, either have or will have, the Knowledge of the Truth of the greatest and most important Facts, that have been, are, or shall be.

And as to the extraordinary Manner of producing the Ideas or Perception of Facts, even by immediate Suggestion, there is nothing in it, but what the Minds of natural Men, while they are yet natural Men, are capable of; as is manifest in Balaam, and others spoken of in the Scripture. And therefore it appears that there is nothing appertaining to this immediate Suggestion of secret Facts that is spiritual, in the Sense in which it has been proved that gracious Operations are so. If there be nothing in the Ideas themselves, which is holy and divine, and so nothing but what may be in a Mind not sanctified, then God can put them into the Mind by immediate Power, without sanctifying it. As there is nothing in the Idea of a Rainbow itself, that is of a holy and divine Nature; so that there is nothing hinders but that an unsanctified Mind may receive that Idea. So God if he pleases, and when he pleases, immediately, and in an extraordinary Manner, may excite that Idea in an unsanctified Mind. So also, as there is nothing in the Idea or Knowledge that such and such particular Persons are forgiven and accepted of God, and entitled to Heaven, but what unsanctified Minds may have and will have concerning many at the Day of Judgment; so God can if he pleases, extraordinarily and immediately suggest this to, and impress it upon an unsanctified Mind now. There is no Principle wanting in an unsanctified Mind, to make it capable of such a Suggestion or Impression; nor is there any Thing in them to exclude, or necessarily to prevent such a Suggestion.

And if these Suggestions of secret Facts be attended with Words of Scripture, immediately and extraordinarily brought to Mind, about some other Facts that seem in some Respects similar, that do not make the Operation to be of a spiritual and divine Nature. For that Suggestion of Words of Scripture is no more divine, than the Suggestion of the Facts themselves; as has been just now demonstrated. And two Effects together, which are neither of them spiritual, cannot make up one complex Effect, that is spiritual.

Hence it follows, from what has been already shown, and often repeated, that those Affections which are properly founded on such immediate Suggestions, or supposed Suggestions of secret Facts, are not gracious Affections. Not but that it is possible that such Suggestions may be the Occasion, or Cause of gracious Affections; for so may a Mistake and Delusion; but it is never properly the Foundation of gracious Affections. For gracious Affections, as has been shown, are all the Effects of an Influence and Operation which is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. But there are many Affections, and high Affections, which some have, that have such Kind of Suggestions or Revelations for their very Foundation: They look upon these as spiritual Discoveries; which is a gross Delusion; and this Delusion is truly the Spring whence their Affections flow.

Here it may be proper to observe, that it is exceeding manifest from what has been said, that what many Persons call the Witness of the Spirit that they are the Children of God, has nothing in it spiritual and divine; and consequently that the Affections built upon it, are vain and delusive. That which may call the Witness of the Spirit, is no other than an immediate Suggestion and Impression of that Fact, otherwise secret, that they are converted, or made the Children of God, and so that their Sins are pardoned, and that God has given them a Title to Heaven. This Kind of Knowledge, namely Knowing that a certain Person is converted, and delivered from Hell, and entitled to Heaven, is no divine Sort of Knowledge in itself. This Sort of Fact, is not that which requires any higher or more divine Kind of Suggestion, in order to impress it on the Mind, than any other Fact which Balaam had impressed on his Mind. It requires no higher Sort of Idea or Sensation, for a Man to have the Apprehension of his own Conversion impressed upon him, than to have the Apprehension of his Neighbour's Conversion, in like Manner, impressed. But God, if he pleased, might impress the Knowledge of this Fact, that he had forgiven his Neighbour's Sins, and given him a Title to Heaven, as well as any other Fact, without any Communication of his Holiness. The Excellency and Importance of the Fact, do not at all hinder a natural Man's Mind being susceptible of an immediate Suggestion and Impression of it. Balaam had as excellent, and important, and glorious Facts as this, immediately impressed on his Mind, without any gracious Influence; as particularly, the coming of Christ, and his setting up his glorious Kingdom, and the Blessedness of the spiritual Israel in his peculiar Favour and their Happiness living and dying. Yea Abimelech King of the Philistines, had God's special Favour to a particular Person, even Abraham, revealed to him, Genesis 20:6, 7. So it seems that he revealed to Laban his special Favour to Jacob, see Genesis 31:24 and Psalm 125:15. And if a truly good Man should have an immediate Revelation or Suggestion from God, after the like Manner, concerning his Favour to his Neighbour, or himself; it would be no higher Kind or influence; it would be no more than a common Sort of Influence of God's Spirit; as the Gift of Prophecy, and all Revelation by immediate Suggestion is; see 1 Corinthians 13:2. And though it be true, that it is not possible that a natural Man should have that individual Suggestion from the Spirit of God, that he is converted, because it is not true; yet that does not arise from the Nature of the Person, or because that Kind of Influence which suggests such excellent Facts, is too high for him to be the Subject of; but purely from the Nature of a Fact to be suggested. The Influence which immediately suggests this Fact, when it is true, is of no different Kind from that which immediately suggests other true Facts: And so the Kind and Nature of the Influence, is not above what is common to natural Men, with good Men.

But this is a mean ignoble Notion of the Witness of the Spirit of God given to his dear Children, to suppose that there is nothing in the Kind and Nature of that Influence of the Spirit of God, in imparting this high and glorious Benefit but what is common to natural Men, or which Men are capable of, and be in the mean Time altogether unsanctified, and the Children of Hell; and that therefore the Benefit or Gift itself has nothing of the holy Nature of the Spirit of God in it, nothing of a vital Communication of that Spirit. This Notion greatly debases that high and most exalted Kind of Influence and Operation of the Spirit, which there is in the true Witness of the Spirit. That which is called the Witness of the Spirit, Romans 8:16 is elsewhere in the New Testament called the Seal of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13 and 4:13; alluding to the Seal of Princes, annexed to the instruments, by which they advanced any of their Subjects to some high Honour and Dignity, or peculiar Privilege in the Kingdom, as a Token of their special Favour. Which is an Evidence that the Seal of the Spirit of the Prince of Princes, in sealing his Favourites, is far from being of a common Kind; and that there is no Effect of God's Spirit whatsoever, which is in its Nature more divine; nothing more holy, peculiar, inimitable and distinguishing of them as nothing is more Royal than the royal Seal; nothing more sacred, that belongs to a Prince, and more peculiarly denoting what belongs to him; it being the very End and Design of it, to be the most peculiar Stamp and Confirmation of the royal Authority, and great Note of Distinction, whereby that which proceeds from the King, or belongs to him, may be known from every Thing else. And therefore undoubtedly the Seal of the great King of Heaven and Earth enstamped on the Heart, is something high and holy in its own Nature, some excellent Communication from the infinite Fountain of divine Beauty and Glory; and not merely a making known a secret Fact by Revelation or Suggestion; which is a Sort of Influence of the Spirit of God, that the Children of the Devil have often been the Subjects of. The Seal of the Spirit is a Kind of Effect of the Spirit of God on the Heart, which natural Men, while such, are so far from a Capacity of being the Subjects of, that they can have no Manner of Notion or Idea of it; agreeable to Revelation 2:17. 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. There is all Reason to suppose that what is here spoken of, is the same Mark, Evidence, or blessed Token of special Favour, which is elsewhere called the Seal of the Spirit.

What has misled many in their Notion of that Influence of the Spirit of God we are speaking of, is the Word WITNESS, its being called the Witness of the Spirit. Hence they have taken it, not to be any Effect or Work of the Spirit upon the Heart, giving Evidence, from whence Men may argue that they are the Children of God; but an inward [...] Suggestion, as though God inwardly spoke to the Man, and [...] to him, and told him that he was his Child, by a Kind of a secret [...], or Impression: Not observing the [...] in which the Word Witness, or Testimony is often used in the New Testament; where such Terms often signify, not only a mere declaring and affecting a Thing to be true, but holding forth Evidence from whence a Thing may be argued and proved to be true. Thus, Hebrews 2. 4. God is said to hear Witness, with Signs and Wonders, and diverse [...], and Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Now these Miracles, here spoken [...] are called God's Witness, not because they are of the Nature of Affections, but Evidences and Proofs. So Acts 14. 3. [...] they speaking boldly in the Lord; which gave [...] Word of his Grace; and granted Signs and Wonders to be [...] Hands. And John 6. 36. But I have greater Witness than that of John; for the Works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same Works that I do, bear Witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. Again, Chapter 10. 25. The Works that I do in my Father's, Name, they bear Witness of me. So the Water and the Blood are said to bear Witness, 1 John 5. 8. not that they spoke or asserted any thing, but they were Proofs and Evidences. So God's Works of Providence, in the Rain and fruitful Seasons, are spoken of as Witnesses of God's Being and Goodness, that is They were Evidences of these Things. And when the Scripture speaks of the Seal of the Spirit, it is an Expression which properly denotes, not an immediate Voice or Suggestion, but some Work or Effect of the Spirit, that is left as a divine Mark upon the Soul, to be an Evidence, by which God's Children might be known. The Seals of Princes were the distinguishing Marks of Princes: And thus God's Seal is spoken of as God's Mark. Revelation 7. 3. Hurt not the Earth, neither the Sea, or the Trees, 'till we have sealed the Servants of our God in their Foreheads; together with Ezekiel 9. 4. Set a Mark upon the Foreheads of the Men that [...] and [...] for all the [...] that are done in the [...] thereof. When God [...] his Seal on a Man's Heart by his Spirit, there is some holy Stamp, some Image impressed and left upon the Heart by the Spirit, as by the Seal upon the Wax. And this holy Stamp, or impressed Image, exhibiting clear Evidence to the Conscience, that the Subject of it is the Child of God, is the very Thing which in Scripture is called the Seal of the Spirit, and the Witness, or Evidence of the Spirit. And this Image instamped by the Spirit on God's Children's Hearts, is his own Image: That is the Evidence by which they are known to be God's Children, that they have the Image of their Father stamped upon their Hearts by the Spirit of Adoption. Seals anciently had engraven on them two Things, namely The Image and the Name of the Person whose Seal it was. Therefore when Christ says to his Spouse, Canticles 8. [...]. Set me as a Seal upon thine Heart, as a Seal upon thine [...]; it is as much as to say, Let my Name and Image remain impressed there. The Seals of Princes were wont to be it their Image; so that what they set their Seal and royal Mark upon, had their Image left [...] it. It was the Manner of Princes of old to have their Image engraven on their Jewels and precious Stones; and the Image of [...] engraven on a precious Stone, was used as the Seal of the Roman Emperors, in Christ's and the Apostles Times. And the Saints are the Jewels of Jesus Christ, the great Potentate, who has the Possession of the Empire of the Universe: And these Jewels have his Image enstamped upon them, by his royal Signet, which is the Holy Spirit. And this is undoubtedly what the Scripture means by the Seal of the Spirit; especially when it is enstamped in so fair and clear a Manner, as to be plain to the Eye of Conscience; which is what the Scripture calls [...] Spirit. This is, truly an Effect that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. This is, in itself, of a holy Nature, being a Communication of the divine Nature and Beauty. That Kind of Influence of the Spirit which gives and leaves this Stamp upon the Heart, is such that no natural Man can be the Subject of any Thing of the like Nature with it. This is the highest Sort of Witness of the Spirit, which it is possible the Soul should be the Subject of: if there were any such Thing as a Witness of the Spirit by immediate Suggestion or Revelation, this would be vastly more noble and excellent, and as much above it as the Heaven is above the Earth. This the Devil cannot imitate: As to an inward Suggestion of the Spirit of God, by a Kind of secret Voice speaking, and immediately asserting and revealing a Fact, he can do that which is a thousand Times so like to this, as he can to that holy and divine Effect, or Work of the Spirit of God, which has been now spoken of.

Another Thing which is a full Proof that the Seal of the Spirit is no Revelation of any Fact by immediate Suggestion, but is Grace itself in the Soul, is that the Seal of the Spirit is called the Earnest of the Spirit, in the Scripture. It is very plain, that the Seal of the Spirit is the same Thing with the Earnest of the Spirit, by 2 Corinthians 1. 22. Who hath also sealed Us, and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts. And Ephesians 1. 13, 14. In whom, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise; which is the Earnest of our Inheritance, until the Redemption of the purchased Possession, unto the Praise of his Glory. Now the Earnest is Part of the Money agreed for, given in Hand, as a Token of the Whole, to be paid in due Time; a Part of the promised Inheritance, granted now, in Token of full Possession of the Whole hereafter. But surely that Kind of Communication of the Spirit of God, which is of the Nature of eternal Glory, is the highest and most excellent Kind of Communication, something that is in its own Nature spiritual, holy and divine, and far from any Thing that is common; and therefore high above any Thing of the [...] of Inspiration, or Revelation of hidden Facts by Suggestion [...] Spirit of God, which many natural Men have had. What is the Earnest and Beginning of Glory, but Grace itself, especially in the more lively and clear Exercises of it? It is not Prophecy, nor Tongues, nor Knowledge, but that more excellent divine Thing, Charity that never faileth, which is a Prelibation and Beginning of the Light, Sweetness, and Blessedness of Heaven, that World of Love or Charity. It is Grace that is the Seed of Glory, and Dawning of Glory in the Heart, and therefore it is Grace that is the Earnest of the future Inheritance. What is it that is the Beginning or Earnest of eternal Life in the Soul, but spiritual Life? And what is that but Grace? The Inheritance that Christ has purchased for the Elect, is the Spirit of God; not in any extraordinary Gifts, but in his vital Indwelling in the Heart, exerting and communicating himself there, in his own proper, holy or divine Nature: And this is the Sum total of the Inheritance that Christ purchased for the Elect. For so are Things constituted in the Affair of our Redemption, that the Father provides the Savior, or Purchaser, and the Purchase is made of Him; and the Son is the Purchaser and the Price; and the Holy Spirit is the great Blessing or Inheritance purchased, as is intimated Galatians 3. 13. 14. and hence the Spirit is often spoken of as the Sum of the Blessings promised in the Gospel, Luke 24. 49. Acts 1. 4. and Chapter 2. 38, 39. Galatians 3. 14. Ephesians 1. 13. This Inheritance was the grand Legacy which Christ left his Disciples and Church, in his last Will and Testament; John Chapter 14, and 15, and 16. This is the Sum of the Blessings of eternal Life, which shall be given in Heaven. (Compare John 7. 37, 38, 39. and John 4. 14. with Revelation 21. 6. and 22. 1, 17.) It is through the vital Communications and Indwelling of the Spirit, that the Saints have all their Light, Life, Holiness, Beauty and Joy in Heaven: And it is through the vital Communications and Indwelling of the same Spirit, that the Saints have all Light, Life, Holiness, Beauty and Comfort on Earth; but only communicated in less Measure. And this vital Indwelling of the Spirit in the Saints, in this less Measure and small Beginning, is the Earnest of the Spirit, the Earnest of the future Inheritance, and the first Fruits of the Spirit, as the Apostle calls it, Romans 8. 22. where, by the first Fruits of the Spirit, the Apostle undoubtedly means the same vital gracious Principle, that he speaks of in all the preceding Part of the Chapter, which he calls Spirit, and sets in Opposition to Flesh or Corruption. Therefore this Earnest of the Spirit, and first Fruits of the Spirit, which has been shown to be the same with the Seal of the Spirit, is the vital, gracious, sanctifying Communication and Influence of the Spirit, and not any immediate Suggestion or Revelation of Facts by the Spirit.

And indeed the Apostle, when in that Romans 8. 16. he speaks of the Spirit's bearing Witness with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God, does sufficiently explain himself, if his Words were but attended to. What is here expressed, is connected with the two preceding Verses, as resulting from what the Apostle had said there, as every Reader may see. The three Verses together are thus, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God: For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father: The Spirit itself beareth Witness with our Spirits, that we are the Children of God. Here, what the Apostle says, if we take it together, plainly shows, that what he has Respect to, when he speaks of the Spirit's giving us Witness or Evidence that we are God's Children; is his dwelling in us, and leading us, as a Spirit of Adoption, or Spirit of a Child, disposing us to behave towards God as to a Father. This is the Witness or Evidence the Apostle speaks of, that we are Children, that we have the Spirit of Children, or Spirit of Adoption. And what is that, but the Spirit of Love? There are two Kinds of Spirits the Apostle speaks of, the Spirit of a Slave, or the Spirit of Bondage, that is Fear; and the Spirit of a Child, or Spirit of Adoption, and that is Love. The Apostle says, we have not received the Spirit of Bondage, or of Slaves, which is a Spirit of Fear; but we have received the more ingenuous noble Spirit of Children, a Spirit of Love, which naturally disposes us to go to God, as Children to a Father, and behave towards God as Children. And this is the Evidence or Witness which the Spirit of God gives us that we are Children. This is the plain Sense of the Apostle: And so undoubtedly the Apostle here is speaking of the very same Way of casting out Doubting, and Fear, and the Spirit of Bondage, which the Apostle John speaks of, 1 John 4. 18. namely By the prevailing of Love, that is the Spirit of a Child. The Spirit of Bondage works by Fear, the Slave fears the Rod; but Love cries Abba Father; it disposes us to go to God, and behave ourselves towards God as Children; and it gives us clear Evidence of our Union to God as his Children, and so casts out Fear. So that it appears that the Witness of the Spirit the Apostle speaks of, is far from being any Whisper, or immediate Suggestion or Revelation; but that gracious holy Effect of the Spirit of God in the Hearts of the Saints, the Disposition and Temper of Children, appearing in sweet child-like Love to God, which casts out Fear, or a Spirit of a Slave.

And the same Thing is evident from all the Context. It is plain the Apostle speaks of the Spirit, over and over again, as dwelling in the Hearts of the Saints, as a gracious Principle, set in Opposition to the Flesh or Corruption. And so he does in the Words that immediately introduce this Passage we are upon, Verse 13. For if you live after the Flesh, you shall die; but if you, through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Flesh, you shall live.

Indeed it is past Doubt with me, that the Apostle has a more special Respect to the Spirit of Grace, or the Spirit of Love, or Spirit of a Child, in its more lively Actings: For it is perfect Love, or strong Love only, which so witnesses or evidences that we are Children, as to cast out Fear, and wholly deliver from the Spirit of Bondage. The strong and lively Exercises of a Spirit of child-like, evangelical, humble Love to God, give clear Evidence of the Soul's Relation to God, as his Child; which does very greatly and directly satisfy the Soul. And though it be far from being true, that the Soul in this Case, judges only by an immediate Witness, without any Sign or Evidence; for it judges and is assured by the greatest Sign and clearest Evidence; yet in this Case, the Saint stands in no need of multiplied Signs, or any long Reasoning upon them. And though the Sight of his relative Union with God, and his being in his Favour, is not without a Medium, because he sees it by that Medium, namely his Love; yet his Sight of the Union of his Heart to God is immediate: Love, the Bond of Union, is seen intuitively: The Saint sees and feels plainly the Union between his Soul and God; it is so strong and lively, that he cannot doubt of it. And hence he is assured that he is a Child. How can he doubt whether he stands in a child-like Relation to God, when he plainly sees a child-like Union between God and his Soul, and hence does boldly, and as it were, naturally and necessarily cry, Abba Father?

And whereas the Apostle says, the Spirit bears Witness with our Spirits; by our Spirit here, is meant our Conscience, which is called the Spirit of Man; Proverbs 20:27. The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord, searching all the inward Parts of the Belly. We elsewhere read of the Witness of this Spirit of ours; 2 Corinthians 1:12. For our Rejoicing is this, the Testimony of our Conscience. And 1 John 3:19, 20, 21. And hereby do we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our Hearts before him. For if our Heart condemn us, God is greater than our Heart, and knoweth all Things. Beloved if our Heart condemn us not, then have we Confidence towards God. When the Apostle Paul speaks of the Spirit of God bearing Witness with our Spirit, he is not to be understood of two Spirits, that are two separate, collateral, independent Witnesses; but it is by one, that we receive the Witness of the other: The Spirit of God gives the Evidence, by infusing and shedding abroad the Love of God, the Spirit of a Child, in the Heart, and our Spirit, or our Conscience, receives and declares this Evidence for our Rejoicing.

Many have been the Mischiefs that have arisen from that false and delusive Notion of the Witness of the Spirit, that it is a Kind of inward Voice, Suggestion, or Declaration from God to a Man, that he is beloved of him, and pardoned, elected, or the like, sometimes with, and sometimes without a Text of Scripture; and many have been the false, and vain, (though very high) Affections that have arisen from hence. And it is to be feared that Multitudes of Souls have been eternally undone by it. I have therefore insisted the longer on this Head.

But I proceed now to a second Characteristic of gracious Affections.

2. The first objective Ground of gracious Affections, is the transcendently excellent and amiable Nature of divine Things, as they are in themselves; and not any conceived Relation they bear to Self, or Self-Interest.

I say that the supremely excellent Nature of divine Things, is the first, or primary and original objective Foundation of the spiritual Affections of true Saints; for I do not suppose that all Relation which divine Things bear to themselves, and their own particular Interest, are wholly excluded from all Influence in their gracious Affections. For this may have, and indeed has, a secondary and consequential Influence in those Affections that are truly holy and spiritual; as I shall show how by and by.

It was before observed, that the Affection of Love is as it were the Fountain of all Affection; and particularly, that christian Love is the Fountain of all gracious Affections: Now the divine Excellency and Glory of God, and Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Works of God, and the Ways of God, etc. is the primary Reason, why a true Saint loves these Things; and not any supposed Interest that he has in them, or any conceived Benefit that he has received from them, or shall receive from them, or any such imagined Relation which they bear to his Interest, that Self-Love can properly be said to be the first Foundation of his Love to these Things.

Some say that all Love arises from Self Love; and that it is impossible in the Nature of Things, for any Man to have any Love to God, or any other Being, but that Love to himself must be the Foundation of it. But I humbly suppose it is for Want of Consideration, that they say so. They argue, that whoever loves God, and so desires his Glory, or the Enjoyment of him, he desires these Things as his own Happiness; the Glory of God, and the beholding and enjoying his Perfections, are considered as Things agreeable to him, tending to make him happy; he places his Happiness in them, and desires them as Things, which (if they were obtained) would be delightful to him, or would fill him with Delight and Joy, and so make him happy. And so, they say, it is from Self-love, or a Desire of his own Happiness, that he desires God should be glorified, and desires to behold and enjoy his glorious Perfections. But then they ought to consider a little further, and enquire how the Man came to place his Happiness in God's being glorified, and in contemplating and enjoying God's Perfections. There is no Doubt, but that after God's Glory, and the beholding his Perfections, are become so agreeable to him, that he places his highest Happiness in these Things, then he will desire them, as he desires his own Happiness. But how came these Things to be so agreeable to him, that he esteems it his highest Happiness to glorify God, etc.? Is not this the Fruit of Love? A Man must first love God, or have his Heart united to him, before he will esteem God's Good his own, and before he will desire the glorifying and enjoying of God, as his Happiness. It is not strong arguing, that because after a Man has his Heart united to God in Love, as a Fruit of this, he desires his Glory and Enjoyment as his own Happiness, that therefore a Desire of this Happiness of his own, must needs be the Cause and Foundation of his Love: Unless it be strong arguing, that because a Father begat a Son, that therefore his Son certainly begat him. If after a Man loves God, and has his Heart so united to him, as to look upon God as his chief Good, and on God's Good as his own, it will be a Consequence and Fruit of this, that even Self-love, or love to his own Happiness, will cause him to desire the glorifying and enjoying of God; it will not thence follow, that this very Exercise of Self-love, went before his Love to God, and that his Love to God was a Consequence and Fruit of that. Something else, entirely distinct from Self-love might be the Cause of this, namely A Change made in the Views of his Mind, and Relish of his Heart; whereby he apprehends a Beauty, Glory, and supreme Good, in God's Nature, as it is in itself. This may be the Thing that first draws his Heart to him, and causes his Heart to be united to him, prior to all Considerations of his own Interest or Happiness, although after this, and as a Fruit of this, he necessarily seeks his Interest and Happiness in God.

There is such a Thing, as a Kind of Love or Affection, that a Man may have towards Persons or Things, which does properly arise from Self-love; a preconceived Relation to himself, or some Respect already manifested by another to him, or some Benefit already received or depended on, is truly the first Foundation of his Love, and what his Affection does wholly arise from; and is what precedes any Relish of, or Delight in the Nature and Qualities inherent in the Being beloved, as beautiful and amiable, When the first Thing that draws a Man's Benevolence to another, is the beholding those Qualifications and Properties in him, which appear to him lovely in themselves; and the Subject of them, on this Account, worthy of Esteem and Goodwill, Love arises in a very different Manner, than when it first arises from some Gift bestowed by another, or depended on from him, as a Judge loves and favours a Man that has bribed him; or from the Relation he supposes another has to him, as a Man who loves another because he looks upon him as his Child. When Love to another arises thus, it does truly and properly arise from Self-love.

That Kind of Affection to God or Jesus Christ, which does thus properly arise from Self-love, cannot be a truly gracious and spiritual Love; as appears from what has been said already: For Self-love is a Principle entirely natural, and as much in the Hearts of Devils as Angels; and therefore surely nothing that is the mere Result of it, can be supernatural and divine, in the Manner before described. Christ plainly speaks of this Kind of Love, as what is nothing beyond the Love of wicked Men, Luke 6:32. If you love them that love you, what thank have you? For Sinners also love those that love them. And the Devil himself knew that that Kind of Respect to God which was so mercenary, as to be only for Benefits received or depended on, (which is all one) is worthless in the Sight of God; otherwise he never would have made use of such a Slander before God, against Job, as in Job 1:9, 10. Does Job serve God for naught? Have you not made a Hedge about him, and about his House. etc.—? Nor would God ever have implicitly allowed the Objection to have been good, in case the Accusation had been true, by allowing that that Matter should be tried, and that Job should be so dealt with, that it might appear in the Event, whether Job's Respect to God was thus mercenary or no, and by putting the Proof of the Sincerity and Goodness of his Respect, upon that Issue.

It is unreasonable to think otherwise, than that the first Foundation of a true Love to God, is that whereby he is in himself lovely, or worthy to be loved, or the supreme Loveliness of his Nature. This is certainly what makes him chiefly amiable. What chiefly makes a Man, or any Creature lovely, is his Excellency; and so what chiefly renders God lovely, and must undoubtedly be the chief Ground of true Love, is his Excellency. God's Nature, or the Divinity, is infinitely excellent; yea it is infinite Beauty, Brightness, and Glory itself. But how can that be true Love of this excellent and lovely Nature, which is not built on the Foundation of its true Loveliness? How can that be true Love of Beauty and Brightness, which is not for Beauty and Brightness sake? How can that be a true Prizing of that which is in itself infinitely worthy and precious, which is not for the Sake of its Worthiness and Preciousness? This infinite Excellency of the divine Nature, as it is in itself, is the true Ground of all that is good in God in any Respect; but how can a Man truly and rightly love God, without loving him for that Excellency in him, which is the Foundation of all that is in any Manner of Respect good or desirable in him? They whose Affection to God is founded first on his Profitableness to them, their Affection begins at the wrong End; they regard God only for the utmost Limit of the Stream of divine Good, where it touches them, and reaches their Interest; and have no Respect to that infinite Glory of God's Nature, which is the original Good, and the true Fountain of all Good, the first Fountain of all Loveliness of every Kind, and so the first Foundation of all true Love.

A natural Principle of Self-love may be the Foundation of great Affections towards God and Christ, without seeing any Thing of the Beauty & Glory of the divine Nature. There is a certain Gratitude that is a mere natural Thing. Gratitude is one of the natural Affections of the Soul of Man, as well as Anger; and there is a Gratitude that arises from Self-love, very much in the same Manner that Anger does. Anger in Men is an Affection excited against another, or in Opposition to another, for something in him that crosses Self-love: Gratitude is an Affection one has towards another, for loving him, or gratifying him, or for something in him that suits Self-love. And there may be a Kind of Gratitude, without any true or proper Love; as there may be Anger without any proper Hatred, as in Parents towards their Children, that they may be angry with, and yet at the same Time have a strong habitual Love to them. This Gratitude is the Principle which is in exercise in wicked Men, in that which Christ declares concerning them, in the sixth of Luke, where he says, Sinners love those that love them; and which he declares concerning even the Publicans, who were some of the most carnal and profligate Sort of Men, Matthew 5:46. This is the very Principle that is wrought upon by Bribery, in unjust Judges; and it is a Principle that even the brute Beasts do exercise: A Dog will love his Master that is kind to him. And we see in innumerable Instances, that mere Nature is sufficient to excite Gratitude in Men, or to affect their Hearts with Thankfulness to others for Kindnesses received; and sometimes towards them, whom at the same Time they have an habitual Enmity against. Thus Saul was once and again greatly affected, and even dissolved with Gratitude towards David, for sparing his Life; and yet remained an habitual Enemy to him. And as Men, from mere Nature, may be thus affected towards Men; so they may towards God. There is nothing hinders, but that the same Self-love may work after the same Manner towards God, as towards Men. And we have manifest Instances of it in Scripture; as indeed the Children of Israel, who sang God's Praises at the Red Sea, but soon forgot God's Works; and in Naaman the Syrian, who was greatly affected with the miraculous Cure of his Leprosy, so as to have his Heart engaged thenceforward to worship the God that had healed him, and him only, excepting when it would expose him to be ruined in his temporal Interest. So was Nebuchadnezzer greatly affected with God's Goodness to him, in restoring him to his Reason and Kingdom, after his dwelling with the Beasts.

Gratitude being thus a natural Principle, it renders Ingratitude so much the more vile and heinous; because it shows a dreadful Prevalence of Wickedness when it even overbears, and suppresses the better Principles of human Nature: As it is mentioned as an Evidence of the high Degree of the Wickedness of many of the Heathen, that they were without natural Affection, Romans 2:31. But that the Want of Gratitude, or natural Affection, are Evidences of an high Degree of Vice, is no Argument that all Gratitude and natural Affection, has the Nature of Virtue, or Saving-Grace.

Self-love, through the Exercise of a mere natural Gratitude, may be the Foundation of a Sort of Love to God many Ways. A Kind of Love may arise from a false Notion of God, that Men have been educated in, or have some Way imbibed; as though he were only Goodness and Mercy, and no revenging Justice; or as though the Exercises of his Goodness were necessary, and not free and sovereign; or as though his Goodness were dependent on what is in them, and as it were constrained by them. Men on such Grounds as these, may love a God of their own forming in their Imaginations, when they are far from loving such a God as reigns in Heaven.

Again, Self-love may be the Foundation of an Affection in Men towards God, through a great Insensibility of their State with Regard to God, and for Want of Conviction of Conscience to make them sensible how dreadfully they have provoked God to Anger; they have no Sense of the Heinousness of Sin, as against God, and of the infinite and terrible Opposition of the holy Nature of God against it: And so having formed in their Minds such a God as suits them, and thinking God to be such an one as themselves, who favours and agrees with them, they may like him very well, and feel a Sort of Love to him, when they are far from loving the true God. And Men's Affections may be much moved towards God, from Self-love, by some remarkable outward Benefits received from God; as it was with Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Children of Israel at the Red Sea.

Again, a very high Affection towards God, may, and often does arise in Men, from an Opinion of the Favour and Love of God to them, as the first Foundation of their Love to him. After Awakenings and Distress through Fears of Hell, they may suddenly get a Notion, through some Impression on their Imagination, or immediate Suggestion, with or without Texts of Scripture, or by some other Means, that God loves them, and has forgiven their Sins, and made them his Children; and this is the first Thing that causes their Affections to flow towards God and Jesus Christ: And then after this, and upon this Foundation, many Things in God may appear lovely to them, and Christ may seem excellent. And if such Persons are asked, whether God appears lovely and amiable in himself? They would perhaps readily answer, Yes; when indeed, if the Matter be strictly examined, this good Opinion of God was purchased and paid for before ever they afforded it, in the distinguishing and infinite Benefits they imagined they received from God; and they allow God to be lovely in himself, no otherwise, than that he has forgiven them, and accepted them, and loves them above most in the World, and has engaged to improve all his infinite Power and Wisdom in preferring, dignifying and exalting them, and will do for them just as they would have him. When once they are firm in this Apprehension, it is easy to own God and Christ to be lovely and glorious, and to admire and extol them. It is easy for them to own Christ to be a lovely Person, and the best in the World, when they are first firm in it, that he, though Lord of the Universe, is captivated with Love to them, and has his Heart swallowed up in them, and prizes them far beyond most of their Neighbours, and loved them from Eternity, and died for them, and will make them reign in eternal Glory with him in Heaven. When this is the Case with carnal Men, their very Lusts will make him seem lovely: Pride itself will prejudice them in Favour of that which they call Christ: Selfish proud Man naturally calls that lovely that greatly contributes to his Interest, and gratifies his Ambition.

And as this Sort of Persons begin, so they go on. Their Affections are raised from Time to Time, primarily on this Foundation of Self-love and a Conceit of God's Love to them. Many have a false Notion of Communion with God, as though it were carried on by Impulses, and Whispers, and external Representations, immediately made to their Imagination. These Things they often have; which they take to be Manifestations of God's great Love to them, and Evidences of their high Exaltation above others of Mankind; and so their Affections are often renewedly set a going.

Whereas the Exercises of true and holy Love in the Saints arise in another Way. They do not first see that God loves them, and then see that he is lovely; but they first see that God is lovely, and that Christ is excellent and glorious, and their Hearts are first captivated with this View, and the Exercises of their Love are wont from Time to Time to begin here, and to arise primarily from these Views; and then, consequentially, they see God's Love; and great Favour to them. The Saint's Affections begin with God; and Self-Love has a Hand in these Affections consequentially, and secondarily only. On the contrary, those false Affections begin with Self, and an Acknowledgement of an Excellency in God, and an Affectedness with it, is only consequential and dependent. In the true Saint God is the lowest Foundation; the Love of the Excellency of his Nature is the Foundation of all the Affections which come afterwards, wherein Self-Love is concerned as an Handmaid: On the contrary, the Hypocrite lays himself at the Bottom of all, as the first Foundation, and lays on God as the Superstructure; and even his Acknowledgement of God's Glory itself, depends on his Regard to his private Interest.

Self-Love may not only influence Men, so as to cause them to be affected with God's Kindness to them separately; but also with God's Kindness to them, as Parts of a Community: As a natural Principle of Self-Love, without any other Principle, may be sufficient to make a Man concerned for the Interest of the Nation to which he belongs: As for Instance, in the present War, Self-Love may make natural Men rejoice at the Successes of our Nation, and sorry for their Disadvantages, they being concerned as Members of the Body. So the same natural Principles may extend further, and even to the World of Mankind, and might be affected with the Benefits the Inhabitants of the Earth have, beyond those of the Inhabitants of other Planets; if we knew that such there were, and knew how it was with them. So this Principle may cause Men to be affected with the Benefits that Mankind have received beyond the fallen Angels. And hence Men, from this Principle, may be much affected with the wonderful Goodness of God to Mankind, his great Goodness in giving his Son to die for fallen Man, and the marvellous Love of Christ in suffering such great Things for us, and with the great Glory they hear God has provided in Heaven for us; looking on themselves as Persons concerned and interested, as being some of this Species of Creatures, so highly favoured: The same Principle of natural Gratitude may influence Men here, as in the Case of personal Benefits.

But these Things that I have said do by no Means imply that all Gratitude to God is a mere natural Thing, and that there is no such Thing as a spiritual Gratitude, which is a holy and divine Affection: They imply no more, than that there is a Gratitude which is merely natural, and that when Persons have Affections towards God only or primarily for Benefits received, their Affection is only the Exercise of a natural Gratitude. There is doubtless such a Thing as a gracious Gratitude, which does greatly differ from all that Gratitude which natural Men experience. It differs in the following Respects:

1. True Gratitude or Thankfulness to God for his Kindness to us, arises from a Foundation laid before, of Love to God for what he is in himself; whereas a natural Gratitude has no such antecedent Foundation. The gracious Stirrings of grateful Affection to God, for Kindness received, always are from a Stock of Love already in the Heart, established in the first Place on other Grounds, namely God's own Excellency; and hence the Affections are disposed to flow out, on Occasions of God's Kindness. The Saint having seen the Glory of God, and his Heart overcome by it, and captivated into a supreme Love to him on that Account, his Heart hereby becomes tender, and easily affected with Kindnesses received. If a Man has no Love to another, yet Gratitude may be moved by some extraordinary Kindness; as in Saul towards David: But this is not the same Kind of Thing, as a Man's Gratitude to a dear Friend, that his Heart was before possessed with a high Esteem of, and Love to; whose Heart by this Means became tender towards him, and more easily affected with Gratitude, and affected in another Manner. Self-Love is not excluded from a gracious Gratitude; the Saints love God for his Kindness to them, Psalm 116:1. I love the Lord, because he hath heard the Voice of my Supplication. But something else is included; and another Love prepares the Way, and lays the Foundation, for these grateful Affections.

Two. In a gracious Gratitude, Men are affected with the Attribute of God's Goodness and free Grace, not only as they are concerned in it, or as it affects their Interest, but as a Part of the Glory and Beauty of God's Nature. That wonderful and unparalleled Grace of God, which is manifested in the Work of Redemption, and shines forth in the Face of Jesus Christ, is infinitely glorious in itself, and appears so to the Angels; it is a great Part of the moral Perfection and Beauty of God's Nature: This would be glorious, whether it were exercised towards us or no; and the Saint who exercises a gracious Thankfulness for it, sees it to be so, and delights in it as such; though his Concern in it serves the more to engage his Mind, and raise the Attention and Affection; and Self-Love here assists as an Handmaid, being subservient to higher Principles, to lead forth the Mind to the View and Contemplation, and engage and fix the Attention, and heighten the Joy and Love: God's Kindness to them is a Glass that God sets before them, wherein to behold the Beauty of the Attribute of God's Goodness: The Exercises and Displays of this Attribute, by this Means, are brought near to them, and set right before them. So that in a holy Thankfulness to God, the Concern our Interest has in God's Goodness, is not the first Foundation of our being affected with it; that was laid in the Heart before, in that Stock of Love which was to God, for his Excellency in himself, that makes the Heart tender, and susceptible of such Impressions from his Goodness to us: Nor is our own Interest, or the Benefits we have received, the only, or the chief objective Ground of the present Exercises of the Affection; but God's Goodness, as Part of the Beauty of his Nature; although the Manifestations of that lovely Attribute, set immediately before our Eyes, in the Exercises of it for us, be the special Occasion of the Mind's Attention to that Beauty, at that Time, and serves to fix the Attention, and heighten the Affection.

Some may perhaps be ready to object against the whole that has been said, that Text, First John 4:19, We love him, because he first loved us, as though this implied that God's Love to the true Saints were the first Foundation of their Love to him.

In answer to this I would observe, that the Apostle's Drift in these Words, is to magnify the Love of God to us from hence, that he loved us, while we had no Love to him; as will be manifest to any one who compares this Verse, and the two following, with the ninth, tenth and eleventh Verses. And that God loved us, when we had no Love to him, the Apostle proves by this Argument, that God's Love to the Elect, is the Ground of their Love to him. And that it is three Ways. One. The Saints Love to God, is the Fruit of God's Love to them; as it is the Gift of that Love. God gave them a Spirit of Love to him, because he loved them from Eternity. And in this Respect God's Love to his Elect is the first Foundation of their Love to him, as it is the Foundation of their Regeneration, and the Whole of their Redemption. Two. The Exercises and Discoveries that God has made of his wonderful Love to sinful Men, by Jesus Christ, in the Work of Redemption, is one of the chief Manifestations, which God has made of the Glory of his moral Perfection, to both Angels and Men; and so is one main objective Ground of the Love of Both to God; in a good Consistency with what was said before. Three. God's Love to a particular elect Person, discovered by his Conversion, is a great Manifestation of God's moral Perfection and Glory to him, and a proper Occasion of the Excitation of the Love of holy Gratitude, agreeable to what was before said. And that the Saints do in these Respects love God, because he first loved them, fully answers the Design of the Apostle's Argument in that Place. So that no good Argument can be drawn from hence, against a spiritual and gracious Love in the Saints, arising primarily from the Excellency of divine Things, as they are in themselves, and not from any conceived Relation they bear to their Interest.

And as it is with the Love of the Saints, so it is with their Joy, and spiritual Delight and Pleasure: the first Foundation of it, is not any Consideration or Conception of their Interest in divine Things; but it primarily consists in the sweet Entertainment their Minds have in the View or Contemplation of the divine and holy Beauty of these Things, as they are in themselves. And this is indeed the very main Difference between the Joy of the Hypocrite, and the Joy of the true Saint. The former rejoices in himself; Self is the first Foundation of his Joy: The latter rejoices in God. The Hypocrite has his Mind pleased and delighted, in the first Place, with his own Privilege, and the Happiness which he supposes he has attained, or shall attain. True Saints have their Minds, in the first Place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet Ideas of the glorious and amiable Nature of the Things of God. And this is the Spring of all their Delights, and the Cream of all their Pleasures; it is the Joy of their Joy. This sweet and ravishing Entertainment, they have in the View of the beautiful and delightful Nature of divine Things, is the Foundation of the Joy that they have afterwards, in the Consideration of their being theirs. But the Dependence of the Affections of Hypocrites is in a contrary Order: They first rejoice, and are elevated with it, that they are made so much of by God; and then on that Ground, he seems in a Sort, lovely to them.

The first Foundation of the Delight a true Saint has in God, is his own Perfection; and the first Foundation of the Delight he has in Christ, is his own Beauty; he appears in himself the Chief among Ten Thousand, and altogether lovely: the Way of Salvation by Christ, is a delightful Way to him, for the sweet and admirable Manifestations of the divine Perfections in it; the holy Doctrines of the Gospel, by which God is exalted and Man abased, Holiness honored and promoted, and Sin greatly disgraced and discouraged, and free and sovereign Love manifested; are glorious Doctrines in his Eyes, and sweet to his Taste, prior to any Conception of his Interest in these Things. Indeed the Saints rejoice in their Interest in God, and that Christ is theirs; and so they have great Reason; But this is not the first Spring of their Joy: They first rejoice in God as glorious and excellent in himself, and then secondarily rejoice in it, that so glorious a God is theirs: They first have their Hearts filled with Sweetness, from the View of Christ's Excellency, and the Excellency of his Grace, and the Beauty of the Way of Salvation by him; and then they have a secondary Joy, in that so excellent a Savior, and such excellent Grace is theirs. But that which is the true Saint's Superstructure, is the Hypocrite's Foundation. When they hear of the wonderful Things of the Gospel, of God's great Love in sending his Son, of Christ's dying Love to Sinners, and the great Things Christ has purchased, and promised to the Saints, and hear these Things lively and eloquently set forth; they may hear with a great deal of Pleasure, and be lifted up with what they hear: but if their Joy be examined, it will be found to have no other Foundation than this, that they look upon these Things as theirs, all this exalts them, they love to hear of the great Love of Christ so vastly distinguishing some from others; for Self-love, and even Pride itself, makes them affect great Distinction from others: No Wonder, in this confident Opinion of their own good Estate, that they feel well under such Doctrine, and are pleased in the highest Degree, in hearing how much God and Christ makes of them. So that their Joy is really a Joy in themselves, and not in God.

And because the Joy of Hypocrites is in themselves, hence it comes to pass, that in their Rejoicings and Elevations, they are wont to keep their Eye upon themselves; having received what they call spiritual Discoveries or Experiences, their Minds are taken up about them, admiring their own Experiences: And what they are principally taken and elevated with, is not the Glory of God, or Beauty of Christ, but the Beauty of their Experiences. They keep thinking with themselves, What a good Experience is this! What a great Discovery is this! What wonderful Things have I met with! And so they put their Experiences in the Place of Christ, and his Beauty and Fullness; and instead of rejoicing in Christ Jesus, they rejoice in their admirable Experiences: instead of feeding and feasting their Souls in the View of what is without them, namely the innate, sweet, refreshing Amiableness of the Things exhibited in the Gospel, their Eyes are off from these Things, or at least they view them as it were sideways; but the Object that fixes their Contemplation, is their Experience; and they are feeding their Souls, and feasting a selfish Principle with a View of their Discoveries: They take more Comfort in their Discoveries than in Christ discovered, which is the true Notion of living upon Experiences and Frames; and not a using Experiences as the Signs, on which they rely for Evidence of their good Estate, which some call living on Experiences: Though it be very observable, that some of them who do so, are most notorious for living upon Experiences, according to the true Notion of it.

The Affections of Hypocrites are very often after this Manner, they are first, much affected with some Impression on their Imagination, or some Impulse, which they take to be an immediate Suggestion, or Testimony from God, of his Love and their Happiness, and high Privilege in some Respect, either with or without a Text of Scripture; they are mightily taken with this, as a great Discovery; and hence arise high Affections. And when their Affections are raised, then they view those high Affections, and call them great and wonderful Experiences; and they have a Notion that God is greatly pleased with those Affections; and this affects them more; and so they are affected with their Affections. And thus their Affections rise higher and higher, until they sometimes are perfectly swallowed up: And Self-conceit, and a fierce Zeal rises withal; and all is built like a Castle in the Air, on no other Foundation but Imagination, Self-love and Pride.

And as the Thoughts of this Sort of Persons are, so is their Talk; for out of the Abundance of their Heart, their Mouth speaks. As in their high Affections, they keep their Eye upon the Beauty of their Experiences, and Greatness of their Attainments; so they are great Talkers about themselves. The true Saint, when under great spiritual Affections, from the Fullness of his Heart, is ready to be speaking much of God, and his glorious Perfections and Works, and of the Beauty and Amiableness of Christ, and the glorious Things of the Gospel; but Hypocrites, in their high Affections, talk more of the Discovery, than they do of the Thing discovered; they are full of Talk about the great Things they have met with, the wonderful Discoveries they have had, how sure they are of the Love of God to them, how safe their Condition is, and how they know they shall go to Heaven, et cetera.

A true Saint, when in the Enjoyment of true Discoveries of the sweet Glory of God and Christ, has his Mind too much captivated and engaged by what he views without himself, to stand at that Time to view himself, and his own Attainments: it would be a Diversion and Loss which he could not bear, to take his Eye off from the ravishing Object of his Contemplation, to survey his own Experience, and to spend Time in thinking with himself, what a high Attainment this is, and what a good Story they now have to tell others. Nor does the Pleasure and Sweetness of his Mind at that Time, chiefly arise from the Consideration of the Safety of his State, or any Thing he has in View of his own Qualifications, Experiences, or Circumstances; but from the divine and supreme Beauty of what is the Object of his direct View, without himself; which sweetly entertains, and strongly holds his Mind.

As the Love and Joy of Hypocrites, are all from the Source of Self-Love; so it is with their other Affections, their Sorrow for Sin, their Humiliation and Submission, their religious Desires and Zeal: Every Thing is as it were paid for beforehand, in God's highly gratifying their Self-love, and their Lusts, by making so much of them, and exalting them so highly, as Things are in their Imagination. It is easy for Nature, as corrupt as it is, under a Notion of being already some of the highest Favorites of Heaven, and having a God who does so protect them and favor them in their Sins, to love this imaginary God that suits them so well, and to extol him, and submit to him, and to be fierce and zealous for him. The high Affections of many are all built on the Supposition of their being eminent Saints. If that Opinion which they have of themselves were taken away, if they thought they were some of the lower Form of Saints, (though they should yet suppose themselves to be real Saints) their high Affections would fall to the Ground. If they only saw a little of the Sinfulness and Vileness of their own Hearts, and their Deformity, in the midst of their best Duties and their best Affections, it would knock their Affections on the Head; because their Affections are built upon Self, therefore Self-knowledge would destroy them. But as to truly gracious Affections, they are built elsewhere: they have their Foundation out of Self, in God and Jesus Christ; and therefore a Discovery of themselves, of their own Deformity, and the Meanness of their Experiences, though it will purify their Affections, yet it will not destroy them, but in some Respects sweeten and heighten them.

3. Those Affections that are truly Holy, are primarily founded on the Loveliness of the moral Excellency of divine Things. Or, (to express it otherwise) a Love to divine Things for the Beauty and Sweetness of their moral Excellency, is the first Beginning and Spring of all holy Affections.

Here, for the sake of the more illiterate Reader, I will explain what I mean by the moral Excellency of divine Things.

And it may be observed that the Word Moral is not to be understood here, according to the common and vulgar Acceptation of the Word, when Men speak of Morality, and a moral Behavior meaning an outward Conformity to the Duties of the moral Law, and especially the Duties of the second Table; or intending no more at farthest, than such seeming Virtues, as proceed from natural Principles, in Opposition to those Virtues that are more inward, spiritual, and divine; as the Honesty, Justice, Generosity, Good Nature, and public Spirit of many of the Heathen, are called moral Virtues, in Distinction from the holy Faith, Love, Humility, and Heavenly-mindedness of true Christians: I say the Word Moral is not to be understood thus in this Place.

But in order to a right understanding what is meant, it must be observed, that Divines commonly make a Distinction between moral Good and Evil, and natural Good and Evil. By moral Evil, they mean the Evil of Sin, or that Evil which is against Duty, and contrary to what is right and ought to be. By natural Evil, they do not mean that Evil which is properly opposed to Duty; but that which is contrary to mere Nature, without any Respect to a Rule of Duty. So the Evil of suffering is called natural Evil, such as Pain, and Torment, Disgrace, and the like. These Things are contrary to mere Nature, contrary to the Nature of both Bad and Good, hateful to wicked Men and Devils, as well as good Men and Angels. So likewise natural Defects are called natural Evils, as if a Child be monstrous, or a natural Fool. These are natural Evils, but are not moral Evils, because they have not properly the Nature of the Evil of Sin. On the other Hand, as by moral Evil, Divines mean the Evil of Sin, or that which is contrary to what is right; so by moral Good, they mean that which is contrary to Sin, or that Good in Beings who have Will and Choice, whereby, as voluntary Agents, they are, and act, as it becomes them to be and to act, or so as is most fit, and suitable, and lovely. By natural Good they mean that Good that is entirely of a different Kind from Holiness or Virtue, namely That which perfects or suits Nature, considering Nature abstractly from any holy or unholy Qualifications, and without any Relation to any Rule or Measure of Right and Wrong.

Thus Pleasure is a natural Good; so is Honor; so is Strength; so is speculative Knowledge, human Learning, and Policy. Thus there is a Distinction to be made between the natural Good that Men are possessed of, and their moral Good; and also between the natural and moral Good of the Angels in Heaven. The great Capacity of their Understandings, and their great Strength, and the honorable Circumstances they are in as the great Ministers of God's Kingdom, whence they are called Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers, is the natural Good which they are possessed of; but their perfect and glorious Holiness and Goodness, their pure and flaming Love to God, and to the Saints, and one another, is their moral Good. So Divines make a Distinction between the natural and moral Perfections of God. By the moral Perfections of God, they mean those Attributes which God exercises as a moral Agent, or whereby the Heart and Will of God are good, right, and infinitely becoming, and lovely; such as his Righteousness, Truth, Faithfulness, and Goodness; or, in one Word, his Holiness. By God's natural Attributes or Perfections, they mean those Attributes, wherein, according to our Way of conceiving of God, consists, not the Holiness or moral Goodness of God, but his Greatness; such as his Power, his Knowledge whereby he knows all Things, and his being eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, his Omnipresence, and his awful and terrible Majesty.

The moral Excellency of an intelligent voluntary Being, is more immediately seated in the Heart or Will of moral Agents. That intelligent Being whose Will is truly right and lovely, he is morally good or excellent.

This moral Excellency of an intelligent Being, when it is true and real, and not only external, or merely Seeming and Counterfeit, is Holiness. Therefore Holiness comprehends all the true moral Excellency of intelligent Beings. There is no other true Virtue, but real Holiness. Holiness comprehends all the true Virtue of a good Man, his Love to God, his gracious Love to Men, his Justice, his Charity, and Bowels of Mercies, his gracious Meekness and Gentleness, and all other true Christian Virtues that he has, belong to his Holiness. So the Holiness of God in the more extensive Sense of the Word, and the Sense in which the Word is commonly, if not universally used in Scripture, is the same with the moral Excellency of the divine Nature, or his Purity and Beauty as a moral Agent, comprehending all his moral Perfections, his Righteousness, Faithfulness and Goodness. As in holy Men their Charity, Christian Kindness and Mercy, belongs to their Holiness; so the Kindness and Mercy of God, belongs to his Holiness. Holiness in Man, is but the image of God's Holiness. There are not more Virtues belonging to the Image, than are in the Original. Derived Holiness has not more in it, than is in that underived Holiness, which is its Fountain. There is no more than Grace for Grace, or Grace in the Image, answerable to Grace in the Original.

As there are two Kinds of Attributes in God, according to our Way of conceiving of him, his moral Attributes, which are summed up in his Holiness, and his natural Attributes, of Strength, Knowledge, et cetera that constitute the Greatness of God; so there is a twofold Image of God in Man, his moral or spiritual Image, which is his Holiness, that is the Image of God's moral Excellency; (which Image was lost by the Fall) and God's natural Image, consisting in Men's Reason and Understanding, his natural Ability, and Dominion over the Creatures, which is the Image of God's natural Attributes.

From what has been said, it may easily be understood what I intend, when I say that a Love to divine Things for the Beauty of their moral Excellency, is the Beginning and Spring of all holy Affections. It has been already shown, under the former Head, that the first objective Ground of all holy Affections is the supreme Excellency of divine Things as they are in themselves, or in their own Nature; I now proceed further, and say more particularly, that that Kind of Excellency of the Nature of divine Things, which is the first objective Ground of all holy Affections, is their moral Excellency, or their Holiness. Holy Persons, in the Exercise of holy Affections, do love divine Things primarily for their Holiness: They love God, in the first Place, for the Beauty of his Holiness or moral Perfection, as being supremely amiable in itself. Not that the Saints, in the Exercise of gracious Affections, do love God only for his Holiness; all his Attributes are amiable and glorious in their Eyes, they delight in every divine Perfection; the Contemplation of the infinite Greatness, Power, and Knowledge, and terrible Majesty of God, is pleasant to them. But their Love to God for his Holiness is what is most fundamental and essential in their Love. Here it is that true Love to God begins. All other holy Love to divine Things flows from hence. This is the most essential and distinguishing Thing that belongs to a holy Love to God, with Regard to the Foundation of it. A Love to God for the Beauty of his moral Attributes, leads to, and necessarily causes a Delight in God for all his Attributes; for his moral Attributes cannot be without his natural Attributes: For infinite Holiness supposes infinite Wisdom, and an infinite Capacity and Greatness; and all the Attributes of God do as it were imply one another.

The true Beauty and Loveliness of all intelligent Beings does primarily and most essentially consist in their moral Excellency or Holiness. Herein consists the Loveliness of the Angels, without which, with all their natural Perfections, their Strength, and their Knowledge, they would have no more Loveliness than Devils. It is moral Excellency alone, that is in itself, and on its own Account, the Excellency of intelligent Beings. It is this that gives Beauty to, or rather is the Beauty of their natural Perfections and Qualifications. Moral Excellency is the Excellency of natural Excellencies. Natural Qualifications are either excellent or otherwise, according as they are joined with moral Excellency or not. Strength and Knowledge do not render any Being lovely, without Holiness; but more hateful: Though they render them more lovely, when joined with Holiness. Thus the elect Angels are the more glorious for their Strength and Knowledge, because these natural Perfections of theirs, are sanctified by their moral Perfection. But though the Devils are very strong, and of great natural Understanding, they are not the more lovely. They are more terrible indeed, but not the more amiable; but on the contrary, the more hateful. The Holiness of an intelligent Creature, is the Beauty of all his natural Perfections. And so it is in God, according to our Way of conceiving of the divine Being. Holiness is in a peculiar Manner the Beauty of the divine Nature. Hence we often read of the Beauty of Holiness; Psalms 29:2, Psalms 96:9, and 110:3. This renders all his other Attributes glorious and lovely. It is the Glory of God's Wisdom, that it is a holy Wisdom, and not a wicked Subtlety and Craftiness. This makes his Majesty lovely, and not merely dreadful and horrible, that it is a holy Majesty. It is the Glory of God's Immutability, that it is a holy Immutability, and not an inflexible Obstinacy in Wickedness.

And therefore it must needs be, that a Sight of God's Loveliness must begin here. A true Love to God must begin with a Delight in his Holiness, and not with a Delight in any other Attribute; for no other Attribute is truly lovely without this, and no otherwise than as (according to our Way of conceiving of God) it derives its Loveliness from this; and therefore it is impossible that other Attributes should appear lovely, in their true Loveliness, until this is seen; and it is impossible that any Perfection of the divine Nature should be loved with true Love, until this is loved. If the true Loveliness of all God's Perfections, arises from the Loveliness of his Holiness; then the true Love of all his Perfections, arises from the Love of his Holiness. They that do not see the Glory of God's Holiness, cannot see any Thing of the true Glory of his Mercy and Grace: They see nothing of the Glory of those Attributes, as any Excellency of God's Nature, as it is in itself; though they may be affected with them, and love them, as they concern their Interest: For these Attributes are no Part of the Excellency of God's Nature, as that is excellent in itself, any otherwise than as they are included in his Holiness, more largely taken; or as they are a Part of his moral Perfection.

As the Beauty of the divine Nature does primarily consist in God's Holiness, so does the Beauty of all divine Things. Herein consists the Beauty of the Saints, that they are Saints, or holy Ones: It is the moral Image of God in them, which is their Beauty; and which is their Holiness. Herein consists the Beauty and Brightness of the Angels of Heaven, that they are holy Angels, and so not Devils; Daniel 4. 13, 17, 23; Matthew 25. 31; Mark 8. 38; Acts 10. 22; Revelation 14. 10. Herein consists the Beauty of the Christian Religion, above all other Religions, that it is so holy a Religion. Herein consists the Excellency of the Word of God, that it is so holy; Psalm 119. 140. Thy Word is very pure, therefore thy Servant loveth it. Verse 128. I esteem all thy Precepts, concerning all Things, to be right; and I hate every false Way. Verse 138. Thy Testimonies, that thou hast commanded, are righteous, and very faithful. And 172. My Tongue shall speak of thy Word; for all thy Commandments are Righteousness. And Psalm 19. 7, 8, 9, 10. The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the Soul: The Testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the Simple: The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the Heart: The Commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the Eyes: The Fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: The Judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether: More to be desired are they than Gold, yea, than much fine Gold; sweeter also than Honey, and the Honey-comb. Herein does primarily consist the Amiableness and Beauty of the Lord Jesus, whereby he is the chief among ten Thousands and altogether lovely; even in that he is the holy One of God, Acts 3. 14. and God's holy Child, Acts 4. 27. and he that is Holy, and he that is True, Revelation 3. 7. All the spiritual Beauty of his human Nature, consisting in his Meekness, Lowliness, Patience, Heavenliness, Love to God, Love to Men, Condescension to the Mean and Vile, and Compassion to the Miserable, etc. all is summed up in his Holiness. And the Beauty of his divine Nature, of which the Beauty of his human Nature is the Image and Reflection, does also primarily consist in his Holiness. Herein primarily consists the Glory of the Gospel, that it is a holy Gospel, and so bright an Emanation of the holy Beauty of God and Jesus Christ: Herein consists the spiritual Beauty of its Doctrines, that they are holy Doctrines, or Doctrines according to Godliness. And herein does consist the spiritual Beauty of the Way of Salvation by Jesus Christ, that it is so holy a Way. And herein chiefly consists the Glory of Heaven, that it is the holy City, the holy Jerusalem, the Habitation of God's Holiness, and so of his Glory; Isaiah 63. 15. All the Beauties of the new Jerusalem, as it is described in the two last Chapters of Revelation, are but various Representations of this: See Chapter 21. 2, 10, 11, 18, 21, 27. Chapter 22. 1, 3.

And therefore it is primarily on Account of this Kind of Excellency, that the Saints do love all these Things. Thus they love the Word of God, because it is very pure. It is on this Account they love the Saints; and on this Account chiefly it is, that Heaven is lovely to them, and those holy Tabernacles of God amiable in their Eyes: It is on this Account that they love God; and on this Account primarily it is, that they love Christ, and that their Hearts delight in the Doctrines of the Gospel, and sweetly acquiesce in the Way of Salvation therein revealed.

Under the Head of the first distinguishing Characteristic of gracious Affection, I observed that there is given to those that are regenerated, a new supernatural Sense, that is as it were a certain divine spiritual Taste, which is in its whole Nature diverse from any former Kinds of Sensation of the Mind, as Tasting is diverse from any of the other five Senses, and that something is perceived by a true Saint in the Exercise of this new Sense of Mind, in spiritual and divine Things, as entirely different from any Thing that is perceived in them by natural Men, as the sweet Taste or Honey is diverse from the Ideas Men get of Honey by looking on it or feeling of it; now this that I have been speaking, namely, The Beauty of Holiness is that Thing in spiritual and divine Things, which is perceived by this spiritual Sense, that is so diverse from all that natural Men perceive in them: This Kind of Beauty is the Quality that is the immediate Object of this spiritual Sense: This is the Sweetness that is the proper Object of this spiritual Taste. The Scripture often represents the Beauty and Sweetness of Holiness as the grand Object of a spiritual Taste, and spiritual Appetite. This was the sweet Food of the holy Soul of Jesus Christ, John 4. 32, 34. I have Meat to eat, that ye know not of;—My Meat is to do the Will of him that sent me, and to finish his Work. I know of no Part of the holy Scriptures, where the Nature and Evidences of true and sincere Godliness, are so much of set Purpose, and so fully and largely insisted on and delineated, as the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm; the Psalmist declares his Design in the first Verses of the Psalm, and he keeps his Eye on this Design all along, and pursues it to the End: But in this Psalm the Excellency of Holiness is represented as the immediate Object of a spiritual Taste, Relish, Appetite and Delight, God's Law, that grand Expression and Emanation of the Holiness of God's Nature, and Prescription of Holiness to the Creature, is all along represented as the Food and Entertainment, and as the great Object of the Love, the Appetite, the Compliance and Rejoicing of the gracious Nature, which prizes God's Commandments above Gold, yea, the finest Gold, and to which they are sweeter than the Honey, and Honey-comb; and that upon Account of their Holiness, as I observed before. The same Psalmist declares, that this is the Sweetness that a spiritual Taste relishes in God's Law, Psalm 19. 8, 9, 10. The Law of the Lord is perfect:—The Commandment of the Lord is pure: The Fear of the Lord is clean: The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the Heart:—The Judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether: More to be desired are they than Gold, yea than much fine Gold; sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-comb.

A holy Love has a holy Object: The Holiness of Love consists especially in this that it is the Love of that which is holy, as holy, or for its Holiness; so that it is the Holiness of the Object, which is the Quality whereon it fixes and terminates. An holy Nature must needs love that in holy Things chiefly, which is most agreeable to itself; but surely that in divine Things, which above all others is agreeable to holy Nature, is Holiness; because Holiness must be above all other Things agreeable to Holiness; for nothing can be more agreeable to any Nature than itself; holy Nature must be above all Things agreeable to holy Nature: And so the holy Nature of God and Christ, and the Word of God, and other divine Things, must be above all other Things, agreeable to the holy Nature that is in the Saints.

And again, an holy Nature doubtless loves holy Things, especially on the Account of that, for which sinful Nature has Enmity against them: But that for which chiefly sinful Nature is at Enmity against holy Things, is their Holiness; it is for this, that the carnal Mind is Enmity against God, and against the Law of God, and the People of God. Now it is just arguing from Contraries; from contrary Causes, to contrary Effects; from opposite Natures, to opposite Tendencies. We know that Holiness is of a directly contrary Nature to Wickedness: As therefore it is the Nature of Wickedness chiefly to oppose and hate Holiness; so it must be the Nature of Holiness chiefly to tend to, and delight in Holiness.

The holy Nature in the Saints and Angels in Heaven (where the true Tendency of it best appears) is principally engaged by the Holiness of divine Things. This is the divine Beauty which chiefly engages the Attention, Admiration and Praise of the bright and burning Seraphim; Isaiah 6. 3. One cried unto another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole Earth is full of his Glory. And Revelation 4. 8. They rest not Day and Night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. So the glorified Saints, Chapter 15. 4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name, for thou only art Holy?

And the Scriptures represent the Saints on Earth as adoring God primarily on this Account, and admiring and extolling all God's Attributes, either as deriving Loveliness from his Holiness, or as being a Part of it. Thus when they praise God for his Power, his Holiness is the Beauty that engages them; Psalm 98. 1. O sing unto the Lord a new Song, for he hath done marvellous Things; his right Hand and his HOLY Arm hath gotten him the Victory. So when they praise him for his Justice and terrible Majesty; Psalm 99. 2, 3. The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all People: Let them praise thy great and terrible Name, for it is HOLY. Verse 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his Footstool, for he is HOLY. Verse 8, 9. Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest Vengeance of their Inventions. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his holy Hill; for the Lord our God is HOLY. So when they praise God for his Mercy and Faithfulness; Psalm 97. 11. 12. Light is sown for the Righteous, and Gladness for the Upright in Heart. Rejoice in the Lord ye Righteous, and give Thanks at the Remembrance of his HOLINESS. 1 Samuel 2. 2. There is none HOLY as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any Rock like our God.

By this therefore all may try their Affections, and particularly their Love and Joy. Various Kinds of Creatures show the Difference of their Natures, very much, in the different Things they relish as their proper Good, one delighting in that which another abhors. Such a Difference is there between true Saints, and natural Men: Natural Men have no Sense of the Goodness and Excellency of holy Things; at least for their Holiness; they have no Taste of that Kind of Good; and so may be said not to know that divine Good, or not to see it; it is wholly hid from them: But the Saints, by the mighty Power of God, have it discovered to them: They have that supernatural, most noble and divine Sense given them, by which they perceive it: And it is this that captivates their Hearts, and delights them above all Things; it is the most amiable and sweet Thing to the Heart of a true Saint, that is to be found in Heaven or Earth; that which above all others attracts and engages his Soul; and that wherein, above all Things, he places his Happiness, and which he counts upon for Solace and Entertainment to his Mind, in this World, and full Satisfaction and Blessedness in another. By this you may examine your Love to God, and to Jesus Christ, and to the Word of God, and your Joy in them, and also your Love to the People of God, and your Desires after Heaven; whether they be from a supreme Delight in this Sort of Beauty, without being primarily moved from your imagined Interest in them, or Expectations from them. There are many high Affections, great seeming Love and rapturous Joys, which have nothing of this holy Relish belonging to them.

Particularly, By what has been said you may try your Discoveries of the Glory of God's Grace and Love, and your Affections arising from them. The Grace of God may appear lovely two Ways; either as Bonum Utile, a profitable Good to me, that which greatly serves my Interest, and so suits my Self-Love; or as Bonum formosum, a Beautiful Good in itself, and Part of the moral and spiritual Excellency of the divine Nature. In this latter Respect it is that the true Saints have their Hearts affected, and Love captivated by the free Grace of God in the first Place.

From the Things that have been said, it appears, that if Persons have a great Sense of the natural Perfections of God, and are greatly affected with them, or have any other Sight or Sense of God, than that which consists in, or implies a Sense of the Beauty of his moral Perfections, it is no certain Sign of Grace: As particularly, Men's having a great Sense of the awful Greatness, and terrible Majesty of God; for this is only God's natural Perfection, and what Men may see, and yet be entirely blind to the Beauty of his moral Perfection, and have nothing of that spiritual Taste which relishes this divine Sweetness.

It has been shown already, in what was said upon the first distinguishing Mark of gracious Affections, that that which is spiritual, is entirely different in its Nature, from all that it is possible any graceless Person should be the Subject of, while he continues graceless. But it is possible that those who are wholly without Grace, should have a clear Sight, and very great and affecting Sense of God's Greatness, his mighty Power, and awful Majesty; for this is what the Devils have, though they have lost the spiritual Knowledge of God, consisting in a Sense of the Amiableness of his moral Perfections; they are perfectly destitute of any Sense or Relish of that Kind of Beauty, yet they have a very great Knowledge of the natural Glory of God (if I may so speak) or his awful Greatness and Majesty; this they behold, and are affected with the Apprehensions of, and therefore tremble before him. This Glory of God all shall behold at the Day of Judgment; God will make all rational Beings to behold it to a great Degree indeed, Angels and Devils, Saints and Sinners: He will manifest his infinite Greatness, and awful Majesty to every One, in a most open, clear and convincing Manner, and in a Light that none can resist, when he shall come in the Glory of his Father, and every Eye shall see him; when they shall cry to the Mountains to fall upon them, to hide them from the Face of him that sits upon the Throne, they are represented as seeing the Glory of God's Majesty, Isaiah 2:10, 19, 21. God will make all his Enemies to behold this, and to live in a most clear and affecting View of it, in Hell, to all Eternity. God hath often declared his immutable Purpose to make all his Enemies to know him in this Respect, in so often annexing these Words to the Threatenings he denounces against them, and they shall know that I am the Lord; yea, he hath sworn that all Men shall see his Glory in this Respect; Numbers 14:21. As truly as I live, all the Earth shall be filled with the Glory of the Lord. And this Kind of Manifestation of God is very often spoken of in Scripture, as made, or to be made, in the Sight of God's Enemies in this World; Exodus 9:16 and Chapter 14:18 and 15:16 Psalms 66:3 and 46:10 and other Places innumerable. This was a Manifestation which God made of himself in the Sight of that wicked Congregation at Mount Sinai; and deeply affecting them with it; so that all the People in the Camp trembled. Wicked Men and Devils will see, and have a great Sense of every Thing that appertains to the Glory of God, but only the Beauty of his moral Perfection. They will see his infinite Greatness and Majesty, his infinite Power, and will be fully convinced of his Omniscience, and his Eternity and Immutability; and they will see and know every Thing appertaining to his moral Attributes themselves, but only the Beauty and Amiableness of them: They will see and know that he is perfectly just and righteous and true; and that he is a holy God, of purer Eyes than to behold Evil, who cannot look on Iniquity, and they will see the wonderful Manifestations of his infinite Goodness and free Grace to the Saints; and there is nothing will be hid from their Eyes, but only the Beauty of these moral Attributes, and that Beauty of the other Attributes, which arises from it. And so natural Men in this World are capable of having a very affecting Sense of every Thing else that appertains to God, but this only. Nebuchadnezzar had a great and very affecting Sense of the infinite Greatness and awful Majesty of God, of his supreme and absolute Dominion, and mighty and irresistible Power, and of his Sovereignty, and that he, and all the Inhabitants of the Earth were nothing before him; and also had a great Conviction in his Conscience of his Justice, and an affecting Sense of his great Goodness; Daniel 4:1, 2, 3, 34, 35, 37. And the Sense that Darius had of God's Perfections, seems to be very much like his; Daniel 6:25 etc. But the Saints and Angels do behold the Glory of God consisting in the Beauty of his Holiness: And it is this Sight only, that will melt and humble the Hearts of Men, and wean them from the World, and draw them to God, and effectually change them. A Sight of the awful Greatness of God, may overpower Men's Strength, and be more than they can endure; but if the moral Beauty of God be hid, the Enmity of the Heart will remain in its full Strength, no Love will be enkindled, all will not be effectual to gain the Will, but that will remain inflexible; whereas the first Glimpse of the moral and spiritual Glory of God shining into the Heart, produces all these Effects, as it were with omnipotent Power, which nothing can withstand.

The Sense that natural Men may have of the awful Greatness of God may affect them various Ways; it may not only terrify them, but it may elevate them and raise their Joy and Praise, as their Circumstances may be. This will be the natural Effect of it, under the real or supposed Receipt of some extraordinary Mercy from God, by the Influence of mere Principles of Nature. It has been shown already, that the Receipt of Kindness may, by the Influence of natural Principles, affect the Heart with Gratitude and Praise to God; but if a Person, at the same Time that he receives remarkable Kindness from God, has a Sense of his infinite Greatness, and that he is but Nothing in Comparison of him, surely this will naturally raise his Gratitude and Praise the higher, for Kindness to one so much inferior. A Sense of God's Greatness had this Effect upon Nebuchadnezzar, under the Receipt of that extraordinary Favour of his Restoration, after he had been driven from Men, and had his dwelling with the Beasts: A Sense of God's exceeding Greatness raises his Gratitude very high; so that he does, in the most lofty Terms, extol and magnify God, and calls upon all the World to do it with him: And much more, if a natural Man, at the same Time that he is greatly affected with God's infinite Greatness and Majesty, entertains a strong Notion that this great God has made him his Child and special Favorite, and promised him eternal Glory in his highest Love; will this have a Tendency, according to the Course of Nature, to raise his Joy and Praise to a great Height.

Therefore, it is beyond Doubt, that too much Weight has been laid, by many Persons of late, on Discoveries of God's Greatness, awful Majesty, and natural Perfection, operating after this Manner, without any real View of the holy, lovely Majesty of God. And Experience does abundantly witness to what Reason and Scripture declare as to this Matter; there having been very many Persons, who have seemed to be overpowered with the Greatness and awful Majesty of God, and consequentially elevated in the Manner that has been spoken of, who have been very far from having Appearances of a Christian Spirit and Temper, in any Manner of Proportion, or Fruits in Practice in any wise agreeable; but their Discoveries have worked in a way contrary to the Operation of truly spiritual Discoveries.

Not that a Sense of God's Greatness and natural Attributes is not exceedingly useful and necessary. For, as I observed before, this is implied in a Manifestation of the Beauty of God's Holiness. Though that be something beyond it, it supposes it, as the greater supposes the less. And though natural Men may have a Sense of the natural Perfections of God; yet undoubtedly this is more frequent and common with the Saints, than with natural Men; and Grace tends to enable Men to see these Things in a better Manner, than natural Men do. And not only enables them to see God's natural Attributes, but that Beauty of those Attributes, which (according to our Way of conceiving of God) is derived from his Holiness.

4. Gracious Affections do arise from the Mind's being enlightened, rightly and spiritually to understand or apprehend divine Things.

Holy Affections are not Heat without Light; but evermore arise from some Information of the Understanding, some spiritual Instruction that the Mind receives, some Light or actual Knowledge. The Child of God is graciously affected, because he sees and understands something more of divine Things than he did before, more of God or Christ and of the glorious Things exhibited in the Gospel; he has some clearer and better View than he had before, when he was not affected; Either he receives some Understanding of divine Things that is new to him; or has his former Knowledge renewed after the View was decayed; 1 John 4:7. Every one that loveth, knoweth God. Philippians 1:9. I pray that your Love may abound more and more, in knowledge and in all Judgment. Romans 10:2. They have a Zeal of God, but not according to Knowledge. Colossians 3:10. The new Man, which is renewed in Knowledge. Psalms 43:3, 4. O send out thy Light and thy Truth; let them lead me, let them bring me into thy holy Hill. John 6:45. It is written in the Prophets, and they shall be all taught of God: Every Man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Knowledge is the Key that first opens the hard Heart and enlarges the Affections, and so opens the Way for Men into the Kingdom of Heaven; Luke 11:52. You have taken away the Key of Knowledge.

Now there are many Affections which do not arise from any Light in the Understanding. And when it is thus, it is a sure Evidence that these Affections are not spiritual, let them be ever so high. Indeed they have some new Apprehensions which they had not before. Such is the Nature of Man, that it is impossible his Mind should be affected, unless it be by something that he apprehends, or that his Mind conceives of. But in many Persons these Apprehensions or Conceptions that they have, where with they are affected, have nothing of the Nature of Knowledge or Instruction in them. As for Instance; when a Person is affected with a lively Idea, suddenly excited in his Mind, of some Shape, or very beautiful pleasant Form of Countenance, or some shining Light, or other glorious outward Appearance: Here is something apprehended or conceived by the Mind; but there is nothing of the Nature of Instruction in it: Persons become never the wiser by such Things, or more knowing about God, or a Mediator between God and Man, or the Way of Salvation by Christ, or any Thing contained in any of the Doctrines of the Gospel. Persons by these external Ideas have no further Acquaintance with God, as to any of the Attributes or Perfections of his Natures; nor have they any further Understanding of his Word, or any of his Ways or Works. Truly spiritual and gracious Affections are not raised after this Manner: These arise from the enlightening of the Understanding to understand the Things that are taught of God and Christ, in a new Manner, the coming to a new Understanding of the excellent Nature of God, and his wonderful Perfections, some new View of Christ in his spiritual Excellencies and Fullness, or Things opened to him in a new Manner, that appertain to the Way of Salvation by Christ, whereby he now sees how it is, and understands those divine and spiritual Doctrines which once were Foolishness to him. Such Enlightenings of the Understanding as these, are Things entirely different in their Nature, from strong Ideas of Shapes and Colours, and outward Brightness and Glory, or Sounds and Voices. That all gracious Affections do arise from some Instruction or Enlightening of the Understanding, is therefore a further Proof, that Affections which arise from such Impression on the Imagination, are not gracious Affections, besides the Things observed before, which make this evident.

Hence also it appears, that Affections arising from Texts of Scripture coming to the Mind are vain, when no Instruction received in the Understanding from those Texts, or any Thing taught in those Texts, is the Ground of the Affection, but the Manner of their coming to the Mind. When Christ makes the Scripture a Means of the Heart's burning with gracious Affection, it is by opening the Scriptures to their Understandings; Luke 24:32. Did not our Heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the Way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? It appears also that the Affection which is occasioned by the coming of a Text of Scripture must be vain, when the Affection is founded on something that is supposed to be taught by it, which really is not contained in it, nor in any other Scripture; because such supposed Instruction is not real Instruction, but a Mistake, and Misapprehension of the Mind. As for Instance, when Persons suppose that they are expressly taught by some Scripture coming to their Minds, that they in particular are beloved of God, or that their Sins are forgiven, that God is their Father, and the like: This is a Mistake or Misapprehension; for the Scripture nowhere reveals the individual Persons who are beloved, expressly; but only by Consequence, by revealing the Qualifications of Persons that are beloved of God: And therefore this Matter is not to be learned from Scripture any other Way than by Consequence, and from these Qualifications: For Things are not to be learned from the Scripture any other Way than they are taught in the Scripture.

Affections really arise from Ignorance, rather than Instruction, in these Instances which have been mentioned; as likewise in some others that might be mentioned. As some when they find themselves free of Speech in Prayer, they call it God's being with them; and this affects them more; and so their Affections are set a going and increased: When they look not into the Cause of this Freedom of Speech; which may arise many other Ways besides God's spiritual Presence. So some are much affected with some apt Thoughts that come into their Minds about the Scripture, and call it the Spirit of God teaching them. So they ascribe many of the Workings of their own Minds, which they have a high Opinion of, and are pleased and taken with, to the special immediate Influences of God's Spirit; and so are mightily affected with their Privilege. And there are some Instances of Persons, in whom it seems manifest that the first Ground of their Affection is some bodily Sensation. The animal Spirits, by some Cause, (and probably sometimes by the Devil) are suddenly and unaccountably put into a very agreeable Motion, causing Person to feel pleasantly in their Bodies; the animal Spirits are put into such a Motion as is accustomed to be connected with the Exhilaration of the Mind: and the Soul, by the Laws of the Union of Soul and Body, hence feels Pleasure. The Motion of the animal Spirits do not first arise from any Affection or Apprehension of the Mind whatsoever; but the very first Thing that is felt, is an Exhilaration of the animal Spirits, and a pleasant external Sensation, it may be in their Breasts. Hence, through Ignorance, the Person being surprised, begins to think, surely this is the Holy Ghost coming into him. And then the Mind begins to be affected and raised: There is first great Joy; and then many other Affections, in a very tumultuous Manner, putting all Nature, both Body and Mind, into a mighty Ruffle: For though, as I observed before, it is the Soul only that is the Seat of the Affections; yet this hinders not but that bodily Sensations, may in this Manner, be an Occasion of Affections in the Mind.

And if Men's religious Affections do truly arise from some Instruction or Light in the Understanding; yet the Affection is not gracious, unless the Light which is the Ground of it be spiritual. Affections may be excited by that Understanding of Things, which they obtain merely by human Teaching, with the common Improvement of the Faculties of the Mind. Men may be much affected by Knowledge of Things of Religion that they obtain this Way; as some Philosophers have been mightily affected, and almost carried beyond themselves, by the Discoveries they have made in Mathematics and natural Philosophy. So Men may be much affected from common Illuminations of the Spirit of God, in which God assists Men's Faculties to a greater Degree of that Kind of Understanding of religious Matters, which they have in some Degree, by only the ordinary Exercise and Improvement of their own Faculties. Such Illuminations may much affect the Mind; as in many whom we read of in Scripture, that were once enlightened: But these Affections are not spiritual.

There is such a Thing, if the Scriptures are of any Use to teach us any Thing, as a spiritual, supernatural Understanding of divine Things, that is peculiar to the Saints, and which those who are not Saints have nothing of. It is certainly a Kind of Understanding, apprehending or discerning or divine Things, that natural Men have nothing of, which the Apostle speaks of, 1 Corinthians 2:14. But the natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God; for they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It is certainly a Kind of seeing or discerning spiritual Things, peculiar to the Saints, which is spoken of, 1 John 3:6. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 3 John 11. He that doth Evil hath not seen God. And John 6:40. This is the Will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting Life. Chapter 14:19. The World seeth me no more; but ye see me. Chapter 17:3. This is eternal Life, that that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Matthew 11:27. No Man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any Man the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. John 12:45. He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. Psalm 9:10. They that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee. Philippians 3:8. I count all Things but Loss, for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.—. Verse 10. That I may know Him—. And innumerable other Places there are, all over the Bible, which show the same. And that there is such a Thing as an Understanding of divine Things, which in its Nature and Kind is wholly different from all Knowledge that natural Men have, is evident from this, that there is an Understanding of divine Things, which the Scripture calls spiritual Understanding; Colossians 1:9. We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you may be filled with the Knowledge of his Will, in all Wisdom, and spiritual Understanding. It has been already shown, that that which is spiritual, in the ordinary Use of the Word in the New Testament, is entirely different in Nature and Kind, from all which natural Men are, or can be the Subjects of.

From hence it may be surely inferred, wherein spiritual Understanding consists. For if there be in the Saints a Kind of Apprehension or Perception, which is in its Nature, perfectly diverse from all that natural Men have, or that it is possible they should have, until they have a new Nature; it must consist in their having a certain Kind of Ideas or Sensations of Mind, which are simply diverse from all that is or can be in the Minds of natural Men. And that is the same Thing as to say, that it consists in the Sensations of a new spiritual Sense, which the Souls of natural Men have not; as is evident by what has been before, once and again observed. But I have already shown what that new spiritual Sense is, which the Saints have given them in Regeneration, and what is the Object of it. I have shown that the immediate Object of it is the supreme Beauty and Excellency of the Nature of divine Things, as they are in themselves. And this is agreeable to the Scripture: The Apostle very plainly teaches that the great Thing discovered by spiritual Light, and understood by spiritual Knowledge, is the Glory of divine Things, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them that believe not, lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine unto them: together with Verse 6. For God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness, hath shined in our Hearts, to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ: And Chapter 3:18 preceding, But we all, with open Face, beholding as in a Glass, the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And it must needs be so, for as has been before observed, the Scripture often teaches that all true Religion summarily consists in the Love of divine Things. And therefore that Kind of Understanding or Knowledge, which is the proper Foundation of true Religion, must be the Knowledge of the Loveliness of divine Things. For doubtless, that Knowledge which is the proper Foundation of Love, is the Knowledge of Loveliness. What that Beauty or Loveliness of divine Things is, which is the proper and immediate Object of a spiritual Sense of Mind, was showed under the last Head insisted on, namely That it is the Beauty of their moral Perfection. Therefore it is in the View or Sense of this, that spiritual Understanding does more immediately and primarily consist. And indeed it is plain it can be nothing else; for (as has been shown) there is nothing pertaining to divine Things besides the Beauty of their moral Excellency, and those Properties and Qualities of divine Things which this Beauty is the Foundation of, but what natural Men and Devils can see and know, and will know fully and clearly to all Eternity.

From what has been said, therefore, we come necessarily to this Conclusion, concerning that wherein spiritual Understanding consists; namely That it consists in a Sense of the Heart, of the supreme Beauty and Sweetness of the Holiness or moral Perfection of divine Things, together with all that Discerning and Knowledge of Things of Religion, that depends upon, and flows from such a Sense.

Spiritual Understanding consists primarily in a Sense of Heart of that spiritual Beauty. I say, a Sense of Heart; for it is not Speculation merely that is concerned in this Kind of Understanding: Nor can there be a clear Distinction made between the two Faculties of Understanding and Will, as acting distinctly and separately, in this Matter. When the Mind is sensible of the sweet Beauty and Amiableness of a Thing, that implies a Sensibleness of Sweetness and Delight in the Presence of the Idea of it: And this Sensibleness of the Amiableness or Delightfulness of Beauty, carries in the very Nature of it, the Sense of the Heart; or an Effect and Impression the Soul is the Subject of, as a Substance possessed of Taste, Inclination and Will.

There is a Distinction to be made between a mere notional Understanding, wherein the Mind only beholds Things in the Exercise of a speculative Faculty; and the Sense of the Heart, wherein the Mind does not only speculate and behold, but relishes and feels. That Sort of Knowledge, by which a Man has a sensible Perception of Amiableness and Loathsomeness, or of Sweetness and Nauseousness, is not just the same Sort of Knowledge with that, by which he knows what a Triangle is, and what a Square is. The one is mere speculative Knowledge; the other sensible Knowledge, in which more than the mere Intellect is concerned; the Heart is the proper Subject of it, or the Soul as a Being that not only Beholds, but has Inclination, and is pleased or displeased. And yet there is the Nature of Instruction in it; as he that has perceived the sweet Taste of Honey, knows much more about it, than he who has only looked upon and felt of it.

The Apostle seems to make a Distinction between mere speculative Knowledge of the Things of Religion, and spiritual Knowledge, in calling that the Form of Knowledge, and of the Truth; Romans 2:20. Which hast the Form of Knowledge, and of the Truth in the Law. The latter is often represented by relishing, smelling, or tasting; 2 Corinthians 2:14. Now Thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ Jesus, and maketh manifest the Savour of his Knowledge, in every Place. Matthew 16:23. Thou savourest not the Things that be of God, but Things that be of Men. 1 Peter 2:2-3. As new born Babes, desire the sincere Milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Canticles 1:3. Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments, thy Name is as Ointment poured forth; therefore do the Virgins love thee; compared with 1 John 2:20. But ye have an Unction from the holy One, and ye know all Things.

Spiritual Understanding primarily consists in this Sense, or Taste of the moral Beauty of divine Things; so that no Knowledge can be called Spiritual, any further than it arises from this, and has this in it. But secondarily, it includes all that Discerning and Knowledge of Things of Religion, which depends upon, and flows from such a Sense.

When the true Beauty and Amiableness of the Holiness or true moral Good that is in divine Things, is discovered to the Soul, it as it were opens a new World to its View. This shows the Glory of all the Perfections of God, and of every Thing appertaining to the divine Being: For, as was observed before, the Beauty of all arises from God's moral Perfection. This shows the Glory of all God's Works, both of Creation and Providence: For it is the special Glory of them, that God's Holiness, Righteousness, Faithfulness and Goodness are so manifested in them; and without these moral Perfections, there would be no Glory in that Power and Skill with which they are wrought. The glorifying of God's moral Perfections, is the special End of all the Works of God's Hands. By this Sense of the moral Beauty of divine Things, is understood the Sufficiency of Christ as a Mediator: For it is only by the Discovery of the Beauty of the moral Perfection of Christ, that the Believer is let into the Knowledge of the Excellency of his Person, so as to know any Thing more of it than the Devils do: And it is only by the Knowledge of the Excellency of Christ's Person, that any know his Sufficiency as a Mediator; for the latter depends upon, and arises from the former. It is by seeing the Excellency of Christ's Person, that the Saints are made sensible of the Preciousness of his Blood, and its Sufficiency to atone for Sin: For therein consists the Preciousness of Christ's Blood, that it is the Blood of so excellent and amiable a Person. And on this depends the Meritoriousness of his Obedience, and Sufficiency and Prevalence of his Intercession. By this Sight of the moral Beauty of divine Things, is seen the Beauty of the Way of Salvation by Christ: For that consists in the Beauty of the moral Perfections of God, which wonderfully shines forth in every Step of this Method of Salvation, from Beginning to End. By this is seen the Fitness and Suitableness of this Way: For this wholly consults in its Tendency to deliver us from Sin and Hell, and to bring us to the Happiness which consists in the Possession and Enjoyment of moral Good, in a Way sweetly agreeing with God's moral Perfections. And in the Way's being contrived so as to attain these Ends, consists the excellent Wisdom of that Way. By this is seen the Excellency of the Word of God: Take away all the moral Beauty and Sweetness in the Word, and the Bible is left wholly a dead Letter, a dry, lifeless, tasteless Thing. By this is seen the true Foundation of our Duty; the Worthiness of God to be so esteemed, honored, loved, submitted to, and served, as he requires of us, and the Amiableness of the Duties themselves that are required of us. And by this is seen the true Evil of Sin: For he who sees the Beauty of Holiness, must necessarily see the Hatefulness of Sin, its Contrary. By this Men understand the true Glory of Heaven, which consists in the Beauty and Happiness that is in Holiness. By this is seen the Amiableness and Happiness of both Saints and Angels. He that sees the Beauty of Holiness, or true moral Good, sees the greatest and most important Thing in the World, which is the Fullness of all Things, without which all the World is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen, that is worth the Seeing: For there is no other true Excellency or Beauty. Unless this be understood, nothing is understood, that is worthy of the Exercise of the noble Faculty of Understanding. This is the Beauty of the Godhead, and the Divinity of Divinity, (if I may so speak) the Good of the infinite Fountain of Good; without which God himself (if that were possible to be) would be an infinite Evil: Without which, we ourselves had better never have been; and without which there had better have been no Being. He therefore in Effect knows nothing, that knows not this: His Knowledge is but the Shadow of Knowledge, or the Form of Knowledge, as the Apostle calls it. Well therefore may the Scripture represent those who are destitute of that spiritual Sense, by which is perceived the Beauty of Holiness, as totally blind, deaf and senseless, yea dead. And well may Regeneration, in which this divine Sense is given to the Soul by its Creator, be represented as opening the blind Eyes, and raising the Dead, and bringing a Person into a new World. For if what has been said be considered, it will be manifest, that when a Person has this Sense and Knowledge given him, he will view nothing as he did before; though before he knew all Things after the Flesh, yet henceforth he will know them so no more; and he is become a new Creature, old Things are past away, behold all Things are become new; agreeable to 2 Corinthians 5:16-17.

And besides the Things that have been already mentioned, there arises from this Sense of spiritual Beauty, all true experimental Knowledge of Religion; which is of itself, as it were a new World of Knowledge. He that sees not the Beauty of Holiness, knows not what one of the Graces of God's Spirit is; he is destitute of any Idea or Conception of all gracious Exercise of Soul, and all holy Comforts and Delights, and all Effects of the saving Influences of the Spirit of God on the Heart: And so is ignorant of the greatest Works of God, the most important and glorious Effects of his Power upon the Creature: And also is wholly ignorant of the Saints as Saints; he knows not what they are: And in Effect is ignorant of the whole spiritual World.

Things being thus, it plainly appears, that God's implanting that spiritual supernatural Sense which has been spoken of, makes a great Change in a Man. And were it not for the very imperfect Degree, in which this Sense is commonly given at first, or the small Degree of this glorious Light that first dawns upon the Soul; the Change made by this spiritual Opening of the Eyes in Conversion, would be much greater, and more remarkable, every Way than if a Man, who had been born Blind, and with only the other four Senses, should continue so a long Time, and then at once should have the Sense of seeing imparted to him, in the midst of the clear Light of the Sun, discovering a World of visible Objects. For though Sight be more noble than any of the other external Senses; yet this spiritual Sense which has been spoken of, is infinitely more noble than that, or any other Principle of Discerning that a Man naturally has, and the Object of this Sense infinitely greater and more important.

This Sort of Understanding or Knowledge is that Knowledge of divine Things from whence all truly gracious Affections do proceed. By which therefore all Affections are to be tried. Those Affections that arise wholly from any other Kind of Knowledge, or do result from any other Kind of Apprehensions of Mind, are vain.

From what has been said may be learned wherein the most essential Difference lies between that Light or Understanding which is given by the common Influences of the Spirit of God, on the Hearts of natural Men, and that saving Instruction which is given to the Saints. The Latter primarily and most essentially lies in beholding the moral Beauty that is in divine Things; which is the only true moral Good, and which the Soul of fallen Man is by Nature totally blind to. The Former consists only in a further Understanding, through the Assistance of natural Principles, of those Things which Men may know, in some Measure, by the alone ordinary Exercise of their Faculties. And this Knowledge consists only in the Knowledge of those Things pertaining to Religion, which are natural. Thus for Instance, In those Awakenings and Convictions of Conscience, that natural Men are often subject to, the Spirit of God gives no Knowledge of the true moral Beauty which is in divine Things; but only assists the Mind to a clearer Idea of the Guilt of Sin, or its Relation to a Punishment, and Connection with the Evil of Suffering (without any Sight of its true moral Evil, or Odiousness as Sin) and a clearer Idea of the natural Perfections of God, wherein consists, not his holy Beauty and Glory, but his awful and terrible Greatness. It is a clear Sight of this, that will fully awaken the Consciences of wicked Men at the Day of Judgment, without any spiritual Light. And it is a lesser Degree of the same, that awakens the Consciences of natural Men, without spiritual Light, in this World. The same Discoveries are in some Measure given in the Conscience of an awakened Sinner in this World, which will be given more fully in the Consciences of Sinners at the Day of Judgment. The same Kind of Sight or Apprehension of God, in a lesser Degree, makes awakened Sinners in this World, sensible of the dreadful Guilt of Sin; against so great and terrible a God, and sensible of its amazing Punishment, and fills them with fearful Apprehensions of divine Wrath; that will thoroughly convince all wicked Men, of the infinitely dreadful Nature and Guilt of Sin, and astonish them with Apprehensions of Wrath, when Christ shall come in the Glory of his Power and Majesty, and every Eye shall see him, and all the Kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him. And in those common Illuminations, which are sometimes given to natural Men, exciting in them some Kind of religious Desire, Love and Joy, the Mind is only assisted to a clearer Apprehension of the natural Good that is in divine Things. Thus sometimes, under common Illuminations, Men are raised with the Ideas of the natural Good that is in Heaven; as its outward Glory, its Ease, its Honour and Advancement, a being there the Objects of the high Favour of God, and the great Respect of Men and Angels, et cetera. So there are many Things exhibited in the Gospel, concerning God and Christ, and the Way of Salvation, that have a natural Good in them, which suits the natural Principle of Self-love. Thus in that great Goodness of God to Sinners, and the wonderful dying Love of Christ, there is a natural Good, which all Men love, as they love themselves; as well as a spiritual and holy Beauty, which is seen only by the Regenerate. Therefore there are many Things appertaining to the Word of God's Grace delivered in the Gospel, which may cause natural Men, when they hear it, anon with Joy to receive it. All that Love which natural Men have to God, and Christ, and Christian Virtues, and good Men, is not from any Sight of the Amiableness of the Holiness, or true moral Excellency of these Things; but only for the sake of the natural Good there is in them. All natural Men's Hatred of Sin, is as much from Principles of Nature, as Men's Hatred of a Tiger for his Rapaciousness, or their Aversion to a Serpent for his Poison and Hurtfulness: And all their Love of Christian Virtue, is from no higher Principle than their Love of a Man's good Nature, which appears amiable to natural Men; but no otherwise than Silver and Gold appears amiable in the Eyes of a Merchant, or than the Blackness of the Soil is beautiful in the Eyes of the Farmer.

From what has been said of the Nature of spiritual Understanding, it appears that spiritual Understanding does not consist in any new doctrinal Knowledge, or in having suggested to the Mind any new Proposition, not before read or heard of: For it is plain that this suggesting of new Propositions, is a Thing entirely diverse from giving the Mind a new Taste or Relish of Beauty and Sweetness. It is also evident that spiritual Knowledge does not consist in any new doctrinal Explanation of any Part of the Scripture; for still, this is but doctrinal Knowledge, or the Knowledge of Propositions; the doctrinal explaining of any Part of Scripture, is only giving us to understand, what are the Propositions contained or taught in that Part of Scripture.

Hence it appears, that the spiritual Understanding of the Scripture, does not consist in opening to the Mind the mystical Meaning of the Scripture, in its Parables, Types and Allegories; for this is only a doctrinal Explication of the Scripture. He that explains what is meant by the stony Ground, and the Seed's springing up suddenly, and quickly withering away, only explains what Propositions or Doctrines are taught in it. So he that explains what is typified by Jacob's Ladder, and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it, or what was typified by Joshua's leading Israel through Jordan, only shows what Propositions are hid in these Passages. And many Men can explain these Types, who have no spiritual Knowledge. It is possible that a Man might know how to interpret all the Types, Parables, Enigmas, and Allegories in the Bible and not have one Beam of spiritual Light in his Mind; because he may not have the least Degree of that spiritual Sense of the holy Beauty of divine Things which has been spoken of, and may see nothing of this Kind of Glory in any Thing contained in any of these Mysteries, or any other Part of the Scripture. It is plain, by what the Apostle says, that a Man might understand all such Mysteries, and have no saving Grace: 1 Corinthians 13:2. And though I have the Gift of Prophecy, and understand all Mysteries, and all Knowledge, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing. They therefore are very foolish, who are exalted in an Opinion of their own spiritual Attainments, from Notions that come into their Minds, of the mythical Meaning of these and those Passages of Scripture, as though it was a spiritual Understanding of these Passages, immediately given them by the Spirit of God, and hence have their Affections highly raised: And what has been said shows the Vanity of such Affections.

From what has been said, it is also evident, that it is not spiritual Knowledge, for Persons to be informed of their Duty, by having it immediately suggested to their Minds, that such and such outward Actions or Deeds are the Will of God. If we suppose that it is truly God's Manner thus to signify his Will to his People, by immediate inward Suggestions, such Suggestions have nothing of the Nature of spiritual Light. Such Kind of Knowledge would only be one Kind of doctrinal Knowledge: A Proposition concerning the Will of God, is as properly a Doctrine of Religion, as a Proposition concerning the Nature of God, or a Work of God: And an having either of these Kinds of Propositions, or any other Proposition, declared to a Man, either by Speech, or inward Suggestion, differs vastly from an having the holy Beauty of divine Things manifested to the Soul, wherein spiritual Knowledge does most essentially consist. Thus there was no spiritual Light in Balaam; though he had the Will of God immediately suggested to him by the Spirit of God from Time to Time, concerning the Way that he should go, and what he should do and say.

It is manifest therefore, that a being led and directed in this Manner, is not that holy and spiritual Leading of the Spirit of God, which is peculiar to the Saints, and a distinguishing Mark of the Sons of God, spoken of Romans 8:14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the Sons of God. Galatians 5:18. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the Law.

And if Persons have the Will of God concerning their Actions, suggested to them by some Text of Scripture, suddenly and extraordinarily brought to their Minds, which Text, as the Words lay in the Bible before they came to their Minds, related to the Action and Behaviour of some other Person, but they suppose, as God sent the Words to them, he intended something further by them, and meant such a particular Action of theirs; I say, if Persons should have the Will of God thus suggested to them with Texts of Scripture, it alters not the Case. The Suggestion being accompanied with an apt Text of Scripture, does not make the Suggestion to be of the Nature of spiritual Instruction. As for Instance, If a Person in New-England, on some Occasion, were at a Loss whether it was his Duty to go into some popish or heathenish Land, where he was like to be exposed to many Difficulties and Dangers, and should pray to God that he would show him the Way of his Duty; and after earnest Prayer, should have those Words which God spake to Jacob, Genesis 46. suddenly and extraordinarily brought to his Mind, as it they were spoken to him; Fear not to go down into Egypt; and I will go with thee; and I will also surely bring thee up again. In which Words, though as they lay in the Bible before they came to his Mind, they related only to Jacob, and his Behaviour; yet he supposes that God has a further Meaning, as they were brought and applied to him; that thus they are to be understood in a new Sense, that by Egypt is to be understood this particular Country he has in his Mind, and that the Action intended is his going thither, and that the Meaning of the Promise is that God would bring him back into New-England again. There is nothing of the Nature of a spiritual or gracious Leading of the Spirit in this; for there is nothing of the Nature of spiritual Understanding in it. Thus to understand Texts of Scripture, is not to have a spiritual Understanding of them. Spiritually to understand the Scripture, is rightly to understand what is in the Scripture, and what was in it before it was understood: It is to understand rightly, what used to be contained in the Meaning of it; and not the making a new Meaning. When the Mind is enlightened spiritually and rightly to understand the Scripture, it is enabled to see That in the Scripture, which before was not seen, by Reason of Blindness. But if it was by Reason of Blindness; that is an Evidence that the same Meaning was in it before; otherwise it would have been no Blindness not to see it: It is no Blindness not to see a Meaning which is not there. Spiritually enlightening the Eyes to understand the Scripture, is to open the Eyes, Psalm 119:18. Open thou mine Eyes, that I may behold wondrous Things out of thy Law; which argues that the Reason why the same was not seen in the Scripture before, was that the Eyes were shut; which would not be the Case, if the Meaning that is now understood was not there before, but is now newly added to the Scripture, by the Manner of the Scripture's coming to my Mind. This making a new Meaning to the Scripture, is the same Thing as making a new Scripture: It is properly adding to the Word; which is threatened with too dreadful a Curse. Spiritually to understand the Scripture, is to have the Eyes of the Mind opened, to behold the wonderful spiritual Excellency of the glorious Things contained in the true Meaning of it, and that always were contained in it, ever since it was written; to behold the amiable and bright Manifestation of the divine Perfections, and of the Excellency and Sufficiency of Christ, and the Excellency and Suitableness of the Way of Salvation by Christ, and the spiritual Glory of the Precepts and Promises of the Scripture, et cetera. Which Things are, and always were in the Bible, and would have been seen before, if it had not been for Blindness, without having any new Sense added by the Words being sent by God to a particular Person, and spoken anew to him, with a new Meaning.

And as to a gracious Leading of the Spirit, it consists in two things; partly in instructing a person in his duty by the Spirit, and partly in powerfully inducing him to comply with that instruction. But so far as the gracious Leading of the Spirit lies in instruction, it consists in a person's being guided by a spiritual and distinguishing taste of that which has in it true moral beauty. I have shown that spiritual knowledge primarily consists in a taste or relish of the amiableness and beauty of that which is truly good and holy: this holy relish is a thing that discerns and distinguishes between good and evil, between holy and unholy, without being at the trouble of a train of reasoning. As he who has a true relish of external beauty, knows what is beautiful by looking upon it: he stands in no need of a train of reasoning about the proportion of the features, in order to determine whether that which he sees be a beautiful countenance or not: he needs nothing, but only the glance of his eye. He who has a rectified musical ear, knows whether the sound he hears be true harmony: he doesn't need first to be at the trouble of the reasonings of a mathematician, about the proportion of the notes. He that has a rectified palate, knows what is good food, as soon as he tastes it, without the reasoning of a physician about it. There is a holy beauty and sweetness in words and actions, as well as a natural beauty in countenances and sounds, and sweetness in food; Job 12:11. Does not the ear try words, and the mouth taste his meat? When a holy and amiable action is suggested to the thoughts of a holy soul; that soul, if in the lively exercise of its spiritual taste, at once sees a beauty in it, and so inclines to it, and closes with it. On the contrary, if an unworthy unholy action be suggested to it, its sanctified eye sees no beauty in it, and is not pleased with it; its sanctified taste relishes no sweetness in it, but on the contrary, it is nauseous to it. Yes, its holy taste and appetite leads it to think of that which is truly lovely, and naturally suggests it; as a healthy taste and appetite naturally suggests the idea of its proper object. Thus a holy person is led by the Spirit, as he is instructed and led by his holy taste, and disposition of heart; whereby, in the lively exercise of grace, he easily distinguishes good and evil, and knows at once, what is a suitable amiable behavior towards God, and towards man, in this case and the other; and judges what is right as it were spontaneously, and of himself, without a particular deduction, by any other arguments than the beauty that is seen, and goodness that is tasted. Thus Christ blames the Pharisees, that they did not, even of their own selves, judge what was right, without needing miracles to prove it, Luke 12:57. The Apostle seems plainly to have respect to this way of judging of spiritual beauty, in Romans 12:2. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God.

There is such a thing as good Taste of natural Beauty, (which learned men often speak of) that is exercised about temporal things, in judging of them; as about the justness of a speech, the goodness of style, the beauty of a poem, the gracefulness of deportment, etc. A late great philosopher of our nation, writes thus upon it. To have a Taste, is to give things their real value, to be touched with the good, to be shocked with the ill; not to be dazzled with false lustres, but in spite of all colors, and every thing that might deceive or amuse, to judge soundly. Taste and Judgment then, should be the same thing; and yet it is easy to discern a difference. The Judgment forms its opinions from reflection: the reason on this occasion fetches a kind of circuit, to arrive at its end; it supposes principles, it draws consequences, and it judges; but not without a thorough knowledge of the case; so that after it has pronounced, it is ready to render a reason of its decrees. Good Taste observes none of these formalities; before it has time to consult, it has taken its side; as soon as ever the object is presented it, the impression is made, the sentiment formed, ask no more of it. As the ear is wounded with a harsh sound, as the smell is soothed with an agreeable odor, before ever the reason has meddled with those objects to judge of them, so the Taste opens itself at once, and precedes all reflection. They may come afterwards to confirm it, and discover the secret reasons of its conduct; but it was not in its power to wait for them. Frequently it happens not to know them at all, and what pains soever it uses, cannot discover what it was that determined it to think as it did. This conduct is very different from that the Judgment observes in its decisions: unless we choose to say, that good Taste is as it were a first motion, or a kind of instinct of right reason, which hurries on with rapidity, and conducts more securely, than all the reasonings she could make: it is a first glance of the eye, which discovers to us the nature and relations of things in a moment.

Now as there is such a kind of Taste of the mind as this, which philosophers speak of, whereby persons are guided in their judgment of the natural beauty, gracefulness, propriety, nobleness and excellency of speeches and actions, whereby they judge as it were by the glance of the eye, or by inward sensation, and the first impression of the object; so there is likewise such a thing as a divine Taste, given and maintained by the Spirit of God, in the hearts of the saints, whereby they are in like manner led and guided in discerning and distinguishing the true spiritual and holy beauty of actions; and that more easily, readily and accurately, as they have more or less of the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And thus the children of God are led by the Spirit of God, in their behavior in the world.

A holy disposition and spiritual taste, where grace is strong and lively, will enable a soul to determine what actions are right and becoming Christians, not only more speedily, but far more exactly, than the greatest abilities without it. This may be illustrated by the manner in which some habits of mind, and dispositions of heart, of a nature inferior to true grace, will teach and guide a man in his actions. As for instance, if a man is a very good-natured man, his good nature will teach him better how to act benevolently amongst mankind, and will direct him, on every occasion, to these speeches and actions, which are agreeable to rules of goodness, than the strongest reason will a man of a morose temper. So if a man's heart is under the influence of an entire friendship, and most endeared affection to another; though he is a man of an indifferent capacity, yet this habit of his mind will direct him, far more readily and exactly, to a speech and deportment, or manner of behavior, which shall in all respects be sweet and kind, and agreeable to a benevolent disposition of heart, than the greatest capacity without it. He has as it were a spirit within him, that guides him: the habit of his mind is attended with a taste, by which he immediately relishes that air and mien which is benevolent, and disrelishes the contrary, and causes him to distinguish between one and the other in a moment, more precisely, than the most accurate reasonings can find out in many hours. As the nature and inward tendency of a stone, or other heavy body, that is let fall from a loft, shows the way to the center of the earth, more exactly in an instant, than the ablest mathematician, without it, could determine, by his most accurate observations, in a whole day. Thus it is that a spiritual disposition and taste teaches and guides a man in his behavior in the world. So an eminently humble, or meek, or charitable disposition, will direct a person of mean capacity to such a behavior, as is agreeable to Christian rules of humility, meekness and charity, far more readily and precisely, than the most diligent study, and elaborate reasonings, of a man of the strongest faculties, who has not a Christian spirit within him. So also will a spirit of love to God, and holy fear and reverence towards God, and filial confidence in God, and an heavenly disposition, teach and guide a man in his behavior.

It is an exceedingly difficult thing for a wicked man, destitute of divine principles in his heart, to guide him, to know how to demean himself like a Christian, with the life, and beauty, and heavenly shine of a truly holy, humble, spirit. He knows not how to put on those garments; neither do they fit him; with Ecclesiastes verse 15. The labor of the foolish wearies every one of them; because he knows not how to go to the city. Proverbs 10:32. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. Chapter 15:2. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge aright; but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness. And Chapter 16:23. The heart of the righteous teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.

The saints in thus judging of actions by a spiritual taste, have not a particular recourse to the express rules of God's Word, with respect to every word and action that is before them, the good or evil of which they thus judge of: but yet their taste itself in general, is subject to the rule of God's Word, and must be tried by that, and a right reasoning upon it. As a man of a rectified palate judges of particular meats by his taste: but yet his palate itself must be judged of, whether it be right or not, by certain rules and reasons. But a spiritual taste of soul, mightily helps the soul, in its reasonings on the Word of God, and in judging of the true meaning of its rules; as it removes the prejudices of a depraved appetite, and naturally leads the thoughts in the right channel, casts a light on the Word of God, and causes the true meaning, most naturally to come to mind, through the harmony there is between the disposition and relish of a sanctified soul, and the true meaning of the rules of God's Word. Yes, this harmony tends to bring the texts themselves to mind, on proper occasions; as the particular state of the stomach and palate, tends to bring such particular meats and drinks to mind, as are agreeable to that state. Thus the children of God are led by the Spirit of God in judging of actions themselves, and in their meditations upon, and judging of, and applying the rules of God's holy Word: and so God teaches them his statutes, and causes them to understand the way of his precepts; which the Psalmist so often prays for.

But this leading of the Spirit is a thing exceedingly diverse from that which some call so; which consists not in teaching them God's statutes and precepts, that he has already given; but in giving them new precepts, by immediate inward speech or suggestion; and has in it no tasting the true excellency of things, or judging or discerning the nature of things at all. They do not determine what is the will of God by any taste or relish, or any manner of judgment of the nature of things, but by an immediate dictate concerning the thing to be done: there is no such thing as any judgment or wisdom in the case. Whereas in that leading of the Spirit which is peculiar to God's children, is imparted that true wisdom, and holy discretion, so often spoken of in the Word of God; which is high above the other way, as the stars are higher than a glow-worm; and that which Balaam and Saul (who sometimes were led by the Spirit in that other way) never had, and no natural man can have, without a change of nature.

What has been said of the Nature of spiritual Understanding, as consisting most essentially in a divine supernatural Sense and Relish of the Heart, not only shows that there is nothing of it in this falsely supposed Leading of the Spirit, which has been now spoken of; but also shows the Difference between spiritual Understanding, and all Kinds and Forms of Enthusiasm, all imaginary Sights of God and Christ and Heaven, all supposed Witnessing of the Spirit, and Testimonies of the Love of God by immediate inward Suggestion; and all Impressions of future Events, and immediate Revelations of any secret Facts whatsoever; all enthusiastical Impressions and Applications of Words of Scripture, as though they were Words now immediately spoken by God to a particular Person, in a new Meaning, and carrying something more in them, than the Words contain as they lie in the Bible; and all Interpretations of the mystical Meaning of the Scripture, by supposed immediate Revelation. None of these Things consist in a divine Sense and Relish of the Heart, of the holy Beauty and Excellency of divine Things; nor have they any Thing to do with such a Sense; but all consist in Impressions in the Head; all are to be referred to the Head of Impressions on the Imagination, and consist in the exciting external Ideas in the Mind, either in Ideas of outward Shapes and Colors, or Words spoken, or Letters written, or Ideas of Things external and sensible, belonging to Actions done, or Events accomplished, or to be Accomplished. An enthusiastical supposed Manifestation of the Love of God, is made by the exciting an Idea of a smiling Countenance, or some other pleasant outward Appearance, or by the Idea of pleasant Words spoken, or written, excited in the Imagination, or some pleasant bodily Sensation. So when Persons have an imaginary Revelation of some secret Fact, it is by exciting external Ideas; either of some Words, implying a Declaration of that Fact, or some visible or sensible Circumstances of such a Fact. So the supposed Leading of the Spirit, to do the Will of God, in outward Behavior, is either by exciting the Idea of Words (which are outward Things) in their Minds, either the Words of Scripture, or other Words, which they look upon as an immediate Command of God; or else by exciting and impressing strongly the Ideas of the outward Actions themselves. So when an Interpretation of a Scripture Type or Allegory, is immediately, in an extraordinary Way, strongly suggested, it is by suggesting Words, as though one secretly whispered, and told the Meaning; or by exciting other Ideas in the Imagination.

Such Sort of Experiences and Discoveries as these commonly raise the Affections of such as are deluded by them, to a great Height, and make a mighty Uproar in both Soul and Body. And a very great Part of the false Religion that has been in the World, from one Age to another, consists in such Discoveries as these, and in the Affections that flow from them. In such Things consisted the Experiences of the ancient Pythagoreans among the Heathen, and many others among them, who had strange Ecstasies and Raptures, and pretended to a divine Afflatus, and immediate Revelations from Heaven. In such Things as these seem to have consisted the Experiences of the Essenes, an ancient Sect among the Jews, at, and after the Times of the Apostles. In such Things as these consisted the Experiences of many of the ancient Gnostics, and the Montanists, and many other Sects of ancient Heretics, in the primitive Ages of the Christian Church. And in such Things as these consisted the pretended immediate Converse, with God and Christ, and Saints and Angels of Heaven, of the Monks, Anchorites, and Recluses, that formerly abounded in the Church of Rome. In such Things consisted the pretended high Experiences, and great Spirituality of many Sects of Enthusiasts, that swarmed in the World after the Reformation; such as the Anabaptists, Antinomians, and Familists, the Followers of Nicholas Stork, Thomas Muncer, John Becold, Henry Pfeifer, David George, Casper Swenckfield, Henry Nicolas, Johannes Agricola Eislebius; and the many wild Enthusiasts that were in England in the Days of Oliver Cromwell; and the Followers of Mistress Hutchinson, in New-England; as appears by the particular and large Accounts given of all these Sects, by that eminently holy Man, Mr. Samuel Rutherford, in his Display of the spiritual Antichrist. And in such Things as these consisted the Experiences of the late French Prophets, and their Followers. And in these Things seems to lie the Religion of the many Kinds of Enthusiasts of the present Day. It is by such Sort of Religion as this chiefly that Satan transforms himself into an Angel of Light: And it is that which he has ever most successfully made use of to confound hopeful and happy Revivals of Religion, from the Beginning of the Christian Church to this Day. When the Spirit of God is poured out, to begin a glorious Work, then the old Serpent, as fast as possible, and by all Means introduces this Bastard Religion, and mingles it with the true; which has from Time to Time soon brought all Things into Confusion. The pernicious Consequence of it is not easily imagined or conceived of, until we see and are amazed with the awful Effects of it, and the dismal Desolation it has made. If the Revival of true Religion be very great in its Beginning, yet if this Bastard comes in, there is Danger of its doing as Gideon's Bastard Abimelech did, who never left until he had slain all his 70 true born Sons, excepting one, that was forced to flee. Great and strict therefore should be the Watch and Guard that Ministers maintain against such Things, especially at a Time of great Awakening: For Men, especially the common People, are easily bewitched with such Things; they having such a glaring and glistening Show of high Religion; and the Devil hiding his own Shape, and appearing as an Angel of Light, that Men may not to be afraid of him, but many adore him.

The Imagination seems to be that wherein are formed all those Delusions of Satan, which those are carried away with, who are under the Influence of false Religion, and counterfeit Grace and Affections. Here is the Devil's grand Lurking-Place, the very Nest of foul and delusive Spirits. It is very much to be doubted whether the Devil can come at the Soul of Man, at all to affect it, or to excite any Thought or Motion, or produce any Effect whatsoever in it, any other Way, than by the Phantasy; which is that Power of the Soul, by which it receives, and is the Subject of the Species, or Ideas of outward and sensible Things. As to the Laws and Means which the Creator has established, for the Intercourse and Communication of unbodied Spirits, we know nothing about them; we do not know by what Medium they manifest their Thoughts to each other, or excite Thoughts in each other. But as to Spirits that are united to Bodies, those Bodies God has united them to, are their Medium of Communication: They have no other Medium of acting on other Creatures, or being acted on by them, than the Body. Therefore it is not to be supposed that Satan can excite any Thought, or produce any Effect in the Soul of Man, any otherwise, than by some Motion of the animal Spirits, or by causing some Motion or Alteration in something which appertains to the Body. There is this Reason to think that the Devil cannot produce Thoughts, in the Soul immediately, or any other Way, than by the medium of the Body, namely That he cannot immediately see or know the Thoughts of the Soul: It is abundantly declared in the Scripture to be peculiar to the omniscient God to do that. But it is not likely that the Devil can immediately produce an Effect which is out of the Reach of his immediate View. It seems unreasonable to suppose that his immediate Agency, should be out of his own Sight, or that it should be impossible for him to see what he himself immediately does. Is it not unreasonable to suppose that any Spirit or intelligent Agent, should by the Act of his Will, produce Effects, according to his Understanding, or agreeable to his own Thoughts, and that immediately; and yet the Effects produced, be beyond the Reach of his Understanding, or where he can have no immediate Perception or Discerning at all? But if this be so, that the Devil cannot produce Thoughts in the Soul immediately, or any other Way than by the animal Spirits, or by the Body; then it follows, that he never brings to pass any thing in the Soul, but by the Imagination or Phantasy, or by exciting external Ideas. For we know that Alterations in the Body, do immediately excite no other Sort of Ideas in the Mind, but external Ideas, or Ideas of the outward Senses, or Ideas which are of the same outward Nature. As to Reflection, Abstraction, Reasoning, et cetera and those Thoughts and inward Motions which are the Fruits of these Acts of the Mind, they are not the next Effects of Impressions on the Body. So that it must be only by the Imagination, that Satan has Access to the Soul, to tempt and delude it, or suggest any Thing to it. And this seems to be the Reason why Persons that are under the Disease of Melancholy, are commonly so visibly and remarkably subject to the Suggestions and Temptations of Satan: That being a Disease which peculiarly affects the animal Spirits, and is attended with Weakness of that Part of the Body which is the Fountain of the animal Spirits, even the Brain, which is, as it were, the Seat of the Phantasy. It is by Impressions made on the Brain, that any Ideas are excited in the Mind, by the Motion of the animal Spirits, or any Changes made in the Body. The Brain being thus weakened and diseased, it is less under the Command of the higher Faculties of the Soul, and yields the more easily to extrinsic Impressions, and is overpowered by the disordered Motions of the animal Spirits; and so the Devil has greater Advantage to affect the Mind, by working on the Imagination. And thus Satan, when he casts in those horrid Suggestions into the Minds of many melancholy Persons, in which they have no Hand themselves, he does it by exciting imaginary Ideas, either of some dreadful Words or Sentences, or other horrid outward Ideas. And when he tempts other Persons who are not melancholy, he does it by presenting to the Imagination, in a lively and alluring Manner, the Objects of their Lusts, or by exciting Ideas of Words, and so by them exciting Thoughts; or by promoting an Imagination of outward Actions, Events, Circumstances, et cetera. Innumerable are the Ways by which the Mind might be led on to all Kind of evil Thoughts, by exciting external Ideas in the Imagination.

If Persons keep no Guard at these Avenues of Satan, by which he has Access to the Soul, to tempt and delude it, they will be likely to have enough of him. And especially, if instead of guarding against him, they lay themselves open to him, and seek and invite him, because he appears as an Angel of Light, and counterfeits the Illuminations and Graces of the Spirit of God, by inward Whispers, and immediate Suggestions of Facts and Events, pleasant Voices, beautiful Images, and other Impressions on the Imagination. There are many who are deluded by such Things, and are lifted up with them, and seek after them, that have a continued Course of them, and can have them almost when they will; and especially when their Pride and Vain-glory has most Occasion for them, to make a Show of them before Company. It is with them, something as it is with those who are Professors of the Art of telling where lost Things are to be found, by Impressions made on their Imaginations; they laying themselves open to the Devil, he is always at Hand to give them the desired Impression.

Before I finish what I would say on this Head of Imaginations, counterfeiting spiritual Light, and Affections arising from them, I would renewedly (to prevent Misunderstanding of what has been said) desire it may be observed, that I am far from determining that no Affections are spiritual which are attended with imaginary Ideas. Such is the Nature of Man, that he can scarcely think of any Thing intensely, without some Kind of outward Ideas. They arise and interpose themselves unavoidably, in the Course of a Man's Thoughts; though oftentimes they are very confused, and are not what the Mind regards. When the Mind is much engaged, and the Thoughts intense, oftentimes the Imagination is more strong, and the outward Idea more lively; especially in Persons of some Constitutions of Body. But there is a great Difference between these two Things, namely, Lively Imaginations arising from strong Affections, and Strong Affections arising from lively Imaginations. The former may be, and doubtless often is, in Case of truly gracious Affections. The Affections do not arise from the Imagination, nor have any Dependence upon it; but on the contrary, the Imagination is only the accidental Effect, or Consequent of the Affection, through the Infirmity of human Nature. But when the latter is the Case, as it often is, that the Affection arises from the Imagination, and is built upon it, as its Foundation, instead of a spiritual Illumination or Discovery; then is the Affection, however elevated, worthless and vain. And this is the Drift of what has been now said, of Impressions on the Imagination. Having observed this, I proceed to another Mark of gracious Affections.

5. Truly gracious Affections are attended with a reasonable and spiritual Conviction of the Judgment, of the Reality and Certainty of divine Things.

This seems to be implied in the Text that was laid as the Foundation of this Discourse, Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet BELIEVING, ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.

All those who are truly gracious Persons have a solid, full, thorough and effectual Conviction of the Truth of the great Things of the Gospel. I mean that they no longer halt between two Opinions, the great Doctrines of the Gospel cease to be any longer doubtful Things, or Matters of Opinion, which, though probable, are yet disputable; but with them, they are Points settled and determined, as undoubted and indisputable; so that they are not afraid to venture their All upon their Truth. Their Conviction is an effectual Conviction; so that the great, spiritual, mysterious, and invisible Things of the Gospel, have the Influence of real and certain Things upon them; they have the Weight and Power of real Things in their Hearts; and accordingly rule in their Affections, and govern them through the Course of their Lives. With Respect to Christ's being the Son of God, and Saviour of the World, and the great Things he has revealed concerning Himself, and his Father, and another World, they have not only a predominating Opinion that these Things are true, and so yield their Assent, as they do in many other Matters of doubtful Speculation; but they see that it is really so: Their Eyes are opened, so that they see that really Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And as to the Things which Christ has revealed, of God's eternal Purposes and Designs, concerning fallen Man, and the glorious and everlasting Things prepared for the Saints in another World, they see that they are so indeed: And therefore these Things are of great Weight with them, and have a mighty Power upon their Hearts, and Influence over their Practice, in some Measure answerable to their infinite Importance.

That all true Christians have such a Kind of Conviction of the Truth of the Things of the Gospel, is abundantly manifest from the holy Scriptures. I will mention a few Places of many; Matthew 16:15, 16, 17. But whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona:—my Father which is in Heaven, hath revealed it unto thee. John 6:68, 69. Thou hast the Words of eternal Life: And we believe, and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. John 17:6, 7, 8. I have manifested thy Name to the Men which thou gavest me out of the World. —Now they have known that all Things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee: For I have given unto them, the Words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. Acts 8:37. If thou believest with all thy Heart, thou mayest. 2 Corinthians 4:11, 12, 13, 14. We which live, are always delivered unto Death, for Jesus sake:—Death worketh in us;—we having the Spirit of Faith; according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak: Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. Together with Verse 16. For which Cause, we faint not. And Verse 18. while we look not at the Things which are seen, etc. And Chapter 5:1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a Building of God,—And Verse 6, 7, 8. Therefore we are always confident; knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by Faith, not by Sight; we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:12. For the which Cause, I also suffer these Things: Nevertheless, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed; and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, against that Day. Hebrews 3:6. Whose House are we, if we hold fast the Confidence, and the Rejoicing of the Hope, firm unto the End. Hebrews 11:1. Now Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for, and the Evidence of Things not seen: Together with that whole Chapter. 1 John 4:13, 14, 15, 16. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us; because he hath given us of his Spirit; and we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. Chapter 5:4, 5. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the World: And this is the Victory that overcometh the World, even our Faith. Who is he that overcometh the World, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Therefore truly gracious Affections are attended with such a Kind of Conviction and Persuasion of the Truth of the Things of the Gospel, and Sight of their Evidence and Reality, as these and other Scriptures speak of.

There are many religious Affections, which are not attended with such a Conviction of the Judgment. There are many Apprehensions and Ideas which some have, that they call divine Discoveries, which are affecting, but not convincing. Though for a little while, they may seem to be more persuaded of the Truth of the Things of Religion, than they used to be, and may yield a forward Assent, like many of Christ's Hearers, who believed for a while; yet they have no thorough and effectual Conviction; nor is there any great abiding Change in them, in this Respect, that whereas formerly they did not realize the great Things of the Gospel, now these Things, with Regard to Reality and Certainty, appear new to them, and they behold them quite in another View than they used to do. There are many Persons who have been exceedingly raised with religious Affections, and think they have been converted, they do not go about the World any more convinced of the Truth of the Gospel, than they used to be; or at least, there is no remarkable Alteration: They are not Men who live under the Influence and Power of a realizing Conviction of the infinite and eternal Things which the Gospel reveals: If they were, it would be impossible for them to live as they do. Because their Affections are not attended with a thorough Conviction of the Mind, they are not at all to be depended on; however great a Show and Noise they make, it is like the Blaze of Tow, or Crackling of Thorns, or like the forward flourishing Blade on stony Ground, that has no Root, nor Deepness of Earth to maintain its Life.

Some Persons, under high Affections, and a confident Persuasion of their good Estate, have that, which they very ignorantly call a Seeing the Truth of the Word of God, and which is very far from it, after this Manner; they have some Text of Scripture coming to their Minds, in a sudden and extraordinary Manner, immediately declaring to them (as they suppose) that their Sins are forgiven or that God loves them, and will save them; and it may be have a Chain of Scriptures coming one after another, to the same Purpose; and they are convinced that it is Truth; that is they are confident that it is certainly so, that their Sins are forgiven, and God does love them, etc.—; they say they know it is so; and when the Words of Scripture are suggested to them, and as they suppose immediately spoken to them by God, in this Meaning, they are ready to cry out, Truth, Truth! It is certainly so! The Word of God is true! And this they call a Seeing the Truth of the Word of God. Whereas the Whole of their Faith amounts to no more, than only a strong Confidence of their own good Estate, and so a Confidence that those Words are true, which they suppose tell them they are in a good Estate: When indeed (as was shown before) there is no Scripture which declares that any Person is in a good Estate directly, or any other Way than by Consequence. So that this, instead of being a real Sight of the Word of God, is a Sight of nothing but a Phantom, and is all over a Delusion. Truly to see the Truth of the Word of God, is to see the Truth of the Gospel; which is the glorious Doctrine the Word of God contains, concerning God, and Jesus Christ, and the Way of Salvation by him, and the World of Glory that he is entered into, and purchased for all them who believe; and not a Revelation that such and such particular Persons are true Christians, and shall go to Heaven. Therefore those Affections which arise from no other Persuasion of the Truth of the Word of God than this, arise from Delusion, and not true Conviction; and consequently are themselves delusive and vain.

But if the religious Affections that Persons have, do indeed arise from a strong Persuasion of the Truth of the Christian Religion; their Affections are not the better, unless their Persuasion be a reasonable Persuasion or Conviction. By a reasonable Conviction, I mean a Conviction founded on real Evidence, or upon that which is a good Reason, or just Ground of Conviction. Men may have a strong Persuasion that the Christian Religion is true, when their Persuasion is not at all built on Evidence, but altogether on Education, and the Opinion of others; as many Mahometans are strongly persuaded of the Truth of the Mahometan Religion, because their Fathers, and Neighbours, and Nation believe it. That Belief of the Truth of the Christian Religion which is built on the very same Grounds, with Mahometans Belief of the Mahometan Religion, is the same Sort of Belief. And though the Thing believed happens to be better; yet That does not make the Belief it self, to be of a better Sort: For though the Thing believed happens to be true; yet the Belief of it is not owing to this Truth, but to Education. So that as the Conviction is no better than the Mahometans Conviction; so the Affections that flow from it, are no better, in themselves, than the religious Affections of Mahometans.

But if that belief of Christian doctrines, which persons' affections arise from, be not merely from education, but indeed from reasons and arguments which are offered, it will not from thence necessarily follow, that their affections are truly gracious: For in order to that, it is requisite, not only that the belief which their affections arise from, should be a reasonable, but also a spiritual belief or conviction. I suppose none will doubt but that some natural men do yield a kind of assent of their judgments to the truth of the Christian religion, from the rational proofs or arguments that are offered to evince it. Judas, without doubt, thought Jesus to be the Messiah, from the things which he saw and heard; but yet all along was a devil. So in John 2:23, 24, 25, we read of many that believed in Christ's Name, when they saw the miracles that He did; whom yet Christ knew had not that within them, which was to be depended on. So Simon the Sorcerer believed, when he beheld the miracles and signs which were done; but yet remained in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, Acts 8:13, 23. And if there is such a belief or assent of the judgment in some natural men, none can doubt but that religious affections may arise from that assent or belief; as we read of some who believed for a while, that were greatly affected, and anon, with joy received the word.

It is evident that there is such a thing as a spiritual belief or conviction of the truth of the things of the Gospel, or a belief that is peculiar to those who are spiritual, or who are regenerated, and have the Spirit of God, in His holy communications, and dwelling in them as a vital principle. So that the conviction they have, does not only differ from that which natural men have, in its concomitants, in that it is accompanied with good works; but the belief itself is diverse, the assent and conviction of the judgment is of a kind peculiar to those who are spiritual, and that which natural men are wholly destitute of. This is evident by the Scripture, if anything at all is so; John 17:8. They have believed that Thou didst send Me. Titus 1:1: According to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. John 16:27: The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. 1 John 4:15: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. Chapter 5:1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. Verse 10: He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself.

What a spiritual conviction of the judgment is, we are naturally led to determine from what has been said already, under the former head of a spiritual understanding. The conviction of the judgment arises from the illumination of the understanding: The passing of a right judgment on things, depends on an having a right apprehension or idea of things. And therefore it follows, that a spiritual conviction of the truth of the great things of the Gospel, is such a conviction, as arises from having a spiritual view or apprehension of those things in the mind. And this is also evident from the Scripture, which often represents, that a saving belief of the reality and divinity of the things proposed and exhibited to us in the Gospel, is from the Spirit of God's enlightening the mind, to have right apprehensions of the nature of those things, and so as it were unveiling things, or revealing them, and enabling the mind to view them and see them as they are: Luke 10:21, 22. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that Thou hast HID these things from the wise and prudent, and hast REVEALED them unto babes: Even so [Father], for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will REVEAL Him. John 6:40: And this is the will of Him that sent Me; that every one that SEETH the Son, and BELIEVETH on Him, may have everlasting life. Where it is plain, that true faith arises from a spiritual sight of Christ. And John 17:6, 7, 8: I have MANIFESTED Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world—Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me, are of Thee; for I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received them, and known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. Where Christ's manifesting God's name to the disciples, or giving them a true apprehension and view of divine things, was that whereby they knew that Christ's doctrine was of God, and that Christ Himself was of Him, and was sent by Him. Matthew 16:16, 17: Simon Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not REVEALED it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven. 1 John 5:10: He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself. Galatians 1:14, 15, 16: Being more exceedingly [zealous] of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to REVEAL His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.

If it be so, that that is a spiritual conviction of the divinity and reality of the things exhibited in the Gospel, which arises from a spiritual understanding of those things; I have shown already what that is, namely, a sense and taste of the divine, supreme and holy excellency and beauty of those things. So that then is the mind spiritually convinced of the divinity and truth of the great things of the Gospel, when that conviction arises, either directly or remotely, from such a sense or view of their divine excellency and glory as is there exhibited. This clearly follows from things that have been already said; and for this the Scripture is very plain and express. 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4, 5, 6: But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that BELIEVE not, lest the light of the GLORIOUS GOSPEL of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD, in the face of Jesus Christ. Together with the last verse of the foregoing chapter, which introduces this: But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass, the GLORY OF THE LORD are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Nothing can be more evident than that a saving belief of the Gospel, is here spoken of, by the Apostle, as arising from the mind's being enlightened, to behold the divine glory of the things it exhibits.

This view or sense of the divine glory, and unparalleled beauty of the things exhibited to us in the Gospel, has a tendency to convince the mind of their divinity, two ways; directly; and more indirectly, and remotely. 1. A view of this divine glory directly, convinces the mind of the divinity of these things, as this glory is in itself a direct, clear, and all-conquering evidence of it; especially when clearly discovered, or when this supernatural sense is given in a good degree.

He that has his judgment thus directly convinced and assured of the divinity of the things of the Gospel, by a clear view of their divine glory, has a reasonable conviction; his belief and assurance is altogether agreeable to reason; because the divine glory and beauty of divine things is in itself, real evidence of their divinity, and the most direct and strong evidence. He that truly sees the divine, transcendent, supreme glory of those things which are divine, does as it were know their divinity intuitively; he not only argues that they are divine, but he sees that they are divine; he sees that in them wherein divinity chiefly consists; for in this glory, which is so vastly and inexpressibly distinguished from the glory of artificial things, and all other glory, does mainly consist the true notion of divinity: God is God, and distinguished from all other beings, and exalted above them, chiefly by His divine beauty, which is infinitely diverse from all other beauty. They therefore that see the stamp of this glory in divine things, they see divinity in them, they see God in them, and so see them to be divine; because they see that in them wherein the truest idea of divinity does consist. Thus a soul may have a kind of intuitive knowledge of the divinity of the things exhibited in the Gospel; not that he judges the doctrines of the Gospel to be from God, without any argument or deduction at all; but it is without any long chain of arguments; the argument is but one, and the evidence direct; the mind ascends to the truth of the Gospel but by one step, and that is its divine glory.

It would be very strange, if any professing Christian should deny it to be possible that there should be an Excellency in divine Things, which is so transcendent, and exceedingly different from what is in other Things, that if it were seen, would evidently distinguish them. We cannot rationally doubt, but that Things that are divine, that appertain to the supreme Being, are vastly different from Things that are human; that there is a god-like, high, and glorious Excellency in them, that does so distinguish them from the Things which are of Men, that the Difference is ineffable; and therefore such, as, if seen, will have a most convincing, satisfying Influence upon any one, that they are what they are, namely divine. Doubtless there is that Glory and Excellency in the divine Being, by which he is so infinitely distinguished from all other Beings, that if it were seen, he might be known by it. It would therefore be very unreasonable to deny that it is possible for God, to give Manifestations of this distinguishing Excellency, in Things by which he is pleased to make himself known; and that this distinguishing Excellency may be clearly seen in them. There are natural Excellencies that are very evidently distinguishing of the Subjects or Authors, to any one who beholds them. How is the Speech of an understanding Man different from that of a little Child! And how greatly distinguished is the Speech of some Men of great Genius, as Homer, Cicero, Milton, Locke, Addison, and others, from that of many other understanding Men! There are no Limits to be set to the Degrees of Manifestation of mental Excellency, that there may be in Speech. But the Appearances of the natural Perfections of God, in the Manifestations he makes of himself, may doubtless be unspeakably more evidently distinguishing, than the Appearances of those Excellencies of Worms of the Dust, in which they differ one from another. He that is well acquainted with Mankind, and their Works, by viewing the Sun, may know it is no human Work. And it is reasonable to suppose, that when Christ comes at the End of the World, in the Glory of his Father, it will be with such ineffable Appearances of Divinity, as will leave no Doubt to the Inhabitants of the World, even the most obstinate Infidels, that he who appears is a divine Person. But above all, do the Manifestations of the moral and spiritual Glory of the divine Being (which is the proper Beauty of the Divinity) bring their own Evidence, and tend to assure the Heart. Thus the Disciples were assured that Jesus was the Son of God, for they beheld his Glory, as the Glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth, John 1:14. When Christ appeared in the Glory of his Transfiguration to his Disciples, with that outward Glory, to their bodily Eyes, which was a sweet and admirable Symbol and Semblance of his spiritual Glory, together with his spiritual Glory itself, manifested to their Minds; the Manifestation of Glory was such, as did perfectly, and with good Reason, assure them of his Divinity; as appears by what one of them, namely the Apostle Peter, says concerning it, 2 Peter 1:16, 17, 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables, when we made known unto you the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty: For he received from God the Father, Honor and Glory; when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this Voice which came from Heaven, we heard, when we were with him in the holy Mount. The Apostle calls that Mount, the holy Mount, because the Manifestations of Christ which were there made to their Minds, and which their Minds were especially impressed and ravished with, was the Glory of his Holiness, or the Beauty of his moral Excellency; or, as another of these Disciples, who saw it, expresses it, His Glory, as full of Grace and Truth.

Now this distinguishing Glory of the divine Being has its brightest Appearance and Manifestation, in the Things proposed and exhibited to us in the Gospel, the Doctrines there taught, the Word there spoken, and the divine Counsels, Acts and Works there revealed. These Things have the clearest, most admirable, and distinguishing Representations and Exhibitions of the Glory of God's moral Perfections, that ever were made to the World. And if there be such a distinguishing, evidential Manifestation of divine Glory in the Gospel, it is reasonable to suppose that there may be such a Thing as Seeing it: What should hinder but that it may be seen? It is no Argument that it cannot be seen, that some do not see it; though they may be discerning Men in temporal Matters. If there be such ineffable, distinguishing, evidential Excellencies in the Gospel, it is reasonable to suppose that they are such as are not to be discerned, but by the special Influence and Enlightenings of the Spirit of God. There is need of uncommon Force of Mind to discern the distinguishing Excellencies of the Works of Authors of great Genius: Those Things in Milton, which to mean Judges, appear tasteless and Imperfections, are his inimitable Excellencies in the Eyes of those who are of greater Discerning, and better Taste. And if there be a Book, which God is the Author of, it is most reasonable to suppose that the distinguishing Glories of his Word are of such a Kind, as that the Sin and Corruption of Men's Hearts, which above all Things alienates Men from the Deity, and makes the Heart dull and stupid to any Sense or Taste of those Things wherein the moral Glory of the divine Perfections consists; I say, it is but reasonable to suppose, that this would blind Men from discerning the Beauties of such a Book; and that therefore they will not see them, but as God is pleased to enlighten them, and restore an holy Taste, to discern and relish divine Beauties.

This Sense of the spiritual Excellency and Beauty of divine Things, does also tend directly to convince the Mind of the Truth of the Gospel, as there are very many of the most important Things declared in the Gospel, that are hid from the Eyes of natural Men, the Truth of which does in Effect consist in this Excellency, or does so immediately depend upon it and result from it; that in this Excellency's being seen, the Truth of those Things is seen. As soon as ever the Eyes are opened to behold the holy Beauty and Amiableness that is in divine Things, a Multitude of most important Doctrines of the Gospel, that depend upon it, (which all appear strange and dark to natural Men) are at once seen to be true. As for Instance, hereby appears the Truth of what the Word of God declares concerning the exceeding Evil of Sin; for the same Eye that discerns the transcendent Beauty of Holiness, necessarily therein sees the exceeding Odiousness of Sin: The same Taste which relishes the Sweetness of true moral Good, tastes the Bitterness of moral Evil. And by this Means a Man sees his own Sinfulness and Loathsomeness; for he has now a Sense to discern Objects of this Nature; and so sees the Truth of what the Word of God declares concerning the exceeding Sinfulness of Mankind, which before he did not see. He now sees the dreadful Pollution of his Heart, and the desperate Depravity of his Nature, in a new Manner; for his Soul has now a Sense given it to feel the Pain of such a Disease: And this shows him the Truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Corruption of Man's Nature, his original Sin, and the ruinous undone Condition Man is in, and his need of a Savior, his need of the mighty Power of God to renew his Heart and change his Nature. Men by seeing the true Excellency of Holiness, do see the Glory of all those Things, which both Reason and Scripture show to be in the divine Being; for it has been shown that the Glory of them depends on this: And hereby they see the Truth of all that the Scripture declares concerning God's glorious Excellency and Majesty, his being the Fountain of all Good, the only Happiness of the Creature, etc. And this again shows the Mind the Truth of what the Scripture teaches concerning the Evil of Sin against so glorious a God; and also the Truth of what it teaches concerning Sin's just Desert of that dreadful Punishment which it reveals; and also concerning the Impossibility of our offering any Satisfaction, or sufficient Atonement, for that which is so infinitely evil and heinous. And this again shows the Truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Necessity of a Savior, to offer an Atonement of infinite Value for Sin. And this Sense of spiritual Beauty that has been spoken of, enables the Soul to see the Glory of those Things which the Gospel reveals concerning the Person of Christ; and so enables to see the exceeding Beauty and Dignity of his Person, appearing in what the Gospel exhibits of his Word, Works, Acts and Life: And this Apprehension of the superlative Dignity of his Person, shows the Truth of what the Gospel declares concerning the Value of his Blood and Righteousness, and so the infinite Excellency of the Offering he has made to God for us, and so its Sufficiency to atone for our Sins, and recommend us to God. And thus the Spirit of God discovers the Way of Salvation by Christ: Thus the Soul sees the Fitness and Suitableness of this Way of Salvation, the admirable Wisdom of the Contrivance, and the perfect Answerableness of the Provision that the Gospel exhibits, (as made for us) to our Necessities. A Sense of true divine Beauty being given to the Soul, the Soul discerns the Beauty of every Part of the Gospel Scheme. This also shows the Soul the Truth of what the Word of God declares concerning Man's chief Happiness, as consisting in holy Exercises and Enjoyments. This shows the Truth of what the Gospel declares concerning the unspeakable Glory of the heavenly State. And what the Prophecies of the old Testament, and the Writings of the Apostles declare concerning the Glory of the Messiah's Kingdom, is now all plain; and also what the Scripture teaches concerning the Reasons and Grounds of our Duty. The Truth of all these Things revealed in the Scripture, and many more that might be mentioned, appear to the Soul, only by imparting that spiritual Taste of divine Beauty, which has been spoken of. They being hidden Things to the Soul before.

And besides all this, the Truth of all those Things which the Scripture says about experimental Religion, is hereby known; for they are now experienced. And this convinces the Soul that one who knew the Heart of Man, better than we know our own Hearts, and perfectly knew the Nature of Virtue and Holiness, was the Author of the Scriptures. And the opening to View, with such Clearness, such a World of wonderful and glorious Truth in the Gospel, that before was unknown, being quite above the View of a natural Man, but now appearing so clear and bright, has a powerful and invincible Influence on the Soul, to persuade of the Divinity of the Gospel.

Unless Men may come to a reasonable solid Persuasion and Conviction of the Truth of the Gospel, by the internal Evidences of it, in the Way that has been spoken, namely By a Sight of its Glory; it is impossible that those who are illiterate, and unacquainted with History, should have any thorough and effectual Conviction of it at all. They may without this, see a great deal of Probability of it; it may be reasonable for them to give much Credit to what learned Men, and Historians tell them; and they may tell them so much, that it may look very probable and rational to them, that the Christian Religion is true; and so much that they would be very unreasonable not to entertain this Opinion. But to have a Conviction, so clear, and evident, and assuring, as to be sufficient to induce them, with Boldness, to sell all, confidently and fearlessly to run the Venture of the Loss of all Things, and of enduring the most exquisite and long-continued Torments, and to trample the World under Foot, and count all Things but Dung, for Christ; the Evidence they can have from History, cannot be sufficient. It is impossible that Men, who have not something of a general View of the historical World, or the Series of History from Age to Age, should come at the Force of Arguments for the Truth of Christianity, drawn from History, to that Degree, as effectually to induce them to venture their all upon it. After all that learned Men have said to them, there will remain innumerable Doubts on their Minds: They will be ready, when pinched with some great Trial of their Faith, to say, How do I know this, or that? How do I know when these Histories were written? Learned Men tell me these Histories were so and so attested in the Day of them; but how do I know that there were such Attestations then? They tell me there is equal Reason to believe these Facts, as any whatsoever that are related at such a Distance; but how do I know that other Facts which are related of those Ages, ever were? Those who have not something of a general View of the Series of historical Events, and of the State of Mankind from Age to Age, cannot see the clear Evidence from History, of the Truth of Facts, in distant Ages; but there will endless Doubts and Scruples remain.

But the Gospel was not given only for learned Men. There are at least Nineteen in Twenty, if not Ninety-nine in an Hundred, of those for whom the Scriptures were written, that are not capable of any certain or effectual Conviction of the divine Authority of the Scriptures, by such Arguments as learned Men make use of. If Men who have been brought up in Heathenism must wait for a clear and certain Conviction of the Truth of Christianity, until they have Learning and Acquaintance with the History of Ages enough to see clearly the Force of such Kind of Arguments: it will make the Evidence of the Gospel, to them, immensely difficult, and will render the Propagation of the Gospel among them infinitely difficult. Miserable is the Condition of the Heathens, and others who have lately manifested a Desire to be instructed in Christianity: if they can come at no Evidence of the Truth of Christianity, sufficient to induce them to sell all for Christ, in no other Way but this.

It is unreasonable to suppose, that God has provided for his People, no more than probable Evidences of the Truth of the Gospel. He has with great Care, abundantly provided, and given them, the most convincing, assuring, satisfying and manifold Evidence of his Faithfulness in the Covenant of Grace; and as David says, made a Covenant, ordered in all Things and sure. Therefore it is rational to suppose, that at the same Time, he would not fail of ordering the Matter so, that there should not be wanting, as great, and clear Evidence, that this is his Covenant, and that these Promises are his Promises; or which is the same Thing, that the Christian Religion is true, and that the Gospel is his Word. Otherwise in vain are those great Assurances he has given of his Faithfulness in his Covenant, by confirming it with his Oath, and so variously establishing it by Seals and Pledges. For the Evidence that it is his Covenant, is properly the Foundation on which all the Force and Effect of those other Assurances do stand. We may therefore undoubtedly suppose and conclude, that there is some Sort of Evidence which God has given, that this Covenant, and these Promises are his, beyond all mere Probability; that there are some Grounds of Assurance of it held forth, which, if we are not blind to them, tend to give an higher Persuasion, than any arguing from History, human Tradition, etcetera which the Illiterate, and Unacquainted with History, are capable of; yea, that which is good Ground of the highest and most perfect Assurance, that Mankind have in any Case whatsoever; agreeable to those high Expressions which the Apostle uses, Hebrews 10:22. Let us draw near in FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH. And Colossians 2:2. That their Hearts might be comforted, being knit together in Love, and unto ALL RICHES, OF THE FULL ASSURANCE OF UNDERSTANDING, to the Acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ. It is reasonable to suppose, that God would give the greatest Evidence, of those Things which are greatest, and the Truth of which is of greatest Importance to us: And that we therefore, if we are wise, and act rationally, shall have the greatest Desire of having full, undoubting, and perfect Assurance of. But it is certain, that such an Assurance is not to be attained, by the greater Part of them who live under the Gospel, by Arguments drawn from ancient Traditions, Histories, and Monuments.

And if we come to Fact and Experience, there is not the least Reason to suppose, that One in an Hundred of those who have been sincere Christians, and have had a Heart to sell all for Christ, have come by their Conviction of the Truth of the Gospel, this Way. If we read over the Histories of the many Thousands that died Martyrs for Christ, since the Beginning of the Reformation, and have cheerfully undergone extreme Tortures, in a Confidence of the Truth of the Gospel, and consider their Circumstances and Advantages; how few of them were there, that we can reasonably suppose, ever came by their assured Persuasion, this Way; or for whom it was possible, reasonably to receive so full and strong an Assurance, from such Arguments! Many of them were weak Women and Children, and the greater Part of them illiterate Persons, many of whom had been brought up in Popish Ignorance and Darkness, and were but newly come out of it, and lived and died in Times, wherein those Arguments for the Truth of Christianity from Antiquity and History, had been but very imperfectly handled. And indeed, it is but very lately that these Arguments have been set in a clear and convincing Light, even by learned Men themselves: And since it has been done, there never were fewer thorough Believers, among those who have been educated in the true Religion: Infidelity never prevailed so much, in any Age, as in this, wherein these Arguments are handled to the greatest Advantage.

The true Martyrs of Jesus Christ, are not those who have only been strong in Opinion that the Gospel of Christ is true, but those that have seen the Truth of it; as the very Name of Martyrs or Witnesses (by which they are called in Scripture) implies. Those are very improperly called Witnesses of the Truth of any Thing, who only declare they are very much of Opinion that such a Thing is true. Those only are proper Witnesses who can, and do testify that they have seen the Truth of the Thing they assert; John 3:11. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. John 1:34. And I saw, and bear Record, that this is the Son of God. 1 John 4:14. And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son, to be the Saviour of the World. Acts 22:14-15. The God of our Fathers hath chosen you, that you should know his Will, and see that just One, and should hear the Voice of his Mouth: For you shall be his Witness unto all Men, of what you have seen and heard. But the true Martyrs of Jesus Christ are called his Witnesses: and all the Saints, who by their holy Practice under great Trials, declare that Faith, which is the SUBSTANCE of Things hoped for, and the EVIDENCE of Things not seen, are called Witnesses; Hebrews 11:1 and 12:1 because by their Profession and Practice, they declare their Assurance of the Truth and Divinity of the Gospel, having had the Eyes of their Minds enlightened, to see Divinity in the Gospel, or to behold that unparalleled, ineffably excellent, and truly divine Glory shining in it, which is altogether distinguishing, evidential, and convincing: So that they may truly be said to have seen God in it, and to have seen that it is indeed divine: And so can speak in the Style of Witnesses: and not only say, that they think the Gospel is divine, but say, that it is divine, giving it in as their Testimony, because they have seen it to be so. Doubtless Peter, James, and John, after they had seen that excellent Glory of Christ in the Mount, would have been ready, when they came down, to speak in the Language of Witnesses, and to say positively that Jesus is the Son of God; as Peter says, they were Eye-witnesses, 2 Peter 1:16. And so all Nations will be ready positively to say this, when they shall behold his Glory at the Day of Judgment; though what will be universally seen, will be only his natural Glory, and not his moral and spiritual Glory, which is much more distinguishing. But yet, it must be noted, that among those who have a spiritual Sight of the divine Glory of the Gospel, there is a great Variety of Degrees of Strength of Faith, as there is a vast Variety of the Degrees of Clearness of Views of this Glory: But there is no true and saving Faith, or spiritual Conviction of the Judgment, of the Truth of the Gospel, that has nothing in it, of this Manifestation of its internal Evidence, in some Degree. The Gospel of the blessed God does not go abroad a begging for its Evidence, so much as some think; it has its highest and most proper Evidence in itself. Though great Use may be made of external Arguments, they are not to be neglected, but highly prized and valued; for they may be greatly serviceable to awaken Unbelievers, and bring them to serious Consideration, and to confirm the Faith of true Saints: Yea they may be in some Respects subservient to the begetting of a saving Faith in Men. Though what was said before remains true, that there is no spiritual Conviction of the Judgment, but what arises from an Apprehension of the spiritual Beauty and Glory of divine Things: For, as has been observed, this Apprehension or View has a Tendency to convince the Mind of the Truth of the Gospel, two Ways, either directly or indirectly. Having therefore already observed how it does this directly, I proceed now

2. To observe how a View of this divine Glory does convince the Mind of the Truth of Christianity, more indirectly.

First, It does so as the Prejudices of the Heart against the Truth of divine Things are hereby removed, so that the Mind thereby is open to the Force of the Reasons which are offered. The Mind of Man is naturally full of Enmity against the Doctrines of the Gospel; which is a Disadvantage to those Arguments that prove their Truth, and causes them to lose their Force upon the Mind: But when a Person has discovered to him the divine Excellency of Christian Doctrines, this destroys that Enmity, and removes the Prejudices, and sanctifies the Reason, and causes it to be open and free. Hence is a vast Difference, as to the Force that Arguments have to convince the Mind. Hence was the very different Effect, which Christ's Miracles had to convince the Disciples, from what they had to convince the Scribes and Pharisees: Not that they had a stronger Reason, or had their Reason more improved; but their Reason was sanctified, and those blinding Prejudices, which the Scribes and Pharisees were under, were removed, by the Sense they had of the Excellency of Christ and his Doctrine.

Secondly, It not only removes the hindrances of reason, but positively helps reason. It makes even the speculative notions more lively. It assists and engages the attention of the mind to that kind of objects which causes it to have a clearer view of them, and more clearly to see their mutual relations. The ideas themselves, which otherwise are dim and obscure, by this means have a light cast upon them, and are impressed with greater strength; so that the mind can better judge of them, as he that beholds the objects on the face of the earth, when the light of the sun is cast upon them, is under greater advantage to discern them, in their true forms, and mutual relations, and to see the evidences of divine wisdom and skill in their contrivance, than he that sees them in a dim starlight, or twilight.

What has been said, may serve in some measure to show the nature of a spiritual conviction of the judgment of the truth and reality of divine things; and so to distinguish truly gracious affections from others; for gracious affections are evermore attended with such a conviction of the judgment.

But before I dismiss this head, it will be needful to observe the ways whereby some are deceived, with respect to this matter; and take notice of several things, that are sometimes taken for a spiritual and saving belief of the truth of the things of religion, which are indeed very diverse from it.

1. There is a degree of conviction of the truth of the great things of religion, that arises from the common enlightenings of the Spirit of God. That more lively and sensible apprehension of the things of religion, with respect to what is natural in them, such as natural men have who are under awakenings and common illuminations, will give some degree of conviction of the truth of divine things, beyond what they had before they were thus enlightened. For hereby they see the manifestations there are, in the revelation made in the holy Scriptures, and things exhibited in that revelation, of the natural perfections of God, such as his greatness, power, and awful majesty; which tends to convince the mind, that this is the word of a great and terrible God. From the tokens there are of God's greatness and majesty in his word and works, which they have a great sense of, from the common influence of the Spirit of God, they may have a much greater conviction that these are indeed the word and works of a very great invisible being. And the lively apprehension of the greatness of God, which natural men may have, tends to make them sensible of the great guilt, which sin against such a God brings, and the dreadfulness of his wrath for sin. And this tends to cause them more easily and fully to believe the revelation the Scripture makes of another world, and of the extreme misery it threatens, there to be inflicted on sinners. And so from that sense of the great natural good there is in the things of religion, which is sometimes given in common illuminations, men may be the more induced to believe the truth of religion. These things persons may have, and yet have no sense of the beauty and amiableness of the moral and holy excellency that is in the things of religion; and therefore no spiritual conviction of their truth. But yet such convictions are sometimes mistaken, for saving convictions, and the affections flowing from them, for saving affections.

2. The extraordinary impressions which are made on the imaginations of some persons, in the visions, and immediate strong impulses and suggestions that they have, as though they saw sights, and had words spoken to them, may, and often do beget a strong persuasion of the truth of invisible things. Though the general tendency of such things, in their final issue, is to draw men off from the Word of God, and to cause them to reject the Gospel, and to establish unbelief and atheism; yet for the present, they may, and often do beget a confident persuasion of the truth of some things that are revealed in the Scriptures; however their confidence is founded in delusion, and so nothing worth. As for instance, if a person has by some invisible agent, immediately and strongly impressed on his imagination, the appearance of a bright light, and glorious form of a person seated on a throne, with great external majesty and beauty, uttering some remarkable words, with great force and energy; the person who is the subject of such an operation, may be from hence confident, that there are invisible agents, spiritual beings from what he has experienced, knowing that he had no hand himself in this extraordinary effect, which he has experienced: And he may also be confident that this is Christ, whom he saw and heard speaking: And this may make him confident that there is a Christ, and that Christ reigns on a throne in heaven, as he saw him; and may be confident that the words which he heard him speak are true, etc. In the same manner, as the lying miracles of the papists, may for the present, beget in the minds of the ignorant deluded people, a strong persuasion of the truth of many things declared in the New Testament. Thus when the images of Christ, in popish churches, are on some extraordinary occasions, made by priestcraft to appear to the people as if they wept, and shed fresh blood, and moved, and uttered such and such words; the people may be verily persuaded that it is a miracle wrought by Christ himself; and from thence may be confident there is a Christ, and that what they are told of his death and sufferings, and resurrection, and ascension, and present government of the world is true; for they may look upon this miracle, as a certain evidence of all these things, and a kind of ocular demonstration of them. This may be the influence of these lying wonders for the present; though the general tendency of them is not to convince that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, but finally to promote atheism. Even the intercourse which Satan has with witches, and their often experiencing his immediate power, has a tendency to convince them of the truth of some of the doctrines of religion; as particularly the reality of an invisible world, or world of spirits, contrary to the doctrine of the Sadducees. The general tendency of Satan's influences is delusion: But yet he may mix some truth with his lies, that his lies may not be so easily discovered.

There are multitudes that are deluded with a counterfeit faith, from impressions on their imagination, in the manner which has been now spoken of. They say they know that there is a God, for they have seen him; they know that Christ is the Son of God, for they have seen him in his glory; they know that Christ died for sinners, for they have seen him hanging on the cross, and his blood running from his wounds; they know there is a heaven and a hell, for they have seen the misery of the damned souls in hell, and the glory of saints and angels in heaven, (meaning some external representations, strongly impressed on their imagination;) they know that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and that such and such promises in particular, are his word, for they have heard him speak them to them, they came to their minds suddenly and immediately from God, without their having any hand in it.

3. Persons may seem to have their belief of the truth of the things of religion greatly increased, when the foundation of it is only a persuasion they have received, of their interest in them. They first, by some means or other, take up a confidence that, if there be a Christ and heaven, they are theirs; and this prejudices them more in favor of the truth of them. When they hear of the great and glorious things of religion, it is with this notion, that all these things belong to them; and hence easily become confident that they are true: They look upon it to be greatly for their interest that they should be true. It is very obvious what a strong influence men's interest and inclinations have on their judgments. While a natural man thinks that, if there be a heaven and hell; the latter, and not the former, belongs to him; then he will be hardly persuaded that there is a heaven or hell: But when he comes to be persuaded, that hell belongs only to other folks, and not to him; then he can easily allow the reality of hell, and cry out of others' senselessness and sottishness in neglecting means of escape from it: And being confident that he is a child of God, and that God has promised heaven to him, he may seem strong in the faith of its reality, and may have a great zeal against that infidelity which denies it.

But I proceed to another distinguishing sign of gracious affections.

6. Gracious affections are attended with evangelical humiliation.

Evangelical humiliation is a sense that a Christian has of his own utter insufficiency, despicableness, and odiousness, with an answerable frame of heart.

There is a distinction to be made between a legal and evangelical humiliation. The former is what men may be the subjects of, while they are yet in a state of nature, and have no gracious affection; the latter is peculiar to true saints: The former is from the common influence of the Spirit of God, assisting natural principles, and especially natural conscience; the latter is from the special influences of the Spirit of God, implanting and exercising supernatural and divine principles: The former is from the mind's being assisted to a greater sense of the things of religion, as to their natural properties and qualities, and particularly of the natural perfections of God, such as his greatness, terrible majesty, etc. which were manifested to the congregation of Israel, in giving the law at Mount Sinai; the latter is from a sense of the transcendent beauty of divine things in their moral qualities: In the former a sense of the awful greatness, and natural perfections of God, and of the strictness of his law, convinces men that they are exceeding sinful, and guilty, and exposed to the wrath of God, as it will wicked men and devils at the day of judgment; but they do not see their own odiousness on the account of sin; they do not see the hateful nature of sin; a sense of this is given in evangelical humiliation, by a discovery of the beauty of God's holiness and moral perfection. In a legal humiliation, men are made sensible that they are little and nothing before the great and terrible God, and that they are undone, and wholly insufficient to help themselves; as wicked men will be at the day of judgment: But they have not an answerable frame of heart, consisting in a disposition to abase themselves, and exalt God alone: This disposition is given only in evangelical humiliation, by overcoming the heart, and changing its inclination, by a discovery of God's holy beauty: In a legal humiliation, the conscience is convinced; as the consciences of all will be most perfectly at the day of judgment: but because there is no spiritual understanding, the will is not bowed, nor the inclination altered: This is done only in evangelical humiliation. In legal humiliation men are brought to despair of helping themselves; in evangelical, they are brought voluntarily to deny and renounce themselves: In the former they are subdued and forced to the ground; in the latter, they are brought sweetly to yield, and freely and with delight to prostrate themselves at the feet of God.

Legal humiliation has in it no spiritual good, nothing of the nature of true virtue; whereas evangelical humiliation is that wherein the excellent beauty of Christian grace does very much consist. Legal humiliation is useful, as a means in order to evangelical; as a common knowledge of the things of religion is a means requisite in order to spiritual knowledge. Men may be legally humbled and have no humility; as the wicked at the day of judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no righteousness, but are altogether sinful, and exceeding guilty, and justly exposed to eternal damnation, and be fully sensible of their own helplessness, without the least mortification of the pride of their hearts: But the essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility, as becomes a creature, in itself exceeding sinful, under a dispensation of grace; consisting in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious; attended with a mortification of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation of his own glory.

This is a great and most essential Thing in true Religion. The whole Frame of the Gospel, and every Thing appertaining to the new Covenant, and all God's Dispensations towards fallen Man, are calculated to bring to pass this Effect in the Hearts of Men. They that are destitute of this, have no true Religion, whatever Profession they may make, and how high soever their religious Affections may be. Habakkuk 2:4. Behold, his Soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the Just shall live by his Faith: that is, He shall live by his Faith on God's Righteousness and Grace, and not his own Goodness and Excellency. God has abundantly manifested in his Word, that This is what he has a peculiar Respect to in his Saints, and that nothing is acceptable to him without it. Psalm 34:18. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken Heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite Spirit. Psalm 51:17. The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit; a broken and a contrite Heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 138:6. Though the Lord be High, he hath Respect unto the Lowly. Proverbs 3:34. He giveth Grace unto the lowly. Isaiah 57:15. Thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabiteth Eternity, whose Name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit, to revive the Spirit of the Humble, and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones. Isaiah 66:1, 2. Thus saith the Lord, the Heaven is my Throne, and the Earth is my footstool:—But to this Man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite Spirit, and trembleth at my Word. Micah 6:8. He hath shown thee, O Man, what is good; and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Matthew 5:3. Blessed are the poor in Spirit: For theirs is the Kingdom of God. Matthew 18:3, 4. Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little Child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Mark 10:15. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child, he shall not enter therein. The Centurion, that we have an Account of Luke 7, acknowledged that he was not worthy that Christ should enter under his Roof, and that he was not worthy to come to him. See the Manner of the Woman's coming to Christ that was a Sinner, Luke 7:37, etc. And behold a Woman in the City which was a Sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at Meat in the Pharisee's House, brought an Alabaster-Box of Ointment, and stood at his Feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his Feet with her Tears, and did wipe them with the Hairs of her Head. She did not think the Hair of her Head, which is the natural Crown and Glory of a Woman, (1 Corinthians 11:15.) too good to wipe the Feet of Christ withal. Jesus most graciously accepted her, and said to her, Thy Faith hath saved thee, go in Peace. The Woman of Canaan submitted to Christ, in his saying, It is not meet to take the Children's Bread, and to cast it to Dogs, and did as it were own that she was worthy to be called a Dog, whereupon Christ said unto her, O Woman, great is thy Faith; be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. Matthew 15:26, 27. The Prodigal Son said, I will arise and go to my Father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy it be called thy Son; make me as one of thy hired Servants, Luke 15:18, etc. See also Luke 18:9. etc. And he spoke this Parable unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were Righteous, and despised others, etc.—The Publican standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his Breast, saying, God be merciful to me a Sinner. I tell you, this Man went down to his House justified, rather than the other: For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Matthew 28:9. And they came, and held him by the Feet, and worshipped him. Colossians 3:12. Put ye on, as the Elect of God,—Humbleness of Mind. Ezekiel 20:41, 43. I will accept you with your sweet Savour, when I bring you out from the People, etc.—And there shall ye remember your Ways, and all your Doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own Sight, for all your Evils that ye have committed. Chapter 36:26, 27, 31. A new Heart also will I give unto you,—and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my Statutes, etc.—Then shall ye remember your own evil Ways, and your Doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own Sight, for your Iniquities, and for your Abominations. Chapter 16:63. That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy Mouth any more, because of thy Shame; when I am pacified toward thee, for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord. Job 42:6. I abhor myself, and repent in Dust and Ashes.

As we would therefore make the holy Scriptures our Rule, in judging of the Nature of true Religion, and judging of our own religious Qualifications and State; it concerns us greatly to look at this Humiliation, as one of the most essential Things pertaining to true Christianity. This is the principal Part of the great Christian Duty of Self-denial: That Duty consists in two Things, namely First, In a Man's denying his worldly Inclinations, and in forsaking and renouncing all worldly Objects and Enjoyments; and Secondly, In denying his natural Self-exaltation, and renouncing his own Dignity and Glory, and in being emptied of himself; so that he does freely, and from his very Heart, as it were renounce himself, and annihilate himself. Thus the Christian does, in evangelical Humiliation. And this Latter is the greatest and most difficult Part of Self-denial: Although they always go together, and one never truly is, where the other is not; yet natural Men can come much nearer to the Former than the Latter. Many Anchorites and Recluses have abandoned (though without any true Mortification) the Wealth, and Pleasures, and common Enjoyments of the World, who were far from renouncing their own Dignity and Righteousness; they never denied themselves for Christ, but only sold one Lust to feed another, sold a beastly Lust to pamper a devilish One; and so were never the better, but their latter End was worse than their Beginning; they turned out one black Devil, to let in seven white ones, that were worse than the first, though of a fairer Countenance. It is inexpressible, and almost inconceivable, how strong a self-righteous, self-exalting Disposition is naturally in Man; and what he will not do and suffer, to feed and gratify it; and what Lengths have been gone in a seeming Self-denial in other Respects, by Essenes and Pharisees among the Jews, and by Papists, many Sects of Heretics, and Enthusiasts, among professing Christians; and by many Mahometans; and by Pythagorean Philosophers, and others, among the Heathen: And all to do Sacrifice to this Moloch of spiritual Pride or Self-righteousness; and that they may have Something wherein to exalt themselves before God, and above their Fellow-creatures.

That Humiliation which has been spoken of, is what all the most glorious Hypocrites, who make the most splendid Show of Mortification to the World, and high religious Affection, do grossly fail in. Were it not that this is so much insisted on in Scripture, as a most essential Thing in true Grace; one would be tempted to think that many of the Heathen Philosophers were truly gracious, in whom was so bright an Appearance of many Virtues, and also great Illuminations, and inward Fervors and Elevations of Mind, as though they were truly the Subjects of divine Illapses and heavenly Communications.

It is true that many Hypocrites make great Pretenses to Humility, as well as other Graces; and very often there is nothing whatsoever which they make a higher Profession of. They endeavor to make a great Show of Humility in Speech and Behavior; but they commonly make bungling Work of it; though glorious Work in their own Eyes. They cannot find out what a humble Speech and Behavior is, or how to speak and act so that there may indeed be a Savor of Christian Humility in what they say and do: That sweet humble Air and Mien is beyond their Art, being not led by the Spirit, or naturally guided to a Behavior becoming holy Humility, by the Vigor of a lowly Spirit within them. And therefore they have no other Way, many of them, but only to be much in declaring that they be humble, and telling how they were humbled to the Dust at such and such Times, and abounding in very bad Expressions which they use about themselves; such as, I am the least of all Saints, I am a poor vile Creature, I am not worthy of the least Mercy, or that God should look upon me! Oh, I have a dreadful wicked Heart! my Heart is worse than the Devil! Oh, this cursed Heart of mine, etc. Such Expressions are very often used, not with a Heart that is broken, not with spiritual Mourning, not with the Tears of her that washed Jesus' Feet with her Tears, not as remembering and being confounded, and never opening their Mouth more, because of their Shame, when God is pacified, as the Expression is, Ezekiel 16:63. But with a light Air, with Smiles in the Countenance, or with a pharisaical Affectation: And we must believe that they are thus humble, and making themselves so vile, upon the Credit of their Say-so; for there is nothing appears in them of any Savor or Humility, in the Manner of their Deportment and Deeds that they do. There are many that are full of Expressions of their own Vileness, who yet expect to be looked upon as eminent and bright Saints by others, as their due; and it is dangerous for any, so much as to hint the Contrary, or to carry it towards them any otherwise, than as if we looked upon them some of the chief of Christians. There are many that are much in crying out of their wicked Hearts, and then great Short-comings, and Unprofitableness, and speaking as though they looked on themselves as the meanest of the Saints; who yet, if a Minister should seriously tell them the same Things in private, and should signify, that he feared they were very low and weak Christians, and thought they had Reason solemnly to consider of their great defects, and Unprofitableness, and falling so much short of many others; it would be more than they could digest: they would think themselves highly injured; and there would be Danger of a rooted Prejudice in them against such a Minister.

There are some that are abundant in talking against legal doctrines, legal preaching, and a legal spirit, who do but little understand the thing they talk against. A legal spirit is a more subtle thing than they imagine; it is too subtle for them. It lurks, and operates, and prevails in their hearts, and they are most notoriously guilty of it, at the same time, when they are inveighing against it. So far as a man is not emptied of himself, and of his own righteousness and goodness, in whatever form or shape, so far he is of a legal spirit. A spirit of pride of a man's own righteousness, morality, holiness, affection, experience, faith, humiliation, or any goodness whatsoever, is a legal spirit. It was no pride in Adam before the Fall, to be of a legal spirit: because of his circumstances, he might seek acceptance by his own righteousness. But a legal spirit in a fallen sinful creature, can be nothing else but spiritual pride; and reciprocally, a spiritually proud spirit is a legal spirit. There is no man living that is lifted up with a conceit of his own experiences and discoveries, and upon the account of them glistens in his own eyes, but what trusts in his experiences, and makes a righteousness of them; however he may use humble terms, and speak of his experiences as of the great things God has done for him, and it may be calls upon others to glorify God for them; yet he that is proud of his experiences, arrogates something to himself, as though his experiences were some dignity of his. And if he looks on them as his own dignity, he necessarily thinks that God looks on them so too; for he necessarily thinks his own opinion of them to be true; and consequently judges that God looks on them as he does; and so unavoidably imagines that God looks on his experiences as a dignity in him, as he looks on them himself; and that he glistens as much in God's eyes, as he does in his own. And thus he trusts in what is inherent in him, to make him shine in God's sight, and recommend him to God: and with this encouragement he goes before God in prayer; and this makes him expect much from God; and this makes him think that Christ loves him, and that he is willing to clothe him with his righteousness; because he supposes that he is taken with his experiences and graces. And this is a high degree of living on his own righteousness; and such persons are in the high road to Hell. Poor deluded wretches, who think they look so glistening in God's eyes, when they are a smoke in his nose, and are many of them more odious to him, than the most impure beast in Sodom, that makes no pretence to religion! To do as these do, is to live upon experiences, according to the true notion of it; and not to do as those, who only make use of spiritual experiences, as evidences of a state of grace, and in that way receive hope and comfort from them.

There is a sort of men, who indeed abundantly cry down works, and cry up faith in opposition to works, and set up themselves very much as evangelical persons, in opposition to those that are of a legal spirit, and make a fair show of advancing Christ and the Gospel, and the way of free grace; who are indeed some of the greatest enemies to the Gospel way of free grace, and the most dangerous opposers of pure humble Christianity.

There is a pretended great humiliation, and being dead to the law, and emptied of self, which is one of the biggest and most elated things in the world. Some there are, who have made great profession of experience of a thorough work of the law on their own hearts, and of being brought fully off from works; whose conversation has favored most of a self-righteous spirit, of any that ever I had opportunity to observe. And some who think themselves quite emptied of themselves, and are confident that they are abased in the dust, are full as they can hold with the glory of their own humility, and lifted up to Heaven with an high opinion of their abasement. Their humility is a swelling, self-conceited, confident, showy, noisy, assuming humility. It seems to be the nature of spiritual pride to make men conceited and ostentatious of their humility. This appears in that first-born of pride, among the children of men, that would be called His Holiness, even the Man of Sin, that exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped; he styles himself Servant of Servants; and to make a show of humility, washes the feet of a number of poor men at his inauguration.

For persons to be truly emptied of themselves, and to be poor in spirit, and broken in heart, is quite another thing, and has other effects, than many imagine. It is astonishing how greatly many are deceived about themselves as to this matter, imagining themselves most humble, when they are most proud, and their behavior is really the most haughty. The deceitfulness of the heart of man appears in no one thing so much, as this of spiritual pride and self-righteousness. The subtlety of Satan appears in its height in his managing of persons with respect to this sin. And perhaps one reason may be, that here he has most experience: He knows the way of its coming in; he is acquainted with the secret springs of it; it was his own sin. Experience gives vast advantage in leading souls, either in good or evil.

But though spiritual pride be so subtle and secret an iniquity, and commonly appears under a pretext of great humility; yet there are two things by which it may (perhaps universally and surely) be discovered and distinguished.

The first thing is this; He that is under the prevalence of this distemper, is apt to think highly of his attainments in religion, as comparing himself with others. It is natural for him to fall into that thought of himself, that he is an eminent saint, that he is very high amongst the saints, and has distinguishingly clear and great experiences. That is the secret language of his heart. Luke 18:11. God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men. And Isaiah 65:5. I am holier than thou. Hence such are apt to put themselves forward among God's people, and as it were to take place above them, as if there was no doubt of it but it belonged to them. They, as it were, naturally do that which Christ forbids, Luke 14:7, etc., take the highest room. This they do, by taking upon them the place and office of the guides to direct and manage; They are confident that they are a light of them which are in darkness, instructors of babes, Romans 2:19-20. It is natural for them to take it for granted, that it belongs to them to do the teaching and matters in matters of religion; and so they love to be called of men Rabbi, which is by interpretation Master, as the Pharisees did, Matthew 23:6, etc. They are expecting that others should regard them, and yield to them, as masters in matters of religion.

But he whose heart is under the power of Christian humility, is of a contrary disposition. If the Scriptures are at all to be relied on, such an one is apt to think his attainments in religion to be comparatively mean, and to esteem himself low among the saints, and one of the least of saints. Humility, or true lowliness of mind, disposes persons to think others better than themselves: Philippians 2:3. In lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Hence they are apt to think the lowest room belongs to them: and their inward disposition naturally leads them to obey that precept of our Savior, Luke 14:10. It is not natural to them to take it upon them to do the part of teachers; but on the contrary, they are disposed to think that they are not the persons, that others are fitter for it than they; as it was with Moses and Jeremiah (Exodus 3:11, Jeremiah 1:6) though they were such eminent saints, and of great knowledge. It is not natural to them to think that it belongs to them to teach, but to be taught: They are much more eager to hear, and to receive instruction from others, than to dictate to others; James 1:19. Be ye swift to hear, slow to speak. And when they do speak, it is not natural to them to speak with a bold, masterly air; but humility disposes them rather to speak trembling. Hosea 13:1. When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. They are not apt to assume authority, and to take upon them to be chief managers and masters; but rather to be subject to others. James 3:1-2. Be not many masters. 1 Peter 5:5. All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. Ephesians 5:21. Submitting yourselves one to another, in the fear of God.

There are some person's experiences that naturally work that way, to make them think highly of their experiences; and they do often themselves speak of their experiences as very great and extraordinary, they freely speak of the great things; they have met with. This may be spoken, and meant in a good sense. In one sense, every degree of saving mercy is a great thing: It is indeed a thing great, yea, infinitely great, for God to bestow the least crumb of children's bread upon such dogs as we are in ourselves; and the more humble a person is that hopes that God has bestowed such mercy on him, the more apt will he be to call it a great thing that he has met with, in this sense. But if by great things which they have experienced, they mean comparatively great spiritual experiences, or great compared with others' experiences, or beyond what is ordinary, which is evidently oftentimes the case; then for a person to say, I have met with great things, is the very same thing as to say, I am an eminent saint, and have more grace than ordinary: for to have great experiences, if the experiences be true and worth the telling of, is the same thing as to have great grace: there is no true experience, but the exercise of grace; and exactly according to the degree of true experience, is the degree of grace and holiness. The persons that talk thus about their experiences, when they give an account of them, expect that others should admire them. Indeed they do not call it boasting to talk after this manner about their experiences, nor do they look upon it as any sign of pride; because they say, they know that it was not they that did it, it was free grace, they are the great things that God has done for them, they would acknowledge the great mercy God has shown them, and not make light of it. But so it was with the Pharisee that Christ tells us of, Luke 18. He in words gave God the glory of making him to differ from other men; God I thank thee, says he, that I am not as other men. Their verbally ascribing it to the grace of God, that they are holier than other saints, does not hinder their forwardness to think so highly of their holiness, being a sure evidence of the pride and vanity of their minds. If they were under the influence of an humble spirit, their attainments in religion would not be so apt to shine in their own eyes, nor would they be so much in admiring their own beauty. The Christians that are really the most eminent saints, and therefore have the most excellent experiences, and are greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, humble themselves as a little child, Matthew 18:4. Because they look on themselves as but little children in grace, and their attainments to be but the attainments of babes in Christ, and are astonished at, and ashamed of the low degrees of their love, and their thankfulness, and their little knowledge of God. Moses when he had been conversing with God in the Mount, and his face shone so bright in the eyes of others, as to dazzle their eyes, knew not that his face shone. There are some persons that go by the name of high professors, and some will own themselves to be high professors; but eminently humble saints, that will shine brightest in Heaven, are not at all apt to profess high. I do not believe there is an eminent saint in the world that is a high professor. Such will be much more likely to profess themselves to be the least of all saints, and to think that every saint's attainments and experiences are higher than his.

Such is the nature of grace, and of true spiritual light, that they naturally dispose the saints in the present state, to look upon their grace and goodness little, and their deformity great. And they that have the most grace and spiritual light, of any in this world, have most of this disposition. As will appear most clear and evident to any one that soberly and thoroughly weighs the nature and reason of things, and considers the things following.

That grace and holiness is worthy to be called little, that is, little in comparison of what it ought to be. And so it seems to one that is truly gracious: for such an one has his eye upon the rule of his duty; a conformity to that is what he aims at; it is what his soul struggles and reaches after; and it is by that that he estimates and judges of what he does, and what he has. To a gracious soul, and especially to one eminently gracious, that holiness appears little, which is little of what it should be; little of what he sees infinite reason for, and obligation to. If his holiness appears to him to be at a vast distance from this, it naturally appears despicable in his eyes, and not worthy to be mentioned as any beauty or amiability in him. For the like reason as a hungry man naturally accounts that which is set before him, but a little food, a small matter, not worth mentioning, that is nothing in comparison of his appetite. Or as the child of a great prince, that is jealous for the honor of his father, and beholds the respect which men show him, naturally looks on that honor and respect very little, and not worthy to be regarded, which is nothing in comparison of that, which the dignity of his father requires.

But that is the nature of true grace and spiritual light, that it opens to a person's view the infinite reason there is that he should be holy in a high degree. And the more grace he has, the more this is opened to view, the greater sense he has of the infinite excellency and glory of the divine Being, and of the infinite dignity of the person of Christ, and the boundless length and breadth, and depth and height, of the love of Christ to sinners. And as grace increases, the field opens more and more to a distant view, until the soul is swallowed up with the vastness of the object, and the person is astonished to think how much it becomes him to love this God, and this glorious Redeemer, that has so loved man, and how little he does love. And so the more he apprehends, the more the smallness of his grace and love appears strange and wonderful; and therefore is more ready to think that others are beyond him. For wondering at the littleness of his own grace, he can scarcely believe that so strange a thing happens to other saints. It is amazing to him, that one that is really a child of God, and that has actually received the saving benefits of that unspeakable love of Christ, should love no more. And he is apt to look upon it as a thing peculiar to himself, a strange and exempt instance; for he sees only the outside of other Christians, but he sees his own inside.

Here the reader may possibly object, that love to God is really increased, in proportion as the knowledge of God is increased; and therefore how should an increase of knowledge in a saint, make his love appear less, in comparison of what is known? To which I answer, that although grace and the love of God in the saints, be answerable to the degree of knowledge or sight of God; yet it is not in proportion to the object seen and known. The soul of a saint, by having something of God opened to sight, is convinced of much more than is seen. There is something that is seen, that is wonderful; and that sight, brings with it a strong conviction of something vastly beyond, that is not immediately seen. So that the soul, at the same time, is astonished at its ignorance, and that it knows so little, as well as that it loves so little. And as the soul, in a spiritual view, is convinced of infinitely more in the object, yet beyond sight; so it is convinced of the capacity of the soul, of knowing vastly more, if clouds and darkness were but removed. Which causes the soul, in the enjoyment of a spiritual view, to complain greatly of spiritual ignorance, and want of love, and long and reach after more knowledge, and more love.

Grace and the love of God in the most eminent saints in this world, is truly very little in comparison of what it ought to be. Because the highest love, that ever any attain to in this life, is poor, cold, exceeding low, and not worthy to be named in comparison of what our obligations appear to be, from the joint consideration of these two things; namely, first: The reason God has given us to love him, in the manifestations he has made of his infinite glory, in his word, and in his works; and particularly in the gospel of his Son, and what he has done for sinful man by him. And second: The capacity there is in the soul of man, by those intellectual faculties which God has given it, of seeing and understanding these reasons, which God has given us to love him. How small indeed is the love of the most eminent saint on earth, in comparison of what these things jointly considered do require! And this grace tends to convince men of; and especially eminent grace: for grace is of the nature of light, and brings truth to view. And therefore, he that has much grace, apprehends much more than others, that great height to which his love ought to ascend; and he sees better than others, how little a way he has risen towards that height. And therefore, estimating his love by the whole height of his duty, hence it appears astonishingly little and low in his eyes.

And the eminent saint, having such a conviction of the high degree in which he ought to love God, this shows him, not only the littleness of his grace, but the greatness of his remaining corruption. In order to judge how much corruption or sin we have remaining in us, we must take our measure from that height to which the rule of our duty extends. The whole of the distance we are at from that height, is sin: for failing of duty is sin; otherwise our duty is not our duty; and by how much the more we fall short of our duty, so much the more sin have we. Sin is no other than disagreeableness, in a moral agent, to the law, or rule of his duty. And therefore the degree of sin is to be judged of by the rule: so much disagreeableness to the rule, so much sin, whether it be in defect or excess. Therefore if men, in their love to God, don't come up half way to that height which duty requires, then they have more corruption in their hearts than grace; because there is more goodness wanting, than is there; and all that is wanting is sin. It is an abominable defect; and appears so to the saints, especially those that are eminent. It appears exceeding abominable to them, that Christ should be loved so little, and thanked so little for his dying love; it is in their eyes hateful ingratitude.

And then the increase of grace has a tendency another way, to cause the saints to think their deformity vastly more than their goodness: it not only tends to convince them that their corruption is much greater than their goodness; which is indeed the case: but it also tends to cause the deformity that there is in the least sin, or the least degree of corruption, to appear so great, as vastly to outweigh all the beauty there is in their greatest holiness: for this also is indeed the case. For the least sin against an infinite God, has an infinite hatefulness or deformity in it; but the highest degree of holiness in a creature, has not an infinite loveliness in it: and therefore the loveliness of it is as nothing, in comparison of the deformity of the least sin. That every sin has infinite deformity and hatefulness in it, is most demonstrably evident; because what the evil, or iniquity, or hatefulness of sin consists in, is the violating of an obligation, or the being or doing contrary to what we should be or do, or are obliged to. And therefore by how much the greater the obligation is that is violated, so much the greater is the iniquity and hatefulness of the violation. But certainly our obligation to love and honor any being, is in some proportion to his loveliness and honorableness, or to his worthiness to be loved and honored by us; which is the same thing. We are surely under greater obligation to love a more lovely being, than a less lovely: and if a being be infinitely lovely or worthy to be loved by us, then our obligations to love him, are infinitely great: and therefore, whatever is contrary to this love, has in it infinite iniquity, deformity and unworthiness. But on the other hand, with respect to our holiness or love to God, there is not an infinite worthiness in that. The sin of the creature against God, is ill-deserving and hateful in proportion to the distance there is between God and the creature: the greatness of the object, and the meanness and inferiority of the subject, aggravates it. But it is the reverse with regard to the worthiness of the respect of the creature to God; it is worthless, and not worthy, in proportion to the meanness of the subject. So much the greater the distance between God and the creature, so much the less is the creature's respect worthy of God's notice or regard. The great degree of superiority, increases the obligation on the inferior to regard the superior; and so makes the want of regard more hateful: but the great degree of inferiority diminishes the worth of the regard of the inferior; because the more he is inferior, the less is he worthy of notice, the less he is, the less is what he can offer worth; for he can offer no more than himself, in offering his best respect; and therefore as he is little, and little worth, so is his respect little worth. And the more a person has of true grace and spiritual light, the more will it appear thus to him; the more will he appear to himself infinitely deformed by reason of sin, and the less will the goodness that is in his grace, or good experience, appear in proportion to it. For indeed it is nothing to it: it is less than a drop to the ocean: for finite bears no proportion at all to that which is infinite. But the more a person has of spiritual light, the more do things appear to him, in this respect, as they are indeed. Hence it most demonstrably appears, that true grace is of that nature, that the more a person has of it, with remaining corruption, the less does his goodness and holiness appear, in proportion to his deformity; and not only to his past deformity, but to his present deformity, in the sin that now appears in his heart, and in the abominable defects of his highest and most affections, and brightest experiences.

The nature of many high religious affections, and great discoveries (as they are called) in many persons that I have been acquainted with, is to hide and cover over the corruption of their hearts, and to make it seem to them as if all their sin was gone, and to leave them without complaints of any hateful evil left in them; (though it may be they cry out much of their past unworthiness) a sure and certain evidence that their discoveries (as they call them) are darkness and not light. It is darkness that hides men's pollution and deformity; but light let into the heart discovers it, searches it out in its secret corners, and makes it plainly to appear; especially that penetrating, all-searching light of God's holiness and glory. It is true that saving discoveries may for the present hide corruption in one sense; they restrain the positive exercises of it, such as malice, envy, covetousness, lasciviousness, murmuring, et cetera; but they bring corruption to light, in that which is privative, namely, that there is no more love, no more humility, no more thankfulness. Which defects appear most hateful, in the eyes of those who have the most eminent exercises of grace; and are very burdensome, and cause the saints to cry out of their leanness, and odious pride and ingratitude. And whatever positive exercises of corruption, at any time arise, and mingle themselves with eminent acting of grace, grace will exceedingly magnify the view of them, and render their appearance far more heinous and horrible.

The more eminent Saints are, and the more they have of the Light of Heaven in their Souls, the more do they appear to themselves, as the most eminent Saints in this World do, to the Saints and Angels in Heaven. How can we rationally suppose the most eminent Saints on Earth appear to them, if beheld any otherwise, than covered over with the Righteousness of Christ, and their Deformities swallowed up and hid in the Coruscation of the Beams of his abundant Glory and Love? How can we suppose our most ardent Love and Praise appear to them, that do behold the Beauty and Glory of God without a Veil? How does our highest Thankfulness for the dying Love of Christ appear to them, who see Christ as he is, who know as they are known, and see the Glory of the Person of him that died, and the Wonders of his dying Love, without any Cloud or Darkness? And how do they look on the deepest Reverence and Humility, with which Worms of the Dust on Earth approach that infinite Majesty, which they behold? Do they appear great to them, or so much as worthy of the Name of Reverence and Humility, in those that they see to be at such an infinite Distance from that great and holy God, in whose glorious Presence they are? The Reason why the highest Attainments of the Saints on Earth appear so mean to them, is because they dwell in the Light of God's Glory, and see God as he is. And it is in this Respect with the Saints on Earth, as it is with the Saints in Heaven, in Proportion as they are more eminent in Grace.

I would not be understood that the Saints on Earth have, in all Respects, the worst Opinion of themselves, when they have most of the Exercise of Grace. In many Respects it is otherwise. With Respect to the positive Exercises of Corruption, they may appear to themselves freest and best when Grace is most in Exercise, and worst when the Actings of Grace are lowest. And when they compare themselves with themselves, at different Times, they may know, when Grace is in lively Exercise, that it is better with them than it was before, (though before, in the Time of it, they did not see so much Badness as they see now); and when afterwards they sink again in the Frame of their Minds, they may know that they sink, and have a new Argument of their great remaining Corruption, and a rational Conviction of a greater Vileness than they saw before; and may have more of a Sense of Guilt, and a kind of legal Sense of their Sinfulness, by far, than when in the lively Exercise of Grace. But yet it is true, and demonstrable from the forementioned Considerations, that the Children of God never have so much of a sensible and spiritual Conviction of their Deformity; and so great and quick and abasing a Sense of their present Vileness and Odiousness, as when they are highest in the Exercise of true and pure Grace; and never are they so much disposed to set themselves low among Christians as then. And thus he that is greatest in the Kingdom, or most eminent in the Church of Christ, is the same that humbles himself, as the least Infant among them; agreeable to that great Saying of Christ, Matthew 18:4.

A true Saint may know that he has some true Grace: And the more Grace there is, the more easily is it known; as was observed and proved before. But yet it does not follow, that an eminent Saint is easily sensible that he is an eminent Saint, when compared with others. I will not deny that it is possible, that he that has much Grace, and is an eminent Saint, may know it. But he will not be apt to know it: It will not be a Thing obvious to him: That he is better than others, and has higher Experiences and Attainments, is not a foremost Thought; nor is it That which, from Time to Time, readily offers itself: It is a Thing that is not in his Way, but lies far out of Sight: He must take Pains to convince himself of it: There will be need of a great Command of Reason, and a high Degree of Strictness and Care in arguing, to convince himself. And if he be rationally convinced, by a very strict Consideration of his own Experiences, compared with the great Appearances of low Degrees of Grace in some other Saints, it will hardly seem real to him, that he has more Grace than they: And he will be apt to lose the Conviction, that he has by Pains obtained: Nor will it seem at all natural to him to act upon that Supposition. And this may be laid down as an infallible Thing, That the Person who is apt to think that he, as compared with others, is a very eminent Saint, much distinguished in Christian Experience, in whom this is a first Thought, that rises of itself, and naturally offers itself; he is certainly mistaken; he is no eminent Saint; but under the great Prevailings of a proud and self-righteous Spirit. And if this be habitual with the Man, and is statedly the prevailing Temper of his Mind, he is no Saint at all; he has not the least Degree of any true Christian Experience; so surely as the Word of God is true.

And that Sort of Experiences that appears to be of that Tendency, and is found from Time to Time to have that Effect, to elevate the Subject of them with a great Conceit of those Experiences, is certainly vain and delusive. Those supposed Discoveries that naturally blow up the Person with an Admiration of the Eminency of his Discoveries, and fill him with Conceit, that now he has seen, and knows more than most other Christians, have nothing of the Nature of true spiritual Light in them. All true spiritual Knowledge is of that Nature, that the more a Person has of it, the more is he sensible of his own Ignorance; as is evident by 1 Corinthians 8:2. He that thinketh he knoweth any Thing, he knoweth nothing yet, as he ought to know. Agur when he had a great Discovery of God, and Sense of the wonderful Height of his Glory, and of his marvellous Works, and cries out of his Greatness and Incomprehensibleness; at the same Time, had the deepest Sense of his brutish Ignorance, and looked upon himself the most ignorant of all the Saints; Proverbs 30:2, 3, 4. Surely I am more brutish than any Man, and have not the Understanding of a Man: I neither learned Wisdom, nor have the Knowledge of the Holy. Who hath ascended up into Heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the Wind in his Fists? Who hath bound the Waters in a Garment? Who hath established all the Ends of the Earth? What is his Name? And what is his Son's Name? If you can tell.

For a Man to be highly conceited of his spiritual and divine Knowledge, is for him to be wise in his own Eyes, if any Thing is. And therefore it comes under those Prohibitions, Proverbs 3:7. Be not wise in your own Eyes. Romans 12:16. Be not wise in your own Conceits. And brings Men under that Woe, Isaiah 5:21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own Eyes, and prudent in their own Sight. Those that are thus wise in their own Eyes, are some of the least likely to get Good of any in the World. Experience shows the Truth of that, Proverbs 26:12. Do you see a Man wise in his own Conceit? There is more Hope of a Fool than of him.

To this some may object, That the Psalmist, when we must suppose that he was in a holy Frame, speaks of his Knowledge as eminently great, and far greater than that of other Saints, Psalm 119:99, 100. I have more Understanding than all my Teachers: For thy Testimonies are my Meditation. I understand more than the Ancients: Because I keep thy Precepts.

To this I answer two Things:

First, There is no Restraint to be laid upon the Spirit of God, (as to what he shall reveal to a Prophet, for the Benefit of his Church) who is speaking or writing under immediate Inspiration. The Spirit of God may reveal to such an one, and dictate to him, to declare to others, secret Things, that otherwise would be hard, yea impossible for him to find out. As he may reveal to him Mysteries, that otherwise would be above the Reach of his Reason; or Things in a distant Place, that he cannot see; or future Events, that it would be impossible for him to know and declare, if they were not extraordinarily revealed to him. So the Spirit of God might reveal to David this distinguishing Benefit he had received, by conversing much with God's Testimonies; and use him as his Instrument to record it for the Benefit of others, to excite them to the like Duty, and to use the same Means to gain Knowledge. Nothing can be gathered concerning the natural Tendency of the ordinary gracious Influences of the Spirit of God, from that, that David declares of his distinguishing Knowledge under the extraordinary Influences of God's Spirit, immediately dictating to him the divine Mind by Inspiration, and using David as his Instrument to write what he pleased for the Benefit of his Church; any more than we can reasonably argue, that it is the natural Tendency of Grace to incline Men to curse others, and wish the most dreadful Misery to them that can be thought of because David, under Inspiration, often curses others, and prays that such Misery may come upon them.

Secondly, It is not certain that the Knowledge David here speaks of, is spiritual Knowledge, wherein Holiness does fundamentally consist. But it may be that greater Revelation which God made to him of the Messiah, and the Things of his future Kingdom, and the far more clear and extensive Knowledge that he had of the Mysteries and Doctrines of the Gospel, than others; as a Reward for his keeping God's Testimonies. In this, it is apparent by the Book of Psalms, that David far exceeded all that had gone before him.

Secondly, Another Thing that is an infallible Sign of spiritual Pride, is Persons' being apt to think highly of their Humility. False Experiences are commonly attended with a counterfeit Humility. And it is the very Nature of a counterfeit Humility, to be highly conceited of itself. False religious Affections have generally that Tendency, especially when raised to a great Height, to make Persons think that their Humility is great, and accordingly to take much Notice of their great Attainments in this Respect, and admire them. But eminently gracious Affections (I scruple not to say it) are evermore of a contrary Tendency, and have universally a contrary Effect, in those that have them. They indeed make them very sensible what Reason there is that they should be deeply humbled, and cause them earnestly to thirst and long after it; but they make their present Humility, or that which they have already attained to, to appear small; and their remaining Pride great, and exceedingly abominable.

The Reason why a proud Person should be apt to think his Humility great, and why a very humble Person should think his Humility small, may be easily seen, if it be considered, That it is natural for Persons, in judging of the Degree of their own Humiliation, to take their Measure from that which they esteem their proper Height, or the Dignity wherein they properly stand. That may be great Humiliation in one, that is no Humiliation at all in another: Because the Degree of Honorableness or Considerableness, wherein each does properly stand, is very different. For some great Man, to stoop to loose the Latchet of the Shoes of another great Man, his Equal, or to wash his Feet, would be taken Notice of as an Act of Abasement in him; and he being sensible of his own Dignity, would look upon it so himself. But if a poor Slave is seen stooping to unloose the Shoes of a great Prince, no body will take any Notice of this, as any Act of Humiliation in him, or Token of any great Degree of Humility: Nor would the Slave himself, unless he be horribly proud, and ridiculously conceited of himself: And if, after he had done it, he should, in his Talk and Behaviour, show that he thought his Abasement great in it, and had his Mind much upon it, as an Evidence of his being very humble; would not every Body cry out upon him, Who do you think yourself to be, that you should think this that you have done, such a deep Humiliation? This would make it plain to a Demonstration, that this Slave was swollen with a high Degree of Pride and Vanity of Mind, as much as if he declared in plain Terms, I think myself to be some great one. And the Matter is no less plain and certain, when worthless, vile and loathsome Worms of the Dust, are apt to put such a Construction on their Acts of Abasement before God, and to think it a Token of great Humility in them that they, under their Affections, can find themselves so willing to acknowledge themselves to be so and so mean and unworthy, and to behave themselves as those that are so inferior. The very Reason why such outward Acts, and such inward Exercises, look like great Abasement in such an one, is because he has a high Conceit of himself. Whereas if he thought of himself more justly, these Things would appear nothing to him, and his Humility in them worthy of Regard; but would rather be astonished at his Pride, that one so infinitely despicable and vile, is brought no lower before God. When he says in his Heart, This is a great Act of Humiliation: It is certainly a Sign of great Humility in me, that I should feel thus, and do so; his Meaning is, This is great Humility for me, for such a one as I, that am so considerable and worthy. He considers how low he is now brought, and compares this with the Height of Dignity, on which, he in his Heart thinks he properly stands, and the Distance appears very great, and he calls it all mere Humility, and as such admires it. Whereas, in him that is truly humble, and really sees his own Vileness and Loathsomeness before God, the Distance appears the other Way. When he is brought lowest of all, it does not appear to him, that he is brought below his proper Station; but that he is not come to it: He appears to himself, yet vastly above it: He longs to get lower, that he may come to it; but appears at a great Distance from it. And this Distance he calls Pride. And therefore his Pride appears great to him, and not his Humility. For although he is brought much lower than he used to be; yet it does not appear to him worthy of the Name of Humiliation, for him that is so infinitely mean and detestable, to come down to a Place, which though it be lower than what he used to assume, is yet vastly higher than what is proper for him. As Men would hardly count it worthy of the Name of Humility, in a contemptible Slave, that formerly affected to be a Prince, to have his Spirit so far brought down, as to take the Place of a Nobleman; when this is still so far above his proper Station.

All Men in the World, in judging of the Degree of their own and others Humility, as appearing in any Act of theirs, consider two Things; namely the real Degree of Dignity they stand in; and the Degree of Abasement, and the Relation it bears to that real Dignity. Thus the complying with the same low Place, or low Act, may be an Evidence of great Humility in one, that evidences but little or no Humility in another. But truly humble Christians have so mean an Opinion of their own real Dignity, that all their Self-abasement, when considered with Relation to that, and compared with that, appears very small to them. It does not seem to them to be any great Humility, or any Abasement to be made much of, for such poor, vile, abject Creatures as they, to lie at the Foot of God.

The Degree of Humility is to be judged of by the Degree of Abasement, and the Degree of the Cause for Abasement: But he that is truly and eminently humble, never thinks his Humility great, considering the Cause. The Cause why he should be abased appears so great, and the Abasement of the Frame of his Heart so greatly short of it, that he takes much more Notice of his Pride than his Humility.

Every One that has been conversant with Souls under Convictions of Sin, knows that those who are greatly convinced of Sin, are not apt to think themselves greatly convinced. And the Reason is this: That Men judge of the Degree of their own Convictions of Sin by two Things jointly considered; namely the Degree of Sense which they have of Guilt and Pollution, and the Degree of Cause they have for such a Sense, in the Degree of their real Sinfulness. It is really no Argument of any great Conviction of Sin, for some Men to think themselves to be very sinful, beyond most others in the World; because they are so indeed, very plainly and notoriously. And therefore a far less Conviction of Sin may incline such an one to think so than another: He must be very blind indeed not to be sensible of it. But he that is truly under great Convictions of Sin, naturally thinks this to be his Case. It appears to him that the Cause he has to be sensible of Guilt and Pollution, is greater than others have; and therefore he ascribes his Sensibleness of this, to the Greatness of his Sin, and not to the Greatness of his Sensibility. It is natural for one under great Convictions to think himself one of the greatest of Sinners in Reality, and also that it is so very plainly and evidently; for the greater his Convictions are, the more plain and evident it seems to be to him. And therefore it necessarily seems to him so plain and so easy to him to see it, that it may be seen without much Conviction. That Man is under great Convictions, whose Conviction is great in Proportion to his Sin. But no Man that is truly under great Convictions, thinks his Conviction great in Proportion to his Sin. For if he does, it is a certain Sign that he inwardly thinks his Sins small. And if that be the Case, that is a certain Evidence that his Conviction is small. And this, by the Way, is the main Reason, that Persons when under a Work of Humiliation, are not sensible of it, in the Time of it.

And as it is with Conviction of Sin, just so it is, by Parity of Reason, with Respect to Person's Conviction or Sensibleness of their own Meanness and Vileness, their own Blindness, their own Impotence, and all that low Sense that a Christian has of himself, in the Exercise of evangelical Humiliation. So that in a high Degree of this, the Saints are never disposed to think their Sensibleness of their own Meanness, Filthiness, Impotence, et cetera to be great; because it never appears great to them, considering the Cause.

An eminent Saint is not apt to think himself eminent in any Thing; all his Graces and Experiences are ready to appear to him to be comparatively small; but especially his Humility. There is nothing that appertains to Christian Experience, and true Piety, that is so much out of his Sight as his Humility. He is a thousand Times more quick-sighted to discern his Pride, than his Humility: That he easily discerns, and is apt to take much Notice of, but hardly discerns his Humility. On the contrary, the deluded Hypocrite, that is under the Power of spiritual Pride, is so blind to nothing as his Pride; and so quick-sighted to nothing, as the Shows of Humility that are in him.

The humble Christian is more apt to find Fault with his own Pride than with other Mens. He is apt to put the best Construction on others' Words and Behaviour, and to think that none are so proud as himself. But the proud Hypocrite is quick to discern the Mote in his Brother's Eye, in this Respect; while he sees nothing of the Beam in his own. He is very often much in crying out of others' Pride, finding Fault with others' Apparel and Way of Living; and is affected ten Times as much with his Neighbor's Ring or Ribbon, as with all the Filthiness of his own Heart.

From the Disposition there is in Hypocrites to think highly of their Humility, it comes to pass that counterfeit Humility is forward to put forth itself to view. Those that have it, are apt to be much in speaking of their Humiliations, setting them forth in high Terms, and to make a great outward Show or Humility, in affected Looks, Gestures or Manner of meanness of Apparel, or some affected Singularity. So it was of old with the false Prophets, Zechariah 13:4. So it was with the hypocritical Jews, Isaiah 57:5. And so Christ tells us it was with the Pharisees, Matthew 6:16. But it is contrariwise with true Humility: They that have it, are not apt to display their Eloquence in setting of it forth, or to speak of the Degree of their Abasement in strong Terms. It does not affect to show itself in any singular outward Meanness of Apparel, or Way of Living; agreeable to what is implied in Matthew 6:17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine Head, and wash thy Face. Colossians 2:23. Which Things have indeed a Show of Wisdom, in will worship and Humility, and neglecting the Body. Nor is true Humility a noisy thing; it is not loud and boisterous. The Scripture represents it as of a contrary Nature. Ahab, when he had a visible Humility, a Resemblance of true Humility, went softly, 1 Kings 21:27. A Penitent, in the Exercise of true Humiliation, is represented as still and silent, Lamentations 3:28. He sitteth alone, and keepeth Silence, because he hath borne it upon him. And Silence is mentioned as what attends Humility, Proverbs 30:32. If thou hast done foolishly, in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought Evil, lay thy Hand upon thy Mouth.

Thus I have particularly and largely shown the Nature of that true Humility that attends holy Affections, as it appears in its Tendency to cause Persons to think meanly of their Attainments in Religion, as compared with the Attainments of others, and particularly, of their Attainments in Humility: And have shown the contrary Tendency of spiritual Pride, to dispose Persons to think their Attainments in these Respects to be great. I have insisted the longer on this Matter, because I look upon it a Matter of great Importance, as it affords a certain Distinction between true and counterfeit Humility; and also as this Disposition of Hypocrites to look on themselves better than others, is what God has declared to be very hateful to him, a Smoke in his Nose, and a Fire that burneth all the Day, Isaiah 65:5. It is mentioned as an Instance of the Pride of the Inhabitants of that holy City (as it was called) Jerusalem, that they esteemed themselves far better than the People of Sodom, and so looked upon them worthy to be overlooked and disregarded by them; Ezekiel 16:56. For thy Sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy Mouth, in the Day of thy Pride.

Let not the Reader lightly pass over these Things in Application to himself. If you once have taken it in, that it is a bad Sign for a Person to be apt to think himself a better Saint than others, there will arise a blinding Prejudice in your own Favor; and there will probably be need of a great Strictness of Self-Examination, in order to determine whether it be so with you. If on the Proposal of the Question, you answer, No, it [〈◊〉] time, none are [〈…〉]. Do not let the Matter pass off so; but examine again, whether or not you do not think yourself better than others on this very Account, because you imagine you think so meanly of yourself. Have you not a high Opinion of this Humility? And if you answer again, No; I have not a high Opinion of my Humility; It seems to me I am proud as the Devil; Yet examine again, whether Self-conceit does not rise up under this Cover; whether on this very Account, that you think yourself as proud as the Devil, you do not think yourself to be very humble.

From this Opposition that there is between the Nature of a true, and of a counterfeit Humility, as to the Esteem that the Subjects of them have of themselves, arises a manifold Contrariety of Temper and Behavior.

A truly humble Person, having such a mean Opinion of his Righteousness and Holiness, is poor in Spirit. For a Person to be poor in Spirit, is to be in his own Sense and Apprehension poor, as to what is in him, and to be of an answerable Disposition. Therefore a truly humble Person, especially one eminently humble, naturally behaves himself in many Respects as a poor Man. The Poor [〈◊◊〉], but the Rich answers roughly. A poor Man is not disposed to quick and high Resentment when he is among the Rich: He is apt to yield to others, for he knows others are above him; he is not stiff and self-willed; he is patient with hard Fare; he expects no other than to be despised, and takes it patiently; he does not take it heinously that he is overlooked, and but little regarded; he is prepared to be in low Place; he readily honors his Superiors; he takes Reproofs quietly; he readily honors others as above him; he easily yields to be taught, and does not claim much to his Understanding and Judgment; he is not over nice or humorsome, and has his Spirit subdued to hard Things; he is not assuming, nor apt to take much upon him, but it is natural for him to be subject to others. Thus it is with the humble Christian. Humility is (as the great Mastricht expresses it) a kind of holy Pusillanimity.

A Man that is very poor is a Beggar; so is he that is poor in Spirit. This is a great Difference between those Affections that are gracious, and those that are false: Under the former, the Person continues still a poor Beggar at God's Gates, exceeding empty and needy; but the latter make Men appear to themselves rich, and increased with Goods, and not very necessitous; they have a great Stock in their own Imagination for their Subsistence.

A poor Man is modest in his Speech and [〈◊◊〉] so, and much more, and more certainly and universally, is one that [〈◊〉] in Spirit; he is humble and modest in his Behavior amongst Men. It is in vain for any to pretend that they are humble, and [〈◊〉] Children before God, when they are haughty, assuming and [〈◊〉] in their Behavior amongst Men. The Apostle informs us [〈◊◊〉] Design of the Gospel is to cut off all Glorying, not only before [〈◊◊〉] before Men, Romans 4:1-2. Some pretend to great [〈◊〉], that are very haughty, audacious and assuming in their external Appearance and Behavior: But they ought to consider these Scriptures. Psalm 131:1. Lord, my Heart is not haughty, [〈…〉] neither do I exercise myself in great Matters, or in Things [〈◊◊〉] for me. Proverbs 6:16, 17. These six Things does the Lord [〈◊〉], [〈◊〉] serve are an Abomination unto him; a proud Look, &c. Chapter 21:4. An high Look, and a proud Heart, are Sin. Psalm 1[•]. [••]. Thou [〈◊〉] bring [〈…〉]

[〈◊◊〉] Spirit will [〈◊〉] a Christian to honor all Men. 1 Peter 2:17. Honor all Men. A humble Christian is not only disposed to honor the Saints to his Behavior; but others also, in all these Ways [〈◊◊〉] imply a visible Approbation of their Sins. Thus [〈◊〉] the great Pattern of Believers, honored the Children of Heth. Genesis 23:11, 12. [〈◊◊〉] up, and bowed himself to the People of the land. This was a remarkable Instance or a humble Behavior towards them that were out of Christ, and that Abraham knew to be [〈◊〉] and therefore would by no Means suffer his Servant to [〈◊〉] a [〈◊〉] to his Son, from among them; and [〈◊〉] Wives, because of these Children of Heth, were a [〈◊〉] or Mind to Isaac and Rebekah. So [〈◊〉]. honored [〈◊〉], Acts 26:25. I am not mad, [〈◊〉] who [〈◊〉]. Not only will Christian Humility dispose Persons to honor those wicked Men that are out of the visible Church, but also false Brethren and Persecutors. As Jacob, when he was in an excellent Frame, having just been wrestling all Night with God, and received the Blessing, honored Esau, his false and persecuting Brother; Genesis 33:14, 15. Jacob bowed himself to the Ground seven Times, until he came near his Brother Esau. So he called him Lord; and commanded all his Family to honor him in like Manner.

Thus I have endeavored to describe the Heart and Behavior of one that is governed by a truly gracious Humility, as exactly agreeable to the Scriptures, as I am able.

Now it is out of such a Heart as this, that all truly holy Affections do flow. Christian Affections are like Mary's precious Ointment, that she poured on Christ's Head, that filled the whole House with a sweet Odor. That was poured out of an Alabaster Box; so gracious Affections flow out to Christ out of a pure Heart. That was poured out of a broken Box; until the Box was broken the Ointment could not flow, nor diffuse its Odor: So gracious Affections flow out of a broken Heart. Gracious Affections are also like those of Mary Magdalene (Luke [••] at the latter End) who also pours precious Ointment on Christ, out of an Alabaster broken Box, anointing therewith the Feet of Jesus, when she had washed them with her Tears, and wiped them with the Hair of her Head. All gracious Affections, that are a sweet Odor to Christ, and that fill the Soul of a Christian with an heavenly Sweetness and Fragrance, are broken-hearted Affections. A truly Christian Love, either to God or Men, is a humble broken-hearted Love. The Desires of the Saints, however earnest, are humble Desires: Their Hope is an humble Hope; and their Joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of Glory, is a humble, broken-hearted Joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in Spirit, and more like a little Child, and more disposed to an universal Lowliness of Behavior.

7. Another Thing, wherein gracious Affections are distinguished from others, is, that they are attended with a Change of Nature.

All gracious Affections do arise from a spiritual Understanding, in which the Soul has the Excellency and Glory of divine Things discovered to it, as was shown before. But all spiritual Discoveries are transforming; and not only make an Alteration of the present Exercise, Sensation and Frame of the Soul; but such Power and Efficacy have they, that they make an Alteration in the very Nature of the Soul: 2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with open Face, beholding as in a [〈◊〉], the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Such Power as this [〈◊〉] properly divine Power, and is peculiar to the Spirit of the Lord: Other Power may make a great Alteration in Men's present Frames and Feelings; but it is the Power of a Creator only that can change the Nature, or give a new Nature. And no Discoveries or Illuminations, but those that are divine and supernatural, will have this supernatural Effect. But this Effect all those Discoveries have, that are truly divine. The Soul is deeply affected by these Discoveries, and so affected as to be transformed.

Thus it is with those Affections that the Soul is the Subject of in its Conversion. The Scripture Representations of Conversion do strongly imply and signify a Change of Nature: such as being born again; becoming new Creatures; rising from the Dead; being renewed in the Spirit of the Mind; dying to Sin, and living to Righteousness; putting off the old Man, and putting on the new Man; a being ingrafted into a new Stock; a having a divine Seed implanted in the Heart; a being made Partakers of the divine Nature, &c.

Therefore if there be no great and remarkable, abiding Change in Persons, that think they have experienced a Work of Conversion, vain are all their Imaginations and Pretenses, however they have been affected. Conversion (if we may give any Credit to the Scripture) is a great and universal Change of the Man, turning him from Sin to God. A Man may be restrained from Sin, before [〈◊〉] is converted; but when he is converted, he is not only restrained from Sin, [〈◊〉] very Heart and Nature is turned from it, unto Holiness: So [〈◊〉] forward he becomes a holy Person, and an Enemy to Sin. [〈◊〉], after a [〈◊◊〉] Affections, at his supposed [〈◊◊〉], it come to that in a little Time, that there is no very [〈◊〉], or remarkable Alteration in him, as to those bad Qualities, and evil Habits, which before were visible in him, and he is ordinarily under the Prevalence of the same Kind of Dispositions that he used to be, and the same Things seem to belong to his Character, he appears as selfish, carnal, as stupid, and perverse, as unchristian, and [〈◊〉] as ever; it is greater Evidence against him, than the [〈◊〉] Story of Experiences that ever was told, is for him. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision, nor Uncircumcision, neither high Profession, nor low Profession, neither a fair Story, nor a broken one, [〈◊〉] any Thing; but a new Creature.

If there be a very great Alteration visible in a Person for a while; if it is not abiding, but he afterwards returns, in a stated Manner to be much [〈◊〉] he used to be; It appears to be no Change of Nature. For Nature is an abiding Thing. A Swine that is of a filthy Nature may be washed; but the swinish Nature remains. And a Dove that [〈◊〉] of a cleanly Nature may be defiled, but its cleanly Nature remains.

Indeed Allowances must be made for the natural Temper: Conversion does not entirely root out the natural Temper: These Sins which a Man by his natural Constitution was most inclined to before his Conversion, he may be most apt to fall into still. But yet Conversion will make a great Alteration even with Respect to these Sins. Though Grace, while imperfect, does not root out an evil natural Temper; yet it is of great Power and Efficacy with respect [〈◊〉], to correct it. The Change that is wrought in Conversion, as an universal Change: Grace changes a Man with respect to whatever is sinful in him: The old Man is put off and the new Man put on: They are sanctified throughout: And the Man becomes a new Creature; old Things are passed away, and all Things are become new: All Sin is mortified; Constitution Sins, as well as others. If a Man before his Conversion, was by his natural Constitutions especially inclined to [〈◊〉], or Drunkenness, or Maliciousness; converting Grace will make a great Alteration in him, with respect to these evil Dispositions; so that however he may be still most in Danger of these Sins, yet they shall no longer have Dominion over him; nor will they any more be properly his Character. Yea, true Repentance does in some Respects, especially turn a Man against his own Iniquity; that wherein he has been most guilty, and has chiefly dishonored God. He that forsakes other Sins, but saves his leading Sin, the Iniquity he is chiefly inclined to [••]is like Saul, when sent against God's Enemies the Amalekites, with a strict Charge to save none of them alive, but utterly to destroy them, small and great; who utterly destroyed inferior People, but saved the King, the chief of them all, alive.

Some foolishly make it an Argument in Favor of their Discoveries and Affections, that when they are gone, they are lost wholly without any Life or Sense, or any Thing [〈◊◊〉] they [〈◊〉] before. They think it an Evidence that what they experienced was [〈◊〉] of God, and not of themselves; because [〈◊〉] say they when God is departed, all is gone; they can see and [〈◊〉] nothing, and are no better than they used to be.

It is very true that all Grace and Goodness in the Hearts of the Saints is entirely from God; and they are universally and immediately dependent on him for it. But yet these Persons are mistaken, as to the Manner of God's communicating himself and his Spirit, in imparting saving Grace to the Soul. He gives his Spirit to be united to the Faculties of the Soul, and to dwell there after the Manner of a Principle of Nature; so that the Soul, in being endued with Grace, is endued with a new Nature: But Nature is an abiding Thing. All the Exercises of Grace are entirely from Christ: But these Exercises are not from Christ, as something that is alive, moves and actuates something that is without Life, and yet remains without Life; but as having Life communicated to it; so as through Christ's Power, to have inherent in itself, a vital Nature. In the Soul where Christ savingly is, there he lives. He does not only live upon it, so as violently to actuate it; but he lives in it: so that that also is alive. Grace in the Soul is as much from Christ, as the Light of a Glass, held out in the Sun-beams, is from the Sun. But this represents the Manner of the Communication only to hold out in Part; because the Glass remains as it was, and sure of it not being at all changed, it is as much without any Light inherent in its Nature as ever. But the Soul of a Saint receives Light from the Sun of Righteousness, in such a Manner, that its Nature is changed, and it becomes properly a luminous Thing: Not only does the Sun shine in the Saints, but they also become little Suns, partaking of the Nature of the Fountain of their Light. In this Respect, the Manner of their Derivation of Light, is like that of the Lamps in the Tabernacle, rather than that of a reflecting Glass; which though they were lit up by Fire from Heaven, yet thereby became, themselves burning and shining Things. The Saints don't only drink of the Water of Life, drawn from the original Fountain; but this Water becomes a Fountain of Water in them, springing up there, and flowing out of them; John 4. 14. and Chapter 7. 38, 39. Grace is compared to a Seed implanted, that not only is in the Ground, but has hold of it, has Root there, and grows there, and is an abiding Principle of Life and Nature there.

As it is with spiritual Discoveries and Affections given at first Conversion, so it is in all Illuminations and Affections of that Kind, that Persons are the Subjects of afterwards; they are all transforming. There is a like divine Power and Energy in them, as in the first Discoveries: And they still reach the Bottom of the Heart, and affect and alter the very Nature of the Soul, in Proportion to the Degree in which they are given. And a Transformation of Nature is continued and carried on by them, to the End of Life, until it is brought to Perfection in Glory. Hence the Progress of the Work of Grace in the Hearts of the Saints, is represented in Scripture, as a continued Conversion and Renovation of Nature. So the Apostle exhorts those that were at Rome, beloved of God, called to be Saints, and that were the Subjects of God's redeeming Mercies, to be transformed by the renewing of their Mind; Romans 12. 1, 2. I beseech you therefore by the Mercies of God, that ye present your Bodies, a living Sacrifice;—and be not conformed to this World; but be ye transformed, by the renewing of your Mind. Compared with Chapter 1. 7. So the Apostle writing to the Saints and Faithful in Christ Jesus, that were at Ephesus, (Ephesians 1. 1.) and those who were once dead in Trespasses and Sins, but were now quickened, and raised up, and made to sit together in heavenly Places in Christ, and created in Christ Jesus unto good Works, that were once far off, but were now made nigh by the Blood of Christ, and that were no more Strangers and Foreigners, but Fellow-Citizens with the Saints, and of the Household of God, and that were built together for an Habitation of God through the Spirit; I say, the Apostle writing to these, tells them, that he ceased not to pray for them, that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, in the Knowledge of Christ; the Eyes of their Understanding being enlightened, that they might know, or Experience, what was the exceeding Greatness of God's Power towards them that believe; according to the Working of his mighty Power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the Dead, and set him at his own right Hand in the heavenly Places, Ephesians 1. 16, to the End. In this the Apostle has Respect to the glorious Power and Work of God in converting and renewing the Soul: As is most plain by the sequel. So the Apostle exhorts the same Persons to put off the old Man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts; and be renewed in the Spirit of their Minds; and put on the new Man, which after God, is created in Righteousness and true Holiness, Ephesians 4. 22, 23, 24.

There is a Sort of high Affections that some have from Time to Time, that leave them without any Manner of Appearance of an abiding Effect. They go off suddenly; so that from the very Height of their Emotion, and seeming Rapture, they pass at once to be quite dead, and void of all Sense and Activity. It surely is not used to be thus with high gracious Affections; they leave a sweet Savor and Relish of divine Things on the Heart, and a stronger Bent of Soul towards God and Holiness. As Moses' Face not only shone while he was in the Mount, extraordinarily conversing with God; but it continued to shine after he came down from the Mount. When Men have been conversing with Christ in an extraordinary Manner, there is a sensible Effect of it remains upon them; there is something remarkable in their Disposition and Frame, which if we take Knowledge of, and trace to its Cause, we shall find it is because they have been with Jesus; Acts 4. 13.

8. Truly gracious Affections differ from those Affections that are false and delusive, in that they tend to, and are attended with the Lamb-like, Dove-like Spirit and Temper of Jesus Christ; or in other Words, they naturally beget and promote such a Spirit of Love, Meekness, Quietness, Forgiveness and Mercy, as appeared in Christ.

The Evidence of this in the Scripture, is very abundant. If we judge of the Nature of Christianity, and the proper Spirit of the Gospel, by the Word of God, this Spirit is what may by way of Eminency be called the Christian Spirit; and may be looked upon as the true, and distinguishing Disposition of the Hearts of Christians, as Christians. When some of the Disciples of Christ said something, through Inconsideration and Infirmity, that was not agreeable to such a Spirit, Christ told them that 'they knew not what Manner of Spirit they were of,' Luke 9. 55. implying that this Spirit that I am speaking of, is the proper Spirit of his Religion and Kingdom. All that are truly Godly, and real Disciples of Christ, have this Spirit in them; and not only so but they are of this Spirit; it is the Spirit by which they are so possessed and governed, that it is their true and proper Character. This is evident by what the wise Man says, Proverbs 17. 27. (having Respect plainly to such a Spirit as this) 'A Man of Understanding is of an excellent Spirit'; and by the particular Description Christ gives of the Qualities and Temper of such as are truly Blessed, that shall obtain Mercy, and are God's Children and Heirs, Matthew 5. 'Blessed are the Meek: For they shall inherit the Earth.' 'Blessed are the Merciful: For they shall obtain Mercy.' 'Blessed are the Peace-makers: For they shall be called the Children of God.' And that this Spirit is the special Character of the Elect of God, is manifest by Colossians 3. 12, 13. 'Put on therefore, as the Elect of God, holy and beloved, Bowels of Mercies, Kindness, Humbleness of Mind, Meekness, Long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another.' And the Apostle speaking of that Temper and Disposition which he speaks of as the most excellent and essential Thing in Christianity, and that without which none are true Christians, and the most glorious Profession and Gifts are nothing (calling this Spirit by the Name of Charity) he describes it thus; (1 Corinthians 13. 4, 5.) 'Charity suffereth long and is kind: Charity envieth not: Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly; seeketh not her own; is not easily provoked; thinketh no Evil.' And the same Apostle, Galatians 5. designedly declaring the distinguishing Marks and Fruits of true Christian Grace, chiefly insists on the Things that appertain to such a Temper and Spirit as I am speaking of, Verse 22, 23. 'The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance.' And so does the Apostle James, in describing true Grace, or that Wisdom that is from above, with that declared Design, that others who are of a contrary Spirit may not deceive themselves, and lie against the Truth, in professing to be Christians, when they are not, James 2. 14,—17. 'If ye have bitter Envying and Strife in your Hearts, glory not, and lie not against the Truth: This Wisdom descendeth not from above; but is earthly, sensual, devilish.' 'For where Envying and Strife is, there is Confusion and every evil Work.' 'But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of Mercy and good Fruits.'

Every Thing that appertains to Holiness of Heart, does indeed belong to the Nature of true Christianity, and the Character of Christians; but a Spirit of Holiness as appearing in some particular Graces, may more especially be called the Christian Spirit or Temper. There are some amiable Qualities and Virtues, that do more especially agree with the Nature of the Gospel Constitution, and Christian Profession; because there is a special Agreeableness in them, with those divine Attributes which God has more remarkably manifested and glorified in the Work of Redemption by Jesus Christ, that is the grand Subject of the Christian Revelation; and also a special Agreeableness with these Virtues that were so wonderfully exercised by Jesus Christ towards us in that Affair, and the blessed Example he hath therein set us: and likewise because they are peculiarly agreeable to the special Drift and Design of the Work of Redemption, and the Benefits we thereby receive, and the Relation that it brings us into, to God and one another. And these Virtues are such as Humility, Meekness, Love, Forgiveness, and Mercy. These Things therefore especially belong to the Character of Christians, as such.

These Things are spoken of as what are especially the character of Jesus Christ himself, the great Head of the Christian Church. They are so spoken of in the Prophecies of the Old Testament; as in that cited Matthew 21:5. 'Tell ye the Daughter of Sion, behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an Ass, and a Colt the Foal of an Ass.' So Christ himself speaks of them, Matthew 11:29. 'Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in Heart.' The same appears by the Name by which Christ is so often called in Scripture, namely THE LAMB. And as these Things are especially the character of Christ; so they are also especially the character of Christians. Christians are Christlike: None deserve the Name of Christians that are not so, in their prevailing character. 'The new Man is renewed, after the Image of him that creates him, Colossians 3:10.' All true Christians 'behold as in a Glass, the Glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same Image, by his Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:18.' The Elect are all 'predestinated to be conformed to the Image of the Son of God, that he might be the First-born among many Brethren,' Romans 8:29. 'As we have borne the Image of the first Man, that is earthly, so we must also bear the Image of the heavenly: For as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly, 1 Corinthians 15:47, 48, 49.' Christ is full of Grace; and Christians 'all receive of its Fullness, and Grace for Grace:' that is there is Grace in Christians answering to Grace in Christ, such an Answerableness as there is between the Wax and the Seal; there is character for character: Such Kind of Graces, such a Spirit and Temper, the same Things that belong to Christ's character, belong to theirs. That Disposition wherein Christ's character does in a special Manner consist, therein does his Image in a special Manner consist. Christians that live by reflecting the Light of the Sun of Righteousness, do shine with the same Sort or Brightness, the same mild, sweet and pleasant Beams. These Lamps of the spiritual Temple, that are enkindled by Fire from Heaven, burn with the same sort of Flame. The Branch is of the same Nature with the Stock and Root, has the same Sap, and bears the same Sort of Fruit. The Members have the same Kind of Life with the Head. It would be strange if Christians should not be of the same Temper and Spirit that Christ is of; when 'they are his Flesh and his Bone, yea are one Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:17, and live so, that it is not they that live, but Christ that lives in them.' A Christian Spirit is Christ's Mark, that he sets upon the Souls of his People; his Seal in their Foreheads, bearing his Image and Superscription. Christians are the Followers of Christ: And they are so, as they are obedient to that Call of Christ, 'Matthew 11:28, 29. Come to me, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of Heart. They follow him as the Lamb; 'Revelation 14:4. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.' True Christians are as it were clothed with the meek, quiet, and loving Temper of Christ; for as many as are in Christ, have put on Christ. And in this Respect the Church is clothed with the Sun, not only by being clothed with his imputed Righteousness, but also by being adorned with his Graces; Romans 13:14. Christ the great Shepherd, is himself a Lamb, and Believers are also Lambs; all the Flock are Lambs; 'John 21:15. Feed my Lambs' Luke 10:3. 'I send you forth as Lambs, in the midst of Wolves.' The Redemption of the Church by Christ from the Power of the Devil was typified of old, by David's delivering the Lamb, out of the Mouth of the Lion and the Bear.

That such Manner of Virtue as has been spoken of is the very Nature of the Christian Spirit, or the Spirit that works in Christ and in his Members, and the distinguishing Nature of it, is evident by this, that the Dove is the very Symbol or Emblem, chosen of God, to represent it. Those Things are fittest Emblems of other Things, which do best represent that which is most distinguishing in their Nature. The Spirit that descended on Christ, when he was anointed of the Father, descended on him like a Dove. The Dove is a noted Emblem of Meekness, Harmlessness, Peace and Love. But the same Spirit that descended on the Head of the Church, descends to the Members. 'God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their Hearts, Galatians 4:6. And if any Man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, Romans 8:9.' There is but one Spirit to the whole mystical Body, Head and Members, 1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 4:4. Christ breathes his own Spirit on his Disciples, John 20:22. As Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost, descending on him like a Dove, so Christians also 'have an Anointing from the Holy One, 1 John 2:20, 27. And they are anointed with the same Oil; it is the same 'precious Ointment on the Head, that goes down to the Skirts of the Garments:' And on both it is a Spirit of Peace and Love: Psalm 133:1, 2. 'Behold how good, and how pleasant it is, for Brethren to dwell together in Unity! It is like the precious Ointment upon the Head, that ran down upon the Beard, even Aaron's Beard; that went down to the Skirts of his Garments.' The Oil on Aaron's Garments, had the same sweet and inimitable Odor, with that on his Head; the Smell of the same sweet Spices. Christian Affections, and a Christian Behavior, is but the flowing out of the Savor of Christ's sweet Ointments. Because the Church has a dovelike Temper and Disposition, therefore it is said of her that she has Dove's Eyes, Song of Solomon 1:15. 'Behold thou art fair, my Love; behold thou art fair: Thou hast Dove's Eyes.' And Chapter 4:1. 'Behold thou art fair, my Love; behold thou art fair: Thou hast Dove's Eyes within thy Locks.' The same that is said of Christ, Chapter 6:12. 'His Eyes are as the Eyes of Doves.' And the Church is frequently compared to a Dove in Scripture, Song of Solomon 2:14. 'O my Dove, that art in the Clefts of the Rock—.' Chapter 5:2. 'Open to me my Love, my Dove.' And Chapter 6:9. 'My Dove, my Undefiled, is but one.' Psalm 68:13. 'Ye shall be as the Wings of a Dove, covered with Silver, and her Feathers with yellow Gold.' And 74:13. 'O deliver not the Soul of thy Turtle-Dove unto the Multitude of the Wicked.' The Dove that Noah sent out of the Ark, that could find no Rest for the Sole of her Foot, till she returned, was a Type of a true Saint.

Meekness is so much the Character of the Saints, that the Meek and the Godly, are used as synonymous Terms in Scripture: So Psalm 37:10, 11. The Wicked and the Meek are set in Opposition one to another, as Wicked and Godly. 'Yet a little While, and the Wicked shall not be—but the Meek shall inherit the Earth.' So Psalm 147:6. 'The Lord lifteth up the Meek: He casteth the Wicked down to the Ground.'

It is doubtless very much on this Account, that Christ represents all his Disciples, all the Heirs of Heaven, as little Children, Matthew 19:14. 'Suffer little Children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.' Matthew 10:42. 'Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones, a Cup of cold Water, in the Name of a Disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his Reward.' Matthew 18:6. 'Whoso shall offend one of these little ones, etc. Verse 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. Verse 14. It is not the Will of your Father which is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.' John 13:33. 'Little Children, yet a little while am I with you.' Little Children are innocent and harmless: They do not do a great deal of Mischief in the World: Men need not be afraid of them: They are no dangerous Sort of Persons: Their Anger does not last long: They do not lay up Injuries in high Resentment, entertaining deep and rooted Malice. So Christians, in Malice, are Children, 1 Corinthians 14:20. Little Children are not guileful and deceitful; but plain and simple: They are not versed in the Arts of Fiction and Deceit; and are Strangers to artful Disguises. They are yielding and flexible, and not willful and obstinate; do not trust to their own Understanding, but rely on the Instructions of Parents, and others of superior Understanding. Here is therefore a fit and lively Emblem of the Followers of the Lamb. Persons being thus like little Children, is not only a Thing highly commendable, and what Christians approve of, and aim at, and which some of extraordinary Proficiency do attain to; but it is their universal Character, and absolutely necessary in order to entering into the Kingdom of Heaven; unless Christ was mistaken; Matthew 18:3. 'Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.' Mark 10:15. 'Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child, he shall not enter therein.'

But here some may be ready to say, Is there no such Thing as Christian Fortitude, and Boldness for Christ, being good Soldiers in the Christian Warfare, and coming out bold against the Enemies of Christ and his People?

To which I answer, There doubtless is such a Thing. The whole Christian Life is compared to a Warfare, and fitly so. And the most eminent Christians are the best Soldiers, endowed with the greatest Degrees of Christian Fortitude. And it is the Duty of God's People to be steadfast, and vigorous in their Opposition to the Designs and Ways of such, as are endeavoring to overthrow the Kingdom of Christ, and the Interest of Religion. But yet many Persons seem to be quite mistaken concerning the Nature of Christian Fortitude. It is an exceeding diverse Thing from a brutal Fierceness, or the Boldness of Beasts of Prey. True Christian Fortitude consists in Strength of Mind, through Grace, exerted in two Things; In ruling and suppressing the evil, and unruly Passions and Affections of the Mind; and in steadfastly and freely exerting, and following good Affections and Dispositions, without being hindered by sinful Fear, or the Opposition of Enemies. But the Passions that are restrained and kept under, in the Exercise of this Christian Strength and Fortitude, are those very Passions that are vigorously and violently exerted, in a false Boldness for Christ. And those Affections that are vigorously exerted in true Fortitude, are those Christian holy Affections, that are directly contrary to them. Although Christian Fortitude appears, in withstanding and counteracting the Enemies that are without us; yet it much more appears, in resisting and suppressing the Enemies that are within us; because they are our worst and strongest Enemies, and have greatest Advantage against us. The Strength of the good Soldier of Jesus Christ, appears in nothing more, than in steadfastly maintaining the holy Calm, Meekness, Sweetness, and Benevolence of his Mind, amidst all the Storms, Injuries, strange Behavior, and surprising Acts and Events of this evil and unreasonable World. The Scripture seems to intimate that true Fortitude consists chiefly in this, Proverbs 16:32. 'He that is slow to Anger, is better than the Mighty; and he that ruleth his Spirit, than he that taketh a City.'

The directest and surest Way in the World, to make a right Judgment, what a holy Fortitude is, in fighting with God's Enemies; is to look to the Captain of all God's Hosts, and our great Leader and Example; and see wherein his Fortitude and Valour appeared, in his chief Conflict, and in the Time of the greatest Battle that ever was, or ever will be fought with these Enemies, when he fought with them all alone, and of the People there was none with him, and exercised his Fortitude in the highest Degree that ever he did, and got that glorious Victory that will be celebrated in the Praises and Triumphs of all the Hosts of Heaven, throughout all Eternity: even to Jesus Christ in the Time of his last Sufferings; when his Enemies in Earth and Hell made their most violent Attack upon him, compassing him round on every Side, like rending and roaring Lions. Doubtless here we shall see the Fortitude of a holy Warrior and Champion in the Cause of God, in its highest Perfection and greatest Lustre, and an Example fit for the Soldiers to follow, that fight under this Captain. But how did he show his holy Boldness and Valour at that Time? Not in the Exercise of any fiery Passions; not in fierce and violent Speeches, and vehemently declaiming against, and crying out of the intolerable Wickedness of Opposers, giving them their own in plain Terms; but in not opening his Mouth when afflicted and oppressed, in going as a Lamb to the Slaughter, and as a Sheep before his Shearers, is dumb, not opening his Mouth; praying that the Father would forgive his cruel Enemies, because they knew not what they did; not shedding others Blood; but with all-conquering Patience and Love, shedding his own. Indeed one of his Disciples, that made a forward Pretense to Boldness for Christ, and confidently declared he would sooner die with Christ than deny him, began to lay about him with a Sword: But Christ meekly rebukes him, and heals the Wound he gives. And never was the Patience, Meekness, Love, and Forgiveness of Christ, in so glorious a Manifestation, as at that Time. Never did he appear so much a Lamb, and never did he show so much of the dove-like Spirit, as at that Time. If therefore we see any of the Followers of Christ, in the midst of the most violent, unreasonable and wicked Opposition, of God's and his own Enemies, maintaining under all this Temptation, the Humility, Quietness, and Gentleness of a Lamb, and the Harmlessness, and Love, and Sweetness of a Dove, we may well judge that here is a good Soldier of Jesus Christ.

When Persons are fierce and violent, and exert their sharp and bitter Passions, it shows Weakness, instead of Strength and Fortitude. 1 Corinthians 3 at the Beginning, 'And I Brethren, could not speak unto you, as unto Spiritual, but as unto Carnal, even as unto Babes in Christ.—For ye are yet Carnal: For whereas there is among you Envying and Strife, and Divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as Men?'

There is a pretended Boldness for Christ that arises from no better Principle than Pride. A Man may be forward to expose himself to the Dislike of the World, and even to provoke their Displeasure, out of Pride. For it is the Nature of spiritual Pride to cause Men to seek Distinction and Singularity; and so oftentimes to set themselves at War with those that they call carnal, that they may be more highly exalted among their Party. True Boldness for Christ is universal, and overcomes all, and carries them above the Displeasure of Friends and Foes; so that they will forsake all rather than Christ; and will rather offend all Parties, and be thought meanly of by all, than offend Christ. And that Duty which tries whether a Man is willing to be despised by them that are of his own Party, and thought the least worthy to be regarded by them, is a much more proper Trial of his Boldness for Christ, than his being forward to expose himself to the Reproach of Opposers. The Apostle sought not Glory, not only of Heathens and Jews, but of Christians; as he declares, 1 Thessalonians 2:26. He is bold for Christ, that has christian Fortitude enough, to confess his Fault openly, when he has committed one that requires it, and as it were to come down upon his Knees before Opposers. Such Things as these are a vastly greater Evidence of holy Boldness, than resolutely and fiercely confronting Opposers.

As some are much mistaken concerning the Nature of true Boldness for Christ, so they are concerning christian Zeal. It is indeed a Flame, but a sweet One: Or rather it is the Heat and Fervour of a sweet Flame. For the Flame of which it is the Heat, is no other than that of divine Love, or christian Charity; which is the sweetest and most benevolent Thing that is, or can be, in the Heart of Man or Angel. Zeal is the Fervour of this Flame, as it ardently and vigorously goes out towards the Good that is its Object, in Desires of it, and Pursuit after it; and so consequentially, in Opposition to the Evil that is contrary to it, and impedes it. There is indeed Opposition, and vigorous Opposition, that is a Part of it, or rather as an Attendant of it; but it is against Things, and not Persons. Bitterness against the Persons of Men is no Part of it, but is very contrary to it; insomuch that so much the warmer true Zeal is, and the higher it is raised, so much the further are Persons from such Bitterness, and so much fuller of Love, both to the Evil and to the Good. As appears from what has been just now observed, that it is no other, in its very Nature and Essence, than the Fervour of a Spirit of christian Charity. And as to what Opposition there is in it, to Things, it is firstly and chiefly against the evil Things in the Person himself, who has this Zeal; against the Enemies of God and Holiness, that are in his own Heart; (as these are most in his View, and what he is most to do with;) and but secondarily against the Sins of others. And therefore there is nothing in a true christian Zeal, that is contrary to that Spirit of Meekness, Gentleness and Love, that Spirit of a little Child, a Lamb and Dove, that has been spoken of; but it is entirely agreeable to it, and tends to promote it.

But to say something particularly concerning this christian Spirit I have been speaking of, as exercised in these three Things, Forgiveness, Love and Mercy; I would observe that the Scripture is very clear and express concerning the absolute Necessity of each of these, as belonging to the Temper and Character of every Christian.

It is so as to a forgiving Spirit, or a Disposition to overlook and forgive Injuries. Christ gives it to us both as a negative and positive Evidence; and is express in teaching us, that if we are of such a Spirit, it is a Sign we are in a State of Forgiveness and Favour our selves; and that if we are not of such a Spirit, we are not forgiven of God; and seems to take special Care that we should take good Notice of it, and always bear it on our Minds. Matthew 6:12, 14, 15. 'Forgive us our Debts, as we forgive our Debtors.—For if ye forgive Men their Trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not Men their Trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses.' Christ expresses the same again at another Time, Mark 11:25, 26 and again in Matthew 18:22, to the End, in the Parable of the Servant that owed his Lord ten thousand Talents, that would not forgive his fellow Servant an hundred Pence; and therefore was delivered to the Tormentors. In the Application of the Parable Christ says, Verse 35. 'So likewise shall my heavenly Father do, if ye from your Heart forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses.'

And that all true Saints are of a loving, benevolent and beneficent Temper, the Scripture is very plain and abundant. Without it the Apostle tells us, 'Though we should speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels, we are as a sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal: And that though we have the Gift of Prophecy, and understand all Mysteries, and all Knowledge; yet without this Spirit we are nothing.' And there is no one Virtue or Disposition of the Mind, that is so often, and so expressly insisted on, in the Marks that are laid down in the New Testament, whereby to know true Christians. It is often given as a Sign that is peculiarly distinguishing, by which all may know Christ's Disciples, and by which they may know themselves: And is often laid down, both as a negative and positive Evidence. Christ calls the Law of Love, by way of Eminency, his Commandment, John 13:34. 'A new Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.' And Chapter 15:12. 'This is my Commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.' And Verse 17. 'These Things I command you, that ye love one another.' And says, Chapter 13:35. 'By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples, if ye love one another.' And Chapter 14:21 (still with a special Reference to this which he calls his Commandment) 'He that hath my Commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.' The beloved Disciple, who had so much of this sweet Temper himself, abundantly insists on it, in his Epistles. There is none of the Apostles, is so much in laying down express Signs of Grace, for Professors to try themselves by, as he; and in his Signs, he insists scarcely on any Thing else, but a Spirit of christian Love, and an agreeable Practice; 1 John 2:9, 10. 'He that saith he is in the Light, and hateth his Brother, is in Darkness even until now. He that loveth his Brother abideth in the Light, and there is none Occasion of Stumbling in him.' Chapter 3:14. 'We know that we are passed from Death to Life, because we love the Brethren. He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death.' Verse 18, 19. 'My little Children, let us not love in Word and in Tongue, but in Deed and in Truth. And hereby we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our Hearts before him.' Verse 23, 24. 'This is his Commandment, that we should love one another. And he that keepeth his Commandments, dwelleth in him, and he in him: And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.' Chapter 4:7, 8. 'Beloved, let us love one another; for Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God: He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is Love.' Verse 12, 13. 'No Man hath seen God at any Time: If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his Love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, because he hath given us of his Spirit.' Verse 16. 'God is Love: And he that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.' Verse 20. 'If a Man say, I love God, and hateth his Brother, he is a Liar: For he that loveth not his Brother that he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?'

And the Scripture is as plain as it is possible it should be, that none are true Saints, but those whose true Character it is, that they are of a Disposition to pity and relieve their Fellow-creatures, that are poor, indigent and afflicted. Psalm 37. 21. 'The Righteous shows Mercy, and gives.' Verse 26. 'He is ever merciful, and lends.' Psalm 112. 5. 'A good Man shows Favour, and lends.' Verse 9. 'He has dispersed abroad, and given to the Poor.' Proverbs 14. 31. 'He that honors God, has Mercy on the Poor.' Proverbs 21. 26. 'The Righteous gives, and spares not.' Jeremiah 22. 16. 'He judges the Cause of the Poor and Needy: Then it was well with him: Was not this to know me, saith the Lord?' James 1. 27. 'Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction, etc.' Hosea 6. 6. 'For I desired Mercy, and not Sacrifice; and the Knowledge of God, more than Burnt-Offerings.' Matthew 5. 7. 'Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain Mercy.' 2 Corinthians 8. 8. 'I speak not by Commandment, but by Occasion of the Forwardness of others, and to prove the Sincerity of your Love.' James 2. 13, 14, 15, 16. 'For he shall have Judgment without Mercy, that has shown no Mercy. What does it profit my Brethren, though a Man says he has Faith, and have not Works? Can Faith save him? If a Brother or Sister be naked, and destitute of daily Food, and one of you say unto them, depart in Peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those Things which are needful for the Body; what does it profit?' 1 John 3. 17. 'Whoso has this Worlds Goods, and sees his Brother have Need, and shuts up his Bowels of Compassion from him, how dwells the Love of God in him? Christ in that Description he gives us of the Day of Judgment, Matthew 25. (which is the most particular that we have in all the Bible) represents that Judgment will be passed at that Day, according as Men have been found to have been of a merciful Spirit and Practice, or otherwise. Christ's Design in giving such a Description of the Process of that Day, is plainly to possess all his Followers with that Apprehension, that unless this was their Spirit and Practice, there was no Hope of their being accepted and owned by him, at that Day. Therefore this is an Apprehension that we ought to be possessed with. We find in Scripture that a righteous Man, and a merciful Man are synonymous Expressions; Isaiah 57. 1. 'The Righteous perishes, and no Man lays it to Heart; and the merciful Men are taken away, none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come.'

Thus we see how full, clear and abundant, the Evidence from Scripture is, that those who are truly gracious, are under the Government of that lamb-like, dove-like Spirit of Jesus Christ. And that this is essentially and eminently the Nature of the saving Grace of the Gospel, and the proper Spirit of true Christianity. We may therefore undoubtedly determine that all truly Christian Affections are attended with such a Spirit; and that this is the natural Tendency of the Fear and Hope, the Sorrow and the Joy, the Confidence and the Zeal of true Christians.

None will understand me that true Christians have no Remains of a contrary Spirit, and can never, in any Instances, be guilty of a Behavior disagreeable to such a Spirit. But this I affirm, and shall affirm until I deny the Bible to be any Thing worth, that every Thing in Christians that belongs to true Christianity, is of this Tendency, and works this Way; and that there is no true Christian upon Earth, but is so under the prevailing Power of such a Spirit, that he is properly denominated from it, and it is truly and justly his Character: And that therefore Ministers, and others have no Warrant from Christ to encourage Persons, that are of a contrary Character and Behavior, to think they are converted, because they tell a fair Story of Illuminations and Discoveries. In so doing they would set up their own Wisdom against Christ's, and judge without, and against that Rule by which Christ has declared all Men should know his Disciples. Some Persons place Religion so much in certain transient Illuminations and Impressions (especially if they are in such a particular Method and Order) and so little in the Spirit and Temper Persons are of, that they greatly deform Religion, and form Notions of Christianity quite different from what it is, as delineated in the Scriptures. The Scripture knows of no such true Christians, as are of a sordid, selfish, cross and contentious Spirit. Nothing can be invented that is a greater Absurdity, than a morose, hard, close, high-spirited, spiteful true Christian. We must learn the Way of bringing Men to Rules, and not Rules to Men, and so strain and stretch the Rules of God's Word, to take in ourselves, and some of our Neighbors, until we make them wholly of none Effect.

It is true that Allowances must be made for Men's natural Temper with Regard to these Things, as well as others. But not such Allowances, as to allow Men, that once were Wolves and Serpents, to be now converted, without any remarkable Change in the Spirit of their Mind. The Change made by true Conversion, is wont to be most remarkable and sensible, with Respect to that which before was the Wickedness the Person was most notoriously guilty of. Grace has as great a Tendency to restrain and mortify such Sins, as are contrary to the Spirit that has been spoken of, as it has to mortify Drunkenness or Lasciviousness. Yea the Scripture represents the Change wrought by Gospel Grace, as especially appearing in an Alteration of the former Sort; Isaiah 11. 6-9. 'The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb; and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid; and the Calf, and the young Lion, and the Fatling together; and a little Child shall lead them. And the Cow, and the Bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: And the Lion shall eat Straw like the Ox: And the sucking Child shall play on the Hole of the Asp; and the weaned Child shall put his Hand on the Cockatrice Den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain. For the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea.' And to the same Purpose is Isaiah 65. 25. Accordingly we find, that in the primitive Times of the Christian Church, Converts were remarkably changed in this Respect: Titus 3. 3, etc. 'For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers Lusts and Pleasures; living in Malice and Envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the Kindness and Love of God our Savior, toward Men, appeared,—He saved us, by the Washing of Regeneration, and Renewing of the Holy Ghost.' And Colossians 2. 7, 8. 'In the which ye also walked, some Time, when ye lived in them. But now you also put off all these; Anger, Wrath, Malice, Blasphemy, filthy Communication out of your Mouth.'

9. Gracious Affections soften the Heart, and are attended and followed with a Christian Tenderness of Spirit.

False Affections, however Persons may seem to be melted by them while they are new, yet have a Tendency in the End to harden the Heart. A Disposition to some Kind of Passions may be established; such as imply Self-seeking, Self-Exaltation, and Opposition to others. But false Affections, with the Delusion that attends them, finally tend to stupefy the Mind, and shut it up against those Affections wherein Tenderness of Heart consists: And the Effect of them at last is, that Persons in the settled Frame of their Minds, become less affected with their present and past Sins, and less conscientious with Respect to future Sins, less moved with the Warnings and Cautions of God's Word, or God's Chastisements in his Providence, more careless of the Frame of their Hearts, and the Manner and Tendency of their Behavior, less quick-sighted to discern what is sinful, less afraid of the Appearance of Evil, than they were while they were under legal Awakenings and Fears of Hell. Now they have been the Subjects of such and such Impressions and Affections, and have a high Opinion of themselves, and look on their State to be safe; they can be much more easy than before, in living in the Neglect of Duties that are troublesome and inconvenient; and are much more flow and partial in complying with difficult Commands; are in no Measure so alarmed at the Appearance of their own Defects and Transgressions; are emboldened to favor themselves more, with Respect to the Labor, and painful Care and Exactness in their Walk, and more easily yield to Temptations, and the Solicitations of their Lusts; and have far less Care of their Behavior, when they come into the holy Presence of God, in the Time of public or private Worship. Formerly it may be, under legal Convictions they took much Pains in Religion, and denied themselves in many Things: But now they think themselves out of Danger of Hell, they very much put off the Burden of the Cross, and save themselves the Trouble of difficult Duties, and allow themselves more of the Comfort and the Enjoyment of their Ease and their Lusts.

Such Persons as these, instead of embracing Christ as their Savior from Sin, they trust in him as the Savior of their Sins: Instead of flying to him as their Refuge from their spiritual Enemies, they make Use of him as the Defence of their spiritual Enemies, from God, and to strengthen them against him. They make Christ the Minister of Sin, and great Officer and Vicegerent of the Devil, to strengthen his Interest, and make him above all Things in the World strong against JEHOVAH; so that they may sin against him with good Courage, and without any Fear, being effectually secured from Restraints by his most solemn Warnings and most awful Threatenings. They trust in Christ to preserve to them the quiet Enjoyment of their Sins, and to be their Shield to defend them from God's Displeasure; while they come close to him, even to his Bosom, the Place of his Children, to fight against him, with their mortal Weapons, hid under their Skirts. However some of these, at the same Time, make a great Profession of Love to God, and Assurance of his Favor, and great Joy in tasting the sweets of his Love.

After the Manner they trusted in Christ, that the Apostle Jude speaks of, crept in among the Saints unknown; but were really ungodly Men, turning the Grace of God into Lasciviousness, Jude 4. These are they that trust in their being righteous; and because God has promised that the Righteous shall surely live or certainly be saved, are therefore emboldened to commit Iniquity, whom God threatens in Ezekiel 33. 13. When I shall say to the Righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own Righteousness, and commit Iniquity; all his Righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his Iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.

Gracious Affections are of a quite contrary Tendency; they turn a Heart of Stone more and more into a Heart of Flesh. An holy Love and Hope are Principles that are vastly more efficacious upon the Heart, to make it tender, and to fill it with a Dread of Sin, or whatever might displease and offend God, and to engage it to Watchfulness and Care and Strictness, than a slavish Fear of Hell. Gracious Affections, as was observed before, flow out of a contrite Heart, or (as the Word signifies) a bruised Heart, bruised and broken with godly Sorrow; which makes the Heart tender, as bruised Flesh is tender, and easily hurt. Godly Sorrow has much greater Influence to make the Heart tender, than mere legal Sorrow from selfish Principles.

The Tenderness of the Heart of a true Christian, is elegantly signified by our Saviour, in his comparing such a one to a little Child. The Flesh of a little Child is very tender: so is the Heart of one that is new-born. This is represented in what we are told of Naaman's Cure of his Leprosy, by his washing in Jordan, by the Direction of the Prophet; which was undoubtedly a Type of the renewing of the Soul, by washing in the Laver of Regeneration. We are told, 2 Kings 5:14, That he went down, and dipped himself seven Times in Jordan, according to the Saying of the Man of God; and his Flesh came again, like unto the Flesh of a little Child. Not only is the Flesh of a little Child tender, but his Mind is tender. A little Child has his Heart easily moved, wrought upon and bowed: So is a Christian in spiritual Things. A little Child is apt to be affected with Sympathy, to weep with them that weep, and can't well bear to see others in Distress: So it is with a Christian; John 11:35; Romans 12:15; 1 Corinthians 12:26. A little Child is easily won by Kindness: So is a Christian. A little Child is easily affected with Grief at temporal Evils, and has his Heart melted, and he falls a weeping: Thus tender is the Heart of a Christian, with Regard to the Evil of Sin. A little Child is easily affrighted at the Appearance of outward Evils, or any thing that threatens its Hurt: So is a Christian apt to be alarmed at the Appearance of moral Evil, and any thing that threatens the Hurt of the Soul. A little Child, when it meets Enemies, or fierce Beasts, is not apt to trust its own Strength, but flies to its Parents for Refuge: So a Saint is not self-confident in engaging spiritual Enemies, but flies to Christ. A little Child is apt to be suspicious of Evil in Places of Danger, afraid in the Dark, afraid when left alone, or far from Home: So is a Saint apt to be sensible of his spiritual Dangers, jealous of himself, full of Fear when he can't see his Way plain before him, afraid to be left alone, and to be at a Distance from God; Proverbs 28:14. Happy is the Man that feareth always; but he that hardens his Heart shall fall into Mischief. A little Child is apt to be afraid of Superiors, and to dread their Anger, and tremble at their Frowns and Threatenings: So is a true Saint with Respect to God; Psalm 119:120. My Flesh trembleth for Fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy Judgments. Isaiah 66:2. To this Man will I look, even to him that is poor, and trembleth at my Word. Verse 5. Hear ye the Word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his Word. Ezra 9:4. Then were assembled unto me, every one that trembled at the Words of the God of Israel. Chapter 10:3. According to the Counsel of my Lord, and of those that tremble at the Commandment of our God. A little Child approaches Superiors with Awe: So do the Saints approach God with holy Awe and Reverence. Job 13:11. Shall not his Excellency make you afraid, and his Dread fall upon you. Holy Fear is so much the Nature of true Godliness, that it is called in Scripture by no other Name more frequently, than the Fear of God.

Hence gracious Affections don't tend to make Men bold, forward, noisy and boisterous; but rather to speak trembling; (Hosea 13:1. When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.) and to clothe with a Kind of holy Fear in all their Behavior towards God and Man; agreeable to Psalm 2:11; 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5; 1 Peter 3:2; Romans 11:20.

But here some may object and say, Is there no such Thing as a holy Boldness in Prayer, and the Duties of divine Worship? I answer, There is doubtless such a Thing; and it is chiefly to be found in eminent Saints, Persons of great Degrees of Faith and Love. But this holy Boldness is not in the least opposite to Reverence; though it be to Disunion and Servility. It abolishes or lessens that Disposition which arises from moral Distance or Alienation; and also Distance of Relation, as that of a Slave: But not at all, that which becomes the natural Distance, whereby we are infinitely inferior. No Boldness in poor sinful Worms of the Dust, that have a right Sight of God and themselves, will prompt them to approach to God with less Fear and Reverence, than spotless and glorious Angels in Heaven; who cover their Faces before his Throne; Isaiah 6 at the Beginning. Rebecca, (who in her Marriage with Isaac, in almost all its Circumstances, was manifestly a great Type of the Church, the Spouse of Christ) when she meets Isaac, lights off from her Camel, and takes a Veil, and covers herself; although she was brought to him as his Bride, to be with him, in the nearest Relation, and most intimate Union, that Mankind are ever united one to another in. Elijah, that great Prophet, who had so much holy Familiarity with God, at a Time of special Nearness to God, even when he conversed with him in the Mount, wrapped his Face in his Mantle. Which was not because he was terrified with any servile Fear, by the terrible Wind, and Earthquake, and Fire; but after these were all over, and God spoke to him as a Friend, in a still small Voice; 1 Kings 19:12, 13. And after the Fire, a still small Voice: And it was so, when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his Face in his Mantle. And Moses, with whom God spoke Face to Face, as a Man speaks with his Friend, and was distinguished from all the Prophets, in the Familiarity with God that he was admitted to; at a Time when he was brought nearest of all, when God showed him his Glory in that same Mount, where he afterwards spoke to Elijah; He made Haste, and bowed his Head towards the Earth, and worshipped, Exodus 34:8. There is in some Persons, a most unsuitable and unsufferable Boldness, in their Addresses to the great JEHOVAH, in an Affectation of an holy Boldness, and Ostentation of eminent Nearness and Familiarity; the very Thoughts of which would make them shrink into Nothing, with Horror and Confusion, if they saw the Distance that is between God and them. They are like the Pharisee, that boldly came up near, in a Confidence of his own Eminency in Holiness. Whereas, if they saw their Vileness, they would be more like the Publican, that stood afar off, and dared not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven; but smote upon his Breast, saying, God be merciful to me a Sinner. It becomes such sinful Creatures as we, to approach a holy God (although with Faith, and without Terror, yet) with Contrition, and penitent Shame and Confusion of Face. It is foretold that this should be the Disposition of the Church, in the Time of her highest Privileges on Earth, in her latter Day of Glory, when God should remarkably comfort her, by revealing his Covenant-Mercy to her; Ezekiel 16:60, to the End. I will establish unto thee an everlasting Covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy Ways, and be ashamed.— And I will establish my Covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy Mouth any more, because of thy Shame, when I am pacified toward thee, for all that thou hast done; saith the Lord God. The Woman that we read of in the seventh Chapter of Luke, that was an eminent Saint, and had much of that true Love which casts out Fear, by Christ's own Testimony, Verse 47, she approached Christ in an amiable, and acceptable Manner, when she came with that humble Modesty, Reverence and Shame, when she stood at his Feet, weeping behind him, as not being fit to appear before his Face, and washed his Feet with her Tears.

One Reason why gracious Affections are attended with this Tenderness of Spirit which has been spoken of, is that true Grace tends to promote Convictions of Conscience. Persons are wont to have Convictions of Conscience before they have any Grace: And if afterwards they are truly converted, and have true Repentance, and Joy, and Peace in Believing; this has a Tendency to put an End to Terrors, but has no Tendency to put an End to Convictions of Sin, but to increase them. It doesn't stupefy a Man's Conscience; but makes it more sensible, more easily and thoroughly discerning the Sinfulness of that which is sinful, and receiving a greater Conviction of the heinous and dreadful Nature of Sin, susceptible of a quicker and deeper Sense of it, and more convinced of his own Sinfulness, and Wickedness of his Heart; and consequently it has a Tendency to make him more jealous of his Heart. Grace tends to give the Soul a further and better Conviction of the same Things concerning Sin, that it was convinced of under a legal Work of the Spirit of God; namely Its great Contrariety to the Will and Law and Honor of God, the Greatness of God's Hatred of it, and Displeasure against it, and the dreadful Punishment it exposes to and deserves. And not only so, but it convinces the Soul of some thing further concerning Sin, that it saw nothing of, while only under legal Convictions; and that is the infinitely hateful Nature of Sin, and its Dreadfulness upon that Account. And this makes the Heart tender with Respect to Sin; like David's Heart, that smote him, when he had cut off Saul's Skirt. The Heart of a true Penitent is like a burnt Child, that dreads the Fire. Whereas on the Contrary, he that has had a counterfeit Repentance, and false Comforts and Joys, is like Iron that has been suddenly heated and quenched; it becomes much harder than before. A false Conversion puts an End to Convictions of Conscience; and so either takes away, or much diminishes that Conscientiousness, which was manifested under a Work of the Law.

All gracious Affections have a Tendency to promote this Christian Tenderness of Heart, that has been spoken of: Not only a godly Sorrow; but also a gracious Joy; Psalm 2:11. 'Serve the Lord with Fear, and rejoice with Trembling.' As also a gracious Hope; Psalm 33:18. 'Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him; upon them that hope in his Mercy.' And Psalm 147:11. 'The Lord taketh Pleasure in them that fear him, and in them that hope in his Mercy.' Yea the most confident and assured Hope, that is truly gracious, has this Tendency. The higher an holy Hope is raised, the more there is of this Christian Tenderness. The banishing of a servile Fear, by a holy Assurance, is attended with a proportionable Increase of a reverential Fear. The diminishing of the Fear of the Fruits of God's Displeasure in future Punishment, is attended with a proportionable Increase of Fear of his Displeasure itself: The diminishing of the Fear of Hell, with an Increase of the Fear of Sin. The vanishing of Jealousies of the Person's State, is attended with a proportionable Increase of Jealousy of his Heart, in a Distrust of its Strength, Wisdom, Stability, Faithfulness, et cetera. The less apt he is to be afraid of natural Evil, having 'his Heart fixed trusting in God, and so, not afraid of evil Tidings;' the more apt is he to be alarmed with the Appearance of moral Evil, or the Evil of Sin. As he has more holy Boldness, so he has less of Self-Confidence, and a forward assuming Boldness, and more Modesty. As he is more sure than others of Deliverance from Hell, so he has more of a Sense of the Desert of it. He is less apt than others to be shaken in Faith; but more apt than others to be moved with solemn Warnings, and with God's Frowns, and with the Calamities of others. He has the firmest Comfort, but the softest Heart: Richer than others, but poorest of all in Spirit: The tallest and strongest Saint, but the least and tenderest Child amongst them.

10. Another Thing wherein those Affections that are truly gracious and holy, differ from those that are false, is beautiful Symmetry and Proportion.

Not that the Symmetry of the Virtues, and gracious Affections of the Saints, in this Life, is perfect: It oftentimes, is in many Things defective, through the Imperfection of Grace, for want of proper Instructions, through Errors in Judgment, or some particular Unhappiness of natural Temper, or Defects in Education, and many other Disadvantages that might be mentioned. But yet there is, in no wise, that monstrous Disproportion in gracious Affections, and the various Parts of true Religion in the Saints, that is very commonly to be observed, in the false Religion, and counterfeit Graces of Hypocrites.

In the truly holy Affections of the Saints is found that Proportion, which is the natural Consequence of the Universality of their Sanctification. They have the whole Image of Christ upon them: They have 'put off the old Man, and have put on the new Man' entire in all his Parts and Members. 'It hath pleased the Father that in Christ all Fullness should dwell:' there is in him every Grace; 'He is full of Grace and Truth: And they that are Christ's, do 'of his Fullness receive, and Grace for Grace;' (John 1:14, 16.) that is there is every Grace in them, which is in Christ: 'Grace for Grace;' that is, Grace answerable to Grace: There is no Grace in Christ, but there is its Image in Believers to answer it: The Image is a true Image; and there is something of the same beautiful Proportion in the Image, which is in the Original; there is Feature for Feature, and Member for Member. There is Symmetry and Beauty in God's Workmanship. The natural Body, which God hath made consists of many Members; and all are in a beautiful Proportion: So it is in the new Man, consisting of various Graces and Affections. The Body of one that was born a perfect Child, may fail of exact Proportion through Distemper, and the Weakness and Wounds of some of its Members; yet the Disproportion is in no Measure like that of those that are born Monsters.

It is with Hypocrites, as it was with Ephraim of old, at a Time when God greatly complains of their Hypocrisy; Hosea 7. 'Ephraim is a Cake not turned,' half roasted and half raw: There is commonly no Manner of Uniformity in their Affections.

There is in many of them a great Partiality, with Regard to the several Kinds of religious Affections: Great Affections in some Things, and no manner of Proportion in others. An holy Hope and holy Fear go together in the Saints, as has been observed from Psalms 33:18 and 147:11. But in some of these is the most confident Hope, while they are void of Reverence, Self-jealousy and Caution, and to a great Degree cast off Fear. In the Saints, Joy and holy Fear go together, though the Joy be never so great; as it was with the Disciples, in that joyful Morning of Christ's Resurrection, Matthew 28:8. 'And they departed quickly from the Sepulchre, with Fear and GREAT Joy. But many of these rejoice without trembling: Their Joy is of that Sort, that is truly opposite to godly Fear.

But particularly, one great Difference between Saints and Hypocrites is this, that the Joy and Comfort of the Former is attended with godly Sorrow and Mourning for Sin. They have not only Sorrow to prepare them for their first Comfort, but after they are comforted, and their Joy established. As it is foretold of the Church of God, that they should mourn and loathe themselves for their Sins, after they were returned from the Captivity, and were settled in the Land of Canaan, the Land of Rest, and the Land that flows with Milk and Honey, Ezekiel 20:42, 43. 'And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the Land of Israel, into the Country for the which I lifted up mine Hand, to give it to your Fathers. And there shall ye remember your Ways, and all your Doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own Sight, for all your Evils that ye have committed.' As also in Ezekiel 16:61, 62, 63. A true Saint is like a little Child in this Respect; he never had any godly Sorrow before he was born again; but since has it often in exercise: As a little Child, before it is born, and while it remains in Darkness, never cries; but as soon as ever it sees the Light, it begins to cry; and thenceforward is often crying. Although Christ has borne our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows, so that we are freed from the Sorrow of Punishment, and may now sweetly feed upon the Comforts Christ has purchased for us; yet that hinders not but that our feeding on these Comforts should be attended with the Sorrow of Repentance. As of old, the Children of Israel were commanded, evermore to feed upon the paschal Lamb, with bitter Herbs. True Saints are spoken of in Scripture, not only as those that have mourned for Sin, but as those that do mourn, whose Manner it is still to mourn; Matthew 5:4. 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.'

Not only is there often in Hypocrites, an essential Deficiency, as to the various Kinds of religious Affections; but also a strange Partiality and Disproportion, in the same Affections, with Regard to different Objects.

Thus as to the Affection of Love, some make high Pretenses, and a great Show of Love to God and Christ, and it may be have been greatly affected with what they have heard or thought concerning them: But they have not a Spirit of Love and Benevolence towards Men, but are disposed to Contention, Envy, Revenge, and Evil-speaking; and will, it may be, suffer an old Grudge to rest in their Bosoms towards a Neighbor, for seven Years together, if not twice seven Years; living in real Ill-will and Bitterness of Spirit towards him: And it may be in their Dealings with their Neighbors, are not very strict and conscientious in observing the Rule of doing to others, as they would that they should do to them: 1 John 4:20. If a Man say, I love God, and hates his Brother, he is a Liar: For he that loves not his Brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And on the other Hand, there are others, that appear as if they had a great deal of Benevolence to Men, are very good natured and generous in their Way; but have no Love to God.

And as to Love to Men, there are some that have flowing Affections to some; but their Love is far from being of so extensive and universal a Nature, as a truly Christian Love is. They are full of dear Affections to some, and full of Bitterness towards others. They are knit to their own Party, them that approve of them, love them and admire them; but are fierce against those that oppose and dislike them. Matthew 5:45, 46. Be like your Father which is in Heaven: For he maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good. —For if ye love them which love you, what Reward have ye? Do not even the Publicans the same? Some show a great Affection to their Neighbors; and pretend to be ravished with the Company of the Children of God; and at the same Time are uncomfortable and churlish towards their Wives and other near Relations at Home, and are very negligent of relative Duties. And as to the great Love to Sinners and Opposers of Religion, and the great Concern for their Souls, that there is an Appearance of in some, even to extreme Distress and Agony, singling out a particular Person, from among a Multitude, for its Object, there being at the same Time no general Compassion to Sinners, that are in equally miserable Circumstances, but what is in a monstrous Disproportion; this seems not to be of the Nature of a gracious Affection. Not that I suppose it to be at all strange, that Pity to the perishing Souls of Sinners should be to a Degree of Agony, if other Things are answerable; or that a truly gracious Compassion to Souls should be exercised much more to some Persons than others that are equally miserable, especially on some particular Occasions: There may many Things happen to fix the Mind, and affect the Heart, with Respect to a particular Person, at such a Juncture; and without Doubt some Saints have been in great Distress for the Souls of particular Persons, so as to be as it were in Travail for them: But when Persons appear, at particular Times, in wracking Agonies for the Soul of some single Person, far beyond what has been usually heard or read of in eminent Saints, but appear to be Persons that have a Spirit of meek and fervent Love, Charity, and Compassion to Mankind in general, in a far less Degree than they; I say, such Agonies are greatly to be suspected, for Reasons already given; namely, That the Spirit of God is wont to give Graces and gracious Affections in a beautiful Symmetry and Proportion.

And as there is a monstrous Disproportion in the Love of some, in its Exercises towards different Persons, so there is in their seeming Exercises of Love towards the same Persons. Some Men show a Love to others as to their outward Man, they are liberal of their worldly Substance, and often give to the Poor; but have no Love to, or Concern for the Souls of Men. Others pretend a great Love to Men's Souls, that are not compassionate and charitable towards their Bodies. The making a great Show of Love, Pity, and Distress for Souls, costs them nothing; but in order to show Mercy to Men's Bodies, they must part with Money out of their Pockets. But a true Christian Love to our Brethren, extends both to their Souls and Bodies. And herein is like the Love and Compassion of Jesus Christ. He showed Mercy to Men's Souls, by laboring for them in preaching the Gospel to them; and showed Mercy to their Bodies, by going about doing Good, healing all Manner of Sickness and Diseases among the People. We have a remarkable Instance of Christ's having Compassion at once both to Men's Souls and Bodies, and showing Compassion by feeding both, in Mark 6:34, and so forth. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much People, and was moved with Compassion towards them; because they were as Sheep not having a Shepherd: And he began to teach them many Things. Here was his Compassion to their Souls. And in the Sequel, we have an Account of his Compassion to their Bodies, because they had been a long While having nothing to eat: He fed five thousand of them with five Loaves and two Fishes. And if the Compassion of professing Christians towards others do not work in the same Ways, it is a Sign that it is no true Christian Compassion.

And furthermore, it is a Sign that Affections are not of the right Sort, if Persons seem to be much affected with the bad Qualities of their Fellow-Christians, as the Coldness and Lifelessness of other Saints, but are in no Proportion affected with their own Defects and Corruptions. A true Christian may be affected with the Coldness and Unsavoriness of other Saints, and may mourn much over it. But at the same Time he is not so apt to be affected with the Badness of any Body's Heart, as his own. This is most in his View: This he is most quick-sighted to discern: This he sees most of the Aggravations of, and is most ready to cry out of. And a lesser Degree of Virtue will bring him to pity himself, and be concerned at his own Calamities, than rightly to be affected with others' Calamities. And if Men have not attained to the Less, we may determine they never attained to the Greater.

And here by the Way, I would observe, that it may be laid down as a general Rule, That if Persons pretend that they come to high Attainments in Religion, but have never yet arrived to the lesser Attainments, it is a Sign of a vain Pretence. As if Persons pretend that they have got beyond mere Morality, to live a spiritual and divine Life; but really have not come to be so much as moral Persons. Or pretend to be greatly affected with the Wickedness of their Hearts, and are not affected with the palpable Violations of God's Commands in their Practice, which is a lesser Attainment. Or if they pretend to be brought to be even willing to be damned for the Glory of God, but have no Forwardness to suffer a little in their Estates and Names and worldly Convenience, for the sake of their Duty. Or pretend that they are not afraid to venture their Souls upon Christ, and commit their All to God, trusting to his bare Word, and the Faithfulness of his Promises, for their eternal Welfare; but at the same Time, have not Confidence enough in God, to dare to trust him with a little of their Estates, bestowed to pious and charitable Uses: I say, when it is thus with Persons, their Pretences are manifestly vain. He that is in a Journey, and imagines he has got far beyond such a Place in his Road, and never yet came to it, must be mistaken; and he is not yet arrived to the Top of the Hill, that never yet got half-way thither. But this by the Way.

The same that has been observed of the Affection of Love, is also to be observed of other religious Affections. Those that are true, extend in some Proportion, to the various Things that are their due and proper Objects: But when they are false, are commonly strangely disproportionate. So it is with religious Desires and Longings: These in the Saints, are to those Things that are spiritual and excellent in general; and that in some Proportion to their Excellency, Importance or Necessity, or their near Concern in them: But in false Longings, it is often far otherwise. They will strangely run, with an impatient Vehemence, after something of less Importance, when other Things of greater Importance are neglected. Thus for Instance. Some Persons, from Time to Time, are attended with a vehement Inclination, and unaccountably violent Pressure, to declare to others what they experience, and to exhort others; when there is at the same Time, no Inclination, in any Measure equal to it, to other Things, that true Christianity has as great, yea, a greater Tendency to; as the pouring out the Soul before God in secret earnest Prayer and Praise to him, and more Conformity to him, and living more to his Glory, and so forth. We read in Scripture of Groanings that cannot be uttered, and Soul-breakings for the Longing it hath, and Longings, Thirstings, and Pantings, much more frequently to these latter Things, than the former.

And so as to Hatred and Zeal; when these are from right Principles, they are against Sin in general, in some Proportion to the Degree of Sinfulness; Psalm 119, 104. I hate every false Way. So Verse 128. But a false Hatred and Zeal against Sin, is against some particular Sin only. Thus some seem to be very zealous against Profaneness, and Pride in Apparel, who themselves are notorious for Covetousness, Closeness, and it may be Backbiting, Envy towards Superiors, Turbulency of Spirit towards Rulers, and rooted Ill-will to them that have injured them. False Zeal is against the Sins of others, while Men have no Zeal against their own Sins. But he that has true Zeal, exercises it chiefly against his own Sins: Though he shows also a proper Zeal against prevailing and dangerous Iniquity in others. And some pretend to have a great Abhorrence of their own Sins of Heart, and cry out much of their inward Corruption; and yet make light of Sins in Practice, and seem to commit them without much Restraint or Remorse; though these imply Sin, both in Heart and Life.

As there is a much greater Disproportion in the Exercises of false Affections, than of true, as to different Objects; so there is also, as to different Times. For although true Christians are not always alike; yea, there is very great Difference, at different Times, and the best have Reason to be greatly ashamed of their Unsteadiness; yet there is in no wise that Instability and Inconstancy in the Hearts of those who are true Virgins, that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, which is in false-hearted Professors. The righteous Man is truly said to be one whose Heart is fixed, trusting in God, (Psalm 112. 7.) and to have his Heart established with Grace, (Hebrews 13. 9.) and to hold on his Way. Job 17. 9. The Righteous shall hold on his Way, and he that hath clean Hands shall wax stronger and stronger. It is spoken of as a Note of the Hypocrisy of the Jewish Church, that they were as a swift Dromedary, traversing her Ways.

If therefore Persons are religious only by Fits and Starts; if they now and then seem to be raised up to the Clouds in their Affections, and then suddenly fall down again, lose all, and become quite careless and carnal, and this is their Manner of carrying on Religion; if they appear greatly moved, and mightily engaged in Religion, only in extraordinary Seasons, in the Time of a remarkable Out-pouring of the Spirit, or other uncommon Dispensation or Providence, or upon the real or supposed Receipt of some great Mercy, when they have received some extraordinary temporal Mercy, or suppose that they are newly converted, or have lately had what they call a great Discovery; but quickly return to such a Frame, that their Hearts are chiefly upon other Things, and the prevailing Bent of their Hearts and Stream of their Affections is ordinarily towards the Things of this World; when they are like the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, who had their Affections highly raised by what God had done for them at the Red Sea, and sang his Praise, and soon fell a lusting after the Flesh-Pots of Egypt, but then again when they came to Mount Sinai, and saw the great Manifestations God made of himself there, seemed to be greatly engaged again, and mighty forward to enter into Covenant with God, saying, All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and be obedient, but then quickly made them a golden Calf; I say, when it is thus with Persons, it is a Sign of the Unsoundness of Affections. They are like the Waters in the Time of a Shower of Rain, which during the Shower, and a little after, run like a Brook, and flow abundantly; but are presently quite dry: And when another Shower comes, then they will flow again. Whereas a true Saint is like a Stream from a living Spring; which though it may be greatly increased by a Shower of Rain, and diminished in Time of Drought; yet constantly runs: (John 4. 14. The Water that I shall give him, shall be in him, a Well of Water springing up, and so forth) or like a Tree planted by such a Stream, that has a constant Supply at the Root, and is always green, even in Time of the greatest Drought. Jeremiah 17. 7, 8. 'Blessed is the Man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose Hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a Tree planted by the Waters, and that spreadeth out her Roots by the River; and shall not see when Heat cometh; but her Leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the Year of Drought; neither shall cease from yielding Fruit.' Many Hypocrites are like Comets, that appear for a While with a mighty Blaze; but are very unsteady and irregular in their Motion, (and are therefore called wandering Stars, Jude 13.) and their Blaze soon disappears, and they appear but once in a great While. But the true Saints are like the fixed Stars, which, though they rise and set, and are often clouded, yet are steadfast in their Orb, and may truly be said to shine with a constant Light. Hypocritical Affections are like a violent Motion; like that of the Air that is moved with Winds. (Jude 12.) But gracious Affections are more a natural Motion, like the Stream of a River; which though it has many Turns hither and thither, and may meet with Obstacles, and run more freely and swiftly in some Places than others; yet in the general, with a steady and constant Course, tends the same Way, until it gets to the Ocean.

And as there is a strange Unevenness and Disproportion in false Affections, at different Times; so there often is in different Places. Some are greatly affected from Time to Time, when in Company; but have nothing that bears any Manner of Proportion to it, in Secret, in close Meditation, secret Prayer, and conversing with God, when alone, and separated from all the World. A true Christian doubtless delights in religious Fellowship, and christian Conversation, and finds much to affect his Heart in it: But he also delights at Times to retire from all Mankind, to converse with God in solitary Places. And this also has its peculiar Advantages for fixing his Heart, and engaging its Affections. True Religion disposes Persons to be much alone, in solitary Places, for holy Meditation and Prayer. So it wrought in Isaac, Genesis 24:63. And which is much more, so it wrought in Jesus Christ. How often do we read of his retiring into Mountains and solitary Places, for holy Converse with his Father? It is difficult to conceal great Affections, but yet gracious Affections are of a much more silent and secret Nature, than those that are counterfeit. So it is with the gracious Sorrow of the Saints. So it is with their Sorrow for their own Sins. Thus the Future gracious Mourning of true Penitents, at the Beginning of the latter Day Glory, is represented as being so secret, as to be hidden from the Companions of their Bosom; Zechariah 12:12-14. 'And the Land shall mourn, every Family apart. The Family of the House of David apart, and their Wives apart. The Family of the House of Nathan apart, and their Wives apart. The Family of the House of Levi apart, and their Wives apart. The Family of Shimei apart, and their Wives apart. All the Families that remain, every Family apart, and their Wives apart.' So it is with their Sorrow for the Sins of others. The Saints' Pains and Travailing for the Souls of Sinners is chiefly in secret Places; Jeremiah 13:17. 'If ye will not hear it, my Soul shall weep in Secret Places for your Pride: And mine Eye shall weep sore, and run down with Tears; because the Lord's Flock is carried away captive.' So it is with gracious Joys: They are hidden Manna, in this Respect, as well as others; Revelation 2:17. The Psalmist seems to speak of his sweetest Comforts, as those that were to be had in Secret; Psalm 63:5. '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 upon thee in the Night Watches.' Christ calls forth his Spouse, away from the World, into retired Places, that he may give her his sweetest Love; Canticles 7:11, 12. 'Come my Beloved, let us go forth into the Field, let us lodge in the Villages:—There will I give thee my Love.' The most eminent divine Favours that the Saints obtained, that we read of in Scripture, were in their Retirement. The principal Manifestations that God made of himself, and his Covenant-Mercy to Abraham, were when he was alone, apart from his numerous Family; as any one will judge that carefully reads his History. Isaac received that special Gift of God to him, Rebekah, who was so great a Comfort to him, and by whom he obtained the promised Seed, walking alone, meditating in the Field. Jacob was retired for secret Prayer, when Christ came to him, and he wrestled with him, and obtained the Blessing. God revealed himself to Moses in the Bush, when he was in a solitary Place in the Desert, in Mount Horeb; Exodus 3 at the Beginning. And afterwards, when God showed him his Glory, and he was admitted to the highest Degree of Communion with God that ever he enjoyed; he was alone, in the same Mountain, and continued there forty Days and forty Nights, and then came down with his Face shining. God came to those great Prophets, Elijah and Elisha, and conversed freely with them, chiefly in their Retirement. Elijah conversed alone with God at Mount Sinai, as Moses did. And when Jesus Christ had his greatest Prelibation of his future Glory, when he was transfigured; it was not when he was with the Multitude, or with the twelve Disciples, but retired into a solitary Place in a Mountain, with only three select Disciples, charging them that they should tell no Man, till he was risen from the Dead. When the Angel Gabriel came to the blessed Virgin, and when the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, she seems to have been alone, and to be in this Matter hid from the World; her nearest and dearest earthly Friend Joseph, that had betrothed her, (though a just Man) knew nothing of the Matter. And she that first partook of the Joy of Christ's Resurrection, was alone with Christ at the Sepulchre; John 20. And when the beloved Disciple was favoured with those wonderful Visions of Christ, and his future Dispensations towards the Church and the World, he was alone in the Isle of Patmos. Not but that we have also Instances of great Privileges that the Saints have received when with others; or that there is not much in christian Conversation, and social and public Worship, tending greatly to refresh and rejoice the Hearts of the Saints. But this is all that I aim at by what has been said, to show that it is the Nature of true Grace, that however it loves christian Society in its Place, yet it in a peculiar Manner delights in Retirement, and secret Converse with God. So that if Persons appear greatly engaged in social Religion and but little in the Religion of the Closet, and are often highly affected when with others, and but little moved when they have none but God and Christ to converse with, it looks very darkly upon their Religion.

11. Another great and very distinguishing Difference between gracious Affections and others is, that gracious Affections, the higher they are raised, the more is a spiritual Appetite and Longing of Soul after spiritual Attainments, increased. On the contrary, false Affections rest satisfied in themselves.

The more a true Saint loves God with a gracious Love, the more he desires to love him, and the more uneasy is he at his Want of Love to him: The more he hates Sin, the more he desires to hate it, and laments that he has so much remaining Love to it: The more he mourns for Sin, the more he longs to mourn for Sin: The more his Heart is broken, the more he desires it should be broken: The more he thirsts and longs after God and Holiness, the more he longs to long, and breathe out his very Soul in Longings after God: The kindling and raising of gracious Affections is like kindling a Flame; the higher it is raised, the more ardent it is; and the more it burns, the more vehemently does it tend and seek to burn. So that the spiritual Appetite after Holiness, and an Increase of holy Affections, is much more lively and keen in those that are eminent in Holiness, than others; and more when Grace and holy Affections are in their most lively Exercise, than at other Times. It is as much the Nature of one that is spiritually new-born, to thirst after Growth in Holiness, as it is the Nature of a new-born Babe, to thirst after the Mother's Breast; who has the sharpest Appetite, when best in Health; 1 Peter 2:2, 3. As new-born Babes, desire the sincere Milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. The most that the Saints have in this World, is but a Taste, a Prelibation of that future Glory which is their proper Fullness; it is only an Earnest of their future Inheritance in their Hearts; 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5 and Ephesians 1:14. The most eminent Saints in this State are but Children, compared with their future, which is their proper State of Maturity and Perfection; as the Apostle observes, 1 Corinthians 13:10, 11. The greatest Eminency and Perfection, that the Saints arrive to in this World, has no Tendency to Satiety, or to abate their Desires after more; but on the contrary, makes them more eager to press forwards; as is evident by the Apostle's Words, Philippians 3:13, 14, 15. Forgetting those Things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those Things which are before, I press toward the Mark.—Let us therefore, as many as be PERFECT, be thus minded.

The Reasons of it are, that the more Persons have of holy Affections, the more they have of that spiritual Taste which I have spoken of elsewhere; whereby they perceive the Excellency, and relish the divine Sweetness of Holiness. And the more Grace they have, while in this State of Imperfection, the more they see their Imperfection and Emptiness, and Distance from what ought to be; and so the more do they see their Need of Grace; as I showed at large before, when speaking of the Nature of evangelical Humiliation. And besides Grace, as long as it is imperfect, is of a growing Nature, and in a growing State. And we see it to be so with all living Things, that while they are in a State of Imperfection, and in their growing State, their Nature tends to Growth; and so much the more, as they are more healthy and prosperous. Therefore the Cry of every true Grace, is like that Cry of true Faith, Mark 9:24. Lord I believe, help thou my Unbelief. And the greater spiritual Discoveries and Affections the true Christian has, the more does he become of an earnest Beggar for Grace, and spiritual Food, that he may grow; and the more earnestly does he pursue after it, in the Use of proper Means and Endeavours: For true and gracious Longings after Holiness, are no idle ineffectual Desires.

But here some may object and say; How is this consistent with what all allow, That spiritual Enjoyments are of a Soul-satisfying Nature?

I answer, Its being so, will appear to be not at all inconsistent with what has been said, if it be considered in what Manner spiritual Enjoyments are said to be of a Soul-satisfying Nature. Certainly they are not so in that Sense, that they are of so cloying a Nature, that he who has any Thing of them, though but in a very imperfect Degree, desires no more. But spiritual Enjoyments are of a Soul-satisfying Nature in the following Respects, 1. They in their Kind and Nature, are fully adapted to the Nature, Capacity and Need of the Soul of Man. So that those who find them, desire no other Kind of Enjoyments; they sit down fully contented with that Kind of Happiness which they have, desiring no Change, nor inclining to wander about any more, saying who will show us any Good? The Soul is never cloyed, never weary; but perpetually giving up itself, with all its Powers, to this Happiness. But not that those who have something of this Happiness, desire no more of the same. 2. They are satisfying also in this Respect, that they answer the Expectation of the Appetite. When the Appetite is high to any Thing, the Expectation is consequently so. Appetite to a particular Object implies Expectation in its Nature. This Expectation is not satisfied by worldly Enjoyments, the Man expected to have a great Accession of Happiness, but he is disappointed. But it is not so with spiritual Enjoyments; They fully answer and satisfy the Expectation. 3. The Gratification and Pleasure of spiritual Enjoyments is permanent. It is not so with worldly Enjoyments. They in a Sense satisfy particular Appetites; but the Appetite in being satisfied, is glutted, and then the Pleasure is over: And as soon as that is over, the general Appetite of human Nature after Happiness returns; but is empty, and without any Thing to satisfy it. So that the glutting of a particular Appetite, does but take away from, and leave empty, the general Thirst of Nature. 4. Spiritual Good is satisfying, as there is enough in it, to satisfy the Soul, as to Degree, if Obstacles were but removed, and the enjoying Faculty duly applied. There is Room enough here for the Soul to extend itself; Here is an infinite Ocean of it. If Men be not satisfied here, in Degree of Happiness, the Cause is with themselves; it is because they do not open their Mouths wide enough.

But these things do not argue that a soul has no appetite excited after more of the same, that has tasted a little; or that his appetite will not increase, the more he tastes, until he comes to fullness of enjoyment: as bodies that are attracted to the globe of the earth, tend to it more strongly, the nearer they come to the attracting body, and are not at rest out of the center. Spiritual good is of a satisfying nature; and for that very reason, the soul that tastes, and knows its nature, will thirst after it, and a fullness of it, that it may be satisfied. And the more he experiences, and the more he knows this excellent, unparalleled, exquisite, and satisfying sweetness, the more earnestly will he hunger and thirst for more, until he comes to perfection. And therefore this is the nature of spiritual affections, that the greater they be, the greater the appetite and longing is, after grace and holiness.

But with those joys, and other religious affections, that are false and counterfeit, it is otherwise. If before, there was a great desire, of some sort, after grace; as these affections rise, that desire ceases, or is abated. It may be before, while the man was under legal convictions, and much afraid of hell, he earnestly longed that he might obtain spiritual light in his understanding, and faith in Christ, and love to God: but now, when these false affections are risen, that deceive him, and make him confident that he is converted, and his state good, there are no more earnest longings after light and grace: for his end is answered; he is confident that his sins are forgiven him, and that he shall go to heaven; and so he is satisfied. And especially when false affections are raised very high, do they put an end to longings after grace and holiness. The man now is far from appearing to himself, a poor empty creature. On the contrary, he is rich, and increased with goods; and hardly conceives of any thing more excellent, than what he has already attained to.

Hence there is an end to many persons' earnestness in seeking, after they have once obtained that which they call their conversion: or at least, after they have had those high affections, that make them fully confident of it. Before, while they looked upon themselves as in a state of nature, they were engaged in seeking after God and Christ, and cried earnestly for grace, and strove in the use of means: but now they act as though they thought their work was done: they live upon their first work, or some high experiences that are past; and there is an end to their crying, and striving after God and grace. Whereas the holy principles that actuate a true saint, have a far more powerful influence to stir him up to earnestness in seeking God and holiness, than servile fear. Hence seeking God is spoken of as one of the distinguishing characters of the saints; and those that seek God, is one of the names by which the godly are called in scripture; Psalm 24 verse 6. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Psalm 69 verse 6. Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake. Verse 32. The humble shall see this and be glad, and your heart shall live that seek God. And 74 verse 4. Let all those that seek thee rejoice, and be glad in thee; and let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. And the scriptures everywhere represent the seeking, striving and labor of a Christian, as being chiefly after his conversion, and his conversion as being but the beginning of his work. And almost all that is said in the New Testament, of men's watching, giving earnest heed to themselves, running the race that is set before them, striving and agonizing, wrestling not with flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, fighting, putting on the whole armor of God, and standing, having done all to stand, pressing forward, reaching forth, continuing instant in prayer, crying to God day and night; I say, almost all that is said in the New Testament of these things, is spoken of, and directed to the saints. Where these things are applied to sinners seeking conversion once, they are spoken of the saints' prosecution of the great business of their high calling ten times. But many in these days have got into a strange antiscriptural way, of having all their striving and wrestling over before they are converted; and so having an easy time of it afterwards, to sit down and enjoy their sloth and indolence; as those that now have a supply of their wants, and are become rich and full. But as the Lord filled the hungry with good things, these rich are like to be sent away empty. Luke 1 verse 53.

But doubtless there are some hypocrites, that have only high affections, who will think they are able to stand this trial; and will readily say, that they desire not to rest satisfied with past attainments, but to be pressing forward, they do desire more, they long after God and Christ, and desire more holiness, and do seek it. But the truth is, their desires are not properly the desires of appetite after holiness, for its own sake, or for the moral excellency and holy sweetness that is in it, but only for by-ends. They long after clearer discoveries, that they may be better satisfied about the state of their souls, or because in great discoveries, self is gratified, in being made so much of by God, and so exalted above others, they long to taste the love of God (as they call it) more than to have more love to God. Or, it may be, they have a kind of forced, fancied or made longings; because they think they must long for more grace, otherwise it will be a dark sign upon them. But such things as these are far different from the natural, and as it were necessary appetite and thirsting of the new man, after God and holiness. There is an inward burning desire that a saint has after holiness, as natural to the new creature, as vital heat is to the body. There is a holy breathing and panting after the Spirit of God, to increase holiness, as natural to a holy nature, as breathing is to a living body. And holiness or sanctification is more directly the object of it, than any manifestation of God's love and favor. This is the meat and drink that is the object of the spiritual appetite, John 4 verse 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Where we read in scripture of the desires, longings and thirstings of the saints, righteousness and God's laws are much more frequently mentioned, as the object of them, than any thing else. The saints desire the sincere milk of the word, not so much to testify God's love to them, as that they may grow thereby in holiness. I have shown before that holiness is that good which is the immediate object of a spiritual taste. But undoubtedly the same sweetness that is the chief object of a spiritual taste, is also the chief object of a spiritual appetite. Grace is the godly man's treasure; Isaiah 33 verse 6. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Godliness is the gain that he is covetous and greedy of; 1 Timothy 6 verse 6. Hypocrites long for discoveries, more for the present comfort of the discovery, and the high manifestation of God's love in it, than for any sanctifying influence of it. But neither a longing after great discoveries, or after great tastes of the love of God, nor longing to be in heaven, nor longing to die, are in any measure so distinguishing marks of true saints, as longing after a more holy heart, and living a more holy life.

But I am come now to the last distinguishing mark of holy affections that I shall mention.

12. Gracious and holy affections have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice; I mean, they have that influence and power upon him who is the subject of them, that they cause that a practice, which is universally conformed to, and directed by Christian rules, should be the practice and business of his life.

This implies three things; 1. That his behavior or practice in the world, be universally conformed to, and directed by Christian rules. 2. That he makes a business of such a holy practice above all things; that it be a business which he is chiefly engaged in, and devoted to, and pursues with highest earnestness and diligence: so that he may be said to make this practice of religion eminently his work and business. And 3. That he persists in it to the end of life: so that it may be said, not only to be his business at certain seasons, the business of Sabbath days, or certain extraordinary times, or the business of a month, or a year, or of seven years, or his business under certain circumstances; but the business of his life; it being that business which he perseveres in through all changes, and under all trials, as long as he lives.

The necessity of each of these, in all true Christians, is most clearly and fully taught in the word of God.

1. It is necessary that men should be universally obedient: 1 John 3 verse 3, etc. Every man that hath this hope in him, purifies himself, even as he is pure. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him was no sin. Whosoever abides in him, sins not. Whosoever sins, hath not seen him, neither known him. He that does righteousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commits sin, is of the devil. Chapter 5 verse 18. We know that whosoever is born of God, sins not; but he that is begotten of God, keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not. John 15 verse 14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. James 2 verse 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, etc. shall inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5 verses 19, 20. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Which is as much as to say, they that do any sort of wickedness. Job 34 verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Does not he see my ways, and count all my steps? Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity. If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands, etc. Ezekiel 33 verse 15. If he walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live. If one member only be corrupt, and we do not cut it off, it will carry the whole body to hell; Matthew 5 verses 29, 30. Saul was commanded to destroy all God's enemies, the Amalekites; and he slew all but Agag, and the saving him alive proved his ruin. Caleb and Joshua entered into God's promised rest, because they wholly followed the Lord; Numbers 14 verse 24 and 32 verses 11, 12. Deuteronomy 1 verse 36. Joshua 14 verses 6, 8, 9, 14. Naaman's hypocrisy appeared in that, however he seemed to be greatly affected with gratitude to God for healing his leprosy, and engaged to serve him, yet in one thing he desired to be excused. And Herod, though he feared John, and observed him, and heard him gladly, and did many things; yet was condemned, in that in one thing he would not hearken to him, even in parting with his beloved Herodias. So that it is necessary that men should part with their dearest iniquities, which are as their right hand and right eyes, sins that most easily beset them, and which they are most exposed to by their natural inclinations, evil customs, or particular circumstances, as well as others. As Joseph would not make known himself to his brethren, who had sold him, until Benjamin, the beloved child of the family, that was most hardly parted with, was delivered up; no more will Christ reveal his love to us, until we part with our dearest lusts, and until we are brought to comply with the most difficult duties, and those that we have the greatest aversion to.

And it is of Importance, that it should be observed, that in order to a Man's being truly said to be universally obedient, his Obedience must not only consist in Negatives, or in universally avoiding wicked Practices, consisting in Sins of Commission; but he must also be universal in the Positives of Religion. Sins of Omission are as much Breaches of God's Commands, as Sins of Commission. Christ, in Matthew 25 represents those on the left Hand, as being condemned and cursed to everlasting Fire, for Sins of Omission, I was hungry and ye gave me no Meat, etc. A Man therefore cannot be said to be universally obedient, and of a Christian Conversation, only because he is no Thief, nor Oppressor, nor fraudulent Person, nor Drunkard, nor Tavern-haunter, nor Whore-Master, nor Rioter, nor Night-walker, nor unclean, nor profane in his Language, nor Slanderer, nor Liar, nor Furious, nor Malicious, nor Reviler: He is falsely said to be of a Conversation that becomes the Gospel, who goes thus far and no farther; but in order to this, it is necessary that he should also be of a serious, religious, devout, humble, meek, forgiving, peaceful, respectful, condescending, benevolent, merciful, charitable and beneficent Walk and Conversation. Without such Things as these, he does not obey the Laws of Christ, and Laws that he and his Apostles did abundantly insist on, as of greatest Importance and Necessity.

2. In order to Men's being true Christians, it is necessary that they prosecute the Business of Religion, and the Service of God with great Earnestness and Diligence, as the Work which they devote themselves to, and make the main Business of their Lives. All Christ's peculiar People, not only do good Works, but are zealous of good Works; Titus 2:14. No Man can do the Service of two Masters at once. They that are God's true Servants, do give up themselves to his Service, and make it as it were their whole Work, therein employing their whole Hearts, and the chief of their Strength; Philippians 3:13. This one Thing I do. Christians in their effectual Calling, are not called to Idleness, but to Labour in God's Vineyard, and spend their Day in doing a great and laborious Service. All true Christians comply with this Call, (as is implied in its being an effectual Call) and do the Work of Christians; which is every where in the New Testament compared to those Exercises, wherein Men are wont to exert their Strength, with the greatest Earnestness, as Running, Wrestling, Fighting. All true Christians are good and faithful Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and fight the good Fight of Faith: For none but those who do so, do ever lay hold on eternal Life. Those who fight as those that beat the Air, never win the Crown of Victory. They that run in a Race, run all; but one wins the Prize; and they that are slack and negligent in their Course, do not so run, as that they may obtain. The Kingdom of Heaven is not to be taken but by Violence. Without Earnestness there is no getting along, in that narrow Way that leads to Life; and so no arriving at that State of glorious Life and Happiness which it leads to. Without earnest Labour, there is no ascending the steep and high Hill of Zion; and so no arriving at the heavenly City on the Top of it. Without a constant Laboriousness, there is no stemming the swift Stream in which we swim, so as ever to come to that Fountain of Water of Life, that is at the Head of it. There is need that we should watch and pray always, in order to our escaping those dreadful Things, that are coming on the Ungodly, and our being counted worthy to stand before the Son of Man. There is need of our putting on the whole Armour of God, and doing all to stand, in order to our avoiding a total Overthrow, and being utterly destroyed by the fiery Darts of the Devil. There is need that we should forget the Things that are behind, and be reaching forth to the Things that are before, and pressing towards the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, in order to our obtaining that Prize. Slothfulness in the Service of God, in his professed Servants, is as damning, as open Rebellion: For the Slothful Servant, is a wicked Servant, and shall be cast into outer Darkness, among God's open Enemies; Matthew 25:26, 28. They that are Slothful, are not Followers of them, who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises. Hebrews 6:11, 12. And we desire that every one of you do show the same Diligence, to the full Assurance of Hope, unto the End: that ye be not slothful; but Followers of them, who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises. And all they who follow that Cloud of Witnesses that are gone before to Heaven, do lay aside every Weight, and the Sin that easily besets them, and do run with Patience the Race that is set before them, Hebrews 12:1. That true Faith, by which Persons rely on the Righteousness of Christ, and the Work that he hath done for them, and do truly feed and live upon him, is evermore accompanied with such a Spirit of Earnestness in the Christian Work and Course. Which was typified of old, by the Manner of the Children of Israel's feeding on the Paschal Lamb: Who were directed to eat it, as those that were in Haste, with their Loins girded, their Shoes on their Feet, and Staff in their Hand; Exodus 12:11. And thus shall ye eat it; with your Loins girded, your Shoes on your Feet, and your Staff in your Hand, and ye shall eat it in Haste: It is the Lord's Passover.

3. Every true Christian perseveres in this Way of universal Obedience, and diligent and earnest Service of God, through all the various Kinds of Trials that he meets with, to the End of Life. That all true Saints, all those that do obtain eternal Life, do thus persevere in the Practice of Religion, and the Service of God, is a Doctrine so abundantly taught in the Scripture, that particularly to rehearse all the Texts which imply it would be endless. I shall content myself with referring to some in the Margin.

But that in Perseverance in Obedience, which is chiefly insisted on in the Scripture, as a special Note of the Truth of Grace, is the Continuance of Professors in the Practice of their Duty, and being steadfast in an holy Walk, through the various Trials that they meet with.

By Trials, here I mean, those Things that occur, and that a Professor meets with in his Course, that do especially render his Continuance in his Duty, and Faithfulness to God, difficult to Nature. These Things are from Time to Time called in Scripture by the Name of Trials, or Temptations (which are Words of the same Signification). These are of various Kinds: There are many Things that render Persons' Continuance in the Way of their Duty difficult, by their Tendency to cherish and foment, or to stir up and provoke their Lusts and Corruptions. Many Things make it hard to continue in the Way of Duty, by their being of an alluring Nature, and having a Tendency to entice Persons to Sin; or by their Tendency to take off Restraints, and embolden them in Iniquity. Other Things are Trials of the Soundness and Steadfastness of Professors, by their Tendency to make their Duty appear terrible to them, and so to affright and drive them from it: Such as the Sufferings which their Duty will expose them to; Pain, Ill-will, Contempt, and Reproach, or Loss of outward Possessions and Comforts. If Persons, after they have made a Profession of Religion, live any considerable Time, in this World which is so full of Changes, and so full of Evil, it cannot be otherwise, than that, they should meet with many Trials of their Sincerity and Steadfastness. And besides, it is God's Manner, in his Providence, to bring Trials on his professing Friends and Servants designedly, that he may manifest them, and may exhibit sufficient Matter of Conviction of the State which they are in, to their own Consciences; and often times, to the World. As appears by innumerable Scriptures; some are referred to the Margin.

True Saints may be guilty of some Kinds and Degrees of Backsliding, and may be soiled by particular Temptations, and may fall into Sin, yea great Sins: But they can never fall away so, as to grow weary of Religion, and the Service of God, and habitually to dislike it and neglect it; either on its own Account, or on Account of the Difficulties that attend it: As is evident by Galatians 6:9; Romans 2:7; Hebrews 10:36; Isaiah 43:22; Malachi 1:13. They can never backslide, so as to continue no longer in a Way of universal Obedience; or so, that it shall cease to be their Manner to observe all the Rules of Christianity, and do all Duties required, even the most difficult, and in the most difficult Circumstances. This is abundantly manifest by the Things that have been observed already. Nor can they ever fall away so, as habitually to be more engaged in other Things, than in the Business of Religion; or so that it should become their Way and Manner to serve something else more than God; or so as statedly to cease to serve God, with such Earnestness and Diligence, as still to be habitually devoted and given up to the Business of Religion. Unless those Words of Christ can fall to the Ground, Ye cannot serve two Masters, and those of the Apostle, He that will be a Friend of the World, is the Enemy of God; and unless a Saint can change his God, and yet be a true Saint. Nor can a true Saint ever fall away so, that it shall come to this, that ordinarily there shall be no remarkable Difference in his Walk and Behaviour since his Conversion, from what was before. They that are truly converted are new Men, new Creatures; new, not only within, but without; they are sanctified throughout, in Spirit, Soul and Body; old Things are passed away, all Things are become new; they have new Hearts, and new Eyes, new Ears, new Tongues, new Hands, new Feet; that is a new Conversation and Practice; and they walk in Newness of Life, and continue to do so to the End of Life. And they that fall away, and cease visibly to do so, it is a Sign they never were risen with Christ. And especially when Men's Opinion of their being converted, and so in a safe Estate, is the very Cause of their coming to this, it is a most evident Sign of their Hypocrisy. And that, whether their Falling away be into their former Sins, or into some new Kind of Wickedness; having the Corruption of Nature only turned into a new Channel, instead of its being mortified. As when Persons that think themselves converted, though they do not openly turn to former Profaneness and Lewdness; yet from the high Opinion they have of their Experiences, Graces and Privileges, gradually settle more and more in a self-righteous and spiritually proud Temper of Mind, and in such a Manner of Behaviour and Conversation, as naturally arises therefrom. When it is thus with Men, however far they may seem to be from their former evil Practices, this alone is enough to condemn them, and may render their last State far worse than the first. For this seems to be the very Case of the Jews of that Generation that Christ speaks of, Matthew 12:43, 44, 45, who having been awakened by John the Baptist's Preaching, and brought to a Reformation of their former licentious Courses, whereby the unclean Spirit was as it were turned out, and the House swept and garnished; yet being empty of God and of Grace, became full of themselves, and were exalted in an exceeding high Opinion of their own Righteousness and eminent Holiness, and became habituated to an answerably Self-exalting Behaviour; so changing the Sins of Publicans and Harlots, for those of the Pharisees; and in the Issue, had seven Devils, worse than the first.

Thus I have explained what Exercise and Fruit I mean, when I say that gracious Affections have their Exercise and Fruit in Christian Practice.

The Reason why gracious Affections have such a Tendency and Effect, appears from many Things that have already been observed, in the preceding Parts of this Discourse.

The Reason of it appears from this, that gracious Affections do arise from those Operations and Influences which are spiritual, and that the inward Principle from whence they flow, is something divine, a Communication of God, a Participation of the divine Nature, Christ living in the Heart, the holy Spirit dwelling there, in Union with the Faculties of the Soul, as an internal vital Principle, exerting his own proper Nature, in the Exercise of those Faculties. This is sufficient to show us why true Grace should have such Activity, Power and Efficacy. No Wonder that which is divine, is powerful and effectual; for it has Omnipotence on its Side. If God dwells in the Heart, and be vitally united to it, he will show that he is a God, by the Efficacy of his Operation. Christ is not in the Heart of a Saint, as in a Sepulcher, or as a dead Savior, that does nothing; but as in his Temple, and as one that is alive from the Dead. For in the Heart where Christ savingly is, there he lives, and exerts himself after the Power of that endless Life, that he received at his Resurrection. Thus every Saint that is the Subject of the Benefit of Christ's Sufferings, is made to know and feel the Power of his Resurrection. The Spirit of Christ, which is the immediate Spring of Grace in the Heart, is all Life, all Power, all Act; 2 Corinthians 2:4.—In Demonstration of the Spirit, and of Power. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Our Gospel came not unto you in Word only, but also in Power, and in the holy Ghost. 1 Corinthians 4:20. The Kingdom of God is not in Word, but in Power. Hence saving Affections, though oftentimes they do not make so great a Noise and Show as others; yet have in them a secret Solidity, Life and Strength, whereby they take hold of, and carry away the Heart, leading it into a Kind of Captivity, 2 Corinthians 10:5. gaining a full and steadfast Determination of the Will for God and Holiness; Psalm 110:3. Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power. And thus it is that holy Affections have a governing Power in the Course of a Man's Life. A Statue may look very much like a real Man, and a beautiful Man; yea it may have, in its Appearance to the Eye, the Resemblance of a very lively, strong and active Man; but yet an inward Principle of Life and Strength is wanting; and therefore it does nothing, it brings nothing to pass, there is no Action or Operation to answer the Show. False Discoveries and Affections do not go deep enough, to reach and govern the Spring of Men's Actions and Practice. The Seed in stony Ground had not Deepness of Earth, and the Root did not go deep enough to bring forth Fruit. But gracious Affections go to the very Bottom of the Heart, and take hold of the very inmost Springs of Life and Activity. Herein chiefly appears the Power of true Godliness, namely in its being effectual in Practice. And the Efficacy of Godliness in this Respect, is what the Apostle has Respect to when he speaks of the Power of Godliness, 2 Timothy 3:5. as is very plain; for he there is particularly declaring, how some Professors of Religion would notoriously fail in the Practice of it; and then in the 5th Verse observes, that in being thus of an unholy Practice, they deny the Power of Godliness, though they have the Form of it. Indeed the Power of Godliness is exerted in the first Place within the Soul, in the sensible, lively Exercise of gracious Affections there. Yet the principal Evidence of this Power of Godliness, is in those Exercises of holy Affections that are practical, and in their being practical; in conquering the Will, and conquering the Lusts and Corruptions of Men, and carrying Men on in the Way of Holiness, through all Temptation, Difficulty and Opposition.

Again, The Reason why gracious Affections have their Exercise and Effect in Christian Practice, appears from this (which has also been before observed) that the first objective Ground of gracious Affections, is the transcendently excellent and amiable Nature of divine Things, as they are in themselves, and not any conceived Relation they bear to Self, or Self-Interest. This shows why holy Affections will cause Men to be holy in their Practice universally. What makes Men partial in Religion is, that they seek themselves, and not God, in their Religion, and close with Religion, not for its own excellent Nature, but only to serve a Turn. He that closes with Religion only to serve a Turn, will close with no more of it than he imagines serves that Turn: But he that closes with Religion for its own excellent and lovely Nature, closes with all that has that Nature: He that embraces Religion for its own Sake, embraces the Whole of Religion. This also shows why gracious Affections will cause Men to practice Religion perseveringly, and at all Times. Religion may alter greatly in Process of Time, as to its Consistence with Men's private Interest, in many Respects; and therefore he that complies with it only from selfish Views, is liable, in Change of Times, to forsake it: But the excellent Nature of Religion, as it is in itself, is invariable; it is always the same, at all Times, and through all Changes; it never alters in any Respect.

The Reason why gracious Affections issue in holy Practice, also further appears from the Kind of Excellency of divine Things, that it has been observed is the Foundation of all holy Affection, namely their moral Excellency, or the Beauty of their Holiness. No wonder that a Love to Holiness, for Holiness Sake, inclines Persons to practice Holiness, and to practice every Thing that is holy. Seeing Holiness is the main Thing that excites, draws and governs all gracious Affections, no wonder that all such Affections tend to Holiness. That which Men love, they desire to have and to be united to, and possessed of. That Beauty which Men delight in, they desire to be adorned with. Those Acts which Men delight in, they necessarily incline to do.

And what has been observed of that divine Teaching and Leading of the Spirit of God, which there is in gracious Affections, shows the Reason of this Tendency of such Affections to an universally holy Practice. For as has been observed, the Spirit of God in this his divine Teaching and Leading, gives the Soul a natural Relish of the Sweetness of that which is holy, and of every Thing that is holy, so far as it comes in View, and excites a Disrelish and Disgust of every Thing that is unholy.

The same also appears from what has been observed of the Nature of that spiritual Knowledge, which is the Foundation of all holy Affection, as consisting in a Sense and View of that Excellency in divine Things, which is supreme and transcendent. For hereby these Things appear above all others, worthy to be chosen and adhered to. By the Sight of the transcendent Glory of Christ, true Christians see him worthy to be followed; and so are powerfully drawn after him: They see him worthy that they should forsake all for him: By the Sight of that superlative Amiableness, they are thoroughly disposed to be subject to him, and engaged to labor with Earnestness and Activity in his Service, and made willing to go through all Difficulties for his Sake. And it is the Discovery of this divine Excellency of Christ, that makes them constant to him: For it makes a deep Impression upon their Minds, that they cannot forget him; and they will follow him whithersoever he goes, and it is in vain for any to endeavor to draw them away from him.

The Reason of this practical Tendency and Issue of gracious Affections, further appears, from what has been observed of such Affections being attended with a thorough Conviction of the Judgment, of the Reality and Certainty of divine Things. No wonder that they who were never thoroughly convinced that there is any Reality in the Things of Religion, will never be at the Labor and Trouble of such an earnest, universal and persevering Practice of Religion, through all Difficulties, Self-denials and Sufferings, in a Dependence on that, which they are not convinced of. But on the other Hand, they who are thoroughly convinced of the certain Truth of those Things, must needs be governed by them in their Practice; for the Things revealed in the Word of God are so great, and so infinitely more important, than all other Things, that it is inconsistent with the human Nature, that a Man should fully believe the Truth of them, and not be influenced by them above all Things, in his Practice.

Again, The Reason of this Expression and Effect of holy Affections in the Practice, appears from what has been observed of a Change of Nature, accompanying such Affections. Without a Change of Nature, Men's Practice will not be thoroughly changed. Until the Tree be made good, the Fruit will not be good. Men do not gather Grapes of Thorns, nor Figs of Thistles. The Swine may be washed, and appear clean for a little while, but yet, without a Change of Nature, he will still wallow in the Mire. Nature is a more powerful Principle of Action, than any Thing that opposes it: Though it may be violently restrained for a while, it will finally overcome that which restrains it: It is like the Stream of a River, it may be stopped a while with a Dam, but if nothing be done to dry the Fountain, it will not be stopped always; It will have a Course, either in its old Channel, or a new one. Nature is a Thing more constant and permanent, than any of those Things that are the Foundation of carnal Men's Reformation and Righteousness. When a natural Man denies his Lust, and lives a strict, religious Life, and seems humble, painful and earnest in Religion, it is not natural, it is all a Force against Nature; as when a Stone is violently thrown upwards; but that Force will be gradually spent; yet Nature will remain in its full Strength, and so prevails again, and the Stone returns downwards. As long as corrupt Nature is not mortified, but the Principle left whole in a Man, it is a vain Thing to expect that it should not govern. But if the old Nature be indeed mortified, and a new and heavenly Nature infused; then may it well be expected, that Men will walk in Newness of Life, and continue to do so to the End of their Days.

The Reason of this practical Exercise and Effect of holy Affections, may also be partly seen, from what has been said of that Spirit of Humility, which attends them. Humility is that wherein a Spirit of Obedience does much consist. A proud Spirit is a rebellious Spirit, but a humble Spirit is a yieldable, subject, obediential Spirit. We see among Men, that the Servant who is of a haughty Spirit, is not apt in every Thing to be submissive and obedient to the Will of his Master; but it is otherwise with that Servant who is of a lowly Spirit.

And that Lamblike, Dovelike Spirit, that has been spoken of, which accompanies all gracious Affections, fulfills (as the Apostle observes, Romans 13:8, 9, 10 and Galatians 5:14) all the Duties of the second Table of the Law; wherein Christian Practice does very much consist, and wherein the external Practice of Christianity chiefly consists.

And the Reason why gracious Affections are attended with that strict, universal and constant Obedience which has been spoken of, further appears, from what has been observed of that Tenderness of Spirit, which accompanies the Affections of true Saints, causing in them so quick and lively a Sense of Pain, through the Presence of moral Evil, and such a Dread of the Appearance of Evil.

And one great Reason why the Christian Practice which flows from gracious Affections, is universal, and constant, and persevering, appears from what has been observed of those Affections themselves, from whence this Practice flows, being universal and constant, in all Kinds of holy Exercises, and towards all Objects, and in all Circumstances, and at all Seasons, in a beautiful Symmetry and Proportion.

And much of the Reason why holy Affections are expressed and manifested in such an Earnestness, Activity, and Engagedness and Perseverance in holy Practice, as has been spoken of, appears from what has been observed, of the spiritual Appetite and Longing after further Attainments in Religion, which evermore attends true Affection, and does not decay, but increases, as those Affections increase.

Thus we see how the Tendency of holy Affections to such a Christian Practice as has been explained, appears from each of those Characteristics of holy Affection, that have been before spoken of.

And this Point may be further illustrated and confirmed, if it be considered, that the holy Scriptures do abundantly place Sincerity and Soundness in Religion, in making a full Choice of God as our only Lord and Portion, forsaking all for him, and in a full Determination of the Will for God and Christ, on counting the Cost; in our Hearts closing and complying with the Religion of Jesus Christ, with all that belongs to it, embracing it with all its Difficulties, as it were hating our dearest earthly Enjoyments, and even our own Lives, for Christ; giving up ourselves, with all that we have, wholly and forever, unto Christ, without keeping back any Thing or making any Reserve; or in one Word, in the great Duty of Self-denial for Christ; or in denying, that is as it were disowning and renouncing ourselves for him, making ourselves nothing that he may be all. See the Texts to this Purpose referred to in the Margin. Now surely having a Heart to forsake all for Christ, tends to actually forsaking all for him, so far as there is Occasion, and we have the Trial. And having a Heart to deny ourselves for Christ, tends to a denying ourselves in deed, when Christ and Self-Interest stand in Competition. A giving up ourselves, with all that we have in our Hearts, without making any Reserve there, tends to our behaving ourselves universally as his, as subject to his Will, and devoted to his Ends. Our Hearts entirely closing with the Religion of Jesus, with all that belongs to it, and as attended with all its Difficulties, upon a deliberate counting the Cost, tends to an universal closing with the same in act and deed, and actually going through all the Difficulties that we meet with in the Way of Religion, and so holding out with Patience and Perseverance.

The Tendency of Grace in the Heart to holy Practice, is very direct, and the Connection most natural close and necessary. True Grace is not an inactive Thing; there is nothing in Heaven or Earth of a more active Nature; for it is Life itself, and the most active Kind of Life, even spiritual and divine Life. It is no barren Thing; there is nothing in the Universe that in its Nature has a greater Tendency to Fruit. Godliness in the Heart has as direct a Relation to Practice, as a Fountain has to a Stream, or as the luminous Nature of the Sun has to Beams sent forth, or as Life has to Breathing, or the Beating of the Pulse, or any other vital Act; or as a Habit or Principle of Action has to Action: For it is the very Nature and Notion of Grace, that it is a Principle of holy Action or Practice. Regeneration, which is that Work of God in which Grace is infused, has a direct Relation to Practice; for it is the very End of it, with a View to which the whole Work is wrought: All is calculated and framed, in this mighty and manifold Change wrought in the Soul, so as directly to tend to this End: Ephesians 2:10. For we are his Workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good Works. Yea it is the very End of the Redemption of Christ; Titus 2:14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all Iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar People, zealous of good Works. 2 Corinthians 5:15. He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died, and rose again. Hebrews 9:14. How much more shall the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered up himself without Spot to God, purge your Consciences from dead Works, to serve the living God? Colossians 1:21, 22. And you that were sometimes alienated, and Enemies in your Minds by wicked Works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the Body of his Flesh, through Death, to present you holy and unblameable, and unreprovable in his Sight. 1 Peter 1:18. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible Things, as Silver and Gold, from your vain Conversation—. Luke 1:74, 75. That he would grant us, that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies, might serve him without Fear, in Holiness and Righteousness before him, all the Days of our Lives. God often speaks of holy Practice, as the End of that great typical Redemption, the Redemption from Egyptian Bondage; as Exodus 4:23. Let my Son go, that he may serve me. So Chapter 4:23 and 7:16 and 8:1, 20 and 9:1, 13 and 10:3. And this is also declared to be the End of Election; John 15:13. Ye have not chosen me; but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you go and bring forth Fruit, and that your Fruit should remain. Ephesians 1:4. According as he hath chosen us in him, before the Foundation of the World, that we should be holy, and without Blame before him, in Love. Chapter 2:10. Created unto good Works; which God hath fore-ordained that we should walk in them. Holy Practice is as much the End of all that God does about his Saints, as Fruit is the End of all the Husbandman does about the Growth of his Field or Vineyard: As the Matter is often represented in Scripture; Matthew 3:10. Chapter 13:8, 23, 24-30, 38. Chapter 21:19, 33, 34. Luke 13:6. John 15:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8. 1 Corinthians 3:9. Hebrews 6:7, 8. Isaiah 5:1-8. Song of Solomon 8:11, 12. Isaiah 27:2, 3. And therefore every Thing in a true Christian is calculated to reach this End. This Fruit of holy Practice, is what every Grace, and every Discovery, and every individual Thing, which belongs to christian Experience, has a direct Tendency to.

The constant and indissoluble Connection that there is between a christian Principle and Profession in the true Saints, and the Fruit of holy Practice in their Lives, was typified of Old in the Frame of the golden Candlestick in the Temple. It is beyond Doubt that that golden Candlestick, with its seven Branches and seven Lamps, was a Type of the Church of Christ. The Holy Ghost himself, has been pleased to put that Matter out of Doubt, by representing his Church by such a golden Candlestick, with seven Lamps, in the fourth Chapter of Zechariah, and representing the seven Churches of Asia by seven golden Candlesticks, in the first Chapter of the Revelation. That golden Candlestick in the Temple was every where, throughout its whole Frame, made with Knops and Flowers; Exodus 25:31 to the End, and Chapter 37:17-24. The Word translated Knop, in the Original signifies Apple or Pomegranate. There was a Knop and a Flower, a Knop and a Flower: Wherever there was a Flower, there was an Apple or Pomegranate with it: The Flower and the Fruit were constantly connected, without fail. The Flower contained the Principles of the Fruit, and a beautiful promising Appearance of it; and it never was a deceitful Appearance: The Principle or Show of Fruit, hath evermore real Fruit attending it, or succeeding it. So it is in the Church of Christ: There is the Principle of Fruit in Grace in the Heart; and there is an amiable Profession, signified by the open Flowers of the Candlestick; and there is answerable Fruit, in holy Practice, constantly attending this Principle and Profession. Every Branch of the golden Candlestick, thus composed of golden Apples and Flowers, was crowned with a burning, shining Lamp on the Top of it. For it is by this Means that the Saints shine as Lights in the World, by making a fair and good Profession of Religion, and having their Profession evermore joined with answerable Fruit in Practice: Agreeable to that of our Saviour, Matthew 5:15, 16. Neither do Men light a Candle, and put it under a Bushel, but on a Candlestick; and it giveth Light unto all that are in the House. Let your Light so shine before Men, that they may SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. A fair and beautiful Profession, and golden Fruits accompanying one another, are the amiable Ornaments of the true Church of Christ. Therefore we find that Apples and Flowers were not only the Ornaments of the Candlestick in the Temple, but of the Temple itself, which is a Type of the Church; which the Apostle tells us is the Temple of the living God. See 1 Kings 6:18. And the Cedar of the House within, was carved with Knops and open Flowers. The Ornaments and Crown of the Pillars, at the Entrance of the Temple, were of the same Sort: They were Lilies and Pomegranates, or Flowers and Fruits mixed together: 1 Kings 7:18, 19. So it is with all those that are as Pillars in the Temple of God, who shall go no more out, or never be ejected as Intruders; as it is with all true Saints; Revelation 3:12. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.

Much the same Thing seems to be signified by the Ornaments on the Skirt of the Ephod, the Garment of Aaron the high Priest; which were golden Bells and Pomegranates. That these Skirts of Aaron's Garment represent the Church, or the Saints (that are as it were the Garment of Christ) is manifest; for they are evidently so spoken of, Psalm 133:1, 2. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity! It is like the precious Ointment upon the Head, that ran down upon the Beard, even Aaron's Beard, that went down to the Skirts of his Garments. That Ephod of Aaron signified the same with the seamless Coat of Christ our great high Priest. As Christ's Coat had no Seam, but was woven from the Top throughout, so it was with the Ephod, Exodus 39:22. As God took Care in his Providence, that Christ's Coat should not be rent; so God took special Care that the Ephod should not be rent; Exodus 28:32 and Chapter 39:23. The golden Bells on this Ephod, by their precious Matter and pleasant Sound, do well represent the good Profession that the Saints make; and the Pomegranates, the Fruit they bring forth. And as in the Hem of the Ephod, Bells and Pomegranates were constantly connected, as is once and again observed, there was a golden Bell and a Pomegranate, a golden Bell and a Pomegranate, Exodus 28:34 and Chapter 39:26. So it is in the true Saints; their good Profession and their good Fruit, do constantly accompany one another: The Fruit they bring forth in Life, evermore answers the pleasant Sound of their Profession.

Again, The very same Thing is represented by Christ, in his Description of his Spouse, Song of Solomon 7:2. Thy Belly is like an Heap of Wheat, set about with Lilies. Here again are beautiful Flowers, and good Fruit, accompanying one another. The Lilies were fair and beautiful Flowers, and the Wheat was good Fruit.

As this fruit of Christian practice is evermore sound in true saints, according as they have opportunity and trial, so it is found in them only; none but true Christians do live such an obedient life, so universally devoted to their duty, and given up to the business of a Christian, as has been explained. All unsanctified men are Workers of Iniquity: They are of their Father the Devil, and the lusts of their Father they will do. There is no hypocrite that will go through with the business of religion, and both begin and finish the tower: They will not endure the trials God is wont to bring on the professors of religion, but will turn aside to their crooked ways: They will not be thoroughly faithful to Christ in their practice, and follow him whithersoever he goes. Whatever lengths they may go in religion in some instances, and though they may appear exceeding strict, and mightily engaged in the service of God for a season; yet they are servants to sin; the chains of their old taskmasters are not broken: Their lusts yet have a reigning power in their hearts; and therefore to these masters they will bow down again. Daniel 12:10. Many shall be purified and made white and tried: But the Wicked will do wickedly: And none of the Wicked shall understand. Isaiah 26:10. Let Favour be showed to the Wicked, yet will he not learn Righteousness; in the Land of Uprightness will he deal unjustly. Isaiah 35:8. And an Highway shall be there, and a Way, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness, the Unclean shall not pass over it. Hosea 14:9. The Ways of the Lord are right, and the Just shall walk in them; but the Transgressors shall fall therein. Job 27:8, 9, 10. What is the Hope of the Hypocrite?—Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God? An unsanctified man may hide his sin, and may in many things and for a season refrain from sin; but he will not be brought finally to renounce his sin, and give it a bill of divorce: Sin is too dear to him, for him to be willing for that: Wickedness is sweet in his Mouth; and therefore he hides it under his Tongue; he spares it and forsakes it not; but keeps it still within his Mouth. Job 20:12, 13. Herein chiefly consists the straitness of the gate, and the narrowness of the way that leads to life; upon the account of which, carnal men will not go in thereat, namely; That it is a way of utterly denying, and finally renouncing all ungodliness, and so a way of Self-denial or Self-renunciation.

Many natural men, under the means that are used with them, and God's strivings with them to bring them to forsake their sins, do by their sins, as Pharaoh did by his pride and covetousness, which he gratified by keeping the children of Israel in bondage, when God strove with him to bring him to let the people go. When God's hand pressed Pharaoh sore, and he was exercised with fears of God's future wrath, he entertained some thoughts of letting the people go, and promised he would do it; But from time to time he broke his promises, when he saw there was respite. When God filled Egypt with thunder and lightning, and the fire ran along the ground, then Pharaoh is brought to confess his sin with seeming humility, and to have a great resolution to let the people go, Exodus 9:27, 28. And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this Time; the Lord is Righteous, and I and my People are wicked: Entreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty Thunderings and Hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. So sinners are sometimes, by thunders and lightnings, and great terrors of the law, brought to a seeming work of humiliation, and to appearance to part with their sins; but are no more thoroughly brought to a disposition to dismiss them, than Pharaoh was to let the people go. Pharaoh in the struggle that was between his conscience and his lusts, was for contriving that God might be served, and he enjoy his lusts that were gratified by the slavery of the people, too. Moses insisted that Israel's God should be served and sacrificed to: Pharaoh was willing to consent to that; but would have it done without his parting with the people: Go sacrifice to your God in the Land, says he, Exodus 8:25. So many sinners are for contriving to serve God, and enjoy their lusts too. Moses objected against complying with Pharaoh's proposal, that serving God, and yet continuing in Egypt under their taskmasters, did not agree together, and were inconsistent one with another; (there is no serving God, and continuing slaves to such enemies of God at the same time.) After this Pharaoh consented to let the people go, provided they would not go far away: He was not willing to part with them finally, and therefore would have them within reach. So do many hypocrites with respect to their sins. Afterwards Pharaoh consented to let the Men go, if they would leave the Women and Children; Exodus 10:8, 9, 10. And then after that, when God's hand was yet harder upon him, he consented that they should go, even Women and Children, as well as Men, provided they would leave their Cattle behind: But he was not willing to let them go, and all that they had; Exodus 10:24. So it oftentimes is with sinners: They are willing to part with some of their sins; but not all: They are brought to part with the more gross acts of sin; but not to part with their lusts, in lesser indulgences of them. Whereas we must part with all our sins, little and great; and all that belongs to them, Men, Women, Children and Cattle: They must all be let go, with their Young, and with their Old, with their Sons, and with their Daughters, with their Flocks, and with their Herds; there must not be an Hoof left behind: As Moses told Pharaoh, with respect to the children of Israel. At last, when it came to extremity, Pharaoh consented to let the people all go, and all that they had; but he was not steadfastly of that mind: He soon repented, and pursued after them again: And the reason was, that those lusts of pride and covetousness, that were gratified by Pharaoh's dominion over the people, and the gains of their service, were never really mortified in him, but only violently restrained. And thus, he being guilty of backsliding, after his seeming compliance with God's commands was destroyed without remedy. Thus there may be a forced parting with ways of disobedience to the commands of God, that may seem to be universal, as to what appears, for a little season: But because it is a mere force, without the mortification of the inward principle of sin; they will not persevere in it; but will return as the dog to his vomit; and so bring on themselves dreadful and remediless destruction. There were many false disciples in Christ's time, that followed him for a while; but none of them followed him to the end; but some on one occasion, and some on another, went back and walked no more with him.

From what has been said it is manifest, that Christian practice or a holy life is a great and distinguishing Sign of true and saving grace. But I may go further, and assert, that it is the chief of all the signs of grace, both as an evidence of the sincerity of professors unto others, and also to their own consciences.

But then it is necessary that this be rightly taken, and that it be well understood and observed, in what sense and manner Christian practice is the greatest Sign of grace. Therefore, to set this matter in a clear light, I will endeavor particularly and distinctly to prove, that Christian practice is the principal Sign by which Christians are to judge, both of their own and others' sincerity of godliness; withal observing some things that are needful to be particularly noted, in order to a right understanding of this matter.

1. I shall consider Christian practice and a holy life, as a manifestation and sign of the sincerity of a professing Christian, to the Eye of his Neighbors and Brethren.

And that this is the chief sign of grace in this respect, is very evident from the Word of God. Christ, who knew best how to give us rules to judge of others, has repeated it and inculcated it, that we should know them by their fruits; Matthew 7:16. You shall know them by their fruits. And then after arguing the point, and giving clear reasons why it must needs be, that men's fruits must be the chief evidence of what sort they are, in the following verses, he closes by repeating the assertion: Verse 20. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Again, Chapter 12:33. Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt. --As much as to say, it is a very absurd thing, for any to suppose that the tree is good, and yet the fruit bad, that the tree is of one sort, and the fruit of another; for the proper evidence of the nature of the tree is its fruit. Nothing else can be intended by that last clause in the verse, For the tree is known by its fruit, than that the tree is chiefly known by its fruit, that this is the main and most proper diagnostic by which one tree is distinguished from another. So Luke 6:44. Every tree is known by its own fruit. Christ nowhere says, You shall know the tree by its leaves or flowers, or you shall know men by their talk, or you shall know them by the good story they tell of their experiences, or you shall know them by the manner and air of their speaking, and emphasis and pathos of expression, or by their speaking feelingly, or by making a very great show by abundance of talk, or by many tears and affectionate expressions, or by the affections you feel in your hearts towards them: But by their fruits shall you know them; the tree is known by its fruit; Every tree is known by its own fruit. And as this is the evidence that Christ has directed us mainly to look at in others, in judging of them, so it is the evidence that Christ has mainly directed us to give to others, whereby they may judge of us; Matthew 5:16. Let your light so shine before men, that others seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is in Heaven. Here Christ directs us to manifest our godliness to others. Godliness is as it were a light that shines in the soul: Christ intends that this light should not only shine within, but that it should shine out before men, that they may see it. But which way shall this be? It is by our good works. Christ does not say, that others hearing your good words, your good story, or your pathetical expressions; but that others seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is in Heaven. Doubtless when Christ gives us a rule how to make our light shine, that others may have evidence of it, His rule is the best that is to be found. And the Apostles do mention a Christian practice, as the principal ground of their esteem of persons as true Christians. As the Apostle Paul, in the sixth chapter of Hebrews. There the Apostle in the beginning of the chapter, speaks of them that have great common illuminations, that have been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, that afterwards fall away, and are like barren ground, that is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned: And then immediately adds in the ninth verse (expressing his charity for the Christian Hebrews, as having that saving grace, which is better than all these common illuminations) But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation; though we thus speak. And then in the next verse, he tells them what was the reason he had such good thoughts of them: He does not say, that it was because they had given him a good account of a work of God upon their souls, and talked very experimentally; but it was their work, and labour of love; For God is not unrighteous, to forget your work, and labour of love, which you have showed towards His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And the same Apostle speaks of a faithful serving God in practice, as the proper proof to others of men's loving Christ above all, and preferring His honour to their private interest. Philippians 2:21, 22. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's: But you know the proof of him, that as a son with the father, he has served with me in the Gospel. So the Apostle John expresses the same, as the ground of his good opinion of Gaius, 3 John 3, 4, 5, 6. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you. But how did the brethren testify of the truth that was in Gaius? And how did the Apostle judge of the truth that was in him? It was not because they testified that he had given them a good account of the steps of his experiences, and talked like one that felt what he said, and had the very language of a Christian; but they testified, that he walked in the truth; as it follows, even as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy, than to hear that my children walk in the truth. Beloved, you do faithfully, whatsoever you do to the brethren and to strangers; which have borne witness of your charity before the church. Thus the Apostle explains what the brethren had borne witness of, when they came and testified of his walking in the truth. And the Apostle seems in this same place, to give it as a rule to Gaius how he should judge of others; in Verse 10, he mentions one Diotrephes, that did not carry himself well, and led away others after him; and then in the eleventh verse he directs Gaius to beware of such, and not to follow them; and gives him a rule whereby he may know them, exactly agreeable to that rule Christ had given before, By their fruits you shall know them; says the Apostle, Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that does good is of God, but he that does evil has not seen God. And I would further observe that the Apostle James, expressly comparing that way of showing others our faith and Christianity by our practice or works, with other ways of showing our faith without works, or not by works, does plainly and abundantly prefer the former; James 2:18. Yea a man may say, you have faith and I have works: Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. A manifestation of our faith without works, or in a way diverse from works, is a manifestation of it in words, whereby a man professes faith. As the Apostle says, Verse 14. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man SAY he has faith? --Therefore here are two ways of manifesting to our neighbour what is in our hearts; one by what we say, and the other by what we do. But the Apostle abundantly prefers the latter as the best evidence. Now certainly all accounts we give of ourselves in words, our saying that we have faith, and that we are converted, and telling the manner how we came to have faith, and the steps by which it was wrought, and the discoveries and experiences that accompanied it, are still but manifesting our faith by what we say; it is but showing our faith by our words; which the Apostle speaks of as falling vastly short of manifesting of it by what we do, and showing our faith by our works.

And as the Scripture plainly teaches that Practice is the best Evidence of the Sincerity of professing Christians; so Reason teaches the same Thing. Reason shows that Men's Deeds are better and more faithful Interpreters of their Minds, than their Words. The common Sense of all Mankind, through all Ages and Nations, teaches them to judge of Men's Hearts chiefly by their Practice, in other Matters: As whether a Man be a loyal Subject, a true Lover, a dutiful Child, or a faithful Servant. If a Man professes a great deal of Love and Friendship to another, Reason teaches all Men, that such a Profession is not so great an Evidence of his being a real and hearty Friend, as his appearing a Friend in Deeds; being faithful and constant to his Friend in Prosperity and Adversity, ready to lay out himself, and deny himself, and suffer in his personal Interest, to do him a Kindness. A wise Man will trust to such Evidences of the Sincerity of Friendship, further than a thousand earnest Professors and solemn Declarations, and most affectionate Expressions of Friendship in Words. And there is equal Reason why Practice should also be looked upon as the best Evidence of Friendship towards Christ. Reason says the same that Christ said, in John 14:21. He that has my Commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me. Thus if we see a Man, who in the Course of his Life, seems to follow and imitate Christ, and greatly to exert and deny himself for the Honor of Christ and to promote his Kingdom and Interest in the World; Reason teaches that this is an Evidence of Love to Christ, more to be depended on, than if a Man only says he has Love to Christ, and tells of the inward Experiences he has had of Love to him, what strong Love he felt, and how his Heart was drawn out in Love at such and such a Time, when it may be there appears but little Imitation of Christ in his Behavior, and he seems backward to do any great Matter for him, or to put himself out of his Way for the promoting of his Kingdom, but seems to be apt to excuse himself, whenever he is called to deny himself for Christ. So if a Man in declaring his Experiences, tells how he found his Heart weaned from the World, and saw the Vanity of it, so that all looked as nothing to him, at such and such Times, and professes that he gives up all to God, and calls Heaven and Earth to witness to it; but yet in his Practice is violent in pursuing the World, and what he gets he keeps close, is exceeding loath to part with much of it to charitable and pious Uses, it comes from him almost like his Heart's Blood. But there is another professing Christian, that says not a great deal, yet in his Behavior appears ready at all Times to forsake the World, whenever it stands in the Way of his Duty, and is free to part with it at any Time, to promote Religion and the Good of his Fellow Creatures; Reason teaches that the Latter gives far the most credible Manifestation of an Heart weaned from the World. And if a Man appears to walk humbly before God and Men, and to be of a Conversation that favors of a broken Heart, appearing patient and resigned to God under Affliction, and meek in his Behavior amongst Men; this is a better Evidence of Humiliation, than if a Person only tells how great a Sense he had of his own Unworthiness, how he was brought to lie in the Dust, and was quite emptied of himself, and see himself nothing and all over filthy and abominable, etc. but yet acts as if he looked upon himself one of the first and best of Saints, and by just Right the Head of all the Christians in the Town, and is assuming, self-willed, and impatient of the least Contradiction or Opposition; we may be assured in such a Case, that a Man's Practice comes from a lower Place in his Heart, than his Profession. So (to mention no more Instances) if a Professor of Christianity manifests in his Behavior a pitiful tender Spirit towards others in Calamity, ready to bear their Burdens with them, willing to spend his Substance for them, and to suffer many inconveniences in his worldly Interest to promote the Good of others Souls and Bodies: is not this a more credible Manifestation of a Spirit of Love to Man, than only a Man's telling what Love he felt to others at certain Times, how he pitied their Souls, how his Soul was in Travail for them, and how he felt a hearty Love and Pity to his Enemies; when in his Behavior he seems to be of a very selfish Spirit, close and covetous, all for himself and none for his Neighbors, and perhaps envious and contentious? Persons in a Pang of Affection may think they have a Willingness of Heart for great Things, to do much and to suffer much, and so may profess it very earnestly and confidently; when really their Hearts are far from it. Thus many in their affectionate Pangs, have thought themselves willing to be damned eternally for the Glory of God. Passing Affections easily produce Words; and Words are cheap; and Godliness is more easily feigned in Words than in Actions. Christian Practice is a costly laborious Thing. The Self-denial that is required of Christians, and the Narrowness of the Way that leads to Life, do not consist in Words, but in Practice. Hypocrites may much more easily be brought to talk like Saints, than to act like Saints.

Thus it is plain that Christian Practice is the best Sign or Manifestation of the true Godliness of a professing Christian, to the Eye of his Neighbors.

But then the following Things should be well observed, that this Matter may be rightly understood.

First, It must be observed, that when the Scripture speaks of Christian Practice, as the best Evidence to others, of Sincerity and Truth of Grace, a Profession of Christianity is not excluded, but supposed. The Rules mentioned were Rules given to the Followers of Christ, to guide them in their Thoughts of professing Christians, and those that offered themselves as some of their Society, whereby they might judge of the Truth of their Pretenses, and the Sincerity of the Profession they made; and not for the Trial of Heathens, or those that made no Pretence to Christianity, and that Christians had nothing to do with. This is as plain as is possible in that great Rule which Christ gives in the 7th of Matthew, By their Fruits ye shall know them. He there gives a Rule how to judge of those that professed to be Christians, yea that made a very high Profession, false Prophets, who come in Sheep's Clothing, as Verse 15. So it is also with that of the Apostle James, Chapter 2:18. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. It is evident that both these Sorts of Persons, offering to give these diverse Evidences of their Faith, are Professors of Faith: This is implied in their offering each of them to give Evidences of the Faith they professed. And it is evident by the preceding Verses, that the Apostle is speaking of Professors of Faith in Jesus Christ. So it is very plain that the Apostle John, in those Passages that have been observed in his third Epistle, is speaking of professing Christians. Though in these Rules, the Christian Practice of Professors be spoken of as the greatest and most distinguishing Sign of their Sincerity in their Profession, much more evidential than their Profession it self; yet a Profession of Christianity is plainly presupposed: It is not the main Thing in the Evidence, nor any Thing distinguishing in it; yet it is a Thing requisite and necessary in it. As the having an animal Body, is not any Thing distinguishing of a Man, from other Creatures, and is not the main Thing in the Evidence of human Nature; yet it is a Thing requisite and necessary in the Evidence. So that if any Man should say plainly that he was not a Christian, and did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, or a Person sent of God; these Rules of Christ and his Apostles don't at all oblige us to look upon him as a sincere Christian, let his visible Practice and Virtues, be what they will. And not only do these Rules take no place with Respect to a Man that explicitly denies Christianity, and is a professed Deist, Jew, Heathen, or open Infidel; but also with Respect to a Man that only forbears to make a Profession of Christianity: Because these Rules were given us only to judge of professing Christians: Fruits must be joined with open Flowers; Bells and Pomegranates go together.

But here will naturally arise this Inquiry, namely when a Man may be said to profess Christianity, or what Profession may properly be called a Profession of Christianity?

I answer in two Things;

1. In order to a man's being properly said to make a profession of Christianity, there must undoubtedly be a profession of all that is necessary to his being a Christian, or of so much as belongs to the essence of Christianity. Whatsoever is essential in Christianity itself, the profession of that is essential in the profession of Christianity. The profession must be of the thing professed. For a man to profess Christianity, is for him to declare that he has it. And therefore so much as belongs to a thing, so as to be necessary in order to its being truly denominated that thing; so much is essential to the declaration of that thing, in order to its being truly denominated a declaration of that thing. If we take only a part of Christianity, and leave out a part that is essential to it, what we take is not Christianity; because something that is of the essence of it is wanting. So if we profess only a part, and leave out a part that is essential, that which we profess is not Christianity. Thus in order to a profession of Christianity, we must profess that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah; for this reason, because such a belief is essential to Christianity. And so we must profess, either expressly or implicitly, that Jesus satisfied for our sins, and other essential doctrines of the Gospel; because a belief of these things also are essential to Christianity. But there are other things as essential to religion, as an orthodox belief; which it is therefore as necessary that we should profess, in order to our being truly said to profess Christianity. Thus it is essential to Christianity that we repent of our sins, that we be convinced of our own sinfulness, and that we are sensible we have justly exposed ourselves to God's wrath, and that our hearts do renounce all sin, and that we do with our whole hearts embrace Christ as our only Saviour, and that we love him above all, and are willing for his sake to forsake all, and that we do give up ourselves to be entirely and forever his, etc. Such things as these do as much belong to the essence of Christianity, as the belief of any of the doctrines of the Gospel: And therefore the profession of them does as much belong to a Christian profession. Not that in order to a being professing Christians, it is necessary that there should be an explicit profession of every individual thing that belongs to Christian grace or virtue: But certainly, there must be a profession, either express or implicit, of what is of the essence of religion. And as to those things that Christians should express in their profession, we ought to be guided by the precepts of God's Word, or by Scripture examples of public professions of religion, God's people have made from time to time. Thus they ought to profess their repentance of sin: As of old, when persons were initiated as professors, they came confessing their sins, manifesting their humiliation for sin, Matthew 3:6. And the baptism they were baptized with, was called the baptism of repentance, Mark 1:3. And John, when he had baptized them, exhorted them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, Matthew 3:8, that is agreeable to that repentance which they had professed; encouraging them, that if they did so, they should escape the wrath to come, and be gathered as wheat into God's garner, Matthew 3:7-10, 12. So the Apostle Peter says to the Jews, Acts 2:38, Repent, and be baptized: Which shows that repentance is a qualification that must be visible in order to baptism; and therefore ought to be publicly professed. So when the Jews that returned from captivity, entered publicly into covenant, it was with confession, or public profession of repentance of their sins, Nehemiah 9:2. This profession of repentance should include or imply a profession of conviction that God would be just in our damnation: See Nehemiah 9:33 together with verse 35 and the beginning of the next chapter. They should profess their faith in Jesus Christ, and that they embrace Christ, and rely upon him as their Saviour, with their whole hearts, and that they do joyfully entertain the Gospel of Christ. Thus Philip, in order to baptizing the Eunuch, required that he should profess that he believed with all his heart: And they that were received as visible Christians, at that great outpouring of the Spirit, which began at the day of Pentecost, appeared gladly to receive the Gospel; Acts 2:4. Then they that gladly received the word, were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. They should profess that they rely only on Christ's righteousness and strength, and that they are devoted to him, as their only Lord and Saviour, and that they rejoice in him as their only righteousness and portion. It is foretold that all nations should be brought publicly to make this profession, Isaiah 45:22, to the end; Look to me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come: And all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. They should profess to give up themselves entirely to Christ, and to God through him; as the children of Israel, when they publicly recognized their covenant with God; Deuteronomy 26:17. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice. They ought to profess a willingness of heart to embrace religion with all its difficulties, and to walk in a way of obedience to God universally and perseveringly; Exodus 19:8 and 24:3, 7; Deuteronomy 26:16-18; 2 Kings 23:3; Nehemiah 10:28-29; Psalm 119:57, 106. They ought to profess that all their hearts and souls are in these engagements to be the Lord's, and forever to serve him; 2 Chronicles 15:12-14. God's people's swearing to God, and swearing by his name, or to his name, as it might be rendered, (by which seems to be signified their solemnly giving up themselves to him in covenant, and vowing to receive him as their God, and to be entirely his, to obey and serve him) is spoken of as a duty to be performed by all God's visible Israel; Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20; Psalm 63:11; Isaiah 19:18; Chapter 45:23-24 compared with Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11; Isaiah 48:1-2 and 65:15-16; Jeremiah 4:2, 5:7, and 12:16; Hosea 4:15 and 10:4. Therefore, in order to persons being entitled to full esteem and charity, with their neighbours, as being sincere professors of Christianity; by those forementioned rules of Christ and his apostles, there must be a visibly holy life, with a profession, either expressing, or plainly implying such things as those which have been now mentioned. We are to know them by their fruits; that is, we are by their fruits to know whether they be what they profess to be; not that we are to know by their fruits, that they have something in them, which they don't so much as pretend to.

And moreover,

2. That profession of these things, which is properly called a Christian profession, and which must be joined with Christian practice, in order to person's being entitled to the benefit of those rules, must be made (as to what appears) understandingly: that is, they must be persons that appear to have been so far instructed in the principles of religion, as to be in an ordinary capacity to understand the proper import of what is expressed in their profession. For sounds are no significations or declarations of any thing, any further than men understand the meaning of their own sounds.

But in order to persons making a proper profession of Christianity, such as the Scripture directs to, and such as the followers of Christ should require, in order to the acceptance of the professors with full charity, as of their society; it is not necessary they should give an account of the particular steps and method, by which the Holy Spirit, sensibly to them, wrought and brought about those great essential things of Christianity in their hearts. There is no footstep in the Scripture of any such way of the apostles, or primitive ministers and Christians requiring any such relation, in order to their receiving and treating others, as their Christian brethren, to all intents and purposes, or of their first examining them, concerning the particular method and order of their experiences. They required of them a profession of the things wrought; but no account of the manner of working was required of them. Nor is there the least shadow in the Scripture of any such custom in the church of God, from Adam to the death of the Apostle John.

I am far from saying that it is not requisite that persons should give any sort of account of their experiences to their brethren. For persons to profess those things wherein the essence of Christianity lies, is the same thing as to profess that they experience those things. Thus for persons solemnly to profess, that, in a sense and full conviction of their own utter sinfulness, misery, and impotence, and totally undone state as in themselves, and their just desert of God's rejection and eternal wrath, without mercy, and the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness, or any thing in them, to satisfy divine justice, or recommend them to God's favour, they do only and entirely depend on the Lord Jesus Christ and his satisfaction and righteousness; that they do with all their hearts believe the truth of the Gospel of Christ; and that in a full conviction and sense of his sufficiency and perfect excellency as a Saviour, as exhibited in the Gospel, they do with their whole souls cleave to him, and acquiesce in him, as the refuge and rest of their souls, and fountain of their comfort; that they repent of their sins, and utterly renounce all sin, and give up themselves wholly to Christ, willingly subjecting themselves to him as their King; that they give him their hearts and their whole man; and are willing and resolved to have God for their whole and everlasting portion; and in a dependence on his promises of a future eternal enjoyment of him in heaven, to renounce all the enjoyments of this vain world, selling all for this great treasure and future inheritance, and to comply with every command of God, even the most difficult and self-denying, and devote their whole lives to God's service; and that in forgiveness of those that have injured them, and a general benevolence to mankind, their hearts are united to the people of Jesus Christ as their people, to cleave to them and love them as their brethren, and worship and serve God and follow Christ in union and fellowship with them, being willing and resolved to perform all those duties that belong to them, as members of the same family of God and mystical body of Christ; I say, for persons solemnly to profess such things as these, as in the presence of God, is the same thing, as to profess that they are conscious to, or do experience such things in their hearts.

Nor is it what I suppose, that Persons giving an Account of their Experience of particular Exercises of Grace, with the Times and Circumstances, gives no Advantage to others in forming a Judgment of their State; or that Persons may not fitly be enquired of concerning these in some Cases, especially Cases of great Importance, where all possible Satisfaction concerning Persons Piety is especially to be desired and sought after, as in the Case of Ordination or Approbation of a Minister. It may give Advantage in forming a Judgment, in several Respects; and among others, in this, That hereby we may be better satisfied that the Professor speaks honestly and understandingly, in what he professes; and that he does not make the Profession in mere Formality. In order to a Profession of Christianity being accepted to any Purpose, there ought to be good Reason, from the Circumstances of the Profession, to think that the Professor does not make such a Profession out of a mere customary Compliance with a prescribed Form, using Words without any distinct Meaning, or in a very lax and ambiguous Manner, as Confessions of Faith are often subscribed; but that the Professor understandingly and honestly signifies what he is conscious of in his own Heart; otherwise his Profession can be of no Significance, and no more to be regarded than the Sound of Things without Life. But indeed (whatever Advantage an Account of particular Exercises may give in judging of this) it must be owned that the Professor having been previously thoroughly instructed by his Teachers, and giving good Proof of his sufficient Knowledge, together with a Practice agreeable to his Profession, is the best Evidence of this.

Nor do I suppose, but that, if a Person that is enquired of about particular Passages, Times and Circumstances of his Christian Experience, among other Things, seems to be able to give a distinct Account of the Manner of his first Conversion, in such a Method as has been frequently observable in true Conversion, so that Things seem sensibly and distinctly to follow one another, in the Order of Time, according to the Order of Nature; it is an illustrating Circumstance, that among other Things, adds Lustre to the Evidence he gives his Brethren of the Truth of his Experiences.

But the Thing that I speak of as unscriptural, is the insisting on a particular Account of the distinct Method and Steps, wherein the Spirit of God did sensibly proceed, in first bringing the Soul into a State of Salvation, as a Thing requisite in order to receiving a Professor into full Charity as a real Christian; or so, as for the Want of such Relation, to disregard other Things in the Evidence Persons give to their Neighbors of their Christianity, that are vastly more important and essential.

Secondly, That we may rightly understand how Christian Practice is the greatest Evidence that others can have of the Sincerity of a professing Christian, it is needful that what was said before, showing what Christian Practice is, should be borne in Mind; and that it should be considered how far this may be visible to others. Merely that a Professor of Christianity is what is commonly called an honest Man, and a moral Man, (that is we have no special Transgression or Iniquity to charge him with, that might bring a Blot on his Character) is no great Evidence of the Sincerity of his Profession. This is not making his Light shine before Men. This is not that Work and Labor of Love showed towards Christ's Name, which gave the Apostle such Persuasion of the Sincerity of the professing Hebrews, Hebrews 6:9, 10. It may be so, that we may see nothing in a Man, but that he may be a good Man, there may appear nothing in his Life and Conversation inconsistent with his being godly, and yet neither may there be any great positive Evidence that he is so. But there may be great positive Appearances of Holiness in Men's visible Behavior: Their Life may appear to be a Life of the Service of God: They may appear to follow the Example of Jesus Christ, and come up in a great Measure to those excellent Rules in the fifth, sixth, and seventh Chapters of Matthew, and twelfth of Romans, and many other Parts of the New Testament: There may be a great Appearance of their being universal in their Obedience to Christ's Commands and the Rules of the Gospel. They may appear to be universal in the Performance of the Duties of the first Table, manifesting the Fear and Love of God: and also universal in fulfilling Rules of Love to Men, Love to Saints, and Love to Enemies; Rules of Meekness and Forgiveness, Rules of Mercy and Charity, and looking not only at our own Things, but also at the Things of others; Rules of doing Good to Men's Souls and Bodies, to particular Persons and to the Public; Rules of Temperance and Mortification, and of an humble Conversation; Rules of bridling the Tongue, and improving it to glorify God and bless Men, showing that in their Tongues is the Law of Kindness. They may appear to walk as Christians in all Places, and at all Seasons, in the House of God, and in their Families, and among their Neighbors, on Sabbath Days, and every Day, in Business and in Conversation, towards Friends and Enemies, towards Superiors, Inferiors and Equals. Persons in their visible Walk may appear to be very earnestly engaged in the Service of God and Mankind, much to labor and lay out themselves in this Work of a Christian, and to be very constant and steadfast in it, under all Circumstances and Temptations. There may be great Manifestations of a Spirit to deny themselves, and suffer for God and Christ, and the Interest of Religion, and the Benefit of their Brethren. There may be great Appearances in a Man's Walk, of a Disposition to forsake any Thing, rather than to forsake Christ, and to make every Thing give Place to his Honor. There may be great Manifestations in a Man's Behavior of such Religion as this being his Element, and of his placing the Delight and Happiness of his Life in it: And his Conversation may be such, that he may carry with him a sweet Odor of Christian Graces and heavenly Dispositions, wherever he goes. And when it is thus in the Professors of Christianity, here is an Evidence to others of their Sincerity in their Profession, to which all other Manifestations are not worthy to be compared.

There is doubtless a great Variety in the Degrees of Evidence that Professors do exhibit of their Sincerity, in their Life and Practice; as there is a Variety in the Fairness and Clearness of Accounts Persons give of the Manner and Method of their Experiences: But undoubtedly such a Manifestation as has been described, of a Christian Spirit in Practice, is vastly beyond the fairest and brightest Story of particular Steps and Passages of Experience, that ever was told. And in general a Manifestation of the Sincerity of a Christian Profession in Practice, is far better than a Relation of Experiences.

But yet,

Thirdly, It must be noted, agreeable to what was formerly observed, That no external Manifestations and outward Appearances whatsoever, that are visible to the World, are infallible Evidences of Grace. These Manifestations that have been mentioned, are the best that Mankind can have; and they are such as do oblige Christians entirely to embrace Professors as Saints, and love them and rejoice in them as the Children of God, and are sufficient to give them as great Satisfaction concerning them, as ever is needful to guide them in their Conduct, or for any Intent and Purpose that needs to be answered in this World. But nothing that appears to them in their Neighbor, can be sufficient to beget an absolute Certainty concerning the State of his Soul: For they see not his Heart, nor can they see all his external Behavior; for much of it is in secret, and hid from the Eye of the World: And it is impossible certainly to determine, how far a Man may go in many external Appearances and Imitations of Grace, from other Principles. Though undoubtedly, if others could see so much of what belongs to Men's Practice, as their own Consciences may see of it, it might be an infallible Evidence of their State, as will appear from what follows.

Having thus considered Christian Practice as the best Evidence of the Sincerity of Professors to others, I now proceed,

2. To observe that the Scripture also speaks of Christian Practice as a distinguishing and sure Evidence of Grace to Persons own Consciences. This is very plain in 1 John 2:3. Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his Commandments. And the Testimony of our Consciences, with Respect to our good Deeds, is spoken of as that which may give us Assurance of our own Godliness; 1 John 3:18, 19. My little Children, let us not love in Word, neither in Tongue, but in Deed (in the Original it is ERGO in Work) and in Truth. And hereby we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our Hearts before him. And the Apostle Paul, in Hebrews 6 speaks of the Work, and Labor of Love, of the Christian Hebrews, as that which both gave him a Persuasion that they had something above the highest common Illuminations, and also as that Evidence which tended to give them the highest Assurance of Hope concerning themselves; Verse 9, etc. But Beloved, we are persuaded better Things of you, and Things that accompany Salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous, to forget your Work, and Labor of Love, which you have showed towards his Name, in that you have ministered to his Saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same Diligence, to the full Assurance of Hope, unto the End. So the Apostle directs the Galatians to examine their Behavior or Practice, that they might have Rejoicing in themselves in their own happy State: Galatians 6:4. Let every Man prove his own Work; so shall he have Rejoicing in himself, and not in another. And the Psalmist says, Psalm 119:6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have Respect to all thy Commandments. that is Then shall I be bold and assured and steadfast in my Hope. And in that of our Savior, Matthew 7:19, 20. Every Tree that brings not forth good Fruit is hewn down and cast into the Fire: Wherefore by their Fruits you shall know them. Though Christ gives this firstly, as a Rule by which we should judge of others, yet in the Words that next follow he plainly shows, that he intends it also as a Rule by which we should judge ourselves; Not every one that says unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that DOES THE WILL of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will say unto me in that Day, Lord, Lord, etc.—and then I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me YOU THAT WORK INIQUITY. Therefore whosoever hears these Sayings of mine, and DOES them, I will liken him to a wise Man, which built his house upon a Rock. —And every one that hears these Sayings of mine and DOES THEM NOT, shall be likened unto a foolish Man, which built his House upon the Sand. I shall have Occasion to mention other Texts that show the same Thing, hereafter.

But for the greater Clearness in this Matter, I would First, Show how Christian Practice, doing good Works, or keeping Christ's Commandments, is to be taken, when the Scripture represents it as a sure Sign to our own Consciences, that we are real Christians. And Secondly, will prove that this is the Chief of all Evidences that Men can have of their own sincere Godliness.

First, I would show how Christian Practice, or keeping Christ's Commandments, is to be taken, when the Scripture represents it as a sure Evidence to our own Consciences, that we are sincere Christians.

And here I would observe, that we cannot reasonably suppose that when the Scripture in this case speaks of good works, good fruit, and keeping Christ's commandments; that it has respect merely to what is external, or the motion and action of the body, without including anything else, having no respect to any aim or intention of the agent, or any act of his understanding or will. For consider men's actions so, and they are no more good works or acts of obedience, than the regular motions of a clock; nor are they considered as the actions of the men, or any human actions at all. The actions of the body, taken thus, are neither acts of obedience, nor disobedience; any more than the motions of the body in a convulsion. But the obedience and fruit that is spoken of, is the obedience and fruit of the man, and therefore not only the acts of the body, but the obedience of the soul, consisting in the acts and practice of the soul. Not that I suppose that when the Scripture speaks, in this case of gracious works and fruit and practice, that in these expressions is included all inward piety and holiness of heart, both principle and exercise, both spirit and practice: Because then, in these things being given as signs of a gracious principle in the heart, the same thing would be given as a sign of itself, and there would be no distinction between root and fruit. But only the gracious exercise, and holy act of the soul is meant, and given as the sign of the holy principle, and good estate. Neither is every kind of inward exercise of grace meant; but the practical exercise, that exercise of the soul, and exertion of inward holiness, which there is in an obediential act; or that exertion of the mind, and act of grace, which issues and terminates in what they call the imperate acts of the will; in which something is directed and commanded by the soul to be done, and brought to pass in practice.

Here for a clearer understanding, I would observe, that there are two kinds of exercises of grace. 1. There are those that some call immanent acts: That is, those exercises of grace that remain within the soul, that begin and are terminated there, without any immediate relation to anything to be done outwardly, or to be brought to pass in practice. Such are the exercises of grace, which the saints often have in contemplation: When the exercise that is in the heart, does not directly proceed to, or terminate in anything beyond the thoughts of the mind; however they may tend to practice (as [reconstructed: all] exercises of grace do) more remotely. 2. There is another kind of acts of grace, that are more strictly called practical, or effective exercises; because they immediately respect something to be done. They are the exertions of grace in the commanding acts of the will, directing the outward actions. As when a saint gives a cup of cold water to a disciple, in and from the exercise of the grace of charity; or voluntarily endures persecution, in the way of his duty, immediately from the exercise of a supreme love to Christ. Here is the exertion of grace producing its effect in outward actions. These exercises of grace are practical and productive [reconstructed: of] good works, not only in this sense, that they are of a productive nature, (for so are all exercises of true grace) but they are the producing acts. This is properly the exercise of grace in the act of the will; and this is properly the practice of the soul. And the soul is the immediate actor of no other practice but this: The [reconstructed: motions] of the body follow from the laws of union between the [reconstructed: soul] and body, which God, and not the soul has fixed, and does maintain. The act of the soul, and the exercise of grace, that is [reconstructed: exerted] in the performance of a good work, is the good work itself, [reconstructed: so far] as the [reconstructed: soul has part] in it, or so far as it is the soul's good work. The determinations of the will, are indeed our very actions, [reconstructed: so far] as they are properly ours, as Doctor [reconstructed: Doddridge] observes. By this practice of the soul, is included the aim and intention of the [reconstructed: soul] which [reconstructed: i]s the agent. For not only should we not look on the [reconstructed: acts] of a [reconstructed: statue], [reconstructed: dispensing] justice or distributing [reconstructed: alms], by clockwork, [reconstructed: as] acts of obedience to Christ in that statue; but neither would anybody call the voluntary actions of a man, externally and [reconstructed: conformable] to a command of Christ, by the name of obedience to [reconstructed: Christ], if he had never heard of Christ, or any of his commands, or had no thought of his commands in what he did. If the acts of obedience and good fruits spoken of, [reconstructed: ar]e looked upon, not as mere [reconstructed: motions] of the body, but as acts of the soul: the whole exercise of the spirit of the mind, in the action, must be taken in, with the end acted for, and the respect the soul then has to God, otherwise they are no acts of denial of ourselves, or obedience to God, or service done to him, but something else. Such effective exercises of grace as these that I have now described, many of the martyrs have experienced in a high degree. And all true saints live a life of such acts of grace as these; as they all live a life of gracious works, of which these operative exertions of grace are the life and soul. And this is the obedience and fruit that God mainly looks at, as he looks at the soul, more than the body; as much as the soul, in the constitution of the human nature, is the superior part. As God looks at the obedience and practice of the man, he looks at the practice of the soul: for the soul is the man in God's sight; For the Lord sees not as man sees, for He looks on the heart.

And thus it is, that obedience, good works, good fruit, are to be taken, when given in Scripture as a sure evidence to our own consciences of a true principle of grace; even as including the obedience and practice of the soul, as preceding and governing the actions of the body. When practice is given in Scripture as the main evidence of our true Christianity to others, then is meant that in our practice which is visible to them, even our outward actions: But when practice is given as a sure evidence of our real Christianity to our own consciences, then is meant that in our practice which is visible to our own consciences; which is not only the motion of our bodies, but the exertion and exercise of the soul, which directs and commands that motion; which is more directly and immediately under the view of our own consciences, than the act of the body. And that this is the intent of the Scripture, not only [reconstructed: does] the nature and reason of the thing show, but it is plain by the Scripture itself. Thus it is evident that when Christ, at the conclusion of [reconstructed: his] Sermon on the Mount, speaks of doing or practicing these sayings of his, [reconstructed: a]s the grand sign of professors being true [reconstructed: disciples], without which he likens them to a man that built his house upon the sand, and with which, to a man that built his house upon [reconstructed: a rock]; He has [reconstructed: a] respect, not only to the outward behaviour, but to the [reconstructed: inward] exercise of the mind in that behaviour: As is evident by observing what those preceding sayings of his are, that he refers to, when he speaks of our doing or practicing them: And we shall find they are such as these; Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are they that [reconstructed: mourn], blessed [reconstructed: are] the [reconstructed: meek], Blessed are they that [reconstructed: hunger] and [reconstructed: thirst] after righteousness, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are the [reconstructed: pure in] heart, Whosoever is angry with his brother without a [reconstructed: cause], etc. Whosoever [reconstructed: looks on] a [reconstructed: woman] to [reconstructed: lust] after her, etc. Love your enemies, [reconstructed: Take no] thought for your life, and others of the [reconstructed: li]ke nature, which imply inward exercises: And when Christ says, John 14:[reconstructed: 2]1. He [reconstructed: that] hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it [reconstructed: is] that [reconstructed: loves] me; He has evidently a special respect to that command several times repeated in the same discourse, (which he calls, by way of eminence, His commandment) that they [reconstructed: should] love one another, as he had loved them: (See chapter 13:34, 35. and chapter 15:10, 12, 13, 14.) But this command respects chiefly an exercise of the mind or heart, though exerted in practice. So when the apostle John says, 1 John 2:3, Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments; He has plainly a principal respect to the same command, as appears by what follows, verses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and second epistle, verses 5, 6. And when we are told in Scripture that men shall at the last day be judged according to their works, and all shall receive according to the things done in the body; It is not to be understood only of outward acts; for if so, why is God so often spoken of as searching the hearts and trying the reins, That he may render to every one according to his works? as Revelation 2:23. And all the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and the hearts; and I will give unto every one according to his works. Jeremiah 17:9, 10. I the Lord search the hearts, I try the reins, even to give every man [illegible] according to the fruit of his doings. But if by his ways, and the fruit of the [reconstructed: doings], [reconstructed: i]s meant only the actions of his body, what need of [reconstructed: searching] the heart and reins, in order to know them? Hezekiah in his [reconstructed: sic]kness [reconstructed: pleaded] his practice as an evidence of his title to God's favor, [reconstructed: a]s including, not only his outward actions, but what was in his heart, Isaiah 3[reconstructed: 8]:3. Remember [reconstructed: now], O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have [reconstructed: walked] before Thee, in truth, and with a perfect heart.

Though in this great evidence of sincerity that the Scripture gives us, what is inward is of greatest importance; yet what is outward is included and intended, as connected with the practical exertion of grace in the will, directing and commanding the actions of the body. And hereby are effectually cut off all pretensions that any man can have to evidences of godliness, who externally lives wickedly: Because the great evidence lies in that inward exercise and practice of the soul, which consists in the act of the will, commanding outward acts. But it is known that these commanding acts of the will are [reconstructed: one] way, and the actions of the bodily organs another: For the [reconstructed: fixed] law of nature is, that they should be united, as long [reconstructed: as] soul and [reconstructed: body] are united, and the organs are not so destroyed as to be incapable of those motions that the soul commands. Thus it would be [reconstructed: ri]diculous for a man to plead, that the commanding act of his will was to go to the public worship, while his feet carry him to a [reconstructed: tavern] or [reconstructed: b]rother house; or that the commanding act of his will was to give such a piece of money he had in his hand, to a poor beggar, while his hand at the same instant, kept it back, and held it fast.

Secondly, I proceed to show that Christian practice, taken in the sense that has been explained, is the chief of all the evidences of a saving sincerity in religion, to the consciences of the professors of it; much to be preferred to the method of the first convictions, enlightenings and comforts in conversion, or any immanent discoveries [reconstructed: or] exercises of grace whatsoever, that begin and end in contemplation. The evidence of this appears by the following arguments.

Argument 1. Reason plainly shows that those things which put it to the proof what men will actually cleave to and prefer in their practice, when left to follow their own choice and inclinations, are the proper trial what they do really prefer in their hearts. Sincerity in religion, as has been observed already, consists in setting God highest in the heart, in choosing him before other things, in having a heart to sell all for Christ, etc. But a man's actions are the proper trial what a man's heart prefers. As for instance, when it is so that God and other things come to stand in competition, God is as it were set before a man on one hand, and his worldly interest or pleasure on the other, (as it often is so in the course of a man's life) his behavior in such case, in actually cleaving to the one and forsaking the other, is the proper trial which he prefers. Sincerity consists in forsaking all for Christ in heart; but to forsake all for Christ in heart, is the very same thing as to have a heart to forsake all for Christ: But certainly the proper trial whether a man has a heart to forsake all for Christ, is his being actually put to it, the having Christ and other things coming in competition, that he must actually or practically cleave to one and forsake the other. To forsake all for Christ in heart, is the same thing as to have a heart to forsake all for Christ when called to it: But the highest proof to ourselves and others, that we have a heart to forsake all for Christ when called to it, is actually doing it when called to it, or so far as called to it. To follow Christ in heart, is to have a heart to follow him. To deny ourselves in heart for Christ, is the same thing as to have a heart to deny ourselves for him in fact. The main and most proper proof of a man's having a heart to anything, concerning which he is at liberty to follow his own inclinations, and either to do or not to do as he pleases, is his doing of it. When a man is at liberty whether to speak or keep silence, the most proper evidence of his having a heart to speak, is his speaking. When a man is at liberty whether to walk or sit still, the proper proof of his having a heart to walk, is his walking. Godliness consists not in a heart to intend to do the will of God, but in a heart to do it. The children of Israel in the wilderness had the former, of whom we read, Deuteronomy 5:27-29. Go near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; and speak to us all that the Lord our God shall speak to you; and we will hear it and do it. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me; and the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: They have well said all that they have spoken. Oh that there were such a HEART in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever. The people manifested that they had a heart to intend to keep God's commandments, and to be very forward in those intentions; but God manifests that this was far from being the thing that he desired, wherein true godliness consists, even a heart actually to keep them.

It is therefore exceeding absurd, and even ridiculous, for any to pretend that they have a good heart, while they live a wicked life, or do not bring forth the fruit of universal holiness in their practice. For it is proved in fact, that such men do not love God above all. It is foolish to dispute against plain fact and experience. Men that live in ways of sin, and yet flatter themselves that they shall go to heaven, or expect to be received hereafter as holy persons, without a holy life and practice, act as though they expected to make a fool of their Judge. Which is implied in what the Apostle says (speaking of men's doing good works, and living a holy life, thereby exhibiting evidence of their title to everlasting life) Galatians 6:7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: For whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. As much as to say, Do not deceive yourselves with an expectation of reaping life everlasting hereafter, if you do not sow to the Spirit here; it is in vain to think that God will be made a fool of by you, that he will be shamed and baffled with shadows instead of substance, and with vain pretenses, instead of that good fruit which he expects, when the contrary to what you pretend, appears plainly in your life before his face. In this manner the word mock is sometimes used in scripture. Thus Delilah says to Samson, Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies, Judges 16:10, 13. That is, you have baffled me, as though you would make a fool of me, as if I might be easily turned off with any vain pretense, instead of the truth. So it is said that Lot, when he told his sons-in-law that God would destroy that place, he seemed as one that mocked to his sons-in-law, Genesis 19:14. That is, He seemed as one that would make a game of them, as though they were such credulous fools as to regard such bugbears. But the great Judge, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, will not be mocked or baffled with any pretenses, without a holy life. If in his name men have prophesied and wrought miracles, and have had faith, so that they could remove mountains, and cast out devils, and however high their religious affections have been, however great resemblances they have had of grace, and though their hiding place has been so dark and deep, that no human skill nor search could find them out; yet if they are workers or practicers of iniquity, they cannot hide their hypocrisy from their Judge; Job 34:22. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the WORKERS OF INIQUITY may hide themselves. Would a wise prince suffer himself to be fooled and baffled by a subject, who should pretend that he was a loyal subject, and should tell his prince that he had an entire affection to him, and that at such and such a time he had experience of it, and felt his affections strongly working towards him, and should come expecting to be accepted and rewarded by his prince, as one of his best friends on that account, though he lived in rebellion against him, following some pretender to his crown, and from time to time stirring up sedition against him? Or would a master suffer himself to be shamed and gulled by a servant, that should pretend to great experiences of love and honor towards him in his heart, and a great sense of his worthiness and kindness to him, when at the same time he refused to obey him, and he could get no service done by him?

Argument 2. As reason shows that those things which occur in the course of life, that put it to the proof whether men will prefer God to other things in practice, are the proper trial of the uprightness and sincerity of their hearts; so the same are represented as the proper trial of the sincerity of professors, in the Scripture. There we find that such things are called by that very name, Trials or Temptations (which I before observed are both words of the same signification). The things that put it to the proof whether men will prefer God to other things in practice, are the difficulties of religion, or those things which occur that make the practice of duty difficult and cross to other principles besides the love of God; because in them, God and other things are both set before men together, in the Way of the Lord. So Chapter 3:1, 4 and Exodus 16:4. And the Scripture, when it calls these difficulties of religion by the name of temptations or trials, explains itself to mean thereby, the trial or experiment of their faith, James 1:2, 3. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 1 Peter 1:6, 7. Now for a season you are in heaviness, through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold, etc. So the Apostle Paul speaks of that expensive duty of parting with our substance to the poor, as the proof of the sincerity of the love of Christians, 2 Corinthians 8:8. And the difficulties of religion are often represented in Scripture as being the trial of professors, in the same manner that the furnace is the proper trial of gold and silver; Psalm 66:10, 11. Thou, O God, hast proved us, thou hast tried us, as silver is tried: Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins, Zechariah 13:9. And I will bring the third part of them through the fire: And I will refine them as silver is refined; and I will try them as gold is tried. That which has the color and appearance of gold is put into the furnace to try whether it be what it seems to be, real gold or no. So the difficulties of religion are called trials, because they try those that have the profession and appearance of saints, whether they are what they appear to be, real saints. If we put true gold into the furnace, we shall find its great value and preciousness. So the truth and inestimable value of the virtues of a true Christian appear, when under these trials; 1 Peter 1:7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory. True and pure gold will come out of the furnace in full weight: So true saints when tried come forth as gold, Job 23:10. Christ distinguishes true grace from counterfeit by this, that it is Gold tried in the fire, Revelation 3:17, 18. So that it is evident that these things are called Trials in Scripture, principally as they try or prove the sincerity of professors. And from what has been now observed, it is evident that they are the most proper trial or proof of their sincerity; inasmuch as the very meaning of the word Trial, as it is ordinarily used in Scripture, is the difficulty occurring in the way of a professor's duty, as the trial or experiment of his sincerity. If Trial of Sincerity be the proper name of these difficulties of religion, then doubtless these difficulties of religion are properly and eminently the trial of sincerity. For they are doubtless eminently what they are called by the Holy Ghost: God gives things their name from that which is eminently their nature. And if it be so, that these things are the proper and eminent trial, proof or experiment of the sincerity of professors; then certainly the result of the trial or experiment (that is, persons' behavior or practice under such trials) is the proper and eminent evidence of their sincerity. For they are called trials or proofs only with regard to the result, and because the effect is eminently the Proof, or Evidence. And this is the most proper proof and evidence to the conscience of those that are the subjects of these trials. For when God is said by these things to try men, and prove them, to see what is in their hearts, and whether they will keep his commandments or no; we are not to understand, that it is for his own information, or that he may obtain evidence himself of their sincerity; (for he needs no trials for his information) but chiefly for their conviction, and to exhibit evidence to their consciences. Thus when God is said to prove Israel by the difficulties they met with in the wilderness, and by the difficulties they met with from their enemies in Canaan, to know what was in their hearts, whether they would keep his commandments or no; it must be understood that it was to discover them to themselves, that they might know what was in their own hearts. So when God tempted or tried Abraham with that difficult command of offering up his son, it was not for his satisfaction, whether he feared God or no, but for Abraham's own greater satisfaction and comfort, and the more clear manifestation of the favor of God to him. When Abraham had proved faithful under this trial, God says to him, Now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, thine only son from me. Which plainly implies that in this practical exercise of Abraham's grace under this trial, was a clearer evidence of the truth of his grace, than ever was before; and the greatest evidence to Abraham's conscience; because God himself gives it to Abraham as such, for his comfort and rejoicing; and speaks of it to him, as what might be the greatest evidence to his conscience, of his being upright in the sight of his Judge. Which proves what I say, that holy practice under trials is the highest evidence of the sincerity of professors to their own consciences. And we find that Christ from time to time took the same method to convince the consciences of those that pretended friendship to him, and to show them what they were. This was the method he took with the rich young man, Matthew 19:16, etc. He seemed to show a great respect to Christ; he came kneeling to him, and called him Good Master, and made a great profession of obedience to the commandments; but Christ tried him by bidding him go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and come and take up his cross, and follow him; telling him that then he should have treasure in heaven. So he tried another that we read of Matthew 8:20. He made a great profession of respect to Christ: Says he, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Christ immediately puts his friendship to the proof, by telling him that the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but that the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. And thus Christ is wont still to try professed disciples in general, in his providence. So the seed sown in every kind of ground, stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground, which in all appears alike, when it first springs up; yet is tried, and the difference made to appear, by the burning heat of the sun.

Seeing therefore that these are the things that God makes use of to try us, it is undoubtedly the surest way for us to pass a right judgment on ourselves, to try ourselves by the same things. These trials of his are not for his information, but for ours; therefore we ought to receive our information from thence. The surest way to know our gold, is to look upon it and examine it in God's furnace, where he tries it for that end that we may see what it is. If we have a mind to know whether a building stands strong or no, we must look upon it when the wind blows. If we would know whether that which appears in the form of wheat, has the real substance of wheat, or be only chaff, we must observe it when it is winnowed. If we would know whether a staff be strong, or a rotten broken reed, we must observe it when it is leaned on, and weight is borne upon it. If we would weigh ourselves justly, we must weigh ourselves in God's scales, that he makes use of to weigh us. These trials in the course of our practices are as it were the balances in which our hearts are weighed, or in which Christ and the world, or Christ and his competitors, as to the esteem and regard they have in our hearts, are weighed, or are put into opposite scales, by which there is opportunity to see which preponderates. When a man is brought to the dividing of paths, the one of which leads to Christ, and the other to the objects of his lusts, to see which way he will go, or is brought, and as it were set between Christ and the world, Christ on the right hand, and the world on the left; so that if he goes to one he must leave the other, to see which his heart inclines most to, or which preponderates in his heart; this is just the same thing as laying Christ and the world in two opposite scales; and his going to the one, and leaving the other, is just the same thing as the sinking of one scale, and rising of the other. A man's practice then, under the trials of God's providence, is as much the proper experiment and evidence of the superior inclination of his heart, as the motion of the balance, with different weights, in the scales, is the proper experiment of the superior weight.

Argument 3. Another argument, that holy practice, in the sense that has been explained, is the highest kind of evidence of the truth of grace to the consciences of Christians, is the commandment of Christ which the Apostle has especial respect to, when he here speaks of our keeping his commandments, is as I observed before that great commandment of his, which respects the duty of love to our brethren; as appears by the following verses. Again, the love of God is said to be perfected, in the same sense, Chapter 4:12. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his Love is perfected in us. Here doubtless the Apostle has still respect to loving one another, in the same manner that he had explained in the preceding chapter, speaking of loving one another, as a sign of the love of God, Verse 17, 18. Whoso has this world's goods, and shuts up his bowels, etc. how dwells the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed (or in work) and in truth. By thus loving in work, the Apostle says the love of God is perfected in us. Grace is said to be perfected or finished in holy practice, as therein it is brought to its proper effect, and to that exercise which is the end of the principle; the tendency and design of grace, herein is reached, and its operation completed and crowned. As the tree is made perfect in the fruit: It is not perfected in the seed's being planted in the ground; it is not perfected in the first quickening of the seed, and in its putting forth root and sprout; nor is it perfected when it comes up out of the ground; nor is it perfected in bringing forth leaves; nor yet in putting forth blossoms: But when it has brought forth good ripe fruit, then it is perfected, therein it reaches its end, the design of the tree is finished: All that belongs to the tree is completed and brought to its proper effect in the fruit: So is grace in its practical exercises. Grace is said to be made perfect or finished in its work or fruit, in the same manner as it is said of sin, James 1:15. When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Here are three steps; first, sin in its principle or habit, in the being of lust in the heart; and secondly here is its conceiving, consisting in the immanent exercises of it in the mind; and lastly, here is the fruit that was conceived actually brought forth, in the wicked work and practice. And this the Apostle calls the finishing or perfecting of sin: For the word in the original is the same that is translated perfected in those forementioned places.

Now certainly if it be so, if Grace be in this Manner made perfect, in its Fruit, if these practical Exercises of Grace are those Exercises wherein Grace is brought to its proper Effect and End, and the Exercises wherein whatsoever belongs to its Design, Tendency and Operation is completed and crowned; then these Exercises must be the highest Evidences of Grace, above all other Exercises. Certainly the proper Nature and Tendency of every Principle, must appear best and most fully, in its most perfect Exercises, or in those Exercises wherein its Nature is most completely exerted, and its Tendency most fully answered and crowned, in its proper Effect and End. If we would see the proper Nature of any Thing whatsoever, and see it in its full Distinction from other Things; let us look upon it in the finishing of it. The Apostle James says, by Works is Faith made perfect; and introduces this as an Argument to prove that Works are the chief Evidence of Faith whereby the Sincerity of the Professors of Faith is justified, James 2. And the Apostle John, after he had once and again told us, that Love was made perfect in keeping Christ's Commandments, observes 1 John 4:18, That perfect Love casts out Fear. Meaning (at least in Part) Love made perfect in this Sense; agreeable to what he had said in the foregoing Chapter, That by loving in Deed, or Work, we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our Hearts, Verse 18, 19.

Argument 4. Another Thing which makes it evident that holy Practice is the principal Evidence that we ought to make use of in judging both of our own and others' Sincerity, is, That this Evidence is above all others insisted on in Scripture. A common Acquaintance with the Scripture, together with a little Attention and Observation, will be sufficient to show to any one, that this is ten times more insisted on as a Note of true Piety, throughout the Scripture, from the Beginning of Genesis to the End of Revelations, than any Thing else. And in the new Testament, where Christ and his Apostles do expressly, and of declared Purpose, lay down Signs of true Godliness, this is almost wholly insisted on. It may be observed that Christ and his Apostles do not only often say those Things, in their Discoursing on the great Doctrines of Religion, which do show what the Nature of true Godliness must be, or from whence the Nature and Signs of it may be inferred by just Consequence, and often occasionally mention many Things which do appertain to Godliness; but they do also often, of set Purpose, give Signs and Marks for the Trial of Professors, putting them upon trying themselves by the Signs they give, introducing what they say with such like Expressions as these; By this you shall know that you know God; By this are manifest the Children of God and the Children of the Devil; He that has this, builds on a good Foundation; He that has it not, builds on the Sand; Hereby we shall assure our Hearts; He is the Man that loves Christ, etc. But I can find no Place, where either Christ or his Apostles do in this Manner give Signs of Godliness, (though the Places are many) but where Christian Practice is almost the only Thing insisted on. Indeed in many of these Places, Love to the Brethren is spoken of as a Sign of Godliness; and (as I have observed before) there is no one virtuous Affection or Disposition so often expressly spoken of as a Sign of true Grace, as our having Love one to another: But then the Scriptures explain themselves to intend chiefly this Love as exercised and expressed in Practice, or in Deeds of Love. So does the Apostle John (who above all others insists on Love to the Brethren as a Sign of Godliness) most expressly explain himself, in that 1 John 3:14, 'We know that we have passed from Death to Life, because we love the Brethren. He that loves not his Brother abides in Death. —Whosoever has this World's Good, and sees his Brother have Need, and shuts up his Bowels of Compassion from him, how dwells the Love of God in him? My little Children, let us love, not in Word, neither in Tongue, but in Deed (that is in Deeds of Love) and in Truth, and hereby we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our Hearts before him.' So that when the Scripture so much insists on our Loving one another, as a great Sign of Godliness, we are not thereby to understand the immanent Workings of Affection which Men feel one to another, so much as the Soul's practicing all the Duties of the Second Table of the Law; all which the new Testament tells us again and again, a true Love one to another comprehends; Romans 13:8, and 10. Galatians 5:14. Matthew 22:39, 40. So that really, there is no Place in the new Testament, where the declared Design is to give Signs of Godliness, but that holy Practice, and keeping Christ's Commandments, is the Mark chosen out from all others to be insisted on. Which is an invincible Argument that it is the Chief of all the Evidences of Godliness: Unless we suppose that when Christ and his Apostles on Design, set themselves about this Business of giving Signs, by which professing Christians in all Ages might determine their State, they did not know how to choose Signs so well as we could have chosen for them. But if we make the Word of Christ our Rule, then undoubtedly those Marks which Christ and his Apostles did chiefly lay down, and give to us, that we might try ourselves by them, those same Marks we ought especially to receive, and chiefly to make use of, in the Trial of ourselves. And surely those Things which Christ and his Apostles chiefly insisted on in the Rules they gave, Ministers ought chiefly to insist on in the Rules they give. To insist much on those Things that the Scripture insists little on, and to insist very little on those Things on which the Scripture insists much, is a dangerous Thing; because it is going out of God's Way, and is to judge ourselves, and guide others, in an unscriptural Manner. God knew which Way of leading and guiding Souls was safest and best for them: He insisted so much on some Things, because he knew it to be needful that they should be insisted on; and let other Things more alone, as a wise God, because he knew it was not best for us, so much to lay the Weight of the Trial there. As the Sabbath was made for Man, so the Scriptures were made for Man; and they are by infinite Wisdom fitted for our Use and Benefit. We should therefore make them our Guide in all Things, in our Thoughts of Religion, and of ourselves. And for us to make that great which the Scripture makes little, and that little which the Scripture makes great, tends to give us a monstrous Idea of Religion; and (at least indirectly and gradually) to lead us wholly away from the right Rule, and from a right Opinion of ourselves, and to establish Delusion and Hypocrisy.

Argument 5. Christian Practice is plainly spoken of in the Word of God, as the main Evidence of the Truth of Grace, not only to others, but to Men's own Consciences. It is not only more spoken of and insisted on than other Signs, but in many Places where it is spoken of, it is represented as the Chief of all Evidences. This is plain in the Manner of Expression from Time to Time. If God were now to speak from Heaven to resolve our Doubts concerning Signs of Godliness, and should give some particular Sign, that by it all might know whether they were sincerely Godly or not, with such emphatical Expressions as these, The Man that has such a Qualification or Mark, That is the Man that is a true Saint, that is the very Man, by this you may know, this is the Thing by which it is manifest who are Saints and who are Sinners, such Men as these are Saints indeed; Should not we look upon it as a Thing beyond Doubt, that this was given as a special, and eminently distinguishing Note of true Godliness? But this is the very Case with Respect to the Sign of Grace I am speaking of; God has again and again uttered himself in his Word in this very Manner, concerning Christian Practice; as John 14. He that has my Commandments and keeps them, HE IT IS THAT LOVES ME. This Christ in this Place gives to the Disciples, not so much to guide them in judging of others, but to apply to themselves for their own Comfort after his Departure, as appears by every Word of the Context. And by the Way I would observe, that not only the Emphasis with which Christ utters himself is remarkable, but also his so much insisting on, and repeating the Matter, as he does in the Context; Verse 15. 'If you love me, keep my Commandments.' Verse 23. 'If a Man love me, he will keep my Words.' And Verse 24. 'He that loves me not, keeps not my Sayings.' And in the next Chapter over and over; Verse 2. 'Every Branch in me that bears not Fruit, he takes away; and every Branch that bears Fruit, he purges.' Verse 8. 'Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much Fruit, so shall you be my Disciples.' Verse 14. 'You are my Friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.' We have this Mark laid down with the same Emphasis again John 8:31. 'If you continue in my Word, THEN are you my Disciples INDEED.' And again, 1 John 2, 3. 'HEREBY we do know that we know him, if we keep his Commandments.' And Verse 5. 'Whoso keeps his Word, IN HIM VERILY is the Love of God perfected; HEREBY know we that we are in him. And Chapter 3:18, 19. 'Let us love in Deed and in Truth, HEREBY we know that we are of the Truth.' What is translated hereby, would have been a little more emphatical, if it had been rendered more literally from the Original, BY THIS we do know—. And how evidently is holy Practice spoken of as the grand Note of Distinction between the Children of God and the Children of the Devil, in Verse 10 of the same Chapter? 'IN THIS the Children of God are manifest, and the Children of the Devil.' Speaking of a holy, and a wicked Practice, as may be seen in all the Context: as Verse 3. 'Every Man that has this Hope in him, purifies himself, even as he is pure.' Verse 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 'Whosoever abides in him sins not; whosoever sins has not seen him nor known him. Little Children, let no Man deceive you; he that does Righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous; he that commits Sin is of the Devil. —Whosoever is born of God sins not. —Whosoever does not Righteousness is not of God.' So we have the like Emphasis 2 John 6. 'THIS IS LOVE, that we walk after his Commandments.' That is (as we must understand it) This is the proper Evidence of Love. So 1 John 5:3. 'THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD, that we keep his Commandments.' So the Apostle James, speaking of the proper Evidences of true and pure Religion, says, James 1:27. 'Pure Religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, IS THIS, to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the World.' We have the like emphatical Expressions used about the same Thing in the old Testament; Job 28:28. 'And unto Man he said, Behold the Fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom, and to depart from Evil is Understanding. Jeremiah 22:15, 16. 'Did not your Father eat and drink, and do Judgment and Justice? —He judged the Cause of the Poor and Needy: Was not this to know me? says the Lord.' Psalm 34:11, etc. 'Come you Children unto me, and I will teach you the Fear of the Lord. —Keep your Tongue from Evil, and your Lips from speaking Guile; depart from Evil, and do Good, seek Peace, and pursue it.' Psalm 15 at the Beginning, etc. 'Who shall abide in thy Tabernacle? Who shall dwell in his holy Hill? He that walks uprightly, etc.' Psalm 24:3, 4. 'Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in thy holy Place? He that has clean Hands, and a pure Heart, etc.' Psalm 119:1. 'Blessed are the Undefiled in the Way, who walk in the Law of the Lord.' Verse 6. 'Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have Respect to all thy Commandments.' Proverbs 8:13. 'The Fear of the Lord is to hate Evil.

So the Scripture never uses such emphatical Expressions concerning any other Signs of Hypocrisy, and Unsoundness of Heart, as concerning an unholy Practice. So Galatians 6:7. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked: For whatsoever a Man sows, that shall he also reap." 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10. 'Be not deceived, neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, etc. shall inherit the Kingdom of God.' Ephesians 5:5, 6. 'For this know, that no Whoremonger, nor unclean Person, etc. has any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God: Let no Man deceive you with vain Words.' 1 John 3:7, 8. 'Little Children, let no Man deceive you; he that does Righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous: He that commits Sin is of the Devil.' Chapter 2:4. 'He that says, I know him, and keeps not his Commandments, is a Liar, and the Truth is not in him.' And Chapter 1:6. 'If we say we have Fellowship with him, and walk in Darkness, we lie, and do not the Truth.' James 1:27. 'If any Man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his Tongue, but deceives his own Heart, this Man's Religion is vain.' Chapter 3:14, 15. 'If you have bitter Envying and Strife in your Hearts, glory not, and lie not against the Truth: This Wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.' Psalm 125:5.

'As for such as turn aside to their crooked Ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the Workers of Iniquity.' Isaiah 35:8. 'An high Way shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the Unclean shall not pass over it.' Revelation 21:27. 'And there shall in no wise enter into it, whatsoever works Abomination or makes a Lie:' And in many Places. 'Depart from you, I know you not, you that work Iniquity.'

Argument 6. Another Thing which makes it evident, that holy Practice is the chief of all the Signs of the Sincerity of Professors, not only to the World, but to their own Consciences, is, that this is the grand Evidence which will hereafter be made use of, before the Judgment Seat of God; according to which his Judgment will be regulated, and the State of every Professor of Religion unalterably determined. In the future Judgment, there will be an open Trial of Professors; and Evidences will be made use of in the Judgment. For God's future judging of Men, in order to their eternal Retribution, will not be his trying, and finding out, and passing a Judgment upon the State of Men's Hearts, in his own Mind; but it will be a declarative Judgment: And the End of it will be, not God's forming a Judgment within himself, but the Manifestation of his Judgment, and the Righteousness of it, to Men's own Consciences, and to the World. And therefore the Day of Judgment is called the Day of the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God, Romans 2:5. And the End of God's future Trial and Judgment of Men, as to the Part that each one in particular is to have in the Judgment, will be especially the clear Manifestation of God's righteous Judgment, with Respect to him, to his Conscience: As is manifest by Matthew 18:31, to the End. Chapter 20:8-15. Chapter 22:11, 12, 13. Chapter 25:19-30. and Verse 35, to the End. Luke 19:15-23. And therefore though God needs no Medium, whereby to make the Truth evident to himself, yet Evidences will be made use of in his future judging of Men. And doubtless the Evidences that will be made use of in their Trial, will be such as will be best fitted to serve the Ends of the Judgment; namely the Manifestation of the righteous Judgment of God, not only to the World, but to Men's own Consciences. But the Scriptures do abundantly teach us, that the grand Evidences which the Judge will make use in the Trial, for these Ends, according to which the Judgment of every one shall be regulated, and the irreversible Sentence passed, will be Men's Works, or Practice, here in this World: Revelation 20:12. 'And I saw the Dead, small and great, stand before God; and the Books were opened—And the Dead were judged out of those Things which were written in the Books, according to their Works.' So Verse 13. 'And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it, and Death and Hell gave up the Dead which were in them; and they were judged, every Man, according to their Works.' 2 Corinthians 5:10. 'For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the Things done in the Body, whether it be good or bad.' So Men's Practice is the only Evidence, that Christ represents the future Judgment as regulated by, in that most particular Description of the Day of Judgment, which we have in the holy Bible, Matthew 25, at the latter End. See also Romans 2:6-13. Jeremiah 17:10. Job 34:11. Proverbs 24:12. Jeremiah 32:19. Revelation 22:12. Matthew 16:27. Revelation 2:23. Ezekiel 33:20. 1 Peter 1:17. The Judge at the Day of Judgment, will not (for the Conviction of Men's own Consciences, and to manifest them to the World) go about to examine Men, as to the Method of their Experiences, or set every Man to tell his Story of the Manner of his Conversion; but his Works will be brought forth, as Evidences of what he is, what he has done in Darkness and in Light; Ecclesiastes 12:14. 'For God will bring every Work into Judgment, with every secret Thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.' In the Trial that Professors shall be the Subjects of, in the future Judgment. God will make use of the same Evidences, to manifest them to themselves and to the World, which he makes use of to manifest them, in the Temptations or Trials of his Providence here, namely Their Practice, in Cases wherein Christ and other Things come into actual and immediate Competition. At the Day of Judgment, God, for the Manifestation of his righteous Judgment, will weigh Professors in a Balance that is visible. And the Balance will be the same that he weighs Men in now; which has been already described.

Hence we may undoubtedly infer, that Men's Works (taken in the Sense that has been explained) are the highest Evidences, by which they ought to try themselves. Certainly that which our supreme Judge will chiefly make use of, to judge us by, when we come to stand before him, we should chiefly make use of, to judge ourselves by. If it had not been revealed in what Manner, and by what Evidence the Judge would proceed with us hereafter; how natural would it be for one to say, O that I knew what Token God will chiefly look for and insist upon in the last and decisive Judgment; and which he expects that all should be able to produce who would then be accepted of him, and according to which Sentence shall be passed; that I might know what Token or Evidence especially to look at and seek after now, as I would be sure not to fail then. And seeing God has so plainly and abundantly revealed what this Token or Evidence is; surely if we act wisely, we shall regard it as of the greatest Importance.

Now from all that has been said, I think it to be abundantly manifest, that Christian Practice is the most proper Evidence of the gracious Sincerity of Professors, to themselves and others; and the chief of all the Marks of Grace, the Sign of Signs, and Evidence of Evidences, that which seals and crowns all other Signs. I had rather have the Testimony of my Conscience, that I have such a Saying of my supreme Judge on my Side, as that, John 14:21. He that has my Commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; than the Judgment, and fullest Approbation, of all the wise, sound and experienced Divines, that have lived this thousand Years, on the most exact and critical Examination of my Experiences, as to the Manner of my Conversion. Not that there are no other good Evidences of a State of Grace but these. There may be other Exercises of Grace, besides these efficient Exercises, which the Saints may have in Contemplation, that may be very satisfying to them: But yet this is the chief and most proper Evidence. There may be several good Evidences that a Tree is a Fig-Tree; But the highest and most proper Evidence of it, is that it actually bears Figs. It is possible that a Man may have a good Assurance of a State of Grace, at his first Conversion, before he has had Opportunity to gain Assurance, by this great Evidence I am speaking of. If a Man hears that a great Treasure is offered him, in a distant Place, on Condition that he will prize it so much, as to be willing to leave what he possesses at home, and go a Journey for it, over the Rocks and Mountains that are in the Way, to the Place where it is; it is possible the Man may be well assured, that he values the Treasure to the Degree spoken of, as soon as the Offer is made him; he may feel a Willingness to go for the Treasure, within him, beyond all Doubt: But yet, this does not hinder but that his actual going for it is the highest and most proper Evidence of his being willing, not only to others, but to himself. But then as an Evidence to himself, his outward Actions, and the Motions of his Body in his Journey, are not considered alone, exclusive of the Action of his Mind, and a Consciousness within himself, of the Thing that moves him, and the End he goes for; otherwise, his bodily Motion is no Evidence to him, of his prizing the Treasure. In such a Manner is Christian Practice the most proper Evidence of a saving Value of the Pearl of great Price, and Treasure hid in the Field.

Christian Practice is the Sign of Signs, in this Sense that it is the great Evidence, which confirms and crowns all other Signs of Godliness. There is no one Grace of the Spirit of God, but that Christian Practice is the most proper Evidence of the Truth of it. As it is with the Members of our Bodies, and all our Utensils, the proper Proof of the Soundness and Goodness of them, is in the Use of them: so it is with our Graces (which are given to be used in Practice, as much as our Hands and Feet, or the Tools with which we work, or the Arms with which we fight) the proper Trial and Proof of them is in their Exercise in Practice. Most of the Things we use, are serviceable to us, and so have their Serviceableness proved, in some Pressure, Straining, Agitation, or Collision. So it is with a Bow, a Sword, an Ax, a Saw, a Cord, a Chain, a Staff, a Foot, a Tooth, etc. And they that are so weak, as not to bear the Strain or Pressure we need to put them to, are good for nothing. So it is with all the Virtues of the Mind. The proper Trial and Proof of them, is in being exercised under those Temptations and Trials that God brings us under, in the Course of his Providence, and in being put to such Service as strains hard upon the Principles of Nature.

Practice is the proper Proof of the true and saving Knowledge of God; as appears by that of the Apostle already mentioned, Hereby do we know that we know him, that we keep his Commandments. It is in vain for us to profess that we know God, if in Works we deny him, Titus 1:16. And if we know God, but glorify him not as God; our Knowledge will only condemn us, and not save us, Romans 1:21. The great Note of that Knowledge which saves and makes happy, is that it is practical; John 13:17. If you know these Things, happy are you if you do them. Job 28:28. To depart from Evil is Understanding.

Holy Practice is the proper Evidence of Repentance. When the Jews professed Repentance, when they came confessing their Sins, to John, preaching the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins; he directed them to the right Way of getting and exhibiting proper Evidences of the Truth of their Repentance, when he said to them, Bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance, Matthew 3:8. Which was agreeable to the Practice of the Apostle Paul; see Acts 26:20. Pardon and Mercy are from Time to Time promised to him who has this Evidence of true Repentance, that he forsakes his Sin; Proverbs 28:13 and Isaiah 55:7; and many other Places.

Holy Practice is the proper Evidence of a saving Faith. It is evident that the Apostle James speaks of Works, as what does eminently justify Faith, or (which is the same Thing) justify the Professors of Faith, and vindicate and manifest the Sincerity of their Profession, not only to the World, but to their own Consciences: As is evident by the Instance he gives of Abraham, James 2:21-24. And in Verse 22 and 26 he speaks of the practical and working Nature of Faith as the very Life and Soul of it; in the same Manner, that the active Nature and Substance, which is in the Body of a Man, is the Life and Soul of that. And if so, doubtless Practice is the proper Evidence of the Life and Soul of true Faith, by which it is distinguished from a dead Faith. For doubtless, Practice is the most proper Evidence of a practical Nature, and Operation the most proper Evidence of an operative Nature.

Practice is the best Evidence of a saving Belief of the Truth. That is spoken of as the proper Evidence of the Truth's being in a professing Christian, that he walks in the Truth, 3 John 3. I rejoiced greatly, when the Brethren came and testified of the Truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the Truth.

Practice is the most proper Evidence of a true Coming to Christ, and accepting of, and closing with him. A true and saving Coming to Christ, is (as Christ often says) a Coming so, as to forsake all for him. And as was observed before, to forsake all for Christ in Heart, is the same Thing as to have a Heart actually to forsake all; but the proper Evidence of having a Heart actually to forsake all, is indeed actually to forsake all, so far as called to it. If a Prince makes Suit to a Woman in a far Country, that she would forsake her own People, and Father's House, and come to him, to be his Bride; the proper Evidence of the Compliance of her Heart with the King's Suit, is her actually forsaking her own People, and Father's House, and coming to him. By this, her Compliance with the King's Suit, is made perfect, in the same Sense, that the Apostle James says, by works was faith made perfect. Christ promises Life, on Condition of our Coming to him: but it is such a Coming as he directed the young Man to, who came to enquire, What he shall do, that he might have eternal Life; Christ bid him Go, and sell all that thou hast, and come, follow him. If he had consented in his Heart to the Proposal, (and had therein come to Christ in his Heart) the proper Evidence of it would have been his doing of it: And there his coming to Christ would have been made perfect. When Christ called Matthew the Publican, when sitting at the Receipt of Custom, and in the midst of his worldly Gains; the closing of his Heart with this call of his Savior, to come to him, was signified, and made perfect, by actually rising up, leaving all, and following him, Luke 5:27, 28. Christ and other Things, are set before us together, calling us practically to cleave to him, and forsake the other: In such a Case, a practical Cleaving to Christ, is a practical Acceptance of Christ; as much as a Beggar's reaching out his Hand, and taking a Gift that is offered, is his practical Acceptance of the Gift. Yea that Act of the Soul that is in cleaving to Christ in Practice, is itself the most perfect coming of the Soul to Christ.

Practice is the most proper Evidence of Trusting in Christ for Salvation. The proper Signification of the Word Trust, according to the ordinary Use of it, both in common Speech, and in the holy Scriptures, is the Emboldening and Encouragement of a Person's Mind, to run some Venture in Practice, or in something that he does, on the Credit of another's Sufficiency and Faithfulness. And therefore the proper Evidence of his Trusting, is the Venture he runs in what he does. He is not properly said to run any Venture, in a Dependance on any Thing, that does nothing on that Dependance, or whose Practice is no otherwise than if he had no Dependance. For a Man to run a Venture, on a Dependance on another, is for him to do something from that Dependance, by which he seems to express himself, and which he would not do, were it not for that Dependance. And therefore it is in complying with the Difficulties, and seeming Dangers of Christian Practice, in a Dependance on Christ's Sufficiency and Faithfulness to bestow eternal Life, that Persons are said to venture themselves upon Christ, and trust in him for Salvation and Life. They depend on such Promises as that, Matthew 10:39: He that loseth his Life for my sake, shall find it. And so they part with all, and venture their All, in a Dependance on Christ's Sufficiency and Truth. And this is the Scripture Notion of Trusting in Christ, in the Exercise of a saving Faith in him. Thus Abraham, the Father of Believers, trusted in Christ, and by Faith, forsook his own Country, in a Reliance on the Covenant of Grace God established with him, Hebrews 11:8, 9. Thus also Moses, By Faith, refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter, choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God, than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season, Hebrews 11:23, etc. So by Faith, others exposed themselves to be stoned, and sawn in sunder, or slain with the Sword; endured the Trial of cruel Mockings and Scourgings, Bonds and Imprisonments, and wandered about in Sheepskins and Goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. And in this Sense the Apostle Paul, by Faith, trusted in Christ, and committed himself to him, venturing himself, and his whole Interest, in a Dependance on the Ability and Faithfulness of his Redeemer, under great Persecutions, and in suffering the Loss of all Things; 2 Timothy 1:12. For the which Cause I also suffer these Things, nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed; and I am persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him, against that Day.

If a Man should have Word brought him from the King of a distant Land, that he intended to make him his Heir, if upon receiving the Tidings, he immediately leaves his native Land, and Friends, and all he has in the World, to go to that Country, in a Dependance on it, then he may be said to venture himself, and all he has in the World upon it. But if he only sits still, and hopes for the promised Benefit, inwardly pleasing himself with the Thoughts of it; he cannot properly be said to venture himself upon it; he runs no Venture in the Case; he does nothing, otherwise than he would do, if he had received no such Tidings, by which he would be exposed to any Suffering, in case all should fail. So he that on the Credit of what he hears of a future World, and in a Dependance on the Report of the Gospel, concerning Life and Immortality, forsakes all, or does so at least so far as there is Occasion, making every Thing entirely give Place to his eternal Interest; he, and he only, may properly be said to venture himself on the Report of the Gospel. And this is the proper Evidence of a true Trust in Christ for Salvation.

Practice is the proper Evidence of a gracious Love, both to God and Men. The Texts that plainly teach this, have been so often mentioned already, that it is needless to repeat them.

Practice is the proper Evidence of Humility. That Expression and Manifestation of Humility of Heart, which God speaks of, as the great Expression of it, that he insists on; That, we should look upon as the proper Expression and Manifestation of it: But this is walking humbly; Micah 6:8. 'He hath showed thee, O Man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love Mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?'

This is also the proper Evidence of the true Fear of God. Proverbs 8:13.

'The Fear of the Lord is to hate Evil.' Psalm 34:11, etc. 'Come ye Children, hearken unto me; and I will teach you the Fear of the Lord. Keep thy Tongue from Evil, and thy Lips from speaking Guile; depart from Evil and do Good, seek Peace, and pursue it.' Proverbs 3:7. 'Fear the Lord, and depart from Evil.' Proverbs 16:6. 'By the Fear of the Lord, Men depart from Evil.' Job 1:8. 'Hast thou considered my Servant Job, A perfect and an upright Man, one that feareth God, and escheweth Evil?' Chapter 2:3. 'Hast thou considered my Servant Job, A perfect and an upright Man, one that feareth God, and escheweth Evil? And still he holdeth fast his Integrity, although thou movedst me against him.' Psalm 36:1. 'The Transgression of the Wicked, saith within my Heart, there is no Fear of God before his Eyes.'

So Practice, in rendering again according to Benefits received, is the proper Evidence of true Thankfulness. Psalm 116:12. 'What shall I render to the Lord, for all his Benefits towards me?' 2 Chronicles 32:25. 'But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the Benefit done unto him.' Paying our Vows unto God, and ordering our Conversation aright, seem to be spoken of, as the proper Expression and Evidence of true Thankfulness, in the 50th Psalm, Verse 14. 'Offer unto God Thanksgiving, and pay thy Vows unto the most High.' Verse 23. 'Whoso offereth Praise, glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his Conversation aright, will I show the Salvation of God.'

So the proper Evidence of gracious Desires and Longings, and that which distinguishes them from those that are false and vain, is that they are not idle Wishes and Wouldings, like Balaam's; but effectual in Practice, to stir up Persons earnestly and thoroughly to seek the Things they long for. Psalm 27:4. 'One Thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.' Psalm 63:1, 2. 'O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My Soul thirsted for thee; my Flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty Land, where no Water is, to see thy Power and thy Glory.' Verse 8. 'My Soul followeth hard after thee.' Song of Solomon 1:4. 'Draw me, we will run after thee.'

Practice is the proper Evidence of a gracious Hope. 1 John 3:3. Every Man that hath this Hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Patient Continuance in well doing, through the Difficulties and Trials of the Christian Course, is often mentioned as the proper Expression and Fruit of a Christian Hope. 1 Thessalonians 1:3. Remembering without ceasing, your Work of Faith, and Labour of Love, and Patience of Hope. 1 Peter 1:13, 14. Wherefore, gird up the Loins of your Mind, be sober, and Hope to the End, for the Grace that is to be brought unto you, at the Revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient Children, etc. Psalm 119:166. Lord, I have hoped in thy Salvation, and done thy Commandments. Psalm 78:7. That they might set their Hope in God, and not forget the Works of the Lord, but keep his Commandments.

A cheerful Practice of our Duty and doing the Will of God, is the proper Evidence of a truly holy Joy. Isaiah 64:5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh Righteousness. Psalm 119:111, 112. Thy Testimonies have I taken for my Heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my Heart: I have inclined my Heart to perform thy Statutes always, even unto the End. Verse 14. I have rejoiced in the Way of thy Testimonies, as much as in all Riches. 1 Corinthians 13:6. Charity rejoiceth not in Iniquity, but rejoiceth in the Truth. 2 Corinthians 8:2. The abundance of their Joy, abounded to the Riches of their Liberality.

Practice also is the proper Evidence of Christian Fortitude. The Trial of a good Soldier, is not in his Chimney Corner, but in the Field of Battle; 1 Corinthians 9:25, 26. 2 Timothy 2:3, 4, 5.

And as the fruit of holy practice is the chief evidence of the truth of grace; so the degree in which experiences have influence on a person's practice, is the surest evidence of the degree of that which is spiritual and divine in his experiences. Whatever pretenses persons may make to great discoveries, great love and joys, they are no further to be regarded, than they have influence on their practice. Not but that allowances must be made for the natural temper. But that doesn't hinder, but that the degree of grace is justly measured, by the degree of the effect in practice. For the effect of grace is as great, and the alteration as remarkable, in a person of a very ill natural temper, as another. Although a person of such a temper, will not behave himself so well, with the same degree of grace, as another; the diversity from what was before conversion, may be as great; because a person of a good natural temper, did not behave himself so ill, before conversion.

Thus I have endeavored to represent the evidence there is, that Christian practice is the chief of all the signs of saving grace. And before I conclude this discourse, I would say something briefly, in answer to two objections, that may possibly be made by some, against what has been said upon this head.

Objection 1. Some may be ready to say, This seems to be contrary to that opinion, so much received among good people; that professors should judge of their state, chiefly by their inward experience, and that spiritual experiences are the main evidences of true grace.

I answer, It is doubtless a true opinion, and justly much received among good people, that professors should chiefly judge of their state by their experience. But it is a great mistake, that what has been said is at all contrary to that opinion. The chief sign of grace to the consciences of Christians, being Christian practice, in the sense that has been explained, and according to what has been shown to be the true notion of Christian practice, is not at all inconsistent with Christian experience being the chief evidence of grace. Christian or holy practice is spiritual practice; and that is not the motion of a body, that knows not how, nor when, nor wherefore it moves: But spiritual practice in man, is the practice of a spirit and body jointly, or the practice of a spirit, animating, commanding and actuating a body, to which it is united, and over which it has power given it by the Creator. And therefore the main thing in this holy practice, is the holy acts of the mind, directing and governing the motions of the body. And the motions of the body are to be looked upon as belonging to Christian practice, only secondarily, and as they are dependent and consequent on the acts of the soul. The exercises of grace that Christians find, or are conscious to, within themselves, are what they experience within themselves; and herein therefore lies Christian experience: And this Christian experience, consists as much in those operative exercises of grace in the will, that are immediately concerned in the management of the behavior of the body, as in other exercises. These inward exercises, are not the less a part of Christian experience, because they have outward behavior immediately connected with them. A strong act of love to God, is not the less a part of spiritual experience, because it is the act that immediately produces and effects some self-denying and expensive outward action, which is much to the honor and glory of God.

To speak of Christian experience and practice, as if they were two things, properly and entirely distinct, is to make a distinction without consideration or reason. Indeed all Christian experience is not properly called practice; but all Christian practice is properly experience. And the distinction that is made between them, is not only an unreasonable, but an unscriptural distinction. Holy practice is one kind or part of Christian experience; and both reason and Scripture represent it as the chief, and most important, and most distinguishing part of it. So it is represented in Jeremiah 22:15, 16. 'Did not thy Father eat and drink, and do justice and judgment?—He judged the cause of the poor and needy:—Was not this to know me? saith the Lord.' Our inward acquaintance with God, surely belongs to the head of experimental religion; but this God represents, as consisting chiefly in that experience which there is in holy practice. So the exercises of those graces of the love of God, and the fear of God, are a part of experimental religion; but these the Scripture represents as consisting chiefly in practice, in those forementioned texts. 1 John 5:3. 'This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.' 2 John 6. 'This is love, that we walk after his commandments.' Psalm 34:11, etc. 'Come, ye children, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord:—Depart from evil, and do good.' Such experiences as these Hezekiah took comfort in chiefly, on his sick bed: When he said, 'Remember, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee, in truth, and with a perfect heart.' And such experiences as these, the Psalmist chiefly insists upon, in the 119th Psalm, and elsewhere. Such experiences as these, the Apostle Paul mainly insists upon, when he speaks of his experiences in his epistles; as Romans 1:9. 'God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel of his Son'—2 Corinthians 1:12. 'For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience,—that by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world.' Chapter 4:13. 'We having the same spirit of faith: According as it is written, I have believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.' Chapter 5:7. 'We walk by faith, not by sight.' Verse 14. 'The love of Christ constraineth us.' Chapter 6:4–7. 'In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,—in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,—by the power of God.' Galatians 2:20. 'I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live: Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' Philippians 3:7, 8. 'But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ: Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.' Colossians 1:29. 'Whereunto I also labor, striving, according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.' 1 Thessalonians 2:2. 'We are bold in our God, to speak unto you the gospel of God, with much contention.' Verses 8, 9, 10. 'Being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls; because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember brethren, our labor and travail, laboring night and day.—Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you.' And such experiences as these, they were, that this blessed Apostle chiefly comforted himself in the consideration of, when he was going to martyrdom, 2 Timothy 4:6, 7. 'For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith.'

And not only does the most important and distinguishing part of Christian experience, lie in spiritual practice; but such is the nature of that sort of exercises of grace, wherein spiritual practice consists, that nothing is so properly called by the name of experimental religion. For that experience which is in these exercises of grace, that are found, and prove effectually, at the very point of trial, wherein God proves which we will actually cleave to, whether Christ or our lusts, are as has been shown already, the proper experiment of the truth and power of our godliness; wherein its victorious power and efficacy, in producing its proper effect, and reaching its end, is found by experience. This is properly Christian experience, wherein the saints have opportunity to see, by actual experience and trial, whether they have a heart to do the will of God, and to forsake other things for Christ, or no. As that is called experimental philosophy, which brings opinions and notions to the test of fact; so is that properly called experimental religion, which brings religious affections and intentions, to the like test.

There is a sort of external religious practice, wherein is no inward experience; which no account is made of in the sight of God; but it is esteemed good for nothing. And there is what is called experience, that is without practice, being neither accompanied, nor followed with a Christian behavior; and this is worse than nothing. Many persons seem to have very wrong notions of Christian experience, and spiritual light and discoveries. Whenever a person finds within him, an heart to treat God as God, at the time that he has the trial, and finds his disposition effectual in the experiment, that is the most proper, and most distinguishing experience. And to have at such a time that sense of divine things, that apprehension of the truth, importance and excellency of the things of religion, which then sways and prevails, and governs his heart and hands; this is the most excellent spiritual light, and these are the most distinguishing discoveries. Religion consists much in holy affection; but those exercises of affection which are most distinguishing of true religion, are these practical exercises. Friendship between earthly friends consists much in affection; but yet those strong exercises of affection, that actually carry them through fire and water for each other, are the highest evidences of true friendship.

There is nothing in what has been said, contrary to what is asserted by some sound divines; when they say, that there are no sure evidences of grace, but the acts of grace. For that doesn't hinder but that these operative, productive acts, those exercises of grace that are effectual in practice, may be the highest evidences, above all other kinds of acts of grace. Nor does it hinder but that, when there are many of these acts and exercises, following one another in a course, under various trials, of every kind, the evidence is still heightened; as one act confirms another. A man by once seeing his neighbor, may have good evidence of his presence: But by seeing him from day to day, and conversing with him in a course, in various circumstances, the evidence is established. The disciples, when they first saw Christ, after his resurrection, had good evidence that he was alive: But by conversing with him for forty days, and his showing himself to them alive, by many infallible proofs, they had yet higher evidence.

The witness or seal of the Spirit that we read of, doubtless consists in the effect of the Spirit of God in the heart, in the implantation and exercises of grace there, and so consists in experience. And it is also beyond doubt, that this seal of the Spirit, is the highest kind of evidence of the saint's adoption, that ever they obtain. But in these exercises of grace in practice, that have been spoken of, God gives witness, and sets to his seal, in the most conspicuous eminent and evident manner. It has been abundantly found to be true in fact, by the experience of the Christian church; that Christ commonly gives, by his Spirit, the greatest, and most joyful evidences to his saints, of their sonship, in those effectual exercises of grace, under trials, which have been spoken of; as is manifest in the full assurance, and unspeakable joys of many of the martyrs. Agreeable to that, 1 Peter 4:14: If you are reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of Glory, and of God rests upon you. And that in Romans 5:2-3: We rejoice in hope of the Glory of God, and glory in Tribulations. And agreeable to what the Apostle Paul often declares of what he experienced in his trials. And when the Apostle Peter, in my text, speaks of the Joy unspeakable, and full of Glory, which the Christians to whom he wrote, experienced; he has respect to what they found under persecution, as appears by the context. Christ's thus manifesting himself, as the Friend and Savior of his saints, cleaving to him under trials, seems to have been represented of old, by his coming and manifesting himself, to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the furnace. And when the Apostle speaks of the witness of the Spirit, in Romans 8:15, 16, 17; he has a more immediate respect to what the Christians experienced, in their exercises of love to God, in suffering persecution; as is plain by the context. He is, in the foregoing verses, encouraging, the Christian Romans under their sufferings, that though their bodies be dead, because of sin, yet they should be raised to life again. But it is more especially plain by the verse immediately following, Verse 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present Time, are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us. So the Apostle has evidently respect to their persecutions, in all that he says to the end of the chapter. So when the Apostle speaks of the Earnest of the Spirit, which God had given to him, in 2 Corinthians 5:5; the context shows plainly that he has respect to what was given him in his great trials and sufferings. And in that promise of the white Stone, and new Name, to him that overcomes, Revelation 2:17; it is evident Christ has a special respect to a benefit that Christians should obtain, by overcoming, in the trial they had, in that day of persecution. This appears by Verse 13, and many other passages in this epistle to the seven churches of Asia.

Objection 2. Some also may be ready to object against what has been said of Christian practice being the chief evidence of the truth of grace, that this is a legal doctrine; and that this making practice a thing of such great importance in religion, magnifies works, and tends to lead men to make too much of their own doings, to the diminution of the glory of free grace, and does not seem well to consist with that great gospel doctrine of Justification by Faith alone.

But this objection is altogether without reason. Which way is it inconsistent with the freeness of God's grace, that holy practice should be a sign of God's grace? It is our works being the price of God's favor, and not their being the sign of it, that is the thing which is inconsistent with the freeness of that favor. Surely the beggar's looking on the money he has in his hands, as a sign of the kindness of him who gave it to him, is in no respect, inconsistent with the freeness of that kindness. It is his having money in his hand as the price of a benefit, that is the thing which is inconsistent with the free kindness of the giver. The notion of the freeness of the grace of God to sinners, as that is revealed and taught in the gospel, is not that no holy and amiable qualifications or actions in us shall be a fruit, and so a sign of that grace; but that it is not the worthiness or loveliness of any qualification or action of ours which recommends us to that grace; that kindness is shown to the unworthy and unlovely; that there is great excellency in the benefit bestowed, and no excellency in the subject as the price of it; that goodness goes forth and flows out, from the fullness of God's nature, the fullness of the fountain of good, without any amiableness in the object to draw it. And this is the notion of justification without works (as this doctrine is taught in the scripture) that it is not the worthiness or loveliness of our works, or anything in us, which is in any wise accepted with God, as a balance for the guilt of sin, or a recommendation of sinners to his acceptance as heirs of life. But we are justified only by the righteousness of Christ, and not by our own righteousness. And when works are opposed to faith in this affair, and it is said that we are justified by faith and not by works; thereby is meant, that it is not the worthiness or amiableness of our works, or anything in us, which recommends us to an interest in Christ and his benefits; but that we have this interest only by faith, or by our souls receiving Christ, or adhering to, and closing with him. But that the worthiness or amiableness of nothing in us recommends and brings us to an interest in Christ, is no argument that nothing in us is a sign of an interest in Christ.

If the Doctrines of free Grace, and Justification by Faith alone, be inconsistent with the Importance of holy Practice as a Sign of Grace; then they are equally inconsistent with the Importance of any Thing whatsoever in us as a Sign of Grace, any Holiness, or any Grace that is in us, or any of our Experiences or Religion: For it is as contrary to the Doctrines of free Grace and Justification by Faith alone, that any of these should be the Righteousness which we are justified by, as that holy Practice should be so. It is with holy Works, as it is with holy Qualifications: It is inconsistent with the Freeness of Gospel Grace, that a Title to Salvation should be given to Men for the Loveliness of any of their holy Qualifications, as much as that it should be given for the Holiness of their Works. It is inconsistent with the Gospel Doctrine of free Grace, that an Interest in Christ and his Benefits should be given for the Loveliness of a Man's true Holiness, for the Amiableness of his renewed, sanctified, heavenly Heart, his Love to God, and being like God, or his Experience of Joy in the Holy Ghost, Self-emptiness, a Spirit to exalt Christ above all, and to give all Glory to him, and a Heart devoted unto him: I say, it is inconsistent with the Gospel Doctrine of free Grace, that a Title to Christ's Benefits should be given out of Regard to the Loveliness of any of these, or that any of these should be our Righteousness in the Affair of Justification. And yet this does not hinder the Importance of these Things as Evidences of an Interest in Christ. Just so it is with Respect to holy Actions and Works. To make light of Works, because we are not justified by Works, is the same Thing in Effect, as to make light of all Religion, all Grace and Holiness, yea, true evangelical Holiness, and all gracious Experience: For all is included, when the Scripture says, we are not justified by Works: For by Works in this Case, is meant all our own Righteousness, Religion, or Holiness, and every Thing that is in us, all the Good we do, and all the Good which we are conscious of, all external Acts, and all internal Acts and Exercises of Grace, and all Experiences, and all those holy and heavenly Things wherein the Life and Power, and the very Essence of Religion do consist, all those great Things which Christ and his Apostles mainly insisted on in their Preaching, and endeavoured to promote as of the greatest Consequence in the Hearts and Lives of Men, and all good Dispositions, Exercises and Qualifications of every Kind whatsoever; and even Faith itself, considered as a Part of our Holiness. For we are justified by none of these Things: And if we were, we should, in a Scripture Sense, be justified by Works. And therefore if it is legal, and contrary to the evangelical Doctrine of justification without Works, to insist on any of these, as of great Importance, as Evidences of an Interest in Christ; then no more is it thus, to insist on the Importance of holy Practice. It would be legal to suppose that holy Practice justifies by bringing us to a Title to Christ's Benefits, as the Price of it, or as recommending to it by its Preciousness or Excellence; but it is not legal to suppose, that holy Practice justifies the Sincerity of a Believer, as the proper Evidence of it. The Apostle James did not think it legal to say, that Abraham our Father was Justified by Works in this Sense. The Spirit that indited the Scripture did not think the great Importance and absolute Necessity of holy Practice, in this Respect, to be inconsistent with the Freeness of Grace; for it commonly teaches them both together; as in Revelation 21. 6, 7. God says, I will give unto him that is Athirst, of the Fountain of the Water of Life freely: And then adds, in the very next Words, He that overcometh shall inherit all Things. As though behaving well in the christian Race and Warfare, were the Condition of the Promise. So in the next Chapter, in the 14th, and 15th Verses, Christ says, Blessed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have Right to the Tree of Life, and enter in through the Gates, into the City: And then declares in the 15th Verse, how they that are of a wicked Practice shall be excluded; and yet in the two Verses next following, does with very great Solemnity, give forth an Invitation to all to come and take of the Water of Life freely; I am the Root and the Off-spring of David, the bright and Morning Star: And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is Athirst, Come, and whosoever will, let him come and take of the Water of Life freely. So Chapter 3. 20, 21. Behold I stand at the Door and knock: If any Man hear my Voice, and open the Door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me: But then it is added in the next Words, To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me on my Throne. And in that great Invitation of Christ, Matthew 11, latter End, Come unto me, all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden, and I will give you Rest; Christ adds in the next Words, Take my Yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of Heart, and ye shall find Rest unto your Souls: For my Yoke is easy, and my Burden is light: As though taking the Burden of Christ's Service, and imitating his Example, were necessary in order to the promised Rest. So in that great Invitation to Sinners to accept of free Grace, Isaiah 55, Ho, every one that thirsteth! come ye to the Waters: And he that hath no Money, come ye, buy and eat yea, come, buy Wine and Milk, without Money and without Price Even there, in the Continuation of the same Invitation, the Sinners forsaking his wicked Practice is spoken of as necessary to the obtaining Mercy: Verse 7, Let the Wicked forsake his Way, and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have Mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon. So the Riches of divine Grace, in the Justification of Sinners, is set forth, with the Necessity of holy Practice, Isaiah 1. 15, etc. Wash you, make you clean; put away the Evil of your Doings, from before mine Eyes: Cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek Judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the Fatherless, plead for the Widow: Come now, let us Reason together, saith the Lord, though your Sins be as Scarlet, they shall be as white as Snow; though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as Wool. And in that most solemn Invitation of Wisdom, Proverbs 9, after it is represented what great Provision is made, and how that all Things were ready, the House built, the Beasts killed, the Wine mingled and the Table furnished, and the Messengers sent forth to invite the Guests; then we have the free Invitation, Verse 4, 5, 6, Whoso is Simple, let him turn in hither; as for him that wanteth Understanding, (that is has no Righteousness) she saith to him, Come, eat of my Bread, and drink of the Wine which I have mingled: But then in the next Breath it follows, Forsake the Foolish, and live, and go in the Way of Understanding As though forsaking Sin, and going in the Way of Holiness, were necessary in order to Life. So that the Freeness of Grace, and the Necessity of holy Practice, which are thus from Time to Time joined together in Scripture, are not inconsistent one with another. Nor does it at all diminish the Honour and Importance of Faith, that the Exercises and Effects of Faith in Practice, should be esteemed the chief Signs of it; any more than it lessens the Importance of Life, that Action and Motion are esteemed the chief Signs of that.

So that in what has been said of the Importance of holy Practice, as the main Sign of Sincerity; there is nothing legal, nothing derogatory to the Freedom and Sovereignty of Gospel Grace, nothing in the least Clashing with the Gospel Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, without the Works of the Law, nothing in the least tending to lessen the Glory of the Mediator, and our Dependance on his Righteousness, nothing infringing on the special Prerogatives of Faith in the Affair of our Salvation, nothing in any wise detracting from the Glory of God and his Mercy, or exalting Man, or diminishing his Dependance and Obligation. So that if any are against such an Importance of holy Practice as has been spoken of, it must be only from a senseless Aversion to the Letters and Sound of the Word Works; When there is no Reason in the World to be given for it, but what may be given with equal Force, why they should have an Aversion to the Words Holiness, Godliness, Grace, Religion, Experience, and even Faith itself: For to make a Righteousness of any of these, is as legal, and as inconsistent with the Way of the new Covenant, as to make a Righteousness of holy Practice.

It is greatly to the Hurt of Religion, for Persons to make light of, and make little of, those Things which the Scripture insist most upon, as of most Importance in the Evidence of our Interest in Christ; (under a Notion that to lay Weight on these Things is legal, and an old Covenant Way) and so to neglect the Exercises, and effectual Operations of Grace in Practice, and insist almost wholly on Discoveries, and the Method and Manner of the immanent Exercises of Conscience and Grace in Contemplation; depending on an Ability to make nice Distinctions in these Matters, and a Faculty of accurate Discerning in them, from Philosophy or Experience. It is in vain to seek for any better, or any further Signs, than those that the Scriptures have most expressly mentioned, and most frequently insisted on as Signs of Godliness. They who pretend to a greater Accuracy in giving Signs, or by their extraordinary Experience, or Insight into the Nature of Things, to give more distinguishing Marks, which shall more thoroughly search out, and detect the Hypocrite; are but subtle to darken their own Minds, and the Minds of others; their Refinings, and nice Discerning, is in God's Sight, but refined Foolishness, and sagacious Delusion. Here are applicable those Words of Agur. Proverbs 30:5-6. Every Word of God is pure; he is a Shield to them that put their Trust in him: Add thou not unto his Words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a Liar. Our Wisdom and Discerning, with Regard to the Hearts of Men, is not much to be trusted. We can see but a little Way into the Nature of the Soul, and the Depths of Man's Heart. The Ways are so many whereby Persons' Affections may be moved without any supernatural Influence, the natural Springs of the Affections are so various and so secret, so many Things have oftentimes a joint Influence on the Affections, the Imagination, (and that in Ways innumerable and unsearchable) natural Temper, Education, the common Influences of the Spirit of God, a surprising Concourse of affecting Circumstances, an extraordinary Coincidence of Things in the Course of Men's Thoughts, together with the subtle Management of invisible malicious Spirits; that no Philosophy or Experience will ever be sufficient to guide us safely through this Labyrinth and Maze, without our closely following the Clew which God has given us in his Word. God knows his own Reasons why he insists on some Things, and plainly sets them forth as the Things that we should try ourselves by, rather than others. It may be it is because he knows that these Things are attended with less Perplexity, and that we are less liable to be deceived by them than others. He best knows our Nature; and he knows the Nature and Manner of his own Operations; and he best knows the Way of our Safety: he knows what Allowances to make for different States of his Church, and different Tempers of particular Persons, and Varieties in the Manner of his own Operations, how far Nature may resemble Grace, and how far Nature may be mixed with Grace, what Affections may arise from Imagination, and how far Imagination may be mixed with spiritual Illumination. And therefore it is our Wisdom not to take his Work out of his Hands; but to follow him, and lay the Stress of the Judgment of ourselves there, where he has directed us. If we do otherwise, no wonder if we are bewildered, confounded and fatally deluded. But if we had got into the Way of looking chiefly at those Things, which Christ and his Apostles and Prophets chiefly insisted on, and so in judging of ourselves and others, chiefly regarding practical Exercises and Effects of Grace, not neglecting other Things; it would be of manifold happy Consequence. It would above all Things tend to the Conviction of deluded Hypocrites, and to prevent the Delusion of those whose Hearts were never brought to a thorough Compliance with the strait and narrow Way which leads to Life. It would tend to deliver us from innumerable Perplexities, arising from the various inconsistent Schemes, names and Steps of Experience. It would greatly prevent Professors neglecting Strictness of Life, and tend to promote Engagedness and Earnestness in their christian walk. It would become fashionable for Men to show their Christianity, more by an amiable distinguished Behaviour, than by an undue excessive declaring their Experiences. And we should get into the Way of appearing lively in Religion, more by being lively in the Service of God and our Generation, than by the Liveliness and Forwardness of our Tongues, and making a Business of proclaiming on the House Tops, with our Mouths, the holy and eminent Acts and Exercises of our own Hearts. And Christians that are intimate Friends, would talk together of their Experiences and Comforts, in a Manner better becoming christian Humility and Modesty, and more to each others Profit; their Tongues not running before, but rather going behind their Hands and Feet, after the prudent Example of the blessed Apostle, 2 Corinthians 12:6. And many Occasions of spiritual Pride would be cut off. And so a great Door shut against the Devil. And a great many of the main stumbling Blocks against experimental and powerful Religion would be removed. And Religion would be declared and manifested in such a Way, that instead of hardening Spectators, and exceedingly promoting Infidelity and Atheism, would above all Things tend to convince Men that there is a Reality in Religion, and greatly awaken them, and win them, by convincing their Consciences of the Importance and Excellency of Religion. Thus the Light of Professors would so shine before Men, that others seeing their good Works, would glorify their Father which is in Heaven.

PART 3.

I COME now to the SECOND Thing appertaining to the Trial of religious Affections, which was proposed, namely 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 previously 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 sufficient to enable any certainly to distinguish true Affection from false in others; or to determine positively which of their Neighbors are true Professors, and which are Hypocrites. In so doing, I should be guilty of that Arrogance 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 prevent their being led into a Snare by false Teachers, and false Pretenders to Religion; And though it be also beyond Doubt, that the Scriptures do abound with Rules, which may be very serviceable to Ministers, in counseling and conducting Souls committed to their 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 certainly know, who of our Fellow-Professors are his, and to make a full 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 expected 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 certainly 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, can't 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 don't mean an essential Defect; because I suppose the Person 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 can't clearly discern their Form, or distinguish them one from another; though, as they are in themselves, their Form may be very different. There is doubtless 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 the 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 State. The Difference between Doves and Ravens, or Doves and Vultures, 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 attending the Grace of those I am speaking, is its being mingled with so much Corruption, which clouds and hides it, and makes it impossible for it certainly to be 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 ill Frame, Guilt lies on the Conscience; which will bring Fear, and so prevent the 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 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 light for judging and distinguishing spiritual Things.

For these Reasons, no Signs that can be given, will actually satisfy, Persons in 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. It is not God's Design that Men should obtain Assurance in any other Way, than by mortifying Corruption, and increasing in Grace, and obtaining the lively Exercises of it. And although Self-Examination be a Duty of great Use and Importance, and by no Means to be neglected; yet it is not the principal Means, by which the Saints do get Satisfaction of their good Estate. Assurance is not to be obtained so much by Self-Examination, as by Action. The Apostle Paul sought Assurance chiefly this Way, even by forgetting the Things that were behind, and reaching forth unto those Things that were before, pressing towards the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling 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 Corinthians 9:26. I therefore so run, as not uncertainly. He obtained Assurance of winning the Prize, more by running, than by considering. The 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, etc. is the Direction that the Apostle 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, and 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 Peter 1:5-11.

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 such Rules, as shall be sufficient of themselves, without other Means, to enable 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 Affections, 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 Experiences 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 Fondness 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 Hypocrisy. Their State is indeed deplorable, and next to those that 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 Religion's becoming more pure, and like Gold tried in the Fire.

Having premised these Things, I now proceed directly to take notice of those Things in which true religious Affections are distinguished from false.

1. Affections that are truly spiritual and gracious, do arise from those Influences and Operations on the Heart, which are spiritual, super-natural and divine.

I will explain what I mean by these Terms, whence will appear their Use to distinguish 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 God, are in the new Testament called spiritual Persons. And their being spiritual is spoken of as their peculiar Character, and that wherein they are distinguished 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 Corinthians 2:14, 15. The natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God, for they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all Things. The Scripture explains it self 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, Verse 4 of his Epistle, says, Verse 19. These are sensual, having not the Spirit. This the Apostle gives as a Reason why they behaved themselves in such a wicked Manner as he had described. Here the Word translated sensual, in the Original is psychikos; which is the very same, which in those Verses in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 is translated natural. In the like Manner, in the Continuation of the same Discourse, in the next Verse but one, spiritual Men are opposed to carnal Men; which the Context shows mean the same, as spiritual Men and natural Men in the preceding Verses; And I, Brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal; that is as in a great Measure carnal. That by carnal the Apostle means corrupt and unsanctified only, appears by Romans 7:25 and 8:1, 4, 5, 6, where in these Texts, he intended the Flesh; and spiritual, which is opposed there to, is spiritual and holy.

And things are called spiritual in Scripture, so we also find that there are certain Properties, Qualities, and Principles, that have names given them. So we read of a spiritual Mind, and spiritual Wisdom, Colossians 1:9. And of spiritual things.

Now it appears that the Epithet spiritual, in these and other parallel Texts of the New Testament, is not used to signify the Relation of Persons or Things to the Spirit or Soul of Man, as the spiritual Part: Things are not said to be spiritual, because they have their Seat in the Soul, and not in the Body: For there are some Properties which the Scripture calls carnal or fleshly, which have their seat much in the Soul, as these 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; Colossians 2:18. 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 World, conversant about Spirits, and immaterial Beings; which yet the Apostle speaks of as natural Men, totally ignorant of those Things that are spiritual, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. But it is with Relation to the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, that Persons or Things are termed spiritual, in the New Testament. Spirit, as the Word is used to signify the third Person in the Trinity, is the Substantive, of which is formed the Adjective spiritual, in the holy Scriptures. Thus Christians are called spiritual Persons, because they are born of the Spirit, and because of the Indwelling and holy Influences of the Spirit of God in them. And Things are called spiritual as related to the Spirit of God; 1 Corinthians 2:13, 14. Which Things also we speak, not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual Things with spiritual. But the natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God. Here the Apostle himself expressly signifies, that by spiritual Things, he means the Things of the Spirit of God, and Things which the Holy Ghost teacheth. The same is yet more abundantly apparent by viewing the whole Context. Again, Romans 8:6. To be carnally minded is Death: But to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace. The Apostle explains what he means by being carnally and spiritually minded, in what follows in the ninth Verse, and shows that by being spiritually minded, he means a having the Indwelling and holy Influences of the Spirit of God in the Heart. But ye are not in the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if 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. They 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's Spirit: As is evident, because it has 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, Romans 8:6, 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 Galatians 6:1. Brethren, if any Man be overtaken in a Fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the 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 Language of the New Testament, which are truly gracious and holy, and peculiar to the Saints.

Thus when we read of spiritual Wisdom and Understanding (as in Colossians 1:9: 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 sanctifying 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 therefore spiritual Wisdom is doubtless the same with that Wisdom which is from above, that the Apostle James speaks of, James 3:17. The Wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, etc. for this the Apostle opposes to natural Wisdom, Verse 15. This Wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual—the last Word in the Original is the same that is translated natural, in 1 Corinthians 2:14.

So that although natural Men may be the Subjects of many Influences of the Spirit of God, as is evident by many Scriptures, as Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:10, and 11:6, and 16:14; 1 Corinthians 13:1, 2, 3; Hebrews 6:4, 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 spiritual Things. The great Difference lies in these two Things.

1. The Spirit of God is given to the true Saints to dwell in them, as his proper lasting Abode; and to influence their Hearts, as a Principle of new Nature, or as a divine supernatural Spring of Life and Action. The Scriptures represent the Holy Spirit, not only as moving, and occasionally influencing the Saints, but as dwelling in them as his Temple, his proper Abode, and everlasting Dwelling-Place; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; John 14:16, 17. And he is represented as being there so united to the Faculties of the Soul, that he becomes there a Principle or Spring of new Nature and Life.

So the Saints are said to live by Christ living in them, Galatians 2:20. 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; they 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 4:14; and thus becomes a Principle of Life in them; this living Water, this Evangelist himself explains to intend the Spirit of God, Chapter 7:38, 39. The Light of the Sun of Righteousness does not only shine upon them, but is so communicated 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 natural Men; yet because it is not thus communicated to them, as an indwelling Principle, they do not derive any Denomination or Character from it; for there being no Union it is not their own. The Light may shine upon a Body that is very dark or 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 it spiritual. A Body that continues black, may be said not to have Light, though the Light shines upon it; so natural Men are said yet to have the Spirit, Jude 19. Sensual, or natural (as the Word is elsewhere rendered) having not the Spirit.

2. Another Reason why the Saints and their Virtues are called spiritual, (which is the principal Thing) is that the 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 the 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 Ointment, which was the principal Type of the Holy Ghost in the Mosaic 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 Odour 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 Partaker 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. The Grace which is in the Hearts of the Saints, is of the same Nature with the divine Holiness, as much as it is possible for that Holiness to be, which is infinitely less in Degree; as the Brightness that is in a Diamond which the Sun shines upon, is of the same Nature with the Brightness of the Sun, but only that it is as nothing to it in Degree. Therefore Christ says, John 3:6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit; that is the Grace that is begotten in the Hearts of the Saints, is something of the same Nature with that Spirit, and so is properly called a spiritual Nature; after the same Manner as that which is born of the 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 the 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 communicate himself in his proper Nature in the Effect of that Action. Thus, for Instance, the Spirit moved upon the Face of the Waters, and there was nothing disagreeable to his Nature in that Action; but yet he 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 inanimate 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 does not so operate upon Sinners; but the Influence and Operation itself is different, and the Effect wrought exceedingly different. So that not only the Persons are called spiritual, as having the Spirit of God dwelling in them; but those Qualifications, Affections and Experiences that are wrought in them by the Spirit, are also spiritual, and therein differ vastly in their Nature and Kind from all that a natural Man is or can be the Subject of, while he remains in a natural State; and also from all that Men or Devils can be the 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 does so much communicate himself, and wherein the mere Creature has, in so high a Sense, a Participation of God; so that it is expressed in Scripture by the Saints being made Partakers of the divine Nature, 2 Peter 1:4 and having God dwelling in them, and they in God, 1 John 4:12, 15, 16 and Chapter 3:21 and having Christ in them, John 17:21 Romans 8:10 being the Temples of the living God, 2 Corinthians 6:16 living by Christ's Life, Galatians 2:20 being made Partakers of God's Holiness, Hebrews 12:10 having Christ's Love dwelling in them, John 17:26 having his Joy fulfilled in them, John 17:13 seeing Light in God's Light, and being made to drink of the River of God's Pleasures, Psalm 36:8, 9 having Fellowship with God, or communicating and partaking with him (as the Word signifies) 1 John 1:3. Not that the Saints are made Partakers of the Essence of God, and so are Godded with God, and Christed 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 Fullness, Ephesians 3:17, 18, 19 John 1:16 that is, of God's spiritual Beauty and Happiness, according to the Measure and Capacity of a Creature; for so it is evident the Word Fullness signifies in Scripture Language. Grace in the Hearts of the Saints, being therefore the most glorious Work of God, wherein he communicates 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 makes the Creature Partaker of the divine Nature (the Spirit of God communicating itself in its own proper Nature) This is what I mean by those Influences that are divine, when I say that truly gracious Affections do arise from those Influences that are spiritual 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 the 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 a being born of the Spirit, from this, that He that is born of the Flesh, has only Flesh, and no Spirit, John 3:6. 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, Romans 8:9, 10, 11. And an having 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 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5 Ephesians 1:24 and an having any Thing of the Spirit is mentioned as a sure Sign of being in Christ, 1 John 4:13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, because he has given us of his 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 Peter 1:4. Ungodly Men are not Partakers of God's Holiness, Hebrews 12:10. A natural Man has no Experience of any of those 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 to them, the Talk about such Things is all Foolishness and Nonsense to him, he knows not what it means, 1 Corinthians 2:14. The natural Man receives not the Things of the Spirit of God; for they are Foolishness to him; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned. And to the like Purpose Christ teaches us that the World is wholly unacquainted with the Spirit of God, John 14:17. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the World cannot receive; because it sees him not, neither knows him. And it is further 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 furthest in Religion, have no Charity, or true Christian Love, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. So Christ elsewhere reproves the Pharisees, those high Pretenders to Religion, that they had not the Love of God in them, John 5:42. Hence natural 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 1:3 together with Verse 6, 7 and 1 Corinthians 1:8, 9. And the Scripture speaks of the actual Being of a gracious Principle in the Soul, though in its first beginning, as a Seed there planted, as inconsistent with a Man's being a Sinner, 1 John 3:9. And natural Men are represented in Scripture as having no spiritual Light, no spiritual Life, and no spiritual Being; and therefore Conversion is often compared to opening the Eyes of the Blind, raising the Dead, and a Work of Creation, (wherein Creatures are made entirely new) and becoming new born Children.

From these Things it is evident, that those gracious Influences which the Saints are the 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 Qualifications, or Principles that are natural, no advancing or exalting them to higher Degrees, and no Kind of Composition of them, will ever bring Men to; because they not only differ from 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, entirely different in its Nature and Kind, from any Thing that ever their Minds were the Subjects of before they 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, varying 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 perceiving, 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 Perceptions or Sensations which the Mind had before; or there is what some Metaphysicians 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 the 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 new Kind of Perception or spiritual Sensation, which is in its 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 is perceived in them, by natural Men, as the sweet Taste of Honey is diverse from the Ideas Men get of Honey by only looking on it, and feeling of it. So that the spiritual Perceptions which a sanctified and spiritual Person has, are not only diverse from all that natural Men have, after the Manner that the Ideas or Perceptions of the same Sense may differ one from another, but rather as the Ideas and Sensations of different Senses do differ. Hence the Work of the Spirit of God in Regeneration is often in Scripture compared to the giving a new Sense, giving Eyes to see, and Ears to hear, unstopping the Ears of the Deaf, and opening the Eyes of them that were born Blind, and turning from Darkness unto Light. And because this spiritual Sense is immensely the most noble and excellent, 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.

This new spiritual Sense, and the new Dispositions that attend it, are no new Faculties, but are new Principles of Nature. I use the 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 Foundation for Action, giving a Person Ability and Disposition to exert the Faculties in Exercises of such a certain Kind; so that to exert the Faculties in that Kind of Exercises, may be said to be his Nature. So this new spiritual Sense is not a new Faculty of Understanding, but it is a new Foundation laid in the Nature of the Soul, for a new Kind of Exercises of the same Faculty of Understanding. So that new holy Dispositions of Heart that attend 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, namely the Sense of seeing, immediately exciting Ideas of that Sense; but he gave no new Sense; neither was 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 Colours, it is only exciting Ideas of the same Kind that he has by natural Principles and Senses. So if God reveals to any natural Man, any secret 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 ordinary Influences of the Spirit of God on the Hearts of Sinners, he only assists 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 Aholiab in the curious Works of the Tabernacle: so he may assist Mens natural Abilities in political 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 God may greatly assist natural Men's Reason, in their Reasoning about secular Things, or about the Doctrines of Religion, 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 Awakenings 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 naturally 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's Consciences to do this in a greater Degree, helps Conscience against the stupefying Influence of worldly Objects and their Lusts. And so there are many other Ways might be mentioned wherein the Spirit acts upon, assists and moves natural Principles; but after all, it is no more than Nature moved, acted and improved; here is nothing supernatural and divine. But the Spirit of God in his spiritual Influences 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, that all spiritual and gracious Affections are attended with, and do arise from some Apprehension, Idea or Sensation of Mind, which is in its 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 Corinthians 2:14) 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.

But here two Things must be observed in order to the right Understanding of this.

1. On the one Hand it must be observed, that not every Thing which in any Respect appertains to spiritual 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 Relation: Love to God makes a Man have Desires of the Honour of God, and a Desire to please him; so does a natural Man's Love to his Friend make him desire his Honour, 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 Conformity 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 Love and Natural, cause Desires after the Object beloved; but they are not the same Sort of Desires; there is a Sensation of Soul in the spiritual Desires of one that loves God, which is entirely different from all natural Desires: Both spiritual Love and natural Love are attended with Delight in the Object beloved; but the Sensations of Delight are not the 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 the Nucleus, or Kernel of them, that they have no more Conceptions of, than one born blind has of Colours.

It may be clearly 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 delighted in it because he knows the sweet Taste of it; the other loves certain Sounds and Colours: The Love of each has many Things that appertain to it, which is common; it causes both to Desire and Delight in the Object beloved, and causes Grief when it is absent, et cetera. 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 other 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 Colours, but knows its sweet Taste; the other, perfectly ignorant of this, loves it only for its beautiful Colours: There are many Things seem, in some Respect, to be common to both; both love, both desire, and both delight; but the Love, and Desire, and Delight of the one, is altogether diverse from that of the other. The Difference between the Love of a natural Man and spiritual Man is like to this; but only it must be observed, that in one Respect it is vastly greater, namely 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 seeing Man; and in another Respect it may not be so great, namely as the spiritual Man may have a spiritual Sense or Taste, to perceive that divine and most peculiar Excellency, but in small Beginnings, and in a very imperfect Degree.

2. On the other Hand, it must be observed, that a natural Man may have those religious Apprehensions and Affections, which may be in many Respects 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 Affections, and a new Composition of Ideas; this may be from some extraordinary powerful Influence of Satan and some great Delusion; but there is nothing but Nature 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 in the Throne, with the Crown Royal on his Head, Peers and Nobles bowing before him, and should be made to believe that he was now a glorious Monarch; the Ideas he 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 is no more, than only 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 Affections 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 it 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 cannot 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 the 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 settle and determine many Articles of Doctrine, concerning the Operations of the Spirit of God, and the Nature of true Grace.

Now 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 Heaven, 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 spiritual, 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 the common People, I will explain what is intended by Impressions on the 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 are 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 Kind of Things as we perceive by our five external Senses, Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting and Feeling, are external Things. And when a Person has an Idea, or Image of any of these Sorts of Things in his Mind, when they are not there, and when he 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 Kind of Ideas are strongly impressed upon the Mind, and the Image of them in the Mind is very lively, almost as if one saw them, or heard them, etcetera that is called an Impression on the Imagination. Thus Colours, and Shapes, and a Form of Countenance, they are outward Things; because they are that Sort of Things which are the Objects of the outward Sense of Seeing. And therefore when any Person has in his Mind a lively Idea of any Shape, or Colour, 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 Darkness, 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 the other Senses, as of any Sounds or Voices, or Words spoken; this is only to have Ideas of outward Things, namely 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 vividly impressed, almost as if they were really heard with the Ears, this is to have an Impression on the 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. They have had lively Ideas of some external Shape, and beautiful Form of Countenance; and this they call spiritually seeing Christ. Some have had impressed 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 shining 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 beautiful Countenance smiling upon them; and this they call a spiritual Discovery of the Love of Christ to their Souls, and tasting the Love of Christ. And they look upon it a sufficient 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 like Manner, the Imaginations of some have been impressed 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, hearing the Voice of Christ spiritually in their Hearts, having the Witness of the Spirit, and the inward Testimony of the Love of Christ, etcetera

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 them by. Thus we call a clear Apprehension of Things spiritual by the Name of Light; and an 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 ignorantly 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 their Eyes are opened, now Christ has discovered himself to them, and they are his Children; and hence are exceedingly affected and elevated with their Deliverance 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 wise of such a Sort, that they are entirely, and in their whole Nature diverse 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 Principle, so that in order to have them, a Man must have a new spiritual 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 human 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 Circumstances) that we have by those natural Principles which are common to us, with the Beasts, namely the five external Senses. This is a low, miserable Notion of spiritual 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 have in 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 incapable 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 Colours and Sounds when they 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 advancing 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, makes Persons abundantly more susceptible of such Impressions.

As to a truly spiritual Sensation, not only is the Manner of its coming into the Mind extraordinary, 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 sometimes unusual, yet the Ideas in themselves are not the better for that; they are still of no different Sort from what Men have by their Senses; they are of no higher Kind, nor a whit better. For Instance, the external Idea a Man has now of Christ hanging on the Cross, and shedding his Blood, is no better in itself, than the external Idea that the Jews his 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 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 Imaginations, is not in its own Nature, of any superior Kind to the Idea the Papists conceive 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 the Affections they have, if built primarily on such Imaginations, any better 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. 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, Numbers 24:16, 17. But yet had no Manner of spiritual Discovery 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; 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 there is in the 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, doubtless imaginary ones, or Ideas of Things external are not above his Power; for the external Ideas Men have are the lowest Sort of Ideas. These Ideas may be raised only by Impressions made on the Body, by moving the animal Spirits, and impressing the Brain. Abundant Experience does certainly show, that Alterations in the Body will excite imaginary or external Ideas in the Mind; as often, in case of a high Fever, Melancholy, etcetera These external Ideas are as much below the more intellectual Exercises of the Soul, as the Body is a less noble Part of Man than the Soul.

And there is not only nothing in the Nature of these external Ideas or Imaginations 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 has 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 Deuteronomy 13:1; 1 Kings 22:22; Isaiah 28:7; Ezekiel 13:7; Zechariah 13:4. 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 created Being, has Power to impress the Mind with outward Representations, then no particular Sort of outward Representations can be 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 the Brain one bodily Shape or Color than another. It needs a no more glorious Power to represent the Form of the Body of 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, or Blood running from Hands, Feet, and Side. That Sort of Power which can represent Black or Darkness to the Imagination, can also represent White and shining Brightness. The Power and Skill which can well and exactly paint a Straw, or a Stick of Wood, on a Piece of Paper or Canvas; the same in Kind, only perhaps further improved, will be sufficient to paint the Body of a Man, with great Beauty and in royal Majesty, or a magnificent City, paved with Gold, full of Brightness, and a glorious Throne, etc. So it is no more than the same Sort of Power that is requisite to paint one as the other of these on the Brain. The same Sort of Power that can put Ink upon Paper, can put on Leaf-Gold. So that it is evident to a Demonstration, if we suppose it to be in the Devil's Power to make any Sort of external Representation at all on the Fancy, (as without Doubt it is, and never anyone questioned it who believed there was a Devil, that had any Agency with Mankind) I say, if so, it is demonstrably evident that a created Power may extend to all Kinds of external Appearances and Ideas in the Mind.

From hence it again clearly appears, that no such Things have anything in them that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine, in the Sense in [which] it has been proved that all truly gracious Experiences have. And though external Ideas, through 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 Motion of the Blood, and Beating of the Pulse, that attends Experiences, are a Part of spiritual Experience. And though undoubtedly, through Men's Infirmity in the present State, and especially through the weak Constitution of some Persons, gracious Affections which are very strong, do excite lively Ideas in the Imagination; yet it is also undoubted, that when Person's Affections are founded on Imaginations, which is often the Case, those Affections are merely natural and common, 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 evermore 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 immediately makes to their Souls, therein giving them Testimonies, in an extraordinary 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 of this 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 I suppose there is 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 Nature which it is impossible the Mind of a natural Man, while he remains in a State of Nature, should be the Subject of, or anything 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 Letters are external Things, that are the Objects of the 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 observed what it is that I say, namely When this Effect, even the immediate and extraordinary Manner of Words of Scripture's coming to the Mind, is that which excites the Affections, and is 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 they 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 come suddenly to their Minds, and they look upon the 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 Circumstance, and promising such and such great Things to them: And [...] that [...] elevates them. There is no new spiritual [...][...] in the Scripture, or new spiritual [...] of the glorious Things [...] in that Part of the Bible, going before their Affection, and being the Foundation 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 [...] to them, because they come so [...] and extraordinarily. And so this Affection is built wholly on the [...]; because it is built on a Conclusion [...] which they have [...]. 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 [...] was true that God brought the Words to their Minds, and they certainly know [...] that would [...] the spiritual Knowledge, it may be without any spiritual [...][...] might know that the Words which God [...] to him, were indeed suggested to him by God, and yet have no spiritual Knowledge. So that these Affections which are built on that Notion, that Texts of Scripture are sent immediately from God, are built on no spiritual Foundation, and are vain and [...]. Persons who have their Affections thus raised, if they should be enquired [...] whether they have any new Sense of the Excellency of Things contained in these Scriptures, would probably say, [...] without Hesitation: But it is true no otherwise than [...], 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 [...] the Things, which those Scriptures say to them, for excellent Things, and wonderful Things. As for Instance, supposing these were the Words which were suddenly brought to their Minds, Fear not, — it [...] give you [...] Kingdom; they having confidently taken up a Notion that the Words were as it were immediately spoken from Heaven to them, [...] an immediate Revelation, that God was their Father, and had given the Kingdom to them, they are greatly affected by it, and the Words seem sweet to them; and oh, they say, they are excellent Things that are [...] in those Words! but the Reason why the Promise seems excellent to them, is only because they think it is made to them immediately: 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 spiritual Glory of that God who gives it, and of his excellent Grace to sinful Men, in offering and giving them this Kingdom, of his 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 Scriptures coming to their Mind, is plainly the first Foundation of the whole; which is a clear Evidence of the wretched Delusion they are under.

The first Comfort of many Persons, and what they call their Conversion, is after this Manner: After Awakening and Terrors, 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 that he loves them, and has already promised them eternal Life: Which is very 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 Promises, 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 Favour and Promises, when 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. There is no Promise of the Covenant of Grace belongs to any Man, until he has first believed in Christ; for it is by Faith alone that we become interested in Christ, and the Promises of the new Covenant made in him. And therefore whatever Spirit applies the Promises of that Covenant to a Person who has not first believed, as being already his, must be a lying Spirit; and that Faith which is first built on such an Application of Promises, is built upon a Lie. God's Manner is not to bring comfortable Texts of Scripture to give Men Assurance of his Love, and that they shall be happy, before they have had a Faith of Dependance. And if the Scripture which comes to a Person's Mind, be not so properly a Promise, as an Invitation; Yet if he makes the sudden or unusual Manner of the Invitation's coming to his Mind, the 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, suggested to the Mind, at such a Time, as though then spoken and directed by God to [gap], 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 the Blessings of the Gospel, is that the Word of God declares that Persons so qualified as he is, are invited, and God who declares it is true and cannot lie. If a Sinner be once convinced of the Veracity of God, and that the Scriptures are his Word, he will need no more to convince and satisfy 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 has 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 mentioned; 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 they look upon as their Warrant to take them; and which they 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 and testifies his Love to them, and promises them Supports and Supplies, and his Blessing in such and such Cases, and reveals to them clearly their 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 [gap] to them; which is a certain 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 Promise of the Covenant of Grace are his, and are made to him, all 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 [gap] of the Blessings contained in them.

But here, some may be ready to [gap], What, is there no such Thing as any particular [gap] Application of the Promises of Scripture by the Spirit of God? I answer, There is doubtless such a Thing as a spiritual and [gap] Application of the [gap] 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 [gap] of their own Souls, and the giving Satan a vast Advantage against them, and against the Interest of Religion, and the Church of God. The spiritual Application of a Scripture Promise was not consist in its being immediately suggested to the [gap] by some [gap] Agent, and being borne into the Mind with this strong Apprehension, that it is particularly spoken and [gap] to them at that Time: There is nothing on the Evidence of the Hand of God in this Effect, as Events have proved in many [gap] Instances; and it is a [gap] of a spiritual Application of Scripture; there is nothing in the Nature of it at all beyond the Power of the Devil, if he [gap] 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 enlightening, sanctifying Influences. A spiritual Application of an Invitation or Offer of the Gospel consists in giving the Soul a spiritual Sense or Relish of the holy and divine Blessings offered, and also the sweet and wonderful Grace of the Offerer, in making so gracious an Offer, and of his holy Excellency and [gap] to fulfill what he offers, and his glorious Sufficiency 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 [gap] spiritual, Application of the Promises of Scripture, for the Comfort of the Saints, consists in enlightening their Minds to see the holy Excellency and Sweetness of the Blessings Promised, and also the holy Excellency of the Promiser, and his Faithfulness and Sufficiency, thus drawing forth their Hearts to embrace the Promiser, and Thing promised; and by this Means, giving the sensible Actings of Grace, enabling them to see their Grace, and so their Title to the Promise. An Application not consisting in this divine [gap] and Enlightening of the Mind, but consisting only in the Words [gap] borne into the Thoughts, as if immediately then spoken, so making Persons believe, on no other Foundation, that the Promise is theirs; is a blind Application, and belongs to the Spirit of Darkness, 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, [gap] the strange Manner of the Words being suggested to their Minds, and a Proposition from thence taken up by them, which indeed is not contained in 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 [gap] 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 therefore when any Person is comforted, and affected by any such Proposition, it is 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.

Again, it plainly appears from what has been demonstrated, That no Revelation 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 appear 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 Battle 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 Neighbours is converted, or that I my self 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 Suggestion, as much as if the Facts were future; for the Facts being past, present, or future alters not the Case, as long as they are secret and hidden from my Senses and Reason, and not spoken of in Scripture, nor known by me any other Way than by immediate Suggestion. If I have it revealed to me, that such a Revolution is come to pass this Day in the Ottoman Empire, it is the very same Sort of Revelation, as if it were revealed to me that such a Revolution would come to pass there this Day come twelvemonth; because, though one is present and the other future, yet both are equally hidden from me, any other Way than by immediate Revelation. When Samuel told Saul that the Asses which he went to seek were found, and that his Father had left caring for the Asses and sorrowed for him; this was by the same Kind of Revelation, as that by which he told Saul, that in the Plain of Tabor, there should meet him three Men going up to God to Bethel, (1 Samuel 10:2-3) though one of these Things was future and the other was not. So when Elisha told the King of Israel the Words that the King of Syria spake in his Bed-chamber, it was by the same Kind of Revelation with that by which he foretold many Things to come.

It is evident that this Revelation of secret Facts by immediate Suggestion, has nothing of the Nature of a spiritual and divine Operation, in the Sense forementioned: There is nothing at all in the Nature of the Perceptions or Ideas themselves, which are excited in the Mind, that is divinely excellent, and so, far above all the Ideas of natural Men; though the Manner of exciting the Ideas be extraordinary. In those Things which are spiritual, as has been shown, not only the Manner of producing Effect, but the Effect wrought is divine, and so vastly above all that can be in an unsanctified Mind. Now simply the having an Idea of Facts, setting aside the Manner of producing those Ideas, is nothing beyond what the Minds of wicked Men are susceptible of, without any Goodness in them; and they all, either have or will have, the Knowledge of the Truth of the greatest and most important Facts, that have been, are, or shall be.

And as to the extraordinary Manner of producing the Ideas or Perception of Facts, even by immediate Suggestion, there is nothing in it, but what the Minds of natural Men, while they are yet natural Men, are capable of; as is manifest in Balaam, and others spoken of in the Scripture. And therefore it appears that there is nothing appertaining to this immediate Suggestion of secret Facts that is spiritual, in the Sense in which it has been proved that gracious Operations are so. If there be nothing in the Ideas themselves, which is holy and divine, and so nothing but what may be in a Mind not sanctified, then God can put them into the Mind by immediate Power, without sanctifying it. As there is nothing in the Idea of a Rainbow itself, that is of a holy and divine Nature; so that there is nothing hinders but that an unsanctified Mind may receive that Idea: So God if he pleases, and when he pleases, immediately, and in an extraordinary Manner, may excite that Idea in an unsanctified Mind. So also, as there is nothing in the Idea or Knowledge that such and such particular Persons are forgiven and accepted of God, and entitled to Heaven, but what unsanctified Minds may have and will have concerning many at the Day of Judgment; so God can if he pleases, extraordinarily and immediately suggest this to, and impress it upon an unsanctified Mind now: There is no Principle wanting in an unsanctified Mind, to make it capable of such a Suggestion or Impression; nor is there any Thing in them to exclude, or necessarily to prevent such a Suggestion.

And if these Suggestions of secret Facts be attended with Words of Scripture, immediately and extraordinarily brought to Mind, about some other Facts that seem in some Respects similar, that do not make the Operation to be of a spiritual and divine Nature. For that Suggestion of Words of Scripture is no more divine, than the Suggestion of the Facts themselves; as has been just now demonstrated: And two Effects together, which are neither of them spiritual, cannot make up one complex Effect, that is spiritual.

Hence it follows, from what has been already shown, and often repeated, that those Affections which are properly founded on such immediate Suggestions, or supposed Suggestions of secret Facts, are not gracious Affections. Not but that it is possible that such Suggestions may be the Occasion, or Cause of gracious Affections; for so may a Mistake and Delusion; but it is never properly the Foundation of gracious Affections: For gracious Affections, as has been shown, are all the Effects of an Influence and Operation which is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. But there are many Affections, and high Affections, which some have, that have such Kind of Suggestions or Revelations for their very Foundation: They look upon these as spiritual Discoveries; which is a gross Delusion; and this Delusion is truly the Spring whence their Affections flow.

Here it may be proper to observe, that it is exceeding manifest from what has been said, that what many Persons call the Witness of the Spirit that they are the Children of God, has nothing in it spiritual and divine; and consequently that the Affections built upon it, are vain and delusive. That which many call the Witness of the Spirit, is no other than an immediate Suggestion and Impression of that Fact, otherwise secret, that they are converted, or made the Children of God, and so that their Sins are pardoned, and that God has given them a Title to Heaven. This Kind of Knowledge, namely Knowing that a certain Person is converted, and delivered from Hell, and entitled to Heaven, is no divine Sort of Knowledge in itself. This Sort of Fact, is not that which requires any higher or more divine Kind of Suggestion, in order to impress it on the Mind, than any other Fact which Balaam had impressed on his Mind. It requires no higher Sort of Idea or Sensation, for a Man to have the Apprehension of his own Conversion impressed upon him, than to have the Apprehension of his Neighbour's Conversion, in like Manner, impressed: But God, if he pleased, might impress the Knowledge of this Fact, that he had forgiven his Neighbour's Sins, and given him a Title to Heaven, as well as any other Fact, without any Communication of his Holiness: The Excellency and Importance of the Fact, do not at all hinder a natural Man's Mind being susceptible of an immediate Suggestion and Impression of it. Balaam had as excellent, and important, and glorious Facts as this, immediately impressed on his Mind, without any gracious Influence; as particularly, the coming of Christ, and his setting up his glorious Kingdom, and the Blessedness of the spiritual Israel in his peculiar Favour and their Happiness living and dying. Yea Abimelech King of the Philistines, had God's special Favour to a particular Person, even Abraham, revealed to him, Genesis 20:6, 7. So it seems that he revealed to Laban his special Favour to Jacob, see Genesis 31:24 and Psalms 105:15. And if a truly good Man should have an immediate Revelation or Suggestion from God, after the like Manner, concerning his Favour to his Neighbour, or himself; it would be no higher Kind of influence; it would be no more than a common Sort of Influence of God's Spirit; as the Gift of Prophecy, and all Revelation by immediate Suggestion is; see 1 Corinthians 13:2. And though it be true, that it is not possible that a natural Man should have that individual Suggestion from the Spirit of God, that he is converted, because it is not true; yet that does not arise from the Nature of the influence, or because that Kind of Influence which suggests such excellent Facts, is too high for him to be the Subject of; but purely from the want of a Fact to be revealed. The Influence which immediately suggests this Fact, when it is true, is of no different Kind from that which immediately suggests other true Facts: And so the Kind and Nature of the Influence, is not above what is common to natural Men, with good Men.

But this is a mean ignoble Notion of the Witness of the Spirit of God given to his dear Children, to suppose that there is nothing in the Kind and Nature of that Influence of the Spirit of God, in imparting this high and glorious Benefit but what is common to natural Men, or which Men are capable of, and be in the mean Time altogether unsanctified, and the Children of Hell; and that therefore the Benefit or Gift itself has nothing of the holy Nature of the Spirit of God in it, nothing of a vital Communication of that Spirit. This Notion greatly debases that high and most exalted Kind of Influence and Operation of the Spirit, which there is in the true Witness of the Spirit. That which is called the Witness of the Spirit, Romans 8, is elsewhere in the new Testament called the Seal of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30, alluding to the Seal of Princes, annexed to the commissions, by which they advanced any of their Subjects to some high Honour and Dignity, or peculiar Privilege in the Kingdom, as a Token of their special Favour. Which is an Evidence that the Seal of the Spirit of the Prince of Princes, in sealing his Favourites, is far from being of a common Kind; and that there is no Effect of God's Spirit whatsoever, which is in its Nature more divine; nothing more holy, peculiar, inimitable and distinguishing of them, as nothing is more Royal than the royal Seal; nothing more sacred, that belongs to a Prince, and more peculiarly denoting what belongs to him; it being the very End and Design of it, to be the most peculiar Stamp and Confirmation of the royal Authority, and great Note of Distinction, whereby that which proceeds from the King, or belongs to him, may be known from every Thing else. And therefore undoubtedly the Seal of the great King of Heaven and Earth enstamped on the Heart, is something high and holy in its own Nature, some excellent Communication from the infinite Fountain of divine Beauty and Glory; and not merely a making known a secret Fact by Revelation or Suggestion; which is a Sort of Influence of the Spirit of God, that the Children of the Devil have often been the Subjects of. The Seal of the Spirit is a Kind of Effect of the Spirit of God on the Heart, which natural Men, while such, are so far from a Capacity of being the Subjects of, that they can have no Manner of Notion or Idea of it; agreeable to Revelation 2:17. 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. There is all Reason to suppose that what is here spoken of, is the same Mark, Evidence, or blessed Token of special Favour, which is elsewhere called the Seal of the Spirit.

What has misled many in their notion of that influence of the Spirit of God we are speaking of, is the word witness, its being called the Witness of the Spirit. Hence they have taken it, not to be any effect or work of the Spirit upon the heart, giving evidence, from whence men may argue that they are the children of God; but an inward suggestion, as though God inwardly spoke to the man, and testified to him, and told him that he was his child, by a kind of a secret voice, or impression. Not observing the sense in which the word Witness, or Testimony is often used in the New Testament; where such terms often signify, not only a mere declaring and affecting a thing to be true, but holding forth evidence from whence a thing may be argued and proved to be true. Thus, Hebrews 2:4, God is said to bear Witness, with Signs and Wonders, and diverse miracles, and Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Now these miracles, here spoken of, are called God's witness, not because they are of the nature of affections, but evidences and proofs. So Acts 14:3. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord; which gave testimony unto the Word of his Grace; and granted Signs and Wonders to be done by their Hands. And John 6:36. But I have greater Witness than that of John; for the Works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same Works that I do, bear Witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. Again, Chapter 10:25. The Works that I do in my Father's Name, they bear Witness of me. So the water and the blood are said to bear witness, 1 John 5:8, not that they spoke or asserted anything, but they were proofs and evidences. So God's works of providence, in the rain and fruitful seasons, are spoken of as witnesses of God's being and goodness, that is they were evidences of these things. And when the Scripture speaks of the Seal of the Spirit, it is an expression which properly denotes, not an immediate voice or suggestion, but some work or effect of the Spirit, that is left as a divine mark upon the soul, to be an evidence, by which God's children might be known. The seals of princes were the distinguishing marks of princes: And thus God's seal is spoken of as God's mark. Revelation 7:3. Hurt not the Earth, neither the Sea, or the Trees, till we have sealed the Servants of our God in their Foreheads; together with Ezekiel 9:4. Set a Mark upon the Foreheads of the Men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. When God sets his seal on a man's heart by his Spirit, there is some holy stamp, some image impressed and left upon the heart by the Spirit, as by the seal upon the wax. And this holy stamp, or impressed image, exhibiting clear evidence to the conscience, that the subject of it is the child of God, is the very thing which in Scripture is called the Seal of the Spirit, and the Witness, or Evidence of the Spirit. And this image instamped by the Spirit on God's children's hearts, is his own image: That is the evidence by which they are known to be God's children, that they have the image of their Father stamped upon their hearts by the Spirit of Adoption. Seals anciently had engraven on them two things, namely The image and the name of the person whose seal it was. Therefore when Christ says to his spouse, Canticles 8:6, Set me as a Seal upon thine Heart, as a Seal upon thine arm; it is as much as to say, Let my name and image remain impressed there. The seals of princes were wont to bear their image; so that what they set their seal and royal mark upon, had their image left upon it. It was the manner of princes of old to have their image engraven on their jewels and precious stones; and the image of Augustus engraven on a precious stone, was used as the seal of the Roman Emperors, in Christ's and the Apostles' times. And the saints are the jewels of Jesus Christ, the great Potentate, who has the possession of the empire of the universe: And these jewels have his image enstamped upon them, by his royal signet, which is the Holy Spirit. And this is undoubtedly what the Scripture means by the seal of the Spirit; especially when it is enstamped in so fair and clear a manner, as to be plain to the eye of conscience; which is what the Scripture calls the Witness of the Spirit. This is, truly an effect that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. This is, in itself, of a holy nature, being a communication of the divine nature and beauty. That kind of influence of the Spirit which gives and leaves this stamp upon the heart, is such that no natural man can be the subject of anything of the like nature with it. This is the highest sort of witness of the Spirit, which it is possible the soul should be the subject of: if there were any such thing as a witness of the Spirit by immediate suggestion or revelation, this would be vastly more noble and excellent, and as much above it as the heaven is above the earth. This the Devil cannot imitate: As to an inward suggestion of the Spirit of God, by a kind of secret voice speaking, and immediately asserting and revealing a fact, he can do that which is a thousand times so like to this, as he can to that holy and divine effect, or work of the Spirit of God, which has been now spoken of.

Another thing which is a full proof that the seal of the Spirit is no revelation of any fact by immediate suggestion, but is grace itself in the soul, is that the Seal of the Spirit is called the Earnest of the Spirit, in the Scripture. It is very plain, that the seal of the Spirit is the same thing with the earnest of the Spirit, by 2 Corinthians 1:22. Who hath also sealed Us, and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts. And Ephesians 1:13, 14. In whom, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise; which is the Earnest of our Inheritance, until the Redemption of the purchased Possession, unto the Praise of his Glory. Now the earnest is part of the money agreed for, given in hand, as a token of the whole, to be paid in due time; a part of the promised inheritance, granted now, in token of full possession of the whole hereafter. But surely that kind of communication of the Spirit of God, which is of the nature of eternal glory, is the highest and most excellent kind of communication, something that is in its own nature spiritual, holy and divine, and far from anything that is common; and therefore high above anything of the nature of inspiration, or revelation of hidden facts by suggestion of the Spirit of God, which many natural men have had. What is the earnest and beginning of glory, but grace itself, especially in the more lively and clear exercises of it? It is not prophecy, nor tongues, nor knowledge, but that more excellent divine thing, Charity that never faileth, which is a prelibation and beginning of the light, sweetness, and blessedness of heaven, that world of love or charity. It is grace that is the seed of glory, and dawning of glory in the heart, and therefore it is grace that is the earnest of the future inheritance. What is it that is the beginning or earnest of eternal life in the soul, but spiritual life? And what is that but grace? The inheritance that Christ has purchased for the elect, is the Spirit of God; not in any extraordinary gifts, but in his vital indwelling in the heart, exerting and communicating himself there, in his own proper, holy or divine nature: And this is the sum total of the inheritance that Christ purchased for the elect. For so are things constituted in the affair of our redemption, that the Father provides the Saviour, or Purchaser, and the purchase is made of Him; and the Son is the Purchaser and the Price; and the Holy Spirit is the great blessing or inheritance purchased, as is intimated Galatians 3:13, 14; and hence the Spirit is often spoken of as the sum of the blessings promised in the Gospel, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4, and Chapter 2:38, 39, Galatians 3:14, Ephesians 1:13. This inheritance was the grand legacy which Christ left his disciples and church, in his last will and testament; John Chapter 14, and 15, and 16. This is the sum of the blessings of eternal life, which shall be given in heaven. (Compare John 7:37, 38, 39 and John 4:14 with Revelation 21:6 and 22:1, 17.) It is through the vital communications and indwelling of the Spirit, that the saints have all their light, life, holiness, beauty and joy in heaven: And it is through the vital communications and indwelling of the same Spirit, that the saints have all light, life, holiness, beauty and comfort on earth; but only communicated in less measure. And this vital indwelling of the Spirit in the saints, in this less measure and small beginning, is the Earnest of the Spirit, the Earnest of the future Inheritance, and the first Fruits of the Spirit, as the Apostle calls it, Romans 8:22, where, by the first Fruits of the Spirit, the Apostle undoubtedly means the same vital gracious principle, that he speaks of in all the preceding part of the chapter, which he calls Spirit, and sets in opposition to flesh or corruption. Therefore this earnest of the Spirit, and first fruits of the Spirit, which has been shown to be the same with the seal of the Spirit, is the vital, gracious, sanctifying communication and influence of the Spirit, and not any immediate suggestion or revelation of facts by the Spirit.

And indeed the Apostle, when in that Romans 8:16 he speaks of the Spirit's bearing witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, does sufficiently explain himself, if his words were but attended to. What is here expressed, is connected with the two preceding verses, as resulting from what the Apostle had said there, as every reader may see. The three verses together are thus, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God: For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father: The Spirit itself beareth Witness with our Spirits, that we are the Children of God. Here, what the Apostle says, if we take it together, plainly shows, that what he has respect to, when he speaks of the Spirit's giving us witness or evidence that we are God's children; is his dwelling in us, and leading us, as a Spirit of Adoption, or spirit of a child, disposing us to behave towards God as to a Father. This is the witness or evidence the Apostle speaks of, that we are Children, that we have the Spirit of Children, or Spirit of Adoption. And what is that, but the spirit of love? There are two kinds of spirits the Apostle speaks of, the spirit of a slave, or the Spirit of Bondage, that is Fear; and the spirit of a child, or Spirit of Adoption, and that is Love. The Apostle says, we have not received the Spirit of Bondage, or of slaves, which is a spirit of fear; but we have received the more ingenuous noble spirit of children, a spirit of love, which naturally disposes us to go to God, as children to a Father, and behave towards God as children. And this is the evidence or witness which the Spirit of God gives us that we are children. This is the plain sense of the Apostle: And so undoubtedly the Apostle here is speaking of the very same way of casting out doubting, and Fear, and the Spirit of Bondage, which the Apostle John speaks of, 1 John 4:18, namely By the prevailing of Love, that is the spirit of a child. The Spirit of Bondage works by fear, the slave fears the rod; but love cries Abba Father; it disposes us to go to God, and behave ourselves towards God as children; and it gives us clear evidence of our union to God as his children, and so casts out fear. So that it appears that the witness of the Spirit the Apostle speaks of, is far from being any whisper, or immediate suggestion or revelation; but that gracious holy effect of the Spirit of God in the hearts of the saints, the disposition and temper of children, appearing in sweet child-like love to God, which casts out fear, or a spirit of a slave.

And the same Thing is evident from all the Context: It is plain the Apostle speaks of the Spirit, over and over again, as dwelling in the Hearts of the Saints, as a gracious Principle, set in Opposition to the Flesh or Corruption: And so he does in the Words that immediately introduce this Passage we are upon, Verse thirteen. For if you live after the Flesh, you shall die; but if you, through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Flesh, you shall live.

Indeed it is past Doubt with me, that the Apostle has a more special Respect to the Spirit of Grace, or the Spirit of Love, or Spirit of a Child, in its more lively Actings: For it is perfect Love, or strong Love only, which so witnesses or evidences that we are Children, as to cast out Fear, and wholly deliver from the Spirit of Bondage. The strong and lively Exercises of a Spirit of child-like, evangelical, humble Love to God, give clear Evidence of the Soul's Relation to God, as his Child; which does very greatly and directly satisfy the Soul. And though it be far from being true, that the Soul in this Case, judges only by an immediate Witness, without any Sign or Evidence; for it judges and is assured by the greatest Sign and clearest Evidence; yet in this Case, the Saint stands in no need of multiplied Signs, or any long Reasoning upon them. And though the Sight of his relative Union with God, and his being in his Favour, is not without a Medium, because he sees it by that Medium, namely his Love; yet his Sight of the Union of his Heart to God is immediate: Love, the Bond of Union, is seen intuitively: The Saint sees and feels plainly the Union between his Soul and God; it is so strong and lively, that he cannot doubt of it. And hence he is assured that he is a Child. How can he doubt whether he stands in a child-like Relation to God, when he plainly sees a child-like Union between God and his Soul, and hence does boldly, and as it were, naturally and necessarily cry, Abba Father?

And whereas the Apostle says, the Spirit bears Witness with our Spirits; by our Spirit here, is meant our Conscience, which is called the Spirit of Man; Proverbs twenty verse twenty-seven. The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord, searching all the inward Parts of the Belly. We elsewhere read of the Witness of this Spirit of ours; Second Corinthians one verse twelve. For our Rejoicing is this, the Testimony of our Conscience. And First John three nineteen, twenty, twenty-one. And hereby do we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our Hearts before him. For if our Heart condemn us, God is greater than our Heart, and knoweth all Things. Beloved if our Heart condemn us not, then have we Confidence towards God. When the Apostle Paul speaks of the Spirit of God bearing Witness with our Spirit, he is not to be understood of two Spirits, that are two separate, collateral, independent Witnesses; but it is by one, that we receive the Witness of the other: The Spirit of God gives the Evidence, by infusing and shedding abroad the Love of God, the Spirit of a Child, in the Heart, and our Spirit, or our Conscience, receives and declares this Evidence for our Rejoicing.

Many have been the Mischiefs that have arisen from that false and delusive Notion of the Witness of the Spirit, that it is a Kind of inward Voice, Suggestion, or Declaration from God to a Man, that he is beloved of him, and pardoned, elected, or the like, sometimes with, and sometimes without a Text of Scripture; and many have been the false, and vain, (though very high) Affections that have arisen from hence. And it is to be feared that Multitudes of Souls have been eternally undone by it. I have therefore insisted the longer on this Head.

But I proceed now to a second Characteristic of gracious Affections.

Two. The first objective Ground of gracious Affections, is the transcendently excellent and amiable Nature of divine Things, as they are in themselves; and not any conceived Relation they bear to Self, or Self-Interest.

I say that the supremely excellent Nature of divine Things, is the first, or primary and original objective Foundation of the spiritual Affections of true Saints; for I do not suppose that all Relation which divine Things bear to themselves, and their own particular Interest, are wholly excluded from all Influence in their gracious Affections. For this may have, and indeed has, a secondary and consequential Influence in those Affections that are truly holy and spiritual; as I shall show how by and by.

It was before observed, that the Affection of Love is as it were the Fountain of all Affection; and particularly, that Christian Love is the Fountain of all gracious Affections: Now the divine Excellency and Glory of God, and Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Works of God, and the Ways of God, etcetera is the primary Reason, why a true Saint loves these Things; and not any supposed Interest that he has in them, or any conceived Benefit that he has received from them, or shall receive from them, or any such imagined Relation which they bear to his Interest, that Self-Love can properly be said to be the first Foundation of his Love to these Things.

Some say that all Love arises from Self Love; and that it is impossible in the Nature of Things, for any Man to have any Love to God, or any other Being, but that Love to himself must be the Foundation of it. But I humbly suppose it is for Want of Consideration, that they say so. They argue, that whoever loves God, and so desires his Glory, or the Enjoyment of him, he desires these Things as his own Happiness; the Glory of God, and the beholding and enjoying his Perfections, are considered as Things agreeable to him, tending to make him happy; he places his Happiness in them, and desires them as Things, which (if they were obtained) would be delightful to him, or would fill him with Delight and Joy, and so make him happy. And so, they say, it is from Self-love, or a Desire of his own Happiness, that he desires God should be glorified, and desires to behold and enjoy his glorious Perfections. But then they ought to consider a little further, and enquire how the Man came to place his Happiness in God's being glorified, and in contemplating and enjoying God's Perfections. There is no Doubt, but that after God's Glory, and the beholding his Perfections, are become so agreeable to him, that he places his highest Happiness in these Things, then he will desire them, as he desires his own Happiness. But how came these Things to be so agreeable to him, that he esteems it his highest Happiness to glorify God, etcetera? Is not this the Fruit of Love? A Man must first love God, or have his Heart united to him, before he will esteem God's Good his own, and before he will desire the glorifying and enjoying of God, as his Happiness. 'Tis not strong arguing, that because after a Man has his Heart united to God in Love, as a Fruit of this, he desires his Glory and Enjoyment as his own Happiness, that therefore a Desire of this Happiness of his own, must needs be the Cause and Foundation of his Love: Unless it be strong arguing, that because a Father begat a Son, that therefore his Son certainly begat him. If after a Man loves God, and has his Heart so united to him, as to look upon God as his chief Good, and on God's Good as his own, it will be a Consequence and Fruit of this, that even Self-love, or love to his own Happiness, will cause him to desire the glorifying and enjoying of God; it will not thence follow, that this very Exercise of Self-love, went before his Love to God, and that his Love to God was a Consequence and Fruit of that. Something else, entirely distinct from Self-love might be the Cause of this, namely A Change made in the Views of his Mind, and Relish of his Heart; whereby he apprehends a Beauty, Glory, and supreme Good, in God's Nature, as it is in itself. This may be the Thing that first draws his Heart to him, and causes his Heart to be united to him, prior to all Considerations of his own Interest or Happiness, although after this, and as a Fruit of this, he necessarily seeks his Interest and Happiness in God.

There is such a Thing, as a Kind of Love or Affection, that a Man may have towards Persons or Things, which does properly arise from Self-love; a preconceived Relation to himself, or some Respect already manifested by another to him, or some Benefit already received or depended on, is truly the first Foundation of his Love, and what his Affection does wholly arise from; and is what precedes any Relish of, or Delight in the Nature and Qualities inherent in the Being beloved, as beautiful and amiable. When the first Thing that draws a Man's Benevolence to another, is the beholding those Qualifications and Properties in him, which appear to him lovely in themselves; and the Subject of them, on this Account, worthy of Esteem and Goodwill, Love arises in a very different Manner, than when it first arises from some Gift bestowed by another, or depended on from him, as a Judge loves and favours a Man that has bribed him; or from the Relation he supposes another has to him, as a Man who loves another because he looks upon him as his Child. When Love to another arises thus, it does truly and properly arise from Self-love.

That Kind of Affection to God or Jesus Christ, which does thus properly arise from Self-love, cannot be a truly gracious and spiritual Love; as appears from what has been said already: For Self-love is a Principle entirely natural, and as much in the Hearts of Devils as Angels; and therefore surely nothing that is the mere Result of it, can be supernatural and divine, in the Manner before described. Christ plainly speaks of this Kind of Love, as what is nothing beyond the Love of wicked Men, Luke six verse thirty-two. If you love them that love you, what thank have you? For Sinners also love those that love them. And the Devil himself knew that that Kind of Respect to God which was so mercenary, as to be only for Benefits received or depended on, (which is all one) is worthless in the Sight of God; otherwise he never would have made use of such a Slander before God, against Job, as in Job one verses nine and ten. Does Job serve God for naught? Hast thou not made an Hedge about him, and about his House, etcetera? Nor would God ever have implicitly allowed the Objection to have been good, in case the Accusation had been true, by allowing that that Matter should be tried, and that Job should be so dealt with, that it might appear in the Event, whether Job's Respect to God was thus mercenary or no, and by putting the Proof of the Sincerity and Goodness of his Respect, upon that Issue.

It is unreasonable to think otherwise, than that the first Foundation of a true Love to God, is that whereby he is in himself lovely, or worthy to be loved, or the supreme Loveliness of his Nature. This is certainly what makes him chiefly amiable. What chiefly makes a Man, or any Creature lovely, is his Excellency; and so what chiefly renders God lovely, and must undoubtedly be the chief Ground of true Love, is his Excellency. God's Nature, or the Divinity, is infinitely excellent; yea it is infinite Beauty, Brightness, and Glory itself. But how can that be true Love of this excellent and lovely Nature, which is not built on the Foundation of its true Loveliness? How can that be true Love of Beauty and Brightness, which is not for Beauty and Brightness sake? How can that be a true Prizing of that which is in itself infinitely worthy and precious, which is not for the Sake of its Worthiness and Preciousness? This infinite Excellency of the divine Nature, as it is in itself, is the true Ground of all that is good in God in any Respect; but how can a Man truly and rightly love God, without loving him for that Excellency in him, which is the Foundation of all that is in any Manner of Respect good or desirable in him? They whose Affection to God is founded first on his Profitableness to them, their Affection begins at the wrong End; they regard God only for the utmost Limit of the Stream of divine Good, where it touches them, and reaches their Interest; and have no Respect to that infinite Glory of God's Nature, which is the original Good, and the true Fountain of all Good, the first Fountain of all Loveliness of every Kind, and so the first Foundation of all true Love.

A natural principle of self-love may be the foundation of great affections towards God and Christ, without seeing any thing of the beauty and glory of the divine nature. There is a certain gratitude that is a mere natural thing. Gratitude is one of the natural affections of the soul of man, as well as anger; and there is a gratitude that arises from self-love, very much in the same manner that anger does. Anger in men is an affection excited against another, or in opposition to another, for something in him that crosses self-love. Gratitude is an affection one has towards another, for loving him, or gratifying him, or for something in him that suits self-love. And there may be a kind of gratitude, without any true or proper love; as there may be anger without any proper hatred, as in parents towards their children, that they may be angry with, and yet at the same time have a strong habitual love to them. This gratitude is the principle which is in exercise in wicked men, in that which Christ declares concerning them, in the sixth of Luke, where he says, Sinners love those that love them; and which he declares concerning even the publicans, who were some of the most carnal and profligate sort of men, Matthew 5:46. This is the very principle that is wrought upon by bribery, in unjust judges; and it is a principle that even the brute beasts do exercise. A dog will love his master that is kind to him. And we see in innumerable instances, that mere nature is sufficient to excite gratitude in men, or to affect their hearts with thankfulness to others for kindnesses received; and sometimes towards them, whom at the same time they have an habitual enmity against. Thus Saul was once and again greatly affected, and even dissolved with gratitude towards David, for sparing his life; and yet remained an habitual enemy to him. And as men, from mere nature, may be thus affected towards men; so they may towards God. There is nothing hinders, but that the same self-love may work after the same manner towards God, as towards men. And we have manifest instances of it in Scripture; as indeed the children of Israel, who sang God's praises at the Red Sea, but soon forgot God's works; and in Naaman the Syrian, who was greatly affected with the miraculous cure of his leprosy, so as to have his heart engaged thenceforward to worship the God that had healed him, and him only, excepting when it would expose him to be ruined in his temporal interest. So was Nebuchadnezzar greatly affected with God's goodness to him, in restoring him to his reason and kingdom, after his dwelling with the beasts.

Gratitude being thus a natural principle, it renders ingratitude so much the more vile and heinous; because it shows a dreadful prevalence of wickedness when it even overbears, and suppresses the better principles of human nature. As it is mentioned as an evidence of the high degree of the wickedness of many of the heathen, that they were without natural affection, Romans 2:31. But that the want of gratitude, or natural affection, are evidences of an high degree of vice, is no argument that all gratitude and natural affection, has the nature of virtue, or saving-grace.

Self-love, through the exercise of a mere natural gratitude, may be the foundation of a sort of love to God many ways. A kind of love may arise from a false notion of God, that men have been educated in, or have some way imbibed; as though he were only goodness and mercy, and no revenging justice; or as though the exercises of his goodness were necessary, and not free and sovereign; or as though his goodness were dependent on what is in them, and as it were constrained by them. Men on such grounds as these, may love a God of their own forming in their imaginations, when they are far from loving such a God as reigns in Heaven.

Again, self-love may be the foundation of an affection in men towards God, through a great insensibility of their state with regard to God, and for want of conviction of conscience to make them sensible how dreadfully they have provoked God to anger. They have no sense of the heinousness of sin, as against God, and of the infinite and terrible opposition of the holy nature of God against it. And so having formed in their minds such a God as suits them, and thinking God to be such an one as themselves, who favors and agrees with them, they may like him very well, and feel a sort of love to him, when they are far from loving the true God. And men's affections may be much moved towards God, from self-love, by some remarkable outward benefits received from God; as it was with Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, and the children of Israel at the Red Sea.

Again, a very high affection towards God, may, and often does arise in men, from an opinion of the favor and love of God to them, as the first foundation of their love to him. After awakenings and distress through fears of Hell, they may suddenly get a notion, through some impression on their imagination, or immediate suggestion, with or without texts of Scripture, or by some other means, that God loves them, and has forgiven their sins, and made them his children; and this is the first thing that causes their affections to flow towards God and Jesus Christ. And then after this, and upon this foundation, many things in God may appear lovely to them, and Christ may seem excellent. And if such persons are asked, whether God appears lovely and amiable in himself? They would perhaps readily answer, Yes; when indeed, if the matter be strictly examined, this good opinion of God was purchased and paid for before ever they afforded it, in the distinguishing and infinite benefits they imagined they received from God. And they allow God to be lovely in himself, no otherwise, than that he has forgiven them, and accepted them, and loves them above most in the world, and has engaged to improve all his infinite power and wisdom in preferring, dignifying and exalting them, and will do for them just as they would have him. When once they are firm in this apprehension, it is easy to own God and Christ to be lovely and glorious, and to admire and extol them. It is easy for them to own Christ to be a lovely person, and the best in the world, when they are first firm in it, that he, though Lord of the Universe, is captivated with love to them, and has his heart swallowed up in them, and prizes them far beyond most of their neighbors, and loved them from eternity, and died for them, and will make them reign in eternal glory with him in Heaven. When this is the case with carnal men, their very lusts will make him seem lovely: Pride itself will prejudice them in favor of that which they call Christ. Selfish proud man naturally calls that lovely that greatly contributes to his interest, and gratifies his ambition.

And as this sort of persons begin, so they go on. Their affections are raised from time to time, primarily on this foundation of self-love and a conceit of God's love to them. Many have a false notion of communion with God, as though it were carried on by impulses, and whispers, and external representations, immediately made to their imagination. These things they often have; which they take to be manifestations of God's great love to them, and evidences of their high exaltation above others of mankind; and so their affections are often renewedly set a-going.

Whereas the exercises of true and holy love in the saints arise in another way. They do not first see that God loves them, and then see that he is lovely; but they first see that God is lovely, and that Christ is excellent and glorious, and their hearts are first captivated with this view, and the exercises of their love are accustomed from time to time to begin here, and to arise primarily from these views; and then, consequentially, they see God's love; and great favor to them. The saint's affections begin with God; and self-love has a hand in these affections consequentially, and secondarily only. On the contrary, those false affections begin with self, and an acknowledgement of an excellency in God, and an affectedness with it, is only consequential and dependent. In the true saint God is the lowest foundation; the love of the excellency of his nature is the foundation of all the affections which come afterwards, wherein self-love is concerned as an handmaid. On the contrary, the hypocrite lays himself at the bottom of all, as the first foundation, and lays on God as the superstructure; and even his acknowledgement of God's glory itself, depends on his regard to his private interest.

Self-love may not only influence men, so as to cause them to be affected with God's kindness to them separately; but also with God's kindness to them, as parts of a community. As a natural principle of self-love, without any other principle, may be sufficient to make a man concerned for the interest of the nation to which he belongs. As for instance, in the present war, self-love may make natural men rejoice at the successes of our nation, and sorry for their disadvantages, they being concerned as members of the body. So the same natural principles may extend further, and even to the world of mankind, and might be affected with the benefits the inhabitants of the earth have, beyond those of the inhabitants of other planets; if we knew that such there were, and knew how it was with them. So this principle may cause men to be affected with the benefits that mankind have received beyond the fallen angels. And hence men, from this principle, may be much affected with the wonderful goodness of God to mankind, his great goodness in giving his Son to die for fallen man, and the marvelous love of Christ in suffering such great things for us, and with the great glory they hear God has provided in Heaven for us; looking on themselves as persons concerned and interested, as being some of this species of creatures, so highly favored. The same principle of natural gratitude may influence men here, as in the case of personal benefits.

But these things that I have said do by no means imply that all gratitude to God is a mere natural thing, and that there is no such thing as a spiritual gratitude, which is a holy and divine affection. They imply no more, than that there is a gratitude which is merely natural, and that when persons have affections towards God only or primarily for benefits received, their affection is only the exercise of a natural gratitude. There is doubtless such a thing as a gracious gratitude, which does greatly differ from all that gratitude which natural men experience. It differs in the following respects:

1. True gratitude or thankfulness to God for his kindness to us, arises from a foundation laid before, of love to God for what he is in himself; whereas a natural gratitude has no such antecedent foundation. The gracious stirrings of grateful affection to God, for kindness received, always are from a stock of love already in the heart, established in the first place on other grounds, namely, God's own excellency; and hence the affections are disposed to flow out, on occasions of God's kindness. The saint having seen the glory of God, and his heart overcome by it, and captivated into a supreme love to him on that account, his heart hereby becomes tender, and easily affected with kindnesses received. If a man has no love to another, yet gratitude may be moved by some extraordinary kindness; as in Saul towards David. But this is not the same kind of thing, as a man's gratitude to a dear friend, that his heart was before possessed with a high esteem of, and love to; whose heart by this means became tender towards him, and more easily affected with gratitude, and affected in another manner. Self-love is not excluded from a gracious gratitude; the saints love God for his kindness to them, Psalm 116:1. I love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication. But something else is included; and another love prepares the way, and lays the foundation, for these grateful affections.

2. In a gracious Gratitude, Men are affected with the Attribute of God's Goodness and free Grace, not only as they are concerned in it, or as it affects their Interest, but as a Part of the Glory and Beauty of God's Nature. That wonderful and unparalleled Grace of God, which is manifested in the Work of Redemption, and shines forth in the Face of Jesus Christ, is infinitely glorious in itself, and appears so to the Angels; it is a great Part of the moral Perfection and Beauty of God's Nature: This would be glorious, whether it were exercised towards us or no; and the Saint who exercises a gracious Thankfulness for it, sees it to be so, and delights in it as such; though his Concern in it serves the more to engage his Mind, and raise the Attention and Affection; and Self-Love here assists as an Handmaid, being subservient to higher Principles, to lead forth the Mind to the View and Contemplation, and engage and fix the Attention, and heighten the Joy and Love: God's Kindness to them is a Glass that God sets before them, wherein to behold the Beauty of the Attribute of God's Goodness: The Exercises and Displays of this Attribute, by this Means, are brought near to them, and set right before them. So that in a holy Thankfulness to God, the Concern our Interest has in God's Goodness, is not the first Foundation of our being affected with it; that was laid in the Heart before, in that Stock of Love which was to God, for his Excellency in himself, that makes the Heart tender, and susceptive of such Impressions from his Goodness to us: Nor is our own Interest, of the Benefits we have received, the only, or the chief objective Ground of the present Exercises of the Affection; but God's Goodness, as Part of the Beauty of his Nature; although the Manifestations of that lovely Attribute, set immediately before our Eyes, in the Exercises of it for us, be the special Occasion of the Mind's Attention to that Beauty, at that Time, and serves to fix the Attention, and heighten the Affection.

Some may perhaps be ready to object against the whole that has been said, that Text, 1 John 4:19. We love him, because he first loved us, as though this implied that God's Love to the true Saints were the first Foundation of their Love to him.

In answer to this I would observe, that the Apostle's Drift in these Words, is to magnify the Love of God to us from hence, that he loved us, while we had no Love to him; as will be manifest to any one who compares this Verse, and the two following, with the ninth, tenth and eleventh Verses. And that God loved us, when we had no Love to him, the Apostle proves by this Argument, that God's Love to the Elect, is the Ground of their Love to him. And that it is three Ways. 1. The Saints Love to God, is the Fruit of God's Love to them; as it is the Gift of that Love. God gave them a Spirit of Love to him, because he loved them from Eternity. And in this Respect God's Love to his Elect is the first Foundation of their Love to him, as it is the Foundation of their Regeneration, and the Whole of their Redemption. 2. The Exercises and Discoveries that God has made of his wonderful Love to sinful Men, by Jesus Christ, in the Work of Redemption, is one of the chief Manifestations, which God has made of the Glory of his moral Perfection, to both Angels and Men; and so is one main objective Ground of the Love of Both to God; in a good Consistence with what was said before. 3. God's Love to a particular elect Person, discovered by his Conversion, is a great Manifestation of God's moral Perfection and Glory to him, and a proper Occasion of the Excitation of the Love of holy Gratitude, agreeable to what was before said. And that the Saints do in these Respects love God, because he first loved them, fully answers the Design of the Apostle's Argument in that Place. So that no good Argument can be drawn from hence, against a spiritual and gracious Love in the Saints, arising primarily from the Excellency of divine Things, as they are in themselves, and not from any conceived Relation they bear to their Interest.

And as it is with the Love of the Saints, so it is with their Joy, and spiritual Delight and Pleasure: the first Foundation of it, is not any Consideration or Conception of their Interest in divine Things; but it primarily consists in the sweet Entertainment their Minds have in the View or Contemplation of the divine and holy Beauty of these Things, as they are in themselves. And this is indeed the very main Difference between the Joy of the Hypocrite, and the Joy of the true Saint. The former rejoices in himself; Self is the first Foundation of his Joy: The latter rejoices in God. The Hypocrite has his Mind pleased and delighted, in the first Place, with his own Privilege, and the Happiness which he supposes he has attained, or shall attain. True Saints have their Minds, in the first Place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet Ideas of the glorious and amiable Nature of the Things of God. And this is the Spring of all their Delights, and the Cream of all their Pleasures; it is the Joy of their Joy. This sweet and ravishing Entertainment, they have in the View of the beautiful and delightful Nature of divine Things, is the Foundation of the Joy that they have afterwards, in the Consideration of their being theirs. But the Dependance of the Affections of Hypocrites is in a contrary Order: They first rejoice, and are elevated with it, that they are made so much of by God; and then on that Ground, he seems in a Sort, lovely to them.

The first Foundation of the Delight a true Saint has in God, is his own Perfection; and the first Foundation of the Delight he has in Christ, is his own Beauty; he appears in himself the Chief among Ten Thousand, and altogether lovely: the Way of Salvation by Christ, is a delightful Way to him, for the sweet and admirable Manifestations of the divine Perfections in it; the holy Doctrines of the Gospel, by which God is exalted and Man abased, Holiness honoured and promoted, and Sin greatly disgraced and discouraged, and free and sovereign Love manifested; are glorious Doctrines in his Eyes, and sweet to his Taste, prior to any Conception of his Interest in these Things. Indeed the Saints rejoice in their Interest in God, and that Christ is theirs; and so they have great Reason; But this is not the first Spring of their Joy: They first rejoice in God as glorious and excellent in himself, and then secondarily rejoice in it, that so glorious a God is theirs: They first have their Hearts filled with Sweetness, from the View of Christ's Excellency, and the Excellency of his Grace, and the Beauty of the Way of Salvation by him; and then they have a secondary Joy, in that so excellent a Saviour, and such excellent Grace is theirs. But that which is the true Saint's Superstructure, is the Hypocrite's Foundation. When they hear of the wonderful Things of the Gospel, of God's great Love in sending his Son, of Christ's dying Love to Sinners, and the great Things Christ has purchased, and promised to the Saints, and hear these Things livelily and eloquently set forth; they may hear with a great deal of Pleasure, and be lifted up with what they hear: but if their Joy be examined, it will be found to have no other Foundation than this, that they look upon these Things as theirs, all this exalts them, they love to hear of the great Love of Christ so vastly distinguishing some from others; for Self-love, and even Pride itself, makes them affect great Distinction from others: No Wonder, in this confident Opinion of their own good Estate, that they feel well under such Doctrine, and are pleased in the highest Degree, in hearing how much God and Christ makes of them. So that their Joy is really a Joy in themselves, and not in God.

And because the Joy of Hypocrites is in themselves, hence it comes to pass, that in their Rejoicings and Elevations, they are wont to keep their Eye upon themselves; having received what they call spiritual Discoveries or Experiences, their Minds are taken up about them, admiring their own Experiences: And what they are principally taken and elevated with, is not the Glory of God, or Beauty of Christ, but the Beauty of their Experiences. They keep thinking with themselves, What a good Experience is this! What a great Discovery is this! What wonderful Things have I met with! And so they put their Experiences in the Place of Christ, and his Beauty and Fullness; and instead of rejoicing in Christ Jesus, they rejoice in their admirable Experiences: instead of feeding and feasting their Souls in the View of what is without them, namely the innate, sweet, refreshing Amiableness of the Things exhibited in the Gospel, their Eyes are off from these Things, or at least they view them as it were sideways; but the Object that fixes their Contemplation, is their Experience; and they are feeding their Souls, and feasting a selfish Principle with a View of their Discoveries: They take more Comfort in their Discoveries than in Christ discovered, which is the true Notion of living upon Experiences and Frames; and not a using Experiences as the Signs, on which they rely for Evidence of their good Estate, which some call living on Experiences: Though it be very observable, that some of them who do so, are most notorious for living upon Experiences, according to the true Notion of it.

The Affections of Hypocrites are very often after this Manner, they are first, much affected with some Impression on their Imagination, or some Impulse, which they take to be an immediate Suggestion, or Testimony from God, of his Love and their Happiness, and high Privilege in some Respect, either with or without a Text of Scripture; they are mightily taken with this, as a great Discovery; and hence arise high Affections. And when their Affections are raised, then they view those high Affections, and call them great and wonderful Experiences; and they have a Notion that God is greatly pleased with those Affections; and this affects them more; and so they are affected with their Affections. And thus their Affections rise higher and higher, until they sometimes are perfectly swallowed up: And Self conceit, and a fierce Zeal rises withal; and all is built like a Castle in the Air, on no other Foundation but Imagination, Self-love and Pride.

And as the Thoughts of this Sort of Persons are, so is their Talk; for out of the Abundance of their Heart, their Mouth speaketh. As in their high Affections, they keep their Eye upon the Beauty of their Experiences, and Greatness of their Attainments; so they are great Talkers about themselves. The true Saint, when under great spiritual Affections, from the Fullness of his Heart, is ready to be speaking much of God, and his glorious Perfections and Works, and of the Beauty and Amiableness of Christ, and the glorious Things of the Gospel; but Hypocrites, in their high Affections, talk more of the Discovery, than they do of the Thing discovered; they are full of Talk about the great Things they have met with, the wonderful Discoveries they have had, how sure they are of the Love of God to them, how safe their Condition is, and how they know they shall go to Heaven, et cetera.

A true Saint, when in the Enjoyment of true Discoveries of the sweet Glory of God and Christ, has his Mind too much captivated and engaged by what he views without himself, to stand at that Time to view himself, and his own Attainments: it would be a Diversion and Loss which he could not bear, to take his Eye off from the ravishing Object of his Contemplation, to survey his own Experience, and to spend Time in thinking with himself, what an high Attainment this is, and what a good Story they now have to tell others. Nor does the Pleasure and Sweetness of his Mind at that Time, chiefly arise from the Consideration of the Safety of his State, or any Thing he has in View of his own Qualifications, Experiences, or Circumstances; but from the divine and supreme Beauty of what is the Object of his direct View, without himself; which sweetly entertains, and strongly holds his Mind.

As the Love and Joy of Hypocrites, are all from the Source of Self-Love; so it is with their other Affections, their Sorrow for Sin, their Humiliation and Submission, their religious Desires and Zeal: Every Thing is as it were paid for beforehand, in God's highly gratifying their Self-love, and their Lusts, by making so much of them, and exalting them so highly, as Things are in their Imagination. It is easy for Nature, as corrupt as it is, under a Notion of being already some of the highest Favorites of Heaven, and having a God who does so protect them and favor them in their Sins, to love this imaginary God that suits them so well, and to extol him, and submit to him, and to be fierce and zealous for him. The high Affections of many are all built on the Supposition of their being eminent Saints. If that Opinion which they have of themselves were taken away, if they thought they were some of the lower Form of Saints, (though they should yet suppose themselves to be real Saints) their high Affections would fall to the Ground. If they only saw a little of the Sinfulness and Vileness of their own Hearts, and their Deformity, in the midst of their best Duties and their best Affections, it would knock their Affections on the Head; because their Affections are built upon Self, therefore Self-knowledge would destroy them. But as to truly gracious Affections, they are built elsewhere: they have their Foundation out of Self, in God and Jesus Christ; and therefore a Discovery of themselves, of their own Deformity, and the Meanness of their Experiences, though it will purify their Affections, yet it will not destroy them, but in some Respects sweeten and heighten them.

3. Those Affections that are truly Holy, are primarily founded on the Loveliness of the moral Excellency of divine Things. Or, (to express it otherwise) a Love to divine Things for the Beauty and Sweetness of their moral Excellency, is the first Beginning and Spring of all holy Affections.

Here, for the sake of the more illiterate Reader, I will explain what I mean by the moral Excellency of divine Things.

And it may be observed that the Word Moral is not to be understood here, according to the common and vulgar Acceptation of the Word, when Men speak of Morality, and a moral Behavior meaning an outward Conformity to the Duties of the moral Law, and especially the Duties of the second Table; or intending no more at farthest, than such seeming Virtues, as proceed from natural Principles, in Opposition to those Virtues that are more inward, spiritual, and divine; as the Honesty, Justice, Generosity, Good Nature, and public Spirit of many of the Heathen, are called moral Virtues, in Distinction from the holy Faith, Love, Humility, and Heavenly-mindedness of true Christians: I say the Word Moral is not to be understood thus in this Place.

But in order to a right understanding what is meant, it must be observed, that Divines commonly make a Distinction between moral Good and Evil, and natural Good and Evil. By moral Evil, they mean the Evil of Sin, or that Evil which is against Duty, and contrary to what is right and ought to be. By natural Evil, they do not mean that Evil which is properly opposed to Duty; but that which is contrary to mere Nature, without any Respect to a Rule of Duty. So the Evil of suffering is called natural Evil, such as Pain, and Torment, Disgrace, and the like: These Things are contrary to mere Nature, contrary to the Nature of both Bad and Good, hateful to wicked Men and Devils, as well as good Men and Angels. So likewise natural Defects are called natural Evils, as if a Child be monstrous, or a natural Fool; these are natural Evils, but are not moral Evils, because they have not properly the Nature of the Evil of Sin. On the other Hand, as by moral Evil, Divines mean the Evil of Sin, or that which is contrary to what is right; so by moral Good, they mean that which is contrary to Sin, or that Good in Beings who have Will and Choice, whereby, as voluntary Agents, they are, and act, as it becomes them to be and to act, or so as is most fit, and suitable, and lovely. By natural Good they mean that Good that is entirely of a different Kind from Holiness or Virtue, namely That which perfects or suits Nature, considering Nature abstractly from any holy or unholy Qualifications, and without any Relation to any Rule or Measure of Right and Wrong.

Thus Pleasure is a natural Good; so is Honor; so is Strength; so is speculative Knowledge, human Learning, and Policy. Thus there is a Distinction to be made between the natural Good that Men are possessed of, and their moral Good; and also between the natural and moral Good of the Angels in Heaven: the great Capacity of their Understandings, and their great Strength, and the honorable Circumstances they are in as the great Ministers of God's Kingdom, whence they are called Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers, is the natural Good which they are possessed of; but their perfect and glorious Holiness and Goodness, their pure and flaming Love to God, and to the Saints, and one another, is their moral Good. So Divines make a Distinction between the natural and moral Perfections of God: By the moral Perfections of God, they mean those Attributes which God exercises as a moral Agent, or whereby the Heart and Will of God are good, right, and infinitely becoming, and lovely; such as his Righteousness, Truth, Faithfulness, and Goodness; or, in one Word, his Holiness. By God's natural Attributes or Perfections, they mean those Attributes, wherein, according to our Way of conceiving of God, consists, not the Holiness or moral Goodness of God, but his Greatness; such as his Power, his Knowledge whereby he knows all Things, and his being eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, his Omnipresence, and his awful and terrible Majesty.

The moral Excellency of an intelligent voluntary Being, is more immediately seated in the Heart or Will of moral Agents. That intelligent Being whose Will is truly right and lovely, he is morally good or excellent.

This moral Excellency of an intelligent Being, when it is true and real, and not only external, or merely Seeming and Counterfeit, is Holiness. Therefore Holiness comprehends all the true moral Excellency of intelligent Beings: There is no other true Virtue, but real Holiness. Holiness comprehends all the true Virtue of a good Man, his Love to God, his gracious Love to Men, his Justice, his Charity, and Bowels of Mercies, his gracious Meekness and Gentleness, and all other true Christian Virtues that he has, belong to his Holiness. So the Holiness of God in the more extensive Sense of the Word, and the Sense in which the Word is commonly, if not universally used in Scripture, is the same with the moral Excellency of the divine Nature, or his Purity and Beauty as a moral Agent, comprehending all his moral Perfections, his Righteousness, Faithfulness and Goodness. As in holy Men their Charity, Christian Kindness and Mercy, belongs to their Holiness; so the Kindness and Mercy of God, belongs to his Holiness. Holiness in Man, is but the image of God's Holiness: There are not more Virtues belonging to the Image, than are in the Original: Derived Holiness has not more in it, than is in that underived Holiness, which is its Fountain: There is no more than Grace for Grace, or Grace in the Image, answerable to Grace in the Original.

As there are two Kinds of Attributes in God, according to our Way of conceiving of him, his moral Attributes, which are summed up in his Holiness, and his natural Attributes, of Strength, Knowledge, etcetera that constitute the Greatness of God; so there is a twofold Image of God in Man, his moral or spiritual Image, which is his Holiness, that is the Image of God's moral Excellency; (which Image was lost by the Fall) and God's natural Image, consisting in Men's Reason and Understanding, his natural Ability, and Dominion over the Creatures, which is the Image of God's natural Attributes.

From what has been said, it may easily be understood what I intend, when I say that a Love to divine Things for the Beauty of their moral Excellency, is the Beginning and Spring of all holy Affections. It has been already shown, under the former Head, that the first objective Ground of all holy Affections is the supreme Excellency of divine Things as they are in themselves, or in their own Nature; I now proceed further, and say more particularly, that that Kind of Excellency of the Nature of divine Things, which is the first objective Ground of all holy Affections, is their moral Excellency, or their Holiness. Holy Persons, in the Exercise of holy Affections, do love divine Things primarily for their Holiness: They love God, in the first Place, for the Beauty of his Holiness or moral Perfection, as being supremely amiable in itself. Not that the Saints, in the Exercise of gracious Affections, do love God only for his Holiness; all his Attributes are amiable and glorious in their Eyes, they delight in every divine Perfection; the Contemplation of the infinite Greatness, Power, and Knowledge, and terrible Majesty of God, is pleasant to them. But their Love to God for his Holiness is what is most fundamental and essential in their Love. Here it is that true Love to God begins: All other holy Love to divine Things flows from hence: This is the most essential and distinguishing Thing that belongs to a holy Love to God, with Regard to the Foundation of it. A Love to God for the Beauty of his moral Attributes, leads to, and necessarily causes a Delight in God for all his Attributes; for his moral Attributes cannot be without his natural Attributes: For infinite Holiness supposes infinite Wisdom, and an infinite Capacity and Greatness; and all the Attributes of God do as it were imply one another.

The true Beauty and Loveliness of all intelligent Beings does primarily and most essentially consist in their moral Excellency or Holiness. Herein consists the Loveliness of the Angels, without which, with all their natural Perfections, their Strength, and their Knowledge, they would have no more Loveliness than Devils. It is moral Excellency alone, that is in itself, and on its own Account, the Excellency of intelligent Beings: It is this that gives Beauty to, or rather is the Beauty of their natural Perfections and Qualifications. Moral Excellency is the Excellency of natural Excellencies. Natural Qualifications are either excellent or otherwise, according as they are joined with moral Excellency or not. Strength and Knowledge do not render any Being lovely, without Holiness; but more hateful: Though they render them more lovely, when joined with Holiness. Thus the elect Angels are the more glorious for their Strength and Knowledge, because these natural Perfections of theirs, are sanctified by their moral Perfection. But though the Devils are very strong, and of great natural Understanding, they are not the more lovely: They are more terrible indeed, but not the more amiable; but on the contrary, the more hateful. The Holiness of an intelligent Creature, is the Beauty of all his natural Perfections. And so it is in God, according to our Way of conceiving of the divine Being: Holiness is in a peculiar Manner the Beauty of the divine Nature. Hence we often read of the Beauty of Holiness; Psalms 29:2, Psalms 96:9, and 110:3. This renders all his other Attributes glorious and lovely. It is the Glory of God's Wisdom, that it is a holy Wisdom, and not a wicked Subtlety and Craftiness. This makes his Majesty lovely, and not merely dreadful and horrible, that it is a holy Majesty. It is the Glory of God's Immutability, that it is a holy Immutability, and not an inflexible Obstinacy in Wickedness.

And therefore it must needs be, that a Sight of God's Loveliness must begin here. A true Love to God must begin with a Delight in his Holiness, and not with a Delight in any other Attribute; for no other Attribute is truly lovely without this, and no otherwise than as (according to our Way of conceiving of God) it derives its Loveliness from this; and therefore it is impossible that other Attributes should appear lovely, in their true Loveliness, until this is seen; and it is impossible that any Perfection of the divine Nature should be loved with true Love, until this is loved. If the true Loveliness of all God's Perfections, arises from the Loveliness of his Holiness; then the true Love of all his Perfections, arises from the Love of his Holiness. They that do not see the Glory of God's Holiness, cannot see any Thing of the true Glory of his Mercy and Grace: They see nothing of the Glory of those Attributes, as any Excellency of God's Nature, as it is in itself; though they may be affected with them, and love them, as they concern their Interest: For these Attributes are no Part of the Excellency of God's Nature, as that is excellent in itself, any otherwise than as they are included in his Holiness, more largely taken; or as they are a Part of his moral Perfection.

As the Beauty of the divine Nature does primarily consist in God's Holiness, so does the Beauty of all divine Things. Herein consists the Beauty of the Saints, that they are Saints, or holy Ones: It is the moral Image of God in them, which is their Beauty; and which is their Holiness. Herein consists the Beauty and Brightness of the Angels of Heaven, that they are holy Angels, and so not Devils; Daniel 4:13, 17, 23; Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Acts 10:22; Revelation 14:10. Herein consists the Beauty of the Christian Religion, above all other Religions, that it is so holy a Religion. Herein consists the Excellency of the Word of God, that it is so holy; Psalm 119:140. Thy Word is very pure, therefore thy Servant loveth it. Verse 128. I esteem all thy Precepts, concerning all Things, to be right; and I hate every false Way. Verse 138. Thy Testimonies, that thou hast commanded, are righteous, and very faithful. And 172. My Tongue shall speak of thy Word; for all thy Commandments are Righteousness. And Psalm 19:7, 8, 9, 10. The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the Soul: The Testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the Simple: The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the Heart: The Commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the Eyes: The Fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: The Judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether: More to be desired are they than Gold, yea, than much fine Gold; sweeter also than Honey, and the Honeycomb. Herein does primarily consist the Amiableness and Beauty of the Lord Jesus, whereby he is the chief among ten Thousands and altogether lovely; even in that he is the holy One of God, Acts 3:14 and God's holy Child, Acts 4:27 and he that is Holy, and he that is True, Revelation 3:7. All the spiritual Beauty of his human Nature, consisting in his Meekness, Lowliness, Patience, Heavenliness, Love to God, Love to Men, Condescension to the Mean and Vile, and Compassion to the Miserable, et cetera, all is summed up in his Holiness. And the Beauty of his divine Nature, of which the Beauty of his human Nature is the Image and Reflection, does also primarily consist in his Holiness. Herein primarily consists the Glory of the Gospel, that it is a holy Gospel, and so bright an Emanation of the holy Beauty of God and Jesus Christ: Herein consists the spiritual Beauty of its Doctrines, that they are holy Doctrines, or Doctrines according to Godliness. And herein does consist the spiritual Beauty of the Way of Salvation by Jesus Christ, that it is so holy a Way. And herein chiefly consists the Glory of Heaven, that it is the holy City, the holy Jerusalem, the Habitation of God's Holiness, and so of his Glory; Isaiah 63:15. All the Beauties of the new Jerusalem, as it is described in the two last Chapters of Revelation, are but various Representations of this: See Chapter 21:2, 10, 11, 18, 21, 27; Chapter 22:1, 3.

And therefore it is primarily on Account of this Kind of Excellency, that the Saints do love all these Things. Thus they love the Word of God, because it is very pure. It is on this Account they love the Saints; and on this Account chiefly it is, that Heaven is lovely to them, and those holy Tabernacles of God amiable in their Eyes: It is on this Account that they love God; and on this Account primarily it is, that they love Christ, and that their Hearts delight in the Doctrines of the Gospel, and sweetly acquiesce in the Way of Salvation therein revealed.

Under the Head of the first distinguishing Characteristic of gracious Affection, I observed that there is given to those that are regenerated, a new supernatural Sense, that is as it were a certain divine spiritual Taste, which is in its whole Nature diverse from any former Kinds of Sensation of the Mind, as Tasting is diverse from any of the other five Senses, and that something is perceived by a true Saint in the Exercise of this new Sense of Mind, in spiritual and divine Things, as entirely different from any Thing that is perceived in them by natural Men, as the sweet Taste or Honey is diverse from the Ideas Men get of Honey by looking on it or feeling of it; now this that I have been speaking, namely The Beauty of Holiness is that Thing in spiritual and divine Things, which is perceived by this spiritual Sense, that is so diverse from all that natural Men perceive in them: This Kind of Beauty is the Quality that is the immediate Object of this spiritual Sense: This is the Sweetness that is the proper Object of this spiritual Taste. The Scripture often represents the Beauty and Sweetness of Holiness as the grand Object of a spiritual Taste, and spiritual Appetite. This was the sweet Food of the holy Soul of Jesus Christ, John 4:32, 34. I have Meat to eat, that ye know not of;—My Meat is to do the Will of him that sent me, and to finish his Work. I know of no Part of the holy Scriptures, where the Nature and Evidences of true and sincere Godliness, are so much of set Purpose, and so fully and largely insisted on and delineated, as the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm; the Psalmist declares his Design in the first Verses of the Psalm, and he keeps his Eye on this Design all along, and pursues it to the End: But in this Psalm the Excellency of Holiness is represented as the immediate Object of a spiritual Taste, Relish, Appetite and Delight, God's Law, that grand Expression and Emanation of the Holiness of God's Nature, and Prescription of Holiness to the Creature, is all along represented as the Food and Entertainment, and as the great Object of the Love, the Appetite, the Compliance and Rejoicing of the gracious Nature, which prizes God's Commandments above Gold, yea, the finest Gold, and to which they are sweeter than the Honey, and Honeycomb; and that upon Account of their Holiness, as I observed before. The same Psalmist declares, that this is the Sweetness that a spiritual Taste relishes in God's Law, Psalm 19:8, 9, 10. The Law of the Lord is perfect:—The Commandment of the Lord is pure: The Fear of the Lord is clean: The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the Heart:—The Judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether: More to be desired are they than Gold, yea than much fine Gold; sweeter also than Honey and the Honeycomb.

A holy Love has a holy Object: The Holiness of Love consists especially in this that it is the Love of that which is holy, as holy, or for its Holiness; so that it is the Holiness of the Object, which is the Quality whereon it fixes and terminates. An holy Nature must needs love that in holy Things chiefly, which is most agreeable to itself; but surely that in divine Things, which above all others is agreeable to holy Nature, is Holiness; because Holiness must be above all other Things agreeable to Holiness; for nothing can be more agreeable to any Nature than itself; holy Nature must be above all Things agreeable to holy Nature: And so the holy Nature of God and Christ, and the Word of God, and other divine Things, must be above all other Things, agreeable to the holy Nature that is in the Saints.

And again, an holy Nature doubtless loves holy Things, especially on the Account of that, for which sinful Nature has Enmity against them: But that for which chiefly sinful Nature is at Enmity against holy Things, is their Holiness; it is for this, that the carnal Mind is Enmity against God, and against the Law of God, and the People of God. Now it is just arguing from Contraries; from contrary Causes, to contrary Effects; from opposite Natures, to opposite Tendencies. We know that Holiness is of a directly contrary Nature to Wickedness: As therefore it is the Nature of Wickedness chiefly to oppose and hate Holiness; so it must be the Nature of Holiness chiefly to tend to, and delight in Holiness.

The holy Nature in the Saints and Angels in Heaven (where the true Tendency of it best appears) is principally engaged by the Holiness of divine Things. This is the divine Beauty which chiefly engages the Attention, Admiration and Praise of the bright and burning Seraphim; Isaiah 6:3. One cried unto another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole Earth is full of his Glory. And Revelation 4:8. They rest not Day and Night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. So the glorified Saints, Chapter 15:4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name, for thou only art Holy?

And the Scriptures represent the Saints on Earth as adoring God primarily on this Account, and admiring and extolling all God's Attributes, either as deriving Loveliness from his Holiness, or as being a Part of it. Thus when they praise God for his Power, his Holiness is the Beauty that engages them; Psalm 98:1. O sing unto the Lord a new Song, for he hath done marvellous Things; his right Hand and his HOLY Arm hath gotten him the Victory. So when they praise him for his Justice and terrible Majesty; Psalm 99:2, 3. The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all People: Let them praise thy great and terrible Name, for it is HOLY. Verse 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his Footstool, for he is HOLY. Verse 8, 9. Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest Vengeance of their Inventions. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his holy Hill; for the Lord our God is HOLY. So when they praise God for his Mercy and Faithfulness; Psalm 97:11, 12. Light is sown for the Righteous, and Gladness for the Upright in Heart. Rejoice in the Lord ye Righteous, and give Thanks at the Remembrance of his HOLINESS. 1 Samuel 2:2. There is none HOLY as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any Rock like our God.

By this therefore all may try their Affections, and particularly their Love and Joy. Various Kinds of Creatures show the Difference of their Natures, very much, in the different Things they relish as their proper Good, one delighting in that which another abhors. Such a Difference is there between true Saints, and natural Men: Natural Men have no Sense of the Goodness and Excellency of holy Things; at least for their Holiness; they have no Taste of that Kind of Good; and so may be said not to know that divine Good, or not to see it; it is wholly hid from them: But the Saints, by the mighty Power of God, have it discovered to them: They have that supernatural, most noble and divine Sense given them, by which they perceive it: And it is this that captivates their Hearts, and delights them above all Things; it is the most amiable and sweet Thing to the Heart of a true Saint, that is to be found in Heaven or Earth; that which above all others attracts and engages his Soul; and that wherein, above all Things, he places his Happiness, and which he lots upon for Solace and Entertainment to his Mind, in this World, and full Satisfaction and Blessedness in another. By this you may examine your Love to God, and to Jesus Christ, and to the Word of God, and your Joy in them, and also your Love to the People of God, and your Desires after Heaven; whether they be from a supreme Delight in this Sort of Beauty, without being primarily moved from your imagined Interest in them, or Expectations from them. There are many high Affections, great seeming Love and rapturous Joys, which have nothing of this holy Relish belonging to them.

Particularly, By what has been said you may try your Discoveries of the Glory of God's Grace and Love, and your Affections arising from them. The Grace of God may appear lovely two Ways; either as Bonum Utile, a profitable Good to me, that which greatly serves my Interest, and so suits my Self-Love; or as Bonum formosum, a Beautiful Good in itself, and Part of the moral and spiritual Excellency of the divine Nature. In this latter Respect it is that the true Saints have their Hearts affected, and Love captivated by the free Grace of God in the first Place.

From the Things that have been said, it appears, that if Persons have a great Sense of the natural Perfections of God, and are greatly affected with them, or have any other Sight or Sense of God, than that which consists in, or implies a Sense of the Beauty of his moral Perfections, it is no certain Sign of Grace: As particularly, Men's having a great Sense of the awful Greatness, and terrible Majesty of God; for this is only God's natural Perfection, and what Men may see, and yet be entirely blind to the Beauty of his moral Perfection, and have nothing of that spiritual Taste which relishes this divine Sweetness.

It has been shown already, in what was said upon the first distinguishing Mark of gracious Affections, that that which is spiritual, is entirely different in its Nature, from all that it is possible any graceless Person should be the Subject of, while he continues graceless. But it is possible that those who are wholly without Grace, should have a clear Sight, and very great and affecting Sense of God's Greatness, his mighty Power, and awful Majesty; for this is what the Devils have, though they have lost the spiritual Knowledge of God, consisting in a Sense of the Amiableness of his moral Perfections; they are perfectly destitute of any Sense or Relish of that Kind of Beauty, yet they have a very great Knowledge of the natural Glory of God (if I may so speak) or his awful Greatness and Majesty; this they behold, and are affected with the Apprehensions of, and therefore tremble before him. This Glory of God all shall behold at the Day of Judgment; God will make all rational Beings to behold it to a great Degree indeed, Angels and Devils, Saints and Sinners: He will manifest his infinite Greatness, and awful Majesty to every One, in a most open, clear and convincing Manner, and in a Light that none can resist, when he shall come in the Glory of his Father, and every Eye shall see him; when they shall cry to the Mountains to fall upon them, to hide them from the Face of him that sits upon the Throne, they are represented as seeing the Glory of God's Majesty, Isaiah 2. 10, 19, 21. God will make all his Enemies to behold this, and to live in a most clear and affecting View of it, in Hell, to all Eternity. God hath often declared his immutable Purpose to make all his Enemies to know him in this Respect, in so often annexing these Words to the Threatenings he denounces against them, and they shall know that I am the Lord; yea, he hath sworn that all Men shall see his Glory in this Respect; Numbers 14. 21. As truly as I live, all the Earth shall be filled with the Glory of the Lord. And this Kind of Manifestation of God is very often spoken of in Scripture, as made, or to be made, in the Sight of God's Enemies in this World; Exodus 9. 16. and Chapter 14. 18. and 15. 16. Psalms 66. 3. and 46. 10. and other Places innumerable. This was a Manifestation which God made of himself in the Sight of that wicked Congregation at Mount Sinai; and deeply affecting them with it; so that all the People in the Camp trembled. Wicked Men and Devils will see, and have a great Sense of every Thing that appertains to the Glory of God, but only the Beauty of his moral Perfection. They will see his infinite Greatness and Majesty, his infinite Power, and will be fully convinced of his Omniscience, and his Eternity and Immutability; and they will see and know every Thing appertaining to his moral Attributes themselves, but only the Beauty and Amiableness of them: They will see and know that he is perfectly just and righteous and true; and that he is a holy God, of purer Eyes than to behold Evil, who cannot look on Iniquity, and they will see the wonderful Manifestations of his infinite Goodness and free Grace to the Saints; and there is nothing will be hid from their Eyes, but only the Beauty of these moral Attributes, and that Beauty of the other Attributes, which arises from it. And so natural Men in this World are capable of having a very affecting Sense of every Thing else that appertains to God, but this only. Nebuchadnezzar had a great and very affecting Sense of the infinite Greatness and awful Majesty of God, of his supreme and absolute Dominion, and mighty and irresistible Power, and of his Sovereignty, and that he, and all the Inhabitants of the Earth were nothing before him; and also had a great Conviction in his Conscience of his Justice, and an affecting Sense of his great Goodness; Daniel 4. 1, 2, 3, 34, 35, 37. And the Sense that Darius had of God's Perfections, seems to be very much like his; Daniel 6. 25. etc. But the Saints and Angels do behold the Glory of God consisting in the Beauty of his Holiness: And it is this Sight only, that will melt and humble the Hearts of Men, and wean them from the World, and draw them to God, and effectually change them. A Sight of the awful Greatness of God, may overpower Men's Strength, and be more than they can endure; but if the moral Beauty of God be hid, the Enmity of the Heart will remain in its full Strength, no Love will be enkindled, all will not be effectual to gain the Will, but that will remain inflexible; whereas the first Glimpse of the moral and spiritual Glory of God shining into the Heart, produces all these Effects, as it were with omnipotent Power, which nothing can withstand.

The Sense that natural Men may have of the awful Greatness of God may affect them various Ways; it may not only terrify them, but it may elevate them and raise their Joy and Praise, as their Circumstances may be. This will be the natural Effect of it, under the real or supposed Receipt of some extraordinary Mercy from God, by the Influence of mere Principles of Nature. It has been shown already, that the Receipt of Kindness may, by the Influence of natural Principles, affect the Heart with Gratitude and Praise to God; but if a Person, at the same Time that he receives remarkable Kindness from God, has a Sense of his infinite Greatness, and that he is but Nothing in Comparison of him, surely this will naturally raise his Gratitude and Praise the higher, for Kindness to one so much inferior. A Sense of God's Greatness had this Effect upon Nebuchadnezzar, under the Receipt of that extraordinary Favour of his Restoration, after he had been driven from Men, and had his dwelling with the Beasts: A Sense of God's exceeding Greatness raises his Gratitude very high; so that he does, in the most lofty Terms, extol and magnify God, and calls upon all the World to do it with him: And much more, if a natural Man, at the same Time that he is greatly affected with God's infinite Greatness and Majesty, entertains a strong Conceit that this great God has made him his Child and special Favourite, and promised him eternal Glory in his highest Love; will this have a Tendency, according to the Course of Nature, to raise his Joy and Praise to a great Height.

Therefore, it is beyond Doubt, that too much Weight has been laid, by many Persons of late, on Discoveries of God's Greatness, awful Majesty, and natural Perfection, operating after this Manner, without any real View of the holy, lovely Majesty of God. And Experience does abundantly witness to what Reason and Scripture declare as to this Matter; there having been very many Persons, who have seemed to be overpowered with the Greatness and awful Majesty of God, and consequentially elevated in the Manner that has been spoken of, who have been very far from having Appearances of a Christian Spirit and Temper, in any Manner of Proportion, or Fruits in Practice in any wise agreeable; but their Discoveries have worked in a way contrary to the Operation of truly spiritual Discoveries.

Not that a Sense of God's Greatness and natural Attributes is not exceeding useful and necessary. For, as I observed before, this is implied in a Manifestation of the Beauty of God's Holiness. Though that be something beyond it, it supposes it, as the greater supposes the less. And though natural Men may have a Sense of the natural Perfections of God; yet undoubtedly this is more frequent and common with the Saints, than with natural Men; and Grace tends to enable Men to see these Things in a better Manner, than natural Men do. And not only enables them to see God's natural Attributes, but that Beauty of those Attributes, which (according to our Way of conceiving of God) is derived from his Holiness.

4. Gracious Affections do arise from the Mind's being enlightened, rightly and spiritually to understand or apprehend divine Things.

Holy Affections are not Heat without Light; but evermore arise from some Information of the Understanding, some spiritual Instruction that the Mind receives, some Light or actual Knowledge. The Child of God is graciously affected, because he sees and understands something more of divine Things than he did before, more of God or Christ and of the glorious Things exhibited in the Gospel; he has some clearer and better View than he had before, when he was not affected; Either he receives some Understanding of divine Things that is new to him; or has his former Knowledge renewed after the View was decayed; 1 John 4. 7. Every one that loveth, knoweth God. Philippians 1. 9. I pray that your Love may abound more and more, in knowledge and in all Judgment. Romans 10. 2. They have a Zeal of God, but not according to Knowledge. Colossians 3. 10. The new Man, which is renewed in Knowledge. Psalms 43. 3, 4. O send out thy Light and thy Truth; let them lead me, let them bring me into thy holy Hill. John 6. 45. It is written in the Prophets, and they shall be all taught of God: Every Man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Knowledge is the Key that first opens the hard Heart and enlarges the Affections, and so opens the Way for Men into the Kingdom of Heaven; Luke 11. 52. Ye have taken away the Key of Knowledge.

Now there are many affections which do not arise from any light in the understanding. And when it is thus, it is a sure evidence that these affections are not spiritual, let them be ever so high. Indeed they have some new apprehensions which they had not before. Such is the nature of man, that it is impossible his mind should be affected, unless it be by something that he apprehends, or that his mind conceives of. But in many persons these apprehensions or conceptions that they have, where with they are affected, have nothing of the nature of knowledge or instruction in them. As for instance; when a person is affected with a lively idea, suddenly excited in his mind, of some shape, or very beautiful pleasant form of countenance, or some shining light, or other glorious outward appearance: Here is something apprehended or conceived by the mind; but there is nothing of the nature of instruction in it: persons become never the wiser by such things, or more knowing about God, or a Mediator between God and man, or the way of salvation by Christ, or any thing contained in any of the doctrines of the Gospel. Persons by these external ideas have no further acquaintance with God, as to any of the attributes or perfections of his natures; nor have they any further understanding of his word, or any of his ways or works. Truly spiritual and gracious affections are not raised after this manner: These arise from the enlightening of the understanding to understand the things that are taught of God and Christ, in a new manner, the coming to a new understanding of the excellent nature of God, and his wonderful perfections, some new view of Christ in his spiritual excellencies and fulness, or things opened to him in a new manner, that appertain to the way of salvation by Christ, whereby he now sees how it is, and understands those divine and spiritual doctrines which once were foolishness to him. Such enlightenings of the understanding as these, are things entirely different in their nature, from strong ideas of shapes and colours, and outward brightness and glory, or sounds and voices. That all gracious affections do arise from some instruction or enlightening of the understanding, is therefore a further proof, that affections which arise from such impression on the imagination, are not gracious affections, besides the things observed before, which make this evident.

Hence also it appears, that affections arising from texts of Scripture coming to the mind are vain, when no instruction received in the understanding from those texts, or any thing taught in those texts, is the ground of the affection, but the manner of their coming to the mind. When Christ makes the Scripture a means of the heart's burning with gracious affection, 'tis by opening the Scriptures to their understandings; Luke 24:32. Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? It appears also that the affection which is occasioned by the coming of a text of Scripture must be vain, when the affection is founded on something that is supposed to be taught by it, which really is not contained in it, nor in any other Scripture; because such supposed instruction is not real instruction, but a mistake, and misapprehension of the mind. As for instance, when persons suppose that they are expressly taught by some Scripture coming to their minds, that they in particular are beloved of God, or that their sins are forgiven, that God is their Father, and the like: This is a mistake or misapprehension; for the Scripture no where reveals the individual persons who are beloved, expressly; but only by consequence, by revealing the qualifications of persons that are beloved of God: And therefore this matter is not to be learned from Scripture any other way than by consequence, and from these qualifications: For things are not to be learned from the Scripture any other way than they are taught in the Scripture.

Affections really arise from ignorance, rather than instruction, in these instances which have been mentioned; as likewise in some others that might be mentioned. As some when they find themselves free of speech in prayer, they call it God's being with them; and this affects them more; and so their affections are set a going and increased: When they look not into the cause of this freedom of speech; which may arise many other ways besides God's spiritual presence. So some are much affected with some apt thoughts that come into their minds about the Scripture, and call it the Spirit of God teaching them. So they ascribe many of the workings of their own minds, which they have a high opinion of, and are pleased and taken with, to the special immediate influences of God's Spirit; and so are mightily affected with their privilege. And there are some instances of persons, in whom it seems manifest that the first ground of their affection is some bodily sensation. The animal spirits, by some cause, (and probably sometimes by the Devil) are suddenly and unaccountably put into a very agreeable motion, causing person to feel pleasantly in their bodies; the animal spirits are put into such a motion as is accustomed to be connected with the exhilaration of the mind: and the soul, by the laws of the union of soul and body, hence feels pleasure. The motion of the animal spirits does not first arise from any affection or apprehension of the mind whatsoever; but the very first thing that is felt, is an exhilaration of the animal spirits, and a pleasant external sensation, it may be in their breasts. Hence, through ignorance, the person being surprised, begins to think, surely this is the Holy Ghost coming into him. And then the mind begins to be affected and raised: There is first great joy; and then many other affections, in a very tumultuous manner, putting all nature, both body and mind, into a mighty ruffle: For though, as I observed before, 'tis the soul only that is the Seat of the Affections; yet this hinders not but that bodily sensations, may in this manner, be an Occasion of Affections in the mind.

And if men's religious affections do truly arise from some instruction or light in the understanding; yet the affection is not gracious, unless the light which is the ground of it be spiritual. Affections may be excited by that understanding of things, which they obtain merely by human teaching, with the common improvement of the faculties of the mind. Men may be much affected by knowledge of things of religion that they obtain this way; as some philosophers have been mightily affected, and almost carried beyond themselves, by the discoveries they have made in mathematics and natural philosophy. So men may be much affected from common illuminations of the Spirit of God, in which God assists men's faculties to a greater degree of that kind of understanding of religious matters, which they have in some degree, by only the ordinary exercise and improvement of their own faculties. Such illuminations may much affect the mind; as in many whom we read of in Scripture, that were once enlightened: But these affections are not spiritual.

There is such a thing, if the Scriptures are of any use to teach us any thing, as a spiritual, supernatural understanding of divine things, that is peculiar to the saints, and which those who are not saints have nothing of. 'Tis certainly a kind of understanding, apprehending or discerning or divine things, that natural men have nothing of, which the Apostle speaks of, 1 Corinthians 2:14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can be know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 'Tis certainly a kind of seeing or discerning spiritual things, peculiar to the saints, which is spoken of, 1 John 3:6. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 3 John 11. He that doth evil hath not seen God. And John 6:40. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life. Chapter 14:19. The world seeth me no more; but ye see me. Chapter 17:3. This is eternal life, that that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Matthew 11:27. No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. John 12:45. He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. Psalm 9:10. They that know thy name, will put their trust in thee. Philippians 3:8. I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Verse 10. That I may know Him. And innumerable other places there are, all over the Bible, which show the same. And that there is such a thing as an understanding of divine things, which in its nature and kind is wholly different from all knowledge that natural men have, is evident from this, that there is an understanding of divine things, which the Scripture calls spiritual understanding; Colossians 1:9. We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding. It has been already shown, that that which is spiritual, in the ordinary use of the word in the New Testament, is entirely different in nature and kind, from all which natural men are, or can be the subjects of.

From hence it may be surely inferred, wherein spiritual understanding consists. For if there be in the saints a kind of apprehension or perception, which is in its nature, perfectly diverse from all that natural men have, or that it is possible they should have, till they have a new nature; it must consist in their having a certain kind of ideas or sensations of mind, which are simply diverse from all that is or can be in the minds of natural men. And that is the same thing as to say, that it consists in the sensations of a new spiritual sense, which the souls of natural men have not; as is evident by what has been before, once and again observed. But I have already shown what that new spiritual sense is, which the saints have given them in regeneration, and what is the object of it. I have shown that the immediate object of it is the supreme beauty and excellency of the nature of divine things, as they are in themselves. And this is agreeable to the Scripture: The Apostle very plainly teaches that the great thing discovered by spiritual light, and understood by spiritual knowledge, is the glory of divine things, 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4. But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them: together with Verse 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ: And Chapter 3:18 preceding, But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And it must needs be so, for as has been before observed, the Scripture often teaches that all true religion summarily consists in the love of divine things. And therefore that kind of understanding or knowledge, which is the proper foundation of true religion, must be the knowledge of the loveliness of divine things. For doubtless, that knowledge which is the proper foundation of love, is the knowledge of loveliness. What that beauty or loveliness of divine things is, which is the proper and immediate object of a spiritual sense of mind, was showed under the last head insisted on, namely, That it is the beauty of their moral perfection. Therefore it is in the view or sense of this, that spiritual understanding does more immediately and primarily consist. And indeed it is plain it can be nothing else; for (as has been shown) there is nothing pertaining to divine things besides the beauty of their moral excellency, and those properties and qualities of divine things which this beauty is the foundation of, but what natural men and devils can see and know, and will know fully and clearly to all Eternity.

From what has been said, therefore, we come necessarily to this conclusion, concerning that wherein spiritual understanding consists; namely, That it consists in a sense of the heart, of the supreme beauty and sweetness of the holiness or moral perfection of divine things, together with all that discerning and knowledge of things of religion, that depends upon, and flows from such a sense.

Spiritual Understanding consists primarily in a Sense of Heart of that spiritual Beauty. I say, a Sense of Heart; for it is not Speculation merely that is concerned in this Kind of Understanding: Nor can there be a clear Distinction made between the two Faculties of Understanding and Will, as acting distinctly and separately, in this Matter. When the Mind is sensible of the sweet Beauty and Amiableness of a Thing, That implies a Sensibleness of Sweetness and Delight in the Presence of the Idea of it: And this Sensibleness of the Amiableness or Delightfulness of Beauty, carries in the very Nature of it, the Sense of the Heart; or an Effect and Impression the Soul is the Subject of, as a Substance possessed of Taste, Inclination and Will.

There is a Distinction to be made between a mere national Understanding, wherein the Mind only beholds Things in the Exercise of a speculative Faculty; and the Sense of the Heart, wherein the Mind does not only speculate and behold, but [〈◊〉] and [〈◊〉]. That Sort of Knowledge, by which a Man has a sensible Perception of Amiableness and Loathsomeness, or of Sweetness and Nauseousness, is not just the same Sort of Knowledge with that, by which he knows what a Triangle is, and what a Square is. The one is mere speculative Knowledge; the other sensible Knowledge, in which more than the mere Intellect is concerned; the Heart is the proper Subject of it, or the Soul as a Being that not only Beholds, but has Inclination, and is pleased or displeased. And yet there is the Nature of Instruction in it; as he that has perceived the sweet Taste of Honey, knows much more about it, than he who has only looked upon and felt of it.

The Apostle seems to make a Distinction between mere speculative Knowledge of the Things of Religion, and spiritual Knowledge, in calling that the Form of Knowledge, and of the Truth; Romans 2:20. Which hast the Form of Knowledge, and of the Truth in the Law. The Letter is often represented by relishing, smelling, or tasting; 2 Corinthians 2:14. Now Thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ Jesus, and maketh manifest the Savour of his Knowledge, in every Place. Matthew 16:23. Thou savourest [〈◊〉] the Things that be of God, [〈◊〉] Things that be of Men. 1 Peter 2:2, 3. As new born Babes, [〈…〉] Milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby; if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Canticles 1:3. Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments, thy Name is as Ointment poured forth; therefore do the Virgins love thee; compared with 1 John 2:20. But you have an Unction from the holy One, and you know all Things.

Spiritual Understanding primarily consists in this Sense, or Taste of the moral Beauty of divine Things; so that no Knowledge can be called Spiritual, any further than it arises from this, and has this in it. But secondarily, it includes all that Discerning and Knowledge of Things of Religion, which depends upon, and flows from such a Sense.

When the true Beauty and Amiableness of the Holiness or true moral Good that is in divine Things, is discovered to the Soul, it as it were opens a new World to its View. This shows the Glory of all the Perfections of God, and of every Thing appertaining to the divine Being: For, as was observed before, the Beauty of all arises from God's moral Perfection. This shows the Glory of all God's Works, both of Creation and Providence: For it is the special Glory of them, that God's Holiness, Righteousness, Faithfulness and Goodness are so manifested in them; and without these moral Perfections, there would be no Glory in that Power and Skill with which they are wrought. The glorifying of God's moral Perfections, is the special End of all the Works of God's Hands. By this Sense of the, moral Beauty of divine Things, is understood the Sufficiency of Christ as a Mediator: For it is only by the Discovery of the Beauty of the moral Perfection of Christ, that the Believer is let into the Knowledge of the Excellency of his Person, so as to know any Thing more of it than the Devils do: And it is only by the Knowledge of the Excellency of Christ's Person, that any know his Sufficiency as [〈◊〉] Mediator; for the latter depends upon, and arises from the [〈◊〉]. It is by seeing the Excellency of Christ's Person, that the Saints are made sensible of the Preciousness of his Blood, and its Sufficiency to atone for Sin: For therein consists the Preciousness of Christ's Blood, that it is the Blood of so excellent and amiable a Person. And on this depends the Meritoriousness of his Obedience, and Sufficiency and Prevalence of his Intercession. By this Sight of the moral Beauty of divine Things, is seen the Beauty of the Way of Salvation by Christ: For that consists in the Beauty of the moral Perfections of God, which wonderfully shines forth in every Step of this Method of Salvation, from Beginning to End. By this is seen the Fitness and Suitableness of this Way: For this wholly consists in its Tendency to deliver us from Sin and Hell, and to bring us to the Happiness which consists in the Possession and Enjoyment of moral Good, in a Way sweetly agreeing with God's moral Perfections. And in the Way's being contrived so as to attain these Ends, consists the excellent Wisdom of that Way. By this is seen the Excellency of the Word of God: Take away all the moral Beauty and Sweetness in the Word, and the Bible is left wholly a dead Letter, a dry, lifeless, tasteless Thing. By this is seen the true Foundation of our Duty; the Worthiness of God to be so esteemed, honoured, loved, submitted to, and served, as he requires of us, and the Amiableness of the Duties themselves that are required of us. And by this is seen the true Evil of Sin: For he who sees the Beauty of Holiness, must necessarily see the Hatefulness of Sin, its Contrary. By this Men understand the true Glory of Heaven, which consists in the Beauty and Happiness that is in Holiness. By this is seen the Amiableness and Happiness of both Saints and Angels. He that sees the Beauty of Holiness, or true moral Good, sees the greatest and most important Thing in the World, which is the Fulness of all Things, without which all the World is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen, that is worth the Seeing: For there is no other true Excellency or Beauty. Unless this be understood, nothing is understood, that is worthy of the Exercise of the noble Faculty of Understanding. This is the Beauty of the Godhead, and the Divinity of Divinity, (if I may so speak) the Good of the infinite Fountain of Good; without which God himself (if that were possible to be) would be an infinite Evil: Without which, we ourselves had better never have been; and without which there had better have been no Being. He therefore in Effect knows nothing, that knows not this: His Knowledge is but the Shadow of Knowledge, or the Form of Knowledge, as the Apostle calls it. Well therefore may the Scripture represent those who are destitute of that spiritual Sense, by which is perceived the Beauty of Holiness, as totally blind, deaf and senseless, yea dead. And well may Regeneration, in which this divine Sense is given to the Soul by its Creator, be represented as opening the blind Eyes, and raising the Dead, and bringing a Person into a new World. For if what has been said be considered, it will be manifest, that when a Person has this Sense and Knowledge given him, he will view nothing as he did before; though before he knew all Things after the Flesh, yet henceforth he will know them so no more; and he is become a new Creature, old Things are past away, behold all Things are become new; agreeable to 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17.

And besides the Things that have been already mentioned, there arises from this Sense of spiritual Beauty, all true experimental Knowledge of Religion; which is of itself, as it were a new World of Knowledge. He that sees not the Beauty of Holiness, knows not what one of the Graces of God's Spirit is; he is destitute of any Idea or Conception of all gracious Exercise of Soul, and all holy Comforts and Delights, and all Effects of the saving Influences of the Spirit of God on the Heart: And so is ignorant of the greatest Works of God, the most important and glorious Effects of his Power upon the Creature: And also is wholly ignorant of the Saints as Saints; he knows not what they are: And in Effect is ignorant of the whole spiritual World.

Things being thus, it plainly appears, that God's implanting that spiritual supernatural Sense which has been spoken of, makes a great Change in a Man. And were it not for the very imperfect Degree, in which this Sense is commonly given at first, or the small Degree of this glorious Light that first dawns upon the Soul; the Change made by this spiritual Opening of the Eyes in Conversion, would be much greater, and more remarkable, every Way than if a Man, who had been born Blind, and with only the other four Senses, should continue so a long Time, and then at once should have the Sense of seeing imparted to him, in the midst of the clear Light of the Sun, discovering a World of visible Objects. For though Sight be more noble than any of the other external Senses; yet this spiritual Sense which has been spoken of, is infinitely more noble than that, or any other Principle of Discerning that a Man naturally has, and the Object of this Sense infinitely greater and more important.

This Sort of Understanding or Knowledge is that Knowledge of divine Things from whence all truly gracious Affections do proceed. By which therefore all Affections are to be tried. Those Affections that arise wholly from any other Kind of Knowledge, or do result from any other Kind of Apprehensions of Mind, are vain.

From what has been said may be learned wherein the most essential Difference lies between that Light or Understanding which is given by the common Influences of the Spirit of God, on the Hearts of natural Men, and that saving Instruction which is given to the Saints. The Latter primarily and most essentially lies in beholding the Beauty that is in divine Things; which is the only true moral Good, and which the Soul of fallen Man is by Nature totally blind to. The Former consists only in a further Understanding, through the Assistance of natural Principles, of those Things which Men may know, in some Measure, by the alone ordinary Exercise of their Faculties. And this Knowledge consists only in the Knowledge of those Things pertaining to Religion, which are natural. Thus for Instance, In those Awakenings and Convictions of Conscience, that natural Men are often subject to, the Spirit of God gives no Knowledge of the true moral Beauty which is in divine Things; but only assists the Mind to a clearer Idea of the Guilt of Sin, or its Relation to a Punishment, and Connection with the Evil of Suffering (without any Sight of its true moral Evil, or Odiousness as Sin) and a clearer Idea of the natural Perfections of God, wherein consists, not his holy Beauty and Glory, but his awful and terrible Greatness. It is a clear Sight of this, that will fully awaken the Consciences of wicked Men at the Day of Judgment, without any spiritual Light. And it is a lesser Degree of the same, that awakens the Consciences of natural Men, without spiritual Light, in this World. The same Discoveries are in some Measure given in the Conscience of an awakened Sinner in this World, which will be given more fully in the Consciences of Sinners at the Day of Judgment. The same Kind of Sight or Apprehension of God, in a lesser Degree, makes awakened Sinners in this World, sensible of the dreadful Guilt of Sin; against so great and terrible a God, and sensible of its amazing Punishment, and fills them with fearful Apprehensions of divine Wrath; that will thoroughly convince all wicked Men, of the infinitely dreadful Nature and Guilt of Sin, and astonish them with Apprehensions of Wrath, when Christ shall come in the Glory of his Power and Majesty, and every Eye shall see him, and all the Kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him. And in those common Illuminations, which are sometimes given to natural Men, exciting in them some Kind of religious Desire, Love and Joy, the Mind is only assisted to a clearer Apprehension of the natural Good that is in divine Things. Thus sometimes, under common Illuminations, Men are raised with the Ideas of the natural Good that is in Heaven; as its outward Glory, its Ease, its Honour and Advancement, a being there the Objects of the high Favour of God, and the great Respect of Men and Angels, et cetera. So there are many Things exhibited in the Gospel, concerning God and Christ, and the Way of Salvation, that have a natural Good in them, which suits the natural Principle of Self-love. Thus in that great Goodness of God to Sinners, and the wonderful dying Love of Christ, there is a natural Good, which all Men love, as they love themselves; as well as a spiritual and holy Beauty, which is seen only by the Regenerate. Therefore there are many Things appertaining to the Word of God's Grace delivered in the Gospel, which may cause natural Men, when they hear it, anon with Joy to receive it. All that Love which natural Men have to God, and Christ, and Christian Virtues, and good Men, is not from any Sight of the Amiableness of the Holiness, or true moral Excellency of these Things; but only for the sake of the natural Good there is in them. All natural Men's Hatred of Sin, is as much from Principles of Nature, as Men's Hatred of a Tiger for his Rapaciousness, or their Aversion to a Serpent for his Poison and Hurtfulness: And all their Love of Christian Virtue, is from no higher Principle than their Love of a Man's good Nature, which appears amiable to natural Men; but no otherwise than Silver and Gold appears amiable in the Eyes of a Merchant, or than the Blackness of the Soil is beautiful in the Eyes of the Farmer.

From what has been said of the Nature of spiritual Understanding, it appears that spiritual Understanding does not consist in any new doctrinal Knowledge, or in having suggested to the Mind any new Proposition, not before read or heard of: For it is plain that this suggesting of new Propositions, is a Thing entirely diverse from giving the Mind a new Taste or Relish of Beauty and Sweetness. It is also evident that spiritual Knowledge does not consist in any new doctrinal Explanation of any Part of the Scripture; for still, this is but doctrinal Knowledge, or the Knowledge of Propositions; the doctrinal explaining of any Part of Scripture, is only giving us to understand, what are the Propositions contained or taught in that Part of Scripture.

Hence it appears, that the spiritual Understanding of the Scripture, does not consist in opening to the Mind the mystical Meaning of the Scripture, in its Parables, Types and Allegories; for this is only a doctrinal Explication of the Scripture. He that explains what is meant by the stony Ground, and the Seed's springing up suddenly, and quickly withering away, only explains what Propositions or Doctrines are taught in it. So he that explains what is typified by Jacob's Ladder, and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it, or what was typified by Joshua's leading Israel through Jordan, only shows what Propositions are hid in these Passages. And many Men can explain these Types, who have no spiritual Knowledge. It is possible that a Man might know how to interpret all the Types, Parables, Enigmas, and Allegories in the Bible and not have one Beam of spiritual Light in his Mind; because he may not have the least Degree of that spiritual Sense of the holy Beauty of divine Things which has been spoken of, and may see nothing of this Kind of Glory in any Thing contained in any of these Mysteries, or any other Part of the Scripture. It is plain, by what the Apostle says, that a Man might understand all such Mysteries, and have no saving Grace: 1 Corinthians 13:2. And though I have the Gift of Prophecy, and understand all Mysteries, and all Knowledge, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing. They therefore are very foolish, who are exalted in an Opinion of their own spiritual Attainments, from Notions that come into their Minds, of the mythical Meaning of these and those Passages of Scripture, as though it was a spiritual Understanding of these Passages, immediately given them by the Spirit of God, and hence have their Affections highly raised: And what has been said shows the Vanity of such Affections.

From what has been said, it is also evident, that it is not spiritual Knowledge, for Persons to be informed of their Duty, by having it immediately suggested to their Minds, that such and such outward Actions or Deeds are the Will of God. If we suppose that it is truly God's Manner thus to signify his Will to his People, by immediate inward Suggestions, such Suggestions have nothing of the Nature of spiritual Light. Such Kind of Knowledge would only be one Kind of doctrinal Knowledge: A Proposition concerning the Will of God, is as properly a Doctrine of Religion, as a Proposition concerning the Nature of God, or a Work of God: And an having either of these Kinds of Propositions, or any other Proposition, declared to a Man, either by Speech, or inward Suggestion, differs vastly from an having the holy Beauty of divine Things manifested to the Soul, wherein spiritual Knowledge does most essentially consist. Thus there was no spiritual Light in Balaam; though he had the Will of God immediately suggested to him by the Spirit of God from Time to Time, concerning the Way that he should go, and what he should do and say.

It is manifest therefore, that a being led and directed in this Manner, is not that holy and spiritual Leading of the Spirit of God, which is peculiar to the Saints, and a distinguishing Mark of the Sons of God, spoken of Romans 8:14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the Sons of God. Galatians 5:18. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the Law.

And if Persons have the Will of God concerning their Actions, suggested to them by some Text of Scripture, suddenly and extraordinarily brought to their Minds, which Text, as the Words lay in the Bible before they came to their Minds, related to the Action and Behaviour of some other Person, but they suppose, as God sent the Words to them, he intended something further by them, and meant such a particular Action of theirs; I say, if Persons should have the Will of God thus suggested to them with Texts of Scripture, it alters not the Case. The Suggestion being accompanied with an apt Text of Scripture, does not make the Suggestion to be of the Nature of spiritual Instruction. As for Instance, If a Person in New-England, on some Occasion, were at a Loss whether it was his Duty to go into some popish or heathenish Land, where he was like to be exposed to many Difficulties and Dangers, and should pray to God that he would show him the Way of his Duty; and after earnest Prayer, should have those Words which God spoke to Jacob, Genesis 46, suddenly and extraordinarily brought to his Mind, as if they were spoken to him; Fear not to go down into Egypt; and I will go with thee; and I will also surely bring thee up again. In which Words, though as they lay in the Bible before they came to his Mind, they related only to Jacob, and his Behaviour; yet he supposes that God has a further Meaning, as they were brought and applied to him; that thus they are to be understood in a new Sense, that by Egypt is to be understood this particular Country he has in his Mind, and that the Action intended is his going thither, and that the Meaning of the Promise is that God would bring him back into New-England again. There is nothing of the Nature of a spiritual or gracious Leading of the Spirit in this; for there is nothing of the Nature of spiritual Understanding in it. Thus to understand Texts of Scripture, is not to have a spiritual Understanding of them. Spiritually to understand the Scripture, is rightly to understand what is in the Scripture, and what was in it before it was understood: It is to understand rightly, what used to be contained in the Meaning of it; and not the making of a new Meaning. When the Mind is enlightened spiritually and rightly to understand the Scripture, it is enabled to see That in the Scripture, which before was not seen, by Reason of Blindness. But if it was by Reason of Blindness; that is an Evidence that the same Meaning was in it before; otherwise it would have been no Blindness not to see it: It is no Blindness not to see a Meaning which is not there. Spiritually enlightening the Eyes to understand the Scripture, is to open the Eyes, Psalm 119:18. Open thou mine Eyes, that I may behold wondrous Things out of thy Law; which argues that the Reason why the same was not seen in the Scripture before, was that the Eyes were shut; which would not be the Case, if the Meaning that is now understood was not there before, but is now newly added to the Scripture, by the Manner of the Scripture's coming to my Mind. This making a new Meaning to the Scripture, is the same Thing as making a new Scripture: It is properly adding to the Word; which is threatened with too dreadful a Curse. Spiritually to understand the Scripture, is to have the Eyes of the Mind opened, to behold the wonderful spiritual Excellency of the glorious Things contained in the true Meaning of it, and that always were contained in it, ever since it was written; to behold the amiable and bright Manifestation of the divine Perfections, and of the Excellency and Sufficiency of Christ, and the Excellency and Suitableness of the Way of Salvation by Christ, and the spiritual Glory of the Precepts and Promises of the Scripture, et cetera. Which Things are, and always were in the Bible, and would have been seen before, if it had not been for Blindness, without having any new Sense added by the Words being sent by God to a particular Person, and spoken anew to him, with a new Meaning.

And as to a gracious Leading of the Spirit, it consists in two Things; partly in instructing a Person in his Duty by the Spirit, and partly in powerfully inducing him to comply with that Instruction. But so far as the gracious Leading of the Spirit lies in Instruction, it consists in a Person's being guided by a spiritual and distinguishing Taste of that which has in it true moral Beauty. I have shown that spiritual Knowledge primarily consists in a Taste or Relish of the Amiableness and Beauty of that which is truly good and holy: This holy Relish is a Thing that discerns and distinguishes between Good and Evil, between holy and unholy, without being at the Trouble of a Train of Reasoning. As he who has a true Relish of external Beauty, knows what is beautiful by looking upon it: He stands in no need of a Train of Reasoning about the Proportion of the Features, in order to determine whether that which he sees be a beautiful Countenance or no: He needs nothing, but only the Glance of his Eye. He who has a rectified musical Ear, knows whether the Sound he hears be true Harmony: He does not need first to be at the Trouble of the Reasonings of a Mathematician, about the Proportion of the Notes. He that has a rectified Palate, knows what is good Food, as soon as he tastes it, without the Reasoning of a Physician about it. There is a holy Beauty and Sweetness in Words and Actions, as well as a natural Beauty in Countenances and Sounds, and Sweetness in Food; Job 12:11. Does not the Ear try Words, and the Mouth taste his Meat. When a holy and amiable Action is suggested to the Thoughts of a holy Soul; that Soul, if in the lively Exercise of its spiritual Taste, at once sees a Beauty in it, and so inclines to it, and closes with it. On the Contrary, if an unworthy unholy Action be suggested to it, its sanctified Eye sees no Beauty in it, and is not pleased with it; its sanctified Taste relishes no Sweetness in it, but on the contrary, it is nauseous to it. Yea its holy Taste and Appetite leads it to think of That which is truly lovely, and naturally suggests it; as a healthy Taste and Appetite naturally suggests the Idea of its proper Object. Thus a holy Person is led by the Spirit, as he is instructed and led by his holy Taste, and Disposition of Heart; whereby, in the lively Exercise of Grace, he easily distinguishes Good and Evil, and knows at once, what is a suitable amiable Behaviour towards God, and towards Man, in this Case and the other; and judges what is right as it were spontaneously, and of himself, without a particular Deduction, by any other Arguments than the Beauty that is seen, and Goodness that is tasted. Thus Christ blames the Pharisees, that they did not, even of their own selves, judge what was right, without needing Miracles to prove it, Luke 12:57. The Apostle seems plainly to have Respect to this Way of judging of spiritual Beauty, in Romans 12:2. Be you transformed by the Renewing of your Mind, that you may prove what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable Will of God.

There is such a Thing as good Taste of natural Beauty, (which learned Men often speak of) that is exercised about temporal Things, in judging of them; as about the Justness of a Speech, the Goodness of Style, the Beauty of a Poem, the Gracefulness of Deportment, etc. A late great Philosopher of our Nation, writes thus upon it: To have a Taste, is to give Things their real Value, to be touched with the Good, to be shocked with the Ill; not to be dazzled with false Lustres, but in Spite of all Colours, and every Thing that might deceive or amuse, to judge soundly. Taste and Judgment then, should be the same Thing; and yet it is easy to discern a Difference. The Judgment forms its Opinions from Reflection: The Reason on this Occasion fetches a Kind of Circuit, to arrive at its End; it supposes Principles, it draws Consequences, and it judges; but not without a thorough Knowledge of the Case; so that after it has pronounced, it is ready to render a Reason of its Decrees. Good Taste observes none of these Formalities; before it has Time to consult, it has taken its Side; as soon as ever the Object is presented it, the Impression is made, the Sentiment formed, ask no more of it. As the Ear is wounded with a harsh Sound, as the Smell is soothed with an agreeable Odour, before ever the Reason have meddled with those Objects to judge of them, so the Taste opens itself at once, and prevents all Reflection. They may come afterwards to confirm it, and discover the secret Reasons of its Conduct; but it was not in its Power to wait for them. Frequently it happens not to know them at all, and what Pains soever it uses, cannot discover what it was determined it to think as it did. This Conduct is very different from That the Judgment observes in its Decisions: Unless we choose to say, that good Taste is as it were a first Motion, or a Kind of Instinct of right Reason, which hurries on with Rapidity, and conducts more securely, that all the Reasonings she could make: It is a first Glance of the Eye, which discovers to us the Nature and Relations of Things in a Moment.

Now as there is such a Kind of Taste of the Mind as this, which Philosophers speak of, whereby Persons are guided in their Judgment of the natural Beauty, Gracefulness, Propriety, Nobleness and Elegance of Speeches and Actions, whereby they judge as it were by the Glance of the Eye, or by inward Sensation, and the first Impression of the Object; so there is likewise such a Thing is a divine Taste, given and maintained by the Spirit of God, in the Hearts of the Saints, whereby they are in like Manner led and guided in discerning and distinguishing the true spiritual and holy Beauty of Actions; and that more easily, readily and accurately, as they have more or less of the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And thus the Children of God are led by the Spirit of God, in their Behaviour in the World.

A holy Disposition and spiritual Taste, where Grace is strong and lively, will enable a Soul to determine what Actions are right and becoming Christians, not only more speedily, but far more exactly, than the greatest Abilities without it. This may be illustrated by the Manner in which some Habits of Mind, and Dispositions of Heart, of a Nature inferior to true Grace, will teach and guide a Man in his Actions. As for Instance, if a Man be a very good natured Man, his good Nature will teach him better how to act benevolently amongst Mankind, and will direct him, on every Occasion, to these Speeches and Actions, which are agreeable to Rules of Goodness, than the strongest Reason will a Man of a morose Temper. So if a Man's Heart be under the Influence of an entire Friendship, and most endeared Affection to another; though he be a Man of an indifferent Capacity, yet this Habit of his Mind will direct him, for more readily and exactly, to a Speech and Deportment, or Manner of Behaviour, which shall in all Respects be sweet and Kind, and agreeable to a benevolent Disposition of Heart, than the greatest Capacity without it. He has as it were a Spirit within him, that guides him: The Habit of his Mind is attended with a Taste, by which he immediately relishes that Air and Mien which is benevolent, and disrelishes the contrary, and causes him to distinguish between one and the other in a Moment, more precisely, than the most accurate Reasonings can find out in many Hours. As the Nature and inward Tendency of a Stone, or other heavy Body, that is let fall from a Loft, shows the Way to the Centre of the Earth, more exactly in an Instant, than the ablest Mathematician, without it, could determine, by his most accurate Observations, in a whole Day. Thus it is that a spiritual Disposition and Taste teaches and guides a Man in his Behaviour in the World. So an eminently humble, or meek, or charitable Disposition, will direct a Person of mean Capacity to such a Behaviour, as is agreeable to Christian Rules of Humility, Meekness and Charity, far more readily and precisely, than the most diligent Search, and elaborate Reasonings, of a Man of the strongest Faculties, who has not a Christian Spirit within him. So also will a Spirit of Love to God, and holy Fear and Reverence towards God, and filial Confidence in God, and an heavenly Disposition, teach and guide a Man in his Behaviour.

It is an exceeding difficult Thing for a wicked Man, destitute of divine Principles in his Heart, to guide him, to know how to demean himself like a Christian, with the Life, and Beauty, and heavenly Image of a truly holy, humble Soul. He knows not how to put on those Garments; neither do they fit him. Ecclesiastes 10:15. It is Labour of the Fool, wearies every one of them; because he knows not how to go to the City. Proverbs 10:32. The Lips of the Righteous know what is acceptable. Chapter 15:2. The Tongue of the Wise uses Knowledge aright; but the Mouth of Fools pours out Foolishness. And Chapter 16:23. The Heart of the Righteous teaches his Mouth, and adds Learning to his Lips.

The Saints in thus judging of Actions by a spiritual Taste, have not a particular Recourse to the express Rules of God's Word, with Respect to every Word and Action that is before them, the Good or Evil of which they thus judge of: But yet their Taste itself in General, is Subject to the Rule of God's Word, and must be tried by that, and a right Reasoning upon it. As a Man of a rectified Palate judges of particular Meats by his Taste: But yet his Palate itself must be judged of, whether it be right or no, by certain Rules and Reasons. But a spiritual Taste of Soul, mightily helps the Soul, in its Reasonings on the Word of God, and in judging of the true Meaning of its Rules; as it removes the Prejudices of a depraved Appetite, and naturally leads the Thoughts in the right Channel, casts a Light on the Word of God, and causes the true Meaning, most naturally to come to Mind, through the Harmony there is between the Disposition and Relish of a sanctified Soul, and the true Meaning of the Rules of God's Word. Yea, this Harmony tends to bring the Texts themselves to Mind, on proper Occasions; as the particular State of the Stomach and Palate, tends to bring such particular Meats and Drinks to Mind, as are agreeable to that State. Thus the Children of God are led by the Spirit of God in judging of Actions themselves, and in their Meditations upon, and judging of, and applying the Rules of God's holy Word: And so God teaches them his Statutes, and causes them to understand the Way of his Precepts; which the Psalmist so often prays for.

But this Leading of the Spirit is a Thing exceeding diverse from that which some call so; which consists not in teaching them God's Statutes and Precepts, that he has already given; but in giving them new Precepts, by immediate inward Speech or Suggestion; and has in it no Tasting the true Excellency of Things, or judging or discerning the Nature of Things at all. They do not determine what is the Will of God by any Taste or Relish, or any Manner of Judgment of the Nature of Things, but by an immediate Dictate concerning the Thing to be done: There is no such Thing as any Judgment or Wisdom in the Case. Whereas in that Leading of the Spirit which is peculiar to God's Children, is imparted that true Wisdom, and holy Discretion, so often spoken of in the Word of God; which is high above the other Way, as the Stars are higher than a Glowworm; and that which Balaam and Saul (who sometimes were led by the Spirit in that other Way) never had, and no natural Man can have, without a Change of Nature.

What has been said of the Nature of spiritual Understanding, as consisting most essentially in a divine supernatural Sense and Relish of the Heart, not only shows that there is nothing of it in this falsely supposed Leading of the Spirit, which has been now spoken of; but also shows the Difference between spiritual Understanding, and all Kinds and Forms of Enthusiasm, all imaginary Sights of God and Christ and Heaven, all supposed Witnessing of the Spirit, and Testimonies of the Love of God by immediate inward Suggestion; and all Impressions of future Events, and immediate Revelations of any secret Facts whatsoever; all enthusiastical Impressions and Applications of Words of Scripture, as though they were Words now immediately spoken by God to a particular Person, in a new Meaning, and carrying something more in them, than the Words contain as they lie in the Bible; and all Interpretations of the mystical Meaning of the Scripture, by supposed immediate Revelation. None of these Things consist in a divine Sense and Relish of the Heart, of the holy Beauty and Excellency of divine Things; nor have they any Thing to do with such a Sense; but all consist in Impressions in the Head; all are to be referred to the Head of Impressions on the Imagination, and consist in the exciting external Ideas in the Mind, either in Ideas of outward Shapes and Colours, or Words spoken, or Letters written, or Ideas of Things external and sensible, belonging to Actions done, or Events accomplished, or to be Accomplished. An enthusiastical supposed Manifestation of the Love of God, is made by the exciting an Idea of a smiling Countenance, or some other pleasant outward Appearance, or by the Idea of pleasant Words spoken, or written, excited in the Imagination, or some pleasant bodily Sensation. So when Persons have an imaginary Revelation of some secret Fact, it is by exciting external Ideas; either of some Words, implying a Declaration of that Fact, or some visible or sensible Circumstances of such a Fact. So the supposed Leading of the Spirit, to do the Will of God, in outward Behaviour, is either by exciting the Idea of Words (which are outward Things) in their Minds, either the Words of Scripture, or other Words, which they look upon as an immediate Command of God; or else by exciting and impressing strongly the Ideas of the outward Actions themselves. So when an Interpretation of a Scripture Type or Allegory, is immediately, in an extraordinary Way, strongly suggested, it is by suggesting Words, as though one secretly whispered, and told the Meaning; or by exciting other Ideas in the Imagination.

Such Sort of Experiences and Discoveries as these commonly raise the Affections of such as are deluded by them, to a great Height, and make a mighty Uproar in both Soul and Body. And a very great Part of the false Religion that has been in the World, from one Age to another, consists in such Discoveries as these, and in the Affections that flow from them. In such Things consisted the Experiences of the ancient Pythagoreans among the Heathen, and many others among them, who had strange Ecstasies and Raptures, and pretended to a divine Afflatus, and immediate Revelations from Heaven. In such Things as these seem to have consisted the Experiences of the Essenes, an ancient Sect among the Jews, at, and after the Times of the Apostles. In such Things as these consisted the Experiences of many of the ancient Gnostics, and the Montanists, and many other Sects of ancient Heretics, in the primitive Ages of the Christian Church. And in such Things as these consisted the pretended immediate Converse, with God and Christ, and Saints and Angels of Heaven, of the Monks, Anchorites, and Recluses, that formerly abounded in the Church of Rome. In such Things consisted the pretended high Experiences, and great Spirituality of many Sects of Enthusiasts, that swarmed in the World after the Reformation; such as the Anabaptists, Antinomians, and Familists, the Followers of Nicholas Stork, Thomas Munzer, John Becold, Henry Pfeifer, David George, Casper Swenckfield, Henry Nicolas, Johannes Agricola Eislebius; and the many wild Enthusiasts that were in England in the Days of Oliver Cromwell; and the Followers of Mistress Hutchinson, in New-England; as appears by the particular and large Accounts given of all these Sects, by that eminently holy Man, Mister Samuel Rutherford, in his Display of the spiritual Antichrist. And in such Things as these consisted the Experiences of the late French Prophets, and their Followers. And in these Things seems to lie the Religion of the many Kinds of Enthusiasts of the present Day. It is by such Sort of Religion as this chiefly that Satan transforms himself into an Angel of Light: And it is that which he has ever most successfully made use of to confound hopeful and happy Revivals of Religion, from the Beginning of the christian Church to this Day. When the Spirit of God is poured out, to begin a glorious Work, then the old Serpent, as fast as possible, and by all Means introduces this Bastard Religion, and mingles it with the true; which has from Time to Time soon brought all Things into Confusion. The pernicious Consequence of it is not easily imagined or conceived of, until we see and are amazed with the awful Effects of it, and the dismal Desolation it has made. If the Revival of true Religion be very great in its Beginning, yet if this Bastard comes in, there is Danger of its doing as Gideon's Bastard Abimelech did, who never left until he had slain all his Threescore and ten true born Sons, excepting one, that was forced to flee. Great and strict therefore should be the Watch and Guard that Ministers maintain against such Things, especially at a Time of great Awakening: For Men, especially the common People, are easily bewitched with such Things; they having such a glaring and glistening Show of high Religion; and the Devil hiding his own Shape, and appearing as an Angel of Light, that Men may not be afraid of him, but many adore him.

The Imagination seems to be that wherein are formed all those Delusions of Satan, which those are carried away with, who are under the Influence of false Religion, and counterfeit Grace and Affections. Here is the Devil's grand Lurking-Place, the very Nest of foul and delusive Spirits. It is very much to be doubted whether the Devil can come at the Soul of Man, at all to affect it, or to excite any Thought or Motion, or produce any Effect whatsoever in it, any other Way, than by the Fantasy; which is that Power of the Soul, by which it receives, and is the Subject of the Species, or Ideas of outward and sensible Things. As to the Laws and Means which the Creator has established, for the Intercourse and Communication of unbodied Spirits, we know nothing about them; we don't know by what Medium they manifest their Thoughts to each other, or excite Thoughts in each other. But as to Spirits that are united to Bodies, those Bodies God has united them to, are their Medium of Communication: They have no other Medium of acting on other Creatures, or being acted on by them, than the Body. Therefore it is not to be supposed that Satan can excite any Thought, or produce any Effect in the Soul of Man, any otherwise, than by some Motion of the animal Spirits, or by causing some Motion or Alteration in something which appertains to the Body. There is this Reason to think that the Devil cannot produce Thoughts, in the Soul immediately, or any other Way, than by the medium of the Body, namely That he cannot immediately see or know the Thoughts of the Soul: It is abundantly declared in the Scripture to be peculiar to the omniscient God to do that. But it is not likely that the Devil can immediately produce an Effect which is out of the Reach of his immediate View. It seems unreasonable to suppose that his immediate Agency, should be out of his own Sight, or that it should be impossible for him to see what he himself immediately does. Is it not unreasonable to suppose that any Spirit or intelligent Agent, should by the Act of his Will, produce Effects, according to his Understanding, or agreeable to his own Thoughts, and that immediately; and yet the Effects produced, be beyond the Reach of his Understanding, or where he can have no immediate Perception or Discerning at all? But if this be so, that the Devil cannot produce Thoughts in the Soul immediately, or any other Way than by the animal Spirits, or by the Body; then it follows, that he never brings to pass any thing in the Soul, but by the Imagination or Fantasy, or by exciting external Ideas. For we know that Alterations in the Body, do immediately excite no other Sort of Ideas in the Mind, but external Ideas, or Ideas of the outward Senses, or Ideas which are of the same outward Nature. As to Reflection, Abstraction, Reasoning, etcetera and those Thoughts and inward Motions which are the Fruits of these Acts of the Mind, they are not the next Effects of Impressions on the Body. So that it must be only by the Imagination, that Satan has Access to the Soul, to tempt and delude it, or suggest any Thing to it. And this seems to be the Reason why Persons that are under the Disease of Melancholy, are commonly so visibly and remarkably subject to the Suggestions and Temptations of Satan: That being a Disease which peculiarly affects the animal Spirits, and is attended with Weakness of that Part of the Body which is the Fountain of the animal Spirits, even the Brain, which is, as it were, the Seat of the Fantasy. It is by Impressions made on the Brain, that any Ideas are excited in the Mind, by the Motion of the animal Spirits, or any Changes made in the Body. The Brain being thus weakened and diseased, it is less under the Command of the higher Faculties of the Soul, and yields the more easily to extrinsic Impressions, and is overpowered by the disordered Motions of the animal Spirits; and so the Devil has greater Advantage to affect the Mind, by working on the Imagination. And thus Satan, when he casts in those horrid Suggestions into the Minds of many melancholy Persons, in which they have no Hand themselves, he does it by exciting imaginary Ideas, either of some dreadful Words or Sentences, or other horrid outward Ideas. And when he tempts other Persons who are not melancholy, he does it by presenting to the Imagination, in a lively and alluring Manner, the Objects of their Lusts, or by exciting Ideas of Words, and so by them exciting Thoughts; or by promoting an Imagination of outward Actions, Events, Circumstances, etcetera. Innumerable are the Ways by which the Mind might be led on to all Kind of evil Thoughts, by exciting external Ideas in the Imagination.

If Persons keep no Guard at these Avenues of Satan, by which he has Access to the Soul, to tempt and delude it, they will be likely to have enough of him. And especially, if instead of guarding against him, they lay themselves open to him, and seek and invite him, because he appears as an Angel of Light, and counterfeits the Illuminations and Graces of the Spirit of God, by inward Whispers, and immediate Suggestions of Facts and Events, pleasant Voices, beautiful Images, and other Impressions on the Imagination. There are many who are deluded by such Things, and are lifted up with them, and seek after them, that have a continued Course of them, and can have them almost when they will; and especially when their Pride and Vain-glory has most Occasion for them, to make a Show of them before Company. It is with them, something as it is with those who are Professors of the Art of telling where lost Things are to be found, by Impressions made on their Imaginations; they laying themselves open to the Devil, he is always at Hand to give them the desired Impression.

Before I finish what I would say on this Head of Imaginations, counterfeiting spiritual Light, and Affections arising from them, I would renewedly (to prevent Misunderstanding of what has been said) desire it may be observed, that I am far from determining that no Affections are spiritual which are attended with imaginary Ideas. Such is the Nature of Man, that he can scarcely think of any Thing intensely, without some Kind of outward Ideas. They arise and interpose themselves unavoidably, in the Course of a Man's Thoughts; though oftentimes they are very confused, and are not what the Mind regards. When the Mind is much engaged, and the Thoughts intense, oftentimes the Imagination is more strong, and the outward Idea more lively; especially in Persons of some Constitutions of Body. But there is a great Difference between these two Things, namely Lively Imaginations arising from strong Affections, and Strong Affections arising from lively Imaginations. The former may be, and doubtless often is, in Case of truly gracious Affections. The Affections do not arise from the Imagination, nor have any Dependence upon it; but on the contrary, the Imagination is only the accidental Effect, or Consequent of the Affection, through the Infirmity of human Nature. But when the latter is the Case, as it often is, that the Affection arises from the Imagination, and is built upon it, as its Foundation, instead of a spiritual Illumination or Discovery; then is the Affection, however elevated, worthless and vain. And this is the Drift of what has been now said, of Impressions on the Imagination. Having observed this, I proceed to another Mark of gracious Affections.

5. Truly gracious Affections are attended with a reasonable and spiritual Conviction of the Judgment, of the Reality and Certainty of divine Things.

This seems to be implied in the Text that was laid as the Foundation of this Discourse, Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet BELIEVING, ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.

All those who are truly gracious Persons have a solid, full, thorough and effectual Conviction of the Truth of the great Things of the Gospel. I mean that they no longer halt between two Opinions, the great Doctrines of the Gospel cease to be any longer doubtful Things, or Matters of Opinion, which, though probable, are yet disputable; but with them, they are Points settled and determined, as undoubted and indisputable; so that they are not afraid to venture their All upon their Truth. Their Conviction is an effectual Conviction; so that the great, spiritual, mysterious, and invisible Things of the Gospel, have the Influence of real and certain Things upon them; they have the Weight and Power of real Things in their Hearts; and accordingly rule in their Affections, and govern them through the Course of their Lives. With Respect to Christ's being the Son of God, and Saviour of the World, and the great Things he has revealed concerning Himself, and his Father, and another World, they have not only a predominating Opinion that these Things are true, and so yield their Assent, as they do in many other Matters of doubtful Speculation; but they see that it is really so: Their Eyes are opened, so that they see that really Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And as to the Things which Christ has revealed, of God's eternal Purposes and Designs, concerning fallen Man, and the glorious and everlasting Things prepared for the Saints in another World, they see that they are so indeed: And therefore these Things are of great Weight with them, and have a mighty Power upon their Hearts, and Influence over their Practice, in some Measure answerable to their infinite Importance.

That all true Christians have such a Kind of Conviction of the Truth of the Things of the Gospel, is abundantly manifest from the holy Scriptures. I will mention a few Places of many; Matthew 16:15, 16, 17. But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and said unto him, blessed are you Simon Barjona:—my Father which is in Heaven, hath revealed it unto you. John 6:68, 69. Thou hast the Words of eternal Life: And we believe, and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. John 17:6, 7, 8. I have manifested thy Name to the Men which thou gavest me out of the World.—Now they have known that all Things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee: For I have given unto them, the Words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. Acts 8:37. If you believe with all your Heart, you may. 2 Corinthians 4:11, 12, 13, 14. We who live, are always delivered unto Death, for Jesus sake:—Death worketh in us;—we having the Spirit of Faith; according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak: Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. Together with Verse 16. For which Cause, we faint not. And Verse 18. while we look not at the Things which are seen, etc. And Chapter 5:1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a Building of God,— And Verse 6, 7, 8. Therefore we are always confident; knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by Faith, not by Sight; we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:12. For the which Cause, I also suffer these Things: Nevertheless, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed; and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, against that Day. Hebrews 3:6. Whose House are we, if we hold fast the Confidence, and the Rejoicing of the Hope, firm unto the End. Hebrews 11:1. Now Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for, and the Evidence of Things not seen: Together with that whole Chapter. 1 John 4:13, 14, 15, 16. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us; because he hath given us of his Spirit; and we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. Chapter 5:4, 5. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the World: And this is the Victory that overcometh the World, even our Faith. Who is he that overcometh the World, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Therefore truly gracious Affections are attended with such a Kind of Conviction and Persuasion of the Truth of the Things of the Gospel, and Sight of their Evidence and Reality, as these and other Scriptures speak of.

There are many religious Affections, which are not attended with such a Conviction of the Judgment. There are many Apprehensions and Ideas which some have, that they call divine Discoveries, which are affecting, but not convincing. Though for a little while, they may seem to be more persuaded of the Truth of the Things of Religion, than they used to be, and may yield a forward Assent, like many of Christ's Hearers, who believed for a while; yet they have no thorough and effectual Conviction; nor is there any great abiding Change in them, in this Respect, that whereas formerly they did not realize the great Things of the Gospel, now these Things, with Regard to Reality and Certainty, appear new to them, and they behold them quite in another View than they used to do. There are many Persons who have been exceedingly raised with religious Affections, and think they have been converted, they do not go about the World any more convinced of the Truth of the Gospel, than they used to be; or at least, there is no remarkable Alteration: They are not Men who live under the Influence and Power of a realizing Conviction of the infinite and eternal Things which the Gospel reveals: If they were, it would be impossible for them to live as they do. Because their Affections are not attended with a thorough Conviction of the Mind, they are not at all to be depended on; however great a Snow and Noise they make, it is like the Blaze of Tow, or Crackling of Thorns, or like the forward flourishing Blade on stony Ground, that has no Root, nor Deepness of Earth to maintain its Life.

Some Persons, under high Affections, and a confident Persuasion of their good Estate, have that, which they very ignorantly call a Seeing the Truth of the Word of God, and which is very far from it, after this Manner; they have some Text of Scripture coming to their Minds, in a sudden and extraordinary Manner, immediately declaring to them (as they suppose) that their Sins are forgiven or that God loves them, and will save them; and it may be have a Chain of Scriptures coming one after another, to the same Purpose; and they are convinced that it is Truth; that is they are confident that it is certainly so, that their Sins are forgiven, and God does love them, etc.—; they say they know it is so; and when the Words of Scripture are suggested to them, and as they suppose immediately spoken to them by God, in this Meaning, they are ready to cry out, Truth, Truth! It is certainly so! The Word of God is true! And this they call a Seeing the Truth of the Word of God. Whereas the Whole of their Faith amounts to no more, than only a strong Confidence of their own good Estate, and so a Confidence that those Words are true, which they suppose tell them they are in a good Estate: When indeed (as was shown before) there is no Scripture which declares that any Person is in a good Estate directly, or any other Way than by Consequence. So that this, instead of being a real Sight of the Word of God, is a Sight of nothing but a Phantom, and is all over a Delusion. Truly to see the Truth of the Word of God, is to see the Truth of the Gospel; which is the glorious Doctrine the Word of God contains, concerning God, and Jesus Christ, and the Way of Salvation by him, and the World of Glory that he is entered into, and purchased for all them who believe; and not a Revelation that such and such particular Persons are true Christians, and shall go to Heaven. Therefore those Affections which arise from no other Persuasion of the Truth of the Word of God than this, arise from Delusion, and not true Conviction; and consequently are themselves delusive and vain.

But if the religious Affections that Persons have, do indeed arise from a strong Persuasion of the Truth of the Christian Religion; their Affections are not the better, unless their Persuasion be a reasonable Persuasion or Conviction. By a reasonable Conviction, I mean a Conviction founded on real Evidence, or upon that which is a good Reason, or just Ground of Conviction. Men may have a strong Persuasion that the Christian Religion is true, when their Persuasion is not at all built on Evidence, but altogether on Education, and the Opinion of others; as many Muslims are strongly persuaded of the Truth of the Muslim Religion, because their Fathers, and Neighbours, and Nation believe it. That Belief of the Truth of the Christian Religion which is built on the very same Grounds, with Muslims Belief of the Muslim Religion, is the same Sort of Belief. And though the Thing believed happens to be better; yet That does not make the Belief itself, to be of a better Sort: For though the Thing believed happens to be true; yet the Belief of it is not owing to this Truth, but to Education. So that as the Conviction is no better than the Muslims Conviction; so the Affections that flow from it, are no better, in themselves, than the religious Affections of Muslims.

But if that Belief of christian Doctrines, which Persons Affections arise from, be not merely from Education, but indeed from Reasons and Arguments which are offered, it will not from thence necessarily follow, that their Affections are truly gracious: For in order to that, it is requisite, not only that the Belief which their Affections arise from, should be a reasonable, but also a spiritual Belief or Conviction. I suppose none will doubt but that some natural Men do yield a Kind of Assent of their Judgments to the Truth of the christian Religion, from the rational Proofs or Arguments that are offered to evince it. Judas, without Doubt, thought Jesus to be the Messiah, from the Things which he saw and heard; but yet all along was a Devil. So in John 2. 23, 24, 25. we read of many that believed in Christ's Name, when they saw the Miracles that he did; whom yet Christ knew had not that within them, which was to be depended on. So Simon the Sorcerer believed, when he beheld the Miracles and Signs which were done; but yet remained in the Gall of Bitterness, and Bond of Iniquity, Acts 8. 13, 23. And if there is such a Belief or Assent of the Judgment in some natural Men, none can doubt but that religious Affections may arise from that Assent or Belief; as we read of some who believed for a while, that were greatly affected, and anon, with Joy received the Word.

It is evident that there is such a Thing as a spiritual Belief or Conviction of the Truth of the Things of the Gospel, or a Belief that is peculiar to those who are spiritual, or who are regenerated, and have the Spirit of God, in his holy Communications, and dwelling in them as a vital Principle. So that the Conviction they have, doesn't only differ from that which natural Men have, in its Concomitants, in that it is accompanied with good Works; but the Belief itself is diverse, the Assent and Conviction of the Judgment is of a Kind peculiar to those who are spiritual, and that which natural Men are wholly destitute of. This is evident by the Scripture, if anything at all is so; John 17. 8. They have believed that thou didst send me. Titus 1. 1. According to the Faith of God's Elect, and the acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness. John 16. 27. The Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 1 John 4. 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. Chapter 5. 1. Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. Verse 10. He that believes on the Son of God, has the Witness in himself.

What a spiritual Conviction of the Judgment is, we are naturally led to determine from what has been said already, under the former Head of a spiritual Understanding. The Conviction of the Judgment arises from the Illumination of the Understanding: The passing of a right Judgment on Things, depends on having a right Apprehension or Idea of Things. And therefore it follows, that a spiritual Conviction of the Truth of the great Things of the Gospel, is such a Conviction, as arises from having a spiritual View or Apprehension of those Things in the Mind. And this is also evident from the Scripture, which often represents, that a saving Belief of the Reality and Divinity of the Things proposed and exhibited to us in the Gospel, is from the Spirit of God's enlightening the Mind, to have right Apprehensions of the Nature of those Things, and so as it were unveiling Things, or revealing them, and enabling the Mind to view them and see them as they are: Luke 10. 21, 22. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast HID these Things from the Wise and Prudent, and hast REVEALED them unto Babes: Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy Sight. All Things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no Man knows who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will REVEAL him. John 6. 40. And this is the Will of him that sent me; that every one that SEES the Son, and BELIEVES on him, may have everlasting Life. Where it is plain, that true Faith arises from a spiritual Sight of Christ. And John 17. 6, 7, 8. I have MANIFESTED thy Name unto the Men which thou gavest me out of the World—Now they have known that all Things whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee; for I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Where Christ's manifesting God's Name to the Disciples, or giving them a true Apprehension and View of divine Things, was that whereby they knew that Christ's Doctrine was of God, and that Christ himself was of him, and was sent by him. Matthew 16. 16, 17. Simon Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jona, for Flesh and Blood has not REVEALED it unto you, but my Father which is in Heaven. 1 John 5. 10. He that believes on the Son of God, has the Witness in himself. Galatians 1. 14, 15, 16. Being more exceedingly zealous of the Traditions of my Fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my Mother's Womb, and called me by his Grace, to REVEAL his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Heathen, immediately I conferred not with Flesh and Blood.

If it be so, that That is a spiritual Conviction of the Divinity and Reality of the Things exhibited in the Gospel, which arises from a spiritual Understanding of those Things; I have shown already what that is, namely a Sense and Taste of the divine, supreme and holy Excellency and Beauty of those Things. So that then is the Mind spiritually convinced of the Divinity and Truth of the great Things of the Gospel, when that Conviction arises, either directly or remotely, from such a Sense or View of their divine Excellency and Glory as is there exhibited. This clearly follows from Things that have been already said; and for this the Scripture is very plain and express. 2 Corinthians 3. 3, 4, 5, 6. But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the God of this World has blinded the Minds of them that BELIEVE not, lest the Light of the GLORIOUS GOSPEL of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your Servants for Jesus Sake. For God, who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness, has shined in our Hearts, to give the LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD, in the Face of Jesus Christ. Together with the last Verse of the foregoing Chapter, which introduces this, But we all with open Face, beholding as in a Glass, the GLORY OF THE LORD are changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Nothing can be more evident then that a saving Belief of the Gospel, is here spoken of, by the Apostle, as arising from the Mind's being enlightened, to behold the divine Glory of the Things it exhibits.

This View or Sense of the divine Glory, and unparalleled Beauty of the Things exhibited to us in the Gospel, has a Tendency to convince the Mind of their Divinity, two Ways; directly; and more indirectly, and remotely. 1. A View of this divine Glory directly, convinces the Mind of the Divinity of these Things, as this Glory is in itself a direct, clear, and all-conquering Evidence of it; especially when clearly discovered, or when this supernatural Sense is given in a good Degree.

He that has his Judgment thus directly convinced and assured of the Divinity of the Things of the Gospel, by a clear View of their divine Glory, has a reasonable Conviction; his Belief and Assurance is altogether agreeable to Reason; because the divine Glory and Beauty of divine Things is in itself, real Evidence of their Divinity, and the most direct and strong Evidence. He that truly sees the divine, transcendent, supreme Glory of those Things which are divine, does as it were know their Divinity intuitively; he not only argues that they are divine, but he sees that they are divine; he sees That in them wherein Divinity chiefly consists; for in this Glory, which is so vastly and inexpressibly distinguished from the Glory of artificial Things, and all other Glory, does mainly consist the true Notion of Divinity: God is God, and distinguished from all other Beings, and exalted above them, chiefly by his divine Beauty, which is infinitely diverse from all other Beauty. They therefore that see the Stamp of this Glory in divine Things, they see Divinity in them, they see God in them, and so see them to be divine; because they see that in them wherein the truest Idea of Divinity does consist. Thus a Soul may have a Kind of intuitive Knowledge of the Divinity of the Things exhibited in the Gospel; not that he judges the Doctrines of the Gospel to be from God, without any Argument or Deduction at all; but it is without any long Chain of Arguments; the Argument is but one, and the Evidence direct; the Mind ascends to the Truth of the Gospel but by one Step, and that is its divine Glory.

It would be very strange, if any professing Christian should deny it to be possible that there should be an Excellency in divine Things, which is so transcendent, and exceedingly different from what is in other Things, that if it were seen, would evidently distinguish them. We can't rationally doubt, but that Things that are divine, that appertain to the supreme Being, are vastly different from Things that are human; that there is a god-like, high, and glorious Excellency in them, that does so distinguish them from the Things which are of Men, that the Difference is ineffable; and therefore such, as, if seen, will have a most convincing, satisfying Influence upon any one, that they are what they are, namely divine. Doubtless there is that Glory and Excellency in the divine Being, by which he is so infinitely distinguished from all other Beings, that if it were seen, he might be known by it. It would therefore be very unreasonable to deny that it is possible for God, to give Manifestations of this distinguishing Excellency, in Things by which he is pleased to make himself known; and that this distinguishing Excellency may be clearly seen in them. There are natural Excellencies that are very evidently distinguishing of the Subjects or Authors, to any one who beholds them. How is the Speech of an understanding Man different from that of a little Child! And how greatly distinguished is the Speech of some Men of great Genius, as Homer, Cicero, Milton, Locke, Addison, and others, from that of many other understanding Men! There are no Limits to be set to the Degrees of Manifestation of mental Excellency, that there may be in Speech. But the Appearances of the natural Perfections of God, in the Manifestations he makes of himself, may doubtless be unspeakably more evidently distinguishing, than the Appearances of those Excellencies of Worms of the Dust, in which they differ one from another. He that is well acquainted with Mankind, and their Works, by viewing the Sun, may know it is no human Work. And it is reasonable to suppose, that when Christ comes at the End of the World, in the Glory of his Father, it will be with such ineffable Appearances of Divinity, as will leave no Doubt to the Inhabitants of the World, even the most obstinate Infidels, that he who appears is a divine Person. But above all, do the Manifestations of the moral and spiritual Glory of the divine Being (which is the proper Beauty of the Divinity) bring their own Evidence, and tend to assure the Heart. Thus the Disciples were assured that Jesus was the Son of God, for they beheld his Glory, as the Glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth, John 1. 14. When Christ appeared in the Glory of his Transfiguration to his Disciples, with that outward Glory, to their bodily Eyes, which was a sweet and admirable Symbol and Semblance of his spiritual Glory, together with his spiritual Glory it self, manifested to their Minds; the Manifestation of Glory was such, as did perfectly, and with good Reason, assure them of his Divinity; as appears by what one of them, namely the Apostle Peter, says concerning it, 2 Peter 1. 16, 17, 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables, when we made known unto you the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty: For he received from God the Father, Honour and Glory; when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this Voice which came from Heaven, we heard, when we were with him in the holy Mount. The Apostle calls that Mount, the holy Mount, because the Manifestations of Christ which were there made to their Minds, and which their Minds were especially impressed and ravished with, was the Glory of his Holiness, or the Beauty of his moral Excellency; or, as another of these Disciples, who saw it, expresses it, His Glory, as full of Grace and Truth.

Now this distinguishing Glory of the divine Being has its brightest Appearance and Manifestation, in the Things proposed and exhibited to us in the Gospel, the Doctrines there taught, the Word there spoken, and the divine Counsels, Acts and Works there revealed. These Things have the clearest, most admirable, and distinguishing Representations and Exhibitions of the Glory of God's moral Perfections, that ever were made to the World. And if there be such a distinguishing, evidential Manifestation of divine Glory in the Gospel, it is reasonable to suppose that there may be such a Thing as Seeing it: What should hinder but that it may be seen? It is no Argument that it can't be seen, that some don't see it; though they may be discerning Men in temporal Matters. If there be such ineffable, distinguishing, evidential Excellencies in the Gospel, it is reasonable to suppose that they are such as are not to be discerned, but by the special Influence and Enlightenings of the Spirit of God. There is need of uncommon Force of Mind to discern the distinguishing Excellencies of the Works of Authors of great Genius: Those Things in Milton, which to mean Judges, appear tasteless and Imperfections, are his inimitable Excellencies in the Eyes of those who are of greater Discerning, and better Taste. And if there be a Book, which God is the Author of, it is most reasonable to suppose that the distinguishing Glories of his Word are of such a Kind, as that the Sin and Corruption of Men's Hearts, which above all Things alienates Men from the Deity, and makes the Heart dull and stupid to any Sense or Taste of those Things wherein the moral Glory of the divine Perfections consists; I say, it is but reasonable to suppose, that this would blind Men from discerning the Beauties of such a Book; and that therefore they will not see them, but as God is pleased to enlighten them, and restore an holy Taste, to discern and relish divine Beauties.

This Sense of the spiritual Excellency and Beauty of divine Things, does also tend directly to convince the Mind of the Truth of the Gospel, as there are very many of the most important Things declared in the Gospel, that are hid from the Eyes of natural Men, the Truth of which does in Effect consist in this Excellency, or does so immediately depend upon it and result from it; that in this Excellency's being seen, the Truth of those Things is seen. As soon as ever the Eyes are opened to behold the holy Beauty and Amiableness that is in divine Things, a Multitude of most important Doctrines of the Gospel, that depend upon it, (which all appear strange and dark to natural Men) are at once seen to be true. As for Instance, hereby appears the Truth of what the Word of God declares concerning the exceeding Evil of Sin; for the same Eye that discerns the transcendent Beauty of Holiness, necessarily therein sees the exceeding Odiousness of Sin: The same Taste which relishes the Sweetness of true moral Good, tastes the Bitterness of moral Evil. And by this Means a Man sees his own Sinfulness and Loathsomeness; for he has now a Sense to discern Objects of this Nature; and so sees the Truth of what the Word of God declares concerning the exceeding Sinfulness of Mankind, which before he did not see. He now sees the dreadful Pollution of his Heart, and the desperate Depravity of his Nature, in a new Manner; for his Soul has now a Sense given it to feel the Pain of such a Disease: And this shows him the Truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Corruption of Man's Nature, his original Sin, and the ruinous undone Condition Man is in, and his need of a Saviour, his need of the mighty Power of God to renew his Heart and change his Nature. Men by seeing the true Excellency of Holiness, do see the Glory of all those Things, which both Reason and Scripture show to be in the divine Being; for it has been shown that the Glory of them depends on this: And hereby they see the Truth of all that the Scripture declares concerning God's glorious Excellency and Majesty, his being the Fountain of all Good, the only Happiness of the Creature, etc. And this again shows the Mind the Truth of what the Scripture teaches concerning the Evil of Sin against so glorious a God; and also the Truth of what it teaches concerning Sin's just Desert of that dreadful Punishment which it reveals; and also concerning the Impossibility of our offering any Satisfaction, or sufficient Atonement, for that which is so infinitely evil and heinous. And this again shows the Truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Necessity of a Saviour, to offer an Atonement of infinite Value for Sin. And this Sense of spiritual Beauty that has been spoken of, enables the Soul to see the Glory of those Things which the Gospel reveals concerning the Person of Christ; and so enables to see the exceeding Beauty and Dignity of his Person, appearing in what the Gospel exhibits of his Word, Works, Acts and Life: And this Apprehension of the superlative Dignity of his Person, shows the Truth of what the Gospel declares concerning the Value of his Blood and Righteousness, and so the infinite Excellency of the Offering he has made to God for us, and so its Sufficiency to atone for our Sins, and recommend us to God. And thus the Spirit of God discovers the Way of Salvation by Christ: Thus the Soul sees the Fitness and Suitableness of this Way of Salvation, the admirable Wisdom of the Contrivance, and the perfect Answerableness of the Provision that the Gospel exhibits, (as made for us) to our Necessities. A Sense of true divine Beauty being given to the Soul, the Soul discerns the Beauty of every Part of the Gospel Scheme. This also shows the Soul the Truth of what the Word of God declares concerning Man's chief Happiness, as consisting in holy Exercises and Enjoyments. This shows the Truth of what the Gospel declares concerning the unspeakable Glory of the heavenly State. And what the Prophecies of the Old Testament, and the Writings of the Apostles declare concerning the Glory of the Messiah's Kingdom, is now all plain; and also what the Scripture teaches concerning the Reasons and Grounds of our Duty. The Truth of all these Things revealed in the Scripture, and many more that might be mentioned, appear to the Soul, only by imparting that spiritual Taste of divine Beauty, which has been spoken of. They being hidden Things to the Soul before.

And besides all this, the Truth of all those Things which the Scripture says about experimental Religion, is hereby known; for they are now experienced. And this convinces the Soul that one who knew the Heart of Man, better than we know our own Hearts, and perfectly knew the Nature of Virtue and Holiness, was the Author of the Scriptures. And the opening to View, with such Clearness, such a World of wonderful and glorious Truth in the Gospel, that before was unknown, being quite above the View of a natural Man, but now appearing so clear and bright, has a powerful and invincible Influence on the Soul, to persuade of the Divinity of the Gospel.

Unless Men may come to a reasonable solid Persuasion and Conviction of the Truth of the Gospel, by the internal Evidences of it, in the Way that has been spoken, namely, By a Sight of its Glory; it is impossible that those who are illiterate, and unacquainted with History, should have any thorough and effectual Conviction of it at all. They may without this, see a great deal of Probability of it; it may be reasonable for them to give much Credit to what learned Men, and Historians tell them; and they may tell them so much, that it may look very probable and rational to them, that the Christian Religion is true; and so much that they would be very unreasonable not to entertain this Opinion. But to have a Conviction, so clear, and evident, and assuring, as to be sufficient to induce them, with Boldness, to sell all, confidently and fearlessly to run the Venture of the Loss of all Things, and of enduring the most exquisite and long-continued Torments, and to trample the World under Foot, and count all Things but Dung, for Christ; the Evidence they can have from History, cannot be sufficient. It is impossible that Men, who have not something of a general View of the historical World, or the Series of History from Age to Age, should come at the Force of Arguments for the Truth of Christianity, drawn from History, to that Degree, as effectually to induce them to venture their all upon it. After all that learned Men have said to them, there will remain innumerable Doubts on their Minds: They will be ready, when pinched with some great Trial of their Faith, to say, How do I know this, or that? How do I know when these Histories were written? Learned Men tell me these Histories were so and so attested in the Day of them; but how do I know that there were such Attestations then? They tell me there is equal Reason to believe these Facts, as any whatsoever that are related at such a Distance; but how do I know that other Facts which are related of those Ages, ever were? Those who have not something of a general View of the Series of historical Events, and of the State of Mankind from Age to Age, cannot see the clear Evidence from History, of the Truth of Facts, in distant Ages; but there will endless Doubts and Scruples remain.

But the Gospel was not given only for learned Men. There are at least Nineteen in Twenty, if not Ninety-nine in a Hundred, of those for whom the Scriptures were written, that are not capable of any certain or effectual Conviction of the divine Authority of the Scriptures, by such Arguments as learned Men make use of. If Men who have been brought up in Heathenism must wait for a clear and certain Conviction of the Truth of Christianity, nor have I Learning and Acquaintance with the History of Ages enough to see clearly the Force of such Kind of Arguments: it will make the Evidence of the Gospel, to them, immensely difficult, and will render the Propagation of the Gospel among them infinitely difficult. Miserable is the Condition of the Heathen, and others who have lately manifested a Desire to be instructed in Christianity: if they can come at no Evidence of the Truth of Christianity, sufficient to induce them to sell all for Christ, in no other Way but this.

It is unreasonable to suppose, that God has provided for his People, no more than probable Evidences of the Truth of the Gospel. He has with great Care, abundantly provided, and given them, the most convincing, assuring, satisfying and manifold Evidence of his Faithfulness in the Covenant of Grace; and as David says, made a Covenant, ordered in all Things and sure. Therefore it is rational to suppose, that at the same Time, he would not fail of ordering the Matter so, that there should not be wanting, as great, and clear Evidence, that this is his Covenant, and that these Promises are his Promises; or which is the same Thing, that the Christian Religion is true, and that the Gospel is his Word. Otherwise in vain are those great Assurances he has given of his Faithfulness in his Covenant, by confirming it with his Oath, and so variously establishing it by Seals and Pledges. For the Evidence that it is his Covenant, is properly the Foundation on which all the Force and Effect of those other Assurances do stand. We may therefore undoubtedly suppose and conclude, that there is some Sort of Evidence which God has given, that this Covenant, and these Promises are his, beyond all mere Probability; that there are some Grounds of Assurance of it held forth, which, if we are not blind to them, tend to give an higher Persuasion, than any arguing from History, human Tradition, et cetera which the Illiterate, and Unacquainted with History, are capable of; yea, that which is good Ground of the highest and most perfect Assurance, that Mankind have in any Case whatsoever; agreeable to those high Expressions which the Apostle uses, Hebrews 10:22. Let us draw near in FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH. And Colossians 2:2. That their Hearts might be comforted, being knit together in Love, and unto ALL RICHES, OF THE FULL ASSURANCE OF UNDERSTANDING, to the Acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ. It is reasonable to suppose, that God would give the greatest Evidence, of those Things which are greatest, and the Truth of which is of greatest Importance to us: And that we therefore, if we are wise, and act rationally, shall have the greatest Desire of having full, undoubting, and perfect Assurance of. But it is certain, that such an Assurance is not to be attained, by the greater Part of them who live under the Gospel, by Arguments derived from ancient Traditions, Histories, and Monuments.

And if we come to Fact and Experience, there is not the least Reason to suppose, that One in a Hundred of those who have been sincere Christians, and have had a Heart to sell all for Christ, have come by their Conviction of the Truth of the Gospel, this Way. If we read over the Histories of the many Thousands that died Martyrs for Christ, since the Beginning of the Reformation, and have cheerfully undergone extreme Tortures, in a Confidence of the Truth of the Gospel, and consider their Circumstances and Advantages; how few of them were there, that we can reasonably suppose, ever came by their assured Persuasion, this Way; those for whom it was possible, reasonably to receive so full and strong an Assurance, from such Arguments! Many of them were weak Women and Children, and the greater Part of them illiterate Persons, many of whom had been brought up in Popish Ignorance and Darkness, and were but newly come out of it, and lived and died in Times, wherein those Arguments for the Truth of Christianity from Antiquity and History, been but very imperfectly handled. And indeed, it is but very lately that these Arguments have been set in a clear and convincing Light, even by learned Men themselves: And since it has been done, there never were fewer thorough Believers, among those who have been educated in the true Religion: Infidelity never prevailed so much, in any Age, as in this, wherein these Arguments are handled to the greatest Advantage.

The true Martyrs of Jesus Christ, are not those who have only been strong in Opinion that the Gospel of Christ is true, but those that have seen the Truth of it; as the very Name of Martyrs or Witnesses (by which they are called in Scripture) implies. Those are very improperly called Witnesses of the Truth of any Thing, who only declare they are very much of Opinion that such a Thing is true. Those only are proper Witnesses who can, and do testify that they have seen the Truth of the Thing they assert; John 3:11. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. John 1:34. And I saw, and bear Record, that this is the Son of God. 1 John 4:14. And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son, to be the Saviour of the World. Acts 22:14, 15. The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his Will, and see that just One, and shouldest hear the Voice of his Mouth: For thou shalt be his Witness unto all Men, of what thou hast seen and heard. But the true Martyrs of Jesus Christ are called his Witnesses: and all the Saints, who by their holy Practice under great Trials, declare that Faith, which is the SUBSTANCE of Things hoped for, and the EVIDENCE of Things not seen, are called Witnesses; Hebrews 11:1 and 12:1 because by their Profession and Practice, they declare their Assurance of the Truth and Divinity of the Gospel, having had the Eyes of their Minds enlightened, to see Divinity in the Gospel, or to behold that unparalleled, ineffably excellent, and truly divine Glory shining in it, which is altogether distinguishing, evidential, and convincing: So that they may truly be said to have seen God in it, and to have seen that it is indeed divine: And so can speak in the Style of Witnesses: and not only say, that they think the Gospel is divine, but say, that it is divine, giving it in as their Testimony, because they have seen it to be so. Doubtless Peter, James, and John, after they had seen that excellent Glory of Christ in the Mount, would have been ready, when they came down, to speak in the Language of Witnesses, and to say positively that Jesus is the Son of God; as Peter says, they were Eye-witnesses, 2 Peter 1:16. And so all Nations will be ready positively to say this, when they shall behold his Glory at the Day of Judgment; though what will be universally seen, will be only his natural Glory, and not his moral and spiritual Glory, which is much more distinguishing. But yet, it must be noted, that among those who have a spiritual Sight of the divine Glory of the Gospel, there is a great Variety of Degrees of Strength of Faith, as there is a vast Variety of the Degrees of Clearness of Views of this Glory: But there is no true and saving Faith, or spiritual Conviction of the Judgment, of the Truth of the Gospel, that has nothing in it, of this Manifestation of its internal Evidence, in some Degree. The Gospel of the blessed God does not go abroad a begging for its Evidence, so much as some think; it has its highest and most proper Evidence in itself. Though great Use may be made of external Arguments, they are not to be neglected, but highly prized and valued; for they may be greatly serviceable to awaken Unbelievers, and bring them to serious Consideration, and to confirm the Faith of true Saints: Yea they may be in some Respects subservient to the begetting of a saving Faith in Men. Though what was said before remains true, that there is no spiritual Conviction of the Judgment, but what arises from an Apprehension of the spiritual Beauty and Glory of divine Things: For, as has been observed, this Apprehension or View has a Tendency to convince the Mind of the Truth of the Gospel, two Ways, either directly or indirectly. Having therefore already observed how it does this directly, I proceed now

2. To observe how a View of this divine Glory does convince the Mind of the Truth of Christianity, more indirectly.

First, It does so as the Prejudices of the Heart against the Truth of divine Things are hereby removed, so that the Mind thereby has open to the Force of the Reasons which are offered. The Mind of Man is naturally full of Enmity against the Doctrines of the Gospel; which is a Disadvantage to those Arguments that prove their Truth, and causes them to lose their Force upon the Mind: But when a Person has discovered to him the divine Excellency of Christian Doctrines, this destroys that Enmity, and removes the Prejudices, and sanctifies the Reason, and causes it to be open and free. Hence is a vast Difference, as to the Force that Arguments have to convince the Mind. Hence was the very different Effect, which Christ's Miracles had to convince the Disciples, from what they had to convince the Scribes and Pharisees: Not that they had a stronger Reason, or had their Reason more improved; but their Reason was sanctified, and those blinding Prejudices, which the Scribes and Pharisees were under, were removed, by the Sense they had of the Excellency of Christ and his Doctrine.

Secondly, It not only removes the Hindrances of Reason, but positively helps Reason. It makes even the speculative Notions more lively. It assists and engages the Attention of the Mind to that Kind of Objects which causes it to have a clearer View of them, and more clearly to see their mutual Relations. The Ideas themselves, which otherwise are dim and obscure, by this Means have a Light cast upon them, and are impressed with greater Strength; so that the Mind can better judge of them, as he that beholds the Objects on the Face of the Earth, when the Light of the Sun is cast upon them, is under greater Advantage to discern them, in their true Forms, and mutual Relations, and to see the Evidences of divine Wisdom and Skill in their Contrivance, than he that sees them in a dim Starlight, or Twilight.

What has been said, may serve in some Measure to show the Nature of a spiritual Conviction of the Judgment of the Truth and Reality of divine Things; and so to distinguish truly gracious Affections from others; for gracious Affections are evermore attended with such a Conviction of the Judgment.

But before I dismiss this Head, it will be needful to observe the Ways whereby some are deceived, with respect to this Matter; and take Notice of several Things, that are sometimes taken for a spiritual and saving Belief of the Truth of the Things of Religion, which are indeed very diverse from it.

1. There is a Degree of Conviction of the Truth of the great Things of Religion, that arises from the common Enlightenings of the Spirit of God. That more lively and sensible Apprehension of the Things of Religion, with Respect to what is natural in them, such as natural Men have who are under Awakenings and common Illuminations, will give some Degree of Conviction of the Truth of divine Things, beyond what they had before they were thus enlightened. For hereby they see the Manifestations there are, in the Revelation made in the holy Scriptures, and things exhibited in that Revelation, of the natural Perfections of God, such as his Greatness, Power, and awful Majesty; which tends to convince the Mind, that this is the Word of a great and terrible God. From the Tokens there are of God's Greatness and Majesty in his Word and Works, which they have a great Sense of, from the common Influence of the Spirit of God, they may have a much greater Conviction that these are indeed the Word and Works of a very great invisible Being. And the lively Apprehension of the Greatness of God, which natural Men may have, tends to make them sensible of the great Guilt, which Sin against such a God brings, and the Dreadfulness of his Wrath for Sin. And this tends to cause them more easily and fully to believe the Revelation the Scripture makes of another World, and of the extreme Misery it threatens, there to be inflicted on Sinners. And so from that Sense of the great natural Good there is in the Things of Religion, which is sometimes given in common Illuminations, Men may be the more induced to believe the Truth of Religion. These Things Persons may have, and yet have no Sense of the Beauty and Amiableness of the moral and holy Excellency that is in the Things of Religion; and therefore no spiritual Conviction of their Truth. But yet such Convictions are sometimes mistaken, for saving Convictions, and the Affections flowing from them, for saving Affections.

2. The extraordinary Impressions which are made on the Imaginations of some Persons, in the Visions, and immediate strong Impulses and Suggestions that they have, as though they saw Sights, and had Words spoken to them, may, and often do beget a strong Persuasion of the Truth of invisible Things. Though the general Tendency of such Things, in their final Issue, is to draw Men off from the Word of God, and to cause them to reject the Gospel, and to establish Unbelief and Atheism; yet for the present, they may, and often do beget a confident Persuasion of the Truth of some Things that are revealed in the Scriptures; however their Confidence is founded in Delusion, and so nothing worth. As for Instance, if a Person has by some invisible Agent, immediately and strongly impressed on his Imagination, the Appearance of a bright Light, and glorious Form of a Person seated on a Throne, with great external Majesty and Beauty, uttering some remarkable Words, with great Force and Energy; The Person who is the Subject of such an Operation, may be from hence confident, that there are invisible Agents, spiritual Beings from what he has experienced, knowing that he had no Hand himself in this extraordinary Effect, which he has experienced: And he may also be confident that this is Christ, whom he saw and heard speaking: And this may make him confident that there is a Christ, and that Christ reigns on a Throne in Heaven, as he saw him; and may be confident that the Words which he heard him speak are true, et cetera—In the same Manner, as the lying Miracles of the Papists, may for the present, beget in the Minds of the ignorant deluded People, a strong Persuasion of the Truth of many Things declared in the New Testament. Thus when the Images of Christ, in popish Churches, are on some extraordinary Occasions, made by Priestcraft to appear to the People as if they wept, and shed fresh Blood, and moved, and uttered such and such Words; the People may be verily persuaded that it is a Miracle wrought by Christ himself; and from thence may be confident there is a Christ, and that what they are told of his Death and Sufferings, and Resurrection, and Ascension, and present Government of the World is true; for they may look upon this Miracle, as a certain Evidence of all these Things, and a Kind of ocular Demonstration of them. This may be the Influence of these lying Wonders for the present; though the general Tendency of them is not to convince that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh, but finally to promote Atheism. Even the Intercourse which Satan has with Witches, and their often experiencing his immediate Power, has a Tendency to convince them of the Truth of some of the Doctrines of Religion; as particularly the Reality of an invisible World, or World of Spirits, contrary to the Doctrine of the Sadducees. The general Tendency of Satan's Influences is Delusion: But yet he may mix some Truth with his Lies, that his Lies may not be so easily discovered.

There are multitudes that are deluded with a counterfeit Faith, from Impressions on their Imagination, in the Manner which has been now spoken of. They say they know that there is a God, for they have seen him; they know that Christ is the Son of God, for they have seen him in his Glory; they know that Christ died for Sinners, for they have seen him hanging on the Cross, and his Blood running from his Wounds; they know there is a Heaven and a Hell, for they have seen the Misery of the damned Souls in Hell, and the Glory of Saints and Angels in Heaven, (meaning some external Representations, strongly impressed on their Imagination;) they know that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and that such and such Promises in particular, are his Word, for they have heard him speak them to them, they came to their Minds suddenly and immediately from God, without their having any Hand in it.

3. Persons may seem to have their Belief of the Truth of the Things of Religion greatly increased, when the Foundation of it is only a Persuasion they have received, of their Interest in them. They first, by some Means or other, take up a Confidence that, if there be a Christ and Heaven, they are theirs; and this prejudices them more in favour of the Truth of them. When they hear of the great and glorious Things of Religion, it is with this Notion, that all these Things belong to them; and hence easily become confident that they are true: They look upon it to be greatly for their Interest that they should be true. It is very obvious what a strong Influence Men's Interest and Inclinations have on their Judgments. While a natural Man thinks that, if there be a Heaven and Hell; the Latter, and not the Former, belongs to him; then he will be hardly persuaded that there is a Heaven or Hell: But when he comes to be persuaded, that Hell belongs only to other Folks, and not to him; then he can easily allow the Reality of Hell, and cry out of others Senselessness and Sottishness in neglecting Means of Escape from it: And being confident that he is a Child of God, and that God has promised Heaven to him, he may seem strong in the Faith of its Reality, and may have a great Zeal against that Infidelity which denies it.

But I proceed to another distinguishing Sign of gracious Affections.

6. Gracious Affections are attended with evangelical Humiliation.

Evangelical Humiliation is a Sense that a Christian has of his own utter Insufficiency, Despicableness, and Odiousness, with an answerable Frame of Heart.

There is a Distinction to be made between a legal and evangelical Humiliation. The Former is what Men may be the Subjects of, while they are yet in a State of Nature, and have no gracious Affection; the Latter is peculiar to true Saints: The Former is from the common Influence of the Spirit of God, assisting natural Principles, and especially natural Conscience; the Latter is from the special Influences of the Spirit of God, implanting and exercising supernatural and divine Principles: The Former is from the Mind's being assisted to a greater Sense of the Things of Religion, as to their natural Properties and Qualities, and particularly of the natural Perfections of God, such as his Greatness, terrible Majesty, et cetera which were manifested to the Congregation of Israel, in giving the Law at Mount Sinai; the Latter is from a Sense of the transcendent Beauty of divine Things in their moral Qualities: In the Former a Sense of the awful Greatness, and natural Perfections of God, and of the Strictness of his Law, convinces Men that they are exceeding sinful, and guilty, and exposed to the Wrath of God, as it will wicked Men and Devils at the Day of Judgment; but they do not see their own Odiousness on the Account of Sin; they do not see the hateful Nature of Sin; a Sense of this is given in evangelical Humiliation, by a Discovery of the Beauty of God's Holiness and moral Perfection. In a legal Humiliation, Men are made sensible that they are little and nothing before the great and terrible God, and that they are undone, and wholly insufficient to help themselves; as wicked Men will be at the Day of Judgment: But they have not an answerable Frame of Heart, consisting in a Disposition to abase themselves, and exalt God alone: This Disposition is given only in evangelical Humiliation, by overcoming the Heart, and changing its Inclination, by a Discovery of God's holy Beauty: In a legal Humiliation, the Conscience is convinced; as the Consciences of all will be most perfectly at the Day of Judgment: but because there is no spiritual Understanding, the Will is not bowed, nor the Inclination altered: This is done only in evangelical Humiliation. In legal Humiliation Men are brought to despair of helping themselves; in Evangelical, they are brought voluntarily to deny and renounce themselves: In the Former they are subdued and forced to the Ground; in the Latter, they are brought sweetly to yield, and freely and with Delight to prostrate themselves at the Feet of God.

Legal Humiliation has in it no spiritual Good, nothing of the Nature of true Virtue; whereas evangelical Humiliation is that wherein the excellent Beauty of christian Grace does very much consist. Legal Humiliation is useful, as a Means in order to Evangelical; as a common Knowledge of the Things of Religion is a Means requisite in order to spiritual Knowledge. Men may be legally humbled and have no Humility; as the Wicked at the Day of Judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no Righteousness, but are altogether sinful, and exceeding guilty, and justly exposed to eternal Damnation, and be fully sensible of their own Helplessness, without the least Mortification of the Pride of their Hearts: But the Essence of evangelical Humiliation consists in such Humility, as becomes a Creature, in itself exceeding sinful, under a Dispensation of Grace; consisting in a mean Esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious; attended with a Mortification of a Disposition to exalt himself, and a free Renunciation of his own Glory.

This is a great and most essential thing in true religion. The whole frame of the Gospel, and everything appertaining to the new Covenant, and all God's dispensations towards fallen man, are calculated to bring to pass this effect in the hearts of men. They that are destitute of this, have no true religion, whatever profession they may make, and how high soever their religious affections may be; Habakkuk 2:4. Behold, his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith: that is He shall live by his faith on God's righteousness and grace, and not his own goodness and excellency. God has abundantly manifested in his word, that this is what he has a peculiar respect to in his saints, and that nothing is acceptable to him without it; Psalm 34:18. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psalm 51:17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise. Psalm 138:6. Though the Lord be high, he hath respect unto the lowly, Proverbs 3:34. He giveth grace unto the lowly. Isaiah 57:15. Thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Isaiah 66:1, 2. Thus saith the Lord, the Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:—But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. Micah 6:8. He hath showed you, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord your God require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Matthew 5:3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: For theirs is the kingdom of God. Matthew 18:3, 4. Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Mark 10:15. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. The centurion, that we have an account of Luke 7, acknowledged that he was not worthy that Christ should enter under his roof, and that he was not worthy to come to him. See the manner of the woman's coming to Christ that was a sinner, Luke 7:37, etcetera. And behold a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head. She did not think the hair of her head, which is the natural crown and glory of a woman, (1 Corinthians 11:15) too good to wipe the feet of Christ withal. Jesus most graciously accepted her, and says to her, Your faith hath saved you, go in peace. The woman of Canaan submitted to Christ, in his saying, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs, and did as it were own that she was worthy to be called a dog, whereupon Christ says unto her, O woman, great is your faith; be it unto you, even as you will. Matthew 15:26, 27. The prodigal son said, I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants, Luke 15:18, etcetera. See also Luke 18:9, etcetera. And he spoke this parable unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others, etcetera. —The publican standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other: For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Matthew 28:9. And they came, and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Colossians 3:12. Put you on, as the elect of God, —Humbleness of mind. Ezekiel 20:41, 43. I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, etcetera. —And there shall you remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein you have been defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all your evils that you have committed. Chapter 36:26, 27, 31. A new heart also will I give unto you, —and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, etcetera. —Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations. Chapter 16:63. That you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame; when I am pacified toward you, for all that you have done, saith the Lord. Job 42:6. I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

As we would therefore make the holy Scriptures our rule, in judging of the nature of true religion, and judging of our own religious qualifications and state; it concerns us greatly to look at this humiliation, as one of the most essential things pertaining to true Christianity. This is the principal part of the great Christian duty of Self-denial: That duty consists in two things, namely First, In a man's denying his worldly inclinations, and in forsaking and renouncing all worldly objects and enjoyments; and Secondly, In denying his natural self-exaltation, and renouncing his own dignity and glory, and in being emptied of himself; so that he does freely, and from his very heart, as it were renounce himself, and annihilate himself. Thus the Christian does, in evangelical humiliation. And this latter is the greatest and most difficult part of self-denial: Although they always go together, and one never truly is, where the other is not; yet natural men can come much nearer to the former than the latter. Many Anchorites and Recluses have abandoned (though without any true mortification) the wealth, and pleasures, and common enjoyments of the world, who were far from renouncing their own dignity and righteousness; they never denied themselves for Christ, but only sold one lust to feed another, sold a beastly lust to pamper a devilish one; and so were never the better, but their latter end was worse than their beginning; they turned out one black devil, to let in seven white ones, that were worse than the first, though of a fairer countenance. It is inexpressible, and almost inconceivable, how strong a self-righteous, self-exalting disposition is naturally in man; and what he will not do and suffer, to feed and gratify it; and what lengths have been gone in a seeming self-denial in other respects, by Essenes and Pharisees among the Jews, and by Papists, many sects of heretics, and enthusiasts, among professing Christians; and by many Mahometans; and by Pythagorean philosophers, and others, among the heathen: And all to do sacrifice to this Moloch of spiritual pride or self-righteousness; and that they may have something wherein to exalt themselves before God, and above their fellow-creatures.

That humiliation which has been spoken of, is what all the most glorious hypocrites, who make the most splendid show of mortification to the world, and high religious affection, do grossly fail in. Were it not that this is so much insisted on in scripture, as a most essential thing in true grace; one would be tempted to think that many of the heathen philosophers were truly gracious, in whom was so bright an appearance of many virtues, and also great illuminations, and inward fervors and elevations of mind, as though they were truly the subjects of divine illapses and heavenly communications.

It is true that many hypocrites make great pretenses to humility, as well as other graces; and very often there is nothing whatsoever which they make a higher profession of. They endeavor to make a great show of humility in speech and behavior; but they commonly make bungling work of it; though glorious work in their own eyes. They can't find out what a humble speech and behavior is, or how to speak and act so that there may indeed be a savor of Christian humility in what they say and do: That sweet humble air and mien is beyond their art, being not led by the Spirit, or naturally guided to a behavior becoming holy humility, by the vigor of a lowly spirit within them. And therefore they have no other way, many of them, but only to be much in declaring that they be humble, and telling how they were humbled to the dust at such and such times, and abounding in very bad expressions which they use about themselves; such as, I am the least of all saints, I am a poor vile creature, I am not worthy of the least mercy, or that God should look upon me! Oh, I have a dreadful wicked heart! my heart is worse than the devil! Oh, this cursed heart of mine, etcetera. Such expressions are very often used, not with a heart that is broken, not with spiritual mourning, not with the tears of her that washed Jesus's feet with her tears, not as remembering and being confounded, and never opening their mouth more, because of their shame, when God is pacified, as the expression is, Ezekiel 16:63. But with a light air, with smiles in the countenance, or with a pharisaical affectation: And we must believe that they are thus humble, and make themselves so vile, upon the credit of their Say so; for there is nothing appears in them of any savor or humility, in the manner of their deportment and deeds that they do. There are many that are full of expressions of their own vileness, who yet expect to be looked upon as eminent and bright saints by others, as their due; and it is dangerous for any, so much as to hint the contrary, or to carry it towards them any otherwise, than as if we looked upon them some of the chief of Christians. There are many that are much in crying out of their wicked hearts, and then great shortcomings, and unprofitableness, and speaking as though they looked on themselves as the meanest of the saints; who yet, if a minister should seriously tell them the same things in private, and should signify, that he feared they were very low and weak Christians, and thought they had reason solemnly to consider of their great barrenness, and unprofitableness, and falling so much short of many others; it would be more than they could digest: they would think themselves highly injured; and there would be danger of a rooted prejudice in them against such a minister.

Part 3

I now come to the second part of the examination of religious affections — taking note of some things in which affections that are spiritual and gracious differ from those that are not.

Before moving directly to the distinguishing characteristics, I want to mention a few things I hope will be kept in mind regarding the marks I am about to lay down.

First, I am far from claiming to give signs of gracious affections sufficient to enable anyone to distinguish true affections from false in other people, or to determine positively which of their neighbors are genuine professors and which are hypocrites. To do so would be to commit the very arrogance I have been condemning. Christ has certainly given rules to all Christians that enable them to judge the professors of religion they deal with, to the extent necessary for their own safety and to keep them from being led astray by false teachers and false professors of religion. And Scripture clearly abounds with rules that can be very useful to ministers in counseling and guiding the souls under their care in matters relating to their spiritual and eternal condition. Yet it is equally clear that God never intended to give us rules by which we can certainly know which of our fellow professors are truly His, or make a full and clear separation between sheep and goats. On the contrary, God reserved this as His own prerogative. No distinguishing signs that would enable Christians or ministers to do this are ever to be expected until the end of the world — for no more is ever to be expected from any signs found in or gathered from God's Word than Christ designed them for.

Second, no signs are to be expected that will enable those saints who are very low in grace, or who have strayed far from God and fallen into a dead and carnal spiritual state, to know their good standing with certainty. As already observed, it is not in keeping with God's design that such people should know their good standing. Nor is it desirable that they should — on the contrary, it is best in every way that they should not. We have reason to bless God that He has made no provision for such people to know their standing with certainty by any means other than first coming out of the bad frame and bad way they are in.

It is not actually due to any defect in the signs God's Word provides that even every living saint — whether strong or weak, and whether in a bad frame or not — cannot certainly know their good standing by those signs. For the rules are in themselves certain and infallible, and every saint has, or has had, within himself the things that are sure evidence of grace — for even the smallest act of grace is such evidence. The defect lies with the person to whom the signs are given. There is a twofold defect in the saint who is very low in grace or in a bad frame, which makes it impossible for him to know with certainty that he has true grace even with the best signs and rules that could be given. The first is a defect in the object — that is, in the quality being examined. I do not mean an essential defect, since I assume the person is a real saint — but a defect of degree: grace that is very small cannot be clearly and certainly seen and distinguished. Things that are very small cannot have their form clearly seen or distinguished from one another, even if in themselves they are very different. There is doubtless a great difference between a human embryo and the embryos of other animals at the earliest stage of development in the womb. But if we were to examine different embryos at that stage, it might be impossible to see the difference, because the object is in such an imperfect state. As the embryo develops further, the difference becomes very plain. The contrast between creatures of very different qualities is not as clearly seen while they are very young — even after birth — as it will be in their more fully developed state. The difference between doves and ravens, or doves and vultures, when they first come out of the egg, is not obvious; but as they mature toward their full nature, it becomes enormous and unmistakable. Another defect in those I am describing is that their grace is so intermingled with corruption that it is clouded and hidden, making it impossible to know with certainty. Even if two things before us have many marks that thoroughly distinguish them from each other, if we observe them through thick smoke it may still be impossible to tell them apart. A fixed star is easily distinguished from a comet in a clear sky, but if we observe them through a cloud it may be impossible to see the difference. When true Christians are in a bad frame, guilt lies on the conscience, which produces fear and prevents the peace and joy of assured hope.

The second defect is in the eye. Just as the weakness of grace and the prevalence of corruption obscures the object being examined, it also weakens the sight — darkening it with respect to all spiritual objects, of which grace is one. Sin is like certain eye conditions that make things appear in colors other than their true ones, and like many sicknesses that affect the sense of taste, making a person unable to distinguish good and wholesome food from bad — everything tastes bitter. People in a corrupt and carnal frame have their spiritual senses in poor condition for judging and distinguishing spiritual things.

For these reasons, no signs that can be given will actually satisfy people in such a condition. No matter how good, reliable, and clearly stated those signs may be, they will not serve such a person. It is like giving a man instructions for how to distinguish visible objects in the dark: the objects themselves may be very different, and the differences may be clearly described to him, yet all of this is insufficient to help him distinguish them — because he is in the dark. Therefore many people in such a condition waste their time in fruitless effort — poring over past experiences and examining themselves by signs they hear from the pulpit or read in books — when there is other work that is far more required of them. While they neglect that other work, all their self-examination is likely to be in vain no matter how much time they spend on it. The accursed thing must be removed from their camp, and Achan must be slain — until this is done they will be in trouble. It is not God's design that people should obtain assurance in any other way than by putting corruption to death, growing in grace, and obtaining its lively exercise. And although self-examination is a duty of great value and importance that should by no means be neglected, it is not the primary means by which the saints gain confidence in their spiritual standing. Assurance is not obtained so much by self-examination as by action. The apostle Paul sought assurance primarily this way — by forgetting what was behind and reaching forward to what was ahead, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, by any means attaining to the resurrection from the dead. And it was primarily by this means that he obtained assurance, as 1 Corinthians 9:26 shows: 'Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim.' He obtained assurance of winning the prize more by running than by reflecting. The swiftness of his pace did more for his assurance of victory than the carefulness of his self-examination. Peter's instruction for making our calling and election sure, and for having an entrance richly supplied into Christ's eternal kingdom, is to give all diligence to grow in grace — adding to faith, virtue, and so on. This tells us that without this effort, our eyes will be dim and we will be like people in the dark, unable to clearly see either the forgiveness of past sins or the heavenly inheritance that lies ahead in the distance (2 Peter 1:5-11).

Therefore, while good rules for distinguishing true grace from counterfeit may help convince hypocrites and be of great value to the saints in many ways — including removing unnecessary doubts and strengthening hope — I am far from claiming to lay down rules that would be sufficient on their own, without other means, to enable all true saints to see their good standing, or from suggesting they would be the primary means of their assurance.

Third, there is also little encouragement from experience — past or present — to lay down rules for distinguishing between true and false affections in hopes of convincing a significant number of those hypocrites who have been deceived by great false discoveries and affections and have settled into a false confidence with a high opinion of their own supposed experiences and privileges. Such hypocrites are so proud of their own wisdom, so blinded and hardened by a deep self-righteousness — very subtle and hidden beneath the disguise of great humility — and so stubbornly attached to their pleasing delusion of great spiritual elevation, that presenting even the most convincing evidence of their hypocrisy usually accomplishes nothing at all. Their condition is deplorable and next to that of those who have committed the unpardonable sin. Some of this kind of person seem to be almost entirely beyond the reach of the means of conviction and repentance. Yet laying down good rules may prevent such hypocrisy in others and may convince many hypocrites of other kinds. God is able to convict even this kind, and His grace is not to be limited, nor means to be neglected. Beyond this, such rules may be useful to true saints in detecting false affections that may be mixed in with genuine ones, and may be a means of making their religion more pure — like gold refined in the fire.

Having noted these things, I now proceed directly to examine the ways in which true religious affections are distinguished from false ones.

First distinguishing sign: affections that are truly spiritual and gracious arise from influences and operations on the heart that are spiritual, supernatural, and divine.

I will explain what I mean by these terms, which will show their usefulness for distinguishing spiritual affections from those that are not.

In the New Testament, true saints — those sanctified by God's Spirit — are called spiritual people, and being spiritual is spoken of as their distinctive character, the quality that sets them apart from the unsanctified. This is clear because spiritual people are contrasted with natural people and carnal people. The spiritual man and the natural man are set in opposition to each other in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15: 'A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things.' Scripture makes clear that 'natural man' means an ungodly person — one without grace. Jude, speaking of certain ungodly men who had crept in unnoticed among the saints (verse 4 of his epistle), says in verse 19: 'These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.' The apostle gives this as the reason for their wicked behavior. The word translated 'worldly-minded' in the original Greek is psychikos, the very same word translated 'natural' in those verses in 1 Corinthians 2. In the same discourse, a few verses later, spiritual men are contrasted with carnal men — which the context shows means the same thing as spiritual men and natural men in the preceding verses. Paul says: 'And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh' — that is, as in large measure unsanctified. That 'carnal' means corrupt and unsanctified is clear here and also from Romans 7:25 and 8:1, 4-6, where the flesh refers to what is corrupt and sinful, while the spiritual, which is opposed to it, is of the Spirit and holy.

Just as people are called spiritual in Scripture, so we also find that certain properties, qualities, and principles are given that name — such as a spiritual mind, spiritual understanding, and spiritual wisdom (Colossians 1:9), and spiritual things.

Notice that the word 'spiritual' in these and other parallel New Testament passages is not used to describe the relationship of persons or things to the human spirit or soul. Things are not called spiritual because they have their seat in the soul rather than the body. Some qualities Scripture calls fleshly or carnal actually have their seat largely in the soul — just as much as the qualities called spiritual. Pride, self-righteousness, and trusting in one's own wisdom are examples: the apostle calls these fleshly in Colossians 2:18. Nor are things called spiritual because they deal with immaterial rather than physical subjects. The wisdom of the wise men and rulers of this world was concerned with spirits and immaterial beings — and yet the apostle speaks of these men as natural, entirely ignorant of things that are spiritual (1 Corinthians 2). Rather, in the New Testament, persons and things are called spiritual in relation to the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of God. The word 'Spirit,' referring to the third person of the Trinity, is the root from which the adjective 'spiritual' is formed in Scripture. Christians are therefore called spiritual persons because they are born of the Spirit and because the Spirit of God indwells them and exerts His holy influence in them. Things are called spiritual as they relate to the Spirit of God, as 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 shows: 'These things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.' The apostle himself here expressly indicates that by 'spiritual things' he means 'the things of the Spirit of God' and 'the things which the Holy Spirit teaches.' This is even more fully clear by reading the whole context. Romans 8:6 says the same: 'For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.' The apostle explains what he means by being carnally and spiritually minded in verse 9, showing that being spiritually minded means having the Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart and exerting His holy influence there: 'However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.' The same is evident throughout the whole context. There is abundant evidence of this throughout the New Testament, though there is not space to gather it all here.

It must be noted, however, that not everyone subject to any kind of influence of the Spirit of God is ordinarily called spiritual in the New Testament. Only those who have the special, gracious, and saving influences of God's Spirit are called spiritual — not those who only have His common influences. This is clear because, as already shown, spiritual men in the passages cited means godly men, in contrast to natural, carnal, and unsanctified men. It is also entirely plain that in Romans 8:6 the apostle means by 'spiritually minded' something like 'graciously minded.' And although the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which natural people can also have, are sometimes called spiritual because they come from the Spirit, yet natural people — whatever gifts of the Spirit they possessed — were not in ordinary New Testament usage called spiritual persons. What made people spiritual was not having the gifts of the Spirit but having the virtues of the Spirit, as Galatians 6:1 makes clear: 'Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.' Gentleness is one of the virtues Paul had just listed in the preceding verses as fruits of the Spirit. In New Testament language, the qualities called spiritual are those that are truly gracious and holy — and unique to the saints.

So when we read of spiritual wisdom and understanding, as in Colossians 1:9 — 'We pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding' — the wisdom intended is that which is gracious and produced by the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God. By 'spiritual wisdom' is clearly meant the opposite of what Scripture calls natural wisdom, just as the spiritual man is the opposite of the natural man. Spiritual wisdom is therefore the same as the wisdom from above that James speaks of in James 3:17: 'The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle.' This James contrasts with natural wisdom in verse 15: 'This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural' — and the original word translated 'natural' here is the same as the word translated 'natural' in 1 Corinthians 2:14.

So then, though natural people may be subject to many influences of the Spirit of God — as many scriptures make clear, including Numbers 24:2, 1 Samuel 10:10 and 11:6 and 16:14, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Hebrews 6:4-6, and others — they are not spiritual persons in the scriptural sense, and none of the common gifts, qualities, or affections that result from the Spirit's influence on them are called spiritual things. The great difference lies in two things.

First, the Spirit of God is given to the true saints to dwell in them as His proper and lasting home, influencing their hearts as a principle of new nature — a divine, supernatural spring of life and action. Scripture presents the Holy Spirit not merely as occasionally moving on the saints and influencing them at times, but as dwelling in them as His temple, His proper and everlasting dwelling place (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, John 14:16-17). He is represented as so united to the faculties of the soul that He becomes there a principle and spring of new nature and life.

The saints are said to live by Christ living in them (Galatians 2:20). Christ by His Spirit is not only in them but lives in them — and so they live by His life. His Spirit is so united to them as a principle of life that they do not merely drink living water; rather, this living water becomes within the soul 'a well of water springing up to eternal life' (John 4:14), and so becomes a principle of life within them. This Evangelist himself explains in John 7:38-39 that this living water means the Spirit of God. The light of the Sun of Righteousness does not merely shine on the saints from the outside — it is so communicated to them that they themselves shine and become small images of the Sun that shines on them. The sap of the true Vine is not conveyed into them as sap might be poured into a container, but as sap flows from a tree into one of its living branches, where it becomes a principle of life. The Spirit of God being thus communicated to and united with the saints, they are rightly named after Him and called spiritual.

On the other hand, though the Spirit of God may influence natural people in many ways, He is not communicated to them as an indwelling principle, and so they receive no character or name from Him — for without that union, His presence is not their own. Light may shine on a body that is very dark or black, and though that body is the subject of the light, yet since the light does not become a principle of light within it to cause it to shine, the body does not rightly take its name from the light and is not called a luminous body. In the same way, the Spirit of God acting on the soul without communicating Himself as an active principle within it cannot make it spiritual. Just as a body that remains black may be said not to have light — even though light shines on it — so natural people are said to be 'devoid of the Spirit' (Jude 19): 'These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.'

Second — and this is the most important point — the saints and their virtues are called spiritual because the Spirit of God, dwelling as a living principle in their souls, produces in them those effects in which He expresses and communicates Himself according to His own proper nature. Holiness is the nature of the Spirit of God, which is why He is called in Scripture the Holy Spirit. Holiness — which is, as it were, the beauty and sweetness of the divine nature — is as truly the proper nature of the Holy Spirit as heat is the nature of fire, or as sweetness was the nature of the holy anointing oil, which was the principal type of the Holy Spirit in the Mosaic economy. I may even say more precisely: holiness is as much the proper nature of the Holy Spirit as sweetness was the nature of the fragrance of that oil. The Spirit of God so dwells in the hearts of the saints that He there, as a seed or spring of life, expresses and communicates Himself in this His sweet and divine nature, making the soul a partaker of God's beauty and Christ's joy, so that the saint truly has fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, through this communion and participation in the Holy Spirit. The grace that is in the hearts of the saints is of the same nature as divine holiness, as much as it is possible for holiness to be the same when it is infinitely smaller in degree — just as the brightness in a diamond that the sun shines upon is of the same nature as the brightness of the sun, even though it is nothing compared to it in degree. Therefore Christ says in John 3:6, 'That which is born of the Spirit is spirit' — meaning that the grace produced in the hearts of the saints is of the same nature as that Spirit, and so is rightly called a spiritual nature, in the same way that what is born of the flesh is flesh, or what is born of corrupt nature is corrupt nature.

But the Spirit of God never influences the minds of natural people in this way. Though He may influence them in many ways, He never in any of those influences communicates Himself to them in His own proper nature. He never acts contrary to His nature — not in His dealings with saints or sinners alike. But the Spirit may act on people in a manner consistent with His nature without actually communicating Himself in His proper nature through the effect of that action. For example, the Spirit moved on the face of the waters at creation, and there was nothing in that action contrary to His nature — yet He did not communicate Himself in that action; there was nothing of the Holy Spirit's proper nature in the movement of the waters. In the same way, He may act on the minds of people in many ways without communicating Himself any more than when He acts on inanimate things.

So then the difference is not only in the manner in which the Spirit relates to the subject of His operations — operating in the saints as a permanent indwelling principle of action, whereas He does not operate that way in sinners. The influence and operation itself is different, and the effect produced is vastly different. So it is not only that persons are called spiritual because the Spirit of God dwells in them, but the qualities, affections, and experiences wrought in them by the Spirit are also spiritual. These differ enormously in their very nature and kind from anything that a natural person is or can be the subject of while remaining in a natural state, and also from anything that human beings or demons could produce. It is a spiritual work in this high sense, and therefore supremely beyond all other works in being unique to the Spirit of God. No work is so high and excellent — for there is no work in which God so fully communicates Himself, and in which the creature, in so high a sense, participates in God. This is expressed in Scripture by phrases such as 'becoming partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4), 'God dwelling in them and they in God' (1 John 4:12, 15, 16 and 3:21), 'having Christ in them' (John 17:21, Romans 8:10), 'being the temple of the living God' (2 Corinthians 6:16), 'living by Christ's life' (Galatians 2:20), 'being made partakers of God's holiness' (Hebrews 12:10), 'having Christ's love dwelling in them' (John 17:26), 'having His joy fulfilled in them' (John 17:13), 'seeing light in God's light' and 'drinking from the river of God's pleasures' (Psalm 36:8-9), and 'having fellowship with God' — that is, communicating and participating in Him (1 John 1:3). This does not mean that the saints are made partakers of the very essence of God — as if they were 'Godded with God' and 'Christed with Christ,' according to the blasphemous language of certain heretics. Rather, using the Scripture's own phrase, they are made partakers of God's fullness (Ephesians 3:17-19, John 1:16) — that is, of God's spiritual beauty and happiness, according to the measure and capacity of a creature, for that is evidently what 'fullness' means in scriptural usage. Because grace in the hearts of the saints is therefore God's most glorious work — the work in which He most fully communicates the goodness of His nature — it is without doubt uniquely His own work, eminently above the power of all creatures. And the Spirit's influences in this work being thus unique to God, being those in which God so fully communicates Himself and makes the creature a partaker of the divine nature, with the Spirit communicating Himself in His own proper nature — this is what I mean by 'divine' when I say that truly gracious affections arise from influences that are spiritual and divine.

Only the true saints have what is spiritual — others have nothing divine in the sense just described. They not only lack these communications of the Spirit of God to a lesser degree; they have nothing of that nature or kind at all. James tells us that natural people do not have the Spirit. Christ teaches the necessity of the new birth — being born of the Spirit — on the grounds that what is born of the flesh has only flesh and no Spirit (John 3:6). Natural people do not have 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 belong to Him (Romans 8:9-11). Having the Spirit of God is presented as a certain sign of the eternal inheritance — it is called the pledge of that inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5, Ephesians 1:14). And having anything of the Spirit is mentioned as a sure sign of being in Christ (1 John 4:13): 'By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.' Ungodly people not only have less of the divine nature than the saints — they do not partake of it at all, which implies they have nothing of it, since being a partaker of the divine nature is spoken of as the unique privilege of the true saints (2 Peter 1:4). Ungodly people are not partakers of God's holiness (Hebrews 12:10). A natural person has no experience of any spiritual things — the apostle tells us that such a person is so far from this that he knows nothing about them, is entirely a stranger to them, and finds all such talk foolish and incomprehensible (1 Corinthians 2:14): 'A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.' Christ teaches the same, saying that the world is entirely unacquainted with the Spirit of God (John 14:17): 'The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him.' It is further evident that natural people have nothing of the same nature as true grace, because the apostle teaches that even the most religious among them have no love — no true Christian love (1 Corinthians 13). Christ likewise rebuked the Pharisees — those prominent claimants to religion — saying they did not have the love of God in them (John 5:42). Therefore natural people have no communion or fellowship with Christ, no participation in Him — for this is spoken of as the unique privilege of the saints (1 John 1:3 with verses 6-7 and 1 Corinthians 1:8-9). Scripture speaks of the actual presence of a gracious principle in the soul — even in its first beginnings, as a seed planted there — as something incompatible with a person's being a sinner (1 John 3:9). And natural people are described in Scripture as having no spiritual light, no spiritual life, and no spiritual existence — which is why conversion is often compared to opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, and a work of new creation in which creatures are made entirely new and become newborn children.

From all this it is clear that the gracious influences the saints experience, and the effects of God's Spirit they know, are entirely above nature — altogether different in kind from anything people find within themselves by nature or through the exercise of natural capacities alone. No improvement of natural qualities or principles, no elevating or advancing them to higher degrees, and no combination of them, could ever bring people to these things. This is because they differ from what is natural, and from everything that natural people experience, not only in degree and circumstances but in kind — and they are of a vastly more excellent nature. This is what I mean by 'supernatural' when I say that gracious affections arise from influences that are supernatural.

From this it follows that in the gracious exercises and affections produced in the minds of the saints through the Spirit's saving influences, there is a new inward perception or sensation of the mind — entirely different in its nature and kind from anything those minds experienced before being sanctified. If God by His mighty power produces something new — not only in degree and circumstances but in its whole nature, something that could be produced by no elevating, varying, or combining of what was previously there — and if God produces this in a mind that is perceiving, thinking, and conscious, then something entirely new is felt, perceived, or thought. In other words, there is a new sensation or perception of the mind that is entirely of a new sort, which could be produced by no elevating, varying, or combining of the kinds of perceptions or sensations the mind had before. This is what some philosophers call a new simple idea. If grace is, in the sense described above, an entirely new kind of principle, then the exercises of it are also entirely a new kind of exercise. And if there are in the soul new kinds of exercises it is conscious of — which the soul knew nothing of before, and which no improving, combining, or rearranging of its previous conscious experience could produce or even approach — then the mind has an entirely new kind of perception or sensation. There is, as it were, a new spiritual sense that the mind has — a principle of new perception and spiritual sensation that in its whole nature is different from every former kind of sensation, just as taste is different from every other sense. What a true saint perceives through the exercise of this new sense in spiritual and divine things is as completely different from what natural people perceive in those same things as the sweet taste of honey is different from the impression people get of honey merely by looking at it or touching it. So the spiritual perceptions of a sanctified, spiritual person differ from everything natural people have — not merely as different perceptions of the same sense might differ from each other, but as the perceptions of entirely different senses differ from one another. This is why the Spirit's work in regeneration is so often compared in Scripture to giving a new sense — giving eyes to see, ears to hear, unstopping deaf ears, opening the eyes of those born blind, turning from darkness to light. And because this spiritual sense is immeasurably the most noble and excellent — and without it all other capacities of perception and all our faculties are useless and empty — the giving of this new sense, with its blessed fruits and effects in the soul, is compared to raising the dead and to a new creation.

This new spiritual sense, and the new dispositions that come with it, are not new faculties but new principles of nature. I use the word 'principles' for lack of a more precise term. By a principle of nature I mean the foundation laid in nature — whether old or new — for any particular kind of exercise of the faculties of the soul: a natural disposition and capacity for action that gives a person the ability and inclination to exercise those faculties in a certain kind of way, so that exercising them in that way may be called his nature. So this new spiritual sense is not a new faculty of understanding, but a new foundation laid in the nature of the soul for a new kind of exercise of the same faculty of understanding. And the new holy dispositions of the heart that accompany this new sense are not a new faculty of the will, but a new foundation laid in the nature of the soul for a new kind of exercise of the same faculty of the will.

In all His operations on the minds of natural people, the Spirit of God only moves, impresses, assists, improves, or in some way acts upon natural principles — He never infuses a new spiritual principle. For example, when the Spirit gave Balaam visions, He only impressed a natural principle — the sense of sight — immediately producing ideas through that sense. He gave no new sense; there was nothing supernatural, spiritual, or divine about it. Similarly, when the Spirit impresses on a person's imagination — whether in a dream or while awake — any outward sensory images, whether voices, shapes, or colors, He is only stimulating the same kinds of ideas that the person already has through natural principles and senses. When God reveals to a natural person some future fact — something they will later see or hear — this is not infusing or exercising any new spiritual principle or giving ideas through a new spiritual sense. It is only impressing, in an extraordinary way, the same kinds of ideas that will later be received through sight and hearing. In the more ordinary influences of the Spirit on the hearts of sinners, He only assists natural principles to do the same work they do naturally, but to a greater degree. By His common influences the Spirit may assist a person's natural skill, as He assisted Bezaleel and Aholiab in the craftsmanship of the tabernacle. He may enhance people's natural abilities in practical affairs and strengthen natural qualities like courage, as He is said to have put His Spirit on the seventy elders and on Saul — giving him another heart. God may greatly sharpen natural people's reasoning about secular matters or about the doctrines of religion, greatly increasing the clarity of their understanding of religious things in many respects, without giving any spiritual sense. In the awakenings and convictions that natural people may experience, God is only assisting conscience — a natural principle — to do its normal work to a greater degree. Conscience naturally gives people a sense of right and wrong and suggests that right and wrong actions have corresponding consequences. The Spirit of God assists conscience to do this more powerfully, helping it overcome the numbing influence of worldly concerns and sinful desires. There are many other ways the Spirit acts on, assists, and moves natural principles. But in all of this it is no more than nature moved, acted upon, and improved — there is nothing supernatural or divine. But in the Spirit's spiritual influences on the hearts of the saints, He works by infusing and exercising new, divine, and supernatural principles — principles that are indeed a new and spiritual nature, and principles vastly more noble and excellent than anything found in natural people.

From what has been said it follows that all spiritual and gracious affections are accompanied by, and arise from, some perception, idea, or sensation of the mind that in its whole nature is different — vastly different — from everything that is or can be in the mind of a natural person. The natural person perceives nothing of it and has no idea of it at all (in keeping with 1 Corinthians 2:14), any more than a person without the sense of taste can conceive of the sweetness of honey, or a person without the sense of hearing can conceive of the beauty of a melody, or a person born blind can have any notion of the colors of a rainbow.

Two important qualifications must be observed in order to understand this correctly.

First, on the one hand, not everything that belongs to spiritual affections is new and entirely beyond what natural people can conceive or experience. Some things are common to gracious affections and ordinary human affections — many circumstances, features, and effects are shared. A saint's love to God, for example, has many things in common with a person's natural love for a close family member. Love to God causes a person to desire God's honor and to long to please Him — just as natural love for a friend causes a person to desire that friend's honor and to want to please him. Love to God causes delight in thoughts of God, in the presence of God, desire for conformity to God, and enjoyment of God — much as love for a friend produces similar things. Many more parallels could be noted. Yet the idea the saint has of the loveliness of God, and the sensation and kind of delight he experiences in that vision — which is the very essence and marrow of his love — is unique and completely different from anything a natural person has or can conceive of. Even in the things that seem common, there is something distinctive. Both spiritual and natural love produce desires for the beloved, but they are not the same kind of desires. There is a quality of soul in the spiritual desires of one who loves God that is entirely different from anything in natural desire. Both spiritual and natural love are attended by delight in the beloved, but the sensations of delight are not the same — they are entirely and immensely different. Natural people may form concepts of many things about spiritual affections, but there is something in those affections — a core and essence — of which natural people have no more conception than a person born blind has of colors.

This can be illustrated clearly with the following example. Suppose two men: one is born without the sense of taste, the other has it. The one with taste loves honey and delights greatly in it because he knows its sweetness; the other loves certain sounds and colors. Both loves have many things in common — both produce desire and delight in the beloved object, both cause grief at its absence, and so on. But the idea or sensation the one who knows the taste of honey has of its excellence and sweetness — which is the very foundation of his love — is entirely different from anything the other has or can have. The delight the one feels in honey is completely unlike anything the other can conceive of, even though both delight in their respective beloved objects. Both men may even love the same object — suppose a delicious fruit that is beautiful to the eye and sweet to the taste. The one who can taste loves it both for its beautiful color and for its sweetness; the other, having no taste, loves it only for its color. In many ways they seem to share the same response — both love, both desire, both delight. But the love, desire, and delight of the one are altogether different from those of the other. The difference between the love of a natural person and a spiritual person is something like this, with two important qualifications. In one respect the difference is far greater — the kinds of excellence perceived in spiritual objects by these two different kinds of persons are vastly more distinct from each other than the different kinds of excellence perceived in a delicious fruit by the one who can taste and the one who cannot. In another respect the difference may not be as great — because the spiritual person may have only the beginnings of spiritual sense or taste, perceiving that divine and uniquely excellent quality in only a small and very imperfect degree.

Second, on the other hand, it must be observed that a natural person may have religious perceptions and affections that in many respects are very new and surprising to him — things he had not conceived of before — and yet what he experiences is nothing like the exercise of a new nature or the sensations of a new spiritual sense. His affections may seem very new because natural principles have been stirred in an extraordinary degree, with many new circumstances, a new combination of natural emotions, and a new arrangement of ideas. This may result from some extraordinarily powerful influence of Satan and great delusion — but it is nothing more than nature stirred in an unusual way. Consider this illustration: suppose a poor man who has always lived in a cottage and never seen beyond the small village where he was born is taken in a dream to a magnificent city and royal court, dressed in royal robes, seated on a throne with the crown on his head, with nobles bowing before him, and made to believe he is a glorious monarch. The ideas he would have and the affections he would experience would in many respects be very new — unlike anything he had ever imagined. But all of it is nothing more than natural principles being stirred in an extraordinary way, with natural ideas elevated, varied, and combined in new arrangements. Nothing in any of this is like giving him a new sense.

Taking everything together, I think it is clearly evident that all truly gracious affections arise from special and unique influences of the Spirit, working in the souls of the saints a particular sensation or effect that is entirely different from anything it is possible for a natural person to experience — different not only in degree and circumstances, but in its whole nature. A natural person not only cannot experience what is specifically the same thing, but can experience nothing that is not vastly different from it and immensely below it in kind. And it is something that neither the power of people nor of demons is sufficient to produce anything resembling, or anything of the same nature.

I have treated this matter at length because it is of great importance and usefulness — clearly exposing and demonstrating Satan's delusions in many kinds of false religious affections that have deceived multitudes, and probably have done so in every age of the Christian church, and also for settling many questions of doctrine concerning the operations of the Spirit of God and the nature of true grace.

Now let me apply these things to the purpose of this discussion.

From this it appears that the impressions made on people's imaginations — the mental images they have of God, Christ, heaven, or anything related to religion — have nothing in them that is spiritual or of the nature of true grace. Though such things may accompany what is spiritual and be mixed with it, they have nothing spiritual in themselves and are no part of genuine spiritual experience.

For the sake of those less familiar with such distinctions, let me explain what I mean by impressions on the imagination and imaginary ideas. The imagination is the power of the mind by which it can form a conception or idea of things that are external — things of the kind perceived by the outward senses — even when those things are not present and are not being perceived. It is called imagination from the word 'image' because by it a person can have an image of some external thing in the mind even when that thing is not actually present. All the things we perceive through our five external senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch — are external things. When a person has an idea or image of any of these kinds of things in the mind while not actually seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling them, that is to have an imagination of them, and such ideas are imaginary ideas. When such ideas are strongly impressed on the mind and the image of them is very vivid — almost as if one were actually seeing or hearing them — that is called an impression on the imagination. Colors, shapes, and facial features are outward things because they are the kind of things perceived by the outward sense of sight. When a person has a vivid idea of any shape, color, or face in the mind, that is having an imagination of those things. If a person has an idea of any kind of light or darkness such as is perceived by the sense of sight, that is an idea of outward light and is therefore an act of imagination. If a person has an idea of marks on paper — letters and words written in a book — that is having an external, imaginary idea of the kind of things sometimes perceived by the bodily eyes. When a person has ideas of things perceived by the other senses — sounds, voices, or spoken words — that is also only having ideas of outward things: the kind of things perceived by the external sense of hearing, and so that too is imagination. When such ideas are vividly impressed almost as if they were really heard with the ears, that is an impression on the imagination. The same could be said for ideas relating to the other three senses of smell, taste, and touch.

Many who have had such experiences have very mistakenly supposed them to be spiritual discoveries. Some have had vivid ideas of a beautiful external shape or face, and this they call spiritually seeing Christ. Some have had impressed on 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 hanging on the cross with blood flowing from His wounds, and this they call a spiritual sight of Christ crucified and of the way of salvation through His blood. Some have seen in their minds Christ 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 vivid ideas of heaven, of Christ on His throne, and of shining ranks of saints and angels, and this they call seeing heaven opened to them. Some have from time to time had a vivid idea of a beautiful face smiling at them, and this they call a spiritual discovery of Christ's love for their souls and a tasting of that love. They consider these to be genuine spiritual discoveries and believe they see them spiritually because, they say, they do not see these things with bodily eyes but in their hearts — they can see them when their eyes are closed. Similarly, some have had imagination impressions of the sense of hearing: ideas of words as if spoken to them, sometimes scripture texts and sometimes other words, ideas of Christ speaking comforting words. These things they have called having the inward call of Christ, hearing the voice of Christ spiritually in the heart, having the witness of the Spirit, and the inward testimony of Christ's love, and so on.

Less thoughtful people are more easily led to think these are spiritual experiences partly because spiritual things are invisible and cannot be pointed to, and so we are forced to use figurative language in speaking of them, borrowing names from external and sensory objects. A clear apprehension of spiritual things is called light, and having such an apprehension of something is called seeing it. The conviction of the mind and the persuasion of the heart through the Word of Christ in the gospel is described as spiritually hearing Christ's call. Scripture itself is full of such figurative expressions. When people often hear these expressions used, and have pressed on them the necessity of having their eyes opened, of having a discovery of spiritual things, of seeing Christ in His glory, of having the inward call, and so on, they ignorantly look and wait for the very kind of external discovery or mental vision just described. When they experience such things, they are convinced that now their eyes have been opened, now Christ has revealed Himself to them, and they are His children. They are then powerfully moved and excited about their deliverance and happiness, and many kinds of emotions are suddenly stirred into motion at once.

But it is very plain that such ideas have nothing in them that is spiritual and divine in the sense in which all gracious experiences have been shown to be spiritual and divine. These external ideas are not at all of the kind that is entirely and in its whole nature different from everything people have by nature — perfectly different from and vastly above any sensation that is possible through any natural sense or principle, so that to receive them one would need a new spiritual and divine sense. Far from that, they are ideas of the same kind that we receive through the external senses, which are among the lower powers of human nature. They are merely ideas of external objects, or ideas of the same outward, sensory kind — the same sort of mental sensations (differing not in kind but only in circumstances) that we receive through the natural principles we share with animals: the five external senses. It is a low and sorry notion of spiritual sense to suppose that it consists in conceiving or imagining the same kind of ideas we receive through our animal senses — senses that animals possess as fully as we do. It reduces Christ, or the divine nature in the soul, to something merely animal. There is nothing lacking in the soul as it exists by nature that would make it incapable of having all of these external ideas without any new principles. A natural person is just as capable as a regenerate person of having vivid ideas of shapes, colors, and sounds when they are absent — so there is nothing supernatural about such ideas. And abundant experience shows that it is not the advancement or perfection of human nature that makes people more capable of having vivid imaginary impressions; on the contrary, bodily and mental weakness and physical disorders make people far more susceptible to such impressions.

In the case of a truly spiritual sensation, not only is the manner of its coming into the mind extraordinary — the sensation itself is completely unlike anything people have or can have in a state of nature, as has been shown. But as for external ideas, even when they come into the mind in an unusual way, the ideas themselves are not better for that. They are still of no different kind from what people receive through the senses — no higher in nature, not a bit more excellent. For example, the external idea a person now has of Christ hanging on the cross and shedding His blood is no better in itself than the external idea the Jews who were His enemies had as they stood around the cross and watched with their bodily eyes. The imaginary idea people now have of an outward brightness and glory of God is no better than the idea the rebellious congregation in the wilderness had of the outward glory of the Lord at Mount Sinai when they saw it with bodily eyes — and no better than the idea that millions of the condemned will have of the outward glory of Christ at the day of judgment, when they will see with vivid clarity a glory ten thousand times greater than anything anyone has ever imagined. The image of Christ that people form in their imaginations is not in its own nature any better than the idea Catholics form of Christ through the beautiful and moving images of Him in their churches — though the way of receiving the idea may not be as problematic. Nor are the affections they experience, if built primarily on such imaginings, any better than the affections stirred in simple people by the sight of those images, which are sometimes very great — especially when the images are made through priestly craft to appear to move, speak, or weep. The way in which people receive these imaginary ideas does not change the nature of the ideas themselves. However they are received, they remain external ideas — ideas of outward appearances — and so are not spiritual. Even if people received such external ideas by the direct power of God Himself on their minds, those ideas would not be spiritual — they would be no more than a common work of the Spirit of God. This is evident from the case of Balaam, on whose mind God Himself impressed a clear and vivid outward representation 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' (Numbers 24:16-17). And yet Balaam had no spiritual discovery of Christ whatsoever — that Daystar never spiritually rose in his heart, for he was only a natural man.

Just as these external ideas have nothing divine or spiritual in their nature, and nothing that natural people without any new principles are incapable of, so there is nothing in their nature requiring that peculiar, matchless exercise of God's glorious power that has been shown to be necessary for the production of true grace. Nothing in them appears to be beyond the power of the devil. It is certainly not beyond Satan's power to suggest thoughts to people — otherwise he could not tempt them to sin. And if he can suggest thoughts and ideas at all, imaginary ideas — ideas of external things — are certainly not beyond his power, since they are the lowest kind of ideas. These ideas may be produced simply by impressions made on the body, by stimulating the animal spirits and affecting the brain. Abundant experience clearly shows that physical changes can produce imaginary or external ideas in the mind, as is often the case in high fever, depression, and similar conditions. These external ideas are as far below the more intellectual exercises of the soul as the body is below the soul in nobility.

Not only is there nothing in the nature of these external ideas or imaginings of outward appearances from which we could conclude they are beyond the devil's power, but it is also certain that the devil can produce such ideas and often has. The external ideas excited in the dreams and visions of the false prophets of old — who were under the influence of lying spirits — are often spoken of in Scripture, as in Deuteronomy 13:1, 1 Kings 22:22, Isaiah 28:7, Ezekiel 13:7, and Zechariah 13:4. And it was external ideas that Satan frequently excited in the minds of pagan priests, magicians, and sorcerers during their visions and trances. It was also an external idea that he excited in the mind of Jesus Christ Himself when he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world with their glory — kingdoms not actually in view at the time.

If Satan or any created being has the power to impress the mind with outward representations, then no particular kind of outward representation can serve as evidence of divine power. Almighty power is not required to represent the shape of a human being in the imagination any more than the shape of anything else. No greater power is needed to form one bodily shape or color in the brain than another. It does not take any more glorious power to form the image of a human body than the image of a chip of wood — even if it is a very beautiful human body with a warm smile, arms open, or blood flowing from hands, feet, and side. The same kind of power that can represent black or darkness to the imagination can also represent white and shining brightness. The skill that can accurately paint a straw or stick of wood on paper or canvas — only perhaps somewhat further developed — is sufficient to paint a human body in great beauty and royal majesty, a magnificent city paved with gold, blazing with light, and a glorious throne. It takes no more than the same kind of power to paint one of these as the other on the brain. The same kind of power that puts ink on paper can put gold leaf on it. So it is demonstrably clear that if it is within the devil's power to produce any kind of external representation in the imagination at all — which is beyond doubt to anyone who believes the devil exists and has dealings with humanity — then a created power can extend to every kind of external appearance and idea in the mind.

From this it again clearly appears that none of these things have anything in them that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine in the sense in which all truly gracious experiences have been shown to have. And although external ideas do ordinarily, to some degree, accompany spiritual experiences due to the way human beings are made, these ideas are no part of the spiritual experience itself — any more than the movement of blood and the beating of the pulse that accompany experiences are part of the spiritual experience. Undoubtedly, because of human weakness in the present state — and especially the delicate constitution of some people — very strong gracious affections can and do stimulate vivid impressions in the imagination. Yet it is equally certain that when affections are founded on imaginations — as is often the case — those affections are merely natural and ordinary, because they are built on a foundation that is not spiritual. They are therefore entirely different from gracious affections, which, as has been proved, always arise from spiritual and divine operations.

These imaginations very often raise the natural emotions of people to an extremely high pitch. No wonder — since those who have them are ignorantly but utterly convinced that these are divine manifestations that the Almighty is immediately making to their souls, giving them, in an extraordinary way, evidence of His high and special favor.

Again, it is evident from what has been observed and proved about the way gracious operations and effects in the heart are spiritual, supernatural, and divine, that the immediate suggesting of scripture words to the mind has nothing in it that is spiritual.

I have had occasion to touch on this already, and what has been said may be sufficient to establish it. But if the reader keeps in mind what has been said about the nature of spiritual influences and effects, it will be even more abundantly clear. For no one of ordinary understanding would claim that the bringing of words to the mind — whatever words they may be — is an effect of a nature impossible for a natural person in a state of nature to experience, or requiring any new divine sense in the soul, or so high, holy, and excellent in nature that no created power could possibly produce it.

Suggesting scripture words to the mind is simply exciting in the mind ideas of certain sounds or letters — it is just one way of producing ideas in the imagination, since sounds and letters are external things that are objects of the external senses of sight and hearing. Ideas of certain marks on paper — any of the letters of the alphabet in whatever arrangement — or of any vocal sounds are just as much external ideas as ideas of any other shape or sound whatsoever. By what has already been said about external ideas, it is clear they are nothing spiritual. When the Spirit of God suggests such letters or sounds to the mind, this is a common influence of that Spirit, not a special or gracious one. It follows from what has already been proved that affections which have this effect as their foundation are not spiritual or gracious affections. Let me be precise about what I am saying: when it is the immediate and extraordinary manner in which scripture words come to the mind that excites the affections and serves as their proper foundation, those affections are not spiritual. It can certainly be the case that people have gracious affections accompanying scripture texts that come to mind, and the Spirit of God may use those texts to stir them, when it is some spiritual sense, taste, or relish they have of the divine and excellent things contained in those scriptures that excites the affections — not the extraordinary and sudden way the words were brought to mind. They are affected by the instruction received from the words, and by the view of the glorious things of God or Christ that those words teach — not because the words came suddenly, as though someone had spoken them directly to them, leading them to conclude that God was speaking immediately to them. People are often powerfully moved on a very different basis: words from some great and lofty scripture promise come suddenly to mind, and they take those words as directed immediately by God to them — as though the words at that very moment came out of the mouth of God spoken personally to them. They treat this as God's voice immediately revealing their blessed condition and promising them great things. That is what elevates them. There is no new spiritual understanding of the scripture — no new spiritual vision of the glorious things that passage teaches — that precedes and grounds their emotion. The only new understanding they have, or think they have, as the basis of their affection, is this: that the words were spoken to them, because they came so suddenly and remarkably. So this affection is built entirely on sand — on a conclusion for which they have no proper basis. As has been shown, the sudden arrival of words in the mind is no evidence that God brought them to the mind in that way. And even if God did bring the words to mind, and they somehow knew it for certain, that would not be spiritual knowledge — it could occur without any spiritual sense whatsoever. A person might know that the words God sent were indeed from God and yet have no spiritual knowledge. So the affections built on the notion that scripture texts are sent immediately from God have no spiritual foundation and are empty and deceptive. When persons whose affections have been raised this way are asked whether they have any new sense of the excellence of the things contained in those scriptures, they will likely say yes without hesitation. But the only way that is true is this: having taken up the notion that the words were spoken immediately to them, they find them sweet — and take the things those scriptures say to them as wonderful and excellent. For example, suppose the words suddenly brought to mind were 'Do not be afraid — it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Having confidently accepted the idea that those words were as it were spoken directly from heaven to them — as an immediate revelation that God is their Father and has given the kingdom to them — they are greatly moved by it, and the words seem sweet. They say the things contained in those words are excellent! But the reason the promise seems excellent to them is only that they believe it was made to them personally. All the sense of glory they find in it comes from self-love and from their imagined personal stake in the words. There was no prior view or sense of the holy and glorious nature of the kingdom of heaven, or of the spiritual glory of the God who gives it, or of His excellent grace in offering and giving it to sinful people of His own good pleasure — none of this preceded and grounded their supposed interest in these things, their being moved by them, or their hope of having a share in them. On the contrary, they first imagine they have an interest in the words, then are powerfully moved by that imagined interest, and then declare the things to be excellent. So the sudden and extraordinary way the scripture came to mind is plainly the first and real foundation of the whole experience — which is clear evidence of the sad delusion they are under.

The first comfort of many people — what they call their conversion — follows this pattern. After awakening and terror, some comforting and sweet promise comes suddenly and remarkably to their minds, and the manner of its coming leads them to conclude it has come from God personally to them. This becomes the very foundation of their faith, hope, and comfort. From this they take their first encouragement to trust in God and Christ, because they believe that God, by bringing that scripture text to mind, has already revealed that He loves them and has already promised them eternal life. This is completely mistaken. Anyone with a basic knowledge of religious principles knows that it is God's pattern to reveal His love to people and their interest in the promises after they have believed — not before — because they must first believe before they have any share in the promises to be revealed. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth, not of falsehood. He does not bring scripture texts to people's minds to reveal to them that they have an interest in God's favor and promises when in fact they have none — having not yet believed. That would be the case if God's bringing scripture texts to a person's mind to reveal forgiven sins, or God's pleasure to give them the kingdom, or anything of that nature, preceded and formed the foundation of their first faith. No promise of the covenant of grace belongs to any person until he has first believed in Christ, for it is by faith alone that we come to have a share in Christ and in the promises of the new covenant made in Him. Therefore, whatever spirit applies the promises of that covenant to a person who has not yet believed — treating them as already his — must be a lying spirit. And faith that is first built on such an application of promises is built on a lie. God's pattern is not to bring comforting scripture texts to give people assurance of His love and that they will be happy before they have exercised a trusting, dependent faith. If the scripture that comes to mind is not strictly a promise but an invitation, and a person makes the sudden or unusual manner of that invitation's coming to mind the grounds for believing he is invited, that is not true faith either — because it is built on what is not the true basis of faith. True faith is not built on a precarious foundation. The determination that the words of a particular text were, by God's immediate power, brought to mind at a particular moment as though spoken and directed by God personally, because they came in such-and-such a manner — that is entirely an uncertain and shaky determination, as has been shown. It is therefore a false and sandy foundation for faith, and the faith built on it is accordingly false. The only certain foundation for a person's belief that he is invited to share in the blessings of the gospel is this: the Word of God declares that persons with such qualifications as he has are invited, and God who declares it is true and cannot lie. If a sinner is once convinced of God's truthfulness and that the scriptures are His word, he will need nothing more to convince him he is invited. Scripture is filled with invitations to sinners — to the chief of sinners — to come and receive the benefits of the gospel. He will not need God to speak to him again — what God has already spoken will be enough.

Just as the first comfort and affections of many people at the time of their supposed conversion are built on such grounds as these, so are their joys, hopes, and other affections from time to time afterward. They frequently have particular scripture words, sweet declarations and promises, come to mind, which because of the manner of their arrival they think are immediately sent from God to them at that moment. They look upon this as their warrant to claim those words as their own, and they make the manner of their coming the main basis for appropriating them to themselves, for the comfort they take in them, and for the confidence they derive from them. They imagine a kind of ongoing conversation with God — that God from time to time is, as it were, speaking directly to them, satisfying their doubts, testifying His love, promising them support and provision and blessing in particular situations, and revealing clearly their interest in eternal blessings. By this they are frequently elevated, experiencing sudden and turbulent kinds of joy mixed with strong confidence and a high opinion of themselves. But the real basis of these joys and this confidence is not anything contained in or taught by those scriptures as they stand in the Bible, but the manner in which those words came to them — which is clear evidence of their delusion. No particular promise in the Word of God belongs to the saint any more than all the promises of the covenant of grace belong to him and are spoken to him. It is true that some of those promises may be more specifically suited to his circumstances than others, and God by His Spirit may enable him to understand some better than others and to have a deeper sense of the preciousness, glory, and beauty of the blessings they contain.

But some may be ready to ask: Is there no such thing as a particular, personal application of scripture promises by the Spirit of God? There is certainly such a thing as a spiritual and personal application of the truths and promises of scripture to the souls of people. But it is also certain that the nature of it is entirely misunderstood by many people, to the great harm of their own souls and to the enormous advantage it gives Satan against them, against the cause of religion, and against the church of God. The spiritual application of a scripture promise does not consist in its being immediately suggested to the mind by some unseen agent, brought forcefully into the thoughts with the strong sense that it is particularly spoken and directed to this person at this moment. There is nothing in this effect that bears the mark of God's hand, as events have proved in many disastrous instances. It is a false imitation of a spiritual application of scripture. There is nothing in the nature of this effect at all beyond the power of the devil when God permits him to act, for there is nothing in the nature of the effect that is spiritual or that implies any vital communication from God. A truly spiritual application of the Word of God is of a vastly higher nature — as far above the devil's power as applying the Word to a dead corpse in such a way as to raise it to life, or to a stone in such a way as to transform it into an angel. A spiritual application of the Word of God consists in applying it to the heart through spiritually enlightening and sanctifying influences. A spiritual application of an invitation or offer of the gospel consists in giving the soul a spiritual sense and relish of the holy and divine blessings offered, and also of the sweet and wonderful grace of the One who offers them, and of His holy excellence and faithfulness in fulfilling what He offers, and of His glorious sufficiency to do so — thereby leading and drawing the heart to embrace the offer, and thus giving the person evidence of his right to what is offered. Similarly, a truly spiritual application of scripture promises for the comfort of the saints consists in enlightening their minds to see the holy excellence and sweetness of the blessings promised, and also the holy excellence of the Promiser, His faithfulness and sufficiency — thereby drawing their hearts to embrace both the Promiser and the thing promised — and by this means producing the living exercise of grace, enabling them to see their grace and thus their right to the promise. An application that does not consist in this divine enlightening of the mind, but only in words being pressed into the thoughts as if immediately then spoken, making people believe on no other basis that the promise is theirs — such an application is a blind application, and belongs to the spirit of darkness, not of light.

When people have their affections raised in this manner, those affections are not really raised by the Word of God. Scripture is not their actual foundation. It is not anything contained in the scripture texts that come to mind that raises their affections. What actually raises them is the strange manner in which the words were brought to mind, and a conclusion they draw from that — a proposition that is in fact not contained in that scripture or in any other: that his sins are forgiven, or that the Father's good pleasure is to give him the kingdom, or something similar. The Bible does contain propositions declaring that persons with such-and-such qualifications are forgiven and beloved by God. But the Bible contains no propositions declaring that such-and-such particular individuals — independent of any prior knowledge of their qualifications — are forgiven and beloved by God. So when any person is comforted and moved by such a proposition, it is by a different word entirely — a newly invented word, not any word of God found in the Bible. By this means many people are deceived and moved by what is empty.

Again, it is plainly clear from what has been demonstrated that no revelation of secret facts through immediate suggestion is anything spiritual and divine in the sense in which gracious effects and operations are so.

By 'secret facts' I mean things that have happened, are happening, or will happen, which are secret in the sense that they do not appear to the senses, are not known by reasoning or any evidence to reason, and are not knowable in any other way than by a revelation through the immediate suggestion of ideas about them to the mind. For example: suppose it were revealed to me that next year this country would be invaded by a fleet from France, or that certain people would then be converted, or that I myself would be converted — not by enabling me to reason these things out from anything presently visible in providence, but by immediately impressing on my mind, in an extraordinary way, the sense or idea of these facts, with a strong impression not of my own making that these things would come to pass. Or suppose it were revealed to me that on this very day a battle is being fought between the armies of certain powers in Europe; or that a certain European prince was converted today, or is now in a converted state having been converted earlier; or that one of my neighbors is converted; or that I myself am converted — not by having any other evidence from which I could reason to these conclusions, but by an immediate extraordinary suggestion or impression of these ideas on my mind. This is a revelation of secret facts by immediate suggestion, just as much as if the facts were future. Whether the facts are past, present, or future makes no difference, as long as they are hidden from my senses and reason, are not spoken of in scripture, and are not known to me by any other means than immediate suggestion. If it is revealed to me that a revolution has occurred today in the Ottoman Empire, that is the very same kind of revelation as if it had been revealed to me that such a revolution would occur there a year from today — for though one is present and the other future, both are equally hidden from me except by immediate revelation. When Samuel told Saul that the donkeys he had gone to find had been found, and that his father had stopped worrying about the donkeys and was now anxious about him, this was the same kind of revelation as that by which Samuel told Saul that on the plain of Tabor three men going up to God at Bethel would meet him (1 Samuel 10:2-3) — though one event was future and the other was not. Similarly, when Elisha told the king of Israel the words that the king of Syria spoke in his bedroom, it was the same kind of revelation as that by which he predicted many future events.

It is clear that this revelation of secret facts by immediate suggestion has nothing of the nature of a spiritual and divine operation in the sense already described. There is nothing in the nature of the perceptions or ideas themselves that are produced in the mind that is divinely excellent and thus far above all the ideas of natural people, even though the manner of producing those ideas may be extraordinary. In things that are spiritual, as has been shown, not only the manner of producing the effect but the effect itself is divine — vastly above anything that can exist in an unsanctified mind. Simply having an idea of facts — setting aside the manner in which those ideas were produced — is nothing beyond what the minds of wicked people are capable of without any goodness in them. All wicked people either have or will have knowledge of the truth of the greatest and most important facts that have been, are, or will be.

As for the extraordinary manner of producing ideas or perceptions of facts by immediate suggestion — there is nothing in this that the minds of natural people while still in a state of nature are not capable of, as is evident in the case of Balaam and others in scripture. Therefore it appears that nothing about this immediate suggestion of secret facts is spiritual in the sense in which gracious operations have been proved to be spiritual. If there is nothing in the ideas themselves that is holy and divine — nothing that cannot be in an unsanctified mind — then God can place them in the mind by His immediate power without sanctifying it. Just as there is nothing in the idea of a rainbow that is of a holy and divine nature — nothing to prevent an unsanctified mind from receiving that idea — so God, when He pleases, may immediately and in an extraordinary manner produce that idea in an unsanctified mind. So also, as there is nothing in the idea or knowledge that certain particular people are forgiven and accepted by God and have a title to heaven that is beyond what unsanctified minds can have — and will have regarding many people at the day of judgment — God can if He pleases extraordinarily and immediately suggest this to and impress it on an unsanctified mind right now. There is no principle lacking in an unsanctified mind to make it incapable of such a suggestion or impression, nor is there anything in it to exclude or necessarily prevent such a suggestion.

If these suggestions of secret facts are accompanied by scripture words that also come to mind immediately and extraordinarily, about other facts that seem somewhat similar, that does not make the operation spiritual and divine. The suggestion of scripture words is no more divine than the suggestion of the facts themselves, as has just been demonstrated. Two effects that are neither of them spiritual cannot together make up one combined effect that is spiritual.

It follows from all that has been shown and repeated that affections which are properly founded on such immediate suggestions, or supposed suggestions, of secret facts are not gracious affections. It is possible that such suggestions may be the occasion or even a contributing cause of gracious affections — just as a mistake or a delusion may sometimes be — but they are never the proper foundation of gracious affections. For gracious affections, as has been shown, are all the effects of an influence and operation that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. But many people have strong and elevated affections that have precisely these kinds of suggestions or revelations as their very foundation, looking upon them as spiritual discoveries — which is a serious delusion — and it is truly this delusion that is the spring from which their affections flow.

Here it is appropriate to observe that what many people call the witness of the Spirit — their assurance that they are children of God — has nothing in it that is spiritual and divine, and consequently the affections built upon it are empty and deceptive. What they call the witness of the Spirit is nothing more than an immediate suggestion and impression of a fact otherwise secret: that they are converted, made children of God, their sins pardoned, and they have a title to heaven. This kind of knowledge — knowing that a certain person is converted, delivered from hell, and entitled to heaven — is not in itself a divine kind of knowledge. This type of fact does not require any higher or more divine kind of suggestion to impress it on the mind than the facts God impressed on Balaam's mind. It requires no higher kind of idea or sensation for a person to have the impression of his own conversion than to have the impression of his neighbor's conversion in the same way. God, if He pleased, could impress the knowledge of the fact that He had forgiven a neighbor's sins and given that neighbor a title to heaven just as well as any other fact, without communicating His holiness at all. The excellence and importance of the fact do not in any way make a natural person's mind incapable of receiving an immediate suggestion and impression of it. Balaam had facts as excellent, important, and glorious as this impressed on his mind without any gracious influence — including the coming of Christ, the establishment of His glorious kingdom, and the blessedness of spiritual Israel in His special favor and their happiness in life and death. Abimelech king of the Philistines had God's special favor to a particular person — Abraham — revealed to him (Genesis 20:6-7). God also seems to have revealed His special favor to Jacob to Laban (Genesis 31:24 and Psalm 125:15). If a truly good person were to receive an immediate revelation or suggestion from God in the same manner, concerning God's favor to his neighbor or to himself, it would be no higher kind of influence — no more than a common influence of God's Spirit, as is the gift of prophecy and all revelation by immediate suggestion (see 1 Corinthians 13:2). It is true that it is not possible for a natural person to receive from the Spirit of God the individual suggestion that he is converted, because it is not true. But that limitation arises not from the nature of the person — as if the kind of influence that suggests such excellent facts is too high for him to receive — but purely from the nature of the fact to be suggested. The influence that immediately suggests this fact, when it is true, is of no different kind from that which immediately suggests other true facts. So the kind and nature of the influence is not above what natural people share in common with the godly.

But it is a low and base notion of the witness of the Spirit given to God's dear children to suppose that there is nothing in the kind and nature of that influence of the Spirit — by which He imparts this high and glorious benefit — that is not equally common to natural people, or available to people who are entirely unsanctified and children of hell. Such a view implies that the benefit or gift itself has nothing of the holy nature of the Spirit of God in it, nothing of a vital communication of that Spirit. This notion greatly degrades the high and supremely exalted kind of influence and operation of the Spirit that is present in the true witness of the Spirit. What Romans 8:16 calls 'the witness of the Spirit' is elsewhere in the New Testament called 'the seal of the Spirit' (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30) — an image drawn from the seal of princes attached to the documents by which they elevated their subjects to some high honor, dignity, or special privilege in the kingdom, as a sign of their special favor. This image indicates that the seal of the Spirit of the King of kings, in sealing His favorites, is far from being of a common kind. There is no effect of God's Spirit whatsoever that is more divine in its nature — nothing more holy, more unique, more beyond imitation, and more distinguishing of its recipients. Just as nothing is more royal than the royal seal, nothing more sacred and more distinctively belonging to a prince, more uniquely marking what comes from him and belongs to him — since the entire purpose of the seal is to be the most peculiar stamp and confirmation of royal authority and the supreme mark of distinction — so the seal of the great King of heaven and earth, stamped on the heart, must be something high and holy in its own nature, some excellent communication from the infinite fountain of divine beauty and glory. It cannot be merely the disclosure of a secret fact by revelation or suggestion — that kind of Spirit's influence is something even the children of the devil have often been the subjects of. The seal of the Spirit is a kind of effect of the Spirit of God on the heart that natural people, while remaining natural, are so far from being capable of receiving that they cannot have any notion or idea of it at all, as Revelation 2:17 indicates: 'To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.' There is every reason to believe that what is spoken of here is the same mark, evidence, and blessed token of special favor that is elsewhere called the seal of the Spirit.

What has misled many in their understanding of this influence of the Spirit of God is the word 'witness' — its being called 'the witness of the Spirit.' From this they have taken it to be not any effect or work of the Spirit on the heart providing evidence from which people may conclude they are children of God, but an inward secret suggestion — as though God were inwardly speaking to the person and telling him he is a child of God by a kind of secret voice or impression. They have not noticed the sense in which the word 'witness' or 'testimony' is often used in the New Testament, where such terms frequently signify not merely making a declaration or assertion that something is true, but presenting evidence from which a thing may be argued and proved to be true. For example, Hebrews 2:4 says God 'bore witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.' These miracles are called God's witness not because they are in the nature of assertions, but because they are evidences and proofs. So Acts 14:3 speaks of the Lord bearing witness to the word of His grace by granting signs and wonders to be done. John 6:36 says, 'The works that the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.' And John 10:25: 'The works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.' The water and blood are said to bear witness in 1 John 5:8 — not because they spoke or asserted anything, but because they were proofs and evidences. God's works of providence in sending rain and fruitful seasons are spoken of as witnesses of God's existence and goodness — that is, they are evidences of these things. When Scripture speaks of the seal of the Spirit, the expression properly denotes not an immediate voice or suggestion, but some work or effect of the Spirit that is left as a divine mark on the soul — an evidence by which God's children may be known. The seals of princes were the distinguishing marks of those princes. So God's seal is spoken of as God's mark in Revelation 7:3: 'Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads,' together with Ezekiel 9:4: 'Put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed.' When God sets His seal on a person's heart by His Spirit, some holy stamp — some image — is impressed and left on the heart by the Spirit, as a seal leaves its impression on wax. This holy stamp or impressed image, presenting clear evidence to the conscience that the one who bears it is a child of God, is precisely what Scripture calls the seal of the Spirit and the witness or evidence of the Spirit. The image the Spirit stamps on God's children's hearts is His own image — and this is the evidence by which they are known as God's children: they bear the image of their Father stamped on their hearts by the Spirit of adoption. Seals anciently bore two things engraved on them: the image and the name of the person whose seal it was. So when Christ says to His beloved in Song of Solomon 8, 'Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm,' He is essentially saying: let my name and image remain impressed there. The seals of princes typically bore their image, so that whatever they sealed bore their likeness. It was the custom of ancient rulers to have their image engraved on jewels and precious stones, and the image of the Roman emperor engraved on a precious stone was used as the imperial seal in Christ's and the apostles' time. The saints are the jewels of Jesus Christ, the great Sovereign who holds dominion over the universe, and these jewels have His image stamped upon them by His royal signet, the Holy Spirit. This is undoubtedly what Scripture means by the seal of the Spirit — especially when it is stamped in so clear and evident a manner that it is plain to the eye of conscience, which is what Scripture calls the full assurance of the Spirit. This is truly an effect that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine. It is holy in its very nature, being a communication of the divine nature and beauty. The kind of influence of the Spirit that produces and leaves this stamp on the heart is such that no natural person can be the subject of anything of the same nature. This is the highest kind of witness of the Spirit that the soul can possibly receive. If there were such a thing as a witness of the Spirit by immediate suggestion or revelation, this would be vastly more noble and excellent — as far above it as heaven is above earth. The devil cannot imitate this. As for an inward suggestion of the Spirit of God by a kind of secret voice speaking and immediately asserting and revealing a fact, Satan can produce something a thousand times more like that than he can produce anything resembling this holy and divine effect of the Spirit of God.

Another thing that fully proves the seal of the Spirit is not a revelation of any fact by immediate suggestion, but is grace itself in the soul, is that the seal of the Spirit is called the earnest of the Spirit in scripture. It is very plain that the seal of the Spirit and the earnest of the Spirit are the same thing, from 2 Corinthians 1:22: 'Who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.' And Ephesians 1:13-14: 'In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.' Now an earnest is a portion of the agreed sum paid in advance as a token of the whole, to be paid in full in due time — a part of the promised inheritance granted now as a token of full possession of the whole to come. Surely that communication of the Spirit of God which is of the nature of eternal glory is the highest and most excellent kind of communication — something that in its own nature is spiritual, holy, and divine, and far from anything common. It is therefore far above anything in the nature of inspiration or the revelation of hidden facts by the suggestion of the Spirit of God, which many natural people have received. What is the earnest and beginning of glory but grace itself — especially in its more lively and clear exercises? It is not prophecy, tongues, or knowledge, but that more excellent and divine thing — the love that never fails — which is a foretaste and beginning of the light, sweetness, and blessedness of heaven, that world of love. Grace is the seed of glory and the dawning of glory in the heart, and therefore grace is the earnest of the future inheritance. What is the beginning or earnest of eternal life in the soul but spiritual life? And what is spiritual life but grace? The inheritance Christ purchased for the elect is the Spirit of God — not in extraordinary gifts, but in His vital indwelling in the heart, expressing and communicating Himself there in His own proper, holy, and divine nature. This is the sum total of the inheritance Christ purchased for the elect. In the work of our redemption, the Father provides the Savior and is the One from whom the purchase is made; the Son is the Purchaser and the price; and the Holy Spirit is the great blessing and inheritance purchased, as indicated in Galatians 3:13-14. Therefore the Spirit is often spoken of as the sum of the blessings promised in the gospel (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4 and 2:38-39, Galatians 3:14, Ephesians 1:13). This inheritance was the great legacy Christ left to His disciples and His church in His final discourse — John 14, 15, and 16. This is the sum of the blessings of eternal life that will be given in heaven (compare John 7:37-39 and 4:14 with Revelation 21:6 and 22:1, 17). It is through the vital communications and indwelling of the Spirit that the saints have all their light, life, holiness, beauty, and joy in heaven. And it is through the vital communications and indwelling of that same Spirit that the saints have all their light, life, holiness, beauty, and comfort on earth — only communicated in lesser measure. This vital indwelling of the Spirit in the saints, in this lesser measure and small beginning, is the earnest of the Spirit, the earnest of the future inheritance, and the first fruits of the Spirit, as the apostle calls it in Romans 8:23 — where by 'the first fruits of the Spirit' the apostle undoubtedly means the same vital, gracious principle he speaks of throughout the preceding part of that chapter, which he calls Spirit and sets in contrast to flesh or corruption. Therefore this earnest of the Spirit and first fruits of the Spirit — which has been shown to be the same as the seal of the Spirit — is the vital, gracious, sanctifying communication and influence of the Spirit, and not any immediate suggestion or revelation of facts by the Spirit.

The apostle, when he speaks in Romans 8:16 of the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, sufficiently explains himself if his words are carefully attended to. What he expresses there is connected to the two preceding verses as a consequence of what he had said, as any reader can see. The three verses together read: 'For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.' Taken together, the apostle's words plainly show that what he has in mind when he speaks of the Spirit giving us witness or evidence that we are God's children is the Spirit's dwelling in us and leading us as a spirit of adoption — a spirit of a child — inclining us to relate to God as to a Father. This is the witness or evidence the apostle speaks of that we are children: that we have the spirit of children, the spirit of adoption. And what is that but the spirit of love? The apostle speaks of two kinds of spirits: the spirit of a slave — the spirit of bondage — which is fear; and the spirit of a child — the spirit of adoption — which is love. The apostle says we have not received the spirit of bondage, the servile spirit of fear, but the more noble and genuine spirit of children — a spirit of love — which naturally moves us to go to God as children go to a father and to relate to God as children. This is the evidence, the witness, which the Spirit of God gives us that we are children. This is the plain meaning of the apostle. He is undoubtedly speaking here of the very same way of casting out doubt and fear and the spirit of bondage that the apostle John speaks of in 1 John 4:18 — namely, by the prevailing of love, the spirit of a child. The spirit of bondage works through fear — the slave fears the rod — but love cries 'Abba, Father'; it moves us to go to God and relate to Him as children, and it gives us clear evidence of our union with God as His children, thus casting out fear. So it appears that the witness of the Spirit the apostle speaks of is far from being any whisper, immediate suggestion, or revelation; it is that gracious and holy effect of the Spirit of God in the hearts of the saints — the disposition and spirit of children — appearing in sweet, childlike love toward God, which casts out the fearful spirit of a slave.

The same thing is evident from the whole context. It is plain that the apostle speaks of the Spirit throughout the passage as dwelling in the hearts of the saints as a gracious principle set in opposition to the flesh or corruption. He does so in the verse that immediately introduces the passage under consideration, verse 13: 'For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.'

Beyond doubt, the apostle has in view especially the spirit of grace — the spirit of love, the spirit of a child — in its more lively exercise. For it is only perfect love, or strong love, that so witnesses and evidences that we are children as to cast out fear and completely deliver from the spirit of bondage. The strong and lively exercise of a spirit of childlike, evangelical, humble love toward God gives clear evidence of the soul's relationship to God as His child, and this directly and powerfully satisfies the soul. And though it is far from the truth that the soul in this case judges only by an immediate witness without any sign or evidence — for it judges and is assured by the greatest sign and clearest evidence — yet in this case the saint has no need of many signs or any lengthy reasoning about them. The saint's sight of his relational union with God and his standing in God's favor is not without a medium, because he sees it through the medium of his love. Yet his sight of the union of his heart to God is immediate — love, the bond of union, is seen directly and intuitively. The saint sees and feels plainly the union between his soul and God; it is so strong and vivid that he cannot doubt it. From this he is assured he is a child. How can he doubt whether he stands in a childlike relationship to God when he plainly sees a childlike union between God and his soul, and therefore boldly — naturally and necessarily, as it were — cries 'Abba, Father'?

When the apostle says the Spirit bears witness 'with our spirit,' by 'our spirit' he means our conscience, which is called the spirit of a person in Proverbs 20:27: 'The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being.' We read elsewhere of the witness of this spirit of ours in 2 Corinthians 1:12: 'For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience.' And 1 John 3:19-21: 'We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.' When the apostle Paul speaks of the Spirit of God bearing witness with our spirit, he is not describing two spirits as two separate, parallel, independent witnesses. Rather, it is through one that we receive the witness of the other: the Spirit of God gives the evidence by infusing and pouring out the love of God — the spirit of a child — in the heart, and our spirit, our conscience, receives and declares this evidence for our encouragement.

The false and deceptive notion of the witness of the Spirit — that it is a kind of inward voice, suggestion, or declaration from God to a person that he is beloved, pardoned, elected, or the like, sometimes accompanied by a scripture text and sometimes without — has caused immense harm. Many false and empty, though very intense, affections have arisen from it. It is to be feared that multitudes of souls have been eternally undone by it. I have therefore dwelt at greater length on this point.

But I now proceed to a second characteristic of gracious affections.

Second distinguishing sign: the first and primary object of gracious affections is the transcendently excellent and beautiful nature of divine things as they are in themselves — not any conceived relationship they bear to the self or to self-interest.

I say the supremely excellent nature of divine things is the first, primary, and original objective foundation of the spiritual affections of true saints — I do not suppose that all relationship between divine things and the saint's own particular interest is wholly excluded from any influence in their gracious affections. This relationship may have, and indeed does have, a secondary and consequential influence in affections that are truly holy and spiritual, as I will show shortly.

It was noted earlier that love is, as it were, the fountain of all affections — and in particular that Christian love is the fountain of all gracious affections. Now the divine excellence and glory of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Word of God, and of the works and ways of God, is the primary reason a true saint loves these things. The foundation of that love is not any supposed interest he has in them, any benefit he has received or expects to receive from them, or any imagined relationship they bear to his own advantage — such that self-love could properly be called the first and real foundation of his love for them.

Some say that all love arises from self-love, and that it is impossible in the nature of things for any person to love God or any other being without self-love being the foundation of it. I believe this is said without sufficient reflection. They argue that whoever loves God and therefore desires His glory and the enjoyment of Him is desiring those things as his own happiness — God's glory and the beholding and enjoying of His perfections are things agreeable to him, tending to make him happy. He places his happiness in them and desires them as things that, if obtained, would fill him with delight and joy. Therefore, they say, it is from self-love — a desire for his own happiness — that he desires God to be glorified and desires to behold and enjoy His glorious perfections. But they should think a little further and ask how the man came to place his happiness in God's being glorified and in contemplating and enjoying God's perfections. No doubt, after God's glory and the beholding of His perfections have become so agreeable to him that he places his highest happiness in these things, he will then desire them as he desires his own happiness. But how did these things become so agreeable to him that he counts it his highest happiness to glorify God? Is not this the fruit of love? A person must first love God — must have his heart united to Him — before he will regard God's good as his own, and before he will desire the glorifying and enjoying of God as his happiness. It is not a strong argument that because, after a man's heart is united to God in love and as a fruit of that love he desires God's glory and enjoyment as his own happiness, therefore a desire for his own happiness must have been the cause and foundation of his love. That would be as strong as arguing that because a father begat a son, the son must have begotten the father. If after a man loves God and has his heart so united to Him that he regards God as his chief good and God's good as his own, it follows as a consequence of this love that even self-love will lead him to desire the glorifying and enjoying of God. But it does not follow from this that self-love came before his love to God, or that his love to God was a consequence and fruit of self-love. Something else, entirely distinct from self-love, may have been the cause — namely, a change made in the views of his mind and the affections of his heart, by which he perceives a beauty, glory, and supreme goodness in God's nature as it is in itself. This may be what first draws his heart to God and unites him to God, prior to any consideration of his own interest or happiness — though after this, and as a fruit of it, he necessarily seeks his interest and happiness in God.

There is such a thing as a kind of love or affection that a person may have toward persons or things that does properly arise from self-love: a preconceived relation to himself, or some regard already shown by another toward him, or some benefit already received or expected — this is truly the first foundation of his love, and it is what his affection wholly arises from. It precedes any taste for or delight in the inherent nature and qualities of the beloved, considered as beautiful and admirable. When what first draws a person's goodwill toward another is seeing qualities and traits in that person that appear lovely in themselves — qualities that make the person worthy of esteem and goodwill — love arises in a very different way than when it first arises from some gift given by another, or from some imagined relationship, as when a judge favors a man who has bribed him, or a man loves someone because he regards that person as his child. When love toward another arises in the latter way, it truly and properly arises from self-love.

That kind of affection toward God or Jesus Christ which properly arises from self-love cannot be truly gracious and spiritual love, as is clear from what has already been said. Self-love is an entirely natural principle, present as fully in the hearts of devils as in angels. Nothing that is merely the product of it can therefore be supernatural and divine in the manner previously described. Christ plainly speaks of this kind of love as no different from the love of wicked people, in Luke 6:32: 'If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.' Even the devil knew that a regard for God that was mercenary — existing only for benefits received or expected — is worthless in God's sight. Otherwise he would never have used such a slander against Job before God, as in Job 1:9-10: 'Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house?' Nor would God have implicitly acknowledged the objection to be valid — in the event the accusation were true — by allowing the matter to be tested: permitting Job to be dealt with in such a way that it would become evident whether his regard for God was mercenary or not, and making the proof of the sincerity and goodness of his regard depend on the outcome.

It is unreasonable to think otherwise than that the first foundation of true love to God is what makes Him in Himself lovely and worthy to be loved — the supreme loveliness of His nature. This is certainly what makes Him supremely beautiful. What chiefly makes any person or creature lovely is their excellence, and so what chiefly makes God lovely — and must undoubtedly be the chief ground of true love — is His excellence. God's nature, the divine nature, is infinitely excellent — it is infinite beauty, brightness, and glory itself. But how can affection for this excellent and lovely nature be true love when it is not built on the foundation of His true loveliness? How can that be true love of beauty and brightness which does not love for beauty and brightness' sake? How can that be a true prizing of what is in itself infinitely worthy and precious that does not prize it for its own worthiness and preciousness? This infinite excellence of the divine nature as it is in itself is the true ground of all that is good in God in any respect. How can a person truly and rightly love God without loving Him for that excellence which is the foundation of everything in Him that is in any way good or desirable? Those whose affection to God is founded first on His usefulness to them have their affection starting from the wrong end. They regard God only at the outermost edge of the stream of divine goodness — where it touches them and reaches their own interest. They have no regard for that infinite glory of God's nature which is the original good, the true fountain of all good, the first fountain of all loveliness of every kind, and so the first foundation of all true love.

The natural principle of self-love can be the foundation of great affections toward God and Christ without any sight of the beauty and glory of the divine nature. There is a kind of gratitude that is a purely natural thing. Gratitude is one of the natural affections of the human soul, just as anger is. There is a gratitude that arises from self-love in much the same way anger does. Anger is an affection excited against another for something in that person that crosses self-love; gratitude is an affection toward another for loving us, for meeting our needs, or for something in that person that suits self-love. There may be a kind of gratitude without any true or proper love, just as there may be anger without any proper hatred — as parents may be angry with their children while at the same time having strong and settled love for them. This gratitude is the principle Christ speaks of in Luke 6, when He says sinners love those who love them — and when He speaks of even the tax collectors, who were among the most worldly and dissolute people, in Matthew 5:46. This is the very principle that bribery works on in corrupt judges. It is a principle even animals exercise — a dog will love its master who is kind to it. We see in countless examples that mere human nature is sufficient to produce gratitude in people, moving their hearts with thankfulness for kindnesses received — sometimes even toward people they have an underlying hostility toward. Saul was twice deeply moved and even melted with gratitude toward David for sparing his life, and yet remained a settled enemy toward him. As people may be moved this way toward other people, so they may toward God — nothing prevents self-love from working the same way toward God as toward other people. Scripture gives us clear examples: the Israelites who sang God's praises at the Red Sea but soon forgot His works; Naaman the Syrian, who was so moved by the miraculous cure of his leprosy that his heart was engaged from that point forward to worship God alone — except when it would cost him his earthly interests; and Nebuchadnezzar, who was greatly moved by God's goodness to him in restoring his reason and kingdom after his time of living among the beasts.

Gratitude being a natural principle, it makes ingratitude all the more vile and wicked — because it shows a dreadful strength of wickedness when wickedness overpowers and suppresses even the better principles of human nature. It is mentioned as evidence of the extreme wickedness of many of the pagans that they were 'without natural affection' (Romans 1:31). But the fact that lack of gratitude and natural affection are signs of extreme vice does not mean that all gratitude and natural affection have the nature of virtue or saving grace.

Through the exercise of a merely natural gratitude, self-love may be the foundation of a kind of love to God in several ways. A kind of love may arise from a false notion of God — one absorbed from education or developed along the way — as if He were only goodness and mercy with no avenging justice, or as if His exercises of goodness were necessary rather than free and sovereign, or as if His goodness depended on what is in people and were somehow constrained by them. On such grounds, people may love a god of their own imagination while being far from loving the God who reigns in heaven.

Self-love may also be the foundation of affection toward God when people have no real sense of their standing before Him and lack the conviction of conscience that would make them feel how dreadfully they have provoked God to anger. They have no sense of the gravity of sin against God, or of the infinite and terrible opposition of God's holy nature to it. Having formed in their minds a god who suits them, and thinking God is like themselves — someone who favors and approves of them — they may like Him quite well and feel a kind of love for Him, while being far from loving the true God. People's affections may also be greatly stirred toward God through self-love by some remarkable outward benefit received from God, as it was with Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Israelites at the Red Sea.

A very strong affection toward God may also often arise in people from an opinion of God's love and favor toward them as the first foundation of their love for Him. After awakening and distress from fears of hell, they may suddenly arrive at the notion — through some impression on their imagination, or an immediate suggestion with or without scripture texts, or by some other means — that God loves them, has forgiven their sins, and made them His children. This becomes the first thing that causes their affections to flow toward God and Jesus Christ. Then, on this foundation, many things about God may appear lovely to them, and Christ may seem excellent. If such people are asked whether God appears lovely and beautiful in Himself, they would perhaps readily say yes. But if the matter is carefully examined, their good opinion of God was paid for before they formed it — it was purchased by the special and infinite benefits they imagined they had received from God. They allow God to be lovely in Himself only in this sense: that He has forgiven them, accepted them, loves them above most people in the world, has pledged to use all His infinite power and wisdom to advance and exalt them, and will do for them exactly as they would wish. Once they are settled in this conviction, it is easy to acknowledge God and Christ as lovely and glorious and to admire and praise them. It is easy for them to own that Christ is a lovely person, the best in the world, when they are already firmly persuaded that He — though Lord of the universe — is captivated with love for them, that His heart is wholly given to them, that He prizes them above most of their neighbors, loved them from eternity, died for them, and will make them reign with Him in eternal glory in heaven. When this is the condition of carnal people, their very lusts will make Him seem lovely: pride itself will bias them in favor of what they call Christ, because selfish, proud human nature naturally finds lovely whatever greatly advances its interests and feeds its ambition.

And as these people begin, so they continue. Their affections are stirred up from time to time, primarily on this foundation of self-love and a belief in God's love for them. Many have a false notion of communion with God — as though it were carried on through impulses, whispers, and external representations made immediately to their imagination. These things they often experience, and they take them as evidence of God's great love for them and proof of their exalted standing above other people. And so their affections are repeatedly set in motion.

But the exercises of true and holy love in the saints arise in a completely different way. They do not first see that God loves them and then see that He is lovely. Rather, they first see that God is lovely, that Christ is excellent and glorious, and their hearts are first captured by this vision. Their exercises of love typically begin here, arising primarily from these views — and then, as a result, they see God's love and great favor toward them. The saint's affections begin with God, and self-love plays only a consequential and secondary role in those affections. The false affections, by contrast, begin with self; acknowledgment of God's excellence and being moved by it is only a later and dependent result. In the true saint, God is the deepest foundation — love for the excellence of His nature is the foundation of all the affections that follow, in which self-love serves only as a servant. The hypocrite, by contrast, places himself at the bottom as the first foundation and builds God on top; even his acknowledgment of God's glory depends on his private interest.

Self-love may influence people not only to be affected by God's kindness to them personally, but also by God's kindness to them as members of a community. Just as the natural principle of self-love — without any other principle — can make a person concerned for the interests of the nation to which he belongs, so the same natural principle can extend further — even to all of humanity. People might be affected by the benefits their fellow human beings receive compared to the inhabitants of other worlds, if such beings existed and we knew something of their condition. The same principle can cause people to be moved by the benefits humanity has received that fallen angels have not. From this principle, people may be greatly affected by the wonderful goodness of God to humanity — His great goodness in giving His Son to die for fallen humanity, the marvelous love of Christ in suffering so greatly for us, and the great glory that God has prepared in heaven for us. They see themselves as people who share in these benefits as members of this specially favored species of creature. The same natural gratitude that operates in response to personal benefits operates here as well.

But nothing that has been said implies that all gratitude to God is a merely natural thing, or that there is no such thing as a spiritual gratitude — a holy and divine affection. It implies only that there is a gratitude which is merely natural, and that when people have affections toward God only or primarily because of benefits received, those affections are only the exercise of natural gratitude. There is undoubtedly such a thing as gracious gratitude, which differs greatly from any gratitude natural people experience. It differs in the following ways:

First, true gratitude or thankfulness to God for His kindness to us arises from a prior foundation of love to God for what He is in Himself — whereas natural gratitude has no such antecedent foundation. The gracious stirrings of grateful affection to God for kindness received always flow from a stock of love already established in the heart, built in the first place on other grounds — namely, God's own excellence. From this, the affections are disposed to flow outward on occasions of God's kindness. The saint has seen the glory of God, and his heart has been overcome and captured into a supreme love for God on that account. This makes his heart tender and easily affected by kindnesses received. If a person has no love to another, gratitude may still be stirred by some extraordinary kindness — as it was in Saul toward David. But this is not the same as the gratitude of someone whose heart was already possessed with high esteem and love for a dear friend — a person whose heart is thereby made tender toward that friend and affected with gratitude in a deeper and altogether different way. Self-love is not excluded from gracious gratitude — the saints love God for His kindness to them (Psalm 116:1: 'I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications'). But something else is included, and another love prepares the way and lays the foundation for these grateful affections.

Second, in gracious gratitude, people are affected by the attribute of God's goodness and free grace not only as it concerns them or affects their interest, but as a part of the glory and beauty of God's nature. The wonderful and matchless grace of God, manifested in the work of redemption and shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ, is infinitely glorious in itself and appears so to the angels — it is a great part of the moral perfection and beauty of God's nature. This grace would be glorious whether it were exercised toward us or not. The saint who exercises gracious thankfulness sees it to be so and delights in it as such — though his personal stake in it serves to more fully engage his mind and heighten attention and affection. Self-love here assists as a servant, ministering to higher principles by drawing the mind into view and contemplation of God's goodness, engaging and fixing attention, and heightening joy and love. God's kindness to the saint is like a mirror that God sets before him, in which to behold the beauty of God's attribute of goodness. The exercises and displays of this attribute are, by this means, brought near and set directly before him. So in holy thankfulness to God, the saint's personal stake in God's goodness is not the first foundation of his being moved by it. That foundation was laid earlier in the stock of love already in the heart for God's excellence in Himself — a love that makes the heart tender and receptive to impressions of God's kindness. Nor is the saint's own interest or the benefits received the only or primary objective ground of the present exercises of affection. The primary ground is God's goodness as part of the beauty of His nature — though the display of that lovely attribute set directly before the saint's eyes in the exercise of it toward him is the special occasion that directs his attention to that beauty at that moment, and serves to fix attention and heighten affection.

Some may be inclined to object against all that has been said by pointing to 1 John 4:19 — 'We love Him, because He first loved us' — as if this meant that God's love to the true saints is the first foundation of their love to Him.

In answer to this I observe that the apostle's purpose in these words is to magnify God's love to us by showing that He loved us when we had no love for Him — as will be clear to anyone who compares this verse and the two following with verses 9, 10, and 11. The apostle proves that God loved us when we had no love for Him by arguing that God's love to the elect is the ground of their love to Him. He does so in three ways. First, the saints' love to God is the fruit of God's love to them — it is the gift of that love. God gave them a spirit of love for Him because He loved them from eternity. In this respect God's love to His elect is the first foundation of their love to Him, as it is the foundation of their regeneration and of their entire redemption. Second, the exercises and demonstrations that God has made of His wonderful love to sinful people through Jesus Christ in the work of redemption are one of the chief ways God has manifested the glory of His moral perfection to both angels and people, and so these demonstrations are one of the main objective grounds of the love of both to God — consistent with what was said earlier. Third, God's love to a particular elect person, revealed through that person's conversion, is a great manifestation of God's moral perfection and glory to that person, and is a proper occasion for stirring up the love of holy gratitude, in keeping with what was said before. That the saints love God in these respects because He first loved them fully satisfies the purpose of the apostle's argument in that passage. Therefore no valid argument can be drawn from it against a spiritual and gracious love in the saints that arises primarily from the excellence of divine things as they are in themselves, and not from any conceived relation they bear to the saint's own interest.

As it is with the saints' love, so it is with their joy and spiritual delight and pleasure: the first foundation of it is not any consideration or awareness of their personal interest in divine things, but it consists primarily in the sweet enjoyment their minds have in viewing and contemplating the divine and holy beauty of those things as they are in themselves. This is indeed the very main difference between the joy of a hypocrite and the joy of a true saint. The former rejoices in himself — self is the first foundation of his joy. The latter rejoices in God. The hypocrite's mind is pleased and delighted first with his own privilege and the happiness he believes he has attained or will attain. True saints have their minds first filled with inexpressible pleasure and delight by the sweet vision of the glorious and lovely nature of the things of God. This is the spring of all their delights and the finest part of all their pleasures — it is the joy within their joy. This sweet and ravishing delight they experience in viewing the beautiful nature of divine things is the foundation of the joy that comes afterward — the joy of knowing these things are theirs. Hypocrites experience their affections in the opposite order: they first rejoice and are exalted because they believe God has made so much of them, and then, on that basis, God seems in some way lovely to them.

The first foundation of the true saint's delight in God is God's own perfection. The first foundation of his delight in Christ is Christ's own beauty — He appears in Himself as the chief among ten thousand, altogether lovely. The way of salvation through Christ is a delightful way to the saint because of the sweet and admirable display of divine perfections it contains. The holy doctrines of the gospel — by which God is exalted and humanity brought low, holiness honored and promoted, sin greatly dishonored and discouraged, and free and sovereign love made manifest — are glorious doctrines in his eyes and sweet to his taste, prior to any thought of his own interest in them. The saints certainly rejoice in their interest in God and in the fact that Christ is theirs — and they have great reason to. But this is not the first spring of their joy. They first rejoice in God as glorious and excellent in Himself, and then secondarily in the fact that so glorious a God is theirs. They first have their hearts filled with sweetness from the view of Christ's excellence, the excellence of His grace, and the beauty of the way of salvation through Him — and then they have a secondary joy that so excellent a Savior and such excellent grace are theirs. But what is the true saint's upper story is the hypocrite's foundation. When hypocrites hear of the wonderful things of the gospel — God's great love in sending His Son, Christ's dying love for sinners, the great things Christ has purchased and promised to the saints — and hear these things presented vividly and compellingly, they may hear with great pleasure and be lifted up. But if their joy is examined, it will be found to have no other foundation than this: they regard all these things as belonging to them, and all of it exalts them. They love to hear of Christ's great love distinguishing some so sharply from others, because self-love — even pride itself — makes them relish being set apart from others. It is no wonder that, in their confident belief in their own good spiritual standing, they feel good under such preaching and are supremely pleased to hear how greatly God and Christ esteem them. Their joy is therefore really a joy in themselves and not in God.

Because the joy of hypocrites is in themselves, it follows that in their moments of rejoicing and elevation they keep their eyes on themselves. Having received what they call spiritual discoveries or experiences, their minds are occupied with those experiences — they are absorbed in admiring their own experiences. What chiefly captures and elevates them is not the glory of God or the beauty of Christ, but the beauty of their experiences. They keep saying to themselves, 'What an excellent experience this is! What a great discovery! What wonderful things I have encountered!' So they put their experiences in the place of Christ, His beauty and fullness. Instead of rejoicing in Christ Jesus, they rejoice in their admirable experiences. Instead of feeding and nourishing their souls on the view of something outside themselves — the inherent, sweet, refreshing loveliness of the things presented in the gospel — their eyes are off those things, or at best they view them sideways. The object that holds their contemplation is their experience, and they are feeding their souls and feasting a self-centered principle on their discoveries. They take more comfort in their discoveries than in Christ who is discovered — which is what it truly means to live on experiences and frames, as distinct from using experiences as signs they rely on as evidence of their good standing, which some call 'living on experiences.' And yet it is notable that some of those who do this are the most notorious for living on experiences in the true sense.

Hypocrites' affections very often follow this pattern: they are first greatly moved by some impression on their imagination, or some impulse they take to be an immediate suggestion or testimony from God of His love and their happiness and high privilege — with or without a scripture text. They are powerfully captured by this as a great discovery, and high affections arise from it. When their affections are raised, they then look at those high affections and call them great and wonderful experiences. They believe God is greatly pleased with those affections, and this moves them further — they are affected by their own affections. So their affections rise higher and higher until they are sometimes completely overwhelmed. Self-conceit and fierce zeal rise alongside it all, and the whole structure is built like a castle in the air on no foundation other than imagination, self-love, and pride.

As the thoughts of these people are, so is their talk — for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Just as in their intense affections they keep their eyes on the beauty of their experiences and the greatness of their attainments, so they talk much about themselves. The true saint, under great spiritual affection, overflows from a full heart with much talk about God, His glorious perfections and works, the beauty and loveliness of Christ, and the glorious things of the gospel. But hypocrites in their high affections talk more about the discovery than about the thing discovered. They are full of talk about the great things they have encountered, the wonderful discoveries they have had, how certain they are of God's love for them, how safe their condition is, and how they know they are going to heaven.

When a true saint is enjoying genuine discoveries of the sweet glory of God and Christ, his mind is too fully captured and engaged by what he sees outside himself to stop and examine himself and his own attainments. It would be a distraction and a loss he could not afford to take his eyes off the ravishing object of his contemplation in order to survey his own experience and spend time thinking about what a high attainment this is and what a fine story he now has to tell others. Nor does the pleasure and sweetness of his mind at that time arise mainly from considering the safety of his condition or anything he perceives about his own qualifications, experiences, or circumstances. It arises from the divine and supreme beauty of the object directly before him — outside himself — which sweetly engages and firmly holds his mind.

As the love and joy of hypocrites arise from self-love, so it is with their other affections — their sorrow for sin, their humiliation and submission, their religious desires and zeal. Everything is, as it were, paid for in advance by God's having, in their imagination, so greatly gratified their self-love and their desires by making so much of them and exalting them so highly. It is easy for corrupt human nature, under the impression of already being among the highest favorites of heaven and having a God who protects and favors them in their sins, to love this imaginary God who suits them so well — to praise Him, submit to Him, and be fiercely zealous for Him. The high affections of many are entirely built on the assumption that they are eminent saints. If that opinion of themselves were taken away — if they thought of themselves as among the lower sort of saints, even while still believing they were genuine saints — their high affections would collapse. If they saw even a little of the sinfulness and vileness of their own hearts, and their spiritual deformity in the midst of their best duties and best affections, it would destroy their affections outright. Their affections are built on self, and therefore self-knowledge would destroy them. But truly gracious affections are built elsewhere — their foundation is outside the self, in God and Jesus Christ. Therefore a discovery of oneself, of one's own deformity and the weakness of one's experiences, though it may purify gracious affections, will not destroy them — in some respects it will even sweeten and deepen them.

Third distinguishing sign: affections that are truly holy are primarily founded on love for the moral excellence of divine things — or, to put it another way, a love for divine things for the beauty and sweetness of their moral excellence is the first beginning and spring of all holy affections.

For the sake of readers less familiar with technical terms, let me explain what I mean by the moral excellence of divine things.

The word 'moral' here is not to be understood in the common everyday sense in which people speak of morality and moral behavior — meaning outward conformity to the duties of the moral law, especially the duties of the second table of the Ten Commandments. Nor does it mean simply those seeming virtues that proceed from natural principles as opposed to virtues that are more inward, spiritual, and divine — such as the honesty, justice, generosity, good nature, and public spirit of many pagans, which are called moral virtues in distinction from the holy faith, love, humility, and heavenly-mindedness of true Christians. The word 'moral' is not being used in that sense here.

To understand what is meant, it must be observed that theologians commonly distinguish between moral good and evil and natural good and evil. By moral evil they mean the evil of sin — that which is against duty and contrary to what is right and ought to be. By natural evil they do not mean that which is properly opposed to duty, but that which is contrary to mere nature without any reference to a rule of duty. The evil of suffering is called natural evil — things like pain, torment, disgrace, and the like. These things are contrary to mere nature, unpleasant to the nature of both the bad and the good, hated by wicked people and demons as well as good people and angels. Natural defects are also called natural evils, as when a child is born with a severe disability or mental impairment. These are natural evils but not moral evils, because they do not have the nature of sin. On the other hand, just as moral evil means the evil of sin — what is contrary to what is right — so moral good means what is contrary to sin: the good in beings who have will and choice whereby, as free agents, they are and act as they ought, in ways that are most fitting, suitable, and lovely. Natural good means a good entirely different in kind from holiness or virtue — that which perfects or suits nature considered by itself, apart from holy or unholy qualities, and without reference to any rule or measure of right and wrong.

Pleasure is a natural good; so is honor; so are strength, speculative knowledge, human learning, and practical wisdom. A distinction can be made between the natural good a person possesses and their moral good, and similarly between the natural and moral good of the angels in heaven. The great capacity of the angels' understanding, their great strength, and their honored position as the great ministers of God's kingdom — from which they are called thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers — is the natural good they possess. But their perfect and glorious holiness and goodness, their pure and burning love to God, to the saints, and to one another, is their moral good. Theologians likewise distinguish between the natural and moral perfections of God. By God's moral perfections they mean those attributes which God exercises as a moral agent — the attributes whereby the heart and will of God are good, right, infinitely fitting and lovely: His righteousness, truth, faithfulness, and goodness, or in one word, His holiness. By God's natural attributes or perfections they mean those attributes that consist — in our way of conceiving of God — not in His holiness or moral goodness, but in His greatness: His power, His knowledge by which He knows all things, His eternity from everlasting to everlasting, His omnipresence, and His awesome and majestic grandeur.

The moral excellence of an intelligent, voluntary being has its seat most directly in the heart or will. The intelligent being whose will is truly right and lovely is morally good or excellent.

When the moral excellence of an intelligent being is genuine and real — not merely outward or a pretense — it is holiness. Therefore holiness encompasses all the true moral excellence of intelligent beings. There is no true virtue apart from real holiness. Holiness encompasses all the true virtue of a good person: his love to God, his gracious love to fellow human beings, his justice, his charity, his compassionate mercies, his gracious meekness and gentleness — all other true Christian virtues belong to his holiness. So the holiness of God, in the broader sense in which the word is used commonly — if not universally — in Scripture, is the same as the moral excellence of the divine nature: His purity and beauty as a moral agent, encompassing all His moral perfections: His righteousness, faithfulness, and goodness. Just as in holy people their love and mercy belong to their holiness, so the kindness and mercy of God belong to His holiness. Holiness in humanity is simply the image of God's holiness. There are no more virtues in the image than exist in the original. Derived holiness has no more in it than the uncreated holiness that is its fountain. There is only grace for grace — grace in the image corresponding to grace in the original.

Just as there are two kinds of attributes in God — His moral attributes, summed up in His holiness, and His natural attributes of strength, knowledge, and so on, which constitute His greatness — so there is a twofold image of God in humanity. The moral or spiritual image is holiness — the image of God's moral excellence — and this image was lost at the fall. The natural image consists in human reason and understanding, natural ability, and dominion over creation, which is the image of God's natural attributes.

From what has been said, it is easy to understand what I mean when I say that a love for divine things for the beauty of their moral excellence is the beginning and spring of all holy affections. Under the previous heading it was already shown that the first objective ground of all holy affections is the supreme excellence of divine things as they are in themselves — in their own nature. I now go further and say more specifically that the kind of excellence of divine things which is the first objective ground of all holy affections is their moral excellence, or their holiness. Holy people, in the exercise of holy affections, love divine things primarily for their holiness. They love God first for the beauty of His holiness and moral perfection, as something supremely lovely in itself. This does not mean that the saints love God only for His holiness — all His attributes are beautiful and glorious in their eyes, and they delight in every divine perfection. The contemplation of God's infinite greatness, power, knowledge, and awesome majesty is pleasant to them. But their love to God for His holiness is what is most fundamental and essential in their love. This is where true love to God begins. All other holy love to divine things flows from here. This is the most essential and distinguishing feature of a holy love to God with respect to its foundation. Love to God for the beauty of His moral attributes leads to and necessarily produces delight in God for all His attributes, for His moral attributes cannot exist without His natural attributes: infinite holiness requires infinite wisdom and infinite capacity and greatness, and all of God's attributes imply one another.

The true beauty and loveliness of all intelligent beings consists primarily and most essentially in their moral excellence or holiness. This is where the loveliness of the angels consists — without it, with all their natural perfections of strength and knowledge, they would be no more lovely than demons. Moral excellence alone is, in itself and on its own account, the excellence of intelligent beings. It is moral excellence that gives beauty to their natural perfections and qualities — or rather, moral excellence is the beauty of those natural perfections. Moral excellence is the excellence of natural excellences. Natural qualities are excellent or not depending on whether they are joined with moral excellence. Strength and knowledge do not make any being lovely without holiness — on the contrary, they make such a being more hateful, though they do make a being more lovely when joined with holiness. The elect angels are the more glorious for their strength and knowledge because those natural perfections are sanctified by their moral perfection. But though the demons are very powerful and of great natural understanding, they are not the more lovely for it. They are more terrifying, but not more beautiful — on the contrary, they are the more hateful. The holiness of an intelligent creature is the beauty of all its natural perfections. The same is true of God, as we conceive of Him. Holiness is, in a special sense, the beauty of the divine nature. This is why we often read of the beauty of holiness (Psalm 29:2, 96:9, 110:3). It is holiness that makes all His other attributes glorious and lovely. It is the glory of God's wisdom that it is a holy wisdom and not a wicked cunning. It is the fact that it is a holy majesty that makes His majesty lovely rather than merely dreadful and terrifying. It is the glory of God's immutability that it is a holy immutability and not a rigid stubbornness in wickedness.

Therefore a sight of God's loveliness must necessarily begin here. True love to God must begin with delight in His holiness and not with delight in any other attribute — for no other attribute is truly lovely without this, and all other attributes are lovely only as they derive their loveliness from this. Therefore it is impossible for other attributes to appear in their true loveliness until holiness is seen, and impossible for any perfection of the divine nature to be truly loved until holiness is loved. If the true loveliness of all God's perfections arises from the loveliness of His holiness, then true love for all His perfections arises from love for His holiness. Those who do not see the glory of God's holiness cannot see anything of the true glory of His mercy and grace. They see nothing of those attributes as an excellence of God's nature as it is in itself — though they may be moved by those attributes and love them insofar as they affect their own interest. For those attributes are no part of the excellence of God's nature in itself except as they are included in His holiness more broadly understood, or as they are part of His moral perfection.

Just as the beauty of the divine nature consists primarily in God's holiness, so does the beauty of all divine things. The beauty of the saints consists in their being holy — the moral image of God in them is both their beauty and their holiness. The beauty and brightness of the angels of heaven consists in their being holy angels, not demons (Daniel 4:13, 17, 23; Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Acts 10:22; Revelation 14:10). The beauty of the Christian religion above all other religions consists in its being so holy a religion. The excellence of the Word of God consists in its holiness (Psalm 119:140): 'Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it.' Verse 128: 'I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything; I hate every false way.' Verse 138: 'You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness and great faithfulness.' And verse 172: 'Let my tongue sing of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness.' And Psalm 19:7-10: 'The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.' The loveliness and beauty of the Lord Jesus — whereby He is the chief among ten thousands and altogether lovely — consists primarily in this: that He is 'the Holy One of God' (Acts 3:14), 'God's holy servant' (Acts 4:27), and 'He who is holy and true' (Revelation 3:7). All the spiritual beauty of His human nature — His meekness, humility, patience, heavenly-mindedness, love to God, love to people, condescension to the lowly and despised, compassion for the suffering — is all summed up in His holiness. And the beauty of His divine nature, of which the beauty of His human nature is the image and reflection, also consists primarily in His holiness. The glory of the gospel consists primarily in its being a holy gospel — a bright outshining of the holy beauty of God and Jesus Christ. The spiritual beauty of its doctrines consists in their being holy doctrines, doctrines in keeping with godliness. The spiritual beauty of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ consists in its being so holy a way. And the glory of heaven consists chiefly in its being the holy city, the holy Jerusalem, 'the habitation of God's holiness' and therefore of His glory (Isaiah 63:15). All the beauties of the new Jerusalem as described in the last two chapters of Revelation are simply various representations of this (Revelation 21:2, 10-11, 18, 21, 27; 22:1, 3).

And therefore it is primarily on account of this kind of excellence that the saints love all these things. They love the Word of God because it is very pure. They love the saints on this account. Heaven is lovely to them on this account, and the holy dwelling places of God are beautiful in their eyes on this account. They love God on this account, and on this account they primarily love Christ, and their hearts delight in the doctrines of the gospel and rest sweetly in the way of salvation revealed in it.

Under the first distinguishing characteristic of gracious affections I observed that those who are regenerated receive a new supernatural sense — something like a divine spiritual taste that in its whole nature is different from every previous kind of sensation, just as taste is different from any of the other five senses. Through this new sense of mind, a true saint perceives something in spiritual and divine things that is as completely different from what natural people perceive in those same things as the sweet taste of honey is different from the idea people get of honey by looking at it or touching it. Now this — the beauty of holiness — is the thing in spiritual and divine things that is perceived by this spiritual sense, so different from all that natural people perceive in them. This kind of beauty is the quality that is the immediate object of this spiritual sense, and holiness is the sweetness that is the proper object of this spiritual taste. Scripture frequently presents the beauty and sweetness of holiness as the great object of spiritual taste and spiritual appetite. This was the sweet food of the holy soul of Jesus Christ (John 4:32, 34): 'I have food to eat that you do not know about... My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.' I know of no part of Scripture where the nature and evidences of true and sincere godliness are so deliberately, fully, and extensively set forth as in Psalm 119. The psalmist declares his design in the opening verses and pursues it throughout to the end. In this psalm the excellence of holiness is presented as the immediate object of a spiritual taste, appetite, and delight. God's law — that great expression and outshining of the holiness of God's nature and prescription of holiness for the creature — is presented throughout as the food and delight, the great object of love, appetite, agreement, and rejoicing of the gracious nature. The gracious nature prizes God's commandments above gold, even the finest gold, and to it they are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, and this on account of their holiness, as was observed earlier. The same psalmist declares in Psalm 19:8-10 that holiness is the sweetness a spiritual taste relishes in God's law: 'The commandment of the Lord is pure; the fear of the Lord is clean; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.'

Holy love has a holy object. The holiness of love consists especially in this: that it is love for what is holy, as holy — that is, love for it on account of its holiness. So it is the holiness of the object that love fixes on and rests in. A holy nature must above all else love what is most agreeable to itself in holy things. And what is most agreeable to a holy nature in divine things is surely their holiness — for nothing can be more agreeable to any nature than what shares its own nature. Holy nature must above all else be agreeable to holy nature. Therefore the holy nature of God and Christ, the Word of God, and other divine things must above all else be agreeable to the holy nature that is in the saints.

Again, a holy nature undoubtedly loves holy things especially for the very quality for which a sinful nature is hostile toward them. The primary reason sinful nature is at enmity against holy things is their holiness — it is for this that the carnal mind is at enmity against God, against the law of God, and against the people of God. This is a straightforward argument from contraries: from contrary causes to contrary effects, from opposite natures to opposite inclinations. We know that holiness is directly contrary in nature to wickedness. Therefore, just as it is the nature of wickedness chiefly to oppose and hate holiness, so it must be the nature of holiness chiefly to incline toward and delight in holiness.

The holy nature of the saints and angels in heaven — where its true tendency is most fully expressed — is chiefly engaged by the holiness of divine things. This is the divine beauty that chiefly captures the attention, admiration, and praise of the bright and burning seraphim (Isaiah 6:3): 'And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory."' And Revelation 4:8: 'Day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."' The glorified saints respond the same way (Revelation 15:4): 'Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy.'

Scripture likewise presents the saints on earth as adoring God primarily on this account, admiring and extolling all His attributes either as deriving their loveliness from His holiness or as being a part of it. When they praise God for His power, it is His holiness that engages them (Psalm 98:1): 'O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.' When they praise Him for His justice and awesome majesty (Psalm 99:2-3): 'The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; holy is He.' Verse 5: 'Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; holy is He.' Verses 8-9: 'O Lord our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, and yet an avenger of their evil deeds. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, for holy is the Lord our God.' When they praise God for His mercy and faithfulness (Psalm 97:11-12): 'Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name.' And 1 Samuel 2:2: 'There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.'

By this, then, everyone may test their affections — especially their love and joy. Different kinds of creatures reveal their different natures very much through the different things they relish as their proper good — one delights in what another despises. So great is the difference between true saints and natural people. Natural people have no sense of the goodness and excellence of holy things for their holiness. They have no taste for that kind of good, and so may be said not to know that divine good — not to see it. It is wholly hidden from them. But the saints, by God's mighty power, have it discovered to them. They receive that supernatural, most noble, and divine sense by which they perceive it. And it is this that captivates their hearts and delights them above all things. It is the most lovely and sweet thing to the heart of a true saint that is to be found in heaven or earth — what above all else draws and engages his soul, and wherein above all things he places his happiness and counts on for refreshment and enjoyment in this world and full satisfaction and blessedness in the next. By this you may examine your love to God and to Jesus Christ, your love to the Word of God, your joy in them, your love to the people of God, and your desires after heaven — whether they arise from a supreme delight in this kind of beauty, without being primarily moved by your imagined interest in these things or expectations from them. There are many intense affections, great seeming love and ecstatic joys, that have nothing of this holy taste belonging to them.

In particular, by what has been said you may test your discoveries of the glory of God's grace and love, and the affections arising from them. The grace of God may appear lovely in two ways: either as a useful good — something that greatly serves my interest and suits my self-love — or as a beautiful good in itself, a part of the moral and spiritual excellence of the divine nature. It is in this second way that true saints have their hearts affected and their love captured by the free grace of God first of all.

From what has been said, it appears that if people have a strong sense of the natural perfections of God and are greatly moved by them — or have any other kind of perception of God that does not consist in or imply a sense of the beauty of His moral perfections — this is no certain sign of grace. In particular, having a strong sense of the awesome greatness and terrible majesty of God is no such sign, for this is only God's natural perfection. People may perceive it while being entirely blind to the beauty of His moral perfection, with none of that spiritual taste that relishes this divine sweetness.

It has already been shown under the first distinguishing mark of gracious affections that what is spiritual is entirely different in its nature from anything a graceless person is capable of while remaining graceless. But those wholly without grace can have a clear sight and very strong, affecting sense of God's greatness, His mighty power, and His awesome majesty. The demons have this, even though they have lost the spiritual knowledge of God that consists in a sense of the loveliness of His moral perfections. They are completely without any sense or relish of that kind of beauty, yet they have a very great knowledge of what we might call the natural glory of God — His awesome greatness and majesty. This they behold, and the apprehension of it moves them, and therefore they tremble before Him. All rational beings will behold this glory of God at the day of judgment — God will cause all of them to see it to an extraordinary degree: angels and demons, saints and sinners alike. He will make manifest His infinite greatness and awesome majesty to every one in an open, clear, and undeniable way, in a light that none can resist, when 'He shall come in the glory of His Father and every eye shall see Him.' When people cry to the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne, they are described as seeing the glory of God's majesty (Isaiah 2:10, 19, 21). God will make all His enemies behold this, and they will live in a most clear and affecting view of it in hell, for all eternity. God has repeatedly declared His unchangeable purpose to make all His enemies know Him in this respect — repeatedly attaching to His threatenings against them the words 'and they shall know that I am the Lord.' Indeed He has sworn that all people shall see His glory in this respect (Numbers 14:21): 'As I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.' And this kind of manifestation of God is frequently spoken of in Scripture as made, or to be made, in the sight of God's enemies in this world (Exodus 9:16 and 14:18 and 15:16, Psalms 66:3 and 46:10, and many other places). This was the kind of manifestation God made of Himself to the wicked congregation at Mount Sinai, deeply affecting all of them so that all the people in the camp trembled. Wicked people and demons will see and have a strong sense of every aspect of God's glory — except only the beauty of His moral perfection. They will see His infinite greatness and majesty, His infinite power; they will be fully convinced of His omniscience, His eternity, and His immutability. They will see and know everything pertaining to His moral attributes themselves — except only the beauty and loveliness of those attributes. They will see and know that He is perfectly just, righteous, and true; that He is a holy God, of purer eyes than to behold evil, who cannot look on iniquity. They will see the wonderful displays of His infinite goodness and free grace to the saints. Nothing will be hidden from their eyes but only the beauty of these moral attributes, and that beauty of the other attributes which arises from them. And so natural people in this world are capable of having a very affecting sense of everything else pertaining to God, but only this beauty is hidden from them. Nebuchadnezzar had a great and moving sense of the infinite greatness and awesome majesty of God, of His supreme and absolute dominion, His mighty and irresistible power, and His sovereignty. He felt that he and all the inhabitants of the earth were nothing before God, and had a strong conviction in his conscience of God's justice and an affecting sense of His great goodness (Daniel 4:1-3, 34-35, 37). The sense that Darius had of God's perfections seems very similar to his (Daniel 6:25 and following). But the saints and angels behold the glory of God that consists in the beauty of His holiness. And it is this sight alone that will melt and humble the hearts of people, wean them from the world, draw them to God, and truly change them. A sight of the awesome greatness of God may overpower people's strength and be more than they can endure. But if the moral beauty of God remains hidden, the enmity of the heart will remain in its full force. No love will be kindled, nothing will effectively win the will, and the will remains unmoved. But the first glimpse of the moral and spiritual glory of God shining into the heart produces all these effects — as it were with omnipotent power that nothing can resist.

The sense that natural people have of the awesome greatness of God may affect them in various ways — it may not only terrify them but also elevate them and raise their joy and praise, depending on their circumstances. This will be the natural effect of it when a person receives some remarkable mercy from God, under the influence of purely natural principles. It has already been shown that receiving kindness can, through natural principles, affect the heart with gratitude and praise to God. If a person at the same time receives remarkable kindness from God and also has a sense of His infinite greatness — of being nothing in comparison to Him — this will naturally raise the gratitude and praise even higher, for kindness to one so vastly inferior. A sense of God's greatness had this effect on Nebuchadnezzar when he received the extraordinary favor of restoration after having been driven out from among people and dwelling with the beasts. A sense of God's exceeding greatness raised his gratitude very high, so that he extolled and magnified God in the loftiest terms and called on all the world to do the same. And much more: if a natural person is greatly affected by God's infinite greatness and majesty while also strongly believing that this great God has made him His child and special favorite and promised him eternal glory in His highest love, this will — following the natural course of things — raise his joy and praise to a great height.

Therefore it is beyond doubt that too much weight has been placed by many people recently on discoveries of God's greatness, awesome majesty, and natural perfections, operating in the manner described above, without any real view of the holy, lovely majesty of God. Experience abundantly confirms what both reason and Scripture declare on this matter. Many people who have seemed to be overwhelmed by God's greatness and awesome majesty, and consequently elevated in the manner described, have been far from showing the Christian spirit and character in any corresponding proportion, and far from bearing fruit in their lives in any way consistent with genuine grace. On the contrary, their discoveries have worked in ways directly opposite to the operation of truly spiritual discoveries.

This is not to say that a sense of God's greatness and natural attributes is not extremely useful and necessary. As I noted earlier, this is implied in a manifestation of the beauty of God's holiness. Though that is something beyond it, holiness presupposes it, as the greater presupposes the less. And though natural people may have a sense of God's natural perfections, this is undoubtedly more frequent and common among the saints than among natural people. Grace enables people to see these things in a better way than natural people see them. Grace not only enables them to see God's natural attributes, but the beauty of those attributes that — in our way of conceiving of God — is derived from His holiness.

Fourth distinguishing sign: gracious affections arise from the mind's being enlightened to understand and perceive divine things rightly and spiritually.

Holy affections are not heat without light — they always arise from some understanding, some spiritual instruction the mind has received, some light or actual knowledge. The child of God is graciously affected because he sees and understands something more of divine things than before — more of God or Christ and the glorious things presented in the gospel. He has a clearer and better view than he had when he was not affected. Either he receives a new understanding of divine things, or a former knowledge is renewed after it had faded. As 1 John 4:7 says, 'Everyone who loves knows God.' Philippians 1:9: 'I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.' Romans 10:2: 'They have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.' Colossians 3:10: 'The new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge.' Psalm 43:3-4: 'O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill.' John 6:45: 'It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught of God." Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.' Knowledge is the key that first opens the hard heart and enlarges the affections, opening the way for people into the kingdom of heaven (Luke 11:52: 'You have taken away the key of knowledge').

There are many affections that do not arise from any light in the understanding. When this is the case, it is a sure sign that those affections are not spiritual, no matter how intense they may be. People who have such affections do have some new impressions that they did not have before — it is impossible for the mind to be affected by something it has no conception of. But in many cases the impressions or conceptions they have, which affect them, have nothing of the nature of knowledge or instruction in them. For example: when a person is affected by a vivid idea suddenly impressed on his mind of some shape, some beautiful and pleasant face, some shining light, or some other glorious outward appearance, there is indeed something that the mind perceives — but there is nothing of the nature of instruction in it. People become no wiser from such things, no more knowledgeable about God, or a Mediator between God and humanity, or the way of salvation through Christ, or anything contained in the doctrines of the gospel. From these external ideas people gain no further acquaintance with God in any of His attributes or perfections; no further understanding of His word or any of His ways or works. Truly spiritual and gracious affections are not raised in this way. They arise from the enlightenment of the understanding to understand the things taught about God and Christ in a new manner — coming to a new understanding of the excellent nature of God and His wonderful perfections; some new view of Christ in His spiritual excellence and fullness; or things pertaining to the way of salvation by Christ being opened in a new way, so that one now sees how it is and understands those divine and spiritual doctrines that were once foolishness to him. Such enlightenments of the understanding are entirely different in their nature from vivid ideas of shapes and colors, outward brightness and glory, or sounds and voices. The fact that all gracious affections arise from some instruction or enlightening of the understanding is therefore further proof — beyond what has already been observed — that affections arising from impressions on the imagination are not gracious affections.

From this it also appears that affections arising from scripture texts coming to the mind are empty when the ground of the affection is not any instruction received from those texts or any truth taught in them, but only the manner of their coming. When Christ makes scripture the means of the heart's burning with gracious affection, it is 'by opening the Scriptures to their understanding' (Luke 24:32): 'Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?' It also appears that affection occasioned by a scripture text is empty when it is founded on something supposed to be taught by that text which is not actually contained in it or in any other scripture. Such supposed instruction is not real instruction but a mistake and misunderstanding of the mind. For example: when people suppose that some scripture coming to mind expressly teaches them that they in particular are beloved of God, that their sins are forgiven, that God is their Father, and the like — this is a mistake. Scripture nowhere expressly identifies the individual persons who are beloved; it reveals only the qualifications of those who are beloved of God, and the matter can be learned from scripture only by drawing that conclusion from those qualifications. Things are to be learned from scripture only in the way they are actually taught in scripture.

In the instances mentioned, and in some others that could be mentioned, religious affections actually arise from ignorance rather than instruction. For example, some find that they speak freely and fluently in prayer and call this 'God's presence with them,' and this affects them further, setting their affections in motion and increasing them. They do not examine the cause of this fluency, which may arise from many things other than the spiritual presence of God. Some are greatly affected by apt thoughts that come to them about scripture and call it the Spirit of God teaching them. They attribute many workings of their own minds — which they think highly of and are pleased and captured by — to the special immediate influences of God's Spirit, and so are powerfully moved by their supposed privilege. There are also cases in which it is evident that the first ground of a person's affection is some bodily sensation. The physical spirits are by some cause — and probably sometimes by the devil — suddenly and unaccountably set into a very pleasant motion, causing the person to feel a pleasantness in the body. The physical spirits are put into the kind of motion usually connected with a lifted and cheerful mind, and the soul, by the natural laws of the soul-body union, therefore feels pleasure. The motion of the physical spirits does not first arise from any affection or thought of the mind — the very first thing felt is an exhilaration of the physical spirits and a pleasant external sensation, perhaps in the chest. From ignorance, the person is surprised and begins to think: surely this is the Holy Spirit coming into me. Then the mind begins to be affected and elevated — first with great joy, then with many other affections in a very turbulent way, throwing both body and mind into a great upheaval. Though as I noted earlier the soul alone is the seat of the affections, this does not prevent bodily sensations from serving in this way as an occasion of affections in the mind.

Even if people's religious affections do truly arise from some instruction or light in the understanding, the affection is not gracious unless the light that grounds it is spiritual. Affections may be stirred by an understanding of things that comes from purely human teaching, through the ordinary use of the mind's faculties. People may be greatly affected by knowledge of religious matters obtained this way, just as some philosophers have been powerfully moved — almost carried out of themselves — by discoveries in mathematics and natural philosophy. People may also be greatly affected by common illuminations of the Spirit of God, in which God assists people's faculties to a higher degree of the kind of understanding of religious matters they possess in some measure through the ordinary exercise and development of their own minds. Such illuminations may greatly affect the mind — as they did many whom Scripture describes as having 'once been enlightened.' But these affections are not spiritual.

If the scriptures teach us anything at all, they teach us that there is such a thing as a spiritual, supernatural understanding of divine things that is unique to the saints — something those who are not saints have nothing of. The apostle speaks of a kind of understanding, perceiving, or discerning of divine things that natural people have nothing of in 1 Corinthians 2:14: 'A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.' There is certainly a kind of seeing or discerning spiritual things that is unique to the saints, spoken of in 1 John 3:6: 'No one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.' And 3 John 11: 'The one who does evil has not seen God.' And John 6:40: 'This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.' John 14:19: 'The world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me.' John 17:3: 'This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.' Matthew 11:27: 'No one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.' John 12:45: 'He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.' Psalm 9:10: 'Those who know Your name will put their trust in You.' Philippians 3:8: 'I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.' Verse 10: 'That I may know Him.' And there are countless other passages throughout the Bible that show the same. That there is such a thing as an understanding of divine things that is in its nature and kind wholly different from all knowledge that natural people have is evident from the fact that Scripture calls it 'spiritual understanding' in Colossians 1:9: 'We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.' It has already been shown that what is 'spiritual,' in the ordinary use of that word in the New Testament, is entirely different in nature and kind from all that natural people are or can be the subjects of.

Spiritual understanding consists in a new kind of sensation — a new spiritual sense — that is entirely different in nature from anything a natural person has. This is what 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 describes: 'And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.' Since the true religion of the heart consists primarily in love, its first and primary foundation must be a knowledge of the loveliness of its object. Therefore the first and foundational object of spiritual understanding is the beauty of the moral perfection of divine things.

To sum up: spiritual understanding is a sense of the heart of the supreme beauty and sweetness of the holiness or moral perfection of divine things, together with all the discernment and knowledge that flows from it.

When I speak of a 'sense of the heart,' I do not mean that understanding and will are the same faculty or that they cannot be distinguished. What I mean is that when the mind perceives the amiableness of a thing, that perception carries a sense of the heart with it — it is not a mere cold speculative opinion that such and such a thing is amiable. It involves the heart as well as the mind.

There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet and having a sense of its sweetness. A person may believe that honey is sweet without ever tasting it — that is a notional understanding. But the sense of its sweetness is something different: the mind not only speculates and beholds but relishes and feels. That is the difference between speculative or notional knowledge and a sense of the heart.

The apostle makes this distinction between merely speculative knowledge and spiritual knowledge. He speaks of speculative knowledge as having 'the form of knowledge' (Romans 2:20). But spiritual knowledge is represented in Scripture by relishing and tasting: 2 Corinthians 2:14 ('God always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place'); Matthew 16:23 ('You are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's'); 1 Peter 2:2-3 ('Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord'); Song of Solomon 1:3 ('Your name is like purified oil'); and 1 John 2:20 ('You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know').

Spiritual understanding, then, primarily consists in this sense or taste of the moral beauty of divine things. Secondarily, it includes all the knowledge and understanding of divine things that flows from this sense and depends on it — all the enlightened judgment, all the clearer views, all the notional knowledge that arises from having truly tasted and seen that God is good.

A true sense of the beauty of God's holiness opens up an entirely new world to the soul. It reveals the glory of all God's perfections and all His works. It provides the foundation for truly knowing Christ's sufficiency and suitableness as a Mediator. It shows the preciousness of His blood as an atonement for sin. It reveals the beauty of the way of salvation through Christ. It shows the excellence of the Word of God. It gives the true foundation for understanding the duties we owe to God. It reveals the true evil and danger of sin. It opens up the glory of heaven as the dwelling place of God's holiness. It shows the loveliness of the saints and angels as holy beings. In short, holiness is, so to speak, the Divinity of Divinity — the beauty that makes God God. Those who have no sense of it truly know nothing of spiritual things at all. For them, the whole spiritual world is hidden. Giving someone this sense is like opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, and creating a new world before them.

From this sense of the beauty of holiness, all true experiential knowledge of religion arises. Without seeing the beauty of holiness, a person is ignorant of all gracious exercises of the soul. They do not understand holy comforts and spiritual delights. They cannot recognize the saving influences of the Spirit. They are blind to the greatest works of God. And the whole spiritual world is hidden from them.

When God implants this spiritual sense in someone, it produces a tremendous change. If this sense were not given even in a small degree at the very first moment of conversion, the change that takes place at conversion would be even more remarkable than giving sight to someone who was born blind. This spiritual sense is infinitely more noble than physical sight. The difference it makes is therefore immeasurably greater than any change in physical perception.

This kind of understanding or knowledge — the spiritual sense of divine beauty — is the knowledge from which all truly gracious affections flow. By it, therefore, all affections must be tested. Affections that arise entirely from any other kind of knowledge or from any other kind of perception are empty and worthless.

From what has been said, we can understand the most essential difference between the light or understanding given through the common influences of the Spirit of God on natural people and the saving instruction given to the saints. The saving instruction primarily and most essentially consists in beholding the moral beauty that is in divine things — the only true moral good, to which the soul of fallen humanity is by nature completely blind. Common illumination, by contrast, consists only in a deeper understanding of things that people can know to some degree through the ordinary exercise of their natural faculties. That knowledge extends only to what we might call the natural aspects of religion. For example, in the awakenings and convictions of conscience that natural people often experience, the Spirit of God gives no knowledge of the true moral beauty of divine things. Instead, He only assists the mind to a clearer awareness of guilt — sin's relation to punishment and its connection with suffering — without any sight of sin's true moral evil or its ugliness as sin. It also gives a clearer idea of God's natural perfections: not His holy beauty and glory, but His awesome and terrible greatness. A clear sight of this is what will awaken the consciences of wicked people at the day of judgment, without any spiritual light. And a lesser degree of the same thing awakens the consciences of natural people in this world, again without spiritual light. The same kind of sight or perception of God — in smaller measure — makes awakened sinners in this world feel the dreadful guilt of sin against so great and terrible a God, and fills them with fearful anticipation of divine wrath. At the day of judgment, this sight will be given in full measure, thoroughly convincing all wicked people of the infinitely dreadful nature and guilt of sin, and overwhelming them with apprehensions of wrath, when Christ comes in the glory of His power and majesty and every eye sees Him. In common illuminations that sometimes stir natural people to religious desire, love, and joy, the mind is only assisted to a clearer perception of the natural good that is in divine things. Sometimes under common illuminations people are moved by ideas of the natural good that is in heaven — its outward glory, its peace, its honor and advancement, the experience of being there as objects of God's high favor and the great esteem of men and angels. Many things exhibited in the gospel concerning God, Christ, and the way of salvation have a natural good in them that appeals to the natural principle of self-love. For example, in God's great goodness to sinners and in the wonderful dying love of Christ, there is a natural good that all people love as they love themselves — but there is also a spiritual and holy beauty that only the regenerate can see. Therefore many things in the Word of God's grace, as delivered in the gospel, may cause natural people to receive it immediately with joy when they hear it. All the love that natural people have toward God, Christ, Christian virtues, and good people does not arise from any sight of the loveliness of holiness or true moral excellence. It arises only from the natural good found in those things. All the hatred natural people have for sin comes from the same natural principles as a person's hatred of a tiger for its ferocity, or their aversion to a serpent for its venom and danger. And all their love of Christian virtue comes from no higher principle than their appreciation of a pleasant personality, which seems appealing to natural people — but no more than silver and gold appear appealing to a merchant, or the blackness of rich soil appears beautiful to a farmer.

From what has been said about the nature of spiritual understanding, it is clear that spiritual understanding does not consist in any new doctrinal knowledge, or in having new propositions suggested to the mind that were never before read or heard. It is plain that suggesting new propositions is something entirely different from giving the mind a new taste or sense of beauty and sweetness. It is also clear that spiritual knowledge does not consist in any new doctrinal explanation of a passage of Scripture, since that too is merely doctrinal knowledge — knowledge of propositions. Explaining a passage of Scripture doctrinally only tells us what propositions or teachings that passage contains.

It follows from this that spiritual understanding of Scripture does not consist in unlocking the mystical meaning of its parables, types, and allegories, since that is only doctrinal explanation. A person who explains what is meant by the rocky ground and the seed that springs up quickly and soon withers is only explaining what propositions or doctrines that parable teaches. A person who explains what Jacob's ladder signifies — with the angels of God ascending and descending on it — or what Joshua's leading Israel through the Jordan typified, is only showing what propositions are hidden in those passages. Many people can explain these types who have no spiritual knowledge whatsoever. It is possible for someone to know how to interpret every type, parable, riddle, and allegory in the Bible without having a single ray of spiritual light in his mind. He may not have the slightest degree of that spiritual sense of the holy beauty of divine things we have been discussing, and may see nothing of this kind of glory in any of these mysteries or in any other part of Scripture. The apostle makes it plain that a person may understand all such mysteries and still have no saving grace: 1 Corinthians 13:2: 'And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.' Those who are therefore lifted up in their opinion of their own spiritual attainments because ideas about the mystical meaning of various scripture passages come to their minds — as though this were spiritual understanding given directly by the Spirit of God — are badly mistaken. And what has been said shows the worthlessness of the affections that arise from such notions.

From what has been said, it is also clear that it is not spiritual knowledge for people to be informed of their duty through immediate inward suggestions that such and such outward actions are the will of God. Even if we suppose that God does sometimes make His will known to His people through immediate inward suggestions, such suggestions have nothing of the nature of spiritual light. Such knowledge would only be one kind of doctrinal knowledge. A proposition about God's will is just as much a doctrine of religion as a proposition about the nature of God or the works of God. Having any such proposition declared to a person — whether by speech or inward suggestion — is vastly different from having the holy beauty of divine things manifested to the soul, which is what spiritual knowledge most essentially consists in. Balaam had no spiritual light, even though the Spirit of God suggested the will of God to him directly from time to time — telling him where to go and what to do and say.

It is clear, therefore, that being led and directed in this way — by immediate suggestions — is not the holy and spiritual leading of the Spirit of God that is unique to the saints and is a distinguishing mark of the sons of God, spoken of in Romans 8:14: 'For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.' And Galatians 5:18: 'But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.'

Some people receive what they take to be the will of God concerning their actions through a scripture text that suddenly and extraordinarily comes to their minds. The text, as it stood in the Bible before coming to mind, referred to the actions of some other person — but they suppose that since God sent the words to them, He intended something further by them and meant to direct a particular action of theirs. Even so, the case is unchanged. The fact that the suggestion comes accompanied by an apt scripture text does not make it a matter of spiritual instruction. Consider an example: suppose a person in New England is uncertain whether it is his duty to go into some Catholic or heathen land where he would face many difficulties and dangers. He prays to God to show him his duty, and afterward those words God spoke to Jacob in Genesis 46 suddenly and extraordinarily come to his mind, as though spoken to him: 'Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.' As the words stood in the Bible before coming to his mind, they referred only to Jacob and his situation. But the person supposes that as God has brought and applied them to him, they carry a new meaning: that Egypt stands for the particular country he has in mind, that the action intended is his going there, and that the promise means God will bring him back to New England. There is nothing of the nature of a spiritual or gracious leading of the Spirit in this, because there is nothing of the nature of spiritual understanding in it. Understanding scripture texts this way is not spiritual understanding of them. To understand Scripture spiritually is to rightly understand what is in the Scripture — what was in it before it was understood. It is to rightly understand the meaning that has always been contained in Scripture, not to create a new meaning. When the mind is spiritually enlightened to rightly understand Scripture, it is enabled to see what was always there but previously unseen because of blindness. If the reason it was not seen was blindness, that proves the meaning was already there — for it is no blindness to fail to see a meaning that was never there in the first place. Spiritual enlightenment is described in Psalm 119:18 as opening the eyes: 'Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.' This implies that the reason the person had not seen those things in Scripture before was that his eyes were shut — which would not make sense if the meaning he now understands had not already been there, but had been newly added by the manner in which the words came to his mind. Creating a new meaning in Scripture is the same as creating new Scripture — it is properly adding to the Word, which carries a most dreadful curse. To spiritually understand Scripture is to have the eyes of the mind opened to behold the wonderful spiritual excellence of the glorious things contained in its true meaning — things that were always contained in it since it was written. It is to behold the lovely and bright manifestation of the divine perfections, the excellence and sufficiency of Christ, the excellence and suitableness of the way of salvation through Christ, and the spiritual glory of the precepts and promises of Scripture. All of these things are in the Bible and always were there, and would have been seen before if not for blindness — without any new sense being added by God sending particular words to a particular person with a new meaning.

The gracious leading of the Spirit consists in two things: partly in instructing a person in his duty through the Spirit, and partly in powerfully moving him to comply with that instruction. As far as the gracious leading of the Spirit involves instruction, it consists in being guided by a spiritual and discerning taste — a taste for what has true moral beauty. Spiritual knowledge primarily consists in a taste or relish for the loveliness and beauty of what is truly good and holy. This holy relish discerns and distinguishes between good and evil, between holy and unholy, without needing a chain of reasoning. A person who has a true sense of physical beauty knows what is beautiful simply by looking at it — he does not need to reason through the proportions of the features to decide whether a face is beautiful. A single glance is enough. A person with a well-trained musical ear knows whether what he hears is true harmony — he does not need the calculations of a mathematician about the proportions of the notes. A person with a well-trained palate knows whether food is good as soon as he tastes it, without needing a physician's analysis. There is a holy beauty and sweetness in words and actions, just as there is a natural beauty in faces and sounds and sweetness in food. As Job 12:11 says, 'Does not the ear test words, as the palate tastes its food?' When a holy and lovely action is suggested to the thoughts of a holy soul, that soul — if actively exercising its spiritual taste — immediately sees beauty in it, and so is drawn to it and embraces it. When an unworthy and unholy action is suggested to it, its sanctified eye sees no beauty in it and takes no pleasure in it. Its sanctified taste finds no sweetness in it; on the contrary, it is repulsive. Its holy taste and appetite naturally leads it toward what is truly lovely, and naturally brings such things to mind — as a healthy appetite naturally calls to mind its proper food. In this way a holy person is led by the Spirit: he is instructed and guided by his holy taste and the disposition of his heart. Through the active exercise of grace, he easily distinguishes good from evil and knows at once what is a suitable and lovely response toward God and toward people in any given situation. He judges what is right, as it were spontaneously and on his own, without a particular chain of argument — guided by the beauty he perceives and the goodness he tastes. This is why Christ rebuked the Pharisees for not judging by themselves what was right, without needing miracles to demonstrate it (Luke 12:57). The apostle also seems to have this kind of spiritual judgment in view in Romans 12:2: 'And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.'

There is a kind of good taste of natural beauty that learned people have long spoken of — a taste exercised in judging temporal things, such as the soundness of a speech, the quality of a writing style, the beauty of a poem, or the gracefulness of conduct. A noted philosopher of our time writes about it this way: to have taste is to give things their real value, to be moved by what is good and offended by what is bad — not to be dazzled by false appearances, but to judge soundly in spite of every color and disguise that might deceive. Taste and judgment, then, ought to be the same thing — yet it is easy to see a difference between them. Judgment forms its opinions through reflection: reason takes a kind of roundabout course to reach its conclusion. It assumes principles, draws consequences, and then pronounces — but only after a thorough examination of the case, so that when it has spoken, it is ready to explain its reasoning. Good taste observes none of these formalities: before there is time to deliberate, it has already decided. As soon as the object is presented, the impression is made and the response formed — nothing more is required. Just as the ear is hurt by a harsh sound and the nose is pleased by a pleasant scent before reason has engaged with these objects to evaluate them, so taste opens itself at once and precedes all reflection. Reflection may afterward confirm it and uncover the hidden reasons for its response, but taste could not wait for reflection. Often it never discovers those reasons at all, and no matter how hard it tries, it cannot determine what led it to the conclusion it reached. This is very different from the process judgment follows in its decisions — unless we say that good taste is, in a sense, a first impulse or instinct of right reason that moves with speed and guides more reliably than all deliberate reasoning could. It is a first glance of the eye that reveals the nature and relationships of things in an instant.

Now just as philosophers speak of this kind of natural taste of the mind — by which people are guided in their judgment of natural beauty, gracefulness, propriety, and excellence in speeches and actions, judging as if by a glance of the eye or by immediate inner sensation at the first impression of an object — there is likewise such a thing as a divine taste given and maintained by the Spirit of God in the hearts of the saints. By this divine taste, saints are similarly led and guided in discerning and distinguishing the true spiritual and holy beauty of actions. They do so more easily, readily, and accurately in proportion to how much of the Spirit of God dwells in them. In this way the children of God are led by the Spirit of God in their behavior in the world.

A holy disposition and spiritual taste, where grace is strong and active, will enable a soul to determine what actions are right and fitting for a Christian not only more quickly but far more accurately than the greatest natural ability without it. This can be illustrated by how certain habits of mind and dispositions of heart — even ones lower than true grace — teach and guide a person's actions. For example, a man who is very good-natured is taught by his good nature how to act generously among people. It directs him, in every situation, toward the words and actions that best express goodness — more reliably than the strongest reason could guide a man with a harsh disposition. Or consider a man whose heart is under the influence of a deep and tender friendship toward another person. Even if he is a man of ordinary ability, this disposition of his heart will guide him far more readily and precisely to a manner of speech and behavior that is in every way warm, kind, and fitting — better than the greatest natural capacity without it. He has, as it were, a spirit within him that guides him. The habit of his mind carries a taste that immediately senses and responds to what is kind and good, and turns away from the opposite, making the distinction in a moment more precisely than the most careful reasoning could determine over many hours. It is like the inward nature and tendency of a stone dropped from a height: it finds the center of the earth more exactly in an instant than the ablest mathematician without it could determine through his most accurate calculations in a whole day. This is how a spiritual disposition and taste teaches and guides a person in his conduct in the world. In the same way, a notably humble, meek, or charitable disposition will direct a person of ordinary ability to behavior consistent with Christian rules of humility, meekness, and charity more readily and precisely than the most diligent study and careful reasoning of a person with the strongest mental faculties who lacks a Christian spirit within him. So also a spirit of love to God, holy reverence before God, childlike trust in God, and a heavenly disposition will teach and guide a person in his behavior.

It is extremely difficult for a wicked person, lacking divine principles in his heart to guide him, to know how to conduct himself like a true Christian — with the life, beauty, and heavenly character of a genuinely holy and humble spirit. He does not know how to put on those garments, and they do not fit him. As Ecclesiastes 10:15 says, 'The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not even know how to go to a city.' Proverbs 10:32: 'The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable.' Proverbs 15:2: 'The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly.' And Proverbs 16:23: 'The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.'

When saints judge actions through a spiritual taste, they do not consciously consult a particular rule of God's Word for every word and action whose goodness or evil they are discerning. Yet their taste itself is, in a general way, subject to the rule of God's Word and must be tested and evaluated by it and by sound reasoning from it. This is like a man with a well-trained palate who judges particular foods by his taste — yet his palate itself must be evaluated by certain rules and principles to determine whether it is rightly trained. A spiritual taste of the soul powerfully assists the soul in reasoning through the Word of God and in judging the true meaning of its rules. It removes the bias of a corrupted appetite and naturally leads the thoughts in the right direction. It casts light on the Word of God and causes its true meaning to come naturally to mind, through the harmony that exists between the disposition and relish of a sanctified soul and the true meaning of God's Word. This harmony even tends to bring the relevant scripture texts to mind on fitting occasions — just as a particular state of stomach and palate tends to call to mind the kinds of food and drink that suit that state. In this way the children of God are led by the Spirit of God, both in judging actions themselves and in meditating on, judging, and applying the rules of God's holy Word. And so God teaches them His statutes and causes them to understand the way of His precepts — which the psalmist so often prays for.

But this leading of the Spirit is something vastly different from what some people call by that name. What they call it does not consist in being taught the statutes and precepts God has already given — it consists in receiving new precepts through immediate inward speech or suggestion. It involves no tasting of the true excellence of things, no judgment or discernment of the nature of things at all. They do not determine the will of God through any taste or relish, or by any judgment about the nature of things — they receive what they take to be an immediate dictate about the particular thing to be done. There is no wisdom or judgment involved in the process. But the leading of the Spirit that is unique to God's children imparts true wisdom and holy discernment, so often spoken of in the Word of God. This is as far above the other way as the stars are above a glowworm. Balaam and Saul — who were sometimes led by the Spirit in that other way — never had this wisdom. And no natural person can have it without a change of nature.

What has been said about the nature of spiritual understanding — as consisting most essentially in a divine, supernatural sense and relish of the heart — not only shows that none of it is present in the false leading of the Spirit just described, but also shows the difference between spiritual understanding and all forms of enthusiasm. This includes all imaginary visions of God, Christ, and heaven; all supposed testimonies of the Spirit and assurances of God's love through immediate inward suggestion; all impressions of future events and supposed immediate revelations of secret facts; all enthusiastic impressions and applications of scripture words as though they were words now immediately spoken by God to a particular person in a new meaning going beyond what the words contain as they stand in the Bible; and all interpretations of the mystical meaning of Scripture through supposed immediate revelation. None of these things consist in a divine sense and relish of the heart for the holy beauty and excellence of divine things. They have nothing to do with such a sense. All of them consist in impressions on the head — all fall under the category of impressions on the imagination. They consist in producing outward ideas in the mind: ideas of outward shapes and colors, words spoken, letters written, or ideas of external and sensible things belonging to actions done or events accomplished or yet to come. An enthusiastic supposed manifestation of the love of God is produced by exciting the idea of a smiling face or some other pleasant outward appearance, or the idea of pleasant words spoken or written impressed on the imagination, or some pleasant bodily sensation. When someone receives what they think is an imaginary revelation of a secret fact, it comes through external ideas — either words implying a declaration of that fact, or imagined visible and sensible circumstances of the fact. When the supposed leading of the Spirit directs outward behavior, it comes either by bringing to mind the idea of words (which are outward things) — whether words of Scripture or other words taken as an immediate command from God — or by strongly impressing the ideas of the outward actions themselves. When an interpretation of a scripture type or allegory is immediately and extraordinarily suggested with great force, it comes by suggesting words as though someone were whispering the meaning, or by stirring up other ideas in the imagination.

Experiences and discoveries of this kind commonly raise the affections of those deluded by them to a great height, producing a powerful upheaval in both soul and body. A very large part of the false religion that has existed in the world throughout history consists in just such discoveries and the affections that flow from them. Such things characterized the experiences of the ancient Pythagoreans among the pagans and many others who had strange ecstasies and raptures and claimed to have a divine inspiration and immediate revelations from heaven. Such things seem to have characterized the experiences of the Essenes, an ancient sect among the Jews, at and after the time of the apostles. Such things characterized the experiences of many of the ancient Gnostics, the Montanists, and many other heretical sects in the early centuries of the Christian church. And such things characterized the supposed direct communication with God, Christ, and the saints and angels of heaven claimed by the monks, hermits, and recluses who once filled the Roman church. Such things characterized the pretended high experiences and great spirituality of many enthusiastic sects that swarmed in the world after the Reformation — such as the Anabaptists, Antinomians, and Familists, the followers of Nicholas Stork, Thomas Muncer, John Becold, Henry Pfeifer, David George, Casper Swenckfield, Henry Nicolas, and Johannes Agricola Eislebius; the many wild enthusiasts who arose in England in the days of Oliver Cromwell; and the followers of Mistress Hutchinson in New England — as the eminently holy man Samuel Rutherford describes in detail in his Display of the Spiritual Antichrist. And such things characterized the experiences of the later French Prophets and their followers. In these same things seems to lie the religion of the many kinds of enthusiasts of the present day. It is chiefly through this kind of religion that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. It is the tool he has most successfully used to confuse and destroy promising revivals of religion from the beginning of the Christian church to this day. When the Spirit of God is poured out to begin a glorious work, the old serpent moves as quickly as possible to introduce this counterfeit religion and mingle it with the true — and this has from time to time brought everything into confusion. The destructive consequences of it are hard to imagine until we see and are stunned by its awful effects and the terrible desolation it produces. If a revival of true religion begins on a very large scale, and yet this counterfeit enters, there is danger that it will do what Gideon's illegitimate son Abimelech did — never stopping until he had slain all seventy of his true-born brothers, with only one escaping by flight. Ministers must therefore keep strict watch and guard against such things, especially in times of great awakening. Common people are easily captivated by them, since they have such a dazzling and glittering appearance of high religion — and the devil hides his true form and appears as an angel of light, so that people are not afraid of him but instead many fall down and worship him.

The imagination seems to be where all of Satan's delusions are formed — delusions that sweep away those who are under the influence of false religion and counterfeit grace and affections. The imagination is the devil's great hiding place, the very nest of foul and deceptive spirits. It is very doubtful whether the devil can reach the soul of a person at all — to affect it, excite any thought or impulse in it, or produce any effect in it — except through the imagination, which is that power of the soul by which it receives and is the subject of images or ideas of outward and sensible things. We know nothing about the laws and means by which the Creator has established communication between unembodied spirits — we do not know by what medium they make their thoughts known to one another or stir thoughts in one another. But for spirits united to bodies, those bodies are God's appointed medium of communication. They have no other means of acting on other creatures or being acted on by them than through the body. Therefore it is not to be supposed that Satan can excite any thought or produce any effect in the human soul except through some movement of the physical spirits, or by causing some motion or change in something belonging to the body. There is reason to think that the devil cannot produce thoughts in the soul directly or in any way other than through the medium of the body, namely this: he cannot directly see or know the thoughts of the soul. Scripture abundantly declares that this is something unique to the omniscient God. But it seems unlikely that the devil can directly produce an effect that lies outside the range of his direct awareness. It seems unreasonable to suppose that his direct action could be beyond his own sight — or that it could be impossible for him to see what he himself directly does. Is it not unreasonable to suppose that any intelligent agent could by an act of his will produce effects consistent with his understanding — and produce them directly — while those effects lie entirely beyond his range of understanding and perception? If then the devil cannot produce thoughts in the soul directly except through the physical spirits or through the body, it follows that he never accomplishes anything in the soul except through the imagination — by exciting outward ideas. We know that changes in the body immediately produce in the mind only external ideas — ideas of the outward senses or ideas of the same outward nature. Reflection, abstraction, reasoning, and the thoughts and inner movements that flow from these acts of the mind are not the direct effects of impressions on the body. Therefore Satan can only access the soul through the imagination — to tempt and deceive it and to suggest things to it. This seems to explain why people suffering from melancholy are so visibly and remarkably subject to the suggestions and temptations of Satan. Melancholy is a disease that especially affects the physical spirits and involves weakness in the brain — the source of the physical spirits and, in a sense, the seat of the imagination. All ideas excited in the mind through the movement of the physical spirits or through changes in the body are produced by impressions made on the brain. The brain, being weakened and diseased by melancholy, is less under the control of the higher faculties of the soul, yields more easily to outside impressions, and is overpowered by the disordered movements of the physical spirits. This gives the devil a greater advantage to affect the mind by working on the imagination. When Satan casts those horrible suggestions into the minds of many melancholy people — suggestions for which they are not themselves responsible — he does so by exciting imaginary ideas: dreadful words or sentences, or other horrible outward images. When he tempts people who are not melancholy, he does it by presenting to the imagination, in a vivid and alluring way, the objects of their lusts — or by stirring up the ideas of words, and through them exciting thoughts, or by promoting an imagination of outward actions, events, and circumstances. There are countless ways the mind can be led into all kinds of evil thoughts by exciting external ideas in the imagination.

If people keep no guard at these avenues through which Satan has access to the soul — to tempt and deceive it — they will certainly have more than enough of him. This is especially true if instead of guarding against him they open themselves up to him and seek and invite him — because he appears as an angel of light and counterfeits the illuminations and graces of the Spirit of God through inward whispers, immediate suggestions about facts and events, pleasant voices, beautiful images, and other impressions on the imagination. Many who are deluded by such things are lifted up by them and eagerly pursue them, experiencing a steady stream of them and being able to produce them nearly at will — especially when their pride and desire for attention calls for making a display of them before others. It is with them much as with those who claim the art of locating lost objects through impressions on their imagination: having opened themselves up to the devil, he is always ready at hand to give them the impression they seek.

Before I finish what I have to say on the subject of imaginations counterfeiting spiritual light and the affections that arise from them, I want to make something clear to prevent misunderstanding. I am far from concluding that no affections are spiritual when they are accompanied by imaginary ideas. Such is the nature of human beings that we can scarcely think intensely about anything without some kind of outward images. Such images arise and interpose themselves unavoidably in the course of our thoughts, though they are often very confused and not what the mind is actually attending to. When the mind is deeply engaged and the thoughts are intense, the imagination is often stronger and the outward image more vivid — especially in people of certain bodily constitutions. But there is a great difference between these two things: lively imaginations arising from strong affections, and strong affections arising from lively imaginations. The first of these may be — and doubtless often is — the case in truly gracious affections. The affections do not arise from the imagination and have no dependence on it. On the contrary, the imagination is only an incidental effect or byproduct of the affection, due to the weakness of human nature. But when the second is the case — when the affection arises from the imagination and is built on it as its foundation instead of on a spiritual illumination or discovery — then the affection, however elevated, is worthless and empty. That is the point of what has been said about impressions on the imagination. With that clarification made, I move on to another mark of gracious affections.

Fifth distinguishing sign: truly gracious affections are accompanied by a reasonable and spiritual conviction of the reality and certainty of divine things.

This seems to be implied in the text that served as the foundation of this discourse: 'Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory' (1 Peter 1:8).

All truly gracious people have a solid, full, thorough, and effective conviction of the truth of the great things of the gospel. By this I mean they no longer waver between two opinions. The great doctrines of the gospel are no longer uncertain matters of opinion — probable but still debatable. They are settled and determined points, as undoubted and indisputable, so that these people are not afraid to stake everything on their truth. Their conviction is an effective conviction: the great, spiritual, mysterious, and invisible things of the gospel carry the influence of real and certain things upon them. These things have weight and power in their hearts, and accordingly rule their affections and govern their lives. Regarding Christ's being the Son of God and Savior of the world and the great things He has revealed about Himself, His Father, and the world to come — they do not merely have a prevailing opinion that these things are true, yielding a tentative assent as they might to many other uncertain questions. They see that it is really so: their eyes are opened, and they see that Jesus truly is the Christ, the Son of the living God. As for the things Christ has revealed about God's eternal purposes and designs concerning fallen humanity, and the glorious and everlasting things prepared for the saints in the world to come — they see that these things are indeed so. Therefore these things are of great weight to them, and have a powerful effect on their hearts and influence over their lives, in some measure answering to their infinite importance.

That all true Christians have this kind of conviction of the truth of the things of the gospel is abundantly clear from the Holy Scriptures. A few passages among many: Matthew 16:15-17: 'He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."' John 6:68-69: 'You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.' John 17:6-8: 'I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world... Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.' Acts 8:37: 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' 2 Corinthians 4:11-14: 'For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake... having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.' Together with verse 16: 'Therefore we do not lose heart.' And verse 18: 'while we look not at the things which are seen.' And 2 Corinthians 5:1: 'For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God.' And verses 6-8: 'Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.' 2 Timothy 1:12: 'For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.' Hebrews 3:6: 'Whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.' Hebrews 11:1: 'Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen' — together with that whole chapter. 1 John 4:13-16: 'By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.' 1 John 5:4-5: 'For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?'

Truly gracious affections are therefore accompanied by the kind of conviction and persuasion of the truth of the things of the gospel, and the sight of their evidence and reality, that these and other scriptures describe.

Many religious affections are not accompanied by this kind of conviction of the mind. Many of the perceptions and ideas that some people call divine discoveries are affecting but not convincing. For a short time they may seem more persuaded of the truth of religion than they used to be, and may yield a quick assent — like many of Christ's hearers who believed for a while. But they have no thorough and effective conviction, and there is no great lasting change in them. It is not the case that whereas they previously did not grasp the reality of the great things of the gospel, they now see them in a new light as genuinely real and certain. Many people who have been greatly stirred by religious affections and think they have been converted go through the world no more convinced of the truth of the gospel than they were before — or at least no significantly more. They are not people who live under the influence and power of a realizing conviction of the infinite and eternal things the gospel reveals. If they were, it would be impossible for them to live as they do. Because their affections are not accompanied by a thorough conviction of the mind, they cannot be relied on at all. However much noise and show they make, it is like the blaze of burning flax or the crackling of thorns — or like the promising blade that springs up quickly on rocky ground, but has no root and no depth of soil to sustain its life.

Some people, in a state of high affections and confident assurance of their good standing before God, have what they very mistakenly call 'seeing the truth of the Word of God' — and it is something very far from that. A scripture text comes to their minds suddenly and in an extraordinary way, directly declaring to them (as they suppose) that their sins are forgiven, that God loves them and will save them. Perhaps a chain of scripture texts comes one after another to the same effect, and they become convinced that it is true — meaning, they are confident that their sins are indeed forgiven and God loves them. They say they know it is so, and when the words of Scripture are suggested to them as if God is speaking those words directly to them with this meaning, they are ready to cry out: 'Truth! It is certainly so! The Word of God is true!' This they call seeing the truth of the Word of God. In reality, the whole of their faith amounts to nothing more than a strong confidence in their own good standing before God, and therefore a confidence that the words they suppose are telling them they are in a good standing are true. As was shown earlier, no scripture directly identifies any particular person as being in a good standing — it only reveals the qualifications of those who are in a good standing, and the matter can only be learned from Scripture by drawing that conclusion from those qualifications. So instead of being a real sight of the Word of God, this is a sight of nothing but a phantom — it is delusion through and through. To truly see the truth of the Word of God is to see the truth of the gospel — the glorious doctrine that the Word of God contains concerning God, Jesus Christ, the way of salvation through Him, and the world of glory He has entered and purchased for all who believe. It is not a revelation that such and such particular persons are true Christians and will go to heaven. Therefore, affections that arise from no persuasion of the truth of God's Word beyond this kind of supposed confirmation arise from delusion and not from true conviction — and are themselves delusory and empty.

Even if a person's religious affections do arise from a strong persuasion of the truth of the Christian religion, those affections are no better unless the persuasion is a reasonable one — that is, a conviction founded on real evidence and on genuinely good grounds. People may have a strong persuasion that the Christian religion is true when that persuasion is built not on evidence at all, but entirely on upbringing and the opinions of others. Many Muslims are strongly persuaded of the truth of Islam because their fathers, neighbors, and nation believe it. A belief in the truth of the Christian religion built on the very same grounds as a Muslim's belief in Islam is the same kind of belief. Even though what is believed happens to be better, that does not make the belief itself better. Though the thing believed happens to be true, the belief is not owing to its being true but to upbringing. So the conviction is no better than a Muslim's conviction, and the affections flowing from it are no better in themselves than the religious affections of Muslims.

But even if a person's belief in Christian doctrines arises not merely from upbringing but actually from reasons and arguments that are offered in its support, it does not necessarily follow from that alone that their affections are truly gracious. For that to be the case, it is necessary not only that the belief their affections arise from be reasonable, but also that it be a spiritual belief or conviction. No one will doubt that some natural people do yield a kind of assent of their judgment to the truth of the Christian religion based on rational proofs or arguments offered in its defense. Judas, without doubt, believed Jesus to be the Messiah based on what he saw and heard — and yet was a devil all along. In John 2:23-25 we read of many who believed in Christ's name when they saw the miracles He performed, and yet Christ knew that what was in them could not be depended on. Simon the Sorcerer believed when he saw the miracles and signs performed, yet remained 'in the gall of bitterness and the bondage of iniquity' (Acts 8:13, 23). And if such a belief or assent of the judgment exists in some natural people, no one can doubt that religious affections may arise from that assent — just as we read of some who believed for a while, were greatly moved, and received the word with joy.

It is clear that there is such a thing as a spiritual belief or conviction of the truth of the things of the gospel — a belief peculiar to those who are spiritual, who have been regenerated, and who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them as a vital principle through His holy influences. The conviction these people have does not differ from what natural people have merely in its accompanying qualities — that it is accompanied by good works. The belief itself is different: the assent and conviction of the mind is of a kind unique to those who are spiritual, something natural people are entirely without. This is as plain as anything in Scripture. John 17:8: 'They have believed that You sent Me.' Titus 1:1: 'According to the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.' John 16:27: 'The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.' 1 John 4:15: 'Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.' 1 John 5:1: 'Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.' Verse 10: 'The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.'

What a spiritual conviction of the mind is, we can naturally determine from what has already been said about spiritual understanding. The conviction of the mind arises from the illumination of the understanding: making a right judgment about things depends on having a right perception or idea of those things. It follows, therefore, that a spiritual conviction of the truth of the great things of the gospel is a conviction that arises from having a spiritual view or perception of those things in the mind. This is also evident from Scripture, which often teaches that a saving belief in the reality and divinity of the things set forth to us in the gospel comes from the Spirit of God enlightening the mind to perceive rightly the nature of those things — unveiling them, revealing them, enabling the mind to see them as they are. Luke 10:21-22: 'I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.' John 6:40: 'For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.' Here it is plain that true faith arises from a spiritual sight of Christ. John 17:6-8: 'I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world... Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.' Christ's manifesting God's name to the disciples — giving them a true perception and view of divine things — was the means by which they knew that Christ's doctrine was from God and that Christ Himself was from Him and sent by Him. Matthew 16:16-17: 'Simon Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."' 1 John 5:10: 'The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.' Galatians 1:14-16: 'Being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.'

If spiritual conviction of the divinity and reality of the things exhibited in the gospel is a conviction that arises from spiritual understanding of those things, then I have already shown what that is: a sense and taste of the divine, supreme, and holy excellence and beauty of those things. The mind is therefore spiritually convinced of the divinity and truth of the great things of the gospel when that conviction arises, either directly or indirectly, from such a sense or view of their divine excellence and glory as is there exhibited. This clearly follows from what has already been said, and Scripture states it plainly. 2 Corinthians 4:3-6: 'And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.' Together with the last verse of the preceding chapter, which introduces this: 'But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit' (2 Corinthians 3:18). Nothing could be more clear than that a saving belief of the gospel is here described by the apostle as arising from the mind's being enlightened to behold the divine glory of the things the gospel exhibits.

This view or sense of the divine glory and unequaled beauty of the things exhibited to us in the gospel convinces the mind of their divinity in two ways: directly, and more indirectly and remotely. First, a view of this divine glory directly convinces the mind of the divinity of these things, because this glory is itself a direct, clear, and all-conquering evidence of it — especially when it is clearly seen, or when this supernatural sense is given in any significant degree.

A person whose mind is directly convinced and assured of the divinity of the things of the gospel by a clear view of their divine glory has a reasonable conviction — his belief and assurance are altogether consistent with reason. The divine glory and beauty of divine things is itself real evidence of their divinity — the most direct and strong evidence there is. A person who truly sees the divine, transcendent, supreme glory of divine things knows their divinity intuitively, as it were. He does not merely argue that they are divine — he sees that they are divine. He sees in them the very thing in which divinity chiefly consists. For it is in this glory — so vastly and inexpressibly different from the glory of anything human or created — that the true nature of divinity most essentially lies. God is God, and is distinguished from all other beings and exalted above them, chiefly by His divine beauty, which is infinitely different from all other beauty. Those who see the stamp of this glory in divine things therefore see divinity in them — they see God in them — and so see them to be divine, because they see in them the thing that most truly defines what divinity is. In this way a soul may have a kind of intuitive knowledge of the divinity of the things exhibited in the gospel. This does not mean the soul judges the doctrines of the gospel to be from God with no argument or reasoning at all — but it is without any long chain of arguments. The argument is just one, and the evidence is direct: the mind ascends to the truth of the gospel by a single step, and that step is the divine glory.

It would be very strange for any professing Christian to deny that there could be an excellence in divine things so transcendent, so far beyond what is found in anything else, that if it were seen it would unmistakably identify them as divine. We cannot reasonably doubt that things which are divine — things that belong to the supreme Being — are vastly different from things that are human. There is a godlike, lofty, and glorious excellence in them that so distinguishes them from what comes from human beings that the difference is beyond words. Such a difference, when seen, would carry the most convincing and satisfying persuasion that these things are what they are: namely, divine. Surely there is in the divine Being a glory and excellence so infinitely distinctive that if it were seen, He could be recognized by it. It would be unreasonable, therefore, to deny that God can manifest this distinguishing excellence in the things by which He has been pleased to make Himself known, and that this distinguishing excellence can be clearly seen in those things. There are even natural excellencies that plainly reveal their subjects or authors to anyone who observes them. How different is the speech of a man of understanding from the speech of a small child! And how greatly distinguished is the speech of some men of great genius — such as Homer, Cicero, Milton, Locke, Addison, and others — from that of many other capable men! There are no limits to the degrees of mental excellence that may be manifested in speech. But the manifestation of God's natural perfections in what He reveals of Himself may surely be unspeakably more distinguishing than the appearance of those small excellencies in which creatures differ from one another. A person familiar with human works, upon viewing the sun, knows it is no human creation. And it is reasonable to suppose that when Christ comes at the end of the world in the glory of His Father, He will appear with such ineffable manifestations of divinity that the most stubborn unbelievers will have no doubt that the One appearing is a divine Person. But above all, the manifestations of the moral and spiritual glory of the divine Being — which is the true beauty of divinity — carry their own evidence and assure the heart. Thus the disciples were assured that Jesus was the Son of God, for 'we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth' (John 1:14). When Christ appeared in the glory of His transfiguration to His disciples — with the outward glory visible to their physical eyes, which was a sweet and wonderful symbol of His spiritual glory, together with the spiritual glory itself manifested to their minds — the display of glory was such as to assure them of His divinity perfectly and with good reason. This is evident from what one of them, the apostle Peter, says about it in 2 Peter 1:16-18: 'For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased" — and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.' Peter calls the mountain holy because what was manifested to their minds there — and what most impressed and overwhelmed them — was the glory of Christ's holiness, the beauty of His moral excellence: or, as another of those disciples who witnessed it expressed it, 'His glory, full of grace and truth.'

This distinguishing glory of the divine Being finds its brightest manifestation in the things set forth to us in the gospel: the doctrines taught there, the Word spoken there, and the divine counsels, acts, and works revealed there. These things contain the clearest, most remarkable, and most distinctive revelations of the glory of God's moral perfections ever made to the world. If such a distinctive and evidential display of divine glory exists in the gospel, it is reasonable to suppose that it can be seen. What would prevent it from being seen? It is no argument that it cannot be seen simply because some people do not see it — even those who are sharp in worldly matters. If there are such ineffable and distinctive evidential excellencies in the gospel, it is reasonable to suppose that they are the kind that can only be perceived by the special influence and enlightening of the Spirit of God. It takes uncommon mental capacity to discern the distinctive excellencies of the works of authors of great genius. The very things in Milton that appear flat and faulty to poor judges are, in the eyes of those with greater discernment and better taste, his unmatched excellencies. And if there is a book of which God is the author, it is most reasonable to suppose that the distinguishing glories of His Word are of a kind that the sin and corruption of human hearts — which more than anything else estranges people from God and makes the heart dull and insensible to anything in which the moral glory of the divine perfections consists — would hide from their sight. Therefore people will not see these beauties unless God is pleased to enlighten them and restore a holy taste to perceive and relish divine beauty.

This sense of the spiritual excellence and beauty of divine things also tends directly to convince the mind of the truth of the gospel, because many of the most important things declared in the gospel — hidden from the eyes of natural people — have their truth residing in, depending on, or flowing directly from this excellence. When the eyes are opened to behold the holy beauty and loveliness in divine things, a multitude of the most important doctrines of the gospel that depend on it — doctrines that all seem strange and dark to natural people — are seen to be true all at once. For example, through this sense the truth of what God's Word declares about the exceeding evil of sin becomes plain. The very eye that perceives the transcendent beauty of holiness necessarily sees, in the same act, the exceeding ugliness of sin. The same taste that relishes the sweetness of true moral good also tastes the bitterness of moral evil. Through this, a person sees his own sinfulness and wretchedness, for he now has a sense by which objects of this nature can be perceived. So he sees the truth of what God's Word declares about the exceeding sinfulness of humanity — which he did not see before. He now sees the dreadful corruption of his heart and the desperate depravity of his nature in a new way, for his soul has been given a sense by which it can feel the pain of such a disease. This shows him the truth of what Scripture reveals about the corruption of human nature, original sin, the ruined and undone condition humanity is in, the need for a Savior, and the need for the mighty power of God to renew the heart and change the nature. By seeing the true excellence of holiness, people also see the glory of all the things that both reason and Scripture show to belong to the divine Being — for it has been shown that the glory of those things depends on this. Through this sense they see the truth of all that Scripture declares about God's glorious excellence and majesty, His being the fountain of all good, and the only true happiness of the creature. This in turn shows the mind the truth of what Scripture teaches about the evil of sin against so glorious a God, the just desert of the dreadful punishment sin brings, and the impossibility of any creature offering a satisfaction or sufficient atonement for what is so infinitely evil and heinous. This again shows the truth of what Scripture reveals about the necessity of a Savior to offer an atonement of infinite value for sin. And this sense of spiritual beauty enables the soul to see the glory of what the gospel reveals about the person of Christ — to see the exceeding beauty and dignity of His person as it appears in what the gospel exhibits of His words, works, acts, and life. This perception of the surpassing dignity of His person shows the truth of what the gospel declares about the value of His blood and righteousness, and therefore the infinite excellence of the offering He has made to God for us, and its sufficiency to atone for our sins and bring us to God. In this way the Spirit of God reveals the way of salvation through Christ: the soul sees the fitness and suitableness of this way of salvation, the admirable wisdom of its design, and the perfect correspondence between the provision the gospel exhibits and our actual needs. With a sense of true divine beauty given to the soul, the soul discerns the beauty of every part of the gospel plan. This also shows the soul the truth of what God's Word declares about humanity's chief happiness — that it consists in holy exercises and enjoyments. This shows the truth of what the gospel declares about the unspeakable glory of the heavenly state. And what the Old Testament prophecies and the apostolic writings declare about the glory of the Messiah's kingdom becomes all plain — as does what Scripture teaches about the reasons and grounds of our duty. The truth of all these things revealed in Scripture, and many more that could be mentioned, appears to the soul only through the imparting of that spiritual taste of divine beauty that has been described — things that were all hidden from the soul before.

Beyond all this, the truth of everything Scripture says about experiential religion is also confirmed — because it is now experienced. This convinces the soul that the Author of the Scriptures was One who knew the human heart better than we know our own hearts, and who perfectly understood the nature of virtue and holiness. And the opening up, with such clarity, of a whole world of wonderful and glorious truth in the gospel — truth that was previously unknown and entirely beyond the view of a natural person, but now appearing clear and bright — has a powerful and irresistible influence on the soul, persuading it of the divinity of the gospel.

Unless people can arrive at a reasonable and solid persuasion and conviction of the truth of the gospel through its internal evidences — by a sight of its glory, as described — it is impossible for those who are unlearned and unfamiliar with history to have any thorough and effective conviction of it at all. Without this, they may see a great deal of probability for Christianity's truth. It may be reasonable for them to give much weight to what learned men and historians tell them, and what they are told may make the Christian religion appear very probable and credible — so much so that it would be unreasonable not to hold this opinion. But to have a conviction so clear, so evident, and so assuring as to move them to boldly sell everything — to confidently and fearlessly risk the loss of all things, to endure the most severe and prolonged torments, to trample the world underfoot, and to count all things as rubbish for Christ's sake — the evidence available from history alone is not sufficient. It is impossible for people who do not have a broad grasp of the historical record and the course of events across the ages to receive the full force of the arguments for the truth of Christianity drawn from history — enough to induce them to stake everything on it. After all that learned men have told them, countless doubts will remain in their minds. When pressed hard by some great trial of their faith, they will be ready to ask: How do I know this or that? How do I know when these historical accounts were written? Learned men tell me these accounts were well attested in their own day — but how do I know there were such attestations at the time? They tell me there is equal reason to believe these facts as any other facts reported from such a distance — but how do I know that other facts reported from those periods ever occurred? Those who do not have a broad view of the course of historical events and the condition of humanity through the ages cannot clearly see the historical evidence for the truth of events in distant eras — endless doubts and uncertainties will remain.

But the gospel was not given only for learned people. At least nineteen out of twenty — if not ninety-nine out of a hundred — of those for whom the Scriptures were written are not capable of any certain or effective conviction of the divine authority of Scripture through the kinds of arguments that learned men employ. If those who have been raised in paganism must wait for a clear and certain conviction of the truth of Christianity until they have enough learning and acquaintance with history to clearly grasp the force of such arguments, it will make the evidence of the gospel immensely difficult for them to access and will make the spread of the gospel among them infinitely difficult. Miserable would be the condition of those in the nations and others who have recently expressed a desire to be instructed in Christianity, if they could come to no evidence of the truth of Christianity sufficient to move them to sell all for Christ in any other way than this.

It is unreasonable to suppose that God has provided for His people no more than probable evidences of the truth of the gospel. He has with great care abundantly provided and given them the most convincing, assuring, satisfying, and comprehensive evidence of His faithfulness in the covenant of grace — having, as David says, 'made a covenant, ordered in all things and sure.' It is therefore reasonable to suppose that He would at the same time ensure that equally great and clear evidence exists that this is His covenant and these are His promises — or, which is the same thing, that the Christian religion is true and the gospel is His Word. Otherwise, the great assurances He has given of His faithfulness in the covenant — confirmed by His oath and variously established by seals and pledges — would be empty. For the evidence that the covenant is His is the very foundation on which all the force and effect of those other assurances rest. We may therefore conclude without doubt that God has given some kind of evidence that this covenant and these promises are His — evidence that goes beyond mere probability. He has provided grounds of assurance that, if we are not blind to them, produce a higher persuasion than any argument from history, human tradition, or similar sources — grounds accessible even to those unlearned and unfamiliar with history. This evidence provides good grounds for the highest and most complete assurance that human beings can have in any matter — consistent with the strong expressions the apostle uses in Hebrews 10:22: 'Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.' And Colossians 2:2: 'That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself.' It is reasonable to suppose that God would give the greatest evidence for things that are greatest and whose truth is most important to us — things of which we would most earnestly desire complete, unwavering, and perfect assurance if we are wise and acting rationally. But it is certain that such assurance cannot be attained, for the majority of those who live under the gospel, through arguments drawn from ancient traditions, historical records, and monuments.

And when we look at actual fact and experience, there is not the slightest reason to suppose that even one in a hundred sincere Christians who have given their all for Christ came to their conviction of the truth of the gospel this way — through historical arguments. Consider the many thousands who died as martyrs for Christ since the beginning of the Reformation, cheerfully enduring extreme torments out of confidence in the truth of the gospel. When we consider their circumstances and backgrounds, how few of them could we reasonably suppose ever came to their assured persuasion through such arguments — or for whom it would even have been possible to receive so full and strong an assurance through them! Many of them were women and children, and the greater part were ordinary people who could not read. Many had been raised in Catholic ignorance and darkness and had only recently come out of it. They lived and died in times when the arguments for the truth of Christianity from antiquity and history had been very incompletely developed. And in fact, it was only very recently that these arguments have been set forth in a clear and convincing light, even by learned men. Since that has been done, there have never been fewer genuine believers among those educated in the true religion. Unbelief has never been as widespread in any age as it is now — the very age in which these arguments are handled to their greatest advantage.

The true martyrs of Jesus Christ are not those who have simply held a strong opinion that the gospel of Christ is true, but those who have seen its truth — as the very name 'martyrs' or 'witnesses,' by which they are called in Scripture, implies. It is quite improper to call witnesses of the truth of something those who merely declare that they are very much of the opinion that it is true. Only those are proper witnesses who can and do testify that they have seen the truth of what they assert. As John 3:11 says: 'We speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen.' John 1:34: 'I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.' 1 John 4:14: 'We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.' Acts 22:14-15: 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.' The true martyrs of Jesus Christ are called His witnesses, and all the saints who by holy practice under great trials declare the faith that 'is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen' are called witnesses (Hebrews 11:1 and 12:1). This is because by their profession and practice they declare their assurance of the truth and divinity of the gospel, having had the eyes of their minds opened to see divinity in the gospel — to behold that unparalleled, ineffably excellent, and truly divine glory shining in it, which is altogether distinctive, evidential, and convincing. They may therefore truly be said to have seen God in it and to have seen that it is indeed divine, and so can speak as witnesses do — not merely saying that they think the gospel is divine, but saying that it is divine, giving it in as their testimony because they have seen it to be so. Doubtless Peter, James, and John, after they had seen the excellent glory of Christ on the mountain, would have been ready, when they came down, to speak as witnesses — positively declaring that Jesus is the Son of God, as Peter says they were eyewitnesses (2 Peter 1:16). And so all nations will be ready to declare this positively when they behold His glory at the day of judgment — though what will be universally seen then will be only His natural glory, not His moral and spiritual glory, which is far more distinctively evidential. It must be noted, however, that among those who have a spiritual sight of the divine glory of the gospel there is a great variety in the degree of strength of faith, corresponding to a great variety in the degree of clearness of their views of this glory. Yet there is no true and saving faith, no spiritual conviction of the truth of the gospel, that has nothing at all of this manifestation of its internal evidence in some degree. The gospel of the blessed God does not go about begging for its evidence as much as some think — it has its highest and most proper evidence within itself. External arguments are not to be neglected — they are to be highly prized and valued, for they may be greatly useful in awakening unbelievers, bringing them to serious reflection, and confirming the faith of true saints. Indeed they may, in some respects, contribute to the producing of a saving faith in people. Yet what was said before remains true: there is no spiritual conviction of the mind except what arises from a perception of the spiritual beauty and glory of divine things. For, as has been observed, this perception or view tends to convince the mind of the truth of the gospel in two ways — directly and indirectly. Having already described how it does so directly, I now proceed

Second, to observe how a view of this divine glory convinces the mind of the truth of Christianity more indirectly.

First, it does so by removing the prejudices of the heart against the truth of divine things, so that the mind becomes open to the force of reasons offered in their support. The human mind is naturally full of hostility toward the doctrines of the gospel, which weakens the effect of the arguments that prove their truth and causes those arguments to lose their force. But when a person has the divine excellence of Christian doctrines revealed to him, this destroys that hostility, removes the prejudices, purifies the reason, and causes it to become open and free. Hence there is a vast difference in the force that arguments have to persuade the mind. This explains the very different effect that Christ's miracles had in convincing the disciples compared to the scribes and Pharisees. The disciples did not have stronger reason or better developed intellects than the scribes and Pharisees — but their reason was purified, and the blinding prejudices under which the scribes and Pharisees labored were removed, by the sense they had of the excellence of Christ and His teaching.

Second, a sense of divine glory not only removes the hindrances of reason but positively strengthens it. It makes even speculative ideas more vivid. It focuses and engages the attention of the mind on these kinds of objects, causing it to perceive them more clearly and to see their mutual relationships more distinctly. The ideas themselves, which would otherwise be dim and obscure, have a light cast upon them by this means, and are impressed with greater force. The mind can therefore judge them more accurately — as a person who views objects on the face of the earth in the full light of the sun is in a far better position to discern them in their true forms, see their relationships, and observe the evidence of divine wisdom in their design, than someone viewing them in the dim light of stars or in twilight.

What has been said may help to some degree to explain the nature of a spiritual conviction of the truth and reality of divine things, and so to distinguish truly gracious affections from others — for gracious affections are always attended by such a conviction of the mind.

Before I leave this subject, however, it will be necessary to identify certain ways in which people are deceived on this point, and to note several things that are sometimes taken for a spiritual and saving belief in the truth of religion but are in fact something very different.

First, there is a degree of conviction of the truth of the great things of religion that arises from the common enlightening work of the Spirit of God. The more lively and vivid perception of the natural aspects of religion that people have when they are under convictions and common illuminations will produce some degree of conviction of the truth of divine things beyond what they had before they were thus enlightened. Through this they see manifestations of God's natural perfections — such as His greatness, power, and awesome majesty — in the revelation made in the Holy Scriptures, and this tends to convince the mind that this is the word of a great and terrible God. From the tokens of God's greatness and majesty in His word and works, of which they have a powerful sense through the common influence of the Spirit, they may have a much stronger conviction that these are indeed the word and works of a great invisible Being. The vivid sense of God's greatness that natural people may have tends to make them feel the great guilt that sin against such a God brings, and the dreadfulness of His wrath for sin. This tends to make them more readily and fully believe what Scripture reveals about another world and the extreme misery it threatens to bring upon sinners. And from the sense of the great natural good there is in the things of religion — which is sometimes given in common illuminations — people may be further persuaded of the truth of religion. Yet people may have all of this and still have no sense of the beauty and loveliness of the moral and holy excellence that is in the things of religion, and therefore no spiritual conviction of their truth. But such convictions are sometimes mistaken for saving convictions, and the affections flowing from them for saving affections.

Second, the extraordinary impressions made on the imaginations of some people — through visions, strong sudden impulses, and suggestions that come to them as though they were seeing sights or hearing words spoken to them — may produce, and often do produce, a strong persuasion of the truth of invisible things. Though the general tendency of such things, in their final effect, is to draw people away from the Word of God, to cause them to reject the gospel, and to promote unbelief and atheism — yet for the moment they may produce, and often do produce, a confident persuasion of the truth of some things revealed in Scripture. However, their confidence is founded on delusion and is therefore worthless. For example: if an invisible agent suddenly and powerfully impresses on a person's imagination the appearance of a brilliant light and the glorious form of a person seated on a throne with great outward majesty and beauty, uttering remarkable words with force and energy — that person may conclude from this experience that invisible, spiritual beings exist, since he knows he had no hand in producing this extraordinary experience himself. He may also be confident that this was Christ whom he saw and heard speaking, and this may make him confident that there is a Christ, that Christ reigns on a throne in heaven as he saw, and that the words he heard spoken are true. In the same way, the false miracles of Roman Catholicism may, for the moment, produce in the minds of ignorant and deceived people a strong persuasion of the truth of many things declared in the New Testament. When images of Christ in Catholic churches are by priestly deception made to appear before the people as though weeping, shedding fresh blood, moving, or speaking certain words — the people may truly believe that Christ Himself has worked a miracle. From this they may be confident that there is a Christ, that what they have been told about His death, sufferings, resurrection, ascension, and present rule of the world is true — since they may regard this miracle as certain evidence and something like visible proof of all these things. This may be the immediate effect of these lying wonders, even though their ultimate tendency is not to confirm that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh but rather to promote atheism. Even the dealings that Satan has with witches, and their repeated experiences of his immediate power, tend to convince them of the truth of some religious doctrines — in particular, the reality of an invisible world or realm of spirits, contrary to what the Sadducees taught. Satan's general tendency is toward delusion — but he may mix some truth with his lies so that his lies are not so easily discovered.

There are multitudes of people who are deceived by a counterfeit faith based on impressions made on their imagination in the way just described. They say they know there is a God because they have seen Him. They know that Christ is the Son of God because they have seen Him in His glory. They know that Christ died for sinners because they have seen Him hanging on the cross with His blood flowing from His wounds. They know there is a heaven and a hell because they have seen the misery of lost souls in hell and the glory of saints and angels in heaven — meaning certain outward representations strongly impressed on their imagination. They know that the Scriptures are the Word of God and that such and such particular promises are His word because they have heard Him speak them — those words came to their minds suddenly and directly from God without any effort of their own.

Third, people may seem to have their belief in the truth of religious things greatly strengthened when the real basis of it is only a persuasion they have received that they personally have an interest in those things. They first, by some means or another, become confident that if there is a Christ and a heaven, those belong to them — and this self-interested conviction biases them in favor of believing those things are true. When they hear of the great and glorious things of religion, they hear with the assumption that all these things belong to them personally, and so they readily become confident that these things are real. It is very obvious how powerfully a person's self-interest and inclinations influence their judgments. As long as a natural person thinks that if there is a heaven and hell, the latter and not the former belongs to him — he will be very reluctant to believe in either one. But once he becomes persuaded that hell belongs only to other people and not to him, he can easily grant the reality of hell and criticize others for their senselessness in neglecting to escape it. And being confident that he is a child of God and that God has promised heaven to him, he may appear strong in his belief in the reality of heaven, and may have great zeal against the unbelief that denies it.

But I now move on to another distinguishing mark of gracious affections.

Sixth distinguishing sign: gracious affections are attended with evangelical humiliation.

Evangelical humiliation is a sense that a Christian has of his own utter insufficiency, wretchedness, and odiousness, accompanied by an appropriate disposition of heart.

There is a distinction to be made between legal humiliation and evangelical humiliation. Legal humiliation is something people may experience while still in a state of nature, with no gracious affections — it is produced by the common influence of the Spirit of God assisting natural principles, especially natural conscience. Evangelical humiliation is unique to true saints — it is produced by the special influences of the Spirit of God implanting and exercising supernatural and divine principles. Legal humiliation comes from the mind being assisted to a greater sense of the natural properties of religious things — particularly the natural perfections of God, such as His greatness and terrible majesty, which were displayed to the congregation of Israel at Mount Sinai when the law was given. Evangelical humiliation comes from a sense of the transcendent beauty of divine things in their moral qualities. In legal humiliation, a sense of God's awesome greatness and natural perfections, and of the strictness of His law, convinces people that they are exceedingly sinful, guilty, and exposed to God's wrath — as it will convince wicked people and demons at the day of judgment. But they do not see their own odiousness on account of sin — they do not see the hateful nature of sin itself. This sense is given in evangelical humiliation, through a discovery of the beauty of God's holiness and moral perfection. In legal humiliation, people are made to feel that they are nothing before the great and terrible God, that they are undone, and entirely unable to help themselves — as wicked people will feel at the day of judgment. But they do not have the corresponding disposition of heart that consists in a willingness to humble themselves and to exalt God alone. This disposition is given only in evangelical humiliation, when the heart is overcome and its inclination changed by a discovery of God's holy beauty. In legal humiliation the conscience is convinced — as the consciences of all will be most perfectly convinced at the day of judgment — but because there is no spiritual understanding, the will is not bent nor the inclination changed. This is done only in evangelical humiliation. In legal humiliation people are brought to despair of helping themselves; in evangelical humiliation they are brought to willingly deny and renounce themselves. In the former they are subdued and forced to the ground; in the latter they are sweetly moved to yield, and freely and joyfully to prostrate themselves at the feet of God.

Legal humiliation contains no spiritual good, nothing of the nature of true virtue. Evangelical humiliation, by contrast, is that in which the excellent beauty of Christian grace very much consists. Legal humiliation is useful as a means toward evangelical humiliation, just as a common knowledge of religious things is a necessary means toward spiritual knowledge. People may be legally humbled and yet have no humility — just as the wicked at the day of judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no righteousness, that they are altogether sinful and exceedingly guilty and justly exposed to eternal damnation, and will be fully aware of their own helplessness, without the slightest mortification of the pride of their hearts. The essence of evangelical humiliation consists in the kind of humility that befits a creature who is in itself exceedingly sinful, under a dispensation of grace. It consists in a low view of oneself — as in oneself nothing, utterly contemptible and odious — accompanied by a mortification of the desire to exalt oneself, and a free giving up of one's own glory.

This is one of the most essential things in true religion. The entire structure of the gospel, everything belonging to the new covenant, and all of God's dealings with fallen humanity are designed to bring about this effect in the hearts of people. Those who lack this have no true religion, whatever profession they may make and however high their religious affections may be. Habakkuk 2:4: 'Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith' — that is, he will live by faith in God's righteousness and grace, not in his own goodness and excellence. God has abundantly made clear in His Word that this is what He especially looks for in His saints, and that nothing is acceptable to Him without it. Psalm 34:18: 'The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.' Psalm 51:17: 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.' Psalm 138:6: 'Though the Lord is exalted, yet He regards the lowly.' Proverbs 3:34: 'He gives grace to the afflicted.' Isaiah 57:15: 'For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."' Isaiah 66:1-2: 'Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool... But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word."' Micah 6:8: 'He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?' Matthew 5:3: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Matthew 18:3-4: 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.' Mark 10:15: 'Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.' The centurion described in Luke 7 acknowledged that he was not worthy to have Christ enter under his roof and that he was not worthy to come to Him himself. See also the manner in which the sinful woman came to Christ in Luke 7:37: 'And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head.' She did not think the hair of her head — which is the natural crown and glory of a woman (1 Corinthians 11:15) — too fine to use to wipe the feet of Christ. Jesus graciously accepted her and said, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace.' The Canaanite woman submitted to Christ when He said, 'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs,' and in doing so she as good as acknowledged she was worthy to be called a dog — whereupon Christ said to her, 'O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish' (Matthew 15:26-27). The prodigal son said, 'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men"' (Luke 15:18). See also Luke 18:9: 'And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt... The tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.' Matthew 28:9: 'And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.' Colossians 3:12: 'So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of... humility.' Ezekiel 20:41, 43: 'As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples... There you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done.' Ezekiel 36:26-27, 31: 'Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you... I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes... Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.' Ezekiel 16:63: 'So that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,' the Lord declares. Job 42:6: 'Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.'

Since we would make the Holy Scriptures our rule in judging the nature of true religion and our own religious condition and standing, we are greatly concerned to regard this humiliation as one of the most essential things belonging to true Christianity. It is the principal part of the great Christian duty of self-denial. That duty consists of two things: first, denying worldly inclinations and forsaking and renouncing worldly objects and pleasures; and second, denying the natural impulse toward self-exaltation, renouncing one's own dignity and glory, and being emptied of oneself — so that a person freely and from his very heart, as it were, renounces himself and counts himself as nothing. This is what the Christian does in evangelical humiliation. The second of these is the greater and more difficult part of self-denial. Though the two always go together and one is never truly present where the other is absent, natural people can come far nearer to the first than to the second. Many hermits and recluses have abandoned — though without any true mortification — the wealth, pleasures, and common enjoyments of the world, while being far from renouncing their own dignity and righteousness. They never denied themselves for Christ — they only traded one lust to feed another, selling a fleshly lust to indulge a spiritual and prideful one. So they were never better off, and their latter end was worse than their beginning. They drove out one black devil to let in seven white ones that were worse than the first, though with a fairer face. It is almost beyond words how powerful the self-righteous, self-exalting disposition is in human nature by nature — and what a person will do and endure to feed and gratify it. Consider the lengths to which the Essenes and Pharisees among the Jews went in apparent self-denial, as did Catholics, many sects of heretics and enthusiasts among professing Christians, many Muslims, Pythagorean philosophers, and others among the pagans — all of it a sacrifice offered to the Moloch of spiritual pride and self-righteousness, all so that they might have something in which to exalt themselves before God and above their fellow creatures.

This humiliation is precisely what all the most impressive hypocrites — those who make the most splendid show of mortification to the world and high religious affection — utterly fail in. Were it not that Scripture insists on this so strongly as one of the most essential marks of true grace, one would almost be tempted to think that some of the pagan philosophers were truly gracious — given how bright an appearance of many virtues they displayed, along with great illuminations and inward fervor and elevation of mind, as though they were truly subjects of divine influence and heavenly communications.

It is true that many hypocrites make great pretenses to humility, as they do to other graces — and very often there is nothing they profess more highly. They work hard to display a great show of humility in their speech and behavior, but they generally make a poor job of it — though it looks glorious in their own eyes. They cannot figure out what humble speech and behavior actually is, or how to speak and act so that there is a genuine flavor of Christian humility in what they say and do. That sweet humble bearing and manner is beyond their art, since they are not led by the Spirit or naturally guided to behavior fitting holy humility by the energy of a lowly spirit within them. Therefore many of them have no other recourse but to frequently declare that they are humble — telling how they were humbled to the dust at such and such times, and using very self-deprecating expressions about themselves, such as: 'I am the least of all the saints,' 'I am a poor, vile creature,' 'I am not worthy of the least mercy or that God should look upon me,' 'Oh, I have a dreadfully wicked heart — my heart is worse than the devil's — oh, this cursed heart of mine.' Such expressions are very often used not with a broken heart, not with spiritual mourning, not with the tears of her who washed Jesus's feet — not 'remembering and being ashamed and never opening one's mouth again because of one's shame, when God is pacified' as the expression is in Ezekiel 16:63. Instead they are used with a light manner, with smiles on the face, or with a Pharisaical display. We are expected to accept that these people are humble and making themselves vile simply on their own say-so — since there is nothing apparent in their manner of conduct or actions that has any flavor of humility. Many who are full of expressions of their own vileness still expect others to regard them as eminent and exceptional saints, as their due. It is dangerous for anyone so much as to hint the contrary or to treat them in any way other than as though they were among the foremost of Christians. Many who loudly bemoan their wicked hearts, their great shortcomings, their uselessness, and who speak as though they consider themselves the least of the saints — if a minister should seriously speak the same things to them privately, saying he feared they were very low and weak Christians and thought they had good reason to soberly examine their great defects and failings and how far they fall short of many others — would not be able to bear it. They would feel themselves greatly wronged, and there would be a real danger of a deep-seated prejudice against such a minister taking root in them.

There are some who talk extensively against legalistic doctrines, legalistic preaching, and a legalistic spirit, who have little understanding of what they are talking against. A legalistic spirit is a far more subtle thing than they imagine — it is too subtle for them. It lurks and operates and prevails in their hearts, and they are most notoriously guilty of it at the very same time they are denouncing it. So far as a person is not emptied of himself and of his own righteousness and goodness in any form or shape, he is of a legalistic spirit. Pride in one's own righteousness, morality, holiness, affections, experiences, faith, humility, or any goodness whatsoever is a legalistic spirit. It was no pride in Adam before the fall to have a legalistic orientation, because his circumstances were such that he could seek acceptance through his own righteousness. But a legalistic spirit in a fallen sinful creature can be nothing other than spiritual pride — and conversely, a spiritually proud spirit is a legalistic spirit. There is no person living who is puffed up with pride in his own experiences and discoveries, and who shines in his own eyes on account of them, who does not actually trust in those experiences and make a righteousness out of them. However humble his language may be — speaking of his experiences as 'the great things God has done for me' and perhaps calling on others to glorify God for them — a person who is proud of his experiences is claiming something as his own, as though his experiences were a kind of personal distinction. And if he looks on them as his own distinction, he necessarily thinks God looks on them the same way — for he necessarily believes his own view of them to be correct, and therefore judges that God's view matches his. He inevitably imagines that God regards his experiences as a mark of distinction in him, just as he himself does — that he shines in God's eyes as he does in his own. And so he trusts in something that is inherent in him to make him shine in God's sight and commend him to God. With this confidence he goes before God in prayer; this leads him to expect much from God; this makes him think that Christ loves him and is willing to clothe him with His righteousness, because he supposes that Christ is pleased with his experiences and graces. This is a high degree of living on his own righteousness — and such persons are on the high road to hell. Poor deluded wretches, who think they shine so brightly in God's eyes, when they are a smoke in His nostrils — and many of them are more offensive to Him than the most morally corrupt person who makes no pretense to religion at all! This is what it truly means to live on one's experiences — as opposed to those who only use their spiritual experiences as evidence of a state of grace, and in that way receive hope and comfort from them.

There is a kind of person who loudly denounces works and exalts faith in opposition to works, who sets himself up as a truly gospel-centered person in contrast to those of a legalistic spirit, and who makes a fair show of advancing Christ and the gospel and the way of free grace — and yet who is in fact one of the greatest enemies of the gospel way of free grace and one of the most dangerous opponents of pure, humble Christianity.

There is a pretended great humiliation, a supposed deadness to the law and emptying of self, which is in reality one of the most inflated and self-exalting things in the world. Some people have made a great profession of experiencing a thorough work of the law in their hearts and of being fully freed from dependence on works — yet their conduct has displayed a more self-righteous spirit than anything I have ever had occasion to observe. Some who think themselves completely emptied of self, and are confident they are humbled in the dust, are as full as they can be with pride in their own humility and are lifted up to heaven with an exalted opinion of their abasement. Their humility is a swelling, conceited, confident, showy, noisy, presumptuous humility. It seems to be the nature of spiritual pride to make people vain about and eager to display their humility. This is evident in that firstborn of pride among humanity — the one who would be called His Holiness, the man of sin, who exalts himself above all that is called God or worshiped. He styles himself Servant of Servants, and to make a show of humility, washes the feet of a group of poor men at his inauguration.

For a person to be truly emptied of himself, to be poor in spirit, and broken in heart, is quite another thing — with quite different effects — than many people imagine. It is astonishing how greatly many are deceived about themselves in this matter, imagining themselves most humble when they are most proud, and when their behavior is in fact the most arrogant. The deceitfulness of the human heart appears in nothing so clearly as in spiritual pride and self-righteousness. The subtlety of Satan reaches its height in how he manages people with respect to this sin. Perhaps one reason for this is that here he has the most experience — he knows how it comes in, he is familiar with its secret springs, for it was his own sin. Experience gives a vast advantage in leading souls, whether in good or evil.

Though spiritual pride is so subtle and concealed a sin, and commonly appears under the guise of great humility, there are two things by which it may — perhaps universally and certainly — be detected and identified.

The first sign of spiritual pride is this: a person under the influence of this condition tends to think highly of his own religious attainments in comparison to others. He naturally falls into thinking of himself as an eminent saint — as one who stands very high among God's people and has unusually clear and great spiritual experiences. That is the secret language of his heart. Luke 18:11: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people.' Isaiah 65:5: 'I am holier than you.' Such people are inclined to push themselves forward among God's people and to assume a leading position as though it naturally and unquestionably belonged to them. They naturally do what Christ forbids in Luke 14:7 — they take the highest room. They do this by assuming the role of guides and directors: they are confident they are 'a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature' (Romans 2:19-20). It is natural for them to take for granted that teaching and leading in religious matters belongs to them, and so they love to be called 'Rabbi' — that is, Teacher — by others, just as the Pharisees did (Matthew 23:6). They expect others to look up to them and defer to them as authorities in religious matters.

But the person whose heart is under the power of Christian humility has an opposite disposition. If the Scriptures are to be trusted at all, such a person tends to think his own religious attainments relatively low and to consider himself among the lesser saints. Humility — true lowliness of mind — disposes people to think others better than themselves. As Philippians 2:3 says: 'With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.' Therefore humble people are inclined to think the lowest place belongs to them, and their inward disposition naturally leads them to obey the Savior's instruction in Luke 14:10. It does not come naturally to them to take on the role of teacher. On the contrary, they are disposed to think they are not the right person for it and that others are better suited — as was the case with Moses and Jeremiah (Exodus 3:11; Jeremiah 1:6), even though they were eminent saints of great knowledge. It is not natural for them to think that teaching belongs to them — rather, they think they should be taught. They are far more eager to listen and receive instruction from others than to speak to others. As James 1:19 says: 'Be quick to hear, slow to speak.' And when they do speak, it is not natural for them to speak with a bold and commanding manner — humility inclines them rather to speak with reserve. As Hosea 13:1 says: 'When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel.' They do not naturally assume authority or take on the role of chief directors and leaders — but are rather inclined to be subject to others. James 3:1-2: 'Let not many of you become teachers.' 1 Peter 5:5: 'All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.' Ephesians 5:21: 'Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.'

Some people's experiences naturally incline them to think highly of their experiences, and they often speak of their experiences as very great and extraordinary — freely talking about 'the great things they have encountered.' This may be said and meant in a good sense. In one sense, every degree of saving mercy is a great thing: it is indeed great — infinitely great — for God to bestow even the smallest crumb of the children's bread on such dogs as we are by nature. And the more humble a person is who hopes God has granted such mercy to him, the more inclined he will be to call it 'a great thing he has encountered' in this sense. But if by 'great things they have experienced' they mean comparatively great spiritual experiences — greater than others' experiences, beyond what is ordinary — which is evidently often the case, then to say 'I have encountered great things' is the same as saying 'I am an eminent saint with more grace than ordinary.' For to have great experiences, if the experiences are true and worth speaking of, is the same as having great grace. There is no true experience except the exercise of grace, and the degree of true experience corresponds exactly to the degree of grace and holiness. People who speak this way about their experiences, when they give an account of them, expect that others will admire them. They do not regard this kind of talk about their experiences as boasting, nor do they see it as a sign of pride — because, they say, they know it was not they who did it; it was free grace; these are the great things God has done for them; they are merely acknowledging the great mercy God has shown them and not making light of it. But this is exactly how the Pharisee in Luke 18 behaved: he gave God the credit in words for making him different from other men — 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people,' he said. The fact that they verbally ascribe to the grace of God the reason they are holier than other saints does not cancel out their eagerness to think so highly of their own holiness — it is in itself certain evidence of the pride and vanity of their minds. If they were under the influence of a humble spirit, their religious attainments would not shine so brightly in their own eyes, and they would not spend so much time admiring their own beauty. The Christians who are truly the most eminent saints — and therefore have the most excellent experiences — 'humble themselves as a little child' (Matthew 18:4). They look on themselves as mere children in grace, their attainments as the attainments of babes in Christ, and they are astonished and ashamed at how little they love, how little they are thankful, and how small their knowledge of God is. When Moses had been speaking with God on the mountain and his face shone so brightly that it dazzled others' eyes, 'he did not know that his face was shining.' Some people go by the name of 'high professors,' and some even own the label for themselves — but the eminently humble saints who will shine most brightly in heaven are not at all inclined to make such high professions. I do not believe that any eminent saint in the world is a 'high professor.' Such a saint is far more likely to profess himself the least of all saints and to think that every other saint's attainments and experiences are higher than his.

Such is the nature of true grace and spiritual light that they naturally incline the saints in their present state to see their grace and goodness as small and their remaining sinfulness as great. Those who have the most grace and spiritual light of anyone in this world have the most of this disposition. This will be abundantly clear to anyone who soberly and carefully weighs the nature and reason of things and considers what follows.

Grace and holiness are rightly called small when they are small in comparison to what they ought to be. And this is exactly how they appear to a truly gracious person — for such a person keeps his eye on the standard of his duty. Conformity to that standard is what he aims at; it is what his soul strains and reaches after; it is by that standard that he evaluates and judges what he does and what he has. To a gracious soul — especially to one who is eminently gracious — holiness that is far less than it ought to be appears small. If his holiness appears to him to be at a vast distance from the standard, it naturally appears contemptible in his eyes and not worthy of being mentioned as any beauty or loveliness in him. This is similar to how a hungry person naturally regards the food set before him as a small amount — a little thing not worth mentioning — when it is nothing compared to his appetite. Or like the child of a great king who is jealous for his father's honor: observing the respect people show his father, he naturally sees even that honor and respect as very little and not worth remarking on, when it is nothing compared to what the dignity of his father deserves.

True grace and spiritual light open to a person's view the infinite reason he has to be holy in the highest degree. The more grace he has, the more clearly this is seen. He gains a greater sense of the infinite excellence and glory of the divine Being, of the infinite dignity of the person of Christ, and of the boundless length and breadth and depth and height of Christ's love to sinners. As grace increases, the field opens more and more to a wider and more distant view, until the soul is overwhelmed by the vastness of the object. The person is astonished to think how much he ought to love this God and this glorious Redeemer who has so loved sinful humanity — and how little he actually does. And so the more he perceives, the more strikingly small his grace and love appear. He is therefore all the more ready to think that others must surpass him. Marveling at the smallness of his own grace, he can scarcely believe that such a strange thing happens to other saints as well. It seems inconceivable to him that someone who is truly a child of God and has actually received the saving benefits of Christ's unspeakable love should love so little. He tends to regard it as a peculiarity of his own case — a strange and exceptional instance — because he sees only the outside of other Christians but he sees his own inside.

The reader may raise an objection here: love to God genuinely increases in proportion to the knowledge of God — so how could an increase of knowledge in a saint make his love appear smaller in comparison to what is known? The answer is this: although grace and love to God in the saints do correspond to the degree of knowledge or sight of God, they are not proportional to the object as it is seen and known. When something of God is opened to the soul's sight, the soul is convinced of far more than is actually seen. What is seen is wonderful, and that sight carries with it a strong conviction of something vastly beyond that is not yet directly seen. So at the same moment, the soul is astonished both at how little it knows and at how little it loves. Just as in a spiritual view the soul is convinced of infinitely more in the object that still lies beyond its sight, so it is also convinced of how much more the soul is capable of knowing if the clouds and darkness were removed. This causes the soul, even in the enjoyment of a spiritual view, to deeply lament its spiritual ignorance and lack of love, and to long and reach after more knowledge and more love.

The grace and love of God in the most eminent saints in this world is truly very small compared to what it ought to be. The highest love that anyone attains to in this life is poor, cold, exceedingly low, and not worthy of mention in comparison to what our obligations appear to require — when we consider two things together. First: the reason God has given us to love Him, in the manifestations He has made of His infinite glory in His Word and works, and particularly in the gospel of His Son and what He has done for sinful humanity through Him. Second: the capacity of the human soul — through the intellectual faculties God has given it — to see and understand the reasons God has given us to love Him. How small indeed is the love of the most eminent saint on earth in comparison to what these two things together require! Grace tends to make people aware of this — especially eminent grace — for grace is of the nature of light and brings truth into view. Therefore the person who has much grace perceives far more clearly than others how high his love ought to rise, and he sees far better than others how little of the way he has come toward that height. Measuring his love against the full height of his duty, it therefore appears to him astonishingly small and low.

The eminent saint, with such a conviction of how greatly he ought to love God, is shown not only the smallness of his grace but the greatness of his remaining corruption. To judge how much corruption or sin remains in us, we must measure by the height to which the standard of our duty extends. The whole of the distance we fall short of that height is sin — for falling short of duty is sin, otherwise our duty is not really our duty. The more we fall short of our duty, the more sin we have. Sin is simply the disagreement of a moral agent with the law or rule of his duty. The degree of sin is therefore to be judged by the rule: as much disagreement with the rule, so much sin, whether it is a matter of deficiency or excess. Therefore, if in their love to God people do not come even halfway to the height that duty requires, they have more corruption in their hearts than grace — because there is more goodness missing than is present, and everything that is missing is sin. This is a shameful deficiency, and it appears so to the saints — especially to eminent saints. It appears exceedingly shameful to them that Christ should be loved so little and thanked so little for His dying love. In their eyes it is hateful ingratitude.

Increasing grace also tends in another way to cause the saints to see their deformity as vastly greater than their goodness. It not only tends to convince them that their corruption is much greater than their goodness — which is indeed the case — but it also tends to make the ugliness of even the smallest sin, or the smallest degree of corruption, appear so great as to vastly outweigh all the beauty found in their highest holiness. For this too is indeed the case. The smallest sin against an infinite God carries infinite ugliness and hatefulness in it, but the highest degree of holiness in a creature does not carry infinite loveliness. Therefore its loveliness is nothing in comparison to the ugliness of the smallest sin. That every sin has infinite ugliness and hatefulness in it is clearly demonstrable, because the evil, wrongness, and hatefulness of sin consists in violating an obligation — being or doing contrary to what we should be or do, contrary to what we are obligated to. Therefore the greater the obligation that is violated, the greater the wrongness and hatefulness of the violation. Our obligation to love and honor any being is surely proportional to that being's loveliness and worthiness to be loved and honored by us — these are the same thing. We are surely under greater obligation to love a more lovely being than a less lovely one. And if a being is infinitely lovely and worthy of our love, then our obligations to love Him are infinitely great — and therefore whatever is contrary to this love contains infinite wrongness, ugliness, and unworthiness. On the other hand, with respect to our holiness or love to God, there is no infinite worth in it. The sin of the creature against God is guilty and hateful in proportion to the distance between God and the creature — the greatness of the one sinned against and the smallness and inferiority of the sinner make the sin worse. But the opposite is true regarding the worth of the creature's reverence toward God: it is worthless, and not worth much, in proportion to the smallness of the subject. The greater the distance between God and the creature, the less worthy the creature's response is of God's notice or regard. The greater degree of superiority increases the obligation on the inferior to honor the superior, and therefore makes the lack of honor more hateful. But the great degree of inferiority diminishes the worth of the inferior's response, because the more inferior he is, the less worth he has, and the less he can offer — for he can offer no more than himself in offering his best love and reverence. Therefore as he is small and of little worth, so is his response of little worth. The more a person has of true grace and spiritual light, the more things appear to him this way. He appears to himself infinitely ugly because of sin, and the goodness found in his grace and experiences appears ever smaller in proportion. For indeed it is nothing compared to the infinite — it is less than a drop compared to the ocean, for the finite bears no proportion at all to the infinite. But the more a person has of spiritual light, the more things appear to him as they truly are. Hence it is abundantly clear that true grace is of such a nature that the more a person has of it — alongside remaining corruption — the less does his goodness and holiness appear in proportion to his ugliness: not only to his past ugliness, but to his present ugliness, in the sin that now appears in his heart and in the shameful deficiencies of his highest affections and brightest experiences.

The nature of many high religious affections and supposed great discoveries in many people I have known is to hide and cover over the corruption of their hearts — to make it seem to them as if all their sin were gone, leaving them with no complaints of any hateful evil remaining. This is a sure and certain evidence that their supposed discoveries are darkness and not light. It is darkness that hides a person's corruption and deformity, but light let into the heart exposes it — searching it out in its secret corners and bringing it plainly into view, especially that penetrating, all-searching light of God's holiness and glory. It is true that saving discoveries may for the moment hide corruption in one sense: they restrain its outward active expressions, such as malice, envy, greed, lust, and complaining. But they bring corruption to light in what is missing — there is not more love, not more humility, not more thankfulness. These deficiencies appear most hateful in the eyes of those who are most actively exercising grace, and they are very burdensome, causing the saints to cry out over their spiritual barrenness and their odious pride and ingratitude. And whatever outward expressions of corruption arise at any time and mix themselves with eminent acts of grace, grace will greatly magnify the view of them and make their appearance far more horrible and grievous.

The more eminent the saints are, and the more of heaven's light they have in their souls, the more they appear to themselves as the most eminent saints in this world appear to the saints and angels in heaven. How can we reasonably suppose the most eminent saints on earth appear to those in heaven, if seen in any other way than covered over with the righteousness of Christ — their deformities swallowed up and hidden in the radiance of His abundant glory and love? How can we suppose our most fervent love and praise appear to those who behold the beauty and glory of God without any veil? How does our highest thankfulness for the dying love of Christ appear to those who see Christ as He is — who know as they are known and see the glory of the person of Him who died and the wonders of His dying love without any cloud or darkness? And how do those in heaven regard even the deepest reverence and humility with which creatures on earth approach the infinite Majesty they behold? Do such responses appear great to them, or even worthy of the names 'reverence' and 'humility,' in those they see to be at such an infinite distance from the great and holy God in whose glorious presence they stand? The reason the highest attainments of the saints on earth appear so insignificant to those in heaven is that they dwell in the light of God's glory and see God as He is. And it is so with the saints on earth in proportion as they grow in grace — as they see more of God, the more they share this perspective.

I do not mean that the saints on earth always have the worst opinion of themselves when they are most actively exercising grace. In many respects it is otherwise. With respect to the active expressions of corruption, they may appear to themselves freest and best when grace is most active, and worst when the exercise of grace is at its lowest. And when they compare themselves at different times, they may know, when grace is in lively exercise, that it is better with them than it was before — though during a previous period they did not see as much badness as they see now, looking back. When they afterward decline again in the state of their minds, they may know that they have declined, and may have a new argument of their great remaining corruption and a rational conviction of a greater sinfulness than they saw before. They may also have more of a sense of guilt and a kind of legal sense of their sinfulness by far than when they were in the lively exercise of grace. But it is nonetheless true and demonstrable from the considerations stated above that the children of God never have so much of a sensible and spiritual conviction of their deformity, and so great and sharp and humbling a sense of their present vileness and odiousness, as when they are highest in the exercise of true and pure grace. And they are never more disposed to place themselves low among Christians than then. Thus 'he who is greatest in the kingdom' — the most eminent in the church of Christ — is the same one who 'humbles himself as a little child,' according to the great saying of Christ in Matthew 18:4.

A true saint may know that he has some true grace, and the more grace there is the more easily it is known, as was observed and shown earlier. But it does not follow that an eminent saint easily recognizes himself as an eminent saint in comparison with others. I will not deny that it is possible for a person who has much grace and is an eminent saint to know it. But he will not be inclined to know it — it will not be obvious to him. That he is better than others and has higher experiences and attainments is not a leading thought — not something that readily suggests itself from time to time. It lies far out of sight and off the main path of his thinking. He must work hard to convince himself of it. It takes a strong exercise of reason and a high degree of rigor and care in reasoning to bring himself to this conviction. And even if he is rationally convinced by a very careful comparison of his own experiences with the apparently low degrees of grace in some other saints, it will hardly seem real to him that he has more grace than they. He will be apt to lose the conviction he has worked to obtain. It will not seem natural to him to act on the assumption that he is more advanced. This may be laid down as an infallible test: a person who is inclined to think of himself as a very eminent saint in comparison with others — much distinguished in Christian experience — in whom this is a ready thought that rises of itself and naturally presents itself, is certainly mistaken. He is no eminent saint but is under the strong dominance of a proud and self-righteous spirit. And if this is habitual with him — the consistent and prevailing temper of his mind — he is no saint at all and has not the least degree of any true Christian experience, as surely as the Word of God is true.

Experiences that tend in this direction — that consistently produce the effect of filling the person who has them with a high conceit of those very experiences — are certainly empty and delusory. Supposed discoveries that naturally puff up a person with admiration of the greatness of his discoveries and fill him with the conviction that he has now seen and knows more than most other Christians have nothing of true spiritual light in them. All true spiritual knowledge is of such a nature that the more a person has of it, the more he is aware of his own ignorance — as is clear from 1 Corinthians 8:2: 'If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know.' Agur, when he had a great discovery of God and a sense of the wonderful height of God's glory and His marvelous works — crying out of His greatness and incomprehensibility — had at the same time the deepest sense of his own dull ignorance and regarded himself the most ignorant of all the saints. Proverbs 30:2-4: 'Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know!'

For a person to be highly conceited about his spiritual and divine knowledge is to be wise in his own eyes, if anything is. This falls under the prohibitions of Proverbs 3:7: 'Do not be wise in your own eyes.' And Romans 12:16: 'Do not be wise in your own estimation.' And it brings people under the condemnation of Isaiah 5:21: 'Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.' Those who are wise in their own eyes are among the least likely of anyone in the world to receive real benefit. Experience confirms the truth of Proverbs 26:12: 'Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.'

To this some may raise an objection: the psalmist, when we must suppose he was in a holy frame of mind, speaks of his knowledge as eminently great — greater than that of other saints — in Psalm 119:99-100: 'I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts.'

To this I offer two answers.

First, no restriction can be placed on what the Spirit of God may reveal to a prophet, for the benefit of the church, when speaking or writing under immediate inspiration. The Spirit of God may reveal to such a person, and direct him to declare to others, secret things that would otherwise be hard or impossible for him to discover on his own. He may reveal mysteries beyond the reach of the person's reason, or things in distant places he cannot see, or future events he could not know or declare apart from an extraordinary revelation. So the Spirit of God might have revealed to David this particular benefit he had received through meditating much on God's testimonies, and used David as His instrument to record it for the benefit of others — to stir them up to the same discipline and the same means of gaining knowledge. Nothing can be concluded about the natural tendency of the ordinary gracious influences of the Spirit of God from what David declares about his distinguishing knowledge under the extraordinary influence of God's Spirit — where the Spirit was immediately dictating the divine mind to him through inspiration and using David as His instrument to write what He pleased for the benefit of the church. We cannot reasonably argue that it is the natural tendency of grace to incline people to curse others and to wish the most dreadful misery upon them, just because David, writing under inspiration, often calls curses down on others and prays for terrible things to come upon them.

Second, it is not certain that the knowledge David speaks of here is the spiritual knowledge in which holiness fundamentally consists. It may be that he is speaking of the greater revelation God gave him of the Messiah and the things of His coming kingdom, and the far clearer and more extensive knowledge he had of the mysteries and doctrines of the gospel than others had — knowledge given as a reward for keeping God's testimonies. In this, the book of Psalms makes it evident that David far surpassed all who had come before him.

The second infallible sign of spiritual pride is that such persons are inclined to think highly of their humility. False experiences are commonly accompanied by a counterfeit humility. And it is the very nature of counterfeit humility to be highly conceited of itself. False religious affections generally tend — especially when they are raised to a great height — to make people think their humility is great, and accordingly to pay much attention to their great attainments in this area and to admire them. But genuinely gracious affections — I do not hesitate to say it — always tend in the opposite direction and universally produce the opposite effect in those who have them. They do make such people keenly aware of how much reason they have to be deeply humbled, and they cause them to earnestly thirst and long after humility. But they cause the humility they have already attained to appear small, and their remaining pride to appear great and exceedingly repulsive.

The reason why a proud person is inclined to think his humility great, while a truly humble person thinks his humility small, can be easily understood by considering this: people naturally judge the degree of their own humiliation by measuring it from what they regard as their rightful status or proper dignity. What counts as great humiliation in one person may be no humiliation at all in another, because the degree of honor or standing in which each person properly stands is very different. For a great man to stoop down to fasten the sandal of another great man who is his equal, or to wash his feet, would be noticed as an act of lowering himself — and he, being aware of his own dignity, would see it that way himself. But if a poor slave is seen stooping to untie the shoes of a great prince, no one would take any notice of this as an act of humiliation in him or as a sign of any great degree of humility. Nor would the slave himself, unless he were absurdly proud and ridiculously conceited about himself. And if, having done it, the slave were then to show in his words and manner that he thought his abasement great and had his mind much occupied with it as evidence of his great humility, everyone would cry out at him: Who do you think you are, to imagine that what you did was such a profound act of humiliation? This would demonstrate plainly that the slave was swollen with a high degree of pride and vanity of mind — as clearly as if he had said outright, 'I think I am someone of great importance.' The matter is no less plain when worthless, vile, and contemptible worms of the dust are inclined to put such an interpretation on their acts of abasement before God — thinking it a sign of great humility that, in their religious affections, they find themselves willing to acknowledge how mean and unworthy they are and to conduct themselves as befits such inferior creatures. The very reason why such outward acts and inward exercises look like great abasement to such a person is that he has a high opinion of himself. If he thought of himself more accurately, these things would appear nothing to him and not worth admiring as humility. He would rather be astonished at his pride — that one so infinitely contemptible and vile is brought no lower before God. When he says in his heart, 'This is a great act of humiliation — it is certainly a sign of great humility in me that I should feel this way and act this way,' his real meaning is: 'This is great humility for me, for such a person as I am — so considerable and worthy.' He considers how low he has now been brought, compares it with the height of dignity on which he in his heart believes he properly stands, the distance appears very great, and he calls the whole thing pure humility and admires it as such. But in the person who is truly humble and genuinely sees his own vileness and loathsomeness before God, the distance appears in the other direction entirely. When he is brought lowest of all, it does not appear to him that he has been brought below his proper station — it appears that he has not yet come to it. He still appears to himself to be vastly above it. He longs to get lower, to come to his proper place — but he sees himself still at a great distance from it. And this distance he calls pride. Therefore pride appears great to him, not humility. Although he has been brought much lower than he used to be, it does not seem to him worthy of the name humiliation — for one so infinitely mean and detestable to come down to a place that, though lower than what he formerly assumed, is still vastly higher than what is proper for him. Just as people would hardly call it humility in a contemptible slave who formerly fancied himself a prince to have his spirit brought down far enough to accept the station of a nobleman — when that station is still so far above what rightly belongs to him.

All people in the world, in judging the degree of humility shown by themselves or others in any particular act, consider two things: the actual degree of dignity in which the person stands, and the degree of the lowering involved and its relation to that actual dignity. Thus complying with the same lowly position or lowly act may be evidence of great humility in one person but of little or no humility in another. But truly humble Christians have such a low opinion of their own actual dignity that all their self-abasement, when measured in relation to and compared with that dignity, appears very small to them. It does not seem to them any great humility, or any abasement worth making much of, for such poor, vile, abject creatures as they are to lie at the feet of God.

The degree of humility is to be judged by the degree of abasement in relation to the degree of cause for abasement. But the person who is truly and eminently humble never thinks his humility is great, given the cause for it. The cause why he should be humbled appears so great, and the abasement he has actually attained in his heart appears to fall so far short of it, that he takes far more notice of his pride than of his humility.

Everyone who has had dealings with souls under conviction of sin knows that those who are deeply convicted of sin are not inclined to think of themselves as deeply convicted. The reason is this: people judge the degree of their own conviction of sin by two things considered together — the degree of sense they have of their guilt and pollution, and the degree of cause they have for such a sense, given how genuinely sinful they are. For some people, it is no evidence of great conviction of sin to think themselves very sinful beyond most others, because they truly are so — very plainly and obviously. Therefore far less conviction of sin may incline such a person to think so than would be required in another case. He would have to be very blind indeed not to be aware of it. But the person who is truly under great conviction of sin naturally thinks this is his situation. It seems to him that the cause he has to feel guilt and pollution is greater than others have — and therefore he attributes his sensitivity to this to the greatness of his sin, not to the greatness of his sensitivity. A person under great conviction naturally thinks of himself as one of the greatest sinners in reality, and also that this is very plain and obvious — because the greater his convictions are, the plainer and more obvious it seems to him. It therefore necessarily seems to him so plain and easy to see that it might be seen without much conviction at all. A person is under great conviction whose conviction is great in proportion to his sin. But no person who is truly under great conviction thinks his conviction is great in proportion to his sin. If he does, it is a certain sign that he inwardly thinks his sins are small — and if that is the case, it is certain evidence that his conviction is small. This, by the way, is the main reason why people undergoing a work of humiliation are not aware of it at the time.

And just as it is with conviction of sin, so by the same logic it is with a person's conviction or awareness of his own meanness and vileness, his own blindness, his own weakness, and all that low view of himself that a Christian has in the exercise of evangelical humiliation. Therefore in a high degree of this humiliation, the saints are never inclined to think their sense of their own meanness, filthiness, and weakness is great — because it never appears great to them when they consider the cause for it.

An eminent saint is not inclined to think of himself as eminent in anything. All his graces and experiences are ready to appear to him comparatively small — but especially his humility. There is nothing belonging to Christian experience and true godliness that is so far out of his sight as his humility. He is a thousand times quicker to see his pride than his humility. Pride he easily discerns and tends to take much notice of, but he can hardly discern his humility. The deluded hypocrite, by contrast, who is under the power of spiritual pride, is blind to nothing so much as his pride, and quick to see nothing so much as the appearances of humility in himself.

The humble Christian is more inclined to find fault with his own pride than with other people's. He is inclined to put the best possible interpretation on others' words and behavior, and to think that no one is as proud as himself. But the proud hypocrite is quick to see the speck in his brother's eye in this regard while seeing nothing of the plank in his own. He is very often much occupied in crying out about other people's pride and finding fault with their clothing and manner of living — and is ten times as disturbed by his neighbor's ring or ribbon as by all the filthiness of his own heart.

From the disposition of hypocrites to think highly of their own humility, it follows that counterfeit humility is eager to put itself on display. Those who have it are inclined to speak much of their humiliations, to describe them in strong terms, and to put on a great outward show of humility in affected looks, gestures, a manner of dressing poorly, or some contrived peculiarity. This was the way of the false prophets of old (Zechariah 13:4), and of the hypocritical Jews (Isaiah 57:5), and Christ tells us it was the way of the Pharisees (Matthew 6:16). But with true humility it is the opposite: those who have it are not inclined to use eloquent language to describe it or to speak of the degree of their abasement in strong terms. True humility does not seek to display itself through any distinctive outward poverty of dress or manner of living — consistent with what is implied in Matthew 6:17: 'But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.' And Colossians 2:23: 'These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body.' Nor is true humility loud or boisterous — Scripture represents it as the opposite. Ahab, when he had a visible humility — a resemblance of true humility — 'walked softly' (1 Kings 21:27). A penitent in the exercise of true humiliation is represented as still and silent (Lamentations 3:28): 'Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him.' And silence is mentioned as accompanying humility in Proverbs 30:32: 'If you have been foolish in exalting yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.'

I have now shown at some length and in detail the nature of the true humility that accompanies holy affections, as it appears in its tendency to cause people to think lowly of their own religious attainments in comparison to others' — and particularly of their attainments in humility itself. I have also shown the opposite tendency of spiritual pride, to incline people to think their attainments in these areas great. I have dwelt at this length on the matter because I regard it as of great importance, as it provides a certain distinction between true and counterfeit humility. It is also important because this disposition of hypocrites to look on themselves as better than others is something God has declared to be very hateful to Him — 'a smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all day' (Isaiah 65:5). It is mentioned as an instance of the pride of the inhabitants of Jerusalem — that holy city, as it was called — that they considered themselves far superior to the people of Sodom, and therefore regarded them as beneath their notice. As Ezekiel 16:56 says: 'Your sister Sodom was not mentioned in your mouth in the day of your pride.'

Do not lightly pass over these things without applying them to yourself. Once you take in the idea that it is a bad sign for a person to be inclined to think of himself as a better saint than others, a blinding bias in your own favor will likely arise — and you will probably need to examine yourself with great strictness to determine whether this is true of you. If on putting the question to yourself you answer, 'No, I have never thought so, and none think less of themselves than I do' — do not let the matter pass at that. Examine again whether you do not think yourself better than others on this very account — because you imagine that you think so little of yourself. Do you not have a high opinion of this humility? And if you again answer, 'No, I do not have a high opinion of my humility — it seems to me I am as proud as the devil' — examine yet again whether self-conceit does not rise up under this cover, and whether on the very account that you think yourself as proud as the devil, you do not think yourself to be very humble.

From this opposition between the nature of true humility and counterfeit humility — in the self-regard of those who have them — arises a wide variety of contrasting dispositions and behaviors.

A truly humble person, having such a low view of his own righteousness and holiness, is poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit is to feel oneself inwardly poor as to what is in oneself, and to have a corresponding disposition of heart. A truly humble person — especially one who is eminently humble — therefore naturally behaves in many ways like a poor person. As the saying goes, the poor speak gently, but the rich answer roughly. A poor person is not quick to take offense or to make sharp demands when among the wealthy. He is inclined to yield to others because he knows others stand above him. He is not stubborn or self-willed. He is patient with hard circumstances. He expects to be looked down on and accepts it patiently. He does not take it as a serious wrong that he is overlooked or little regarded. He is prepared to occupy a low place. He readily honors those above him. He takes correction quietly. He is easily willing to be taught and does not make much claim to the authority of his own understanding and judgment. He is not overly particular or fussy, and his spirit is disciplined to bear hard things. He is not presumptuous or inclined to take much upon himself — it is natural for him to be subject to others. This is how it is with the humble Christian. Humility is, as the great Mastricht expresses it, a kind of holy lowliness of spirit.

A person who is very poor is a beggar — and so is the one who is poor in spirit. This is a great difference between gracious affections and false ones: under the former, the person remains a poor beggar at God's gates, exceedingly empty and needy. But false affections make people appear to themselves rich and well-supplied, not greatly in need — they imagine they have a large stock of their own to live on.

A poor person is modest in his speech and manner, and the one who is poor in spirit is far more so — humbly and modestly conducting himself among people. It is useless for anyone to claim to be humble and childlike before God while being haughty, presumptuous, and arrogant in their behavior among people. The apostle makes clear that one design of the gospel is to cut off all boasting — not only before God but before people as well (Romans 4:1-2). Some who claim great humility are very haughty, bold, and presumptuous in their outward appearance and behavior. But they ought to consider these scriptures. Psalm 131:1: 'O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.' Proverbs 6:16-17: 'There are six things which the Lord hates... a proud look.' Proverbs 21:4: 'Haughty eyes and a proud heart — the lamp of the wicked — is sin.'

A humble spirit will incline a Christian to honor all people, as 1 Peter 2:17 says: 'Honor all people.' A humble Christian is not only disposed to honor the saints in his behavior, but also other people — in all ways that do not imply an approval of their sins. Thus Abraham, the great pattern for believers, honored the sons of Heth (Genesis 23:11-12), bowing himself to the people of the land. This was a remarkable instance of humble behavior toward those who were outside of Christ — people Abraham knew to be so, and whom he was therefore unwilling to allow his servant to take a wife for his son from among them, and whose daughters, the daughters of Heth, were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. So also Paul honored Festus (Acts 26:25): 'I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus.' Not only will Christian humility incline people to honor wicked people who are outside the visible church, but also false brothers and persecutors. As Jacob, when he was in an excellent frame of spirit — having just wrestled all night with God and received the blessing — honored Esau, his false and persecuting brother (Genesis 33:3, 14-15): 'He himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.' He called Esau 'my lord' and instructed all his household to honor him in the same way.

I have now tried to describe the heart and behavior of a person governed by truly gracious humility, as closely in agreement with the Scriptures as I am able.

All truly holy affections flow out of a heart like this. Christian affections are like Mary's precious ointment that she poured on Christ's head, filling the whole house with a sweet fragrance. That ointment was poured out of an alabaster box. In the same way, gracious affections flow out to Christ from a pure heart. That ointment was poured out of a broken box. Until the box was broken, the ointment could not flow or spread its fragrance. In the same way, gracious affections flow out of a broken heart. Gracious affections are also like those of Mary Magdalene (Luke, at the latter end), who poured precious ointment on Christ out of a broken alabaster box, anointing the feet of Jesus after she had washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. All gracious affections that are a sweet fragrance to Christ, and that fill the soul of a Christian with a heavenly sweetness, are broken-hearted affections. A truly Christian love, whether directed toward God or toward people, is a humble, broken-hearted love. The desires of the saints, however intense, are humble desires. Their hope is a humble hope. And their joy, even when it is unspeakable and full of glory, is a humble, broken-hearted joy that leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, more like a little child, and more inclined toward universal lowliness of behavior.

7. Another way that gracious affections are distinguished from others is that they are accompanied by a change of nature.

All gracious affections arise from a spiritual understanding in which the soul has the excellence and glory of divine things revealed to it, as was shown before. But all spiritual discoveries are transforming. They do not merely change the soul's present experience, sensation, and condition. They have such power and effectiveness that they change the very nature of the soul: 2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Such power as this is properly divine power, and it belongs uniquely to the Spirit of the Lord. Other power may greatly change people's present states and feelings, but only the power of a Creator can change a person's nature or give a new nature. No discoveries or illuminations except those that are divine and supernatural will have this supernatural effect. But all discoveries that are truly divine do have this effect. The soul is deeply affected by these discoveries, and so affected as to be transformed.

This is what happens with the affections the soul experiences during conversion. The Scripture's descriptions of conversion strongly imply and signify a change of nature: being born again, becoming new creatures, rising from the dead, being renewed in the spirit of the mind, dying to sin and living to righteousness, putting off the old man and putting on the new man, being grafted into a new stock, having a divine seed planted in the heart, being made partakers of the divine nature, and so on.

Therefore, if there is no great and remarkable lasting change in people who think they have experienced a work of conversion, all their imaginations and claims are empty, no matter how much they have been emotionally moved. Conversion, if we give any credit to the Scripture, is a great and universal change of the person, turning him from sin to God. A person may be restrained from sin before he is converted, but when he is converted, he is not only restrained from sin -- his very heart and nature are turned from it toward holiness. From that point forward, he becomes a holy person and an enemy of sin. If, after a person's affections at his supposed conversion, it turns out that in a short time there is no noticeable or remarkable change in him regarding the bad qualities and evil habits that were previously visible -- and he ordinarily remains under the same kind of dispositions as before, and the same things still describe his character, and he appears as selfish, worldly, dull, perverse, unchristian, and corrupt as ever -- that is greater evidence against him than the best story of spiritual experiences ever told is evidence for him. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither a high profession nor a low profession, neither an impressive story nor a broken one, counts for anything -- but only a new creature.

If there is a very great visible change in a person for a while, but it does not last and he afterward returns to being much as he used to be, this appears to be no change of nature. For nature is an enduring thing. A pig with a filthy nature may be washed, but the piggish nature remains. And a dove with a clean nature may be dirtied, but its clean nature remains.

Of course, allowances must be made for natural temperament. Conversion does not entirely root out a person's natural temperament. The sins a person was most inclined toward before conversion may still be the ones he is most likely to fall into. But conversion will still make a great change even with respect to these sins. Though grace, while imperfect, does not root out an evil natural temperament, it has great power and effectiveness to correct it. The change brought about in conversion is a universal change. Grace changes a person with respect to everything sinful in him. The old man is put off and the new man put on. They are sanctified throughout. The person becomes a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new. All sin is put to death -- sins of temperament as well as others. If a person before conversion was by natural temperament especially inclined to lust, drunkenness, or malice, converting grace will make a great change in him regarding these evil dispositions. Although he may still be most at risk for these sins, they will no longer have dominion over him, and they will no longer properly describe his character. Indeed, true repentance does in some respects especially turn a person against his own particular sin -- the one in which he has been most guilty and has chiefly dishonored God. The person who forsakes other sins but preserves his leading sin -- the one he is chiefly inclined to -- is like Saul, who was sent against God's enemies the Amalekites with a strict command to spare none of them alive but utterly destroy them, small and great. He utterly destroyed the lesser people but saved the king, the chief of them all, alive.

Some people foolishly argue in favor of their discoveries and affections by saying that when those experiences are gone, they are left completely without any life, feeling, or anything like what they had before. They think it is evidence that what they experienced was from God and not from themselves, because, as they say, when God leaves, everything is gone -- they can see and feel nothing, and they are no better than they used to be.

It is very true that all grace and goodness in the hearts of the saints comes entirely from God, and they are universally and immediately dependent on Him for it. But these people are mistaken about the way God communicates Himself and His Spirit in giving saving grace to the soul. He gives His Spirit to be united to the faculties of the soul and to dwell there as a principle of nature, so that the soul, in being given grace, is given a new nature. But nature is an enduring thing. All the exercises of grace come entirely from Christ. But these exercises do not come from Christ as something alive moving and acting upon something lifeless that remains lifeless. Rather, life is communicated to it, so that through Christ's power it has a vital nature living within itself. In the soul where Christ is savingly present, He lives there. He does not merely live upon it, violently acting on it from outside. He lives in it, so that the soul itself is also alive. Grace in the soul is as much from Christ as the light in a piece of glass held out in the sunbeams is from the sun. But this comparison only partly represents the way grace is communicated, because the glass remains as it was -- not at all changed -- and is as much without any light inherent in its nature as ever. But the soul of a saint receives light from the Sun of Righteousness in such a way that its nature is changed, and it truly becomes a luminous thing. Not only does the Sun shine in the saints, but they also become little suns, sharing in the nature of the fountain of their light. In this respect, the way they receive light is more like the lamps in the tabernacle than like a reflecting glass. Though those lamps were lit by fire from heaven, they themselves became burning and shining things. The saints do not only drink of the water of life drawn from the original fountain, but this water becomes a fountain of water in them, springing up there and flowing out of them (John 4:14; 7:38-39). Grace is compared to a seed planted that not only sits in the ground but takes hold of it, has root there, grows there, and is an enduring principle of life and nature there.

Just as spiritual discoveries and affections given at first conversion are transforming, so it is with all illuminations and affections of this kind that people experience afterward. They are all transforming. There is a similar divine power and energy in them as in the first discoveries. They still reach the bottom of the heart and affect and change the very nature of the soul, in proportion to the degree in which they are given. This transformation of nature is continued and carried on by them to the end of life, until it is brought to perfection in glory. For this reason, the progress of the work of grace in the hearts of the saints is described in Scripture as a continued conversion and renewal of nature. So the apostle urged those at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, who were the subjects of God's redeeming mercies, to be transformed by the renewing of their mind (Romans 12:1-2). 'I urge you therefore by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice -- and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' Compare with chapter 1:7. So the apostle, writing to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus who were at Ephesus (Ephesians 1:1) -- those who were once dead in trespasses and sins but were now made alive, raised up, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ, created in Christ Jesus for good works, who were once far off but were now brought near by the blood of Christ, who were no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built together as a dwelling place of God through the Spirit -- I say, the apostle writing to these tells them that he did not stop praying for them, that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, that they might know (or experience) what was the surpassing greatness of God's power toward those who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:16 to the end). In this the apostle was referring to the glorious power and work of God in converting and renewing the soul, as is most clear by what follows. So the apostle urged the same people to put off the old self, which is being corrupted according to deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of their minds, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

There is a kind of intense affections that some people have from time to time that leave them without any appearance of a lasting effect. They disappear suddenly, so that from the very height of their emotion and seeming rapture, they pass at once to being completely dead and void of all feeling and activity. This is certainly not how it usually goes with high gracious affections. They leave a sweet taste and relish of divine things on the heart, and a stronger inclination of the soul toward God and holiness. As Moses' face not only shone while he was on the mountain, conversing closely with God, but continued to shine after he came down from the mountain. When people have been conversing with Christ in an extraordinary way, a noticeable effect of it remains on them. There is something remarkable in their disposition and demeanor which, if we take note of it and trace it to its cause, we will find is because they have been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

8. Truly gracious affections differ from false and deceptive ones in that they lead to and are accompanied by the lamb-like, dove-like spirit and temperament of Jesus Christ. In other words, they naturally produce and promote a spirit of love, meekness, quietness, forgiveness, and mercy, like what appeared in Christ.

The evidence for this in Scripture is very abundant. If we judge the nature of Christianity and the proper spirit of the Gospel by the Word of God, this spirit is what may above all else be called the Christian spirit, and may be viewed as the true and distinguishing disposition of the hearts of Christians as Christians. When some of Christ's disciples said something through carelessness and weakness that did not agree with such a spirit, Christ told them that 'they did not know what manner of spirit they were of' (Luke 9:55), implying that this spirit is the proper spirit of His religion and kingdom. All who are truly godly and real disciples of Christ have this spirit in them. And not only that, but they are of this spirit -- it is the spirit that so possesses and governs them that it is their true and proper character. This is clear from what the wise man says in Proverbs 17:27, plainly referring to such a spirit as this: 'A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.' It is also clear from Christ's description of the qualities and temperament of those who are truly blessed, who shall obtain mercy, and who are God's children and heirs (Matthew 5). 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.' And that this spirit is the special character of God's elect is clear from Colossians 3:12-13. 'So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other.' And the apostle, speaking of the disposition that he describes as the most excellent and essential thing in Christianity -- without which no one is a true Christian, and the most glorious profession and gifts are nothing (calling this spirit by the name of love) -- describes it this way (1 Corinthians 13:4-5): 'Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.' And the same apostle, in Galatians 5, deliberately declaring the distinguishing marks and fruits of true Christian grace, chiefly emphasizes the things that belong to the spirit and temperament I am speaking of (verses 22-23). 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.' And so does the apostle James, in describing true grace -- or that wisdom that is from above -- with the stated purpose that others who are of a contrary spirit may not deceive themselves and lie against the truth in claiming to be Christians when they are not (James 3:14-17). 'But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.' 'For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.' 'But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits.'

Everything that belongs to holiness of heart does indeed belong to the nature of true Christianity and the character of Christians. But a spirit of holiness as it appears in some particular graces may especially be called the Christian spirit or temperament. There are certain attractive qualities and virtues that especially agree with the nature of the Gospel and the Christian profession. This is because they have a special connection with those divine attributes which God has most remarkably displayed and glorified in the work of redemption by Jesus Christ, which is the great subject of the Christian revelation. They also have a special connection with the virtues that were so wonderfully exercised by Jesus Christ toward us in that work, and with the blessed example He set for us. They are likewise especially fitting in light of the particular aim and design of the work of redemption, the benefits we receive through it, and the relationship it brings us into with God and with one another. These virtues are humility, meekness, love, forgiveness, and mercy. These things therefore especially belong to the character of Christians as such.

These things are spoken of as especially the character of Jesus Christ Himself, the great head of the Christian church. They are described this way in the prophecies of the Old Testament, as in the passage cited in Matthew 21:5. 'Tell the daughter of Zion, behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' Christ Himself speaks of them in Matthew 11:29. 'Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.' The same is shown by the name by which Christ is so often called in Scripture, namely the Lamb. And just as these things are especially the character of Christ, they are also especially the character of Christians. Christians are Christlike. None deserve the name of Christians who are not so in their prevailing character. 'The new self is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him' (Colossians 3:10). All true Christians 'beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image by His Spirit' (2 Corinthians 3:18). The elect are all 'predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren' (Romans 8:29). 'Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. For as is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly' (1 Corinthians 15:47-49). Christ is full of grace, and Christians all receive of His fullness, and grace for grace -- that is, there is grace in Christians answering to grace in Christ, just as there is a correspondence between wax and seal. There is character for character. The same kind of graces, the same spirit and temperament, the same things that belong to Christ's character belong to theirs. The disposition in which Christ's character especially consists is the disposition in which His image especially consists. Christians who live by reflecting the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine with the same kind of brightness -- the same mild, sweet, and pleasant beams. These lamps of the spiritual temple, kindled by fire from heaven, burn with the same kind of flame. The branch is of the same nature as the stock and root, has the same sap, and bears the same kind of fruit. The members have the same kind of life as the head. It would be strange if Christians were not of the same temperament and spirit as Christ, when they are His flesh and His bone -- indeed, are one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17) -- and live so that it is not they who live, but Christ who lives in them. A Christian spirit is Christ's mark that He sets upon the souls of His people, His seal on their foreheads, bearing His image and inscription. Christians are followers of Christ, and they follow Him as they obey His call: 'Come to Me, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart' (Matthew 11:28-29). They follow Him as the Lamb: 'These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes' (Revelation 14:4). True Christians are clothed, as it were, with the meek, quiet, and loving temperament of Christ, for as many as are in Christ have put on Christ. And in this respect the church is clothed with the sun -- not only by being clothed with His imputed righteousness, but also by being adorned with His graces (Romans 13:14). Christ the great Shepherd is Himself a Lamb, and believers are also lambs. All the flock are lambs: 'Feed My lambs' (John 21:15). 'I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves' (Luke 10:3). The redemption of the church by Christ from the power of the devil was foreshadowed in David's delivering the lamb out of the mouth of the lion and the bear.

That this kind of virtue is the very nature of the Christian spirit -- the spirit that works in Christ and in His members -- and its distinguishing nature, is evident from the fact that the dove is the very symbol or emblem chosen by God to represent it. The things that are the best emblems of other things are those that best represent what is most distinguishing in their nature. The Spirit that descended on Christ when He was anointed by the Father descended on Him like a dove. The dove is a well-known emblem of meekness, harmlessness, peace, and love. But the same Spirit that descended on the head of the church descends on its members. 'God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts' (Galatians 4:6). 'And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him' (Romans 8:9). There is but one Spirit for the whole mystical body, head and members (1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 4:4). Christ breathes His own Spirit on His disciples (John 20:22). Just as Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit descending on Him like a dove, Christians also have an anointing from the Holy One (1 John 2:20, 27). And they are anointed with the same oil. It is the same precious ointment on the head that goes down to the edges of the garments. On both, it is a Spirit of peace and love (Psalm 133:1-2). 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes.' The oil on Aaron's garments had the same sweet and matchless fragrance as the oil on his head -- the scent of the same sweet spices. Christian affections and Christian behavior are simply the fragrance of Christ's sweet ointment flowing out. Because the church has a dove-like temperament and disposition, it is said of her that she has dove's eyes (Song of Solomon 1:15). 'Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful. You have dove's eyes.' And Song of Solomon 4:1: 'Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.' The same is said of Christ in Song of Solomon 5:12: 'His eyes are like doves.' And the church is frequently compared to a dove in Scripture. Song of Solomon 2:14: 'O my dove, in the clefts of the rock.' Song of Solomon 5:2: 'Open to me, my love, my dove.' And Song of Solomon 6:9: 'My dove, my perfect one, is unique.' Psalm 68:13: 'You will be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.' And Psalm 74:19: 'Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast.' The dove that Noah sent out of the ark, which could find no resting place for the sole of her foot until she returned, was a type of a true saint.

Meekness is so much the character of the saints that the meek and the godly are used as synonymous terms in Scripture. So in Psalm 37:10-11, the wicked and the meek are set in opposition to one another, as wicked and godly. 'Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more -- but the meek will inherit the land.' So also Psalm 147:6: 'The Lord supports the humble; He brings down the wicked to the ground.'

It is doubtless largely for this reason that Christ represents all His disciples, all the heirs of heaven, as little children (Matthew 19:14). 'Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' Matthew 10:42: 'Whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.' Matthew 18:6: 'Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble... Verse 10: See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Verse 14: It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.' John 13:33: 'Little children, I am with you a little while longer.' Little children are innocent and harmless. They do not do a great deal of damage in the world. People do not need to be afraid of them. They are not a dangerous sort of people. Their anger does not last long. They do not store up offenses with deep resentment, harboring deep and rooted bitterness. So Christians, in malice, are children (1 Corinthians 14:20). Little children are not cunning and deceitful, but plain and simple. They are not skilled in the arts of trickery and deception, and are strangers to crafty disguises. They are yielding and flexible, not willful and stubborn. They do not trust their own understanding but rely on the instruction of parents and others of greater understanding. Here then is a fitting and vivid emblem of the followers of the Lamb. Being like little children in this way is not only something highly commendable that Christians approve of and aim at, and which some of extraordinary growth attain to. It is their universal character and absolutely necessary in order to enter the kingdom of heaven -- unless Christ was mistaken (Matthew 18:3). 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.' Mark 10:15: 'Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.'

But here some may be ready to ask: Is there no such thing as Christian fortitude and boldness for Christ, being good soldiers in the Christian warfare, and coming out boldly against the enemies of Christ and His people?

To which I answer: there doubtless is such a thing. The whole Christian life is compared to a warfare, and rightly so. And the most eminent Christians are the best soldiers, endowed with the greatest degrees of Christian fortitude. And it is the duty of God's people to be steadfast and vigorous in their opposition to the plans and ways of those who are trying to overthrow the kingdom of Christ and the cause of religion. But many people seem to be quite mistaken about the nature of Christian fortitude. It is an exceedingly different thing from a brutal fierceness or the boldness of predatory beasts. True Christian fortitude consists in strength of mind, through grace, exercised in two things: in ruling and suppressing the evil and unruly passions and affections of the mind, and in steadfastly and freely exercising and following good affections and dispositions without being hindered by sinful fear or the opposition of enemies. But the passions that are restrained and kept under control in the exercise of this Christian strength and fortitude are the very passions that are vigorously and violently expressed in a false boldness for Christ. And the affections that are vigorously exercised in true fortitude are those Christian holy affections that are directly contrary to them. Although Christian fortitude appears in withstanding and counteracting outward enemies, it appears even more in resisting and suppressing the enemies within us, because they are our worst and strongest enemies and have the greatest advantage against us. The strength of the good soldier of Jesus Christ appears in nothing more than in steadfastly maintaining the holy calm, meekness, sweetness, and kindness of his mind amid all the storms, injuries, strange behavior, and surprising events of this evil and unreasonable world. The Scripture seems to indicate that true fortitude consists chiefly in this (Proverbs 16:32). 'He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.'

The most direct and certain way in the world to judge rightly what holy fortitude looks like in fighting God's enemies is to look at the Captain of all God's hosts, our great leader and example, and see where His fortitude and valor appeared in His chief conflict -- in the time of the greatest battle that ever was or ever will be fought with these enemies, when He fought them all alone and none of the people were with Him, and exercised His fortitude in the highest degree that He ever did, and won that glorious victory that will be celebrated in the praises and triumphs of all the hosts of heaven throughout all eternity. I am speaking of Jesus Christ in the time of His last sufferings, when His enemies in earth and hell made their most violent attack upon Him, surrounding Him on every side like tearing and roaring lions. Doubtless here we see the fortitude of a holy warrior and champion in the cause of God in its highest perfection and greatest brilliance, and an example fit for soldiers to follow who fight under this Captain. But how did He show His holy boldness and valor at that time? Not in the exercise of any fiery passions, not in fierce and violent speeches, not in vehemently denouncing and crying out against the intolerable wickedness of His opponents, giving them their own in plain terms. Rather, He showed it by not opening His mouth when afflicted and oppressed, by going as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, not opening His mouth. He showed it by praying that the Father would forgive His cruel enemies because they did not know what they were doing -- not by shedding others' blood, but with all-conquering patience and love, shedding His own. Indeed, one of His disciples who had made a bold claim of loyalty to Christ, and confidently declared he would die with Christ rather than deny Him, began to swing a sword. But Christ meekly rebuked him and healed the wound he gave. Never was the patience, meekness, love, and forgiveness of Christ so gloriously displayed as at that time. Never did He appear so much a Lamb, and never did He show so much of the dove-like spirit as at that time. If therefore we see any of Christ's followers, in the midst of the most violent, unreasonable, and wicked opposition from God's enemies and their own, maintaining under all this temptation the humility, quietness, and gentleness of a lamb, and the harmlessness, love, and sweetness of a dove, we may rightly judge that here is a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

When people are fierce and violent and express their sharp and bitter passions, it shows weakness instead of strength and fortitude. 1 Corinthians 3, at the beginning: 'And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. For you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?'

There is a pretended boldness for Christ that arises from no better principle than pride. A person may be eager to expose himself to the world's dislike and even to provoke their displeasure out of pride. For it is the nature of spiritual pride to cause people to seek distinction and uniqueness, and so it often sets them at war with those they call worldly, so that they may be more highly exalted among their own group. True boldness for Christ is universal. It overcomes all and carries people above the displeasure of friends and foes, so that they will forsake everything rather than Christ, and would rather offend every party and be thought little of by everyone than offend Christ. And the duty that tests whether a person is willing to be despised by those of his own party, and thought the least worthy of their regard, is a much better test of his boldness for Christ than his eagerness to expose himself to the criticism of opponents. The apostle sought glory neither from pagans nor from Jews nor from Christians, as he declares in 1 Thessalonians 2:6. He is bold for Christ who has enough Christian fortitude to openly confess his fault when he has committed one that requires it, and to humble himself, as it were, on his knees before opponents. Things like these are vastly greater evidence of holy boldness than resolutely and fiercely confronting opponents.

As some are greatly mistaken about the nature of true boldness for Christ, so they are about Christian zeal. It is indeed a flame, but a sweet one -- or rather, it is the heat and fervor of a sweet flame. For the flame whose heat it is, is none other than divine love or Christian charity, which is the sweetest and most generous thing that can be in the heart of a person or an angel. Zeal is the fervor of this flame as it ardently and vigorously goes out toward the good that is its object, desiring and pursuing it -- and as a result, opposing the evil that is contrary to it and hinders it. There is indeed opposition, and vigorous opposition, that is a part of zeal or rather an accompaniment of it, but it is against things, not against persons. Bitterness against persons is no part of it but is very contrary to it. The warmer true zeal is and the higher it is raised, the further a person is from such bitterness and the more full of love, both toward the evil and toward the good. As was just observed, zeal is nothing other in its very nature and essence than the fervor of a spirit of Christian charity. And as for the opposition that is in zeal against things, it is first and chiefly against the evil things in the person himself who has this zeal -- against the enemies of God and holiness that are in his own heart (since these are most in his view and what he most has to deal with) -- and only secondarily against the sins of others. Therefore there is nothing in true Christian zeal that is contrary to that spirit of meekness, gentleness, and love -- that spirit of a little child, a lamb, and a dove -- that has been described. Rather, zeal is entirely agreeable to it and tends to promote it.

But to say something specifically about this Christian spirit I have been describing, as exercised in these three things -- forgiveness, love, and mercy -- I would point out that the Scripture is very clear and explicit about the absolute necessity of each of these as belonging to the temperament and character of every Christian.

This is so regarding a forgiving spirit, or a disposition to overlook and forgive injuries. Christ gives it to us as both a negative and positive evidence, and is explicit in teaching us that if we have such a spirit, it is a sign that we ourselves are in a state of forgiveness and favor -- and that if we do not have such a spirit, we are not forgiven by God. He seems to take special care that we would notice this and always keep it in mind. Matthew 6:12, 14-15. 'Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.' Christ expresses the same thing again at another time in Mark 11:25-26, and again in Matthew 18:22 to the end, in the parable of the servant who owed his lord ten thousand talents but would not forgive his fellow servant a hundred denarii, and was therefore delivered to the torturers. In applying the parable, Christ says (verse 35), 'My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.'

And that all true saints are of a loving, generous, and giving temperament, the Scripture is very plain and abundant. Without it, the apostle tells us, though we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, we are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And though we have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, yet without this spirit we are nothing. And there is no single virtue or disposition of the mind that is so often and so explicitly insisted on in the marks laid down in the New Testament for recognizing true Christians. It is often given as a sign that is uniquely distinguishing, by which all may know Christ's disciples and by which they may know themselves. And it is often laid down as both a negative and a positive evidence. Christ calls the law of love, by way of special emphasis, His commandment (John 13:34). 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.' And John 15:12. 'This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.' And verse 17. 'This I command you, that you love one another.' And He says in John 13:35, 'By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.' And John 14:21, still with a special reference to what He calls His commandment: 'He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.' The beloved disciple, who had so much of this sweet temperament himself, insists on it abundantly in his epistles. There is none of the apostles who lays down as many explicit signs of grace for believers to test themselves by, and in his signs he insists on scarcely anything else but a spirit of Christian love and the conduct that goes with it. 1 John 2:9-10: 'The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.' 1 John 3:14. 'We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.' Verses 18-19. 'Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him.' Verses 23-24. 'This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.' 1 John 4:7-8. 'Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.' Verses 12-13. 'No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.' Verse 16. 'God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.' Verse 20. 'If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.'

And the Scripture is as plain as it could possibly be that none are true saints except those whose true character is that they are disposed to pity and relieve their fellow creatures who are poor, needy, and afflicted. Psalm 37:21: 'The righteous is gracious and gives.' Verse 26: 'All day long he is gracious and lends.' Psalm 112:5: 'A good man is gracious and lends.' Verse 9: 'He has given freely to the poor.' Proverbs 14:31: 'He who is gracious to the poor honors God.' Proverbs 21:26: 'The righteous gives and does not hold back.' Jeremiah 22:16: 'He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me? declares the Lord.' James 1:27: 'Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress.' Hosea 6:6: 'For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.' Matthew 5:7: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.' 2 Corinthians 8:8: 'I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.' James 2:13-16: 'For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?' 1 John 3:17: 'But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?' Christ, in the description He gives us of the day of judgment in Matthew 25 -- which is the most detailed account we have in all the Bible -- represents that judgment will be passed on that day according to whether people have been of a merciful spirit and practice, or not. Christ's purpose in giving such a description of the proceedings of that day is plainly to impress upon all His followers that unless this was their spirit and practice, there was no hope of their being accepted and acknowledged by Him on that day. Therefore this is a conviction that we ought to have. We find in Scripture that a righteous man and a merciful man are equivalent expressions (Isaiah 57:1). 'The righteous man perishes, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil.'

So we see how full, clear, and abundant the evidence from Scripture is that those who are truly gracious are under the governance of that lamb-like, dove-like spirit of Jesus Christ. This is essentially and supremely the nature of the saving grace of the Gospel and the proper spirit of true Christianity. We may therefore determine with certainty that all truly Christian affections are accompanied by such a spirit, and that this is the natural tendency of the fear and hope, the sorrow and the joy, the confidence and the zeal of true Christians.

No one should understand me to mean that true Christians have no remains of a contrary spirit and can never in any instance behave in a way inconsistent with such a spirit. But I do affirm -- and will affirm it until I deny the Bible to be worth anything -- that everything in Christians that belongs to true Christianity tends in this direction and works this way. There is no true Christian on earth who is not so under the prevailing power of this spirit that he is properly characterized by it, and it is truly and justly his defining quality. Therefore ministers and others have no warrant from Christ to encourage people of a contrary character and behavior to think they are converted, simply because they tell an impressive story of illuminations and discoveries. In doing so they would be setting up their own wisdom against Christ's, and judging without and against the rule by which Christ has declared all people should recognize His disciples. Some people place religion so much in certain passing illuminations and impressions (especially if they follow a particular method and order) and so little in the spirit and temperament a person has, that they greatly disfigure religion and form ideas of Christianity quite different from what it is as described in the Scriptures. Scripture knows nothing of true Christians who are of a selfish, mean, harsh, and quarrelsome spirit. Nothing could be more absurd than the idea of a harsh, hard-hearted, tightfisted, proud, spiteful true Christian. We must learn the way of bringing ourselves to the rules, not the rules to ourselves, and stop stretching and straining the rules of God's Word to include ourselves and some of our neighbors, until we make them completely meaningless.

It is true that allowances must be made for people's natural temperament with regard to these things, as well as others. But not such allowances as to allow people who were once wolves and serpents to be considered converted without any remarkable change in the spirit of their mind. The change made by true conversion is usually most remarkable and noticeable with respect to whatever was the wickedness the person was most notoriously guilty of. Grace has just as great a tendency to restrain and put to death sins that are contrary to the spirit that has been described as it has to put to death drunkenness or sexual immorality. Indeed, Scripture represents the change brought about by Gospel grace as especially appearing in a change of this kind (Isaiah 11:6-9). 'The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fattened animal together; and a little boy will lead them. And the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.' And Isaiah 65:25 says the same. Accordingly we find that in the early days of the Christian church, converts were remarkably changed in this respect (Titus 3:3 and following). 'For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared -- He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.' And Colossians 3:7-8. 'In them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.'

9. Gracious affections soften the heart and are accompanied and followed by a Christian tenderness of spirit.

False affections, however much people may seem to be melted by them while they are new, ultimately tend to harden the heart. A disposition toward certain kinds of passions may be established -- specifically, those that involve self-seeking, self-exaltation, and opposition to others. But false affections, along with the delusion that accompanies them, ultimately tend to dull the mind and close it against those affections in which tenderness of heart consists. Their final effect is that people, in the settled state of their minds, become less affected by their present and past sins, less conscientious about future sins, less moved by the warnings and cautions of God's Word or by God's discipline in His providence, more careless about the state of their hearts and the character and tendency of their conduct, less quick to discern what is sinful, and less afraid of the appearance of evil than they were while under legal awakenings and fears of hell. Now that they have had these impressions and affections and have a high opinion of themselves and consider their spiritual state secure, they can live much more comfortably than before while neglecting duties that are troublesome and inconvenient. They are much slower and more selective in complying with difficult commands, not at all alarmed at the appearance of their own faults and failures, emboldened to go easier on themselves regarding the labor and painstaking care and precision in their walk, and they more easily yield to temptations and the pull of their desires. They are far less careful about their behavior when they come into the holy presence of God in public or private worship. Previously, under legal convictions, they may have worked hard in religion and denied themselves in many things. But now that they think themselves out of danger of hell, they largely set aside the burden of the cross, spare themselves the trouble of difficult duties, and allow themselves more comfort and enjoyment of their ease and their desires.

Such people, instead of embracing Christ as their Savior from sin, trust in Him as the protector of their sins. Instead of fleeing to Him as their refuge from their spiritual enemies, they use Him as a defense for their spiritual enemies against God, to strengthen those enemies against Him. They make Christ the servant of sin and a great officer and agent of the devil, strengthening his cause and making him above all things strong against the Lord -- so that they can sin against Him with bold confidence and without any fear, being effectively shielded from restraint by His most solemn warnings and most terrible threats. They trust in Christ to preserve for them the quiet enjoyment of their sins and to be their shield against God's displeasure, while they draw close to Him, even to His bosom, the place of His children, to fight against Him with their deadly weapons hidden under their garments. And some of these, at the same time, make a great profession of love to God, assurance of His favor, and great joy in tasting the sweetness of His love.

This is how those trusted in Christ whom the apostle Jude speaks of, who crept in among the saints unnoticed -- but were really ungodly people, turning the grace of God into a license for sin (Jude 4). These are those who trust in their own righteousness, and because God has promised that the righteous shall surely live, or certainly be saved, are therefore emboldened to commit sin. God threatens them in Ezekiel 33:13. When I say to the righteous he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but for the iniquity he has committed, he will die for it.

Gracious affections have an entirely opposite tendency. They turn a heart of stone more and more into a heart of flesh. Holy love and hope are principles vastly more effective upon the heart to make it tender, to fill it with a dread of sin or whatever might displease and offend God, and to move it to watchfulness, care, and precision, than a slavish fear of hell. Gracious affections, as was observed before, flow out of a contrite heart -- or, as the word signifies, a bruised heart -- bruised and broken with godly sorrow, which makes the heart tender just as bruised flesh is tender and easily hurt. Godly sorrow has much greater power to make the heart tender than mere legal sorrow from selfish motives.

The tenderness of the heart of a true Christian is beautifully pictured by our Savior in His comparing such a person to a little child. The flesh of a little child is very tender, and so is the heart of one who is newly born again. This is represented in what we are told of Naaman's cure of his leprosy by washing in the Jordan at the direction of the prophet, which was undoubtedly a picture of the renewing of the soul by washing in the washing of regeneration. We are told in 2 Kings 5:14 that he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. Not only is the flesh of a little child tender, but his mind is tender. A little child has his heart easily moved, influenced, and bent. So it is with a Christian in spiritual things. A little child is apt to feel sympathy, to weep with those who weep, and cannot easily bear to see others in distress. So it is with a Christian (John 11:35; Romans 12:15; 1 Corinthians 12:26). A little child is easily won by kindness. So is a Christian. A little child is easily affected with grief at earthly troubles, and his heart melts and he falls to weeping. In the same way, the heart of a Christian is tender regarding the evil of sin. A little child is easily frightened by the appearance of outward dangers or anything that threatens to hurt him. In the same way, a Christian is apt to be alarmed at the appearance of moral evil and anything that threatens the harm of his soul. A little child, when he meets enemies or fierce animals, is not apt to trust his own strength but runs to his parents for safety. So a saint is not self-confident when engaging spiritual enemies but flees to Christ. A little child is apt to be suspicious of danger in dangerous places, afraid in the dark, afraid when left alone or far from home. In the same way, a saint is apt to be aware of his spiritual dangers, watchful over himself, full of fear when he cannot see his way clearly before him, afraid to be left alone and to be far from God (Proverbs 28:14). Happy is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into trouble. A little child is apt to be afraid of those in authority and to dread their anger and tremble at their frowns and threats. So is a true saint with respect to God (Psalm 119:120). My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments. Isaiah 66:2. But to this one I will look: to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. Verse 5. Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word. Ezra 9:4. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel was assembled to me. Ezra 10:3. According to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. A little child approaches those in authority with awe. So the saints approach God with holy awe and reverence. Job 13:11. Will not His majesty terrify you, and the dread of Him fall on you? Holy fear is so much the nature of true godliness that it is called in Scripture by no name more frequently than the fear of God.

Therefore gracious affections do not tend to make people bold, forward, noisy, and loud. Rather, they lead to speaking with trembling (Hosea 13:1). When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. Gracious affections lead to being clothed with a kind of holy fear in all conduct toward God and people, in keeping with Psalm 2:11; 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5; 1 Peter 3:2; Romans 11:20.

The tenderness of heart of a true Christian is beautifully expressed by the Savior's comparison of a Christian to a little child. The flesh of a little child is very tender — and so is the heart of one who is newly born spiritually. This is represented in the account of Naaman's healing from leprosy by washing in the Jordan at the prophet's direction — which was certainly a type of the renewing of the soul by washing in the laver of regeneration. As 2 Kings 5:14 tells us, 'he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child.' Not only is the flesh of a little child tender, but so is the mind. A little child has his heart easily moved, shaped, and bent — and so it is with a Christian in spiritual matters. A little child is quick to be touched with sympathy, to weep with those who weep, and cannot bear to see others in distress — and so it is with a Christian (John 11:35; Romans 12:15; 1 Corinthians 12:26). A little child is easily won by kindness — and so is a Christian. A little child is easily affected with grief at physical troubles, having his heart melted and breaking into tears — and so is the heart of a Christian with regard to the evil of sin. A little child is easily frightened by the appearance of outward dangers or anything that threatens to harm him — and so a Christian is readily alarmed by the appearance of moral evil or anything that threatens harm to the soul. A little child, when it meets enemies or fierce animals, does not trust its own strength but runs to its parents for safety — and so a saint is not self-confident when engaging spiritual enemies but flees to Christ. A little child is apt to be wary of danger, afraid in the dark, afraid when left alone or far from home — and so a saint tends to be aware of his spiritual dangers, suspicious of himself, full of concern when he cannot see his way plainly ahead of him, afraid to be left alone and far from God. As Proverbs 28:14 says: 'How blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.' A little child is easily afraid of those above him and is alarmed by their anger, trembling at their warnings — and so is a true saint with respect to God. Psalm 119:120: 'My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.' Isaiah 66:2: 'But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.' Verse 5: 'Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word.' Ezra 9:4: 'Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me.' Ezra 10:3: 'According to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God.' A little child approaches those above him with awe — and so the saints approach God with holy awe and reverence. Job 13:11: 'Will not His majesty terrify you, and the dread of Him fall on you?' Holy fear is so much the nature of true godliness that in Scripture it is more often called by no other name than 'the fear of God.'

Therefore gracious affections do not tend to make people bold, forward, loud, and aggressive — rather, they incline them to 'speak trembling' (Hosea 13:1: 'When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel. But through Baal he did wrong and died') and to clothe all their conduct toward God and people with a kind of holy fear — consistent with Psalm 2:11, 1 Peter 3:15, 2 Corinthians 7:15, Ephesians 6:5, 1 Peter 3:2, and Romans 11:20.

All gracious affections have a tendency to promote this Christian tenderness of heart that has been described -- not only godly sorrow, but also gracious joy (Psalm 2:11). 'Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling.' And also a gracious hope (Psalm 33:18). 'Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness.' And Psalm 147:11. 'The Lord favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.' Indeed, the most confident and assured hope, when it is truly gracious, has this tendency. The higher a holy hope is raised, the more there is of this Christian tenderness. The banishing of a slavish fear by a holy assurance is accompanied by a proportional increase of reverential fear. The lessening of the fear of the consequences of God's displeasure in future punishment is accompanied by a proportional increase of the fear of His displeasure itself. The lessening of the fear of hell is accompanied by an increase of the fear of sin. The fading of anxious doubts about a person's spiritual state is accompanied by a proportional increase of watchfulness over his heart, in a distrust of its strength, wisdom, stability, faithfulness, and so on. The less likely he is to be afraid of natural evil -- having his heart firmly trusting in God and therefore not afraid of bad news -- the more likely he is to be alarmed at the appearance of moral evil, the evil of sin. As he has more holy boldness, he has less self-confidence and presumptuous boldness, and more humility. As he is more sure than others of deliverance from hell, he has more of a sense of deserving it. He is less likely than others to be shaken in faith, but more likely than others to be moved by solemn warnings, by God's frowns, and by the calamities of others. He has the firmest comfort but the softest heart. He is richer than others but poorest of all in spirit. He is the tallest and strongest saint but the least and most tender child among them.

10. Another way that truly gracious and holy affections differ from false ones is in their beautiful symmetry and proportion.

Not that the symmetry of the virtues and gracious affections of the saints in this life is perfect. It is often defective in many ways, through the imperfection of grace, for lack of proper instruction, through errors in judgment, or some particular difficulty of natural temperament, or deficiencies in education, and many other disadvantages that could be mentioned. But there is by no means that monstrous disproportion in the gracious affections and various parts of true religion in the saints that is very commonly observed in the false religion and counterfeit graces of hypocrites.

In the truly holy affections of the saints is found that proportion which is the natural consequence of the universality of their sanctification. They have the whole image of Christ upon them. They have put off the old self and put on the new self, complete in all his parts and members. It has pleased the Father that in Christ all fullness should dwell. There is every grace in Him. He is full of grace and truth. And those who are Christ's receive of His fullness, and grace for grace (John 1:14, 16) -- that is, there is every grace in them that is in Christ: grace for grace, grace answering to grace. There is no grace in Christ without its image in believers to correspond to it. The image is a true image, and there is something of the same beautiful proportion in the image that is in the original -- there is feature for feature and member for member. There is symmetry and beauty in God's workmanship. The natural body that God has made consists of many members, and all are in beautiful proportion. So it is with the new self, consisting of various graces and affections. The body of one who was born a healthy child may lack exact proportion through illness and the weakness and wounds of some of its members, yet the disproportion is nothing like that of those who are born deformed.

It is with hypocrites as it was with Ephraim of old, at a time when God greatly complained of their hypocrisy (Hosea 7). 'Ephraim is a cake not turned' -- half baked and half raw. There is commonly no uniformity at all in their affections.

There is in many of them a great one-sidedness with regard to the different kinds of religious affections: great affections in some things and no proportion at all in others. Holy hope and holy fear go together in the saints, as has been observed from Psalms 33:18 and 147:11. But in some of these people there is the most confident hope while they are completely lacking in reverence, self-watchfulness, and caution, and have to a great degree cast off fear. In the saints, joy and holy fear go together no matter how great the joy -- as it was with the disciples on that joyful morning of Christ's resurrection (Matthew 28:8). 'And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy.' But many of these rejoice without trembling. Their joy is of the kind that is truly the opposite of godly fear.

One great difference between true saints and hypocrites is this: the joy and comfort of true saints is accompanied by godly sorrow and mourning for sin. They do not only have sorrow to prepare them for their first comfort — they continue to sorrow even after they are comforted and their joy is established. God foretold that His church would mourn and loathe themselves for their sins even after they had returned from captivity and were settled in Canaan — the land of rest, the land flowing with milk and honey (Ezekiel 20:42-43): 'And you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. There you will remember your ways and all your deeds by which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things you have done.' Ezekiel 16:61-63 says the same. A true saint is like a little child in this respect: before he was born again, he never had any godly sorrow, but since then he has it often. Just as a child, while still in the dark before birth, never cries — but as soon as it sees the light it begins to cry and continues to do so. Although Christ has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, freeing us from the sorrow of punishment so that we may now sweetly feed on the comforts He purchased for us, that does not prevent our feeding on those comforts from being accompanied by the sorrow of repentance. In the same way, the children of Israel were commanded to eat the Passover lamb with bitter herbs. True saints are described in Scripture not only as those who have mourned for sin, but as those who do mourn — whose habit it is to continue mourning (Matthew 5:4): 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.'

Not only do hypocrites often show an essential deficiency in various kinds of religious affections, but they also show a strange partiality and lack of proportion in the same affections when applied to different objects.

Consider the affection of love. Some make great claims and a grand show of love to God and Christ, and may have been deeply moved by what they have heard or thought about them. Yet they have no spirit of love and goodwill toward people — instead they are inclined toward contention, envy, revenge, and speaking evil of others. They will nurse an old grudge in their hearts toward a neighbor for seven years, or even twice seven, living in genuine ill will and bitterness toward him. In their dealings with their neighbors, they are not very careful to follow the rule of doing to others as they would have done to them. As 1 John 4:20 says: 'If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.' On the other hand, there are those who appear to have a great deal of goodwill toward people — who are very kind and generous in their way — but have no love for God.

When it comes to love for other people, some have warm affections for certain individuals, but their love is far from the broad and universal character that truly Christian love has. They are filled with warm feelings toward some and full of bitterness toward others. They are devoted to their own group — those who approve of them, love them, and admire them — but fierce against those who oppose and dislike them. As Matthew 5:45-46 says: 'Be like your Father who is in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good... For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?' Some show great affection toward their neighbors and claim to delight in the company of God's people, while at the same time being disagreeable and difficult toward their wives and close family at home, and very neglectful of their duties in those relationships. As for the great love toward sinners and opponents of religion that some seem to show — even to the point of extreme distress and agony, singling out one particular person from a crowd — when there is at the same time no general compassion toward sinners who are in equally desperate circumstances, the disproportion is monstrous. This does not appear to be a gracious affection. I do not think it strange at all that pity for perishing souls should reach the level of agony when all else is consistent with genuine grace, or that a truly gracious compassion should be expressed more intensely toward some individuals than others equally lost — especially on particular occasions. Many things can focus the mind and stir the heart toward a specific person at a given moment. Without doubt, some saints have been in great anguish for the souls of particular individuals, as if laboring in birth for them. But when people show racking agony for the soul of one single person — far beyond what is commonly seen even in the most eminent saints — while showing a spirit of meek, fervent love and compassion toward humanity in general at a far lesser degree than those eminent saints, such agony is highly suspect. The reason has already been stated: the Spirit of God gives graces and gracious affections in a beautiful symmetry and proportion.

Some people's love is not only disproportionate when directed toward different persons — it is also disproportionate in how it is shown toward the same person. Some men show love by caring for people's physical needs: they are generous with their money and give to the poor. But they have no love for or concern about people's souls. Others claim to have great love for people's souls but show no compassion toward their physical needs. Showing love, pity, and distress for souls costs them nothing — but showing mercy to people's bodies requires them to open their wallets. True Christian love for our brothers and sisters extends to both their souls and their bodies. In this it resembles the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. He showed mercy to people's souls by laboring in preaching the gospel to them, and mercy to their bodies by going about doing good and healing every kind of sickness and disease among the people. Mark 6:34 gives a striking example of Christ showing compassion for both souls and bodies at once: 'When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.' That was His compassion for their souls. What follows shows His compassion for their bodies — because they had been there a long time with nothing to eat, He fed five thousand of them with five loaves and two fish. If the compassion of professing Christians toward others does not work in both of these ways, it is a sign that it is not true Christian compassion.

It is also a sign that affections are not genuine when people seem greatly affected by the faults of fellow Christians — the coldness and lifelessness of other believers — but show no comparable concern about their own defects and corruptions. A true Christian may certainly be affected by the coldness and dullness of other believers and may mourn greatly over it. But at the same time, he is not as readily affected by anyone else's heart as he is by his own. His own heart is most in view. He is most quick-sighted in detecting its faults, most aware of what makes them serious, and most ready to cry out against them. It takes a lower degree of virtue to move a person to pity himself and grieve over his own failures than to be genuinely moved by the failures of others. If someone has not reached the lesser, we can be sure he has not reached the greater.

Here I want to note a general rule: if people claim to have reached high levels of spiritual attainment but have never arrived at the lower levels, it is a sign their claim is empty. For example, if someone claims to have moved beyond mere morality to live a spiritual and godly life, yet has not even become a moral person in practice. Or if someone claims to be deeply affected by the wickedness of his own heart, yet is unmoved by obvious violations of God's commands in his own behavior — which is a lower attainment. Or if someone claims to be willing to be condemned for the glory of God, yet shows no readiness to suffer even small losses in his finances, reputation, or comfort for the sake of his duty. Or if someone claims he is not afraid to entrust his soul to Christ and commit everything to God — trusting His bare word and the faithfulness of His promises for eternal welfare — yet lacks enough confidence in God to dare trust Him with a small portion of his money given to godly or charitable uses. When this is the case, the claims are clearly empty. A traveler who imagines he has passed far beyond a certain point on his route but has never actually reached it is simply wrong. And the person who has not climbed halfway up a hill has certainly not reached the top. But this is by the way.

What has been observed about the affection of love applies equally to other religious affections. When they are genuine, they extend in appropriate proportion to their proper and fitting objects. When they are false, they are commonly strangely out of proportion. This is true of religious desires and longings. In true saints, these are directed toward things that are spiritual and excellent in general, in some proportion to their excellence, importance, urgency, or closeness to the person. In false longings, it is often very different. They run with impatient intensity after something of lesser importance while other things of greater importance are neglected. For example: some people are repeatedly struck by a strong and strangely forceful urge to share what they are experiencing with others and to urge others forward — while at the same time feeling no comparable desire for things that true Christianity equally or even more naturally produces, such as pouring out the soul before God in earnest private prayer and praise, growing in conformity to Him, and living more to His glory. Scripture speaks far more often of 'groanings too deep for words,' and 'souls breaking with longing,' and 'longing, thirsting, and panting' in relation to these latter things than to the former.

The same applies to hatred and zeal. When these come from right principles, they are directed against sin in general, in proportion to its degree of sinfulness. As Psalm 119:104 says: 'I hate every false way.' Verse 128 says the same. But false hatred and zeal against sin are directed only against certain particular sins. Some seem very zealous against profanity and pride in dress, yet are themselves notorious for greed, stinginess, gossip, envy toward those above them, a turbulent spirit toward those in authority, and deep-rooted ill will toward those who have wronged them. False zeal is against the sins of others, while the person shows no zeal against his own sins. But the person with true zeal exercises it chiefly against his own sins, while also showing appropriate zeal against dangerous and widespread wickedness in others. And some claim to have a great horror of their own inward sins and cry out much about their inner corruption — yet treat sins in practice lightly, committing them with little restraint or remorse. Yet these outward sins involve sin in both heart and life.

False affections are far more disproportionate than true ones not only in relation to different objects, but also in relation to different times. True Christians are not always at the same level — there can be great differences from one time to another, and even the best believers have reason to be ashamed of their unsteadiness. Yet there is nothing like the instability and inconsistency found in the hearts of false-hearted professors, who are not among those 'who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.' The righteous person is truly described as one 'whose heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord' (Psalm 112:7), and as having 'his heart strengthened by grace' (Hebrews 13:9), and as holding on his way. Job 17:9: 'The righteous will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.' The hypocrisy of the Jewish church is described by the image of a swift young camel racing back and forth across its paths.

If people are religious only in fits and starts — occasionally seeming to be lifted to the clouds in their affections, then suddenly falling back down, losing everything, and becoming quite careless and worldly — if this is their pattern of practice; if they appear greatly moved and intensely engaged in religion only during extraordinary seasons, such as a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit, some unusual providence, the receiving of a great mercy, a supposed new conversion, or a recent experience they call a great discovery — but quickly return to a state in which their hearts are chiefly set on other things and the prevailing current of their affections runs ordinarily toward the things of this world — this is a sign of unsound affections. They are like the children of Israel in the wilderness, who were greatly stirred by what God had done for them at the Red Sea, sang His praises, and soon fell to craving the meat pots of Egypt — but then came to Mount Sinai, saw God's great manifestations there, seemed to be greatly engaged again and eagerly ready to enter into covenant with God, saying, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do and obey' — and then quickly made a golden calf. Such people are like rainwater that flows abundantly during a shower and shortly after, then quickly runs completely dry — flowing again only when the next shower comes. A true saint is like a stream from a living spring. It may be greatly swollen by rain and reduced during a drought, yet it flows constantly. As John 4:14 says: 'The water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up.' Or a true saint is like a tree planted beside such a stream, with a constant supply at its roots, always green even in the worst drought. Jeremiah 17:7-8: 'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.' Many hypocrites are like comets that appear for a time with a mighty blaze — very unsteady and erratic in their course (which is why they are called wandering stars in Jude 13) — and their blaze quickly fades, appearing only once in a long while. But true saints are like the fixed stars, which, though they rise and set and are often covered by clouds, remain steadfast in their orbits and truly shine with a constant light. Hypocritical affections are like a violent disturbance — like air stirred up by wind (Jude 12). But gracious affections move more like the natural flow of a river. Though it winds back and forth, meets obstacles, and runs more freely and swiftly in some places than others, it steadily and constantly moves in the same direction until it reaches the sea.

Just as false affections are strangely uneven and disproportionate across different times, they are often disproportionate across different places as well. Some people are greatly affected from time to time when in company with others, but what they experience in private — in quiet reflection, secret prayer, and communion with God when alone and away from the world — bears no real proportion to it. A true Christian certainly delights in religious fellowship and Christian conversation, and finds much there to stir his heart. But he also delights at times to withdraw from all people and converse with God in solitary places. This solitude also has its own special power to fix his heart and engage his affections. True religion leads people to spend much time alone, in quiet places, in holy meditation and prayer. This is how it worked in Isaac (Genesis 24:63). And far more strikingly, it is how it worked in Jesus Christ Himself. How often do we read of Him withdrawing to mountains and lonely places for holy communion with His Father? It is difficult to completely conceal strong affections, but gracious affections are by nature far more quiet and hidden than counterfeit ones. This is true of the gracious sorrow of the saints. It is true of their sorrow over their own sins. The future gracious mourning of true penitents at the dawn of the latter-day glory is described as so private that it is hidden even from a person's closest companion (Zechariah 12:12-14): 'The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.' The same is true of their sorrow for the sins of others. The saints' anguish and labor for the souls of sinners is chiefly carried out in private. Jeremiah 13:17: 'But if you will not listen to it, my soul will sob in secret for such pride; and my eyes will bitterly weep and flow down with tears, because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive.' It is also true of gracious joys. They are 'hidden manna' in this respect as much as in others (Revelation 2:17). The psalmist seems to speak of his sweetest comforts as belonging to secret times (Psalm 63:5): 'My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.' Christ calls His bride away from the world into quiet, private places so that He may give her His sweetest love (Song of Solomon 7:11-12): 'Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country, let us spend the night in the villages... There I will give you my love.' The most remarkable divine favors that the saints received, as recorded in Scripture, came during their times of retirement. The most significant manifestations God made of Himself and His covenant mercy to Abraham came when he was alone, apart from his large household — as anyone who reads his history carefully will see. Isaac received the special gift of Rebekah — who became his great comfort and through whom he received the promised offspring — while he was walking alone, meditating in the field. Jacob was in secret prayer when Christ came to him, and he wrestled with Him and obtained the blessing. God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush when Moses was alone in a desolate place at Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1). And afterward, when God showed Moses His glory and admitted him to the highest degree of communion with God he ever enjoyed, Moses was alone on that same mountain — remaining there forty days and forty nights, and coming down with his face shining. God came to the great prophets Elijah and Elisha and spoke freely with them chiefly in their retirement. Elijah communed alone with God at Mount Sinai, as Moses had done. When Jesus Christ had His greatest foretaste of His coming glory at the transfiguration, it was not when He was with the crowds or even with all twelve disciples, but when He had withdrawn to a solitary place on a mountain with only three chosen disciples — and He charged them to tell no one until He had risen from the dead. When the angel Gabriel came to the blessed Virgin, and when the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, she appears to have been alone and hidden from the world in this matter. Her dearest earthly companion, Joseph, to whom she was engaged, knew nothing of it — even though he was a righteous man. The first person to share in the joy of Christ's resurrection was alone with Christ at the tomb (John 20). And when the beloved disciple was granted those wonderful visions of Christ and His future dealings with the church and the world, he was alone on the island of Patmos. This is not to say there are no examples of saints receiving great blessings in the company of others, or that Christian conversation and public worship do not greatly refresh and rejoice the hearts of God's people. My only point in all of this is to show that it is the nature of true grace to delight in solitude and secret communion with God, even though it also loves Christian fellowship in its proper place. If people appear intensely engaged in public and social religion but give little attention to private religion — greatly affected when with others but little moved when they have only God and Christ to commune with — this casts a deep shadow over their religion.

Eleventh distinguishing sign: another great and very important difference between gracious affections and others is this — the higher gracious affections are raised, the more a person's spiritual appetite and longing for further spiritual growth increases. False affections, on the contrary, rest satisfied in themselves.

The more a true saint loves God with gracious love, the more he desires to love Him, and the more troubled he is by how little he loves Him. The more he hates sin, the more he desires to hate it, and the more he grieves over how much remaining love for it he finds in himself. The more he mourns for sin, the more he longs to mourn. The more his heart is broken, the more he desires it to be broken. The more he thirsts and longs after God and holiness, the more he longs to long, and to pour out his very soul in longing after God. Kindling gracious affections is like kindling a flame — the higher it rises, the more intense it becomes, and the more it burns, the more powerfully it seeks to burn. So the spiritual appetite for holiness and for an increase of holy affections is far more alive and keen in those who are most eminent in holiness than in others, and more active when grace and holy affections are at their liveliest than at other times. It is just as natural for one who is spiritually newborn to thirst for growth in holiness as it is for a newborn baby to thirst for its mother's milk — and the baby's appetite is sharpest when it is most healthy. As 1 Peter 2:2-3 says: 'Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.' The most that the saints have in this world is only a taste, a first sampling of the future glory that is their true fullness. It is only an earnest of their future inheritance in their hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14). The most eminent saints in this life are still only children compared to what they will be — their future state of maturity and perfection — as the apostle notes in 1 Corinthians 13:10-11. The highest degree of holiness and perfection the saints reach in this world tends not toward satisfaction or a lessening of desire for more, but on the contrary makes them more eager to press forward. This is clear from the apostle's words in Philippians 3:13-15: 'Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal... Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude.'

The reason for this is that the more people have of holy affections, the more they have of that spiritual taste I described earlier — by which they perceive the excellence and savor the divine sweetness of holiness. And the more grace they have, in this state of imperfection, the more clearly they see their imperfection, emptiness, and distance from what they ought to be — and therefore the more they see their need for grace. I showed this at length when discussing the nature of evangelical humiliation. Grace, as long as it is imperfect, is also by nature a growing thing, in a growing state. We see this with all living things — while they are in a state of imperfection and growth, their nature tends toward growth, and the more healthy and vigorous they are, the more powerfully that tendency operates. Therefore the cry of every true grace is like the cry of true faith in Mark 9:24: 'Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.' The greater a true Christian's spiritual discoveries and affections, the more earnestly he begs for grace and spiritual nourishment that he may grow — and the more eagerly he pursues it through the proper means and efforts. For true and gracious longings after holiness are no idle, ineffectual desires.

But someone may object and ask: how is this consistent with what everyone agrees on — that spiritual enjoyments are of a soul-satisfying nature?

I answer: this apparent tension disappears when we consider the specific sense in which spiritual enjoyments are soul-satisfying. They are certainly not soul-satisfying in the sense that even a tiny measure of them leaves a person desiring nothing more. Rather, spiritual enjoyments are soul-satisfying in the following respects. First, they are fully suited by their nature to the soul's capacity and need. Those who find them desire no other kind of enjoyment. They sit down fully content with this kind of happiness, wanting no change and no longer wandering about asking, 'Who will show us any good?' The soul is never filled to the point of discomfort, never weary, but gives itself completely and continuously to this happiness. This does not mean that those who have something of this happiness do not desire more of the same. Second, they are satisfying in that they answer the expectation of the appetite. When the appetite is strong for something, the expectation is correspondingly high. Appetite for a particular object includes expectation by its very nature. Worldly enjoyments do not satisfy this expectation — the person expected great happiness but is disappointed. Spiritual enjoyments are different; they fully answer and satisfy what was expected. Third, the pleasure of spiritual enjoyments is lasting. This is not true of worldly enjoyments. They satisfy particular appetites in a sense, but in being satisfied, the appetite is glutted and the pleasure is over. As soon as it is gone, the general human hunger for happiness returns — empty, with nothing to satisfy it. So gratifying a particular appetite only diminishes and empties the deeper thirst of human nature. Fourth, spiritual good is satisfying in that there is enough of it — an infinite ocean of it — to fully satisfy the soul in degree, if only the obstacles were removed and the capacity for enjoyment were properly engaged. If people are not fully satisfied here, the fault is in themselves — they have not opened their mouths wide enough.

None of this argues that a soul who has tasted a little has no appetite for more of the same, or that the appetite will not grow as he tastes more, until he reaches fullness. Objects attracted toward the earth move more strongly toward it the closer they get, and are not at rest until they reach the center. Spiritual good is of a satisfying nature — and for that very reason, the soul that tastes it and comes to know its nature will thirst for it and for fullness of it, so that it may be truly satisfied. The more a person experiences and comes to know this excellent, unparalleled, and exquisitely satisfying sweetness, the more earnestly he will hunger and thirst for more, until he comes to perfection. Therefore it is the nature of spiritual affections that the greater they are, the greater the appetite and longing for grace and holiness.

With false and counterfeit joys and religious affections, however, it is the opposite. If before there was some kind of great desire for grace, as these false affections rise, that desire ceases or fades. Perhaps before, while the person was under legal conviction and greatly afraid of hell, he earnestly longed to receive spiritual light in his understanding, faith in Christ, and love for God. But now that these false affections have risen and deceived him into confidence that he is converted and in a good state, there are no more earnest longings for light and grace. His goal has been achieved — he is confident his sins are forgiven and that he will go to heaven, and so he is satisfied. Especially when false affections are raised very high do they put an end to longing for grace and holiness. Such a person no longer appears to himself as poor and empty. On the contrary, he is rich and has accumulated much, and can hardly imagine anything more excellent than what he has already attained.

This is why many people's earnest seeking comes to an end once they believe they have been converted — or at least after they have had those high affections that make them fully confident of it. Before, while they saw themselves as still in a natural state, they were engaged in seeking God and Christ, crying earnestly for grace, and striving in the use of the means of grace. Now they act as though their work is finished: they live off that first experience, or some high affections now past, and their crying and striving after God and grace comes to an end. Yet the holy principles that drive a true saint have a far more powerful effect in stirring him to earnest seeking of God and holiness than a servile fear of hell ever could. This is why seeking God is identified as one of the distinguishing marks of the saints — 'those who seek God' is one of the scriptural names for the godly. Psalm 24:6: 'This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face — even Jacob.' Psalm 69:6: 'May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me.' Verse 32: 'The humble have seen it and are glad; you who seek God, let your heart revive.' Psalm 40:16: 'Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation say continually, "The Lord be magnified."' Scripture everywhere represents the Christian's seeking, striving, and labor as chiefly belonging to the period after conversion, and presents conversion as only the beginning of the work. Almost everything said in the New Testament about watching, giving careful attention to oneself, running the race set before us, striving and agonizing, wrestling not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, fighting, putting on the whole armor of God, standing firm after doing all to stand, pressing forward, reaching ahead, persisting in prayer, crying to God day and night — almost all of this is directed to the saints. For every one time these things are applied to sinners seeking conversion, they are applied ten times to the saints' pursuit of the great business of their high calling. But many people today have gotten into a strange unscriptural pattern — doing all their striving and wrestling before conversion, and then having an easy time of it afterward, sitting back to enjoy their idleness and complacency as if they now had everything they need and were rich and full. But as the Lord 'has filled the hungry with good things,' those who are rich like this 'He has sent away empty' (Luke 1:53).

No doubt some hypocrites who have only high affections will think they can pass this test and will readily say that they do not want to rest on past attainments but to keep pressing forward — that they do desire more, they long after God and Christ, they desire more holiness, and they seek it. But the truth is, their desires are not properly the desires of appetite for holiness itself — for its own sake, for its moral excellence and holy sweetness — but only for secondary ends. They long for clearer spiritual discoveries so they can feel more assured about their standing, or because great discoveries gratify self by making them feel especially favored by God and elevated above others. They long to taste God's love more than they long to have more love for God. Or perhaps they manufacture a kind of forced, imagined longing, because they think they must long for more grace or it will look like a bad sign. But these things are very different from the natural and almost involuntary hunger and thirsting of the new person after God and holiness. There is an inward burning desire in a true saint for holiness that is as natural to the new creature as vital warmth is to the body. There is a holy breathing and panting after the Spirit of God for an increase of holiness that is as natural to a holy nature as breathing is to a living body. And holiness — sanctification itself — is more directly the object of this desire than any manifestation of God's love and favor. This is the food and drink that the spiritual appetite is after. As John 4:34 says: 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.' In Scripture, when the desires, longings, and thirstings of the saints are described, righteousness and God's law are far more often mentioned as their object than anything else. The saints 'long for the pure milk of the word' — not so much as proof of God's love to them, but 'so that by it they may grow' in holiness. I showed earlier that holiness is the immediate object of spiritual taste. Undoubtedly, the same sweetness that is the chief object of a spiritual taste is also the chief object of a spiritual appetite. Grace is the godly person's treasure. Isaiah 33:6: 'The fear of the Lord is his treasure.' Godliness is the gain he is eager and covetous of (1 Timothy 6:6). Hypocrites long for spiritual discoveries more for the immediate comfort the discovery brings and for the high sense of God's love they get from it than for any sanctifying effect. But neither a longing for great spiritual discoveries, nor for deep tastes of God's love, nor for heaven, nor even for death — none of these is anywhere near as distinguishing a mark of true saints as longing for a more holy heart and a more holy life.

I have now come to the last distinguishing mark of holy affections I will discuss.

Twelfth distinguishing sign: gracious and holy affections find their expression and fruit in Christian practice. That is, they have such influence and power in the person who experiences them that they cause him to live a life that is broadly and consistently shaped and directed by Christian principles.

This involves three things. First, his conduct and practice in the world must be broadly shaped and directed by Christian rules. Second, he must make holy practice his primary business above all other things — the pursuit that he is chiefly engaged in and devoted to, and that he follows with the greatest earnestness and diligence, so that he can truly be said to make this religious practice his chief work and calling. Third, he must persist in it to the end of his life — so that it can be said not only to be his business at certain seasons (on Sundays, or during special occasions, or for a month or a year or seven years, or under particular circumstances) but the business of his life — the pursuit he continues in through all changes and under all trials, as long as he lives.

The necessity of each of these things in all true Christians is taught most clearly and fully in the Word of God.

First, universal obedience is required. 1 John 3:3 and following: 'Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil.' 1 John 5:18: 'We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.' John 15:14: 'You are My friends if you do what I command you.' James 2:10: 'Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.' 1 Corinthians 6:9: 'Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters,' and so on, 'will inherit the kingdom of God.' Galatians 5:19-20: 'Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.' This is equivalent to saying: those who do any kind of wickedness. Job 31:4-7: 'Does He not see my ways and number all my steps? Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, and let God know my integrity. If my step has turned from the way, or my heart followed my eyes, or if any spot has stuck to my hands,' and so on. Ezekiel 33:15: 'If he walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he will surely live.' If even one member is corrupt and we do not cut it off, it will drag the whole body to hell (Matthew 5:29-30). Saul was commanded to destroy all of God's enemies, the Amalekites. He killed everyone except Agag, and sparing Agag proved to be his ruin. Caleb and Joshua entered God's promised rest because they 'wholly followed the Lord' (Numbers 14:24; 32:11-12; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6, 8-9, 14). Naaman's hypocrisy appeared in this: though he seemed greatly moved with gratitude toward God for healing his leprosy and committed to serving Him, he asked to be excused in one particular thing. Similarly, Herod feared John, observed him, heard him gladly, and did many things — yet was condemned because in one thing he refused to listen: he would not give up his beloved Herodias. It is therefore necessary that people part with their most cherished sins — those that are like their right hand and right eye, the sins that most easily entangle them and to which they are most exposed by their natural tendencies, long-standing habits, or particular circumstances — just as much as with any other sins. Just as Joseph would not make himself known to his brothers who had sold him until Benjamin — the beloved child of the family, the hardest to give up — was handed over, so Christ will not reveal His love to us until we part with our most beloved sins and are brought to comply with the most difficult duties, including those we are most reluctant to perform.

It is important to recognize that for a person to be truly called universally obedient, his obedience must not consist only in negatives — in avoiding sinful actions, sins of commission. He must also be comprehensive in the positive duties of religion. Sins of omission are just as much violations of God's commands as sins of commission. In Matthew 25, Christ depicts those on the left hand as condemned to eternal fire for sins of omission: 'I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat,' and so on. A person cannot be said to be universally obedient and of a Christian manner of life simply because he is not a thief, an oppressor, a fraudulent dealer, a drunkard, a tavern regular, a whoremonger, a violent person, someone who wanders at night, someone impure in conduct, someone profane in speech, a slanderer, a liar, someone fierce or malicious or abusive. A person who goes only this far is wrongly described as living in a way that is consistent with the gospel. True gospel-consistent living requires also that he be serious, religious, devout, humble, meek, forgiving, peaceful, respectful, considerate, benevolent, merciful, charitable, and generous in his conduct and manner of life. Without such things, he is not obeying the laws of Christ — laws that Christ and His apostles insisted on repeatedly as being of the greatest importance and necessity.

Second, for people to be true Christians, they must pursue the business of religion and the service of God with great earnestness and diligence — as the work they have devoted themselves to and made the main business of their lives. All of Christ's own people not only do good works but 'are zealous for good works' (Titus 2:14). No one can serve two masters at once. Those who are truly God's servants give themselves over to His service and make it as it were their whole work, putting their whole heart and the best of their strength into it. As Philippians 3:13 says: 'This one thing I do.' In their effectual calling, Christians are not called to idleness but to labor in God's vineyard and to spend their days performing a great and demanding service. All true Christians respond to this call — which is implied in it being an effectual call — and do the work of Christians. This work is throughout the New Testament compared to the most strenuous human efforts: running, wrestling, fighting. All true Christians are good and faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ who 'fight the good fight of faith.' None but those who do so ever 'take hold of eternal life.' Those who 'fight as those beating the air' never win the crown of victory. 'In a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize' — and those who are slack and lazy in their course do not 'run in such a way as to win.' The kingdom of heaven is not taken without effort. Without earnestness, no one gets through that narrow way that leads to life — and therefore no one arrives at the glorious life and happiness it leads to. Without earnest labor, no one climbs the steep high hill of Zion — and therefore no one arrives at the heavenly city on its summit. Without constant, persevering effort, no one can push against the swift current we swim in and ever reach the fountain of the water of life at its source. We need to 'watch and pray always' in order to escape the terrible things coming upon the ungodly and to be counted worthy to stand before the Son of Man. We need to 'put on the whole armor of God, and having done all, to stand,' in order to avoid being completely overthrown and destroyed by the fiery darts of the devil. We need to 'forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,' in order to obtain that prize. Laziness in the service of God, in those who profess to be His servants, is as damning as open rebellion. The 'wicked, lazy servant' will be cast into outer darkness among God's open enemies (Matthew 25:26, 28). The lazy are not 'imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises' (Hebrews 6:11-12): 'We desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.' And all those who follow the 'great cloud of witnesses' who have gone before into heaven 'lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us' (Hebrews 12:1). True faith — by which people rely on the righteousness of Christ and the work He has done, and truly feed and live on Him — is always accompanied by this spirit of earnestness in the Christian life and calling. This was typified in the way the children of Israel ate the Passover lamb. They were directed to eat it as people in a hurry — with their belts fastened, their sandals on their feet, and their staff in hand (Exodus 12:11): 'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste — it is the Lord's Passover.'

Third, every true Christian perseveres in this way of universal obedience and diligent, earnest service of God through all the various trials he encounters, to the end of life. That all true saints — all those who obtain eternal life — persevere in this way in religious practice and the service of God is a doctrine so thoroughly taught in Scripture that citing every relevant text would be endless. I will content myself with pointing to some in the margin.

The aspect of perseverance in obedience that Scripture especially emphasizes as a distinctive mark of true grace is this: that professors of religion continue in the practice of their duty and remain steadfast in a holy walk through the various trials they encounter.

By 'trials' I mean those things that occur and that a professor encounters in his course which make it especially difficult for him by nature to continue in his duty and in faithfulness to God. These things are called from time to time in Scripture by the name of 'trials' or 'temptations' — words that carry the same meaning. They are of various kinds. Many things make it difficult to continue in the way of duty by tending to feed and stir up a person's sinful desires and corruptions. Many things make it hard by their alluring and enticing character — by drawing people toward sin, or by loosening their restraints and emboldening them in wrongdoing. Other trials test the genuineness and steadfastness of professors by making their duty appear frightening, driving them away from it — such as the suffering their duty will expose them to: pain, ill will, contempt and insult, or loss of material possessions and comforts. If people who have made a profession of religion live any significant length of time in this world — which is so full of change and evil — it is inevitable that they will encounter many tests of their sincerity and steadfastness. Beyond this, it is God's way in His providence to bring trials upon His professing friends and servants intentionally, so that He may reveal them and present sufficient evidence of the state they are in — to their own consciences, and often to the world as well. This is evident from countless scriptures, some of which are referenced in the margin.

True saints may be guilty of various kinds and degrees of backsliding and may be tripped up by particular temptations and may fall into sin — even serious sin. But they can never fall away to the point of growing weary of religion and the service of God, habitually disliking it and neglecting it — whether because of religion itself or because of the difficulties that come with it. This is clear from Galatians 6:9; Romans 2:7; Hebrews 10:36; Isaiah 43:22; and Malachi 1:13. They can never backslide to the point that they no longer walk in a way of universal obedience, or so that it is no longer their pattern to follow all the rules of Christianity and perform all required duties — even the most difficult ones and under the most difficult circumstances. This is abundantly established by what has already been observed. Nor can they ever fall away to the point where they are habitually more engaged in other things than in the business of religion — so that their settled way and pattern is to serve something else more than God, or so that they have ceased to serve God with the earnestness and diligence that characterize a person habitually devoted to the business of religion. This holds unless the words of Christ can be set aside — 'You cannot serve two masters' — and those of the apostle — 'Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God' — and unless a saint can change his God and still remain a true saint. Nor can a true saint ever fall away to the point where, ordinarily, there is no remarkable difference between his walk and behavior after his conversion and what it was before. Those who are truly converted are new men, new creatures — new not only inwardly but outwardly. They are sanctified throughout, in spirit, soul, and body. Old things have passed away; all things have become new. They have new hearts, new eyes, new ears, new tongues, new hands, new feet — that is, a new manner of life and practice. They walk in newness of life and continue to do so to the end of their lives. Those who fall away and visibly cease to do this show by that very fact that they were never risen with Christ. It is an especially clear sign of hypocrisy when a person's belief that he has been converted and is therefore safe is itself the very cause of his falling away. This is true whether the falling away is back into former sins or into some new kind of wickedness — the corruption of nature merely channeled in a new direction instead of being mortified. For example: when people who think themselves converted, though they do not openly return to former profaneness and immorality, yet because of the high opinion they hold of their experiences, graces, and privileges, gradually settle more and more into a self-righteous and spiritually proud spirit and into the kind of behavior and conduct that naturally flows from it. When it is this way with people, however far they may appear to have come from their former evil practices, this alone is enough to condemn them — and may leave them in a last state far worse than the first. This seems to be precisely the case of the generation of Jews that Christ describes in Matthew 12:43-45. Having been awakened by John the Baptist's preaching and brought to reform their former immoral ways — so that the unclean spirit was, as it were, driven out and the house swept and put in order — yet being empty of God and of grace, they became full of themselves, exalted in an extremely high opinion of their own righteousness and exceptional holiness, and settled into a correspondingly self-promoting way of life. They traded the sins of tax collectors and prostitutes for those of the Pharisees — and in the end had seven spirits worse than the first.

This explains what I mean by exercise and fruit when I say that gracious affections find their exercise and fruit in Christian practice.

The reason why gracious affections have this tendency and produce this effect is apparent from much that has already been observed in the earlier parts of this discussion.

The reason appears in this: gracious affections arise from spiritual operations and influences, and the inward principle from which they flow is something divine — a communication of God, a participation in the divine nature, Christ living in the heart, the Holy Spirit dwelling there in union with the faculties of the soul as an inward, living principle, expressing His own nature through the exercise of those faculties. This is sufficient to show why true grace should have such activity, power, and effectiveness. No wonder that what is divine is powerful and effective — it has omnipotence on its side. If God dwells in the heart and is vitally united to it, He will show that He is God by the effectiveness of His working. Christ is not in the heart of a saint as in a tomb, or as a dead Savior who does nothing. He is there as in His temple, as one who is alive from the dead. In the heart where Christ dwells savingly, He lives and exerts Himself in the power of that endless life He received at His resurrection. So every saint who benefits from Christ's sufferings is made to know and experience the power of His resurrection. The Spirit of Christ — the immediate source of grace in the heart — is all life, all power, all action (2 Corinthians 2:4: 'in demonstration of the Spirit and of power'; 1 Thessalonians 1:5: 'our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit'; 1 Corinthians 4:20: 'the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power'). Therefore, saving affections — though they often do not make as much noise and outward show as others — have within them a secret solidity, life, and strength by which they take hold of and carry away the heart, leading it into a kind of captivity (2 Corinthians 10:5), winning a full and firm commitment of the will to God and holiness. As Psalm 110:3 says: 'Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power.' This is how holy affections exercise a governing influence over the course of a person's life. A statue may look very much like a real man — even like a strong and active man — but it lacks an inward principle of life and strength. Therefore it does nothing, it accomplishes nothing, and there is no action to match the appearance. False spiritual discoveries and affections do not go deep enough to reach and govern the inner springs of a person's actions and practice. The seed in the rocky ground had no depth of soil, and the root did not go deep enough to bring forth fruit. But gracious affections go to the very bottom of the heart and take hold of the deepest springs of life and activity. Here chiefly appears the power of true godliness — in being effective in practice. This effectiveness of godliness is exactly what the apostle refers to when he speaks of 'the power of godliness' in 2 Timothy 3:5, as is plain from the context — he is describing how some professors of religion will notoriously fail in the practice of it, and in verse 5 he observes that in having such an ungodly practice they deny the power of godliness while still holding its outward form. The power of godliness is indeed first exercised within the soul — in the perceptible, lively exercise of gracious affections there. Yet the main evidence of this power of godliness is in those exercises of holy affections that are practical — in their being practical — in conquering the will, conquering the sinful desires and corruptions of people, and carrying people forward in the way of holiness through all temptation, difficulty, and opposition.

The reason why gracious affections find their expression and effect in Christian practice also appears from something already observed: the first and foundational object of gracious affections is the transcendently excellent and lovable nature of divine things as they are in themselves — not any perceived relationship they have to self or self-interest. This shows why holy affections will cause people to be holy in their practice comprehensively. What makes people partial in religion is that they seek themselves and not God in it — they embrace religion not for its own excellent nature but only to serve some personal purpose. A person who embraces religion only to serve a purpose will embrace no more of it than he thinks serves that purpose. But a person who embraces religion for its own excellent and lovely nature embraces everything that has that nature. The person who takes up religion for its own sake takes up the whole of religion. This also explains why gracious affections will cause people to practice religion persistently and at all times. Religion may change considerably over time in how it relates to a person's private interests in various ways — so the person who follows it only for selfish reasons is liable, when circumstances change, to abandon it. But the excellent nature of religion as it is in itself never changes. It is always the same — at all times and through all changes — it never alters in any respect.

The reason why gracious affections result in holy practice also further appears from the particular kind of excellence of divine things that, as observed, forms the foundation of all holy affection — namely their moral excellence, or the beauty of their holiness. No wonder that a love for holiness, for holiness's own sake, inclines people to practice holiness and to practice everything that is holy. Since holiness is the main thing that stirs, draws, and governs all gracious affections, no wonder all such affections tend toward holiness. What people love, they desire to have, to be united to, and to possess. The beauty that people delight in, they desire to be adorned with. The actions that people delight in, they are naturally inclined to do.

What has been observed about the divine teaching and leading of the Spirit of God that accompanies gracious affections also helps explain why such affections tend toward a universally holy practice. As already noted, the Spirit of God in this divine teaching and leading gives the soul a natural delight in the sweetness of what is holy — everything holy, as far as it comes into view — while producing a dislike and aversion to everything that is unholy.

The same also appears from what has been observed about the nature of spiritual knowledge — the foundation of all holy affection — as consisting in a sense and perception of an excellence in divine things that is supreme and transcendent. Through this perception, divine things appear worthy above all others of being chosen and held fast. By seeing the transcendent glory of Christ, true Christians see Him worthy to be followed, and are powerfully drawn after Him. They see Him worthy of forsaking everything for His sake. By seeing His surpassing beauty, they are thoroughly disposed to submit to Him, driven to labor with earnestness and energy in His service, and made willing to go through all difficulties for Him. And it is this discovery of the divine excellence of Christ that makes them constant and faithful to Him. It makes such a deep impression on their minds that they cannot forget Him. They will follow Him wherever He goes, and no effort to draw them away from Him will succeed.

The practical tendency and fruit of gracious affections is further explained by what has been observed about such affections being attended by a thorough conviction of the mind of the reality and certainty of divine things. No wonder that those who were never thoroughly convinced that there is any reality in the things of religion will never put in the effort and trouble of such earnest, comprehensive, and persevering practice of religion — through all difficulties, self-denials, and sufferings — in reliance on what they are not convinced of. On the other hand, those who are thoroughly convinced of the certain truth of those things must necessarily be governed by them in their practice. The things revealed in God's Word are so great and so infinitely more important than all other things that it is inconsistent with human nature for a person to fully believe their truth and not be influenced by them above all else in his conduct.

The reason for this expression and effect of holy affections in practice also appears from what has been observed about the change of nature that accompanies such affections. Without a change of nature, a person's practice will not be thoroughly changed. Until the tree is made good, the fruit will not be good. People do not gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles. A pig may be washed and look clean for a while — but without a change of nature it will return to wallowing in the mud. Nature is a more powerful force of action than anything that opposes it. Though it may be forcibly restrained for a time, it will ultimately overcome whatever restrains it. It is like the current of a river — it may be held back for a while by a dam, but if nothing is done to dry up the source, it will not be stopped forever. It will find a channel, either the old one or a new one. Nature is more lasting and permanent than any of the things on which carnal people build their reform and outward righteousness. When a natural person denies his sinful desires and lives a strict, religious life — appearing humble, hardworking, and earnest in religion — it is not natural to him. It is all a force working against his nature, like a stone violently thrown upward. That force will gradually spend itself, while the nature remains at full strength and ultimately prevails — and the stone falls back down. As long as corrupt nature is not mortified but the principle is left intact in the person, it is futile to expect that it will not eventually govern. But if the old nature is truly mortified and a new, heavenly nature infused, then it is fully reasonable to expect that people will walk in newness of life and continue to do so to the end of their days.

The reason for this practical exercise and effect of holy affections can also partly be seen from what has been observed about the spirit of humility that accompanies them. Humility is much of what a spirit of obedience consists in. A proud spirit is a rebellious spirit, but a humble spirit is yielding, submissive, and obedient. We see this among people: the servant who is arrogant is not inclined to be submissive and obedient to his master in every matter — but it is different with the servant who is of a humble spirit.

And the gentle, dove-like spirit that has been described — which accompanies all gracious affections — fulfills, as the apostle observes in Romans 13:8-10 and Galatians 5:14, all the duties of the second table of the law. This is the very substance of Christian practice, and the heart of what external Christian conduct consists in.

The reason why gracious affections are attended by the strict, comprehensive, and constant obedience already described is further illuminated by what has been observed about the tenderness of spirit that accompanies the affections of true saints. This tenderness makes them quickly and sharply feel pain at the presence of moral evil and gives them a deep dread of anything that even resembles evil.

One great reason why the Christian practice that flows from gracious affections is comprehensive, constant, and persevering appears from what has been observed about those affections themselves — the fact that they are comprehensive and constant, covering all kinds of holy activities, directed toward all proper objects, operating in all circumstances and at all times, in a beautiful symmetry and proportion.

Much of the reason why holy affections express themselves in such earnestness, energy, engagement, and perseverance in holy practice appears from what has been observed about the spiritual appetite and longing for further growth in religion that always accompanies true affection — and which does not fade as those affections increase, but grows along with them.

We see, then, how the tendency of holy affections toward the kind of Christian practice that has been described is rooted in each of the distinguishing characteristics of holy affection discussed throughout this work.

This point can be further illustrated and confirmed by recognizing that Scripture abundantly places sincerity and genuineness in religion in making a full choice of God as our only Lord and portion — forsaking all for Him — and in a firm commitment of the will to God and Christ after counting the cost. It involves the heart embracing the religion of Jesus Christ with everything that belongs to it, including all its difficulties — in effect treating even our dearest earthly pleasures and our own lives as secondary for Christ's sake. It means giving ourselves, with all that we have, wholly and permanently to Christ, holding nothing back and making no exceptions. In a word, it consists in the great duty of self-denial for Christ — denying and, as it were, disowning and renouncing ourselves for Him, making ourselves nothing so that He may be everything. Surely having a heart to forsake all for Christ tends toward actually forsaking all for Him, to the extent that occasion and trial arise. Having a heart to deny ourselves for Christ tends toward actually denying ourselves in practice whenever Christ and self-interest are in competition. Giving ourselves over to God in our hearts, holding nothing back, tends to behaving in every respect as belonging to Him — subject to His will and devoted to His purposes. Our hearts fully embracing the religion of Jesus — with all that belongs to it, including all its difficulties, after deliberately counting the cost — tends toward fully embracing the same in action and practice, actually going through all the difficulties we meet in the way of religion, and thereby holding on with patience and perseverance.

The tendency of grace in the heart toward holy practice is very direct, and the connection is natural, close, and necessary. True grace is not an inactive thing. Nothing in heaven or earth is more active by nature, for it is life itself — and the most active kind of life: spiritual and divine life. It is not a barren thing. Nothing in the universe is by nature more fruitful. Godliness in the heart bears the same direct relationship to practice as a fountain bears to the stream it feeds, as the luminous nature of the sun bears to the rays it sends out, as life bears to breathing and the beating of the pulse and every other vital action, as a settled disposition or principle bears to action. For it is the very nature of grace that it is a principle of holy action and practice. Regeneration — the work of God by which grace is infused — has a direct relationship to practice, for practice is the very purpose of regeneration, the end for which the whole work is carried out. Everything in this mighty and manifold change wrought in the soul is arranged to tend directly toward this end (Ephesians 2:10): 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.' Indeed, holy practice is the very purpose of Christ's redemption (Titus 2:14): 'Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.' 2 Corinthians 5:15: 'He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.' Hebrews 9:14: 'How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?' Colossians 1:21-22: 'And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.' 1 Peter 1:18: 'Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life...' Luke 1:74-75: '...that He would grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.' God repeatedly describes holy practice as the purpose of that great historical redemption — Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Exodus 4:23: 'Let my son go, that he may serve Me.' The same point appears in Exodus 7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; and 10:3. Holy practice is also declared to be the purpose of election (John 15:16): 'You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.' Ephesians 1:4: 'He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.' Chapter 2:10: 'Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.' Holy practice is as much the purpose of everything God does for His saints as fruit is the purpose of everything a farmer does with his field or vineyard — as Scripture repeatedly represents (Matthew 3:10; 13:8, 23, 24-30, 38; 21:19, 33-34; Luke 13:6; John 15:1-2, 4-6, 8; 1 Corinthians 3:9; Hebrews 6:7-8; Isaiah 5:1-8; Song of Solomon 8:11-12; Isaiah 27:2-3). Therefore everything in a true Christian is directed toward this end. This fruit of holy practice is what every grace, every spiritual discovery, and every element of Christian experience tends directly toward.

The constant and unbreakable connection in true saints between a Christian inner principle, outward profession, and the fruit of holy practice in their lives was prefigured in the design of the golden lampstand in the temple. It is beyond doubt that the golden lampstand with its seven branches and seven lamps was a type of the church of Christ. The Holy Spirit Himself has settled the matter by representing His church as a golden lampstand with seven lamps in Zechariah 4, and by representing the seven churches of Asia as seven golden lampstands in Revelation 1. The golden lampstand in the temple was throughout its entire structure made with buds and flowers (Exodus 25:31-40; 37:17-24). The word translated 'bud' or 'knop' in the original refers to an apple or pomegranate. A bud and a flower, a bud and a flower — wherever there was a flower, there was a fruit alongside it. Flower and fruit were constantly connected, without exception. The flower contained the principle of the fruit and a beautiful, promising appearance of it — and the appearance was never deceptive. The principle or promise of fruit was always accompanied or followed by real fruit. So it is in the church of Christ: there is the inward principle of fruit — grace in the heart. There is a lovely profession of faith, represented by the open flowers of the lampstand. And there is the corresponding fruit — holy practice — constantly accompanying this principle and profession. Every branch of the golden lampstand, composed of golden fruit and flowers, was crowned with a burning, shining lamp at its top. This is how the saints shine as lights in the world — by making a good and genuine profession of religion, and having that profession consistently accompanied by corresponding fruit in practice. This fits with what our Savior says in Matthew 5:15-16: 'Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.' A beautiful and genuine profession, accompanied by golden fruit — these together are the fitting ornaments of the true church of Christ. This is why fruits and flowers were not only the ornaments of the lampstand in the temple but of the temple itself — which is a type of the church, which the apostle tells us 'is the temple of the living God.' See 1 Kings 6:18: 'And the cedar of the house within was carved with gourds and open flowers.' The ornaments and capitals of the pillars at the entrance of the temple were of the same kind — lilies and pomegranates, flowers and fruits mingled together (1 Kings 7:18-19). So it is with all those who are 'pillars in the temple of God, who will go out from it no more' — that is, all true saints who will never be cast out as intruders (Revelation 3:12): 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore.'

Much the same thing seems to be represented by the ornaments on the hem of the ephod — the garment of Aaron the high priest. These ornaments were golden bells and pomegranates. That the hem of Aaron's garment represents the church, or the saints (who are as it were the garment of Christ), is evident from Psalm 133:1-2: 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the hem of his garments.' Aaron's ephod signified the same thing as the seamless coat of Christ our great high priest. As Christ's coat had no seam but was woven in one piece from top to bottom, so it was with the ephod (Exodus 39:22). As God in His providence ensured that Christ's coat was not torn, so He took special care that the ephod should not be torn (Exodus 28:32; 39:23). The golden bells on this ephod, by their precious material and pleasant sound, fittingly represent the good profession the saints make. The pomegranates represent the fruit they bear. Just as on the hem of the ephod bells and pomegranates were constantly paired — 'a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate' (Exodus 28:34; 39:26) — so it is with the true saints: their good profession and their good fruit constantly accompany one another. The fruit they bring forth in life always corresponds to the pleasant sound of their profession.

The very same thing is represented by Christ in His description of His bride in Song of Solomon 7:2: 'Your belly is like a heap of wheat fenced about with lilies.' Here again are beautiful flowers and good fruit together. The lilies were fair and lovely flowers, and the wheat was good fruit.

Just as this fruit of Christian practice is consistently present in true saints whenever they have the occasion and the trial, so it is found in them alone. No one but true Christians lives such an obedient life — so completely devoted to their duty and given up to the business of being a Christian, as described above. All unsanctified people are workers of iniquity. They are of their father the devil, and they carry out their father's desires. No hypocrite will see the business of religion through to the end and both begin and complete the tower. They will not endure the trials God typically brings upon professors of religion, but will turn aside into their crooked ways. They will not be thoroughly faithful to Christ in their practice and follow Him wherever He goes. No matter how far they may go in religion in some areas, and however strict and intensely engaged in the service of God they may appear for a season, they are still servants to sin. The chains of their old master are not broken. Their sinful desires still have a ruling power in their hearts — and to those masters they will bow down again. Daniel 12:10: 'Many will be purged, made white and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand.' Isaiah 26:10: 'Though the wicked is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness; he deals unjustly in the land of uprightness.' Isaiah 35:8: 'A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it.' Hosea 14:9: 'The ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.' Job 27:8-10: 'What is the hope of the godless when he is cut off... Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?' An unsanctified person may hide his sin and may refrain from sin in many things and for a season — but he will never be finally brought to renounce his sin and give it a bill of divorce. Sin is too dear to him for that. As Job 20:12-13 says: 'Wickedness is sweet in his mouth; he hides it under his tongue. He does not let it go but holds it in his mouth.' This is what chiefly makes the gate narrow and the way difficult that leads to life — the reason worldly people will not enter it: it is a way of utterly renouncing and finally forsaking all ungodliness, a way of self-denial and self-renunciation.

Many unconverted people, when God is working on them and striving to bring them to forsake their sins, treat their sins the way Pharaoh treated the pride and greed he gratified by keeping the Israelites in bondage — when God was pressing him to let the people go. When God's hand pressed Pharaoh hard and he was gripped by fears of God's coming wrath, he entertained thoughts of releasing the people and promised to do it. But he broke his promise again and again whenever he saw a moment of relief. When God filled Egypt with thunder and lightning and fire running along the ground, Pharaoh was brought to confess his sin with apparent humility and made a firm resolution to let the people go (Exodus 9:27-28): 'Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. Make supplication to the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."' In the same way, sinners are sometimes brought by the thunders and lightning of the law — its great terrors — to an apparent work of humiliation and a seeming willingness to part with their sins. But they are no more genuinely disposed to give them up than Pharaoh was to let the people go. In the struggle between his conscience and his desires, Pharaoh was looking for a way to let God be served while still keeping the benefit he got from enslaving the people. Moses insisted that Israel's God must be served and sacrificed to — and Pharaoh was willing to agree, as long as it did not require releasing the people. 'Go, sacrifice to your God within the land,' he said (Exodus 8:25). Many sinners likewise try to arrange a life where they serve God and keep their sins too. Moses objected that serving God while remaining in Egypt under their taskmasters was contradictory — the two could not go together. There is no serving God while remaining slaves to His enemies at the same time. After this, Pharaoh consented to let the people go, provided they not go far away. He was unwilling to let them go for good and wanted them within reach. Many hypocrites deal with their sins the same way. Later, Pharaoh agreed to let the men go if they would leave the women and children behind (Exodus 10:8-10). Then, when God's hand pressed harder still, he agreed that women and children could go too — provided they leave their livestock behind. But he would not let them go with everything they had (Exodus 10:24). So it often is with sinners. They are willing to give up some sins but not all. They are brought to put away the more obvious acts of sin but not to abandon their sinful desires in their lesser indulgences. Yet we must part with all our sins, great and small, and everything that belongs to them — men, women, children, and cattle. Everything must be let go: young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds — not a hoof must be left behind. This is what Moses told Pharaoh regarding the children of Israel. In the end, when it reached the extreme point, Pharaoh did consent to let everyone go with all they had — but he was not steadfastly of that mind. He soon changed course and pursued them again. The reason was that the pride and greed satisfied by his dominion over the people and the profit of their labor had never been truly put to death in him — they had only been violently restrained. Because of this backsliding after his apparent compliance with God's commands, he was destroyed without remedy. This is how it can happen that someone may appear to have made a total break with disobedience to God's commands — appearing comprehensive as far as anyone can see, for a brief season. But because it is merely forced compliance, without the mortification of the inward principle of sin, it will not last. They return as a dog to its vomit and bring on themselves dreadful and irremediable destruction. There were many false disciples in Christ's time who followed Him for a while — but none of them followed Him to the end. One by one, on one occasion or another, they turned back and walked with Him no more.

From what has been said, it is clear that Christian practice — a holy life — is a great and distinguishing sign of true and saving grace. But I may go further and assert that it is the chief of all the signs of grace, both as evidence of the sincerity of professors to others and as evidence to their own consciences.

But it is necessary that this be understood correctly — that we be clear about in what sense and manner Christian practice is the greatest sign of grace. To set this matter in a clear light, I will carefully and specifically demonstrate that Christian practice is the primary sign by which Christians are to judge both their own and others' sincerity in godliness, while noting some things that must be kept in mind for a right understanding of this.

First, I will consider Christian practice and a holy life as a demonstration and sign of the sincerity of a professing Christian to the eyes of his neighbors and fellow believers.

That Christian practice is the chief sign of grace in this respect is very clear from the Word of God. Christ, who knew best how to give us rules for judging others, repeated and emphasized that we should know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16): 'You will know them by their fruits.' Then, after arguing the point and giving clear reasons why a person's fruits must be the main evidence of what kind of person they are, He closes by repeating the statement in verse 20: 'So then, you will know them by their fruits.' Again, in Matthew 12:33: 'Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad.' This is as much as to say: it is utterly absurd to suppose the tree is good while the fruit is bad, or that the tree is one kind while its fruit is another — for the proper evidence of what kind of tree it is comes from its fruit. The last clause of that verse — 'for the tree is known by its fruit' — means nothing less than that the tree is chiefly known by its fruit, that this is the main and most fitting diagnostic by which one tree is distinguished from another. So also Luke 6:44: 'For each tree is known by its own fruit.' Christ nowhere says, 'You will know the tree by its leaves or blossoms,' or 'You will know people by their talk,' or 'You will know them by the good account they give of their experiences,' or 'You will know them by the way they speak or the emphasis and feeling in their voice,' or 'by speaking feelingly,' or 'by making a great show through many words, many tears, or many affectionate expressions,' or 'by the feelings they stir in your heart toward them.' He says: 'By their fruits you will know them; the tree is known by its fruit; every tree is known by its own fruit.' And just as this is the evidence Christ has directed us to look at in others when judging them, so it is the evidence Christ has directed us to give to others so that they may judge us (Matthew 5:16): 'Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.' Here Christ tells us how to make our godliness known to others. Godliness is a light that shines in the soul — Christ intends that this light should not only shine within but should shine outward before people so they can see it. But how is this to be done? Through our good works. Christ does not say, 'that others hearing your good words, your good account, or your heartfelt expressions' — but 'that others seeing your good works may glorify your Father who is in heaven.' Surely when Christ gives us a rule for how to make our light shine so that others may have evidence of it, His rule is the best available. The apostles too point to Christian practice as the primary basis for their confidence in persons as true Christians. Consider the apostle Paul in Hebrews 6. There, at the start of the chapter, he speaks of those who have had great common spiritual experiences — who 'were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come' — who then fall away and are like barren ground 'close to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.' Then immediately in verse 9, expressing his confidence that the Hebrew Christians had the saving grace that surpasses all these common experiences, he adds: 'But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.' In the very next verse he explains why he had such a good opinion of them. He does not say it was because they had given him a good account of God's work in their souls and spoke very experimentally. It was their work and labor of love: 'For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.' The same apostle speaks of faithful service to God in practice as the proper proof to others that someone loves Christ above all and puts His honor above personal interest (Philippians 2:21-22): 'For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.' The apostle John expresses the same, giving it as the basis for his good opinion of Gaius (3 John 3-6): 'For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.' But how did the brothers testify to the truth that was in Gaius? And how did the apostle judge of the truth in him? It was not because they testified that he had given a good account of the steps of his experience and had the very language of a Christian. They testified 'that he walked in the truth, even as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; and they have testified to your love before the church.' That is how the apostle explains what the brothers had testified to when they 'came and testified to his walking in the truth.' The apostle also seems in this same passage to give Gaius a rule for judging others. In verse 10 he mentions a man named Diotrephes who behaved badly and led others astray. In verse 11 he directs Gaius to beware of such people and not to follow them, and gives him a rule exactly in line with the rule Christ had given: 'By their fruits you will know them.' The apostle says: 'Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.' And I would further note that the apostle James, explicitly comparing the way of demonstrating faith to others by practice and works with the way of showing faith without works, clearly and thoroughly prefers the former (James 2:18): 'But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."' Manifesting our faith 'without works,' or in a way other than works, is manifesting it in words — a verbal profession of faith. As the apostle says in verse 14: 'What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith?' So there are two ways of making known to our neighbor what is in our hearts: by what we say, and by what we do. The apostle thoroughly prefers the latter as the better evidence. Now certainly, all the accounts we give of ourselves in words — saying we have faith, saying we are converted, telling the manner in which we came to faith, describing the steps by which it was worked in us, and recounting the discoveries and experiences that accompanied it — are still only showing our faith by what we say, by our words. And the apostle makes clear that this falls vastly short of demonstrating faith by what we do and showing our faith by our works.

Just as Scripture clearly teaches that practice is the best evidence of the sincerity of professing Christians, reason teaches the same thing. Reason shows that what people do is a more reliable interpreter of what is in their hearts than what they say. The common sense of all people, throughout all ages and nations, leads them to judge people's hearts chiefly by their conduct in practical matters — whether a man is a loyal subject, a true friend, a dutiful child, or a faithful servant. If a man professes great love and friendship toward another, reason teaches everyone that such a profession is not as strong evidence of genuine friendship as actually showing friendship in deeds — being faithful and constant to a friend in prosperity and adversity, ready to exert himself and sacrifice his own interests to do him a kindness. A wise person will trust such evidence of the sincerity of friendship more than a thousand earnest declarations and heartfelt expressions of friendship in words. There is equal reason why practice should also be seen as the best evidence of friendship toward Christ. Reason says the same thing that Christ said in John 14:21: 'He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.' If we see a person who in the course of his life follows and imitates Christ, exerting himself greatly and denying himself for the honor of Christ and the advancement of His kingdom in the world, reason teaches that this is a more trustworthy evidence of love to Christ than a man merely saying he has love to Christ and describing the inward experiences he has had of it — telling of the strong love he felt and how his heart was drawn out at such and such a time — when in his behavior there appears little imitation of Christ, and he seems reluctant to do anything great for Him or to put himself out for the promotion of His kingdom, and tends to make excuses whenever he is called to deny himself for Christ. So also: if a man in telling of his experiences says how he found his heart weaned from the world and saw its vanity, so that everything looked like nothing to him at certain times, and he professes to give everything up to God and calls heaven and earth to witness it — but in his practice is aggressive in pursuing worldly gain, holds tightly to whatever he acquires, and is extremely reluctant to part with much of it for charitable and godly purposes (so that it comes from him almost like his own blood) — — while another professing Christian says much less, yet in his behavior appears ready at all times to let go of the world whenever it conflicts with his duty, and is free to part with it at any time to advance religion and the good of others — reason teaches that the latter gives far more credible evidence of a heart weaned from the world. If a man appears to walk humbly before God and people, with a manner that reflects a broken heart — patient and submissive to God under suffering, meek in his dealings with others — this is better evidence of true humility than if a person only tells how deep a sense he had of his own unworthiness, how he was brought to lie in the dust and was emptied of himself and saw himself as nothing and utterly corrupt — and yet acts as if he considers himself one of the first and greatest of saints, by right the leader of all the Christians in town, and is domineering, self-willed, and unable to bear the slightest contradiction. In such a case we may be sure the man's practice comes from a deeper and more reliable place than his profession. So also — to give no more examples — if a professing Christian shows in his behavior a compassionate and tender spirit toward others in hardship, ready to bear their burdens with them, willing to spend his resources for them, and to accept personal inconveniences in order to promote the good of others in body and soul: is this not a more credible evidence of love for people than a man merely telling what love he felt for others at certain times — how he pitied their souls, how his soul labored for them, and how he felt sincere love and pity even for his enemies — when in his behavior he appears very self-serving, tight-fisted and greedy, all for himself and nothing for his neighbors, and perhaps envious and contentious? In a burst of feeling, people may think they have a heart willing to do and suffer great things — and may sincerely and confidently profess it — when in reality their hearts are far from it. Many in such emotional moments have believed themselves willing to be condemned forever for the glory of God. Passing emotions easily produce words, and words are cheap. Godliness is more easily faked in words than in actions. Christian practice is a costly, demanding thing. The self-denial required of Christians, and the narrowness of the way that leads to life, do not consist in words but in practice. Hypocrites can far more easily be brought to talk like saints than to live like saints.

It is plain, then, that Christian practice is the best sign and demonstration of the genuine godliness of a professing Christian to the eyes of his neighbors.

But the following things should be carefully noted so that this matter may be rightly understood.

First, it must be noted that when Scripture speaks of Christian practice as the best evidence to others of sincerity and genuine grace, a profession of Christianity is not excluded but assumed. The rules given were rules Christ gave to His followers to guide their thinking about professing Christians — those who presented themselves as members of the Christian community — so they could judge the truth of their claims and the sincerity of the profession they made. They were not rules for evaluating those who made no claim to Christianity at all, with whom Christians had nothing to do. This is as plain as can be in the great rule Christ gives in Matthew 7: 'By their fruits you will know them.' There He gives a rule for how to judge those who professed to be Christians — indeed who made a very high profession. He calls them 'false prophets who come in sheep's clothing' in verse 15. The same is true of the apostle James in chapter 2:18: 'Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' Both parties offering to give these different kinds of evidence are clearly professors of faith — this is implied by their both offering to give evidence of a faith they have professed. And it is evident from the verses before it that the apostle is addressing those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. It is equally plain that the apostle John, in the passages noted in his third letter, is addressing professing Christians. So although in these rules the Christian practice of professors is presented as the greatest and most distinguishing sign of the sincerity of their profession — far more evidential than the profession itself — a profession of Christianity is plainly assumed. The profession is not the main or distinguishing part of the evidence, yet it is a required and necessary component. It is like having a human body: that alone does not distinguish a person from other creatures and is not the main evidence of human nature — yet it is a required and necessary element of that evidence. Therefore, if a man plainly says he is not a Christian and does not believe that Jesus is the Son of God or a person sent from God, the rules of Christ and His apostles do not oblige us at all to regard him as a sincere Christian, whatever his visible practice and moral virtues may be. And these rules apply not only to the case of a man who explicitly denies Christianity — whether he be a professed deist, Jew, pagan, or open unbeliever — but also to a man who simply refrains from making any profession of Christianity at all. These rules were given only to help judge professing Christians. Fruit must be joined with visible flowers; bells and pomegranates go together.

But this naturally raises the question: when may a person be said to profess Christianity — what kind of profession can properly be called a profession of Christianity?

I answer in two parts.

First, for a person to properly be said to make a profession of Christianity, he must undoubtedly profess everything that is necessary to being a Christian — that is, everything that belongs to the essence of Christianity. Whatever is essential to Christianity itself is essential to the profession of Christianity. The profession must be of the very thing professed. To profess Christianity is to declare that one has it. Therefore, whatever belongs to a thing as necessary for it to truly be called that thing is also essential to the declaration of that thing — essential for the declaration to rightly be called a declaration of that thing. If we take only part of Christianity and leave out something that is essential to it, what we take is not Christianity, because something of its essence is missing. So if we profess only part and leave out something essential, what we profess is not Christianity. Thus in order to profess Christianity, we must profess that we believe Jesus is the Messiah — because such belief is essential to Christianity. We must also profess, either explicitly or implicitly, that Jesus made satisfaction for our sins, and hold the other essential doctrines of the gospel, since belief in these is also essential to Christianity. But there are other things just as essential to religion as orthodox belief — and it is therefore equally necessary that we profess them for our profession to truly be called a profession of Christianity. For example, it is essential to Christianity that we repent of our sins; that we are convicted of our own sinfulness; that we sense that we have rightly deserved God's wrath; that our hearts renounce all sin; that we embrace Christ with our whole hearts as our only Savior; that we love Him above all and are willing for His sake to forsake all; and that we give ourselves over to be entirely and permanently His. Such things belong to the essence of Christianity just as much as belief in any of the doctrines of the gospel, and the profession of them belongs just as much to a Christian profession. This does not mean that to be a professing Christian one must make an explicit verbal profession of every individual element of Christian grace or virtue. But there must certainly be a profession, either express or implied, of what is of the essence of religion. As for what Christians should express in their profession, we ought to be guided by the commands of God's Word and by scriptural examples of the public professions of religion that God's people have made from time to time. They ought to profess repentance from sin. In earlier times, when people were initiated as professors of faith, they came confessing their sins and showing their sorrow for sin (Matthew 3:6). The baptism they received was called 'a baptism of repentance' (Mark 1:4). And John, after baptizing them, urged them to 'bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance' (Matthew 3:8) — that is, fruit consistent with the repentance they had professed — and encouraged them that if they did so, they would escape the coming wrath and be gathered as wheat into God's storehouse (Matthew 3:7-10, 12). So also the apostle Peter says to the Jews in Acts 2:38: 'Repent, and each of you be baptized.' This shows that repentance is a visible qualification required for baptism, and therefore must be publicly professed. And when the Jews returning from captivity formally re-entered the covenant, they did so with confession — a public profession of repentance for their sins (Nehemiah 9:2). This profession of repentance should include or imply a profession of conviction that God would be just in condemning us — see Nehemiah 9:33 along with verse 35 and the beginning of the following chapter. They should profess their faith in Jesus Christ — that they embrace Christ and rely on Him as their Savior with their whole hearts, and that they joyfully receive the gospel of Christ. Philip required the Ethiopian to profess that he 'believed with all his heart' before baptizing him. And those received as visible Christians at the great outpouring of the Spirit that began at Pentecost 'gladly received the word' (Acts 2:41): 'So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.' They should profess that they rely only on Christ's righteousness and strength, that they are devoted to Him as their only Lord and Savior, and that they rejoice in Him as their only righteousness and portion. It is foretold that all nations will be brought publicly to make this profession (Isaiah 45:22 to the end): 'Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, "Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength." Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory.' They should profess giving themselves over entirely to Christ and to God through Him — as the children of Israel publicly acknowledged their covenant with God (Deuteronomy 26:17): 'You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.' They ought to profess a willingness of heart to embrace religion with all its difficulties, and to walk in a way of universal and persevering obedience to God (Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7; Deuteronomy 26:16-18; 2 Kings 23:3; Nehemiah 10:28-29; Psalm 119:57, 106). They ought to profess that their whole heart and soul is engaged in these commitments to belong to the Lord and to serve Him forever (2 Chronicles 15:12-14). God's people swearing to God — swearing by or to His name, which seems to signify solemnly giving themselves over to Him in covenant, vowing to receive Him as their God and to be entirely His in obedience and service — is spoken of as a duty to be performed by all of God's visible people (Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20; Psalm 63:11; Isaiah 19:18; 45:23-24 compared with Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11; Isaiah 48:1-2; 65:15-16; Jeremiah 4:2; 5:7; 12:16; Hosea 4:15; 10:4). Therefore, in order for people to be given full recognition and charitable regard by their neighbors as sincere professors of Christianity — by the rules of Christ and His apostles mentioned above — there must be a visibly holy life joined with a profession that either explicitly states or plainly implies such things as have been described. We are to 'know them by their fruits' — that is, we are to know by their fruits whether they are what they profess to be. We are not to conclude from their fruits that they have something in them that they don't even claim to have.

Furthermore,

Second, the profession of Christianity that must be joined with Christian practice — in order for people to be entitled to the benefit of these rules — must be made, as far as can be seen, with understanding. That is, the people must appear to have been sufficiently instructed in the principles of religion to be in a normal position to understand the proper meaning of what they express in their profession. For sounds are no declaration of anything beyond what the speaker understands them to mean.

But for people to make a proper profession of Christianity — such as Scripture directs and such as the followers of Christ should require before fully receiving professors into their fellowship — it is not necessary that they give an account of the particular steps and method by which the Holy Spirit, in their experience, worked and brought about those essential things of Christianity in their hearts. There is no trace in Scripture of the apostles or early ministers and Christians requiring any such account in order to receive and treat others as Christian brothers and sisters in every sense — no trace of examining people about the specific method and order of their experiences. What was required was a profession of the things that had been worked in them — not an account of the manner of that working. Nor is there the slightest hint of any such practice in the church of God from Adam to the death of the apostle John.

I am not saying that it is unnecessary for people to give any account at all of their experience to their fellow believers. For people to profess those things in which the essence of Christianity lies is the same as professing that they experience those things. When people solemnly profess — with a sense and full conviction of their own utter sinfulness, misery, and helplessness; of their justly deserving God's rejection and eternal wrath without mercy; and of the complete inadequacy of their own righteousness or anything in themselves to satisfy divine justice or commend them to God's favor — that they rely only and entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning work and righteousness; that they believe with all their hearts the truth of the gospel of Christ; that with a full conviction and sense of His sufficiency and perfect excellence as Savior as exhibited in the gospel, they cleave with their whole souls to Him and rest in Him as the refuge and peace of their souls and the source of their comfort; that they repent of their sins and utterly renounce all sin; that they give themselves wholly to Christ, willingly submitting to Him as their King, giving Him their hearts and their whole selves; that they are willing and resolved to have God as their entire and everlasting portion; and in dependence on His promises of a future eternal enjoyment of Him in heaven, they renounce all the enjoyments of this passing world — selling everything for this great treasure and future inheritance — and to comply with every command of God, even the most difficult and self-denying, devoting their whole lives to God's service; and that in forgiving those who have wronged them, and with genuine goodwill toward all people, their hearts are joined to the people of Jesus Christ as their own people, to hold fast to them and love them as brothers and sisters, and to worship and serve God and follow Christ in union and fellowship with them, being willing and resolved to perform all the duties that belong to them as members of the same family of God and the mystical body of Christ — when people solemnly profess such things as these, in the presence of God, they are in effect professing that they are conscious of, or do experience, these things in their hearts.

Nor do I suppose that when people give an account of particular exercises of grace with the times and circumstances of them, this gives no advantage to others in forming a judgment of their state — or that people may not appropriately be asked about these things in certain cases, especially in cases of great importance where every possible assurance of a person's godliness is especially desired and sought, as in the case of ordaining or approving a minister. Such an account may give advantage in forming a judgment in several respects, including this: it may give us better reason to believe that the professor speaks honestly and with genuine understanding of what he professes, and that he is not making the profession merely out of habit. For a profession of Christianity to be accepted as meaningful, there ought to be good reason from the circumstances of the profession to think that the person is not making it merely out of customary compliance with a prescribed form — using words without any clear meaning, or in a very loose and vague way, as confessions of faith are often signed. There should be reason to believe the professor is honestly and understandingly expressing what he is conscious of in his own heart. Without this, his profession has no real meaning and is no more significant than the sound of things without life. But whatever advantage an account of particular experiences may give in judging of this, it must be acknowledged that the professor having been previously well instructed by his teachers, and giving good evidence of sufficient knowledge, together with a practice consistent with his profession, is the best evidence of all.

Nor do I suppose that if a person who is asked about particular occasions, times, and circumstances of his Christian experience seems able to give a clear account of the manner of his first conversion — in a pattern that has frequently been observable in true conversions, where things appear to have followed one another distinctly and in order, both in time and in their natural sequence — this is not a circumstance that, among other things, adds weight to the evidence he gives his fellow believers of the truth of his experience.

What I am calling unscriptural is the insistence on a detailed account of the specific steps and sequence by which the Spirit of God was perceived to work in first bringing the soul into a state of salvation, as a requirement for receiving a professor into full Christian fellowship — or treating the absence of such an account as reason to discount other things in the evidence persons give their neighbors of their Christianity that are vastly more important and essential.

Second, to rightly understand how Christian practice is the greatest evidence others can have of the sincerity of a professing Christian, it is necessary to keep in mind what was said earlier about what Christian practice actually is — and to consider how far this can be visible to others. The fact that a professor of Christianity is what is commonly called an honest man or a moral man — meaning we have no specific transgression or wrongdoing to charge him with that would stain his character — is not great evidence of the sincerity of his profession. This is not 'making his light shine before men.' This is not the 'work and labor of love shown toward Christ's name' that gave the apostle such confidence in the sincerity of the professing Hebrews (Hebrews 6:9-10). It may be that we see nothing in a man to prevent his being a good man — nothing in his life and behavior inconsistent with godliness — yet there may be no great positive evidence that he is godly. But there may be great positive evidence of holiness in people's visible behavior. Their life may appear to be a life of service to God. They may appear to follow the example of Jesus Christ and come close to those excellent rules in Matthew 5-7 and Romans 12 and many other parts of the New Testament. There may be a great appearance of universal obedience to Christ's commands and the rules of the gospel. They may appear universal in the duties of the first table — showing the fear and love of God — and also universal in following the rules of love for people: love for fellow believers, love for enemies, meekness and forgiveness, mercy and generosity, looking not only to their own interests but also to the interests of others, doing good to people's souls and bodies, to particular individuals and to the community, temperance and mortification of sin, humble conduct, and controlling the tongue and using it to glorify God and bless others — showing that the law of kindness governs what they say. They may appear to walk as Christians in all settings and at all times — in God's house and in their families, among their neighbors, on Sundays and every day, in business and in conversation, toward friends and enemies, toward those above them and below them and beside them. Their visible conduct may show them to be earnestly engaged in the service of God and others — laboring much and giving themselves to the work of a Christian, constant and steadfast in it under all circumstances and temptations. There may be great evidence of a spirit willing to deny themselves and to suffer for God and Christ and the interests of religion and the good of their fellow believers. There may be great evidence in a person's behavior of a disposition to give up anything rather than give up Christ, and to let everything yield to His honor. There may be great evidence in a person's conduct that this kind of religion is his natural element — that he finds the delight and happiness of his life in it — and his manner of life may carry the sweet fragrance of Christian graces and heavenly dispositions wherever he goes. When it is thus with professors of Christianity, here is evidence to others of their sincerity that no other kind of manifestation can compare with.

There is undoubtedly a wide range in the degree of evidence professors exhibit of their sincerity through their life and practice, just as there is a range in the clarity and fullness of the accounts persons give of the manner and method of their experiences. But without question, the kind of manifestation of a Christian spirit in practice that has been described far surpasses the fairest and most impressive account of particular steps and experiences that was ever told. In general, demonstrating the sincerity of a Christian profession through practice is far better than any account of experiences.

But yet,

Third, it must be noted — consistent with what was observed earlier — that no outward demonstrations or external appearances whatsoever that are visible to the world are infallible evidence of grace. The manifestations described are the best that human beings can have, and they do oblige Christians to fully receive professors as saints, to love them and rejoice in them as children of God, and they are sufficient to give as great a level of assurance about such persons as is ever needed to guide conduct or for any practical purpose in this world. But nothing that appears in a neighbor can be sufficient to produce absolute certainty about the state of his soul. We cannot see his heart, and we cannot observe all of his outward behavior — much of it is private and hidden from the eyes of the world. And it is impossible to determine with certainty how far a person may go in many external appearances and imitations of grace from motives other than grace. Though undoubtedly, if others could see as much of what belongs to a person's practice as that person's own conscience can see of it, it might be an infallible evidence of their state — as will appear from what follows.

Having considered Christian practice as the best evidence of the sincerity of professors to others, I now proceed.

Second, I observe that Scripture also speaks of Christian practice as a distinguishing and reliable evidence of grace to a person's own conscience. This is very plain in 1 John 2:3: 'By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.' The testimony of our own consciences regarding our good deeds is spoken of as something that can give us assurance of our genuine godliness (1 John 3:18-19): 'Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed' — the original word means 'in work' — 'and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him.' The apostle Paul in Hebrews 6 speaks of the 'work and labor of love' of the Christian Hebrews as the very thing that both gave him confidence that they had something above the highest common spiritual experiences, and also as the evidence that would tend to give them the highest assurance of hope about themselves (verses 9 and following): 'But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end.' So the apostle directs the Galatians to examine their behavior and practice in order to have rejoicing within themselves about their blessed state (Galatians 6:4): 'But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.' The psalmist says in Psalm 119:6: 'Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments' — that is, then I will be bold and assured and steadfast in my hope. In Matthew 7:19-20 our Savior says: 'Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.' Though Christ gives this first as a rule for judging others, in the words that immediately follow He plainly shows He also intends it as a rule for judging ourselves: 'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord"... and then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock... Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.' I will have occasion to mention other texts that show the same thing later.

But for greater clarity on this matter, I will first show how Christian practice — doing good works, or keeping Christ's commandments — is to be understood when Scripture presents it as a reliable sign to our own consciences that we are genuine Christians. And second, I will demonstrate that this is the chief of all evidences that people can have of their own sincere godliness.

First, I will show how Christian practice — or keeping Christ's commandments — is to be understood when Scripture presents it as a reliable evidence to our own consciences that we are sincere Christians.

Here I would observe that we cannot reasonably suppose that when Scripture in this context speaks of good works, good fruit, and keeping Christ's commandments, it refers merely to external actions — the movement of the body — with no reference to anything else, and no regard for the aim or intention of the person, or any act of his understanding or will. Consider people's actions in that way alone, and they are no more good works or acts of obedience than the regular motions of a clock — nor are they even the actions of the person, or any human actions at all. The actions of the body, taken in isolation like this, are neither obedience nor disobedience — any more than the movements of a body in a convulsion. The obedience and fruit spoken of is the obedience and fruit of the person — and therefore consists not only in the actions of the body, but in the obedience of the soul, made up of the acts and practice of the soul. That said, I do not suppose that when Scripture in this context speaks of gracious works, fruit, and practice, these expressions include all inward piety and holiness of heart — both the principle and its exercise, both the spirit and the practice. If that were so, then these things being given as signs of a gracious principle in the heart would mean the same thing was being given as a sign of itself, with no distinction between root and fruit. What is meant is the gracious exercise and holy action of the soul — given as a sign of the holy principle and good spiritual state. And not every kind of inward exercise of grace is meant, but the practical exercise — that exercise and exertion of the soul's inner holiness which is present in an act of obedience: the exertion of the mind and the act of grace that issues and comes to completion in what might be called the directed acts of the will — in which something is directed and commanded by the soul to be done and carried out in practice.

For clearer understanding, I would observe that there are two kinds of exercises of grace. First, there are those sometimes called internal acts — exercises of grace that remain within the soul, beginning and ending there, without any immediate bearing on something to be done outwardly or carried out in practice. These are the exercises of grace that saints often have in contemplation: the exercise that is in the heart does not directly proceed to or terminate in anything beyond the thoughts of the mind — though they may tend toward practice more indirectly, as all exercises of grace do. Second, there is another kind of act of grace that is more strictly called practical or effective — because it immediately has reference to something to be done. These are the exertions of grace in the directing acts of the will that govern outward actions. For example, when a saint gives a cup of cold water to a fellow believer in and from the exercise of the grace of charity, or voluntarily endures persecution in the way of duty directly from the exercise of a supreme love to Christ. Here grace is exerted and produces its effect in outward action. These exercises of grace are practical and productive of good works — not only in the sense that they are productive in nature (for all true grace has this tendency), but in the sense that they are the actual producing acts. This is properly the exercise of grace in the act of the will, and this is properly the practice of the soul. The soul is the immediate agent of no other practice than this. The motions of the body follow from the laws of the union between soul and body — a union that God, not the soul, has established and maintains. The act of the soul and the exercise of grace that is exerted in the performance of a good work is the good work itself, insofar as the soul has part in it, or insofar as it is the soul's good work. The determinations of the will are indeed our very actions, insofar as they are properly ours — as Dr. Doddridge observes. This practice of the soul includes the aim and intention of the soul as the agent. For not only would we not call the actions of a statue dispensing justice or distributing alms by clockwork obedience to Christ; neither would anyone call the voluntary actions of a person externally conforming to a command of Christ by the name of obedience to Christ if the person had never heard of Christ or His commands, or had no thought of them in what he did. If the acts of obedience and good fruit spoken of are understood not as mere bodily motions but as acts of the soul, then the whole exercise of the spirit and mind in the action must be taken into account — including the end aimed at and the soul's orientation toward God — otherwise they are not acts of self-denial or obedience to God or service done to Him, but something else entirely. Many of the martyrs have experienced such practical exercises of grace in a high degree. All true saints live a life made up of such acts of grace — a life of gracious works, of which these active exertions of grace are the life and soul. This is the obedience and fruit that God primarily looks at, for He looks at the soul more than the body — the soul being, by the constitution of human nature, the superior part. When God looks at the obedience and practice of a person, He looks at the practice of the soul, for the soul is the person in God's sight: 'For the Lord does not see as man sees, for He looks at the heart.'

This is how obedience, good works, and good fruit are to be understood when given in Scripture as a reliable evidence to our own consciences of a true principle of grace — as including the obedience and practice of the soul, preceding and governing the actions of the body. When practice is given in Scripture as the main evidence of genuine Christianity to others, what is meant is that aspect of our practice that is visible to them — our outward actions. But when practice is given as a reliable evidence of genuine Christianity to our own consciences, what is meant is that aspect of our practice that is visible to our own consciences — which includes not only the movement of our bodies, but the exertion and exercise of the soul that directs and commands that movement, which is more directly and immediately under the view of our own consciences than the outward act of the body. This is the intent of Scripture — as the nature and reason of the thing makes clear, and as Scripture itself plainly shows. Thus it is evident that when Christ, at the close of the Sermon on the Mount, speaks of doing or practicing His teachings as the decisive mark of professors being true disciples — without which He likens them to a man who built his house on sand, and with which, to a man who built on rock — He has in view not only outward behavior but the inward exercise of the mind in that behavior. This is clear when we observe what those teachings are that He refers to when He speaks of doing or practicing them. They are such things as these: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn; blessed are the meek; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful; blessed are the pure in heart; whoever is angry with his brother without cause; whoever looks at a woman with lust; love your enemies; do not be anxious for your life' — and others of the same kind, all of which imply inward exercises. And when Christ says in John 14:21, 'He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me,' He clearly has special reference to the command He repeated several times in the same discourse — which He calls by way of emphasis 'My commandment' — that they should love one another as He had loved them (see John 13:34-35; 15:10, 12-14). But this command is primarily a matter of the exercise of the mind and heart, though exerted in practice. So when the apostle John says in 1 John 2:3, 'By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments,' he plainly has primary reference to this same command, as is clear from what follows in verses 7-11 and in 2 John 5-6. And when Scripture tells us that at the last day people will be judged 'according to their works' and that 'all will receive according to the things done in the body,' this is not to be understood as referring only to outward acts. If it were, why is God so often described as searching the hearts and examining the inward nature in order to 'render to every one according to his works'? As Revelation 2:23 says: 'And all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.' Jeremiah 17:9-10: 'I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.' But if 'his ways and the results of his deeds' refers only to the actions of the body, what need is there to search the heart and mind in order to know them? Hezekiah in his illness pleaded his practice as evidence of his claim to God's favor — and that practice included not only his outward actions but what was in his heart (Isaiah 38:3): 'Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart.'

Though in this great evidence of sincerity that Scripture gives us the inward element is of greatest importance, the outward is included and intended — as connected with the practical exertion of grace in the will that directs and commands the actions of the body. This effectively cuts off any claim to evidence of godliness by a person who lives wickedly in an outward sense — because the great evidence lies in that inward exercise and practice of the soul that consists in the act of the will commanding outward acts. And it is known that these commanding acts of the will and the actions of the bodily organs go together, since it is a fixed law of nature that they should be united as long as soul and body are united and the bodily organs are capable of the motions the soul commands. It would therefore be absurd for a person to claim that the directing act of his will was to go to public worship while his feet carry him to a tavern or brothel, or that the directing act of his will was to give a coin in his hand to a poor beggar while his hand at the same moment kept it back and held it fast.

Second, I proceed to show that Christian practice, understood in the sense explained, is the chief of all evidences of saving sincerity in religion to the conscience of the person who professes it — far to be preferred over the manner of first convictions, enlightenings, and comforts in conversion, or any purely internal discoveries or exercises of grace that begin and end in contemplation. The evidence of this appears in the following arguments.

Argument 1. Reason plainly shows that those things that put it to the test — what people will actually cling to and prefer in their behavior when left to follow their own choice and inclinations — are the proper test of what they truly prefer in their hearts. Sincerity in religion, as has already been observed, consists in setting God highest in the heart, in choosing Him above other things, in having a heart to give up everything for Christ. A person's actions are the proper test of what that person's heart prefers. For instance, when God and other things come to stand in competition — when God is placed before a person on one side and his worldly interest or pleasure on the other (as frequently happens in the course of life) — his behavior in actually clinging to one and forsaking the other is the proper test of which he prefers. Sincerity consists in forsaking all for Christ in heart. But to forsake all for Christ in heart is the very same thing as to have a heart to forsake all for Christ. The proper test of whether a person has a heart to forsake all for Christ is being actually put to the test — having Christ and other things in competition, so that he must actually choose one and forsake the other. To forsake all for Christ in heart is the same as having a heart to forsake all for Christ when called to it. The highest proof to ourselves and others that we have a heart to forsake all for Christ when called to it is actually doing it when called to it, or as far as we are called to it. To follow Christ in heart is to have a heart to follow Him. To deny ourselves in heart for Christ is the same as having a heart to deny ourselves for Him in practice. The main and most proper proof that a person has a heart for anything — in a matter where he is free to follow his own inclinations and may do or not do as he pleases — is his actually doing it. When a person is free to speak or stay silent, the most proper evidence that he has a heart to speak is his speaking. When a person is free to walk or sit still, the proper proof that he has a heart to walk is his walking. Godliness does not consist in having a heart to intend to do God's will, but in having a heart to do it. The children of Israel in the wilderness had the former — and we read of it in Deuteronomy 5:27-29: 'Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it. The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their sons forever!"' The people showed that they had a heart to intend to keep God's commandments, and were very eager in those intentions. But God made clear that this was far from the thing He desired — the thing in which true godliness consists — which is a heart that actually keeps them.

It is therefore extremely absurd — even ridiculous — for anyone to claim to have a good heart while living a wicked life, or without bringing forth the fruit of universal holiness in their practice. For it is demonstrated in fact that such people do not love God above all things. It is foolish to argue against plain fact and experience. People who live in sinful ways yet flatter themselves that they will go to heaven, or expect to be received hereafter as holy persons without a holy life and practice, act as though they expect to make a fool of their Judge. This is what the apostle implies when he speaks of people exhibiting evidence of their title to eternal life through good works and a holy life (Galatians 6:7): 'Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.' This is as much as to say: do not deceive yourselves with an expectation of reaping eternal life if you do not sow to the Spirit now. It is pointless to suppose that God will be made a fool of by you — that He will be satisfied and put off with mere shadows instead of substance, with empty claims instead of the good fruit He expects, when the opposite of what you claim appears plainly in your life before His face. The word 'mock' is sometimes used this way in Scripture. Delilah says to Samson, 'Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies' (Judges 16:10, 13) — that is, you have played with me as though you would make a fool of me, as if I could be put off with any empty pretense instead of the truth. Similarly, when Lot told his sons-in-law that God would destroy the city, 'he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting' (Genesis 19:14) — that is, he seemed to be making a game of them, as though they were simple enough to take such warnings seriously. But the great Judge, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, will not be mocked or put off by any pretenses apart from a holy life. If in His name people have prophesied and worked miracles, if they have had faith enough to move mountains and cast out demons, if their religious affections have been ever so high, if they have shown every appearance of grace, and if their hiding place has been so dark and deep that no human scrutiny could find them out — yet if they are workers and practitioners of wickedness, they cannot hide their hypocrisy from their Judge. As Job 34:22 says: 'There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.' Would a wise king allow himself to be deceived and played for a fool by a subject who claimed to be loyal, who said he had genuine love for his king, that at such and such times he had experienced it and felt his affections strongly working toward him — and who came expecting to be accepted and rewarded as one of the king's best friends on that account — while living in open rebellion against him, following a rival claimant to the throne, and from time to time stirring up sedition? Or would a master allow himself to be shamed and taken advantage of by a servant who claimed great experiences of love and reverence toward him in his heart, and a profound sense of his master's worth and kindness — while at the same time refusing to obey him, so that the master could get no service done by him?

Argument 2. Just as reason shows that the things which arise in the course of life and put it to the test — whether people will prefer God to other things in practice — are the proper trial of the sincerity of their hearts, so Scripture represents the same things as the proper trial of the sincerity of professors. Scripture calls these very things by the name of 'trials' or 'temptations' — which, as I noted earlier, are words of the same meaning. The things that test whether people will prefer God to other things in practice are the difficulties of religion — those things that arise and make the practice of duty difficult and contrary to principles other than love for God. In these, God and other things are both placed before people together on the path of duty. Scripture, in calling these difficulties of religion by the name of temptations or trials, explains that it means by this the testing or proving of their faith (James 1:2-3): 'Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.' 1 Peter 1:6-7: 'In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable.' The apostle Paul speaks of the costly duty of giving our resources to the poor as 'the proof of the sincerity of your love' (2 Corinthians 8:8). The difficulties of religion are often represented in Scripture as the trial of professors in the same way that a furnace is the proper trial of gold and silver (Psalm 66:10-11): 'For You have tested us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins.' Zechariah 13:9: 'And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.' What has the color and appearance of gold is put into the furnace to discover whether it is what it seems to be — real gold or not. So the difficulties of religion are called trials because they try those who have the profession and appearance of saints, to discover whether they are what they appear to be — true saints. If we put genuine gold into the furnace, we find its great value and preciousness. So the truth and priceless value of a true Christian's character appears under these trials (1 Peter 1:7): 'So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.' True and pure gold comes out of the furnace at full weight. So true saints, when tried, come forth as gold (Job 23:10). Christ distinguishes true grace from counterfeit grace by calling it 'gold refined in the fire' (Revelation 3:17-18). It is evident, then, that these things are called 'trials' in Scripture primarily because they try and prove the sincerity of professors. And from what has been observed, it is clear that they are the most proper trial or proof of sincerity — inasmuch as the very meaning of the word 'trial,' as ordinarily used in Scripture, is the difficulty arising in the way of a professor's duty as the test or proof of his sincerity. If 'trial of sincerity' is the fitting name for these difficulties of religion, then these difficulties are most properly and eminently the trial of sincerity. For surely they are eminently what the Holy Spirit calls them — God gives things their names from what is eminently their nature. And if these things are the proper and eminent trial, proof, and test of the sincerity of professors, then certainly the outcome of the trial — that is, people's behavior and practice under such trials — is the proper and eminent evidence of their sincerity. For they are called trials or proofs only with regard to the result, and because the outcome is eminently the proof and evidence. And this is the most proper proof and evidence to the consciences of those who are the subjects of these trials. For when God is said by these things to 'try men, and prove them, to see what is in their hearts, and whether they will keep His commandments or not,' we are not to understand that this is for His own information — that He needs trials in order to learn about their sincerity. God needs no trials for His own knowledge. Rather, these trials are chiefly for the conviction of those being tried and for presenting evidence to their own consciences. Thus when God is said to test Israel by the difficulties they encountered in the wilderness and by the difficulties from their enemies in Canaan — to know what was in their hearts, whether they would keep His commandments — it must be understood that this was to reveal them to themselves, that they might know what was in their own hearts. So when God tested Abraham with the difficult command to offer up his son, it was not for God's satisfaction about whether Abraham feared Him — God already knew. It was for Abraham's own greater satisfaction and comfort, and the clearer manifestation of God's favor to him. When Abraham proved faithful under this trial, God said to him: 'Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.' This plainly implies that in this practical exercise of Abraham's grace under trial, there was clearer evidence of the truth of his grace than ever before — and the greatest evidence to Abraham's own conscience. God Himself gave it to Abraham for his comfort and joy, speaking of it to him as what could be the greatest evidence to his conscience of being upright in the sight of his Judge. This proves my point: holy practice under trials is the highest evidence of the sincerity of professors to their own consciences. We also find that Christ, time and again, used this same method to convince the consciences of those who professed friendship to Him and to show them what they truly were. This was the method He used with the rich young man (Matthew 19:16 and following). The young man appeared to show great respect to Christ — he came kneeling, called Him 'Good Teacher,' and made a great profession of obedience to the commandments. But Christ tested him by telling him to go and sell everything he had, give to the poor, take up his cross, and follow Him, saying that then he would have treasure in heaven. He used the same method with another person we read of in Matthew 8:20. That man made a great profession of devotion to Christ, saying, 'Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.' Christ immediately put his friendship to the proof by telling him that foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. This is how Christ still tests professing disciples generally in His providence. So the seed sown in every kind of soil — rocky ground, thorny ground, and good ground — all appears alike when it first sprouts up. But the difference is made apparent through the scorching heat of the sun.

Since these are the very things God uses to test us, the surest way for us to judge ourselves rightly is to test ourselves by the same things. His trials are not for His information but for ours — and we should therefore receive our information from them. The surest way to know our gold is to look at it and examine it in God's furnace, where He tests it so that we may see what it is. If we want to know whether a building stands firm, we must observe it when the wind blows. If we want to know whether what looks like wheat is real wheat or only chaff, we must observe it when it is winnowed. If we want to know whether a staff is strong or a rotten, broken reed, we must observe it when it is leaned on and bears weight. If we want to weigh ourselves accurately, we must use the scales that God uses to weigh us. These trials in the course of our practice are, as it were, the scales on which our hearts are weighed — the scales in which Christ and the world, or Christ and the things competing with Him for our hearts, are placed on opposite sides so that it can be seen which outweighs the other. When a person is brought to a fork in the road — one path leading to Christ, the other to the objects of his desires — and must choose which way to go; when he is placed, as it were, between Christ and the world, Christ on one side and the world on the other, so that going to one means leaving the other — this is exactly like placing Christ and the world in two opposite scales. His going to one and leaving the other is exactly the tipping of one scale down and the rising of the other. A person's practice under the trials of God's providence is therefore as much the proper test and evidence of the dominant inclination of his heart as the movement of the scale under different weights is the proper test of which weight is greater.

Argument 3. Another argument that holy practice, in the sense explained, is the highest kind of evidence of the truth of grace to the consciences of Christians is this: the commandment of Christ that the apostle especially has in mind when speaking of keeping His commandments is, as I noted, the great commandment that concerns love for our brothers and sisters — as the following verses of 1 John 2 make clear. Again, the love of God is said to be perfected in the same sense in 1 John 4:12: 'If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.' Here the apostle clearly still has reference to loving one another in the same sense he explained in the preceding chapter, speaking of love for one another as a sign of the love of God (verse 17-18): 'But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed' — in work — 'and truth.' By thus 'loving in work,' the apostle says, 'the love of God is perfected in us.' Grace is said to be perfected or completed in holy practice because in practice it is brought to its proper effect — to that exercise which is the purpose of the principle. The tendency and design of grace is reached there, and its operation completed and crowned. As a tree is made perfect in its fruit. It is not perfected when the seed is planted in the ground. It is not perfected in the seed's first quickening or in its putting forth root and sprout. It is not perfected when it comes up out of the ground. It is not perfected in bringing forth leaves, nor even in putting forth blossoms. But when it has brought forth good, ripe fruit — then it is perfected. That is where it reaches its end. The purpose of the tree is fulfilled. Everything belonging to the tree is completed and brought to its proper effect in the fruit. So it is with grace in its practical exercises. Grace is said to be made perfect or completed in its work or fruit in the same way that sin is described in James 1:15: 'Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.' Here are three stages: first, sin in its principle or habit — the existence of sinful desire in the heart; second, its conceiving, consisting in the internal exercises of it in the mind; and third, the fruit that was conceived actually coming to birth in wicked action and practice. And this the apostle calls the 'finishing' or 'perfecting' of sin — for the original word is the same as the one translated 'perfected' in the places mentioned above.

If it is true that grace is in this manner made perfect in its fruit — if these practical exercises of grace are the exercises in which grace is brought to its proper effect and purpose, the exercises in which everything belonging to its design, tendency, and operation is completed and crowned — then these exercises must be the highest evidence of grace above all other exercises. The proper nature and tendency of any principle must appear best and most fully in its most perfect exercises — in those exercises in which its nature is most completely expressed and its tendency most fully answered and crowned in its proper effect and end. If we want to see the true nature of anything and see it in its fullest distinction from other things, we must look at it in its completion. The apostle James says, 'By works faith is made perfect,' and uses this as an argument to prove that works are the chief evidence of faith by which the sincerity of those who profess faith is demonstrated (James 2). And the apostle John, after saying once and again that love is made perfect in keeping Christ's commandments, observes in 1 John 4:18: 'Perfect love casts out fear.' He means, at least in part, love made perfect in this sense — consistent with what he had said in the preceding chapter: 'By loving in deed, or in work, we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts' (verses 18-19).

Argument 4. Another thing that makes it evident that holy practice is the primary evidence we should use in judging both our own and others' sincerity is that this is the evidence most heavily emphasized in Scripture. A general familiarity with Scripture, together with a little attention and observation, is sufficient to show anyone that this is stressed as a mark of true godliness ten times more throughout Scripture — from Genesis to Revelation — than anything else. In the New Testament, where Christ and His apostles explicitly and deliberately lay down signs of true godliness, this is almost entirely what they insist on. It should be observed that Christ and His apostles not only frequently say things in their teaching on the great doctrines of religion that show what the nature of true godliness must be, or from which the nature and signs of it can be rightly inferred; they also often deliberately and on purpose give signs and marks for the testing of professors, directing people to examine themselves by the signs they give — introducing what they say with such expressions as: 'By this you will know that you know God; by this the children of God and children of the devil are made manifest; he who has this builds on a good foundation; he who does not has built on sand; by this we shall assure our hearts; he is the one who loves Christ,' and so on. But I cannot find any place where either Christ or His apostles give signs of godliness in this deliberate way — though there are many such places — where Christian practice is not almost the only thing insisted on. In many of these places, love for the brothers and sisters is spoken of as a sign of godliness. And as I noted before, no single virtuous affection or disposition is so often expressly mentioned as a sign of true grace as love for one another. But the Scriptures explain themselves to mean chiefly love as exercised and expressed in practice — in deeds of love. The apostle John, who more than any other insists on love for the brothers and sisters as a sign of godliness, most plainly explains himself in 1 John 3:14: 'We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death... Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed' — that is, in deeds of love — 'and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him.' So when Scripture so strongly insists on our loving one another as a great sign of godliness, we are not to understand this primarily as the internal stirrings of warm feeling toward others, but as the soul's performing all the duties of the second table of the law — all of which the New Testament repeatedly tells us that true love for one another includes (Romans 13:8, 10; Galatians 5:14; Matthew 22:39-40). In reality, there is no place in the New Testament where the deliberate purpose is to give signs of godliness where holy practice and keeping Christ's commandments is not the mark chosen above all others to be insisted on. This is a conclusive argument that it is the chief of all evidences of godliness — unless we suppose that when Christ and His apostles deliberately set themselves to giving signs by which professing Christians in all ages could determine their state, they did not know how to choose signs as well as we could have chosen for them. But if we take the Word of Christ as our rule, then undoubtedly those marks which Christ and His apostles chiefly laid down and gave us to test ourselves by — those same marks we ought especially to receive and chiefly to use in testing ourselves. And surely those things that Christ and His apostles chiefly insisted on in the rules they gave, ministers ought to chiefly insist on in the rules they give. To insist much on things that Scripture insists little on, and to insist very little on things that Scripture insists much on, is a dangerous course — because it means departing from God's way and judging ourselves and guiding others in an unscriptural manner. God knew which way of leading and guiding souls was safest and best for them. He insisted greatly on certain things because He knew they needed to be insisted on. As a wise God, He left other things more alone because He knew it was not best for us to place the weight of the test there. As the Sabbath was made for humanity, so the Scriptures were made for humanity — fitted by infinite wisdom for our use and benefit. We should therefore make Scripture our guide in all things — in how we think about religion and about ourselves. To make great what Scripture makes small, and small what Scripture makes great, tends to give us a distorted idea of religion, and — at least indirectly and gradually — to lead us entirely away from the right standard and from a right view of ourselves, and to establish delusion and hypocrisy.

Argument 5. Christian practice is plainly spoken of in God's Word as the main evidence of the truth of grace — not only to others, but to a person's own conscience. It is not only mentioned and insisted on more than other signs; in many places where it is spoken of, it is presented as the chief of all evidences. This is clear from the emphatic manner in which it is expressed from time to time. If God were now to speak from heaven to resolve our doubts about signs of godliness, and were to give a particular sign by which all might know whether they were sincerely godly, using such emphatic expressions as these: 'The person who has this qualification — that is the true saint, that is the very one, by this you may know, this is the thing by which saints and sinners are revealed, such people are truly saints' — would we not regard it as beyond doubt that this was given as a special and distinctively important mark of true godliness? But this is exactly the case with the sign of grace I am describing. God has again and again spoken in His Word in exactly this way concerning Christian practice. John 14:21: 'He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.' Christ gives this not so much to guide the disciples in judging others, but to apply to themselves for their own comfort after His departure — as every word of the context makes clear. And by the way, it is worth noting not only the emphasis with which Christ speaks, but also how much He insists on and repeats the point throughout that context. Verse 15: 'If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.' Verse 23: 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.' Verse 24: 'He who does not love Me does not keep My words.' And in the next chapter He repeats it again and again. Verse 2: 'Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it.' Verse 8: 'My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.' Verse 14: 'You are My friends if you do what I command you.' We have this mark laid down with the same emphasis in John 8:31: 'If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.' And again in 1 John 2:3: 'By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.' Verse 5: 'But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.' And 1 John 3:18-19: 'Let us love in deed and truth. By this we will know that we are of the truth.' And how plainly is holy practice spoken of as the grand mark of distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil in verse 10 of that same chapter: 'By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.' This is said in the context of holy and wicked practice, as all the surrounding verses show. Verse 3: 'Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.' Verses 6-10: 'No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil... No one who is born of God practices sin... The one who does not practice righteousness is not of God.' So 2 John 6: 'This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.' That is, as we must understand it, this is the proper evidence of love. So 1 John 5:3: 'This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.' So the apostle James, speaking of the proper evidences of true and pure religion, says in James 1:27: 'Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.' We find the same kind of emphatic language in the Old Testament as well. Job 28:28: 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.' Jeremiah 22:15-16: 'Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me? declares the Lord.' Psalm 34:11 and following: 'Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord... Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.' Psalm 15:1-2: 'O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity.' Psalm 24:3-4: 'Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.' Psalm 119:1: 'How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.' Verse 6: 'Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments.' Proverbs 8:13: 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.'

Scripture never uses such emphatic language concerning any other sign of hypocrisy and insincerity of heart as it uses concerning an unholy practice. Galatians 6:7: 'Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.' 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: 'Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters,' and so on, 'will inherit the kingdom of God.' Ephesians 5:5-6: 'For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person,' and so on, 'has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words.' 1 John 3:7-8: 'Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil.' 1 John 2:4: 'The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.' 1 John 1:6: 'If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.' James 1:27: 'If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.' James 3:14-15: 'But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.' Psalm 125:5.

Psalm 125:5: 'As for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.' Isaiah 35:8: 'A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it.' Revelation 21:27: 'And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it.' And in many places: 'Depart from Me; I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness.'

Argument 6. Another thing that makes it evident that holy practice is the chief of all signs of the sincerity of professors — not only to the world but to their own consciences — is that this is the grand evidence that will be used at the judgment seat of God, by which His judgment will be regulated and the state of every professor of religion irrevocably determined. At the future judgment there will be an open trial of professors, and evidences will be used in the judgment. For God's future judging of people, in order to their eternal reward or punishment, will not be His privately trying and finding out and passing judgment on the state of their hearts within His own mind. It will be a declarative judgment. Its purpose will not be God forming a judgment within Himself, but the public manifestation of His judgment and its righteousness — to people's own consciences and to the world. Therefore the day of judgment is called 'the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God' (Romans 2:5). The purpose of God's future trial and judgment of each person will be especially the clear manifestation of God's righteous judgment concerning him to his own conscience — as is evident from Matthew 18:31 to the end; 20:8-15; 22:11-13; 25:19-30 and verse 35 to the end; and Luke 19:15-23. Therefore, though God needs no evidence to make the truth clear to Himself, evidences will be used in His future judgment of people. And the evidences used in their trial will undoubtedly be those best fitted to serve the ends of the judgment — namely the manifestation of God's righteous judgment, not only to the world but to people's own consciences. Scripture teaches abundantly that the grand evidence the Judge will use in the trial for these ends — by which the judgment of each person will be regulated and the irrevocable sentence passed — will be their works, their practice in this world. Revelation 20:12: 'And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened... and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.' Verse 13: 'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.' 2 Corinthians 5:10: 'For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.' Practice is the only evidence that Christ represents the future judgment as governed by in the most detailed description of the day of judgment we have in the Bible — Matthew 25, at the close. See also Romans 2:6-13; Jeremiah 17:10; Job 34:11; Proverbs 24:12; Jeremiah 32:19; Revelation 22:12; Matthew 16:27; Revelation 2:23; Ezekiel 33:20; 1 Peter 1:17. At the day of judgment, the Judge will not — in order to convict people's consciences and make them manifest to the world — proceed to examine people about the method of their experiences or have every person tell the story of how they were converted. Their works will be brought forth as evidence of what they are — what they have done in darkness and in light (Ecclesiastes 12:14): 'For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.' In the trial that professors will undergo at the future judgment, God will use the same evidences to make them manifest to themselves and to the world that He uses to make them manifest in the trials of His providence now — namely their practice in the cases where Christ and other things come into actual and immediate competition. At the day of judgment, God will weigh professors in a visible balance for the manifestation of His righteous judgment. And it will be the same balance in which He weighs people now — the balance already described.

From this we may undoubtedly conclude that people's works — understood in the sense that has been explained — are the highest evidence by which they ought to test themselves. Certainly what our supreme Judge will chiefly use to judge us when we stand before Him, we should chiefly use to judge ourselves. If God had not revealed the manner and evidence by which the Judge would proceed with us hereafter, how natural it would be to say: 'Oh, that I knew what token God will chiefly look for and insist upon in the last and decisive judgment — the token He expects all who will be accepted to be able to produce — according to which the sentence will be passed — so that I might know what token or evidence especially to seek now, so as not to fail then.' And since God has so plainly and thoroughly revealed what this token or evidence is, surely if we act wisely, we will regard it as of the greatest importance.

From everything that has been said, I believe it is abundantly clear that Christian practice is the most proper evidence of the gracious sincerity of professors — to themselves and to others — and is the chief of all marks of grace, the sign of signs, the evidence of evidences, the thing that seals and crowns all other signs. I would rather have the testimony of my own conscience that I have such a word from my supreme Judge on my side as John 14:21 — 'He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me' — than the judgment and fullest approval of all the wisest, soundest, and most experienced theologians of the past thousand years, based on the most careful and searching examination of my conversion experience. Not that there are no other good evidences of a state of grace. There may be other exercises of grace besides these practical exercises — experiences the saints have in contemplation — that may be very assuring to them. But this remains the chief and most proper evidence. There may be several good ways to tell that a tree is a fig tree, but the highest and most proper evidence is that it actually produces figs. It is possible for a person to have a good assurance of a state of grace at his first conversion, before he has had opportunity to build assurance through this great evidence. If a man hears that a great treasure is offered to him in a distant land on the condition that he value it enough to leave what he has at home and make the journey over the rocky mountains in the way — it is possible for him to be fully assured, the moment the offer is made, that he values the treasure as described. He may feel, beyond any doubt, a willingness to go. But this does not prevent his actually going from being the highest and most proper evidence of that willingness — both to others and to himself. But when considered as evidence to himself, the outward actions and movements of his body on the journey are not considered in isolation from the action of his mind and the consciousness within him of what is moving him and the end he is pursuing. Without that inward dimension, his bodily movement is no evidence to him that he values the treasure. In this way is Christian practice the most proper evidence of a saving valuation of 'the pearl of great price' and the 'treasure hidden in the field.'

Christian practice is the sign of signs in this sense: it is the great evidence that confirms and crowns all other signs of godliness. There is no single grace of the Spirit of God for which Christian practice is not the most proper evidence of its truth. Just as with the members of our bodies and all our tools, the proper proof of their soundness and usefulness is in their use — so it is with our graces, which are given to be used in practice just as much as our hands and feet, or the tools we work with, or the weapons we fight with. The proper test and proof of them is in their exercise in practice. Most of the things we use prove their usefulness by being put under some pressure, strain, agitation, or stress — a bow, a sword, an axe, a saw, a rope, a chain, a staff, a foot, a tooth, and so on. Those that are too weak to bear the strain or pressure we need to apply are useless. So it is with all the virtues of the mind. The proper test and proof of them is in being exercised under the temptations and trials that God brings us through in His providence, and in being put to service that presses hard against our natural inclinations.

Practice is the proper proof of true and saving knowledge of God, as the apostle's words already cited show: 'By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.' It is useless to 'profess that we know God' if 'in works we deny Him' (Titus 1:16). And if we 'know God but do not honor Him as God,' our knowledge will only condemn us, not save us (Romans 1:21). The defining mark of the knowledge that saves and brings happiness is that it is practical (John 13:17): 'If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.' Job 28:28: 'To depart from evil is understanding.'

Holy practice is the proper evidence of repentance. When the Jews professed repentance, coming and confessing their sins to John who preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, John directed them to the right way of obtaining and exhibiting proper evidence of the truth of their repentance by saying: 'Bear fruit in keeping with repentance' (Matthew 3:8). The apostle Paul followed the same pattern — see Acts 26:20. Pardon and mercy are repeatedly promised in Scripture to the one who has this evidence of true repentance — that he forsakes his sin (Proverbs 28:13; Isaiah 55:7; and many other places).

Holy practice is the proper evidence of saving faith. It is clear that the apostle James speaks of works as the thing that most clearly justifies faith — or, which is the same thing, that most clearly justifies those who profess faith and demonstrates the sincerity of their profession, not only to the world but to their own consciences. This is evident in the example he gives of Abraham (James 2:21-24). In verses 22 and 26 he speaks of the practical and active nature of faith as its very life and soul — in the same way that the active substance within a person's body is the life and soul of that body. If so, then practice is undoubtedly the proper evidence of the life and soul of true faith, by which it is distinguished from a dead faith. Practice is the most proper evidence of a practical nature, and operation is the most proper evidence of an operative nature.

Practice is the best evidence of a saving belief of the truth. What is spoken of as the proper evidence that truth is in a professing Christian is that 'he walks in the truth' (3 John 3): 'I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.'

Practice is the most proper evidence of a true coming to Christ and accepting and embracing Him. A true and saving coming to Christ is — as Christ often says — a coming that forsakes all for Him. As noted before, to forsake all for Christ in heart is the same as having a heart that will actually forsake all. But the proper evidence of having a heart that will actually forsake all is actually forsaking all, to the extent one is called to. If a prince courts a woman in a distant country, asking her to leave her own people and her father's household and come to him as his bride, the proper evidence of her heart's acceptance of the prince's proposal is her actually leaving her people and her father's household and coming to him. By this her acceptance of the prince's suit is made perfect — in the same sense that the apostle James says 'by works faith was made perfect.' Christ promises life on the condition of coming to Him — but it is the kind of coming He directed the young man to who asked what he must do to have eternal life. Christ told him to go, sell everything he had, and come and follow Him. If the man had consented in his heart to the proposal — and thereby come to Christ in his heart — the proper evidence would have been his actually doing it, and in that his coming to Christ would have been made perfect. When Christ called Matthew the tax collector — who was sitting at his tax booth in the midst of his worldly profits — the embracing of his heart to his Savior's call to come to Him was expressed and made perfect by actually getting up, leaving everything, and following Him (Luke 5:27-28). Christ and other things are set before us together, calling us in practice to cling to Him and forsake the other. In such a case, practically clinging to Christ is practically accepting Christ — just as a beggar's reaching out his hand and taking an offered gift is his practical acceptance of the gift. Indeed, the very act of the soul that clings to Christ in practice is itself the most complete coming of the soul to Christ.

Practice is the most proper evidence of trusting in Christ for salvation. The proper meaning of the word 'trust,' both in ordinary speech and in Scripture, is the encouragement of a person's mind to take some venture in practice — to do something — on the credit of another's sufficiency and faithfulness. Therefore the proper evidence of trust is the venture one takes in what one does. A person cannot properly be said to be running any venture in dependence on something if he does nothing based on that dependence — if his practice is no different from what it would be without it. For a person to run a venture in dependence on another is to do something on the basis of that dependence which he would not do apart from it. Therefore it is in accepting the difficulties and apparent dangers of Christian practice — in dependence on Christ's sufficiency and faithfulness to bestow eternal life — that people are said to venture themselves upon Christ and to trust in Him for salvation. They depend on such promises as Matthew 10:39: 'He who has lost his life for My sake will find it.' And so they part with all and venture everything in dependence on Christ's sufficiency and faithfulness. This is what Scripture means by trusting in Christ in the exercise of saving faith in Him. Thus Abraham, the father of believers, trusted in Christ — by faith he left his own country in reliance on the covenant of grace God established with him (Hebrews 11:8-9). So also Moses: 'By faith he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin' (Hebrews 11:23 and following). So by faith others exposed themselves to being stoned, sawn in two, or killed by the sword; they endured mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonment; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and tormented. And in this sense the apostle Paul trusted in Christ by faith and committed himself to Him — venturing himself and all his interests in dependence on the ability and faithfulness of his Redeemer, under great persecution and in the loss of all things (2 Timothy 1:12): 'For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.'

If a man receives word from the king of a distant land that he intends to make him his heir, and upon receiving this news he immediately leaves his native land, his friends, and everything he has in the world to go to that country in reliance on the promise — then he may properly be said to have ventured himself and all he has on it. But if he only sits still and hopes for the promised benefit, pleasing himself inwardly with thoughts of it, he cannot properly be said to have ventured himself on it. He runs no risk in the matter. He does nothing differently from what he would do if he had received no such message — nothing that would expose him to suffering if it all turned out to be false. So the person who, on the credit of what he hears about a future world and in reliance on the gospel's report of life and immortality, forsakes all — or at least does so as far as occasion requires, making everything else entirely give way to his eternal interest — that person, and only that person, may properly be said to have ventured himself on the report of the gospel. And this is the proper evidence of a true trust in Christ for salvation.

Practice is the proper evidence of gracious love — both to God and to other people. The texts that clearly teach this have been mentioned so often already that it is unnecessary to repeat them.

Practice is the proper evidence of humility. The expression and manifestation of humility of heart that God identifies as its great expression — the one He insists upon — is what we should regard as its proper expression and manifestation. And that is walking humbly (Micah 6:8): 'He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?'

Practice is also the proper evidence of the true fear of God (Proverbs 8:13).

Proverbs 8:13: 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.' Psalm 34:11 and following: 'Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit; depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.' Proverbs 3:7: 'Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.' Proverbs 16:6: 'By the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.' Job 1:8: 'Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.' Job 2:3: 'Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him.' Psalm 36:1: 'Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.'

So practice — in returning to God in proportion to the blessings received — is the proper evidence of true thankfulness. Psalm 116:12: 'What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?' 2 Chronicles 32:25: 'But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received.' Paying our vows to God and ordering our conduct rightly are spoken of as the proper expression and evidence of true thankfulness in Psalm 50:14: 'Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High.' Verse 23: 'He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.'

The proper evidence of gracious desires and longings — what distinguishes them from those that are false and empty — is that they are not idle wishes like Balaam's, but are effective in practice, genuinely stirring a person to earnestly and thoroughly seek what he longs for. Psalm 27:4: 'One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek.' Psalm 63:1-2: 'O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water, to see Your power and Your glory.' Verse 8: 'My soul clings to You.' Song of Solomon 1:4: 'Draw me after you and let us run together.'

Practice is the proper evidence of a gracious hope. 1 John 3:3: 'And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.' Patient perseverance in doing good through the difficulties and trials of the Christian life is often mentioned as the proper expression and fruit of a Christian hope. 1 Thessalonians 1:3: 'Constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.' 1 Peter 1:13-14: 'Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children...' Psalm 119:166: 'I hope for Your salvation, O Lord, and do Your commandments.' Psalm 78:7: 'That they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.'

Cheerful practice of our duty and doing the will of God is the proper evidence of truly holy joy. Isaiah 64:5: 'You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness.' Psalm 119:111-112: 'I have inherited Your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end.' Verse 14: 'I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.' 1 Corinthians 13:6: 'Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.' 2 Corinthians 8:2: 'Their abundance of joy overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.'

Practice is also the proper evidence of Christian fortitude. A good soldier is not tested at the fireside but in the field of battle (1 Corinthians 9:25-26; 2 Timothy 2:3-5).

Just as the fruit of holy practice is the chief evidence of the truth of grace, so the degree to which experiences have influence on a person's practice is the most reliable evidence of the degree of what is spiritual and divine in those experiences. Whatever claims people make to great discoveries, great love and great joys — these are only to be credited as far as they have influence on practice. Allowances must be made for natural temperament. But that does not prevent grace being rightly measured by the degree of its effect in practice. The effect of grace is just as great, and the change just as remarkable, in a person with a very difficult natural temperament as in another. Although a person of such a temperament will not behave as well with the same degree of grace as another, the difference from what was before conversion may be equally great — since a person of a naturally good temperament did not behave as badly before conversion.

This completes my effort to present the evidence that Christian practice is the chief of all signs of saving grace. Before concluding this discussion, I want to briefly address two objections that may be raised by some against what has been said on this point.

Objection 1. Some may say that this appears to be contrary to the view widely held among godly people — that professors should judge their state chiefly by their inward experience, and that spiritual experiences are the main evidence of true grace.

I answer: it is undoubtedly a true opinion, and rightly held by many godly people, that professors should chiefly judge their state by their experience. But it is a great mistake to think that what has been said is in any way contrary to that view. The chief sign of grace to a Christian's conscience being Christian practice — in the sense that has been explained, and according to what has been shown to be the true nature of Christian practice — is not at all inconsistent with Christian experience being the chief evidence of grace. Christian or holy practice is spiritual practice. It is not the movement of a body that does not know how, when, or why it moves. Spiritual practice in a person is the practice of spirit and body together — the practice of a spirit that gives life to, commands, and directs a body to which it is joined and over which the Creator has given it authority. Therefore the main thing in holy practice is the holy acts of the mind that direct and govern the movements of the body. The movements of the body are to be seen as belonging to Christian practice only secondarily, and only as they depend on and flow from the acts of the soul. The exercises of grace that Christians find within themselves — that they are conscious of — are what they experience within themselves. That is what Christian experience consists in. And Christian experience consists as much in those effective exercises of grace in the will that are immediately involved in directing the behavior of the body as in other exercises. These inward exercises are not any the less a part of Christian experience because they have outward behavior immediately connected with them. A strong act of love toward God is not the less a part of spiritual experience because it is the very act that immediately produces and carries out some costly, self-denying outward action that greatly honors and glorifies God.

To speak of Christian experience and practice as if they were two things entirely and properly distinct from each other is to make a distinction without good reason. Indeed, not all Christian experience is properly called practice — but all Christian practice is properly experience. And the distinction made between them is not only unreasonable but unscriptural. Holy practice is one kind — one part — of Christian experience; and both reason and Scripture represent it as the chief, most important, and most distinguishing part. So it is represented in Jeremiah 22:15-16: 'Did not your father eat and drink and practice justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me? declares the Lord.' Our inward acquaintance with God certainly belongs to the category of experiential religion — but God here represents it as consisting chiefly in the experience there is in holy practice. So the exercises of the love of God and the fear of God are part of experiential religion — but Scripture represents these as consisting chiefly in practice, in the texts already mentioned: 1 John 5:3: 'This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.' 2 John 6: 'This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.' Psalm 34:11 and following: 'Come, children, I will teach you the fear of the Lord... Depart from evil and do good.' These were the kinds of experiences Hezekiah drew comfort from chiefly on his sick bed when he said: 'Remember, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart.' And these are the kinds of experiences the psalmist chiefly insists upon in Psalm 119 and elsewhere. These are the kinds of experiences the apostle Paul chiefly emphasizes when he speaks of his own experience in his letters — Romans 1:9: 'God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son.' 2 Corinthians 1:12: 'For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world.' 2 Corinthians 4:13: 'But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak.' 2 Corinthians 5:7: 'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' Verse 14: 'For the love of Christ controls us.' 2 Corinthians 6:4-7: 'In everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fasting, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the power of God.' Galatians 2:20: 'I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.' Philippians 3:7-8: 'But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.' Colossians 1:29: 'For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.' 1 Thessalonians 2:2: 'We had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.' Verses 8-10: 'Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day... You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers.' And it was such experiences as these that the blessed apostle chiefly comforted himself with as he faced martyrdom (2 Timothy 4:6-7): 'For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.'

Not only does the most important and distinguishing part of Christian experience consist in spiritual practice, but such is the nature of those exercises of grace in which spiritual practice consists that nothing is more properly called by the name of experimental religion. The experience that is found in these exercises of grace — exercises that prove effective at the very point of trial, where God tests which we will actually cling to, whether Christ or our sinful desires — are, as has been shown, the proper experiment that tests the truth and power of our godliness, wherein its victorious power and effectiveness in reaching its proper end is found by experience. This is properly Christian experience — the place where saints have the opportunity to discover, by actual experience and trial, whether they have a heart to do God's will and to forsake other things for Christ. Just as experimental philosophy is that which brings ideas and theories to the test of fact, so what is properly called experimental religion is that which brings religious affections and intentions to the same kind of test.

There is a kind of external religious practice that contains no inward experience — God places no value on it and considers it worthless. And there is what people call experience that is without practice — neither accompanied nor followed by Christian behavior — and this is worse than nothing. Many people seem to have very mistaken ideas about Christian experience, spiritual light, and spiritual discovery. Whenever a person finds within himself a heart to treat God as God at the moment of trial, and finds his disposition effective in the experiment — that is the most proper and most distinguishing experience. And to have at such a time a sense of divine things — a perception of the truth, importance, and excellence of the things of religion that actually sways, prevails, and governs the heart and hands — that is the most excellent spiritual light, and those are the most distinguishing discoveries. Religion consists greatly in holy affection — but those exercises of affection that are most distinguishing of true religion are these practical exercises. Friendship between earthly friends consists greatly in affection — but those strong exercises of affection that actually carry friends through fire and water for each other are the highest evidence of true friendship.

There is nothing in what has been said that is contrary to what is affirmed by sound theologians when they say there are no reliable evidences of grace except acts of grace. For that does not prevent these effective, productive acts — those exercises of grace that prove effectual in practice — from being the highest evidences above all other kinds of acts of grace. Nor does it prevent the evidence from growing stronger when there are many of these acts and exercises following one another in a course under various kinds of trials — as one act confirms another. A person who catches one glimpse of a neighbor may have good evidence that the neighbor is present. But by seeing him day after day and conversing with him in various circumstances over a period of time, the evidence becomes well established. When the disciples first saw Christ after His resurrection, they had good evidence He was alive. But by conversing with Him for forty days, and His 'presenting Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs,' they had yet stronger evidence.

The witness or seal of the Spirit that we read of undoubtedly consists in the effect of the Spirit of God in the heart — in the planting and exercise of grace there — and so consists in experience. And it is also beyond doubt that this seal of the Spirit is the highest kind of evidence of the saint's adoption that they ever obtain. But in these exercises of grace in practice that have been described, God gives witness and sets His seal in the most clear, conspicuous, and evident manner. It has been abundantly confirmed by the experience of the Christian church that Christ commonly gives, by His Spirit, the greatest and most joyful evidences of sonship to His saints in those effective exercises of grace under trial — as is evident in the full assurance and unspeakable joy of many of the martyrs. This is consistent with 1 Peter 4:14: 'If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.' And Romans 5:2-3: 'We exult in hope of the glory of God, and we also exult in our tribulations.' And with what the apostle Paul often declares of what he experienced in his trials. When the apostle Peter, in my text, speaks of 'joy inexpressible and full of glory' that the Christians he was writing to experienced, he has in view what they found under persecution — as the context makes clear. Christ's thus manifesting Himself as the Friend and Savior of His saints who cling to Him under trials seems to have been prefigured in His coming and revealing Himself to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace. When the apostle speaks of the witness of the Spirit in Romans 8:15-17, he has more immediate reference to what the Christians experienced in their exercises of love to God in suffering persecution — as is plain from the context. In the verses before, he is encouraging the Roman Christians under their sufferings, that though their bodies are dead because of sin, they will be raised to life again. This is made especially plain by the very next verse (verse 18): 'For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.' The apostle clearly has their persecutions in view throughout all that follows to the end of the chapter. So when the apostle speaks of 'the earnest of the Spirit' that God had given him in 2 Corinthians 5:5, the context plainly shows he has reference to what was given him in his great trials and sufferings. And in the promise of 'the white stone and a new name, to him who overcomes' in Revelation 2:17, it is clear that Christ has special reference to a benefit that Christians would obtain by overcoming in the trial of that day of persecution — as verse 13 and many other passages in the letters to the seven churches of Asia make clear.

Objection 2. Some may also object against what has been said about Christian practice being the chief evidence of the truth of grace, claiming that this is a legal doctrine — that making practice so important in religion magnifies works and tends to lead people to rely too much on their own doings, to the diminishment of the glory of free grace, and does not seem to fit well with the great gospel doctrine of justification by faith alone.

But this objection has no force. In what way is it inconsistent with the freeness of God's grace that holy practice should be a sign of that grace? It is our works being the price of God's favor — not their being the sign of it — that is inconsistent with the freeness of that favor. Surely a beggar's looking at the money in his hand as a sign of the kindness of the one who gave it to him is in no way inconsistent with the freeness of that kindness. It is his having money as the price of a benefit that is inconsistent with the giver's free kindness. The concept of the freeness of God's grace to sinners — as it is revealed and taught in the gospel — is not that no holy and admirable qualities or actions in us will be a fruit and therefore a sign of that grace. It is that it is not the worthiness or loveliness of any quality or action of ours that commends us to that grace. It is that kindness is shown to the unworthy and unlovely — that great excellence belongs to the benefit given, while no excellence in the one receiving it is its price — that goodness flows out from the fullness of God's nature, the fullness of the fountain of good, without any attractiveness in the object drawing it. And this is the concept of justification without works, as the doctrine is taught in Scripture: that it is not the worthiness or loveliness of our works, or anything in us, which is in any way accepted by God as a balancing of the guilt of sin or as a recommendation of sinners to His acceptance as heirs of life. We are justified only by the righteousness of Christ, and not by our own righteousness. And when works are contrasted with faith in this matter — when it is said that we are justified by faith and not by works — the meaning is that it is not the worthiness or loveliness of our works, or anything in us, that brings us into a relationship with Christ and His benefits. We have this relationship only through faith — by the soul's receiving Christ, adhering to Him, and embracing Him. But the fact that nothing in us commends us or brings us into a relationship with Christ is no argument that nothing in us is a sign of that relationship.

If the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith alone were inconsistent with the importance of holy practice as a sign of grace, they would be equally inconsistent with the importance of anything whatsoever in us as a sign of grace — any holiness, any grace in us, any of our experiences or religion. For it is just as contrary to the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith alone that any of these should be the righteousness by which we are justified as that holy practice should be. What applies to holy works applies equally to holy qualities: it is inconsistent with the freeness of gospel grace that a title to salvation should be given for the loveliness of any of our holy qualities, just as much as for the holiness of our works. It is inconsistent with the gospel doctrine of free grace that an interest in Christ and His benefits should be given for the loveliness of a person's true holiness — for the attractiveness of his renewed, sanctified, heavenly heart, his love for God, his likeness to God, his experience of joy in the Holy Spirit, his self-emptying, his spirit to exalt Christ above all and give all glory to Him, and his heart devoted to Him. I say, it is inconsistent with the gospel doctrine of free grace that a title to Christ's benefits should be given out of regard for the loveliness of any of these, or that any of these should be our righteousness in the matter of justification. And yet this does not prevent these things from being important as evidences of an interest in Christ. Exactly so it is with holy actions and works. To make light of works because we are not justified by works is effectively the same as making light of all religion, all grace and holiness — yes, true evangelical holiness — and all gracious experience. For all of this is included when Scripture says we are not justified by works. By 'works' in this case is meant all our own righteousness, religion, or holiness — everything that is in us, all the good we do, all the good we are conscious of, all external acts, all internal acts and exercises of grace, all experiences, and all those holy and heavenly things in which the life, power, and very essence of religion consist — all the great things that Christ and His apostles chiefly emphasized in their preaching and labored to promote as of the greatest importance in the hearts and lives of people — and all good dispositions, exercises, and qualities of every kind whatsoever, even faith itself considered as part of our holiness. For we are justified by none of these things; and if we were, we would in the scriptural sense be justified by works. Therefore, if it is legal and contrary to the evangelical doctrine of justification without works to insist on any of these as of great importance as evidence of an interest in Christ, then it is no more legal to insist on the importance of holy practice. It would be legal to suppose that holy practice justifies by bringing us a title to Christ's benefits as its price, or by commending us to them by its preciousness or excellence. But it is not legal to suppose that holy practice justifies the sincerity of a believer as its proper evidence. The apostle James did not think it was legal to say that 'Abraham our father was justified by works' in this sense. The Spirit that inspired Scripture did not think the great importance and absolute necessity of holy practice in this regard to be inconsistent with the freeness of grace — for Scripture commonly teaches both together, as in Revelation 21:6-7. God says, 'I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.' And then immediately adds: 'He who overcomes will inherit these things' — as though behaving well in the Christian race and warfare were the condition of the promise. So in the next chapter, at Revelation 22:14-15, Christ says: 'Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.' And then He declares how those who practice wickedness will be excluded. Yet in the very next two verses He issues with great solemnity an invitation to all to come and take the water of life freely: 'I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things... The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.' So Revelation 3:20-21: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.' And then immediately: 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne.' And in that great invitation of Christ in Matthew 11 — 'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest' — Christ immediately adds: 'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.' As though taking up Christ's service and imitating His example were necessary to the promised rest. So in that great invitation to sinners to accept free grace in Isaiah 55 — 'Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost' — even there, in the continuation of the same invitation, the sinner's forsaking his wicked practice is spoken of as necessary to obtaining mercy (verse 7): 'Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.' So the riches of divine grace in the justification of sinners are set forth alongside the necessity of holy practice in Isaiah 1:15 and following: 'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.' And in that most solemn invitation of Wisdom in Proverbs 9 — after it is described what great provision has been made, the house built, the animals slaughtered, the wine poured, the table spread, and messengers sent out to invite the guests — the free invitation comes in verses 4-6: 'Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! To him who lacks sense she says, Come, eat of my food and drink of the wine I have mixed.' But then in the very next breath it continues: 'Forsake your folly and live, and proceed in the way of understanding.' As though forsaking sin and walking in holiness were necessary to life. So the freeness of grace and the necessity of holy practice — joined together in Scripture time and again — are not inconsistent with one another. Nor does it in any way diminish the honor and importance of faith that the exercises and effects of faith in practice should be regarded as the chief signs of it — any more than regarding action and movement as the chief signs of life diminishes the importance of life.

In everything that has been said about the importance of holy practice as the main sign of sincerity, there is nothing legal, nothing that diminishes the freedom and sovereignty of gospel grace, nothing that clashes in the slightest with the gospel doctrine of justification by faith alone without the works of the law, nothing that tends to lessen the glory of the Mediator or our dependence on His righteousness, nothing that infringes on the special role of faith in the matter of our salvation, and nothing that in any way takes from the glory of God and His mercy, exalts human achievement, or diminishes our dependence and obligation. So if anyone objects to the importance of holy practice as described, it can only be from a senseless aversion to the letters and sound of the word 'works.' There is no reason in the world for such an aversion that could not equally be applied to the words holiness, godliness, grace, religion, experience, and even faith itself. For to make any of these the ground of our righteousness before God is just as legal, and just as inconsistent with the way of the new covenant, as making holy practice the ground of it.

It is greatly harmful to religion for people to make light of and minimize those things that Scripture most insists on as being of greatest importance in the evidence of our interest in Christ — under the notion that placing weight on them is legal and an old-covenant approach — and so to neglect the exercises and effective operations of grace in practice, insisting almost entirely on discoveries and the manner and method of the internal exercises of conscience and grace in contemplation, relying on an ability to make fine distinctions in these matters and a faculty of accurate discernment based on philosophy or experience. It is useless to seek for better or further signs than those which Scripture has most plainly stated and most frequently insisted on as signs of godliness. Those who claim to offer greater accuracy in giving signs — or who, by extraordinary experience or insight into the nature of things, claim to give more distinguishing marks that more thoroughly expose the hypocrite — are only skilled at darkening their own minds and the minds of others. Their refinements and subtle discernments are, in God's sight, refined foolishness and clever self-deception. To this apply the words of Agur in Proverbs 30:5-6: 'Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.' Our wisdom and discernment with respect to the hearts of people is not much to be trusted. We can see only a little way into the nature of the soul and the depths of the human heart. There are so many ways in which people's affections may be stirred without any supernatural influence — the natural sources of emotion are so various and hidden, so many things often combine to influence the affections, the imagination (and this in ways beyond count and comprehension), natural temperament, upbringing, the common influences of the Spirit of God, a surprising collection of affecting circumstances, an unusual coincidence of things in the course of a person's thoughts, along with the subtle management of invisible, malicious spirits — that no philosophy or human experience will ever be sufficient to guide us safely through this labyrinth and maze without closely following the thread that God has given us in His Word. God knows His own reasons for insisting on certain things and plainly presenting them as the things by which we should test ourselves rather than others. Perhaps it is because He knows that these things are attended with less confusion and that we are less likely to be deceived through them than through others. He knows our nature best; He knows the nature and manner of His own operations; He knows best the way of our safety. He knows what allowances to make for different states of His church and different temperaments of particular people, for variations in the manner of His operations, how far nature may resemble grace, how far nature may be mixed with grace, what affections may arise from imagination, and how far imagination may be mixed with spiritual illumination. It is therefore our wisdom not to take His work out of His hands, but to follow Him and rest our self-judgment where He has directed it. If we do otherwise, no wonder we become bewildered, confused, and fatally deceived. But if we were to make a habit of looking chiefly at the things Christ, His apostles, and His prophets chiefly insisted on — and so, in judging ourselves and others, to pay primary attention to the practical exercises and effects of grace without neglecting other things — the results would be happily manifold. More than anything else, it would tend to convict deluded hypocrites and prevent the self-deception of those whose hearts have never been truly brought into compliance with the straight and narrow way that leads to life. It would tend to deliver us from countless difficulties arising from the various, inconsistent schemes and sequences of experience. It would greatly prevent professors from neglecting a strict life and would promote earnestness and engagement in their Christian walk. It would become customary for people to show their Christianity more by a godly and distinguished manner of life than by excessive declarations of their spiritual experiences. And we would come to appear lively in religion more by being lively in the service of God and our generation than by the liveliness and forwardness of our tongues, and making a habit of proclaiming from the housetops the holy and eminent acts and exercises of our own hearts. And Christians who are close friends would talk together of their experiences and comforts in a way more fitting to Christian humility and modesty, and more to each other's benefit — their tongues going behind rather than ahead of their hands and feet, after the wise example of the blessed apostle (2 Corinthians 12:6). Many occasions of spiritual pride would be cut off. A great door would be shut against the devil. Many of the main stumbling blocks against experiential and powerful religion would be removed. And religion would be declared and made visible in such a way that, instead of hardening observers and greatly promoting unbelief and atheism, it would above all things tend to convince people that there is a reality in religion — greatly awakening them and winning them by convincing their consciences of the importance and excellence of religion. Thus the light of professors would so shine before people that others, seeing their good works, would glorify their Father who is in heaven.

Part 3.

I now turn to the second part of the inquiry into religious affections — distinguishing the characteristics of truly gracious and holy affections from those that are not.

Before presenting these distinguishing characteristics, I want to make several preliminary observations.

First, I am not claiming to provide signs that will allow one person to make a certain judgment about another person's spiritual state. God has reserved the final, decisive judgment of hearts for Himself. The signs I will offer may serve as reasonable grounds for charitable judgment, but not for the kind of certain, definitive verdict that belongs to God alone.

Second, these signs will not enable a true saint who is in a very low spiritual condition, or in a bad spiritual frame, to gain a clear knowledge of his own good standing before God. When grace is very weak or when sin has brought the soul into a dark and troubled state, the marks of grace are difficult to read — not because the marks are defective, but because the person's condition makes them hard to see.

This difficulty does not mean the signs themselves are faulty. The problem lies with the person, not the signs — and it takes two forms. The first is a defect in the object — that is, in grace itself. When grace is very small and weak, it is hard to see, just as it is hard to tell from examining an embryo whether it will develop into a dove or a raven. The features that will later distinguish the two creatures clearly are not yet visible in their earliest, most undeveloped form.

The second defect is in the eye — that is, in the person's spiritual sight. Sin clouds and dims the eyes of the soul. A person in a bad spiritual frame sees everything through a distorting lens. Just as a serious illness can impair a person's senses so that they cannot accurately perceive what is before them, so spiritual sickness distorts the soul's perception of its own condition. In such a state, even genuine signs of grace may not be seen clearly enough to bring assurance.

When a person is in a bad spiritual frame, examining signs will not bring assurance. Before the signs can do their work, the problem that caused the bad frame must be addressed. Achan had to be removed from the camp before Israel could move forward. The way to regain assurance in such a case is not primarily by examining signs but by acting — by vigorously renewing one's engagement with godliness. This is what the apostle Paul did: rather than looking back and examining past experiences, he pressed forward (Philippians 3:13-14). And this is the approach the apostle Peter recommends in 2 Peter 1:5-11 — rather than offering a method of self-examination, he calls believers to add virtue to virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. He tells them that if these things are in them and are increasing, they will never stumble, and they will have rich entry into the eternal kingdom. The way to make one's calling and election sure is through the diligent exercise of these graces in practice.

Nevertheless, the signs I will describe are still genuinely useful to true saints in various ways. For those who are not in a deeply troubled frame, they can provide real grounds for assurance. For those who are troubled by particular scruples or doubts about specific aspects of their experience, the signs can help resolve those specific questions. And for all saints, a clear understanding of what true grace looks like — as distinguished from what is false — is valuable for navigating the complex landscape of religious experience.

Third, I have little expectation that settled hypocrites — those who have long been self-deceived and have built their confidence on false foundations — will be brought by these signs to see their true condition. Their state is deeply deplorable. The very self-deception that holds them is part of what makes it so hard to dislodge. However, these signs may still serve to prevent others from falling into such a state of settled self-deception. They may also help true saints detect and identify false affections that are mixed in among their genuine graces — for even true saints are not immune to having some affections that arise from nature or the flesh rather than from the Spirit.

Having made these preliminary observations, I now proceed to describe the distinguishing characteristics of truly gracious affections.

The first distinguishing sign is this: truly gracious and holy affections arise from spiritual, supernatural, and divine influences working in the soul. They have their source in something above nature — they are not produced by any natural process or capacity, but by the Spirit of God working in the heart in a way that is above and distinct from all natural operations.

To understand this sign, we need to clarify what is meant by calling these influences spiritual, supernatural, and divine.

In the New Testament, true saints are called spiritual people. This term is used in direct contrast to those who are natural — that is, those who have not been renewed by the Spirit of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:14-15, the natural person is described as one who does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them. The spiritual person, by contrast, is able to judge all things. In Jude 19, those who cause divisions are described as worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. And throughout Romans 7 and 8, the apostle Paul sets the life lived according to the flesh in sharp contrast to the life lived according to the Spirit — the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.

Scripture also uses the word 'spiritual' to describe certain qualities, principles, and ways of thinking. We read of a spiritual mind and spiritual wisdom in Colossians 1:9, and of things that are called spiritual.

The word 'spiritual' in these and similar New Testament passages does not simply mean things that relate to the soul or spirit of a person, as opposed to the body. Things are not called spiritual simply because they reside in the soul rather than the body. In fact, some qualities that Scripture calls carnal or fleshly also reside in the soul — for instance, pride, self-righteousness, and relying on one's own wisdom, which the apostle calls fleshly in Colossians 2:18. Nor are things called spiritual simply because they deal with immaterial rather than physical realities. The wise men and rulers of this world also reasoned about spirits and immaterial beings — and yet the apostle treats them as natural men who are completely ignorant of spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2). Rather, in the New Testament, persons and things are called spiritual in relation to the Holy Spirit — the third person of the Trinity. 'Spirit,' used to refer to the Holy Spirit, is the noun from which the adjective 'spiritual' is derived in Scripture. Christians are called spiritual persons because they are born of the Spirit and because the Holy Spirit dwells in them and works in them. Things are called spiritual insofar as they relate to the Spirit of God, as in 1 Corinthians 2:13-14: 'We speak these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.' Here the apostle himself makes clear that by 'spiritual things' he means 'the things of the Spirit of God' and 'what the Holy Spirit teaches.' This is even more apparent when you read the entire passage in context. Again, Romans 8:6 says: 'To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.' The apostle explains what he means by spiritually minded in verse 9: 'But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.' To be spiritually minded, then, is to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart and working His holy influences there. The same meaning is clear throughout the whole context. There is far more evidence of this throughout the New Testament than can be fully laid out here.

It must be noted, however, that not every person who is influenced in any way by the Spirit of God is ordinarily called spiritual in the New Testament. Those who have only the common, non-saving influences of the Spirit are not called spiritual in the passages cited above. Only those who have the special, gracious, and saving influences of the Spirit are called spiritual — as is evident from the fact, already demonstrated, that 'spiritual' men in Scripture means godly men, in contrast to natural, carnal, and unsanctified men. It is plain that the apostle's phrase 'spiritually minded' in Romans 8:6 means graciously minded. Even the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit — which unregenerate people could sometimes possess — are occasionally called spiritual because they come from the Spirit. But a person who had such gifts was not, in the normal language of the New Testament, called a spiritual person. It was not having the gifts of the Spirit but having the virtues of the Spirit that made someone spiritual. This is clear from Galatians 6:1: 'Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.' Gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit that the apostle had just listed in the preceding verses. Those qualities that are truly gracious and holy — and that belong distinctively to the saints — are the ones the New Testament calls spiritual.

So when we read of spiritual wisdom and understanding — as in Colossians 1:9: 'We pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding' — what is meant is that wisdom which is gracious and which flows from the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God. Spiritual wisdom is the opposite of what Scripture calls natural wisdom, just as the spiritual man is the opposite of the natural man. Therefore spiritual wisdom is the same as the wisdom from above that James describes in James 3:17: 'The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle....' James sets this in contrast to natural wisdom in verse 15: 'This wisdom is not from above, but is earthly, sensual' — the original word translated 'sensual' is the same word translated 'natural' in 1 Corinthians 2:14.

So while unregenerate people may be subject to many influences of the Spirit of God — as is clear from Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:10; 11:6; 16:14; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Hebrews 6:4-6, and many other passages — they are not, in the scriptural sense, spiritual persons. None of the effects, common gifts, qualities, or affections that arise from the Spirit's influence on them are called spiritual things. The difference between these common influences and true spiritual experience lies in two things.

First, the Spirit of God is given to true saints to dwell in them as His proper and lasting home — to influence their hearts as a principle of new nature, as a divine and supernatural source of life and action. Scripture presents the Holy Spirit not merely as moving or occasionally influencing the saints, but as dwelling in them as in His temple, His proper residence and permanent dwelling place (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; John 14:16-17). He is so united to the faculties of the soul that He becomes in them a principle and source of new nature and life.

This is why Scripture says that saints live by Christ living in them (Galatians 2:20). Christ by His Spirit is not merely present in them — He lives in them — so that they live by His life. His Spirit is united to them as the principle of life within them. They do not merely drink living water; that living water becomes a well or fountain within the soul, springing up into spiritual and everlasting life (John 4:14). John himself explains in chapter 7:38-39 that this living water refers to the Spirit of God. The light of the Sun of Righteousness does not merely shine on them from outside — it is communicated to them so that they also shine, becoming small reflections of the Sun that shines upon them. The life-giving sap of the true Vine is not merely channeled into them as sap might be collected in a vessel — it flows into them as sap flows into a living branch of the tree, where it becomes the principle of that branch's life. Because the Spirit of God is communicated to and united with the saints in this way, they are rightly called spiritual.

Unregenerate people, on the other hand, may be influenced by the Spirit of God in various ways — but because the Spirit is not communicated to them as an indwelling principle, they receive no defining character from it, for without that union it is not truly their own. Light may shine on a dark or black object, and though that object is in the presence of the light, the light does not become a principle of illumination within it so as to make the object shine. Therefore that object is not called a luminous body. In the same way, the Spirit of God acting upon a soul without communicating Himself as an active principle within it cannot make that soul spiritual. An object that remains dark is said not to have light, even though light shines on it. Similarly, unregenerate people are said to not have the Spirit — as Jude 19 says: 'Worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.'

The second reason — and the more fundamental one — why the saints and their virtues are called spiritual is this: the Spirit of God, dwelling as a vital principle in their souls, there produces effects in which He expresses and communicates Himself in His own proper nature. Holiness is the nature of the Spirit of God — which is why He is called in Scripture the Holy Spirit. Holiness — the beauty and sweetness of the divine nature — is as truly the proper nature of the Holy Spirit as heat is the nature of fire. It is as if one were to say that holiness is to the Holy Spirit what fragrance is to a perfume. The Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of the saints in such a way that He, as the seed and spring of their life, expresses and communicates Himself there in this sweet and divine nature — making the soul a participant in God's beauty and Christ's joy. In this way the saint has true fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, by sharing in the communion of the Holy Spirit. The grace in the hearts of the saints is of the same nature as the divine holiness — though infinitely less in degree — just as the brightness reflected in a diamond is of the same nature as the sunlight shining on it, though utterly incomparable in intensity. This is why Christ says in John 3:6, 'That which is born of the Spirit is spirit' — meaning that the grace produced in the hearts of the saints is something of the same nature as the Spirit who produced it, and is therefore rightly called a spiritual nature. This parallels the way that what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of corrupt nature is corrupt nature.

The Spirit of God never influences the minds of unregenerate people in this way. Though He may influence them in many ways, He never communicates Himself to them in His own proper nature. He never acts in a way that contradicts His nature — whether working in the hearts of saints or sinners. But there is a difference between acting in agreement with one's nature and communicating one's nature in the effects of one's action. The Spirit of God can act in ways that are consistent with His nature without communicating Himself in His nature through the effect of that action. For example, the Spirit moved over the face of the waters at creation — and there was nothing in that action contrary to His nature. Yet He did not communicate Himself in that action; there was nothing of the proper nature of the Holy Spirit in the movement of the waters. In the same way, He can act upon the minds of people in many ways without communicating Himself any more than when He acts on inanimate things.

So the difference between the Spirit's work in saints and His influences on unregenerate people is not merely a difference in the relationship between the Spirit and the person He operates on — though that difference is real, since He dwells in the saints as an abiding principle while He does not dwell in sinners. The operation itself is different, and the effect produced is vastly different. This is why not only the persons are called spiritual — as those in whom the Spirit of God dwells — but also the qualities, affections, and experiences produced in them by the Spirit are called spiritual. In their very nature and kind, these things differ completely from anything an unregenerate person experiences or can experience while remaining in a natural state. They also differ from anything that human beings or evil spirits can produce. This work is spiritual in the highest sense — and therefore, above all other works, it is uniquely and distinctly the work of the Spirit of God. No work is higher or more excellent, for in no other work does God communicate Himself so fully, or does the creature participate in God so profoundly. Scripture expresses this by saying that the saints are 'made partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4); that God dwells in them and they in God (1 John 4:12, 15-16; 3:21); that Christ is in them (John 17:21; Romans 8:10); that they are temples of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16); that they live by Christ's life (Galatians 2:20); that they are made partakers of God's holiness (Hebrews 12:10); that Christ's love dwells in them (John 17:26); that His joy is fulfilled in them (John 17:13); that they see light in God's light and drink from the river of God's pleasures (Psalm 36:8-9); and that they have fellowship — communion and participation — with God (1 John 1:3). This does not mean that the saints share in the essence of God Himself — that they are 'Godded with God' or 'Christed with Christ,' in the abominable and blasphemous language of certain heretics. Rather, to use the scriptural phrase, they are made partakers of God's fullness (Ephesians 3:17-19; John 1:16) — that is, of God's spiritual beauty and happiness, to the measure and capacity of a creature, which is clearly what 'fullness' means in scriptural usage. Grace in the hearts of the saints is therefore the most glorious of all God's works — the work in which He most fully communicates the goodness of His own nature. It is without doubt His most distinctly divine work, surpassing the power of all created beings. These influences of the Spirit — being so uniquely God's and involving such a high communication of Himself, making the creature a participant in the divine nature by the Spirit communicating Himself in His own proper nature — this is what I mean by 'divine' when I say that truly gracious affections arise from influences that are spiritual and divine.

Only the true saints have what is spiritual; others have nothing divine in this sense. It is not merely that they have less of this communication of the Spirit of God than the saints do — they have nothing of that nature or kind at all. The apostle James tells us that natural people do not have the Spirit. Christ teaches the necessity of the new birth — of being born of the Spirit — precisely because those born only of the flesh have only flesh and no Spirit (John 3:6). Unregenerate people do not have 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 belong to Christ (Romans 8:9-11). Having the Spirit of God is spoken of as a certain sign that a person will receive the eternal inheritance — it is described as the pledge of that inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14). And having 'something of the Spirit' is mentioned as a sure sign of being in Christ: 'By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit' (1 John 4:13). Ungodly people are not merely short on the divine nature compared to the saints — they have no part in it at all, for being a 'partaker of the divine nature' is spoken of as the distinctive privilege of true saints (2 Peter 1:4). Ungodly people do not share in God's holiness (Hebrews 12:10). A natural person has no experience of any spiritual things. The apostle teaches that he is so completely without them that he knows nothing about them — they are utterly foreign to him. Talk of such things sounds like foolishness and nonsense to him; he simply does not understand what it means (1 Corinthians 2:14): 'The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.' To the same point, Christ teaches that the world is entirely unacquainted with the Spirit of God: 'The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him' (John 14:17). It is further evident that natural people have nothing in them of the same nature as true grace, because the apostle teaches that even those who go farthest in religion — among unregenerate people — have no true Christian love (1 Corinthians 13). Christ likewise rebuked the Pharisees — the highest claimants to religion of their day — by saying they did not have the love of God in them (John 5:42). Natural people therefore have no communion or fellowship with Christ — no real participation in Him — for this is spoken of as the distinctive privilege of the saints (1 John 1:3, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9). Scripture also speaks of the actual presence of a gracious principle in the soul — even in its earliest, seed-like form — as incompatible with a person being in a state of sin (1 John 3:9). Unregenerate people are described in Scripture as having no spiritual light, no spiritual life, and no spiritual existence. This is why conversion is so often compared to opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, and a work of creation — in which creatures are made entirely new, born again as newborn children.

From all of this it is clear that the gracious influences the saints experience, and the effects of God's Spirit they are conscious of, are entirely above nature. They are altogether different in kind from anything people find within themselves by nature or through the exercise of natural capacities. No amount of improvement, elevation, or combination of natural qualities or principles will ever produce them — because they do not merely differ from natural experience in degree or circumstance, but differ in kind. They are of a nature vastly more excellent than anything natural. This is what I mean by supernatural when I say that gracious affections arise from influences that are supernatural.

From this it follows that in the gracious exercises and affections produced in the minds of the saints through the saving influences of the Spirit of God, there is a new inward perception — a new sensation of the mind — that is entirely different in its nature and kind from anything the mind had ever experienced before being sanctified. If God by His mighty power produces something that is new — not merely in degree or circumstance but in its whole nature, something that no enhancing or varying or combining of what was there before could ever produce — then, since the mind is a perceiving, thinking, conscious thing, something entirely new must be perceived or felt or thought. In other words, there is a new sensation or perception of the mind that is entirely of a new kind — a kind that no elevation, variation, or combination of previously existing perceptions could produce. Philosophers sometimes call this a new simple idea. If grace is, in the sense described above, an entirely new kind of principle, then its exercises are also entirely a new kind of exercise. And if the soul is conscious of a new kind of exercise — one it had no knowledge of before, and that no refinement or combination of its former consciousness could ever produce or even approximate — then the mind has an entirely new kind of perception or sensation. This is what might be called a new spiritual sense: a principle of a new kind of perception or spiritual sensation, different in its whole nature from any former kind of sensation in the mind. Just as the sense of taste differs from all other senses, this new spiritual sense differs from all that came before. What a true saint perceives through this new spiritual sense in divine things is as entirely different from what natural people perceive in those same things as the sweet taste of honey differs from what a person knows about honey by only looking at it or touching it. The spiritual perceptions of a sanctified person differ from those of natural people not merely as two perceptions of the same sense might differ from each other — but as the perceptions of entirely different senses differ. This is why the work of the Spirit of God in regeneration is so often compared in Scripture to being given a new sense — to receiving eyes that see and ears that hear, to having deaf ears opened, to having eyes opened that were born blind, to being turned from darkness to light. And because this spiritual sense is immeasurably the most noble and excellent — and without it all other capacities and faculties are useless and empty — the giving of this new sense, together with its blessed fruits and effects in the soul, is compared to a raising of the dead and to a new creation.

This new spiritual sense, and the new dispositions that accompany it, are not new faculties — they are new principles of nature. By 'principle of nature' I mean the foundation laid in nature — whether old or new — for a particular kind or manner of exercise of the soul's faculties. It is a natural habit or foundation for action that gives a person the ability and disposition to exercise the faculties in a certain kind of way — so that exercising the faculties in that way can be called that person's nature. So this new spiritual sense is not a new faculty of understanding — it is a new foundation laid in the nature of the soul for a new kind of exercise of the same faculty of understanding. Similarly, the new holy dispositions of the heart that accompany this new sense are not a new faculty of the will — they are a foundation laid in the nature of the soul for a new kind of exercise of the same faculty of will.

In all His operations on the minds of unregenerate people, the Spirit of God only moves, impresses, assists, improves, or in some way acts upon natural principles — He never gives a new spiritual principle. For example, when the Spirit gave visions to Balaam, He was only impressing a natural principle — the sense of sight — by directly exciting the ideas associated with that sense. There was nothing supernatural, spiritual, or divine about it. Similarly, when the Spirit impresses images on a person's imagination — whether in a dream or while awake — images of voices, shapes, or colors, He is only exciting the same kind of ideas the person has through natural senses. If God reveals to an unregenerate person some future fact — something they will later see or hear — this is not infusing a new spiritual principle or giving the ideas of a new spiritual sense. It is only impressing, in an extraordinary way, ideas that will later be received through sight or hearing. In the more ordinary influences of the Spirit on the hearts of sinners, He only assists natural principles to do more intensely what they do on their own by nature. The Spirit may assist a person's natural intelligence — as He assisted Bezaleel and Aholiab in the craftsmanship of the tabernacle. He may improve people's natural abilities in political matters and strengthen their courage and other natural qualities — as He is said to have put His Spirit on the seventy elders and on Saul, giving him another heart. God may greatly assist natural people's reasoning about secular matters or about the doctrines of religion, and may greatly clarify their understanding of religious things in many respects — all without giving any spiritual sense. In those awakenings and convictions that unregenerate people experience, God is simply assisting the conscience — which is a natural principle — to do more fully what it naturally does. Conscience naturally gives people a sense of right and wrong and suggests the connection between conduct and consequences. The Spirit assists conscience to do this more effectively, helping it resist the numbing influence of worldly desires and pursuits. There are many other ways the Spirit acts upon, assists, and moves natural principles — but in all of these, it is nothing more than nature being moved, activated, and improved. There is nothing supernatural or divine in it. But in His spiritual influences on the hearts of His saints, the Spirit of God operates by infusing and exercising new, divine, and supernatural principles — principles that constitute a genuinely new and spiritual nature, vastly more noble and excellent than anything in unregenerate people.

From what has been said, it follows that all spiritual and gracious affections are accompanied by, and arise from, some perception or sensation of the mind that is entirely different — vastly different — from anything that is or can be in the mind of an unregenerate person. The natural person has no perception of it at all and no conception of it whatsoever (1 Corinthians 2:14). He can no more conceive of it than a person born without the sense of taste can conceive of the sweetness of honey, or a person born deaf can conceive of the melody of music, or a person born blind can form any notion of the beauty of a rainbow.

But two things must be observed for a right understanding of this.

First, not everything that in any respect belongs to spiritual affections is new and entirely different from what unregenerate people can conceive or experience. Many things are common between gracious affections and other kinds of affections — many circumstances, accompanying features, and effects overlap. A saint's love for God has many qualities in common with a person's natural love for a close friend or family member. Love for God produces desires for God's honor and a desire to please Him — just as natural love for a friend produces desires for that friend's honor and a desire to please him. Love for God causes delight in thinking about God, in God's presence, in becoming like God, and in enjoying God — just as natural love works similarly toward its object. Many more parallels could be named. But the perception the saint has of God's loveliness, and the sensation and kind of delight that this perception produces — which is the very core and essence of his love — is entirely distinct from anything an unregenerate person has or can conceive of. Even in the things that seem to be common, there is something peculiar. Both spiritual and natural love produce desires for the beloved — but they are not the same kind of desires. There is a sensation in the spiritual desires of one who loves God that is entirely different from all natural desires. Both spiritual and natural love bring delight in the beloved — but the sensations of delight are not the same; they are entirely and profoundly different. Unregenerate people may have some understanding of many things about spiritual affections, but there is something at the core of these affections — the very heart of them — about which they have no more conception than a person born blind has of colors.

This can be illustrated clearly with an example. Imagine two men: one is born without a sense of taste, the other has it. The one with taste loves honey and greatly delights in it because he knows its sweetness. The one without taste loves certain sounds and colors. There are many things both men have in common in their love for their respective objects — each desires and takes delight in what he loves, each grieves when the beloved object is absent, and so on. But the perception of honey's excellence and sweetness that the one who can taste it experiences — the very foundation of his love — is entirely different from anything the other man has or can conceive of. And the delight the first man has in honey is wholly different from anything the second can imagine, though both men delight in their beloved objects. Now suppose both men love the same thing — a beautiful and delicious fruit. The man with taste loves it not only because he has seen its beautiful colors, but because he knows its sweet flavor. The other man, completely ignorant of the taste, loves it only for its appearance. Many things seem to be similar between these two men: both love, both desire, both delight. But the love, desire, and delight of the one are altogether different from those of the other. The difference between the love of an unregenerate person and a spiritual person is like this — only it must be noted that in one respect the difference is far greater: the kinds of excellence perceived in spiritual things by these two kinds of people are vastly more different from each other than the different kinds of excellence perceived in delicious fruit by a man who can taste and a man who cannot. In another respect the difference may not be as great — because the spiritual person may have a spiritual sense and taste to perceive that divine and most distinctive excellence only in small beginnings and in a very imperfect degree.

Second, on the other hand, it must be observed that an unregenerate person may have religious perceptions and affections that are in many respects very new and surprising to him — beyond anything he had previously conceived — and yet what he experiences may have nothing in common with the exercises of a new spiritual principle or the sensations of a new spiritual sense. His affections may be very new because natural principles have been extraordinarily stirred to an unusual degree, with many new circumstances, new combinations of natural affections, and new arrangements of ideas. This may result from some extraordinarily powerful influence of Satan and some great delusion. But it is still nothing more than nature in extraordinary activity. Consider a poor man who has lived all his life in a cottage and never ventured beyond the small village where he was born. Suppose someone, as a joke, brings him to a magnificent city and a royal palace, dresses him in princely robes, seats him on a throne with the royal crown on his head, has nobles and lords bow before him, and convinces him that he is now a glorious king. The ideas he would form and the emotions he would experience would in many respects be very new — unlike anything he had previously imagined. But it is nothing more than natural principles being stirred and elevated to an extraordinary degree, with a new arrangement of ideas he already had by nature. Nothing like a new sense has been given to him.

Taken together, it is clearly evident that all truly gracious affections arise from the special and distinctive influences of the Spirit, producing in the souls of the saints a sensible effect or sensation that is entirely different from anything an unregenerate person could possibly experience. The difference is not merely in degree or circumstance but in its whole nature. An unregenerate person cannot experience anything that is individually the same — nor can he experience anything that is not vastly and profoundly different from it in kind. It is something that the power of human beings or evil spirits is entirely insufficient to produce, or anything of the same nature.

I have dwelt extensively on this matter because it is of great importance and usefulness for clearly exposing and demonstrating the delusions of Satan in the many kinds of false religious affections by which great numbers of people are deceived — and have likely been deceived throughout the history of the Christian church. It also serves to settle and determine many points of doctrine regarding the operations of the Spirit of God and the nature of true grace.

Now let me apply these things to the purpose of this discussion.

From what has been said, it is clear that impressions made on a person's imagination — imaginary mental images of God, Christ, heaven, or anything else relating to religion — have nothing in them that is spiritual or of the nature of true grace. Such things may accompany what is spiritual and may be mixed with it, but in themselves they contain nothing spiritual and are no part of gracious experience.

For the benefit of readers less familiar with these terms, let me explain what is meant by impressions on the imagination and imaginary ideas. The imagination is the power of the mind by which a person can form a concept or mental image of external things — that is, the kinds of things perceived by the outward senses — even when those things are not present and not actually being sensed. The word comes from 'image,' because through this faculty a person can have an image of some external thing in the mind even when that thing is not actually present or anything like it. All the things we perceive through the five external senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch — are external things. When a person has a mental image of any of these kinds of things without actually seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling them, that is imagination — and those mental images are imaginary ideas. When such images are strongly pressed on the mind and become very vivid — almost as if the person were actually seeing or hearing them — that is called an impression on the imagination. Colors, shapes, and the appearance of a face are external things, because they are the kind of things perceived by the external sense of sight. So when a person has a vivid mental image of a shape, a color, or a face, that is imagination. If a person forms a mental image of a kind of light or darkness like what is perceived through sight, that is an imaginary idea of outward light. If a person has a mental image of marks on paper — letters or words written in a book — that is an external and imaginary idea of the kind of thing sometimes perceived by the physical eyes. Similarly, when we form mental images of things we perceive through hearing — sounds, voices, or spoken words — these are imaginary ideas of external things, perceived through the external sense of hearing. When these become so vivid as to seem almost like sounds actually heard with the ears, that is an impression on the imagination. The same could be said of mental images arising from the other three senses of smell, taste, and touch.

Many people who have had such experiences have wrongly supposed them to be spiritual discoveries. Some have had vivid mental images of an external figure with a beautiful face, and have called this 'spiritually seeing Christ.' Some have had impressed on them images of a great outward light, and have called this 'a spiritual discovery of God's or Christ's glory.' Some have had images of Christ hanging on the cross, with blood flowing from His wounds, and have called this 'a spiritual sight of Christ crucified and the way of salvation through His blood.' Some have seen Him with His arms open as if to embrace them, and have called this 'a discovery of the sufficiency of Christ's grace and love.' Some have had vivid mental images of heaven, of Christ seated on His throne, and of shining ranks of saints and angels, and have called this 'seeing heaven opened to them.' Some from time to time have had a vivid image of a beautiful face smiling at them, and have called this 'a spiritual discovery of Christ's love to their souls and a tasting of the love of Christ.' They consider it sufficient evidence that these are spiritual discoveries — and that they see them spiritually — because they say they do not see these things with their physical eyes but in their hearts, since they can see them even with their eyes closed. In a similar way, some people's imaginations have been impressed with ideas of the sense of hearing — they have had images of words as if spoken to them, sometimes the words of Scripture and sometimes other words. They have had images of Christ speaking comforting words to them. These things they have called the inward call of Christ, hearing the voice of Christ spiritually in their hearts, having the witness of the Spirit, and the inward testimony of Christ's love, and similar expressions.

Less discerning and thoughtful people are more easily led to think of these things as spiritual, because spiritual things are invisible and cannot be pointed to or directly described. We are therefore forced to use figurative language when speaking of them, borrowing names from external and physical objects to describe them. For example, we call a clear understanding of spiritual things 'light,' and having such an understanding of something 'seeing' that thing. We describe being convinced in the mind and persuaded by Christ's word in the gospel as 'spiritually hearing the call of Christ.' Scripture itself is full of such figurative expressions. When people frequently hear these expressions — about the need to have their eyes opened, to see spiritual things, to see Christ in His glory, to receive the inward call, and similar descriptions — they naturally and mistakenly look and wait for some kind of external vision or imaginary sight such as those described above. When these experiences come, they become convinced that now their eyes have been opened, now Christ has revealed Himself to them, and they are His children. As a result they are greatly moved and elevated by their apparent deliverance and happiness, and many kinds of emotions are suddenly stirred to a powerful pitch.

But it is abundantly clear that such imaginary ideas have nothing in them that is spiritual and divine in the sense that has been demonstrated — the sense in which all gracious experiences are spiritual and divine. These external images are not the kind of things that are entirely and in their whole nature different from what people have by nature, not vastly above any sensation a person could have through a natural sense or principle, not requiring a new spiritual and divine sense to receive them. They are ideas of the same kind as those we have through the external senses — which are among the lower powers of human nature. They are merely ideas of external objects, of the outward and sensory kind. They are sensations of the mind (differing not in kind but only in circumstances) that arise from those natural principles common to us and to animals — namely, the five external senses. It is a poor and degrading notion of spiritual sense to suppose that it is merely the ability to conceive or imagine the kind of ideas we receive through our animal senses — senses that animals possess just as fully as we do. It is, in effect, to reduce Christ or the divine nature in the soul to something merely animal. There is nothing lacking in the soul as it exists by nature that would prevent it from having all these external imaginary ideas without any new principle being added. An unregenerate person is just as capable as a regenerate person of having vivid mental images of shapes, colors, and sounds in their absence. There is therefore nothing supernatural about such images. Experience abundantly confirms that what makes a person more capable of such vivid imaginative impressions is not spiritual advancement or the perfecting of human nature — on the contrary, bodily and mental weakness, and physical disorders, make people far more susceptible to such impressions.

A truly spiritual sensation is extraordinary not only in the manner of its coming into the mind but also in its very nature — it is entirely different from anything people have or can have in a state of nature, as has been shown. But with these external imaginary ideas, while the way they come into the mind is sometimes unusual, the ideas themselves are not better for that. They are still the same kind of ideas people receive through their senses — no higher in kind, no better in quality. For example, a mental image of Christ hanging on the cross and shedding His blood is no better in itself than the visual experience that the Jews who stood around the cross and watched with their own eyes had at that moment. The imaginary idea of a great outward brightness and glory of God is no better than what the rebellious congregation in the wilderness saw with their physical eyes at Mount Sinai, or better than what countless condemned people will see on the Day of Judgment — when they will have a vivid experience of an outward glory of Christ ten thousand times greater than anything anyone has yet conceived in imagination. Indeed, an image of Christ formed in the imagination is not, in its own nature, of any higher kind than the mental image Catholics form of Christ by looking at the beautiful and moving images of Him in their churches — though the manner of receiving the idea may differ. Nor are the affections such images produce — when those affections are built primarily on imagination — any better than the emotions stirred in simple people by looking at religious images, which are sometimes very intense, especially when those images are made by priestly art to appear to move, speak, or weep. The way a person receives these imaginary ideas does not change the nature of the ideas themselves. However they are received, they remain external ideas — ideas of outward appearances — and are therefore not spiritual. Even if God Himself were to impress such external images on a person's mind by His immediate power, they would still not be spiritual. They would be no more than a common work of the Spirit of God. This is clearly demonstrated in the case of Balaam, on whom God Himself impressed a clear and vivid outward image 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' (Numbers 24:16-17). And yet Balaam had no spiritual discovery of Christ whatsoever. That Day Star never spiritually rose in his heart, for he remained an unregenerate man.

Since these external imaginary ideas have nothing divine or spiritual in their nature, and nothing beyond what unregenerate people — without any new principle — are naturally capable of, there is also nothing in their nature that requires the peculiar, unparalleled, and extraordinary exercise of God's glorious power that is needed to produce true grace. There appears to be nothing in their nature that is beyond the power of the devil. It is certainly not beyond Satan's power to suggest thoughts to people — for without that ability he could not tempt them to sin. And if he can suggest any thoughts or ideas at all, then imaginary ideas — ideas of external things — are clearly not beyond his power, since external ideas are the lowest kind of ideas. These imaginary ideas may be produced simply by impressions made on the body — by affecting the brain and the body's physical processes. Abundant experience shows that changes in the body will produce imaginary ideas in the mind, as is frequently seen in cases of high fever, deep melancholy, and similar conditions. These external imaginary ideas are as far below the higher intellectual exercises of the soul as the body is a lesser part of the human person than the soul.

Not only is there nothing in the nature of external imaginary ideas that places them beyond the devil's power — it is certain that the devil can and has produced exactly such ideas. It was external imaginary ideas that he excited in the dreams and visions of the false prophets of old, who were under the influence of lying spirits — as we repeatedly read in Scripture (Deuteronomy 13:1; 1 Kings 22:22; Isaiah 28:7; Ezekiel 13:7; Zechariah 13:4). It was external imaginary ideas that he regularly stirred in the minds of pagan priests, magicians, and sorcerers in their visions and trances. And it was an external imaginary idea that he excited in the mind of Jesus Christ Himself when he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory — kingdoms that were not actually within sight.

If Satan or any created being has the power to impress the mind with outward imaginary representations, then no particular kind of outward representation can serve as evidence of divine power. It takes no more power to represent the image of a human being to the imagination than to represent the image of anything else. No higher kind of power is required to form one bodily shape or color in the brain than another. It takes no more glorious power to represent the form of a human body — even a beautiful one with a gentle smile, open arms, or blood flowing from hands, feet, and side — than to represent the shape of a stick or block of wood. Whatever power can represent blackness or darkness to the imagination can also represent white and shining brightness. The same kind of skill and power that can paint a straw or a stick of wood on paper or canvas — the same kind, only perhaps developed further — is sufficient to paint a human body in great beauty and royal majesty, or a magnificent city paved with gold, filled with light and a glorious throne. Similarly, the same kind of power needed to produce one of these images in the brain is the same kind needed to produce the other. The same kind of power that can put ink on paper can also put gold leaf on it. Therefore it is evident beyond question: if we grant that it is within the devil's power to make any external imaginary representation at all in the mind — as it surely is, and no one who believes in a devil with any agency among people has ever doubted this — then it is equally and demonstrably evident that a created power can extend to every kind of external appearance and idea in the mind.

From this it is again clear that such things have nothing in them that is spiritual, supernatural, and divine in the sense already established — the sense in which all truly gracious experiences are spiritual, supernatural, and divine. Although external imaginary ideas do, through the nature of human beings, commonly accompany spiritual experiences to some degree, they are no part of spiritual experience — any more than the circulation of blood or the beating of the pulse that accompanies experiences is part of spiritual experience. Without doubt, through human weakness in the present state — and especially through the frail constitution of some people — very strong gracious affections can excite vivid imaginary ideas. But it is equally beyond doubt that when a person's affections are founded on imaginary ideas — which is frequently the case — those affections are merely natural and common, because they rest on a foundation that is not spiritual. Such affections are therefore entirely different from gracious affections, which, as has been proved, always arise from operations that are spiritual and divine.

These imaginary ideas often stir the carnal emotions of people to an extremely high pitch. This is no wonder — when those experiencing them are under the ignorant but unquestioning belief that these are divine manifestations, in which the great God has directly revealed Himself to their souls and is giving them extraordinary testimonies of His special and high favor toward them.

It is also clear from everything that has been observed and proved about how gracious operations and effects in the heart are spiritual, supernatural, and divine, that the immediate suggesting of words of Scripture to the mind has nothing in it that is spiritual.

Something has already been said about this, and what has been said may be sufficient to establish it. But if the reader keeps in mind what has been said about the nature of spiritual influences and effects, it will be even more apparent that this is not a spiritual effect. No person of ordinary understanding would say or believe that bringing words to the mind — whatever words they may be — is an effect of the kind that is impossible for an unregenerate person to experience, or anything like it. Nor does bringing words to mind require any new divine sense in the soul. Nor would anyone say that bringing sounds or letters to the mind is an effect so high, holy, and excellent that no created power could be its cause.

When the Spirit suggests words of Scripture to the mind, He is simply exciting in the mind ideas of certain sounds or letters — which is one way of exciting ideas in the imagination. Sounds and letters are external things, perceived by the external senses of sight and hearing. Ideas of certain marks on paper — such as letters of the alphabet in any arrangement — or of spoken sounds, are just as much external imaginary ideas as ideas of any other shapes or sounds. Therefore, by what has already been said about external imaginary ideas, it is evident that these are not spiritual in nature. When the Spirit of God suggests such letters or sounds to the mind, this is a common, not a special or gracious, influence of that Spirit. It follows that affections which have this kind of effect as their foundation are not spiritual or gracious affections. But let me be precise about what I am saying: when the extraordinary and immediate manner in which words of Scripture come to the mind is what excites the affections and is properly their foundation, then those affections are not spiritual. It is possible for a person to have gracious affections accompanying Scriptures that come to mind, with the Spirit of God using those Scriptures to stir those affections — when it is a spiritual sense, taste, or relish of the divine and excellent things contained in those Scriptures that excites the affections, not the extraordinary and sudden manner in which the words arrived. Such persons are moved by the instruction they receive from the words, by the view of the glorious things of God or Christ that those words contain and teach — not because the words came suddenly, as though someone had spoken them to them, leading them to conclude that God was directly addressing them. Very often, however, people are greatly moved on a quite different basis. Words of some great scriptural promise come suddenly to their minds, and they interpret those words as directed immediately by God to them — as if those words had at that moment come directly from God's mouth, spoken specifically to them. They take it as a divine voice immediately revealing their blessed condition and promising them great things. What elevates them is precisely this sense of direct, personal address. There is no new spiritual understanding of what the Scripture teaches, no new spiritual sense of the glorious things contained in that passage, that precedes their affection and serves as its foundation. The only new understanding they have — or think they have — is that the words were meant for them personally, because they came so suddenly and extraordinarily. The affection is therefore built entirely on that imaginary impression — because it rests on a conclusion drawn from that impression. As has been shown, the sudden coming of the words to their minds is no evidence that the Spirit of God brought them in that manner. And even if it were true that God did bring those words to their minds, knowing that fact would not constitute spiritual knowledge — a person could know that words were suggested to them by God and yet have no spiritual understanding of what those words contain. So these affections, which are built on the notion that particular Scripture texts have been sent immediately and personally from God, rest on no spiritual foundation and are empty. If such persons were asked whether they have any new sense of the excellence of the things contained in those Scriptures, they would likely say yes without hesitation. But this is only true in a superficial way — they find the words sweet only because they have convinced themselves that those words were spoken directly to them. They embrace what those Scriptures say as excellent and wonderful things, but only because they believe the words are personally addressed to them. For instance, suppose the words that suddenly came to their minds were 'Do not fear — it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Having confidently concluded that these words were spoken directly from heaven to them — an immediate revelation that God was their Father and had given the kingdom to them — they are greatly moved and find the words sweet. They say these are excellent things contained in those words. But the reason the promise seems excellent to them is only that they believe it is made personally to them at that moment. Whatever sense they have of anything glorious in it comes only from self-love and from their imagined personal stake in the words. There was no prior perception or sense of the holy and glorious nature of the kingdom of heaven, the spiritual glory of the God who gives it, or His excellent grace to sinful people in offering and giving them this kingdom of His own free will — no such perception preceding their imagined personal interest in these things, serving as the foundation of their affection and their hope of an interest in them. On the contrary, they first imagine they are personally addressed, then are greatly moved by that imagined personal address, and then declare these things to be excellent. The sudden and extraordinary manner in which the Scriptures came to their minds is plainly the first foundation of the whole — which is a clear sign of the serious delusion they are under.

Many people's first experience of comfort — what they call their conversion — follows this pattern. After a period of spiritual awakening and distress, some comforting promise suddenly and powerfully comes to their minds. The manner in which it comes leads them to conclude that God Himself sent it to them. This becomes the entire foundation of their faith, hope, and comfort. From this they take their first encouragement to trust in God and in Christ, believing that God has already revealed His love to them and already promised them eternal life through the Scripture that came to them in this way. This is deeply mistaken. Anyone with basic knowledge of religious truth knows that God reveals His love to people and their interest in His promises after they have believed — not before. They must first believe before they have any interest in the promises to be revealed to them. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth and not of lies. He does not bring Scripture texts to people's minds to reveal to them that they are already interested in God's favor and promises when in fact they have not yet believed and have no such interest. That would be the case if God's bringing a Scripture text to a person's mind — to reveal that their sins are forgiven, or that it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom, or anything of that nature — preceded and served as the foundation of their first faith. No promise of the covenant of grace belongs to any person until that person has first believed in Christ — for it is by faith alone that we come to have an interest in Christ and in the promises of the new covenant made in Him. Therefore, whatever spirit applies the promises of that covenant to a person who has not yet believed, as though those promises already belong to them, must be a lying spirit. And any faith that is first built on such an application of promises is built on a lie. It is not God's way to bring comforting Scripture texts to give people assurance of His love and of their salvation before they have exercised saving, trusting faith. Even if the Scripture that comes to a person's mind is not strictly a promise but an invitation, the situation is no better if the person takes the sudden or unusual manner of the invitation's coming to their mind as the ground for concluding they are truly invited. That is not genuine faith, because it is built on a false foundation. True faith is not built on something so uncertain. The judgment that a particular text was directly sent by God to a person at a particular moment — because of how it arrived — is an entirely uncertain and unreliable judgment, as has been shown. It is therefore a false and shifting foundation for faith, and any faith built on it is false. The only sure foundation for a person to believe they are invited to receive the blessings of the gospel is that God's Word declares that people with such qualifications as they have are invited — and God who says so is true and cannot lie. Once a sinner is genuinely convinced of God's truthfulness and that Scripture is His Word, that person needs nothing more to satisfy them that they are invited. Scripture is full of invitations to sinners — to the greatest of sinners — to come and receive the blessings of the gospel. No new, direct word from God is needed; what God has already spoken is more than enough.

Just as the first comfort of many people and their affections at the time of their supposed conversion are built on such foundations as these, so also are their subsequent joys, hopes, and other affections. From time to time they have particular Scripture words — sweet declarations and promises — suggested to their minds, and because of the manner in which they come, they believe these were sent immediately from God to them at that precise moment. They treat these as their warrant to claim the promises for themselves, and they make the manner of the words' coming the main ground for applying the promises to themselves and for the comfort and confidence they derive from them. In this way they imagine a kind of ongoing conversation is taking place between God and them — that God, from time to time, is directly speaking to them, settling their doubts, assuring them of His love, promising them help and blessing in particular situations, and clearly revealing their share in eternal blessings. The result is that they are frequently moved to sudden and turbulent joys, mixed with strong confidence and a high opinion of themselves. But the main foundation of these joys and this confidence is not anything contained in or taught by those Scripture passages as they stand in the Bible — it is the manner in which those words came to them. This is a clear sign of their delusion. No particular promise in God's Word belongs to a saint in any special exclusive way, or is addressed to any individual saint more than to others — all the promises of the covenant of grace are equally his, equally made to him, equally spoken to him. It is true that some promises may fit a person's circumstances more closely than others, and the Spirit may help a person to understand some promises more clearly than others, or to feel more deeply the preciousness and glory of the blessings they contain. But no promise is exclusively 'sent' to one individual in the way these people imagine.

But at this point someone may ask: Is there no such thing as a particular, personal application of Scripture promises by the Spirit of God? There is certainly such a thing as a spiritual and personal application of Scripture passages and promises to the souls of people. But it is equally certain that the nature of this application is completely misunderstood by many people — to the great harm of their own souls, giving Satan a great advantage against them, against true religion, and against the church of God. A spiritual application of a Scripture promise does not consist in its being suddenly brought to mind by some external agent, pressed into the thoughts with the strong impression that it is spoken directly and specifically to them at that moment. There is nothing in this effect that gives evidence of the hand of God, as many sad instances have proved. Such an effect is not a spiritual application of Scripture at all — there is nothing in its nature that is beyond the devil's power, since there is nothing in the nature of the effect that is spiritual, nothing involving any vital communication from God. A truly spiritual application of God's Word is vastly higher in nature — as far above the devil's power as it would be beyond his power to apply the Word to a dead body so as to raise it to life, or to a stone so as to transform it into an angel. A spiritual application of God's Word consists in applying it to the heart through spiritually enlightening and sanctifying influences. A spiritual application of an invitation or offer of the gospel consists in giving the soul a spiritual sense and taste of the holy and divine blessings being offered — along with a sense of the wonderful grace of the One making the offer, of His holy excellence and faithfulness to fulfill what He offers, and of His glorious all-sufficiency. This draws and leads the heart to embrace the offer and thereby gives the person evidence of their own true interest in what has been offered. Similarly, a spiritual application of the promises of Scripture for the comfort of the saints consists in enlightening their minds to see the holy excellence and sweetness of the promised blessings, and the holy excellence, faithfulness, and all-sufficiency of the One who promised. This draws their hearts to embrace both the Promiser and the thing promised. By this means it produces the visible and felt workings of grace in them, enabling them to see their grace and so their right to the promise. An application that does not consist in this divine illumination and enlightening of the mind — but only in words being pressed into the thoughts as if immediately spoken, causing people to believe on no other basis that the promise is theirs — is a blind application. It belongs to the spirit of darkness, not to the Spirit of light.

When people's affections are stirred in this way, those affections are not truly raised by the Word of God. Scripture is not their real foundation. It is not anything contained in the Scripture texts that come to their minds that raises their affections. What actually moves them is the strange manner in which the words come to their minds — and a conclusion they draw from that manner: namely, that their sins are forgiven, or that the Father is pleased to give them specifically the kingdom, or something of that kind. But this conclusion is not actually contained in those Scripture passages — nor in any other Scripture passage. The Bible contains promises declaring that people of such and such qualifications are forgiven and loved by God. But the Bible contains no propositions declaring that specific individuals — regardless of and prior to any known qualifications — are forgiven and loved by God. When people are comforted and moved by such a proposition, they are being moved by a different word — a newly invented word, not any word of God contained in the Bible. This is how many people are vainly moved and deceived.

It is also plain from what has been demonstrated that no revelation of hidden facts by immediate suggestion has anything in it that is spiritual and divine in the sense in which truly gracious effects and operations are spiritual and divine.

By 'secret facts' I mean things that have happened, are happening, or will happen — things that are secret in the sense that they do not appear to the senses, cannot be known by reasoning from evidence, and are not known by any other means except by the direct, immediate suggestion of the ideas of those things to the mind. For example: suppose it were revealed to me that next year this country would be invaded by a fleet from France, or that certain people would then be converted, or that I myself would then be converted — not by enabling me to reason out these events from what is currently visible in the course of events, but by immediately suggesting and strongly impressing on my mind the idea of these facts in an extraordinary way, with a strong inner conviction that these things would come to pass. Or suppose it were revealed to me that on this day a battle is being fought between the armies of certain powers in Europe, or that a certain European ruler was converted today, or has been in a converted state since a past conversion, or that one of my neighbors is converted, or that I myself am converted — not by having any other evidence of these facts from which I reason, but purely by an immediate and extraordinary suggestion of these ideas with a strong impression of them on my mind. This is a revelation of secret facts by immediate suggestion, just as surely as if the facts were future. Whether the facts are past, present, or future makes no difference, as long as they are hidden from my senses and reason, not spoken of in Scripture, and not known to me by any means other than immediate suggestion. If it is revealed to me that a certain revolution took place today in the Ottoman Empire, it is exactly the same kind of revelation as if it were revealed to me that such a revolution would take place one year from today. Although one is present and the other future, both are equally hidden from me apart from immediate revelation. When Samuel told Saul that the donkeys he had gone looking for had been found, and that his father had stopped worrying about the donkeys and was now worried about him, this was the same kind of revelation as when he told Saul that on the plain of Tabor he would meet three men going up to worship God at Bethel (1 Samuel 10:2-3) — even though one of these facts was still future and the other was not. Similarly, when Elisha told the king of Israel the words that the king of Syria had spoken in his private bedroom, this was the same kind of revelation as when he foretold many future events.

It is clear that this kind of revelation of secret facts by immediate suggestion has nothing of the nature of a spiritual and divine operation in the sense already described. There is nothing in the nature of the perceptions or ideas themselves — the ones excited in the mind — that is divinely excellent and vastly above all the ideas of unregenerate people, even if the manner in which the ideas were produced is extraordinary. In genuinely spiritual things, as has been shown, it is not only the manner of producing the effect that is divine — the effect itself is divine, and vastly above anything that can exist in an unsanctified mind. But the simple having of ideas of facts — setting aside the manner of their production — is nothing beyond what the minds of wicked people are capable of. All wicked people either have now or will have knowledge of the truth of the greatest and most important facts that ever have been, are, or will be.

As for the extraordinary manner of producing the ideas or perception of facts by immediate suggestion, there is nothing in it that the minds of unregenerate people are incapable of while remaining unregenerate — as is clearly demonstrated in the case of Balaam and others in Scripture. Therefore it is clear that nothing about the immediate suggestion of secret facts is spiritual in the sense that gracious operations have been proved to be spiritual. If there is nothing in the ideas themselves that is holy and divine — nothing beyond what may exist in an unsanctified mind — then God can place those ideas in the mind by immediate power without sanctifying it. Just as there is nothing in the idea of a rainbow that is holy or divine — and therefore nothing preventing an unsanctified mind from having that idea — so God can, if He pleases and when He pleases, immediately and in an extraordinary manner excite that idea in an unsanctified mind. Similarly, there is nothing in the idea or knowledge that such and such particular people are forgiven and accepted by God and entitled to heaven that unsanctified minds cannot have — and in fact will have, concerning many people, at the Day of Judgment. Therefore God can, if He pleases, extraordinarily and immediately suggest this to and impress it upon an unsanctified mind now. There is nothing lacking in an unsanctified mind that would prevent such a suggestion or impression, and nothing in its nature that necessarily excludes it.

Nor do these suggestions of secret facts become spiritual or divine if they are accompanied by words of Scripture that are simultaneously and extraordinarily brought to mind — words about some other fact that seems somewhat similar. The suggestion of Scripture words is no more divine than the suggestion of the facts themselves, as has just been demonstrated. Two effects that are neither of them spiritual cannot together make up one combined effect that is spiritual.