Improvement

IMPROVEMENT.

The first USE may lie in several Inferences, for our Instruction.

First. From what has been said, it may be inferred, by Parity of Reason, that Nothing that damned Men do, or ever will Experience, can be any sure Sign of Grace.

Damned Men are like the Devils; are conformed to them in Nature and State. They have nothing better in them than the Devils; have no higher Principles in their Hearts; experience nothing, and do nothing of a more excellent Kind; As they are the Children and Servants of the Devil; and as such shall dwell with him, and be Partakers with him, of the same Misery. As Christ says, concerning the Saints, in their future State; Matthew 22:30. That they shall be as the Angels of God in Heaven: So it may be said concerning ungodly Men, in their future State; that they shall be as the fallen, wicked Angels in Hell.

Each of the forementioned Reasons, given to show the Truth of the Doctrine, with Respect to Devils, hold good with Respect to damned Men. Damned Men have no Degree of Holiness: And therefore, those Things, which are nothing beyond what they have, cannot be holy Experiences. So it is true, that the damned Men, are not only absolutely destitute of all true Holiness, but they have not so much as any common Grace. And lastly, it is unreasonable to suppose, that a Person's being in any Respect, as the damned in Hell are, should be a certain Sign, that they are very unlike and opposite to them, and hereafter, shall not have their Portion with them.

Second. We may hence infer, that no Degree of speculative Knowledge of Things, of Religion, is any certain Sign of saving Grace. The Devil, before his Fall, was among those bright and glorious Angels of Heaven, which are represented as Morning Stars, and Flames of Fire, that excel in Strength and Wisdom. And though he be now become sinful, yet his Sin has not abolished the Faculties of the angelic Nature; as when Man fell, he did not lose the Faculties of the human Nature. Sin destroys spiritual Principles, but not the natural Faculties. It is true, Sin, when in full Dominion, entirely prevents the Exercise of the natural Faculties, in holy and spiritual Understanding; and lays many Impediments in the Way of their proper Exercise in other Respects: It lays the natural Faculty of Reason, under great Disadvantages, by the many and strong Prejudices, which the Mind is brought under the Power of: And in fallen Men, the Faculties of the Soul, are, doubtless, greatly impeded in their Exercise, through that great Weakness and Disorder of the corporeal Organ, which it is strictly united to; which is the Consequence of Sin. But there seems to be nothing in the Nature of Sin, or moral Corruption, that has any Tendency to destroy the natural Capacity; or even to diminish it, properly speaking. If Sin were of such a Nature, as necessarily to have that Tendency and Effect; then it might be expected, that wicked Men, in a future State, where they are given up entirely to the unrestrained Exercise of their Corruptions and Lusts, and Sin is, in all Respects, brought to its greatest Perfection in them, would have the Capacity of their Souls greatly diminished: Which we have no Reason to suppose; but rather, on the contrary; that their Capacities are greatly enlarged, and that their actual Knowledge is vastly increased; and that even with Respect to the Divine Being, and the Things of Religion, and the great Concerns of the immortal Souls of Men; and that, with Regard to these Things, the Eyes of wicked Men are opened; and they, in some Respects, emerge out of Darkness into clear Light, when they go into another World.

The Greatness of the Abilities of the Devils, may be argued, from the Representation in Ephesians 6:12, We wrestle not against Flesh and Blood, but against Principalities, against Powers, etcetera. The same may also be argued, from what the Scripture says of Satan's Subtlety. Genesis 3:1. 2 Corinthians 11:3. Acts 13:10.

And as the Devil has a Faculty of Understanding of large Capacity, so he is capable of a great speculative Knowledge, of the Things of God, and the invisible and eternal World, as well as other Things; and must needs, actually, have a great Understanding of these Things; as these are the Things which have always been chiefly in his View; and as his Circumstances, from his first Existence, have been such as have tended chiefly to engage Him to attend to these Things. Before his Fall, he was one of those Angels, who continually beheld the Face of the Father, which is in Heaven. And Sin has no Tendency to destroy the Memory: And therefore, has no Tendency to blot out of it, any speculative Knowledge that was formerly there.

As the Devil's Subtlety, shows his great Capacity; so the Way in which his Subtlety is exercised and manifested; which is principally in his artful Management, with Respect to Things of Religion; his exceeding subtle Representations, Insinuations, Reasonings, and Temptations, concerning these Things, demonstrates his great actual Understanding of them. As in order to the being a very artful Disputant in any Science, though it be only to confound and deceive such as are conversant in the Science; a Person had need to have a great and extensive Acquaintance with the Things, which pertain to that Science.

Thus the Devil has, undoubtedly a great Degree of speculative Knowledge in Divinity; having been, as it were, educated in the best Divinity School in the Universe, namely The Heaven of Heavens. He must needs have such an extensive and accurate Knowledge, concerning the Nature and Attributes of God, as WE, Worms of the Dust, in our present State, are not capable of. And he must have a far more extensive Knowledge of the Works of God; as of the Work of Creation in particular; for he was a Spectator of the Creation of this visible World: He was one of those Morning-Stars that we read of, Job 38:4, 5, 6, 7 who sang together, and of those Sons of God, that shouted for Joy, when God laid the Foundations of the Earth, and laid the Measures thereof, and stretched the Line upon it. And so he must have a very great Knowledge of God's Works of Providence: He has been a Spectator of the Series of these Works from the Beginning: He has seen how God has governed the World in all Ages: He has seen the whole Train of God's wonderful successive Dispensations of Providence towards his Church, from Generation to Generation. And He has not been an indifferent Spectator; but the great Opposition, which there has been between God and him, in the whole Course of those Dispensations; has necessarily, greatly engaged his Attention, in the strictest Observation of them. He must have a great Degree of Knowledge, concerning Jesus Christ, as the Saviour of Men; and the Nature and Method of the Work of Redemption, and the wonderful Wisdom of God in this Contrivance. It is that Work of God, wherein, above all others, God has acted in Opposition to him; and in which he has chiefly set himself in Opposition to God. It is with Relation to this Affair, that that mighty Warfare has been maintained, which has been carried on between Michael and his Angels, and the Devil and his Angels, through all Ages, from the Beginning of the World; and especially, since Christ appeared in the World. The Devil has had enough to engage his Attention, to the Steps of Divine Wisdom in this Work; for it is to that Wisdom he has opposed his Subtlety: And he has seen, and found, to his great Disappointment, and unspeakable Torment; how divine Wisdom, as exercised in that Work, has baffled and confounded his Devices. He has a great Knowledge of the Things of another World; for the Things of that World, are in his immediate View. He has a great Knowledge of Heaven; for he has been an Inhabitant of that World of Glory: And he has a great Knowledge of Hell, and the Nature of its Misery; for he is the first Inhabitant of Hell; and above all the other Inhabitants, has Experience of its Torment, and has felt them constantly, for more than Fifty-seven Hundred Years. He must have a great Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; for it is evident, he is not hindered from knowing what is written there, by the Use he made of the Words of Scripture, in his Temptation of our Saviour. And if he can know, he has much Opportunity to know, and must needs have a Disposition to know, with the greatest Exactness; that he may, to greater Effect, prevent and wrest the Scripture, and prevent such an Effect of the Word of God on the Hearts of Men, as shall tend to Overthrow his Kingdom. He must have a great Knowledge of the Nature of Mankind, their Capacity, their Dispositions, and the Corruptions of their Hearts; for he has had long and great Observation and Experience. The Heart of Man, is what he has had chiefly to do with, in his subtle Devices, mighty Efforts, and indefatigable Operations and Exertions of himself, from the Beginning of the World. And it is evident, that He has a great speculative Knowledge of the Nature of experimental Religion, by his being able to imitate it so artfully, and in such a Manner, as to transform himself into an Angel of Light.

Therefore it is manifest, from my Text and Doctrine, that no Degree of speculative Knowledge of Things of Religion, is any certain Sign of true Piety. Whatever clear Notions a Man may have of the Attributes of God, and Doctrine of the Trinity; the Nature of the two Covenants, the Economy of the Persons of the Trinity, and the Part which each Person has in the Affair of Man's Redemption; if he can Discourse never so excellently of the Offices of Christ, and the Way of Salvation by him, and the admirable Methods of divine Wisdom; and the Harmony of the various Attributes of God in that Way; if he can talk never so clearly and exactly of the Method of the Justification of a Sinner, and of the Nature of Conversion, and the Operations of the Spirit of God, in applying the Redemption of Christ; giving good Distinctions, happily solving Difficulties, and answering Objections; in a Manner tending greatly to the enlightening the Ignorant, to the Edification of the Church of God, and the Conviction of Gainsayers; and the great Increase of Light in the World: If he has more Knowledge of this Sort than Hundreds of true Saints, of an ordinary Education, and most Divines; yet all is no certain Evidence of any Degree of saving Grace in the Heart.

It is true, the Scripture often speaks of Knowledge of divine Things, as what is peculiar to true Saints; as in John, 17. This is eternal Life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Matthew 12:27. No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any Man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Psalms 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. But then, we must understand it of a different Kind of Knowledge, from that speculative Understanding, which the Devil has to so great a Degree. It will also be allowed, that the spiritual saving Knowledge of God, and divine Things, greatly promotes speculative Knowledge; as it engages the Mind in its Search into Things of this Kind, and much assists to a distinct Understanding of them; so that, other Things being equal, they that have spiritual Knowledge, are much more likely than others, to have a good doctrinal Acquaintance with Things of Religion; but yet, such Acquaintance may be no distinguishing Characteristic of true Saints.

Third. It may also be inferred from what has been observed, that for Persons merely to yield a speculative Assent to the Doctrines of Religion as true, is no certain Evidence of a State of Grace. My Text tells us, that the Devils believe, and as they believe that there is one God, so they believe the Truth of the Doctrines of Religion in general. The Devil is orthodox in his Faith; he believes the true Scheme of Doctrine; he is no Deist, Socinian, Arian, Pelagian, or Antinomian; the Articles of his Faith are all sound, and what he is thoroughly established in.

Therefore, for a Person to believe the Doctrines of Christianity, merely from the Influence of Things speculative, or from the Force of Arguments, as discerned only by Speculation, is no Evidence of Grace.

Though it is probably a very rare thing, for unregenerate men, to have a strong persuasion of the truth of the doctrines of religion, especially, such of them as are very mysterious, and much above the comprehension of reason: Yea, it is manifest, that we have no warrant to determine, that it can never be so, or to look upon such a persuasion, as an infallible evidence of grace; and that no person can safely determine his state to be good from such an evidence. Yet if he, not only himself, seems to be very confident of the truth of Christianity and its doctrines, but is able to argue most strongly for the proof of them; yet in this, he goes nothing beyond the Devil; who, doubtless, has a great knowledge of the rational arguments, by which the truth of the Christian religion, and its several principles are evinced.

And therefore, when the Scripture speaks of believing that Jesus is the Son of God, as a sure evidence of grace, as in 1 John 5:1 and other places, it must be understood, not of a mere speculative assent, but of another kind and manner of believing, which is called the faith of God's elect. Titus 1:1. There is a spiritual conviction of the truth, which is, a believing with the whole heart, peculiar to true saints; of which I would speak particularly by and by.

4. It may be inferred, from the doctrine which has been insisted on, that it is no certain sign, that persons are savingly converted; that they have been subjects of very great distress and terrors of mind, through apprehensions of God's wrath, and fears of damnation.

That the devils are the subjects of great terrors, through apprehensions of God's wrath, and fears of future effects of it, is implied in my text; which speaks not only of their believing, but trembling. It must be no small degree of terror, which should make those principalities and powers, those mighty, proud and sturdy beings, to tremble.

There are many terrors, that some persons, who are concerned for their salvation, are the subjects of, which are not from any proper awakenings of conscience, or apprehensions of truth; but from melancholy, or frightful impressions on their imagination; or some groundless apprehensions, and the delusions, and false suggestions of Satan. But if they have had ever so great, and long continued terrors, from real awakenings, and convictions of truth, and views of things as they are; this is no more than what is in the devils, and will be in all wicked men, in another world. However stupid and senseless most ungodly men are now, all will be effectually awakened at last: There will be no such thing as slumbering in hell. There are many that cannot be awakened by the most solemn warnings, and awful threatenings of the word of God; the most alarming discourses from the pulpit, and the most awakening and awful providences; but all will be thoroughly awakened, by the sound of the last trumpet, and the appearance of Christ to judgment; and all sorts will then be filled with most amazing terrors, from apprehensions of truth, and seeing things as they be; when the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, (such as were the most lofty and stout-hearted, most ready to treat the things of religion with contempt) shall hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and say to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him, that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:15, 16, 17.

Therefore, if persons have first been awakened, and then afterwards have had comfort and joy, it is no certain sign, that their comforts are of the right kind, that they were preceded by very great terrors.

5. It may be further inferred from the doctrine, that no work of the law on men's hearts, in conviction of guilt, and just desert of punishment, is a sure argument, that a person has been savingly converted.

Not only, are no awakenings and terrors, any certain evidence of this, but no mere legal work whatsoever; though carried to the utmost extent that it can be; nothing wherein there is no grace or spiritual light, but only the mere conviction of natural conscience, and those acts and operations of the mind, which are the result of this; and so are, as it were, merely forced by the clear light of conscience, without the concurrence of the heart and inclination with that light: I say these things are no certain sign of the saving grace of God, or that a person was ever savingly converted.

The evidence of this, from my text and doctrine, is demonstrative; because the devils are the subjects of these things; and all wicked men that shall finally perish, will be the subjects of the same. Natural conscience is not extinguished in the damned in hell; but on the contrary, remains, and is there in its greatest strength, and is brought to its most perfect exercise; most fully to do its proper office, as God's vicegerent in the soul, to condemn those rebels against the King of Heaven and Earth, and manifest God's just wrath and vengeance, and by that means to torment them; and be as a never-dying worm within them. Wretched men find means in this world, to blind the eyes, and stop the mouth of this vicegerent of a sin-revenging God; but they shall not be able to do it always. In another world, the eyes and mouth of conscience will be fully opened. God will hereafter, make wicked men to see and know these things, which now they industriously hide their eyes from; Isaiah 26:10, 11. Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: But they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. We have this expression often annexed to God's threatenings of wrath to his enemies; And they shall know, that I am the Lord: This shall be accomplished by their woeful experience, and clear light in their consciences, whereby they shall be made to know, whether they will or not; how great and terrible, holy and righteous a God JEHOVAH is; whose authority they have despised: And they shall know, that he is righteous and holy in their destruction. This all the ungodly will be convinced of, at the day of judgment, by the bringing to light all their wickedness of heart and practice; and setting all their sins, with all their aggravations, in order, not only in the view of others, even of the whole world, but in the view of their own consciences. This is threatened, Psalm 50:21. These things you have done, and I kept silence: You thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself. But I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes. Compare this with the four first verses of the Psalm. The end of the day of judgment, is not to find out what is just, as it is with human judgments, but it is to manifest what is just; to make known God's justice in the judgment which he will execute, to men's own consciences, and to the world. And therefore, that day is called the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Romans 2:5. Now sinners often cavil against the justice of God's dispensations, and particularly, the justice of the punishment, which God threatens for their sins; excusing themselves, and condemning God: But when God comes to manifest their wickedness in the light of that day, and to call them to an account, they will be speechless; Matthew 22:11, 12. And when the King came to see the guests, he saw there, a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he says unto him, Friend, how came you in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. When the King of Heaven and Earth comes to judgment, their consciences will be so perfectly enlightened and convinced, by the all-searching light, they shall then stand in; that their mouths will be effectually stopped, as to all excuses for themselves, all pleading of their own righteousness, to excuse or justify them; and all objections against the justice of their Judge; that their conscience will condemn them only, and not God.

Therefore, it follows from the doctrine, that it can be no certain sign of grace, that persons have had great convictions of sin; have had their sins of life, with their aggravations remarkably set before them, so as greatly to affect and terrify them; and withal, have had a great sight of the wickedness of their hearts, and been convinced of the greatness of the sin of unbelief, and of the inexcusableness and heinousness of their most secret spiritual iniquities; and have been brought to be convinced of the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness; and to despair of being recommended to God by it; have been as much brought off from their own righteousness, as ever any are, under a mere legal humiliation; have been convinced that they are wholly without excuse before God, and deserve damnation; and that God would be just, in executing the threatened punishment upon them, though it be so dreadful. All these things, will be in all the ungodly at the day of judgment, when they shall stand with devils, at the left hand, and shall be doomed as accursed, to everlasting fire, with them.

Indeed there will be no submission in them. Their conscience will be convinced, that God is just in their condemnation; but yet their wills will not be bowed to God's justice. There will be no acquiescence of mind, in that divine attribute; no yielding of the soul to God's sovereignty, but the highest degree of enmity and opposition. A true submission of the heart and will, to the justice and sovereignty of God, is therefore allowed to be something peculiar to true converts, being something which the devils and damned souls are, and ever will be far from; and which a mere work of the law, and convictions of conscience, however great and clear, will never bring men to.

When sinners are the subjects of great convictions of conscience, and a remarkable work of the law; it is only a transacting the business of the day of judgment, in the conscience beforehand: God sits enthroned in the conscience, as at the last day, he will sit enthroned in the clouds of heaven; the sinner is arraigned, as it were, at God's bar; and God appears in his awful greatness, as a just and holy, sin-hating and sin-revenging God, as He will then. The sinner's iniquities are brought to light; his sins set in order before him; the hidden things of darkness, and the counsels of the heart are made manifest; as it will be then: Many witnesses do, as it were, rise up against the sinner under convictions of conscience; as they will against the wicked, at the day of judgment: And the books are opened, particularly the book of God's strict and holy law, is opened in the conscience, and its rules applied for the condemnation of the sinner; which is the book that will be opened at the day of judgment, as the grand rule of judgment, to all such wicked men as have lived under it: And the sentence of the law is pronounced against the sinner; and the justice of the sentence made manifest; as it will be at the day of judgment. The conviction of a sinner at the day of judgment, will be a work of the law, as well as the conviction of conscience in this world: And the work of the law (if the work be merely legal) to be sure, is never carried further in the consciences of sinners now, that it will be at that day, when its work will be perfect, in thoroughly stopping the sinner's mouth. Romans 3:19. Now we know, that what things soever the law says, it says to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Every mouth shall be stopped by the law, either now or hereafter; and all the world shall become sensibly guilty before God; guilty of death, deserving of damnation. And therefore, if sinners have been the subjects of a great work of the law, and have thus become guilty, and their mouths have been stopped; it is no certain sign that ever they have been converted.

Indeed the want of a thorough sense of guilt, and desert of punishment, and conviction of the justice of GOD, in threatening damnation, is a good negative sign; it is a sign that a person never was converted, and truly brought, with the whole soul, to embrace CHRIST as a Savior from this punishment. For it is easily demonstrable, that there is no such thing as entirely and cordially accepting an offer from GOD, of a Savior, from a punishment that HE threatens, which we think we do not deserve. But the having such a conviction, is no certain sign, that persons have true faith, or have ever truly received CHRIST as their Savior. And if persons have great comfort, joy, and confidence, suddenly let into their minds, after great convictions, of such a kind as has been mentioned; it is no infallible evidence that their comforts are built on a good foundation.

It is manifest, therefore, that too much stress has been laid by many persons, on a great work of the law, preceding their comforts; who seem not only to have looked on such a work of the law, as necessary to precede faith, but also to have esteemed it as the chief evidence of the truth and genuineness of succeeding faith and comforts. By this means it is to be feared, very many have been deceived, and established in a false hope. And what is to be seen in the event of things, in multitudes of instances, confirms this. It may be safely allowed, not to be so usual for great convictions of conscience, to prove abortive, and fail of a good issue, as for lesser convictions; and that more generally, when the Spirit of GOD proceeds so far with sinners, in the work of the law, as to give them a great sight of their hearts, and of the heinousness of their spiritual iniquities; and to convince them that they are without excuse and that all their righteousness can do nothing to merit GOD's favors; but that they lie justly exposed to GOD's eternal vengeance without mercy; a work of saving conversion follows. But we can have no warrant to say, it is universally so, or to lay it down as an infallible rule, that when convictions of conscience have gone thus far, saving faith, and repentance will surely follow. If any should think they have ground for such a determination, because they cannot conceive what end GOD should have, in carrying a work of conviction to such a length, and so preparing the heart for faith; and after all, never giving saving faith to the soul; I desire it may be considered, where will be the end of our doubts and difficulties, if we think ourselves sufficient to determine, so positively and particularly concerning GOD's ends and designs in what he does. It may be asked such an objector, what is GOD's end in giving a sinner any Degree of the strivings of his Spirit, and conviction of conscience; when he afterwards suffers it to come to nothing, and to prove in vain? If He may give some degree that may finally be in vain; who shall set the bounds, and say how great the degree shall be? Who can, on sure grounds, determine, that when a sinner has so much of that conviction, which the devils and damned in Hell have; true faith and eternal salvation, will be the certain consequence? This we may certainly determine, that, if the Apostle's argument in the text be good, not any thing whatsoever, that the devils have, is certainly connected with such a consequence. Seeing sinners, while such, are capable of the most perfect convictions, and will have them at the Day of Judgment, and in Hell; who shall say, that GOD never shall cause reprobates to anticipate the future Judgment and damnation in that respect? And if He does so, who shall say to Him, what doest Thou? Or call him to account concerning his ends in so doing. Not but that many possible wise ends might be thought of, and mentioned, if it were needful, or I had now room for it. The Spirit of GOD, is often quenched, by the exercise of the wickedness of men's hearts, after he has gone far in a work of conviction; so that their convictions never have a good issue. And who can say that sinners, by the exercise of their opposition and enmity against GOD, (which is not at all mortified by the greatest legal convictions, neither in the damned in Hell, nor sinners on Earth) may not provoke GOD to take his Spirit from them, even after He has proceeded the greatest length in a work of conviction? Who can say, that GOD never is provoked to destroy some, after he has brought them, as it were, through the wilderness, even to the edge of the land of rest? As he slew some of the Israelites, even in the plains of Moab.

And let it be considered, where is our warrant in Scripture, to make use of any legal convictions, or any method or order of successive events in a work of the law; and consequent comforts, as a sure sign of regeneration. The Scripture is abundant, in expressly mentioning evidences of grace, and of a state of favor with GOD, and characteristics of the true saints: But where do we ever find such things as these, amongst those evidences? Or where do we find any other signs insisted on, besides grace itself, its nature, exercises and fruits? These were the evidences that Job relied upon; These were the things that the Psalmist, everywhere insists upon, as evidences of his sincerity: And particularly in the 119th Psalm, from the beginning to the end. These were the signs that Hezekiah trusted to, in his sickness.

These were the characteristics given of those that are truly happy, by our Savior, in the beginning of his sermon in the mount. These are the things that CHRIST mentions, as the true evidences of being his real disciples, in his last, and dying discourse to his disciples, in the 14, 15, and 16 Chapters of John; and in his intercessory prayer, Chapter 17. These are the things which the Apostle Paul, often speaks of, as evidences of his sincerity, and sure title to a crown of glory. And these are the things he often mentions to others, in his Epistles, as the proper evidences of real Christianity; a justified state, and a title to glory. He insists on the Fruits of the Spirit; Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance, as the proper evidences of being CHRIST's, and living in the Spirit: Galatians 5:22-25. It is that Charity, or divine love, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, etc. that he insists on, as the most essential evidence of true godliness; without which, all other things are nothing. Such are the signs which the Apostle James insists on, as the proper evidence, of a truly wise and good man: James 3:17. The Wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of Mercy and good Fruits, without Partiality, and without Hypocrisy. And such are the signs of true Christianity, which the Apostle John insists on, throughout his Epistles. And we never have anywhere in the Bible, from the beginning to the end of it, any other signs of godliness given, than such as these. If persons have such things as these apparently in them, it ought to be determined, that they are truly converted, without its being insisted, that it be first known, what steps or method the Spirit of GOD took, to introduce these things into the soul; which oftentimes, is altogether untraceable. All the works of GOD, are, in some respects, unsearchable: But the Scripture, often represents the works of the Spirit of GOD, as peculiarly so; Isaiah 40:13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Counsellor, hath taught Him? Ecclesiastes 11:5. As thou knowest not what is the Way of the Spirit; nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child; so thou knowest not the Works of GOD, who maketh All. John 3:8. The Wind bloweth where it listeth; and thou hearest the Sound thereof; but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every One that is born of the Spirit.

6. It follows from my text and doctrine, that it is no certain sign of grace, that persons have earnest desires and longings after salvation.

The devils, doubtless, long for deliverance from the misery they suffer, and from that greater misery which they expect. If they tremble through fear of it, they must, necessarily, earnestly desire to be delivered from it. Wicked men, are in Scripture, represented as longing for the privileges of the righteous, when the door is shut, and they are shut out from among them: They come to the door, and cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. Therefore, we are not to look on all desires, or all desires that are very earnest and vehement, as certain evidences of a pious heart. There are earnest desires of a religious nature, which the saints have, that are the proper breathings of a new nature, and distinguishing qualities of true saints: But there are also longings, which unregenerate men may have, which are often mistaken for marks of godliness: They think they hunger and thirst after righteousness; and have earnest desires after GOD and CHRIST, and long for Heaven; when indeed, all is to be resolved into desires of salvation, from self-love; and so is a longing which arises from no higher principles, than the earnest desires of devils.

7. It may be inferred from what has been observed; that persons who have no grace, may have a great apprehension of an external glory, in things heavenly and divine; and of whatsoever is external, pertaining to things of religion.

If persons have impressed strongly on their minds, ideas of that sort, which are obtained by the external senses; whether they are of that kind that enter by the ear, as any kind of sound; whether it be the most pleasant music, or words spoken of excellent signification; words of Scripture, or any other, immediately suggested, as though they were spoken, though they seem to be never so suitable to their case, or adapted to the subject of their meditations: Or whether they are of that kind, that are obtained by the eye, as ideas of a visible beauty and glory; a shining light, an external glory of Heaven; golden streets, walls and gates of precious stone; splendid palaces; glorious inhabitants, shining forth as the Sun; a most magnificent throne, surrounded by angels and saints, in shining ranks: Or any thing external, belonging to JESUS CHRIST; either in his humbled state, as of JESUS hanging on the cross, with his crown of thorns, his wounds open, and blood trickling down; or in his glorified state, with awful majesty, or ravishing beauty and sweetness in his countenance; his face shining above the brightness of the Sun, and the like: These things are no certain signs of grace.

Multitudes that are now in Hell, will have ideas of the external glory, that pertains to things heavenly, far beyond what ever any have in this world. They will see all that external glory and beauty, in which CHRIST will appear at the Day of Judgment, when the Sun shall be turned into darkness before him; which, doubtless, will be ten thousand times greater than ever was impressed on the imagination of either saints or sinners, in this present state, or ever was conceived by any mortal man.

8. It may be inferred from the doctrine, that persons who have no grace, may have a very great and affecting sense of many divine things on their hearts.

The Devil has not only great speculative knowledge, but he has a sense of many divine things, which deeply affects him, and is most strongly impressed on his heart. As

1. The Devils and damned souls, have a great sense of the vast importance of the things of another world. They are in the invisible world, and they see and know how great the things of that world are: Their experience teaches them in the most affecting manner. They have a great sense of the worth of salvation, and the worth of immortal souls, and the vast importance of those things, that concern men's eternal welfare. The parable in the latter end of the 16th Chapter of Luke, teaches this, in representing the rich man in Hell, as entreating that Lazarus might be sent to his five brothers, to testify to them, lest they should come to that place of torment. They who endure the torments of Hell, have, doubtless, a most lively and affecting sense of the vastness of an endless eternity; and of the comparative momentariness of this life, and the vanity of the concerns and enjoyments of time. They are convinced effectually, that all the things of this world, even those that appear greatest and most important to the inhabitants of the earth, are despicable trifles, in comparison of the things of the eternal world. They have a great sense of the preciousness of time, and of the means of grace, and the inestimable value of the privileges which they enjoy, which live under the Gospel. They are fully sensible of the folly of those that go on in sin; neglect their opportunities; make light of the counsels and warnings of God; and bitterly lament their exceeding folly, in their own sins; by which they have brought on themselves so great and remediless misery. When sinners, by woeful experience, know the dreadful issue of their evil way; they will mourn at the last, saying, how have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me! Proverbs 4:11, 12, 13.

Therefore, however, true godliness is now attended with a great sense of the importance of divine things; and it is rare, that men that have no grace, do maintain such a sense, in any steady and persevering manner; yet it is manifest, those things are no certain evidences of grace. Unregenerate men may have a sense of the importance of the things of eternity, and the vanity of the things of time; the work of immortal souls; the preciousness of time and means of grace, and the folly of the ways of allowed sin: And may have such a sense of these things, as may deeply affect them, and cause them to mourn for their own sins, and be much concerned for others. Though it be true, they have not these things in the same manner, and in all respects, from the same principles and views, as godly men have them.

2. Devils and damned men, have a strong and most affecting sense of the awful greatness and majesty of God. The awful majesty of God, is greatly made manifest in the executions of divine wrath, which they are the subjects of. The making this known, is one thing God has in design, in his vengeance on his enemies. Romans 9:22. What, if God willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction? The devils tremble before this great and terrible God, and under a strong sense of his awful majesty. It is greatly manifested to them, and damned souls now; but shall be manifested in a further degree, in that day, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, in flaming fire, to take vengeance upon them; and when they shall earnestly desire to fly, and be hid from the face of Him that sits on the throne, (which shall be, because of the glory of His majesty. Isaiah 2:10.) and when they shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. When Christ comes, at the last day, in the glory of his Father, every eye shall see him in that glory, (in this respect, that they shall see his terrible majesty) and they also that pierced Him: Revelation 1:7. Both those devils, and wicked men, which tormented and insulted Him, when he appeared in meanness and ignominy, shall then see him in the glory of his Father.

It is evident, therefore, that a sense of God's terrible majesty, is no certain evidence of saving grace: For we see that wicked men, and devils are capable of it: Yea, many wicked men in this world have actually had it. This is a manifestation, which God made of Himself, in the sight of that wicked congregation at Mount Sinai, which they saw, and were deeply affected with; so that all the people that were in the camp trembled.

3. Devils and damned men have some kind of conviction and sense of all the attributes of God, both natural and moral, that is strong and very affecting.

The devils know God's almighty power: They saw a great manifestation of it, when they saw God lay the foundation of the earth, et cetera and were much affected with it. And they have seen innumerable other great demonstrations of his power; as in the universal deluge, the destruction of Sodom, the wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness; the causing the sun to stand still in Joshua's time; and many others. And they had a very affecting manifestation of God's mighty power on themselves, in casting all their hosts down from heaven into Hell; and have continual affecting experience of it, in God's reserving them in strong chains of darkness, and in the strong pains they feel; and will hereafter, have far more affecting experience of it, when they shall be punished from the glory of God's power, with that mighty destruction, which they now tremble in expectation of. So the devils have a great knowledge of the wisdom of God: They have had unspeakably, more opportunity and occasion to observe it, in the work of creation, and also in the works of providence, than any mortal man has ever had; and have been themselves the subjects of innumerable affecting manifestations of it, in God's disappointing and confounding them in their most subtle devices, in so wonderful and amazing a manner. So they see and find the infinite purity and holiness of the divine nature, in the most affecting manner, as this appears in his infinite hatred of sin, in what they feel of the dreadful effects of that hatred. They know already, by what they suffer, and will know hereafter to a greater degree, and far more affecting manner, that such is the opposition of God's nature to sin, that it is like a consuming fire, that burns with infinite vehemence against it: They will feel the vehement heat of that fire, in a very dreadful manner. They also will see the holiness of God, as exercised in his love to righteousness and holiness, in what they will see of the reward of the righteousness of Christ, and the holiness of his people, in the glory of Christ and his church; which also will be very affecting to devils, and wicked men. And the exact justice of God, will be manifested to them in the clearest and strongest, most convincing and most affecting light, at the day of judgment. When they will also see great and affecting demonstrations of the riches of his grace, in the marvelous fruits of his love to the vessels of mercy; when they shall see them at the right hand of Christ, shining as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father, and shall hear the blessed sentence pronounced upon them; and will be deeply affected with it; as seems naturally implied in the 13th Chapter of Luke, 28, 29, verses. The devils know God's truth; and therefore, they believe his threatenings, and tremble in expectation of their accomplishment. And wicked men that now doubt his truth, and dare not trust his word; will hereafter, in the most convincing affecting manner, find his word to be true, in all that he has threatened; and will see that he is faithful to his promises, in the rewards of his saints. Devils and damned men, know that God is eternal and unchangeable; and therefore, they despair of there ever being an end to their misery.

Therefore it is manifest, that merely persons having an affecting sense of some, or even of all God's attributes, is no certain sign, that they have the true grace of God in their hearts.

Objection. Here possibly, some may object against the force of the foregoing reasoning. That ungodly men in this world, are in exceeding different circumstances, from those which the devils are in; and from those which wicked men will be in, at the day of judgment. Those things which are visible and present to these, are now future and invisible to the other. And wicked men in this world, are in the body, that clogs and hinders the soul, and are encompassed with objects that blind and stupefy them. And therefore, it does not follow, that, because the wicked in another world, have a great apprehension and lively sense of such and such things, without grace, that ungodly men, in their present state may have the same.

Answer. To this I answer: It is not supposed, that ever men in this life have all those things which have been mentioned, to the same degree that the devils and damned have them. None supposes that ever any in this life have terrors of conscience to an equal degree with them. It is not to be supposed, that any mortal man, whether godly or ungodly, has an equal degree of speculative knowledge with the devil. And, as was just now observed, the wicked, at the day of judgment, will have a vastly greater idea of the external glory of Christ, than ever any have in the present state. So, doubtless, they will have a far greater sense of God's awful greatness and terrible majesty, than any could subsist under in this frail state. So we may well conclude, that the devils, and wicked men in Hell, have a greater and more affecting sense of the vastness of eternity, and (in some respects) a greater sense of the importance of the things of another world, than any here have. And they have also longings after salvation to an higher degree than any wicked men in this world.

But yet, it is evident, that men in this world, may have things of the same kind with devils and damned men. The same sort of light in the understanding; the same views, and the same affections; the same sense of things, the same kind of impressions on the mind, and on the heart. If the objection is against the conclusiveness of the reasoning that has been made use of to prove this; it is against the conclusiveness of that reasoning which is the Apostle's, more properly than mine. The Apostle judged it, a conclusive argument, against such as thought their believing there was one God, an evidence of their being gracious; that the devils believed the same. So the argument is exactly the same, against such as think they have grace, because they believe God is a holy God, or because they have a sense of the awful majesty of God. The same may be observed of other things that have been mentioned. My text has reference not only to the act of the understandings of devils in believing, but to that affection of their hearts, which accompanies the views they have: As trembling is an effect of the affection of the heart. Which shows, that if men have both the same views of understanding, and also the same affections of heart, that the devils have, it is no sign of grace.

And as to the particular degree, to which these things may be carried in men, in this world, without grace; it appears not to be safe, to go about so to ascertain and fix it, as to make use of it as an infallible rule to determine men's state. I know not where we have any rule to go by, to fix the precise degree, in which God by his providence, or his common influences on the mind, will excite in wicked men in this world, the same views and affections, which the wicked have in another world; which it is manifest, the former are capable of as well as the latter, having the same faculties and principles of soul; and which views and affections, it is evident, they often are actually the subjects of in some degree; some in a greater, and some in a less degree. The infallible evidences of grace, which are laid down in Scripture, are of another kind: They are all of a holy and spiritual nature; and therefore, things of that kind, which a heart that is wholly carnal and corrupt, cannot receive, or have any experience of. 1 Corinthians 2:14.

I might also here add, that observation and experience, in very many instances, seems to confirm what Scripture and reason teaches in these things.

The second USE may be of self-examination.

Let the Things which have been observed, put all on examining themselves, and inquiring whether they have any better Evidences of saving Grace, than such as have been mentioned.

We see how the infallible Spirit of God, in the Text, plainly represents the Things the Devils are the Subjects of, as no sure Sign of Grace. And we have now, in some Instances, observed how far the Devils, and damned Men go, and will go in their Experience, their Knowledge of divine Things, their Belief of Truth, their Awakenings and Terrors of Conscience, their Conviction of Guilt, and of the Justice of God, in their eternal dreadful Damnation, their Longings after Salvation, their Sight of the external Glory of Christ, and heavenly Things; their Sense of the vast Importance of the Things of Religion, and another World; their Sense of the awful Greatness and terrible Majesty of God, yea, of all God's Attributes. These Things may well put us on serious Self-Examination, whether we have any Thing to Evidence our good Estate, beyond what the Devils are the Subjects of. Christ said to his Disciples, Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no Case, enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: So the Spirit of Christ, in his Apostle James, does in Effect, say, in my Text, except what you Experience in your Souls, go beyond the Experiences of Devils, you shall, in no Case, enter into the Kingdom of God.

Here, it may be, some will be ready to say, I have something besides all these Things, which have been mentioned; I have Things which the Devils have not, even Love and Joy.

I answer, you may have something besides the Experiences of Devils, and yet, nothing beyond them. Though the Experience be different, yet it may not be owing to any different Principle, but only the different Circumstances, under which these Principles are exercised. The Principles, from whence the forementioned Things in Devils and damned Men do arise, are these two, natural Understanding, and Self-Love. It is from natural Understanding or Reason, that they have such a Degree of Knowledge in divine Things, and such a Belief of them. It is from these Principles of natural Understanding and Self-Love, as exercised about their own Dispositions and Actions, and God as their Judge, that they have natural Conscience; and have such Convictions of Conscience, as have been spoken of. It is from these Principles, that they have such a Sense of the Importance of the Things of Religion, and the eternal World, and such Longings after Salvation. It is for the joint Exercise of these two Principles, that they are so sensible of the awful Majesty of God, and of all the Attributes of the divine Nature, and so greatly affected with them. And it is from these Principles, joined with external Sense, the Wicked, at the Day of Judgment, will have so great an Apprehension of, and will be so greatly affected by the external Glory of Christ and his Saints. And that you have a Kind of Love or Gratitude and Joy, which Devils and damned Men have not, may possibly not arise from any other Principles in your Heart, different from these two, but only from these Principles, as exercised in different Circumstances. As for Instance; your being a Subject of the restraining Grace of God, and being under Circumstances of Hope, and the Receipt of Mercy. The natural Understanding and Self-love of Devils, possibly might affect them in the same Manner, if they were in the same Circumstances. If your Love to God, has its first Source from Nothing else than a supposed immediate divine Witness, or any other supposed Evidence, that Christ died for you in particular, and that God loves you; it springs from no higher Principles than Self-love; which is a Principle that reigns in the Hearts of Devils. Self-love is sufficient, without Grace, to cause Men to love those that love them, or that they imagine love them, and make much of them; Luke 6:32. For if you love them which love you, what thank have you? For Sinners also love those that love them. And would not the Hearts of Devils be filled with great Joy, if they, by any Means, should take up a confident Persuasion that God had pardoned them, and was become their Friend, and that they should be delivered from that Wrath which they now are in trembling Expectation of. If the Devils go so far as you have heard, even in their Circumstances, being totally cast off, and given up to unrestrained Wickedness, being without Hope, knowing that God is, and ever will be their Enemy, they suffering his Wrath without Mercy: How far may we reasonably suppose they might go, in Imitation of Grace and pious Experience, if they had the same Degree of Knowledge, as clear Views, and as strong Conviction, under Circumstances of Hope, and Offers of Mercy; and being the Subjects of common Grace, restraining their Corruptions, and assisting and exciting the natural Principles of Reason, Conscience, et cetera? Such Things as Devils are the Subjects of; such great Conviction of Conscience; such a Sense of the Importance of eternal Things; such affecting Views of the awful Majesty, Greatness, Power, Holiness, Justice, and Truth of God, and such a Sense of his great Grace to the Saints, if they, or any Thing like them, should be in the Heart of a Sinner, in this World; at the same Time that he, from some strong Impression on his Imagination, of Christ appearing to him, or sweet Words spoken to him, or by some other Means, has suddenly, after great Terrors, imbibed a strong Confidence, that now, this Great God, is his Friend and Father, has released, him from all the Misery he feared, and has promised him eternal Happiness: I say, such Things would, doubtless, vastly heighten his Ecstasy of Joy, and raise the Exercise of natural Gratitude, (that Principle from whence Sinners love those that love them) and would occasion a great Imitation of many Graces, in strong Exercises. Is it any Wonder then, that Multitudes under such a sort of Affection, are deceived? Especially when they have Devils to help forward the Delusion, whose great Subtlety, has chiefly been exercised in deceiving Mankind, through all past Generations.

Enquiry. Here possibly, some may be ready to inquire, If there may be so many Things, which Men may experience from no higher Principles than are in the Minds and Hearts of Devils; what are those Exercises and Affections, that are of a higher Nature, which I must find in my Heart, and which I may justly look upon as sure Signs of the saving Grace of God's Spirit?

Answer. I answer, Those Exercises and Affections which are good Evidences of Grace, differ from all that the Devils are the Subjects of, and all that can arise from such Principles as are in their Hearts, in two Things; namely their Foundation and their Tendency.

1. They differ in their Foundation, or in that belonging to them, which is most fundamental in them, and the Foundation of all the rest, which pertains to them; namely An Apprehension, or Sense of the supreme holy Beauty, and Comeliness of divine Things, as they are in themselves, or in their own Nature.

This the Devils, and Damned in Hell are, and forever will be entirely destitute of. This the Devils once had, while they stood in their Integrity; but this they wholly lost, when they fell: And this is the only Thing that can be mentioned, pertaining to the Devil's Apprehension and Sense of the divine Being, that he did lose. Nothing else belonging to the Knowledge of God, can be devised, that he is destitute of. It has been observed, that there is no one Attribute of the divine Nature, but what he is sensible of, and knows, and has a strong and very affecting Conviction of; and this I think is evident, and undeniable. But the supreme Beauty of the divine Nature, he is altogether blind to: He sees no more of it, than a Man born perfectly blind does of Colours. The great Sight he has of the Attributes of God, gives him an Idea, and strong Sense of his awful Majesty, but no Idea of his Beauty and Comeliness. Though he has seen so much of God's wonderful Works of Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Justice and Truth, and his wonderful Works of Grace to Mankind, this so many Thousand Years, and has had Occasion to observe them with the strongest Attention: Yet all serves not to give him the least Sense of his divine Beauty. And though the Devils should continue to exercise their mighty Powers of Mind, with the strongest Intention; and should take Things in all possible Views, in every Order and Arrangement; yet they never will see this. So little akin, is the Knowledge they have to this, that the great Degrees of that Knowledge, bring them no nearer to it. Yet, the more Knowledge they have of God, of that Kind, the more do they hate God. That wherein the Beauty of the divine Nature, does most essentially consist, namely his Holiness, or moral Excellency, appears, in their Eyes, furthest from Beauty: It is on that very Account chiefly that he appears hateful to them. The more Holiness they see in him, the more hateful he appears: The greater their Sight is of his Holiness, the higher is their Hatred of him raised. And because of their Hatred of his Holiness, they hate him the more, the more they see of his other Attributes. They would hate a holy Being, whatever his other Attributes were; but they hate such a holy Being the worse, for his being infinitely wise, and infinitely powerful, et cetera more than they would do, if they saw in him less Power, and less Wisdom.

The Wicked, at the Day of Judgment, will see every Thing else in Christ, but his Beauty and Amiableness. There is no one Quality or Property of his Person, that can be Thought of, but what will be set before them, in the strongest Light at that Day, but only such as consist in this. They will see him coming in the Clouds of Heaven, in Power, and great Glory, in the Glory of his Father. They will have that View of his external Glory, which is vastly beyond what we can have any Imagination of: And they will have the strongest and most convincing Demonstrations of all his Attributes and Perfections. They will have a Sense of his great Majesty, that will be, as it were, infinitely affecting to them. They shall be made to know effectually, That he is the Lord. They shall see what he is, and what he does: His Nature and Works, shall appear in the strongest View. But his holy and infinite Beauty and Amiableness, which is all in all, and without which every other Quality and Property is Nothing, and worse than Nothing, they will see Nothing of.

Therefore, it is a Sight or Sense of this that, is the Thing, wherein does fundamentally consist, the Difference between those Things in which the saving Grace of God's Spirit consists, and the Experiences of Devils and damned Souls. This is the Foundation of every Thing else that is distinguishing in true Christian Experience. This is the Foundation of the Faith of God's Elect. This gives the Mind a saving Belief of the Truth of divine Things. It is a View of the Excellency of the Things exhibited in the Gospel, or Sense of the divine Beauty, and Amiableness of the Scheme of Doctrine there exhibited, that savingly convinces the Mind, that it is indeed divine, or of God. This Account of the Matter is plainly implied: 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 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 into them, And, 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. It is very evident that a saving Belief of the Gospel, is here spoken of by the Apostle, as arising from a View of the divine Glory or Beauty of the Things it exhibits. It is by this View, that the Soul of a true Convert is enabled savingly, to see the Sufficiency of Christ for his Salvation. He that has his Eyes opened to behold the divine superlative Beauty and Loveliness of Jesus Christ, is convinced of his Sufficiency, to stand as a Mediator between Him, a guilty Hell-deserving Wretch, and an infinitely holy God, in an exceeding different Manner than ever he can be convinced by all the Arguments that are made Use of, by the excellent Authors or Preachers.

When he once comes to see CHRIST's divine Loveliness, he wonders no more that he is thought worthy by GOD the Father, to be accepted for the vilest Sinner. Now it is not difficult for him to conceive, how the Blood of CHRIST should be esteemed by GOD so precious, as to be worthy to be accepted as a Compensation for the greatest Sins. The Soul now properly sees the Preciousness of CHRIST, and so does properly see and understand the very Ground and Reason of his Acceptableness to GOD, and the Value GOD sets on his Blood, Obedience and Intercession. This satisfies the poor guilty Soul, and gives it Rest; when the finest and most elaborate Discourses, about the Sufficiency of CHRIST, and Suitableness of the Way of Salvation, would not do it. When a Man then comes to see the proper Foundation of Faith and Affiance, with his own Eyes, then he believes savingly. He that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, hath everlasting Life. John 6:40. When CHRIST thus MANIFESTS GOD's NAME to Men, then they believe that all Things whatsoever GOD has given to CHRIST are of him, and believes that CHRIST was sent of GOD. John 17:6, 7, 8. And they that thus know CHRIST's Name will trust in him. Psalm 9:10. In order to true Faith in JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GOD, is REVEALED IN MEN. Galatians 1:15, 16. And 'tis this Sight of the divine Beauty of CHRIST, that bows the Wills, and draws the Hearts of Men. A Sight of the Greatness of GOD in his Attributes, may overwhelm Men, and be more than they can endure; but the Enmity and Opposition of the Heart, may remain in its full Strength, and the Will remain inflexible; whereas, one Glimpse of the moral and spiritual Glory of GOD, and supreme Amiableness of JESUS CHRIST, shining into the Heart, overcomes and abolishes this Opposition, and inclines the Soul to CHRIST, as it were, by an omnipotent Power: So that now, not only the Understanding, but the Will, and the whole Soul receives and embraces the Saviour. This is most certainly the Discovery, which is the first internal Foundation of a saving Faith in CHRIST, in the Soul of the true Convert; and not on having of it immediately suggested and revealed to the Soul, by a Text of Scripture, or any immediate outward or inward Witness, that CHRIST loves him, or that he died for him in particular, and is his Saviour; so begetting Confidence and Joy, and a seeming Love to CHRIST, because he loves Him: By which sort of Faith and Conversion, (demonstrably vain and counterfeit) Multitudes have been deluded. The Sight of the Glory of GOD, in the Face of JESUS CHRIST, works true supreme Love to GOD: This is a Sight of the proper Foundation of supreme Love to GOD, namely The supreme Loveliness of his Nature; and a Love to him on this Ground, is truly above any Thing that can come from a mere Principle of Self-love, which is in the Hearts of Devils, as well as Men. And this begets true spiritual and holy Joy in the Soul, which is indeed Joy in GOD, and glorying in him, and not rejoicing in ourselves.

This Sight of the Beauty of divine Things, will excite true Desires and Longings of Soul, after those Things; not like the Longings of Devils, or any such forced Desires, as those of a Man in great Danger of Death, after some bitter Medicine, that he hopes will save his Life; but natural free Desires, the Desires of Appetite; the Thirstings of a new Nature; as a new-born Babe desires the Mother's Breast; and as a hungry Man longs for some pleasant Food he thinks of; or as the thirsty Hart pants after the cool and clear Stream.

This Sense of divine Beauty, is the first Thing in the actual Change made in the Soul, in true Conversion, and is the Foundation of every Thing else belonging to that Change; as is evident by those Words of the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 3:18. 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.

2. Truly gracious Affections and Exercises of Mind differ from such as are counterfeit, which arise from no higher Principles than are in the Hearts of Devils, in their Tendency: And that in these two Respects.

(1.) They are of a Tendency and Influence very contrary to that, which was especially the Devil's Sin, even Pride. That Pride was in a peculiar Manner the Devil's Sin, is manifest from 1 Timothy 3:6. Not a Novice left, being lifted up with Pride, he fell into the Condemnation of the Devil. False and delusive Experiences evermore tend to this; though oftentimes under the Disguise of great and extraordinary Humility. Spiritual Pride, is the prevailing Temper, and general Character of Hypocrites, deluded with false Discoveries and Affections. They are in general, of a Disposition directly contrary to those two Things belonging to the Christian Temper, directed to by the Apostle; the One in Romans 12:16. Be not wise in your own Conceit; and the other in Philippians 2:3. Let each esteem others better than themselves. False Experience is conceited of itself, and affected with itself. Thus he that has false Humility, is much affected to think, how he is abased before GOD: He that has false Love, is affected, when he thinks of the Greatness of his Love. The very Food and Nourishment of false Experience, is to view itself, and take much Notice of itself; and its very Breath and Life is to talk much of itself, or some Way to be showing itself. Whereas truly gracious Views and Affections, are of a quite contrary Tendency: They nourish no Self-Conceit; no exalting Conceit of the Man's own Righteousness, Experience, or Privileges; no high Conceit of his Humiliations. They incline to no Ostentation, nor Self-Exaltation, under any Disguise whatsoever. But that Sense of the supreme, holy Beauty and Glory of GOD and CHRIST, which is the Foundation of them, and that only, mortifies Pride, and truly humbles the Soul. It not only cuts off some of the outermost Branches (causing many Branches to grow out, where but one was before) but it strikes at the very Root of Pride; it alters the very Nature and Disposition of the Heart. The Light of GOD's Beauty, and that alone truly shows the Soul its own Deformity, and effectually inclines it to exalt GOD, and abase itself.

(2.) These gracious Exercises and Affections, differ from the other in their Tendency, to destroy Satan's Interest. First In the Person himself, in their Tendency, to cause the Soul to hate every Evil, and false Way, and to produce universal Holiness of Heart and Life; disposing him to make the Service of GOD, and the promoting his Glory, and the Good of Mankind, the very Business of his Life. Whereas those false Discoveries and Affections, have not this Effect. There may indeed, be great Zeal, and a great deal of what is called Religion; but it is not a truly Christian Zeal; 'tis not a being zealous of good Works: Their Religion is not the Service of GOD; 'tis not a seeking and serving GOD; but indeed, a seeking and serving themselves. Though there may be a Change of Life, 'tis not a Change from every wicked Way, to a uniform Christian Life and Practice; but only a turning the Stream of Corruption from one Channel to another. Thus the Apostle James distinguishes, in our Context, a true Faith, from the Faith of Devils: James 2:19, 20. Thou believest there is one GOD. The Devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain Man, that Faith without Works is dead? And thus the Apostle John distinguishes true Communion with GOD. 1 John 1:6, 7. If we say that we have Fellowship with Him, and walk in Darkness, we lie, and do not the Truth. But if we walk in the Light, or he is in the Light, we have Fellowship one with another, and the Blood of CHRIST cleanseth us from all Sin. By this he distinguishes true spiritual Knowledge, Chapter 2:3, 4. Hereby we do know, that we know Him, that we keep his Commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a Liar, and the Truth is not in him. And hereby the same Apostle distinguishes true Love. Chapter 3:18, 19. Let us not love in Word and in Tongue, but in Deed, [in Work, as the Word signifies] and in Truth. And hereby we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our Hearts before him.

2. Truly gracious Experiences, have a Tendency to destroy Satan's Interest in the World.

False Religion, consisting in the Counterfeits of the Operations of the Spirit of GOD, and in high Pretences and great Appearances of inward experimental Religion; when this prevails among a People, though for the present it may surprise many, and may be the Occasion of alarming and awakening some Sinners; yet in the final Issue of Things, tends greatly to wound and weaken the Cause of vital Religion, and to strengthen the Interest of Satan, desperately to harden the Hearts of Sinners, exceedingly to fill the World with Prejudice, against the Power of Godliness, to promote Infidelity, and licentious Principles and Practices, to build up, and make strong the Devil's Kingdom in the World, more than open Vice and Profaneness, or professed Atheism, or public Persecution; and perhaps, more than any Thing else whatsoever.

But it is not so with true Religion, in its genuine Beauty. That, if it prevails in great Power, will doubtless, excite the Rage of the Devil, and many other Enemies of Religion: However, it gives great Advantage to its Friends, and exceedingly strengthens their Cause; and tends to convince or confound Enemies. True Religion, is a divine Light in the Souls of the Saints; and as it shines out in the Conversation before Men, it tends to induce others to glorify GOD. There is Nothing like it, (as to Means) to awaken the Consciences of Men, to convince Infidels, and to stop the Mouths of Gainsayers. Though Men naturally hate the Power of Godliness; yet, when they see the Fruits of it, there is a Witness in their Consciences in its Favour. He that serveth CHRIST in Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost, is acceptable to GOD, and approved of Man. Romans 14:17, 18. The Prevailing of true Religion, ever tends to the Honour of Religion in the World; though it commonly is the Occasion of great Persecution. 'Tis a sure Thing, the more it appears, and is exemplified in the View of the World, the more will its Honour, and the Honour of its Author be advanced. Philippians 1:11. Being filled with the Fruits of Righteousness; which are by JESUS CHRIST, unto the Glory and Praise of GOD.

The third USE may be of Exhortation, to seek those distinguishing Qualifications and Affections of Soul, which neither the Devil, nor any unholy Being, has, or can have.

How excellent is that inward Virtue and Religion, which consists in these! Herein consists the most excellent Experiences of Saints and Angels in Heaven. Herein consists the best Experience of the Man, CHRIST JESUS; whether in his humbled, or glorified State. Herein consists the Image of GOD: Yea, this is spoken of in Scripture, as a Communication of something of GOD's own Beauty and Excellency, a Participation of the divine Nature; 2 Peter 1:4. A: Partaking of his Holiness; Hebrews 12:10. A Partaking of CHRIST's Fulness; John 1:16. Hereby the Saints are filled with all the Fullness of GOD; Ephesians 3:18, 19. Hereby they have Fellowship with, both the Father and the Son, (1 John 1:3.) that is, they communicate with them in their Happiness. Yea, by Means of this divine Virtue, there is a mutual Indwelling of GOD and the Saints; 1 John 4:16. GOD is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth in GOD, and GOD in him.

This Qualification must render the Person that has it, excellent and happy indeed; and doubtless, is the highest Dignity, and Blessedness of any Creature. This is the peculiar Gift of GOD, which he bestows only on his special Favourites. As to Silver, Gold, and Diamonds, earthly Crowns and Kingdoms, He often throws them out to those that he esteems as Dogs and Swine; but this is the peculiar Blessing of his dear Children: This is what Flesh and Blood can't impart, and what all the Devils in Hell, can't work the least Degree of in any Heart; 'tis GOD alone can bestow it. This was the special Benefit, which CHRIST died to procure for his Elect, the most excellent Token of his everlasting Love; the chief Fruit of his great Labours, and the most precious Purchase of his Blood.

By this, above all other things, do men glorify God. By this, above all other things, do the saints shine as lights in the world, and are blessings to mankind. And this, above all things, tends to their own comfort; from hence arises that peace which passeth all understanding, and that joy, which is unspeakable, and full of glory. And this is that which will most certainly issue in the eternal salvation of those that have it. It is impossible, that the soul, wherein it is, should sink and perish. It is an immortal seed; it is eternal life begun; and therefore, they that have it, can never die. It is the dawning of the light of glory. It is the day-star risen in the heart, that is a sure forerunner of that sun's rising, which will bring on an everlasting day. This is that water, which Christ gives, which is in him that drinks it, a well of water, springing up into everlasting life: John 4:14. It is something from heaven, is of a heavenly nature, and tends to heaven. And those that have it, however they may now wander in a wilderness, or be tossed to and fro, on a tempestuous ocean, shall certainly arrive in heaven at last, where this heavenly spark shall be increased, and perfected, and the souls of the saints, all be transformed into a bright and pure flame, and they shall shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father.

Amen.

APPLICATION.

The first use of this doctrine may be drawn out in several conclusions for our instruction.

First, from what has been said, we may conclude by the same reasoning that nothing damned people experience, or ever will experience, can be any sure sign of grace.

Damned people are like the devils -- they share the same nature and condition. They have nothing better in them than the devils. They have no higher principles in their hearts, experience nothing superior, and do nothing of a more excellent kind. They are the children and servants of the devil, and as such they will live with him and share in the same misery. As Christ says about the saints in their future state, in Matthew 22:30, that they shall be like the angels of God in heaven, so it may be said about ungodly people in their future state: that they will be like the fallen, wicked angels in hell.

Each of the reasons given above to prove this doctrine regarding devils holds equally true regarding damned people. Damned people have no degree of holiness. Therefore, experiences that go no further than what they have cannot be holy experiences. Likewise, damned people are not only completely without all true holiness, but they do not even have any common grace. Finally, it is unreasonable to suppose that a person's being like the damned in hell in any respect should be a certain sign that he is very unlike and opposite to them, and will not share their fate.

Second, we may conclude from this that no degree of intellectual knowledge about religious matters is any certain sign of saving grace. Before his fall, the devil was among those bright and glorious angels of heaven who are described as morning stars and flames of fire, excelling in strength and wisdom. And though he has now become sinful, his sin has not destroyed his angelic mental abilities -- just as when man fell, he did not lose the abilities of human nature. Sin destroys spiritual principles but not natural abilities. It is true that sin, when it has full control, entirely prevents the use of natural abilities for holy and spiritual understanding, and places many obstacles in the way of their proper use in other respects. It puts the natural ability of reason at a great disadvantage through the many strong prejudices that gain power over the mind. And in fallen humanity, the abilities of the soul are undoubtedly greatly hindered in their function through the great weakness and disorder of the body to which the soul is closely united -- a consequence of sin. But there seems to be nothing in the nature of sin or moral corruption that tends to destroy natural capacity, or even to reduce it in the strict sense. If sin were of such a nature as to necessarily have that tendency and effect, then we would expect that wicked people in the next life -- where they are given over entirely to the unrestrained exercise of their corruptions and desires, and sin reaches its fullest development in them -- would have greatly diminished mental capacity. We have no reason to suppose this. On the contrary, their capacities are greatly enlarged, their actual knowledge is vastly increased, and this is true even regarding GOD, religious matters, and the great concerns of immortal souls. In fact, when it comes to these things, the eyes of wicked people are opened, and they in some ways emerge from darkness into clear light when they enter the next world.

The greatness of the abilities of the devils may be seen from the description in Ephesians 6:12: We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and so on. The same may also be seen from what Scripture says of Satan's craftiness. Genesis 3:1. 2 Corinthians 11:3. Acts 13:10.

And since the devil has such a large intellectual capacity, he is capable of great theoretical knowledge of the things of GOD and the invisible, eternal world, as well as other things. He must actually possess a great understanding of these things, since they have always been his primary focus, and his circumstances from his very first existence have been such as to mainly drive him to pay attention to them. Before his fall, he was one of those angels who always beheld the face of the Father who is in heaven. And sin does not tend to destroy the memory. Therefore, it does not tend to erase any theoretical knowledge that was formerly there.

As the devil's craftiness shows his great capacity, so the way that craftiness is used and displayed -- which is mainly through his skillful tactics regarding religious matters, his extremely subtle arguments, insinuations, reasoning, and temptations about these things -- demonstrates his great actual understanding of them. Just as someone who wants to be a very skillful debater in any field of study, even if only to confuse and deceive those who study it, needs to have a great and extensive familiarity with the things that belong to that field.

The devil undoubtedly has a great degree of theological knowledge, having been educated, so to speak, in the best school of theology in the universe: the highest heaven. He must have such an extensive and accurate knowledge of the nature and attributes of God that we, mere creatures of dust in our present condition, are not capable of. He must also have a far more extensive knowledge of God's works. Regarding creation in particular, he was a spectator when this visible world was made. He was one of those morning stars we read about in Job 38:4-7, who sang together, and one of those sons of God who shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth, set its measurements, and stretched the line upon it. He must also have a very great knowledge of God's works of providence. He has watched the entire series of these works from the beginning. He has seen how God has governed the world in all ages. He has seen the whole course of God's wonderful successive dealings with His Church from generation to generation. He has not been an indifferent spectator. The great conflict between God and him throughout the whole course of these events has necessarily gripped his attention and driven him to observe them with the closest scrutiny. He must have a great degree of knowledge about Jesus Christ as the Savior of humanity, and about the nature and method of the work of redemption, and the wonderful wisdom of God in this plan. It is that work of God in which, above all others, God has acted in opposition to him, and in which he has chiefly set himself against God. It is in connection with this matter that the mighty war has been waged between Michael and his angels, and the devil and his angels, through all ages from the beginning of the world, and especially since Christ appeared. The devil has had every reason to pay close attention to the steps of divine wisdom in this work, because it is against that wisdom that he has matched his own craftiness. He has seen and found, to his great disappointment and unspeakable torment, how divine wisdom exercised in that work has defeated and confounded his schemes. He has a great knowledge of the things of the next world, because the things of that world are directly before him. He has a great knowledge of heaven, because he was once an inhabitant of that world of glory. He also has a great knowledge of hell and the nature of its misery, because he is hell's first inhabitant. Above all the other inhabitants, he has experienced its torment and has felt it constantly for more than five thousand seven hundred years. He must have a great knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, because he is clearly not prevented from knowing what is written there, as shown by his use of the words of Scripture when he tempted our Savior. If he can know Scripture, he has plenty of opportunity to know it. He must also have a strong desire to know it with the greatest precision, so that he can more effectively twist and misuse Scripture and prevent the Word of God from having the kind of effect on people's hearts that would overthrow his kingdom. He must have a great knowledge of human nature, human capacity, human tendencies, and the corruptions of the human heart, because he has had long and great experience observing these things. The human heart is what he has chiefly worked with in his subtle schemes, mighty efforts, and tireless operations from the beginning of the world. It is clear that he has great theoretical knowledge of the nature of genuine religious experience, because he is able to imitate it so skillfully, in such a way as to transform himself into an angel of light.

Therefore, it is clear from my text and doctrine that no degree of intellectual knowledge of religious matters is any certain sign of true godliness. A person may have perfectly clear ideas about the attributes of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, the nature of the two covenants, the roles of each Person of the Trinity, and the part each plays in human redemption. He may speak with great skill about the offices of Christ, the way of salvation through Him, and the admirable methods of divine wisdom. He may describe the harmony of God's various attributes in the plan of salvation. He may explain the method of a sinner's justification with perfect clarity and precision, and the nature of conversion, and the operations of the Spirit of God in applying Christ's redemption. He may make excellent distinctions, skillfully resolve difficulties, and answer objections in a way that greatly enlightens the ignorant, builds up the Church of God, convinces opponents, and greatly increases understanding in the world. He may have more knowledge of this kind than hundreds of true saints with an ordinary education, and more than most pastors. Yet none of this is any certain evidence of even the smallest degree of saving grace in his heart.

It is true that Scripture often speaks of knowledge of divine things as something unique to true saints, as in John 17:3: This is eternal life, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. Matthew 11:27: No one knows the Son but the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Psalms 9:10: Those who know Your name will put their trust in You. Philippians 3:8: I count all things as loss for the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. But we must understand this as referring to a different kind of knowledge from the intellectual understanding that the devil has to such a great degree. It should also be granted that spiritual, saving knowledge of God and divine things greatly promotes intellectual knowledge. It engages the mind in searching out things of this kind and greatly helps a person gain a clear understanding of them. So, all other things being equal, those who have spiritual knowledge are much more likely than others to have a good doctrinal familiarity with religious matters. Yet such familiarity may not be a distinguishing mark of true saints.

Third, it may also be concluded from what has been observed that merely giving intellectual agreement to the doctrines of religion as true is no certain evidence of a state of grace. My text tells us that the devils believe, and just as they believe that there is one God, so they believe the truth of the doctrines of religion in general. The devil is orthodox in his faith. He believes the true system of doctrine. He is no Deist, Socinian, Arian, Pelagian, or Antinomian. The articles of his faith are all sound, and he is thoroughly settled in them.

Therefore, for a person to believe the doctrines of Christianity merely through intellectual influence, or from the force of arguments as grasped only by the intellect, is no evidence of grace.

Although it is probably very rare for unregenerate people to have a strong conviction of the truth of religious doctrines, especially those that are very mysterious and far above what reason can comprehend, it is clear that we have no grounds to say it can never happen, or to treat such conviction as an unmistakable evidence of grace. No person can safely determine that his spiritual condition is good based on this evidence alone. Even if someone not only seems very confident in the truth of Christianity and its doctrines, but is also able to argue for them with great skill, in this he goes no further than the devil. The devil undoubtedly has a great knowledge of the rational arguments by which the truth of the Christian religion and its various principles are demonstrated.

Therefore, when Scripture speaks of believing that Jesus is the Son of God as a sure evidence of grace, as in 1 John 5:1 and other places, it must be understood not as a mere intellectual agreement, but as another kind and manner of believing, which is called the faith of God's elect. Titus 1:1. There is a spiritual conviction of the truth, a believing with the whole heart, that is unique to true saints. I will speak about this in more detail shortly.

4. It may be concluded from the doctrine we have been discussing that it is no certain sign of saving conversion for people to have experienced very great distress and terrors of mind through fears of God's wrath and dread of damnation.

That the devils experience great terrors through fears of God's wrath and dread of its future effects is implied in my text, which speaks not only of their believing but also of their trembling. The terror must be no small degree to make those principalities and powers, those mighty, proud, and stubborn beings, tremble.

Many terrors that some people concerned for their salvation experience do not come from any genuine awakening of conscience or perception of truth. Instead, they come from depression, frightening impressions on the imagination, groundless fears, or the delusions and false suggestions of Satan. But even if someone has had extremely great and long-lasting terrors from real awakenings, genuine convictions of truth, and accurate views of things as they really are, this is no more than what the devils experience and what all wicked people will experience in the next world. However numb and unresponsive most ungodly people are now, all will be effectively awakened at last. There will be no sleeping in hell. Many people cannot be awakened by the most serious warnings and terrifying threats of God's Word, by the most alarming sermons, or by the most frightening events in God's providence. But all will be thoroughly awakened by the sound of the last trumpet and the appearance of Christ in judgment. All sorts of people will then be filled with the most overwhelming terrors from seeing the truth and seeing things as they really are. The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men -- even those who were the most arrogant and hard-hearted, the most ready to treat the things of religion with contempt -- shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and say to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?' Revelation 6:15-17.

Therefore, if people have first been awakened and then afterward experienced comfort and joy, it is no certain sign that their comforts are genuine just because they were preceded by very great terrors.

5. It may be further concluded from this doctrine that no work of the law on people's hearts, convicting them of guilt and their just deserving of punishment, is a sure proof that a person has been savingly converted.

Not only are no awakenings and terrors any certain evidence of this, but no merely legal work whatsoever, even if carried to its fullest possible extent, can prove it. Nothing in which there is no grace or spiritual light, but only the conviction of natural conscience and the mental responses that result from it -- responses that are forced, as it were, by the clear light of conscience without any agreement of the heart and will with that light -- none of these things are any certain sign of saving grace or that a person was ever savingly converted.

The proof of this from my text and doctrine is conclusive, because the devils experience these very things, and all wicked people who finally perish will experience the same. Natural conscience is not destroyed in the damned in hell. On the contrary, it remains and is there at its greatest strength, brought to its most complete exercise. It fully performs its proper duty as God's representative in the soul: to condemn those rebels against the King of heaven and earth, to display God's just wrath and vengeance, and by that means to torment them and be like a never-dying worm within them. In this world, wretched people find ways to blind the eyes and silence the voice of this representative of a sin-avenging God. But they will not be able to do it forever. In the next world, the eyes and mouth of conscience will be fully opened. God will make wicked people see and know things that they now deliberately hide their eyes from. Isaiah 26:10-11: Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not see the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they shall see and be ashamed for their envy of Your people. Yes, the fire meant for Your enemies shall devour them. We often find this expression attached to God's threats of wrath against His enemies: And they shall know that I am the Lord. This will be fulfilled through their painful experience and the clear light in their consciences, by which they will be made to know, whether they want to or not, how great and terrible, holy and righteous a God JEHOVAH is, whose authority they have despised. They will know that He is righteous and holy in their destruction. All the ungodly will be convinced of this at the day of judgment, when all their wickedness of heart and behavior is brought to light, and all their sins, with all their aggravating circumstances, are set in order -- not only in view of others and of the whole world, but in view of their own consciences. This is what is threatened in Psalm 50:21: These things you have done, and I kept silence. You thought that I was altogether like you. But I will reprove you and set them in order before your eyes. Compare this with the first four verses of the Psalm. The purpose of the day of judgment is not to find out what is just, as with human courts, but to reveal what is just -- to make God's justice known to people's own consciences and to the world. Therefore that day is called the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Romans 2:5. Now sinners often argue against the justice of God's dealings, and particularly the justice of the punishment God threatens for their sins. They excuse themselves and condemn God. But when God comes to display their wickedness in the light of that day and to call them to account, they will be speechless. Matthew 22:11-12: And when the King came in to see the guests, He saw there a man who did not have on a wedding garment. And He said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. When the King of heaven and earth comes in judgment, their consciences will be so perfectly enlightened and convicted by the all-searching light they will stand in, that their mouths will be completely shut. They will have no excuses for themselves, no claims of their own righteousness to justify them, and no objections against the justice of their Judge. Their conscience will condemn them alone, and not God.

Therefore, it follows from this doctrine that it can be no certain sign of grace for people to have had great convictions of sin, to have had the sins of their life with all their aggravating circumstances set vividly before them so as to greatly affect and terrify them, and along with this to have had a deep awareness of the wickedness of their hearts. It is no certain sign even if they have been convinced of the greatness of the sin of unbelief, of the inexcusable and terrible nature of their most secret spiritual sins, and have been brought to see the total inadequacy of their own righteousness and to despair of being accepted by God through it. Even if they have been stripped of reliance on their own righteousness as thoroughly as anyone ever is under mere legal conviction, and have been convinced that they are entirely without excuse before God and deserve damnation, and that God would be just in carrying out the threatened punishment upon them, however dreadful it may be -- all these things will be true of all the ungodly on the day of judgment, when they will stand with the devils at the left hand and be sentenced as accursed to everlasting fire with them.

Indeed, there will be no submission in them. Their conscience will be convinced that God is just in their condemnation, but their will shall not bow to God's justice. There will be no acceptance of mind toward that divine attribute, no yielding of the soul to God's sovereignty, but the highest degree of hostility and opposition. A true submission of the heart and will to the justice and sovereignty of God is therefore rightly recognized as something unique to true converts. It is something the devils and damned souls are, and always will be, far from. A mere work of the law and convictions of conscience, however great and clear, will never bring people to it.

When sinners experience great convictions of conscience and a remarkable work of the law, it is only the business of the day of judgment being carried out in the conscience ahead of time. GOD sits enthroned in the conscience, just as on the last day He will sit enthroned in the clouds of heaven. The sinner is brought, as it were, before GOD's court, and GOD appears in His awesome greatness as a just and holy, sin-hating and sin-punishing GOD -- just as He will appear then. The sinner's wrongdoings are brought to light and his sins set in order before him. The hidden things of darkness and the intentions of the heart are made known -- just as they will be then. Many witnesses rise up, as it were, against the sinner under conviction of conscience, just as they will against the wicked at the day of judgment. And the books are opened -- particularly the book of GOD's strict and holy law is opened in the conscience, and its rules are applied for the condemnation of the sinner. This is the book that will be opened at the day of judgment as the great standard of judgment for all wicked people who have lived under it. And the sentence of the law is pronounced against the sinner, and the justice of the sentence is made clear -- just as it will be at the day of judgment. The conviction of a sinner at the day of judgment will be a work of the law, just as the conviction of conscience in this world is. And the work of the law, if it is merely legal, is certainly never carried further in sinners' consciences now than it will be on that day, when its work will be complete in thoroughly silencing every sinner. Romans 3:19: Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to GOD. Every mouth will be silenced by the law, either now or in the future, and all the world will become clearly guilty before GOD -- guilty of death, deserving of damnation. Therefore, if sinners have experienced a great work of the law and have become guilty in this way and their mouths have been silenced, it is no certain sign that they have ever been converted.

Indeed, the lack of a thorough sense of guilt, deserved punishment, and conviction of GOD's justice in threatening damnation is a good negative sign -- it is a sign that a person never was converted and truly brought, with the whole soul, to embrace CHRIST as a Savior from this punishment. For it is easily demonstrated that there is no such thing as fully and sincerely accepting GOD's offer of a Savior from a punishment that He threatens, which we think we do not deserve. But having such a conviction is no certain sign that a person has true faith or has ever truly received CHRIST as their Savior. And if people have great comfort, joy, and confidence suddenly entering their minds after great convictions of the kind that has been described, it is no infallible evidence that their comforts are built on a good foundation.

It is clear, then, that too much weight has been placed by many people on a great work of the law preceding their spiritual comforts. They seem not only to have viewed such a work of the law as necessary before faith, but also to have treated it as the chief evidence that the faith and comforts that follow are genuine. It is to be feared that this approach has deceived a great many people and established them in a false hope. And what we can see in the outcomes of many cases confirms this. It may be safely granted that great convictions of conscience are less likely to prove fruitless and fail to produce a good result than lesser convictions. Generally, when the Spirit of GOD goes so far with sinners in the work of the law as to give them a deep awareness of their hearts and the heinousness of their spiritual sins, and to convince them that they are without excuse and that all their righteousness can do nothing to earn GOD's favor, but that they lie justly exposed to GOD's eternal judgment without mercy -- generally, a work of saving conversion follows. But we have no warrant to say this is always the case, or to lay it down as an infallible rule that when convictions of conscience have gone this far, saving faith and repentance will surely follow. If anyone thinks they have grounds for such a conclusion because they cannot imagine what purpose GOD would have in carrying a work of conviction so far, preparing the heart for faith, and then never giving saving faith to the soul, consider this: where will our doubts and difficulties ever end if we think ourselves capable of determining so positively and specifically what GOD's purposes are in everything He does? Such an objector could be asked: what is GOD's purpose in giving a sinner any degree of the strivings of His Spirit and conviction of conscience, when He afterward allows it to come to nothing and prove useless? If He may give some degree that ultimately proves fruitless, who shall set the limit and say how great that degree can be? Who can, on sure grounds, determine that when a sinner has reached the level of conviction that the devils and the damned in hell have, true faith and eternal salvation will be the certain result? This we can say for certain: if the Apostle's argument in the text is valid, nothing whatsoever that the devils possess is certainly connected with such a result. Since sinners, while still sinners, are capable of the most complete convictions and will have them at the day of judgment and in hell, who can say that GOD will never cause the condemned to experience their future judgment and damnation in advance? And if He does, who can say to Him, 'What are You doing?' Or call Him to account for His purposes in doing so? Not that many possible wise purposes could not be suggested if it were necessary, or if I had time for it now. The Spirit of GOD is often quenched by the exercise of wickedness in people's hearts, even after He has gone far in a work of conviction, so that their convictions never reach a good result. And who can say that sinners, through the exercise of their opposition and hostility against GOD -- which is not at all put to death by the greatest legal convictions, either in the damned in hell or in sinners on earth -- may not provoke GOD to take His Spirit from them, even after He has gone to the greatest lengths in a work of conviction? Who can say that GOD never destroys some after He has brought them, as it were, through the wilderness, right to the edge of the promised land? He did kill some of the Israelites even in the plains of Moab.

And let it be considered: where is our warrant in Scripture to use any legal convictions, or any method or order of successive events in a work of the law and subsequent comforts, as a sure sign of regeneration? The Scripture gives abundant, explicit evidences of grace, a state of favor with GOD, and characteristics of true saints. But where do we ever find things like these among those evidences? Or where do we find any other signs pointed to, besides grace itself -- its nature, its exercises, and its fruits? These were the evidences that Job relied upon. These were the things that the Psalmist everywhere points to as evidence of his sincerity, and particularly in Psalm 119, from beginning to end. These were the signs that Hezekiah trusted in during his sickness.

These were the characteristics given of those who are truly blessed, by our Savior, at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount. These are the things that CHRIST mentions as the true evidences of being His real disciples, in His last discourse to His disciples before His death, in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of John, and in His intercessory prayer in chapter 17. These are the things that the Apostle Paul often speaks of as evidences of his sincerity and sure title to a crown of glory. And these are the things he often mentions to others in his epistles as the proper evidences of real Christianity, a justified state, and a title to glory. He points to the fruits of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control -- as the proper evidences of belonging to CHRIST and living in the Spirit: Galatians 5:22-25. It is that love which is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, and so on, that he points to as the most essential evidence of true godliness -- without which all other things are nothing. Such are the signs which the Apostle James points to as the proper evidence of a truly wise and good person: James 3:17. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And such are the signs of true Christianity that the Apostle John emphasizes throughout his epistles. And nowhere in the Bible, from beginning to end, are any other signs of godliness ever given besides these. If people clearly have such things in them, it should be determined that they are truly converted, without insisting that it first be known what steps or method the Spirit of GOD took to introduce these things into the soul -- which is often entirely impossible to trace. All the works of GOD are, in some respects, beyond our ability to fully search out. But Scripture often presents the works of the Spirit of GOD as especially so. Isaiah 40:13: Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him? Ecclesiastes 11:5: Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of GOD who makes all things. John 3:8: The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

6. It follows from my text and doctrine that it is no certain sign of grace that people have earnest desires and longings for salvation.

The devils undoubtedly long for deliverance from the misery they suffer and from the greater misery they expect. If they tremble from fear of it, they must necessarily have an earnest desire to be delivered from it. Wicked people are described in Scripture as longing for the privileges of the righteous when the door is shut and they are excluded. They come to the door and cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. Therefore, we should not look on all desires, or even all desires that are very earnest and intense, as certain evidences of a godly heart. There are earnest desires of a religious nature that saints have, which are the natural expressions of a new nature and distinguishing qualities of true saints. But there are also longings that unregenerate people may have, which are often mistaken for marks of godliness. They think they hunger and thirst after righteousness, and have earnest desires for GOD and CHRIST, and long for heaven. But in reality, it all comes down to desires for salvation motivated by self-love -- longings that arise from no higher principles than the earnest desires of devils.

7. It may be concluded from what has been observed that people who have no grace may have a great awareness of outward glory in heavenly and divine things, and of everything external that relates to religion.

If people have strong impressions on their minds of the kind of ideas that come through the outward senses -- whether through hearing, such as any kind of sound, the most pleasant music, or words spoken with excellent meaning, words of Scripture or any other, directly suggested as though they were spoken, however fitting they may seem to their situation or the subject of their thoughts -- or whether through sight, such as ideas of visible beauty and glory, a shining light, the outward glory of heaven, golden streets, walls and gates of precious stone, splendid palaces, glorious inhabitants shining like the sun, a most magnificent throne surrounded by angels and saints in shining rows -- or anything outward pertaining to JESUS CHRIST, whether in His humbled state, such as JESUS hanging on the cross with His crown of thorns, His wounds open and blood running down, or in His glorified state with awesome majesty or captivating beauty and sweetness in His face, His face shining brighter than the sun, and the like -- these things are no certain signs of grace.

Multitudes who are now in hell will have impressions of the outward glory of heavenly things far beyond what anyone has ever had in this world. They will see all the outward glory and beauty in which CHRIST will appear at the day of judgment, when the sun will be turned to darkness before Him -- which will undoubtedly be ten thousand times greater than anything ever impressed on the imagination of either saints or sinners in this present life, or ever conceived by any mortal person.

8. It may be concluded from this doctrine that people who have no grace may have a very great and deeply moving sense of many divine things on their hearts.

The devil has not only great theoretical knowledge, but he has a sense of many divine things that deeply affects him and is most strongly impressed on his heart. Such as:

1. The devils and damned souls have a great sense of the vast importance of the things of the next world. They are in the invisible world, and they see and know how great the things of that world are. Their experience teaches them in the most deeply moving way. They have a great sense of the worth of salvation, the worth of immortal souls, and the vast importance of everything that concerns people's eternal well-being. The parable at the end of Luke chapter 16 teaches this, showing the rich man in hell as begging that Lazarus might be sent to his five brothers to warn them, so they would not come to that place of torment. Those who endure the torments of hell undoubtedly have the most vivid and deeply felt sense of the vastness of an endless eternity, and of the comparatively brief nature of this life and the emptiness of the concerns and pleasures of this present time. They are effectively convinced that all the things of this world, even those that appear greatest and most important to the people of the earth, are worthless trifles compared to the things of the eternal world. They have a great sense of the preciousness of time, of the means of grace, and of the priceless value of the privileges enjoyed by those who live under the Gospel. They are fully aware of the foolishness of those who go on in sin, neglect their opportunities, make light of GOD's counsel and warnings, and they bitterly regret their own extreme foolishness in their sins -- by which they have brought such great and hopeless misery upon themselves. When sinners, through painful experience, discover the dreadful outcome of their evil way, they will mourn at the last, saying, 'How I hated instruction, and my heart despised correction, and I did not obey the voice of my teachers, nor incline my ear to those who instructed me!' Proverbs 5:11-13.

Therefore, although true godliness is accompanied by a great sense of the importance of divine things, and it is rare for people without grace to maintain such a sense in any steady and lasting way, it is still clear that these things are no certain evidences of grace. Unregenerate people may have a sense of the importance of the things of eternity and the emptiness of the things of time, the worth of immortal souls, the preciousness of time and the means of grace, and the foolishness of living in deliberate sin. They may have such a deep sense of these things that it deeply moves them and causes them to mourn for their own sins and to be greatly concerned for others. Though it is true that they do not have these things in the same way, or in all respects from the same sources and perspectives, as godly people do.

2. Devils and damned people have a strong and deeply moving sense of the awesome greatness and majesty of GOD. The awesome majesty of GOD is powerfully displayed in the executions of divine wrath that they experience. Making this known is one of GOD's purposes in His vengeance on His enemies. Romans 9:22: What if GOD, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? The devils tremble before this great and terrible GOD, under a strong sense of His awesome majesty. It is powerfully displayed to them and to damned souls now, but it will be displayed to an even greater degree on that day when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them. Then they will earnestly desire to flee and be hidden from the face of Him who sits on the throne (because of the glory of His majesty, Isaiah 2:10), and they will be punished with everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. When Christ comes at the last day in the glory of His Father, every eye will see Him in that glory -- in the sense that they will see His terrible majesty -- and those also who pierced Him: Revelation 1:7. Both the devils and the wicked people who tormented and mocked Him when He appeared in lowliness and shame will then see Him in the glory of His Father.

It is evident, therefore, that a sense of GOD's terrible majesty is no certain evidence of saving grace, since wicked people and devils are clearly capable of it. Indeed, many wicked people in this world have actually had it. This is a revelation that GOD made of Himself in the sight of that wicked assembly at Mount Sinai, which they saw and were deeply affected by, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

3. Devils and damned people have some kind of conviction and sense of all the attributes of GOD, both natural and moral, that is strong and deeply affecting.

The devils know GOD's almighty power. They saw a great display of it when they saw GOD lay the foundation of the earth and so on, and they were deeply moved by it. And they have seen countless other great demonstrations of His power -- such as the universal flood, the destruction of Sodom, the wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, the causing of the sun to stand still in Joshua's time, and many others. They had a deeply affecting demonstration of GOD's mighty power upon themselves when He cast all their hosts down from heaven into hell, and they have continual affecting experience of it as GOD holds them in strong chains of darkness and in the strong pains they feel. They will have a far more affecting experience of it in the future, when they will be punished by the glory of GOD's power with that mighty destruction which they now tremble in expectation of. The devils also have a great knowledge of the wisdom of GOD. They have had unspeakably more opportunity and occasion to observe it in the work of creation and in the works of providence than any mortal person has ever had. They themselves have been the subjects of countless affecting demonstrations of it, as GOD has thwarted and confounded their most cunning schemes in such wonderful and astonishing ways. They also see and feel the infinite purity and holiness of the divine nature in the most affecting way, as this appears in His infinite hatred of sin through the dreadful effects of that hatred which they experience. They know already by what they suffer, and will know to a greater degree and in a far more affecting way in the future, that GOD's opposition to sin is so great that it is like a consuming fire that burns with infinite intensity against it. They will feel the fierce heat of that fire in a most dreadful way. They will also see the holiness of GOD as it is exercised in His love for righteousness and holiness, in what they will see of the reward of Christ's righteousness and the holiness of His people, in the glory of Christ and His church. This also will deeply affect devils and wicked people. And the exact justice of GOD will be displayed to them in the clearest, strongest, most convincing, and most deeply affecting light at the day of judgment. At that time they will also see great and affecting demonstrations of the riches of His grace in the marvelous fruits of His love to the vessels of mercy. They will see them at the right hand of Christ, shining like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and will hear the blessed sentence pronounced upon them, and will be deeply affected by it -- as seems naturally implied in Luke 13:28-29. The devils know GOD's truth, and therefore they believe His threats and tremble in expectation of their fulfillment. And wicked people who now doubt His truth and dare not trust His word will in the future, in the most convincing and affecting way, find His word to be true in all that He has threatened. They will see that He is faithful to His promises in the rewards of His saints. Devils and damned people know that GOD is eternal and unchangeable, and therefore they despair of there ever being an end to their misery.

Therefore, it is clear that merely having a deeply felt sense of some, or even all, of GOD's attributes is no certain sign that a person has the true grace of GOD in his heart.

Objection. Here someone may possibly object to the force of the preceding reasoning. They may say that ungodly people in this world are in vastly different circumstances from the devils, and from what wicked people will face at the day of judgment. The things that are visible and present to the latter are still future and invisible to the former. And wicked people in this world are in the body, which weighs down and hinders the soul, and they are surrounded by objects that blind and numb them. Therefore, it does not follow that because the wicked in the next world have a great and vivid sense of such things without grace, ungodly people in their present state can have the same.

Answer. To this I answer: it is not being claimed that people in this life ever have all the things that have been mentioned to the same degree that the devils and the damned have them. No one claims that anyone in this life has terrors of conscience equal in degree to theirs. It is not to be supposed that any mortal person, whether godly or ungodly, has an equal degree of theoretical knowledge to the devil. And, as was just observed, the wicked at the day of judgment will have a vastly greater impression of the outward glory of Christ than anyone ever has in the present life. Likewise, they will undoubtedly have a far greater sense of GOD's awesome greatness and terrible majesty than anyone could endure in this frail state. So we may well conclude that the devils and wicked people in hell have a greater and more deeply felt sense of the vastness of eternity, and in some respects a greater sense of the importance of the things of the next world, than anyone has here. And they also have longings for salvation to a higher degree than any wicked people in this world.

But still, it is evident that people in this world may have things of the same kind as devils and damned people. They may have the same sort of light in the understanding, the same views, the same emotions, the same sense of things, the same kind of impressions on the mind and on the heart. If this objection challenges the conclusiveness of the reasoning I have used to prove this, it really challenges the conclusiveness of the Apostle's reasoning more than mine. The Apostle considered it a conclusive argument against those who thought their believing there was one GOD was evidence of their being gracious, that the devils believed the same thing. So the argument works exactly the same way against those who think they have grace because they believe GOD is a holy GOD, or because they have a sense of the awesome majesty of GOD. The same may be said of the other things that have been mentioned. My text refers not only to the act of the devils' minds in believing, but to the emotion of their hearts that accompanies their views, since trembling is an effect of the heart's emotion. This shows that if people have both the same views of understanding and the same emotions of heart that the devils have, it is no sign of grace.

As for the particular degree to which these things may be carried in people in this world without grace, it does not appear safe to try to pin it down so precisely as to use it as an infallible rule for determining people's spiritual state. I do not know where we have any rule to go by for fixing the precise degree to which GOD, by His providence or His common influences on the mind, will stir up in wicked people in this world the same views and emotions that the wicked have in the next world. It is clear that people in this life are capable of these things just as much as those in the next, since they have the same faculties and principles of soul. And it is evident that they often actually experience them to some degree -- some more and some less. The infallible evidences of grace laid down in Scripture are of a different kind entirely. They are all of a holy and spiritual nature, and therefore are things that a heart that is wholly carnal and corrupt cannot receive or have any experience of. 1 Corinthians 2:14.

I might also add here that observation and experience, in a great many cases, seem to confirm what Scripture and reason teach in these matters.

The second use of this doctrine may be for self-examination.

Let the things that have been observed lead everyone to examine themselves and ask whether they have any better evidences of saving grace than those that have been mentioned.

We see how the infallible Spirit of GOD, in the text, plainly presents the things the devils experience as no sure sign of grace. And we have now, in some cases, observed how far the devils and damned people go, and will go, in their experience: their knowledge of divine things, their belief of truth, their awakenings and terrors of conscience, their conviction of guilt, their recognition of the justice of GOD in their eternal, dreadful damnation, their longings for salvation, their sight of the outward glory of Christ and heavenly things, their sense of the vast importance of religious matters and the next world, their sense of the awesome greatness and terrible majesty of GOD -- yes, even of all GOD's attributes. These things may well drive us to serious self-examination, asking whether we have anything to prove our good spiritual state beyond what the devils experience. Christ said to His disciples, Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. So the Spirit of Christ, in His Apostle James, effectively says in my text: unless what you experience in your souls goes beyond the experiences of devils, you will by no means enter the kingdom of GOD.

Here, perhaps, some will be ready to say: 'I have something besides all these things that have been mentioned. I have things the devils do not have -- namely, love and joy.'

I answer: you may have something besides the experiences of devils, and yet nothing beyond them. Although the experience may be different, it may not come from any different principle, but only from the different circumstances under which these principles operate. The principles from which the things mentioned above arise in devils and damned people are these two: natural understanding and self-love. It is from natural understanding or reason that they have such a degree of knowledge in divine things, and such a belief of them. It is from these principles of natural understanding and self-love, as exercised regarding their own dispositions and actions and God as their Judge, that they have natural conscience and such convictions of conscience as have been spoken of. It is from these principles that they have such a sense of the importance of religious matters and the eternal world, and such longings for salvation. It is from the combined exercise of these two principles that they are so aware of the awesome majesty of God and of all the attributes of the divine nature, and so greatly affected by them. It is from these principles, joined with outward sense, that the wicked at the day of judgment will have so great an awareness of and will be so greatly affected by the outward glory of Christ and His saints. The fact that you have a kind of love, or gratitude and joy, which devils and damned people do not have, may not come from any principles in your heart different from these two. It may arise only from these same principles operating under different circumstances. For instance, you may be a subject of God's restraining grace, and may be in circumstances of hope and the receipt of mercy. The natural understanding and self-love of devils might affect them in the same way if they were in the same circumstances. If your love for God has its first source from nothing else than a supposed immediate divine witness, or any other supposed evidence, that Christ died for you in particular and that God loves you, it springs from no higher principle than self-love -- a principle that reigns in the hearts of devils. Self-love is enough, without grace, to cause people to love those who love them, or those they imagine love them and treat them well. Luke 6:32: For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For sinners also love those who love them. Would not the hearts of devils be filled with great joy if they somehow became confidently convinced that God had pardoned them, had become their friend, and that they would be delivered from the wrath they now tremble in expectation of? If the devils go as far as you have heard, even in their circumstances -- being totally cast off, given up to unrestrained wickedness, without hope, knowing that God is and ever will be their enemy, suffering His wrath without mercy -- how far may we reasonably suppose they might go in imitating grace and godly experience if they had the same degree of knowledge, as clear a view, and as strong a conviction, under circumstances of hope and offers of mercy, while also being subjects of common grace that restrains their corruptions and assists and stimulates the natural principles of reason, conscience, and so on? Such things as devils experience -- such great conviction of conscience, such a sense of the importance of eternal things, such affecting views of the awesome majesty, greatness, power, holiness, justice, and truth of God, and such a sense of His great grace to the saints -- if these things, or anything like them, were in the heart of a sinner in this world, at the same time that he, from some strong impression on his imagination of Christ appearing to him, or sweet words spoken to him, or by some other means, has suddenly after great terrors taken on a strong confidence that now this great God is his friend and father, has released him from all the misery he feared, and has promised him eternal happiness -- such things would undoubtedly vastly heighten his ecstasy of joy and raise the exercise of natural gratitude (that principle by which sinners love those who love them), and would produce a great imitation of many graces in strong exercises. Is it any wonder, then, that multitudes under this sort of emotion are deceived? Especially when they have devils to help the delusion forward, whose great craftiness has chiefly been exercised in deceiving humanity through all past generations.

Inquiry. Here perhaps some may be ready to ask: if there may be so many things that people can experience from no higher principles than are in the minds and hearts of devils, what are those exercises and emotions that are of a higher nature, which I must find in my heart, and which I may rightly look upon as sure signs of the saving grace of God's Spirit?

Answer. Those exercises and emotions that are good evidences of grace differ from everything the devils experience, and from everything that can arise from such principles as are in their hearts, in two things: their foundation and their tendency.

1. They differ in their foundation, that is, in what is most fundamental in them and the basis of everything else that belongs to them: a perception or sense of the supreme holy beauty and excellence of divine things as they are in themselves, in their own nature.

The devils and the damned in hell are, and forever will be, entirely without this. The devils once had this while they stood in their integrity, but they completely lost it when they fell. And this is the only thing that can be named, belonging to the devil's perception and sense of the divine Being, that he actually lost. Nothing else belonging to the knowledge of GOD can be identified that he lacks. It has been observed that there is no single attribute of the divine nature that he is not aware of and knows, and of which he does not have a strong and deeply affecting conviction. This, I think, is evident and undeniable. But the supreme beauty of the divine nature he is completely blind to. He sees no more of it than a person born completely blind sees of colors. The great awareness he has of GOD's attributes gives him an idea and a strong sense of His awesome majesty, but no idea of His beauty and excellence. Though he has seen so much of GOD's wonderful works of power, wisdom, holiness, justice, and truth, and His wonderful works of grace to mankind, for so many thousands of years, and has had every reason to observe them with the closest attention, all of it fails to give him the slightest sense of divine beauty. And though the devils should continue to exercise their mighty powers of mind with the strongest effort, and should consider things from every possible angle, in every order and arrangement, they will never see this. So unrelated is the knowledge they have to this that the greater degrees of that knowledge bring them no nearer to it. Yet the more knowledge they have of GOD of that kind, the more they hate GOD. That in which the beauty of the divine nature most essentially consists -- namely, His holiness, or moral excellence -- appears in their eyes as the farthest thing from beauty. It is on that very account, chiefly, that He appears hateful to them. The more holiness they see in Him, the more hateful He appears. The greater their awareness of His holiness, the higher their hatred of Him rises. And because of their hatred of His holiness, they hate Him the more, the more they see of His other attributes. They would hate a holy being whatever his other attributes were, but they hate such a holy being even worse for his being infinitely wise and infinitely powerful, and so on -- more than they would if they saw in him less power and less wisdom.

The wicked, at the day of judgment, will see everything else in Christ except His beauty and loveliness. There is no single quality or property of His person that can be thought of that will not be set before them in the strongest light on that day, except those that consist in this. They will see Him coming in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory, in the glory of His Father. They will have a view of His outward glory that is vastly beyond anything we can imagine. And they will have the strongest and most convincing demonstrations of all His attributes and perfections. They will have a sense of His great majesty that will be, as it were, infinitely affecting to them. They will be made to know effectively that He is the Lord. They will see what He is and what He does. His nature and works will appear in the strongest view. But His holy and infinite beauty and loveliness, which is everything -- and without which every other quality and property is nothing, and worse than nothing -- they will see nothing of.

Therefore, it is a sight or sense of this that fundamentally constitutes the difference between the things in which the saving grace of GOD's Spirit consists and the experiences of devils and damned souls. This is the foundation of everything else that is distinctive in true Christian experience. This is the foundation of the faith of GOD's elect. This gives the mind a saving belief of the truth of divine things. It is a view of the excellence of the things presented in the Gospel, or a sense of the divine beauty and loveliness of the plan of doctrine there set forth, that savingly convinces the mind that it is indeed divine, or from GOD. This account of the matter is plainly implied in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4: But 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 glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of GOD. And verse 6: 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 Jesus Christ. It is very evident that a saving belief of the Gospel is here spoken of by the Apostle as arising from a view of the divine glory or beauty of the things it presents. It is by this view that the soul of a true convert is enabled to see, in a saving way, the sufficiency of Christ for his salvation. The person who has his eyes opened to see the divine, surpassing beauty and loveliness of Jesus Christ is convinced of His sufficiency to stand as a mediator between him -- a guilty, hell-deserving sinner -- and an infinitely holy GOD, in an entirely different way than he could ever be convinced by all the arguments used by the most excellent authors or preachers.

When a person comes to see Christ's divine loveliness, he no longer wonders that God the Father considers Him worthy to be accepted on behalf of the worst sinner. Now it is no longer difficult for him to understand how the blood of Christ could be regarded by God as so precious, so worthy to be accepted as payment for the greatest sins. The soul now truly sees the preciousness of Christ, and so it truly sees and understands the very ground and reason for His acceptableness to God, and the value God places on His blood, obedience, and intercession. This satisfies the poor guilty soul and gives it rest, when the finest and most carefully constructed arguments about the sufficiency of Christ and the suitability of the way of salvation could not do it. When a person then comes to see the proper foundation of faith and trust with his own eyes, then he believes savingly. He who sees the Son and believes in Him has everlasting life. John 6:40. When Christ in this way reveals God's name to people, then they believe that all things that God has given to Christ are from Him, and they believe that Christ was sent by God. John 17:6-8. And those who thus know Christ's name will trust in Him. Psalm 9:10. In order for true faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God is revealed in people. Galatians 1:15-16. It is this sight of the divine beauty of Christ that bows the will and draws the hearts of people. A sight of the greatness of God in His attributes may overwhelm people and be more than they can endure, but the hostility and opposition of the heart may remain at full strength, and the will may remain unbending. One glimpse of the moral and spiritual glory of God and the supreme loveliness of Jesus Christ, shining into the heart, overcomes and destroys this opposition and inclines the soul to Christ by what is, as it were, an all-powerful force. So that now, not only the understanding, but the will and the whole soul receives and embraces the Savior. This is most certainly the discovery that is the first internal foundation of saving faith in Christ in the soul of the true convert. It is not based on having it immediately suggested and revealed to the soul by a text of Scripture, or any immediate outward or inward witness, that Christ loves him, or that He died for him in particular, and is his Savior -- so producing confidence and joy and a seeming love for Christ because He loves him. By this kind of faith and conversion, which is demonstrably empty and counterfeit, multitudes have been deceived. The sight of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ produces true, supreme love for God. This is a sight of the proper foundation for supreme love for God -- the supreme loveliness of His nature. A love for Him on this ground is truly above anything that can come from a mere principle of self-love, which is in the hearts of devils as well as people. This produces true spiritual and holy joy in the soul, which is indeed joy in God and glorying in Him, and not rejoicing in ourselves.

This sight of the beauty of divine things will stir up true desires and longings of soul for those things -- not like the longings of devils, or any such forced desires as those of a person in great danger of death who longs for some bitter medicine he hopes will save his life. These are natural, free desires, the desires of appetite, the thirstings of a new nature -- as a newborn baby desires its mother's milk, as a hungry person longs for some pleasant food he thinks of, or as the thirsty deer pants after the cool, clear stream.

This sense of divine beauty is the first thing in the actual change made in the soul in true conversion, and is the foundation of everything else that belongs to that change. This is evident from the words of the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 3:18: 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 by the Spirit of the Lord.

2. Truly gracious emotions and exercises of mind differ from counterfeits, which arise from no higher principles than are in the hearts of devils, in their tendency. And this in two respects.

(1.) They have a tendency and influence that is the very opposite of what was especially the devil's sin: pride. That pride was in a special way the devil's sin is clear from 1 Timothy 3:6: Not a new convert, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. False and deceptive experiences always tend toward this, though often under the disguise of great and extraordinary humility. Spiritual pride is the dominant attitude and general character of hypocrites who are deceived by false discoveries and emotions. They are, in general, disposed in a way directly contrary to two things belonging to the Christian character that the Apostle directs. One is in Romans 12:16: Do not be wise in your own estimation. And the other is in Philippians 2:3: Let each esteem others as better than himself. False experience is impressed with itself and fascinated by itself. The person who has false humility is greatly moved to think about how humbled he is before God. The person who has false love is moved when he thinks about the greatness of his love. The very food and nourishment of false experience is to contemplate itself and pay close attention to itself. Its very breath and life is to talk about itself extensively, or in some way to put itself on display. Truly gracious views and emotions, however, have a completely opposite tendency. They feed no self-importance, no exalted opinion of the person's own righteousness, experience, or privileges, and no inflated view of his own humility. They incline toward no showing off and no self-exaltation, under any disguise whatsoever. Rather, that sense of the supreme, holy beauty and glory of God and Christ which is their foundation, and that alone, puts pride to death and truly humbles the soul. It does not only cut off some of the outermost branches of pride (causing many branches to grow where only one was before), but it strikes at the very root. It changes the very nature and disposition of the heart. The light of God's beauty, and that alone, truly shows the soul its own ugliness and effectively inclines it to exalt God and humble itself.

(2) These gracious exercises and emotions also differ from the other in their tendency to destroy Satan's influence. First, in the person himself, through their tendency to cause the soul to hate every evil and false way and to produce universal holiness of heart and life, disposing him to make the service of GOD, the promoting of His glory, and the good of mankind the very business of his life. False discoveries and emotions do not have this effect. There may indeed be great zeal and a great deal of what is called religion, but it is not a truly Christian zeal. It is not being zealous for good works. Their religion is not the service of GOD; it is not seeking and serving GOD, but actually seeking and serving themselves. Though there may be a change of life, it is not a change from every wicked way to a consistent Christian life and practice. It is only a turning the stream of corruption from one channel to another. Thus the Apostle James distinguishes, in our passage, a true faith from the faith of devils: James 2:19-20: You believe that there is one GOD. The devils also believe and tremble. But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? And thus the Apostle John distinguishes true communion with GOD: 1 John 1:6-7: If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. By this he distinguishes true spiritual knowledge. Chapter 2:3-4: By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 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. And by this the same Apostle distinguishes true love. Chapter 3:18-19: Let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed [in action, as the word means] and in truth. By this we will know that we are of the truth, and will assure our hearts before Him.

2. Truly gracious experiences also have a tendency to destroy Satan's influence in the world.

False religion, consisting of counterfeits of the operations of the Spirit of GOD and great claims and impressive appearances of inward spiritual experience -- when this spreads among a people, though for the present it may surprise many and may serve to alarm and awaken some sinners -- yet in the final outcome it greatly wounds and weakens the cause of genuine religion and strengthens the influence of Satan. It desperately hardens the hearts of sinners, fills the world with prejudice against the power of godliness, promotes unbelief and immoral principles and practices, and builds up and strengthens the devil's kingdom in the world more than open immorality and profanity, or professed atheism, or public persecution -- and perhaps more than anything else whatsoever.

But it is not so with true religion in its genuine beauty. True religion, if it spreads with great power, will certainly stir up the rage of the devil and many other enemies of religion. However, it gives great advantage to its friends and greatly strengthens their cause, and tends to convince or silence enemies. True religion is a divine light in the souls of the saints, and as it shines out in their conduct before others, it tends to lead people to glorify GOD. There is nothing like it, as a means, to awaken people's consciences, to convince unbelievers, and to silence opponents. Though people naturally hate the power of godliness, when they see its fruits, there is a witness in their consciences in its favor. He who serves Christ in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit is acceptable to GOD and approved by men. Romans 14:17-18. The spread of true religion always tends to bring honor to religion in the world, though it commonly is the occasion of great persecution. This is certain: the more it appears and is demonstrated in the view of the world, the more its honor and the honor of its Author will be advanced. Philippians 1:11: Being filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of GOD.

The third use of this doctrine may be for exhortation -- to seek those distinguishing qualities and emotions of soul that neither the devil nor any unholy being has or can have.

How excellent is that inward virtue and religion which consists in these things! In these consists the most excellent experience of saints and angels in heaven. In these consists the best experience of the Man, Christ Jesus, whether in His humbled or glorified state. In these consists the image of GOD. Indeed, this is spoken of in Scripture as a sharing in something of GOD's own beauty and excellence, a participation in the divine nature; 2 Peter 1:4. A sharing in His holiness; Hebrews 12:10. A sharing in Christ's fullness; John 1:16. By this the saints are filled with all the fullness of GOD; Ephesians 3:18-19. By this they have fellowship with both the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3) -- that is, they share in Their happiness. Indeed, by means of this divine virtue, there is a mutual indwelling of GOD and the saints. 1 John 4:16: GOD is love, and the one who remains in love remains in GOD, and GOD remains in him.

This quality must make the person who has it truly excellent and happy. It is undoubtedly the highest dignity and blessedness of any creature. This is the special gift of GOD, which He gives only to His chosen favorites. As for silver, gold, and diamonds, earthly crowns and kingdoms -- He often throws these out to those He regards as dogs and swine. But this is the special blessing of His dear children. This is what flesh and blood cannot give, and what all the devils in hell cannot produce in the slightest degree in any heart. GOD alone can give it. This was the special benefit that Christ died to obtain for His elect -- the most excellent token of His everlasting love, the chief fruit of His great labors, and the most precious purchase of His blood.

By this, above all other things, people glorify God. By this, above all other things, the saints shine as lights in the world and are blessings to humanity. This, above all things, tends to their own comfort. From it arises that peace which surpasses all understanding and that joy which is inexpressible and full of glory. This is what will most certainly result in the eternal salvation of those who have it. It is impossible for the soul in which it exists to sink and perish. It is an immortal seed. It is eternal life begun. Therefore those who have it can never die. It is the dawning of the light of glory. It is the morning star risen in the heart, a sure forerunner of the sunrise that will bring on an everlasting day. This is that water which Christ gives, which becomes in the one who drinks it a well of water springing up into everlasting life: John 4:14. It is something from heaven, of a heavenly nature, and tending toward heaven. Those who have it, however they may now wander in a wilderness or be tossed back and forth on a stormy sea, will certainly arrive in heaven at last. There this heavenly spark will be increased and perfected, and the souls of the saints will all be transformed into a bright and pure flame. They will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Amen.