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True Grace Distinguished From The Experience Of Devils
by Jonathan Edwards
Dated September 28, 1752.
James 2:19, "Thou
believest that there is one God; thou dost well: the devils also
believe, and tremble."
Observe in these words, — 1. Something that some depended on, as an
evidence of their good estate and acceptance, as the objects of God’s
favor, viz. a speculative faith, or belief of the doctrines of religion.
The great doctrine of the existence of one only God is particularly
mentioned probably because this was a doctrine wherein, especially,
there was a visible and noted distinction between professing Christians
and the heathens, amongst whom the Christians in those days were
dispersed. And therefore, this was what many trusted in, as what
recommended them to, or at least was an evidence of their interest in,
the great spiritual and eternal privileges, in which real Christians
were distinguished from the rest of the world.
2. How much is allowed concerning this faith, viz. that it is a good
attainment. “Thou dost well.” It was good, as it was necessary. This
doctrine was one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and, in
some respects, above all others fundamental. It was necessary to be
believed, in order to salvation. To be without the belief of this
doctrine, specially in those that had such advantage to know as they had
to whom the apostle wrote, would be a great sin, and what would vastly
aggravate their damnation. This belief was also good, as it had a good
tendency in many respects.
3. What is implicitly denied concerning it, viz. that is any evidence of
a person’s being in a state of salvation. The whole context shows this
to be the design of the apostle in the words. And it is particularly
manifest by the conclusion of the verse, which is,
4. The thing observable in the words, viz. the argument by which the
apostle proves that this is no sign of a state of grace, viz. that it is
found in the devils. They believe that there is one God, and that he is
a holy, sin-hating God and that he is a God of truth, and will fulfill
his threatenings by which he has denounced future judgments, and a great
increase of misery on them, and that he is an almighty God, and able to
execute his threatened vengeance upon them.
Therefore, the doctrine I infer from the words to make the subject of my
present discourse is this, viz. nothing in the mind of man that is of
the same nature with what the devils experience, or are the subjects of,
is any sure sign of saving grace.
If there be anything that the devils have, or find in themselves, which
is an evidence of the saving grace of the Spirit of God, then the
apostle’s argument is not good; which is plainly this: “That which is in
the devils, or which they do, is no certain evidence of grace. But the
devils believe that there is one God. Therefore, thy believing that
there is one God is no sure evidence that thou art gracious.” So that
the whole foundation of the apostle’s argument lies in that proposition:
“That which is in the devils, is no certain sign of grace.” —
Nevertheless, I shall mention two or three further reasons, or arguments
of the truth of this doctrine.
I. The devils have no degree of holiness. And therefore those things
which are nothing beyond what they are the subjects of cannot be holy
experiences.
The devil once was holy. But when he fell, he lost all his holiness and
became perfectly wicked. He is the greatest sinner, and in some sense
the father of all sin. John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and
the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there was no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it.” 1 John 3:8, “He that committeth sin is of the
devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.” He is often spoken of,
by way of eminence, as “the wicked one.” So, Mat. 13:19, “Then cometh
the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.”
Verse 38, “The tares are the children of the wicked one.” 1 John 2:13,
“I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.”
Chap. 3:12, “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one.” Chap. 5:18,
“Whosoever is born of God — keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not.” So the devils are called evil spirits, unclean
spirits, powers of darkness, rulers of the darkness of this world, and
wickedness itself. Eph. 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.”
Therefore, surely those things which the minds of devils are the
subjects of can have nothing of the nature of true holiness in them. The
knowledge and understanding which they have of the things of God and
religion cannot be of the nature of divine and holy light, nor any
knowledge that is merely of the same kind. No impressions made on their
hearts can be of a spiritual nature. That kind of sense which they have
of divine things, however great, cannot be a holy sense. Such affections
as move their hearts, however powerful, cannot be holy affections. If
there be no holiness in them as they are in the devil, there can be no
holiness in them as they are in man, unless something be added to them
beyond what is in the devil. And if anything be added to them, then they
are not the same things. But [they] are something beyond what devils are
the subjects of, which is contrary to the supposition, for the
proposition which I am upon is, that those things which are of the same
nature, and nothing beyond what devils are the subjects of, cannot be
holy experiences. It is not the subject that makes the affection, or
experience, or quality holy. But it is the quality that makes the
subject holy.
And if those qualities and experiences which the devils are the subjects
of have nothing of the nature of holiness in them, then they can be no
certain signs that persons which have them are holy or gracious. There
is no certain sign of true grace, but those things which are spiritual
and gracious. It is God’s image that is his seal and mark, the stamp by
which those that are his are known. But that which has nothing of the
nature of holiness, has nothing of this image. That which is a sure sing
of grace, must either be something which has the nature and essence of
grace, or flows from, or some way belongs to, its essence. For that
which distinguishes things one from another is the essence, or something
appertaining to their essence. And therefore, that which is sometimes
found wholly without the essence of holiness or grace, can be no
essential, sure, or distinguishing mark of grace.
II. The devils are not only absolutely without all true holiness, but
they are not so much as the subjects of any common grace.
If any should imagine, that some things may be signs of grace which are
not grace itself, or which have nothing of the nature and essence of
grace and holiness in them; yet, certainly they will allow, that the
qualifications which are sure evidences of grace, must be things that
are near akin to grace, or having some remarkable affinity with it. But
the devils are not only wholly destitute of any true holiness, but they
are at the greatest distance from it, and have nothing in them in any
wise akin to it.
There are many in this world who are wholly destitute of saving grace
who yet have common grace. They have no true holiness, but nevertheless
have something of that which is called moral virtue. And [they] are the
subjects of some degree of the common influences of the Spirit of God.
It is so with those in general that live under the light of the gospel
and are not given up to judicial blindness and hardness. Yea, those that
are thus given up, yet have some degree of restraining grace while they
live in this world, without which the earth could not bear them, and
they would in no measure be tolerable members of human society. But when
any are damned, or cast into hell, as the devils are, God wholly
withdraws his restraining grace and all merciful influences of his
Spirit whatsoever. They have neither saving grace nor common grace;
neither the grace of the Spirit, nor any of the common gifts of the
Spirit; neither true holiness, nor moral virtue of any kind. Hence
arises the vast increase of the exercise of wickedness in the hearts of
men when they are damned. And herein is the chief difference between the
damned in hell and unregenerate and graceless men in this world. Not
that wicked men in this world have any more holiness or true virtue than
the damned, or have wicked men, when they leave this world, any
principles of wickedness infused into them. But when men are cast into
hell, God perfectly takes away his Spirit from them, as to all its
merciful common influences, and entirely withdraws from them all
restraints of his Spirit and good providence.
III. It is unreasonable to suppose that a person’s being in any respect
as the devil is, should be a certain sign that he is very unlike and
opposite to him, and hereafter shall not have his part with him. True
saints are extremely unlike and contrary to the devil, both relatively
and really. They are so relatively. The devil is the grand rebel, the
chief enemy of God and Christ, the object of God’s greatest wrath, a
condemned malefactor, utterly rejected and cast off by him, forever shut
out of his presence, the prisoner of his justice, an everlasting
inhabitant of the infernal world. The saints, on the contrary, are the
citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, members of the family of the
glorious King of heaven, the children of God, the brethren and spouse of
his dear Son, heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, kings and priests
unto God. And they are extremely different really. The devil, on account
of his hateful nature, and those accursed dispositions which reign in
him, is called Satan, the adversary, Abaddon and Apollyon, the great
destroyer, the wolf, the roaring lion, the great dragon, the old
serpent. The saints are represented as God’s holy ones, his anointed
ones, the excellent of the earth, the meek of the earth, lambs and
doves, Christ’s little children, having the image of God, pure in heart,
God’s jewels, lilies in Christ’s garden, plants of paradise, stars of
heaven, temples of the living God. The saints, so far as they are
saints, are as diverse from the devil, as heaven is from hell. And much
more contrary than light is to darkness. And the eternal state that they
are appointed to is answerably diverse and contrary.
Now it is not reasonable to suppose that being in any respect as Satan
is, or being the subject of any of the same properties, qualifications,
affections, or actions, that are in him, is any certain evidence that
persons are thus exceeding different from him, and in circumstances so
diverse, and appointed to an eternal state so extremely contrary in all
respects. Wicked men are in Scripture called the children of the devil.
Now is it reasonable to suppose, that men’s being in any respect as the
devil is can be a certain sign that they are not his children, but the
children of the infinitely holy and blessed God? We are informed, that
wicked men shall hereafter have their part with devils, shall be
sentenced to the same everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil
and his angels. Now, can a man’s being like the devil in any respect be
a sure token that he shall not have his part with him, but with glorious
angels, and with Jesus Christ, dwelling with him, where he is, that he
may behold and partake of his glory?
IMPROVEMENT
The first use may lie in several inferences, for our instruction.
I. 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,
Mat. 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 aforementioned reasons, given to show the truth of the
doctrine with respect to devils, holds 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. 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.
II. 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 many and strong prejudices, 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 to which it is strictly united, and 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. This 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,
the eyes of wicked men are opened, when they go into another world.
The greatness of the abilities of devils may be argued from the
representation in Eph. 6:12. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,” etc. The same may also be
argued from what the Scripture says of Satan’s subtlety. Gen. 3:1; 2
Cor. 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 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 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 be a very artful disputant in any science, though
it be only to confound and deceive such as are conversant in it, 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, viz. 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 (Job 38:4-7), “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. And 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 between God and him,
in the whole course of those dispensations, has necessarily engaged his
attention in the strictest observation of them. He must have a great
degree of knowledge concerning Jesus Christ as the Savior 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 the 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. 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 torments 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
Savior. 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, pervert 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 corruption’s of
their hearts. For he has had long and great observation and experience.
The heart of man is what he had chiefly to do with, in his subtle
devices, mighty efforts, restless 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 religion is any certain sign of true piety.
Whatever clear notions a man may have of the attributes of God, the
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 enlighten 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 17:3, “This is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
has sent.” Mat. 11:27, “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.” Psa. 9:10, “They that know thy name will put their
trust in thee.” Phil. 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 who 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.
III. 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 in them he is thoroughly
established.
Therefore, for a person to believe the doctrines of Christianity merely
from the force of arguments, as discerned only by speculation, is no
evidence of grace.
It is probably a very rare thing for unregenerate men to have a strong
persuasion of the truth of the doctrines of religion, specially such of
them as are very mysterious, and much above the comprehension of reason.
Yet if he be very confident of the truth of Christianity and its
doctrines, and is able to argue most strongly for the proof of them, 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, Tit. 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
shall speak more particularly.
IV. It may be inferred from the doctrine which has been insisted on that
it is no certain sign of persons being 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 its future effects 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 never 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. All sorts
will then be filled with most amazing terrors, from apprehensions of
truth, and seeing things as they are, 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 ofty 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 sitteth 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?” Rev. 6:15-17. — Therefore if persons
have been first awakened, and afterwards have had comfort and joy, it is
no certain sign that their comforts are of the right hand, because they
were preceded by very great terrors.
V. 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 real work whatsoever, though carried to the utmost extent.
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 — is any 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 thing. 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 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 from which now they industriously hide their eyes. Isa.
26:10, 11, “Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he 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 of 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, Psa. 50:21, “These things thou hast done, and I kept
silence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:
but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.”
Compare this with the four first verses of the Psalm. — The design 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,” Rom. 2:5. Now sinners
often cavil against the justice of God’s dispensations, and particularly
the punishment which he threatens for their sins, excusing themselves,
and condemning him. 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. Mat. 22:11, 12, “And when the king came in to see the
guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment. And he
saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou 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. Suppose they
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, the greatness of
the sin of unbelief, and of the unexcusableness and heinousness of their
most secret spiritual iniquities. Perhaps they have been convinced of
the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness, and they despair of
being recommended to God by it. [They] 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 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 to which a mere work of the law, and convictions of
conscience, however great and clear, will never bring men.
When sinners are the subjects of great convictions of conscience, and a
remarkable work of the law, it is only transacting the business of the
day of judgment in the conscience before-hand. 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 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) is never carried
further in the consciences of sinners now than it will be at that day,
when its work will be perfect in thoroughly stopping the sinner’s mouth.
Rom. 3:19, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who 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 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 of a Savior from a punishment which we think we do
not deserve. But 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, 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 that it is not 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
favor. But they lie justly exposed to God’s eternal vengeance with 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?
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
anything 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 dost 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, as characteristics
of 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 of those that are truly happy given by
our Savior in 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 and dying discourse to his disciples, in the
14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John, and in his intercessory prayer,
chap. 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:
Gal. 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. Jam. 3:17, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, and 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 first known what 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. Isa.
40:13, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his
counselor, hath taught him?” Ecc. 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.”
VI. 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 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
self-love. And so [it] is a longing which arises from no higher
principles than the earnest desires of devils.
VII. 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
religion.
If persons have impressed strongly on their minds ideas obtained by the
external senses, whether by the ear, as any kind of sound, pleasant
music, or words spoken of excellent signification, words of Scripture,
suitable to their case, or adapted to the subject of their meditations,
or ideas obtained by the eye, as of a visible beauty and glory, a
shining light, golden streets, gates of precious stone, a most
magnificent throne surrounded by angels and saints in shining ranks, or
anything external belonging to Jesus Christ, either in his humbled
state, as 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 whatever 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.
VIII. 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,
First, 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 unto 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 mine ear to them
that instructed me! Pro. 4:11, 12, 13.
Therefore, however true godliness is attended with a great sense of the
importance of divine things — and it is rare that men who have no grace
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 eternity, and the vanity of
time, the worth of immortal souls, the preciousness of time and the
means of grace, and the folly of the way of allowed sin. They may have
such a sense of those 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.
Second, devils and damned men have a strong and most affecting sense of
the awful greatness and majesty of God. This is greatly made manifest in
the execution of divine vengeance on his enemies. Rom. 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 he 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,” Isa. 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, Rev. 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 with which
they were deeply affected, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Third, devils and damned men have some kind of conviction and sense of
all 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, etc. and were much
affected with it. 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, 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. They 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 in expectation of which
they now tremble. 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 is like a consuming fire,
which burns with infinite vehemence against it. They also will see the
holiness of God, as exercised in his love to righteousness and holiness,
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
Luke 13:28, 29. 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.
Object. 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 in which the devils are, 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.
Therefore it does not follow, that because the wicked in another world
have a great apprehension and lively sense of such things without grace,
ungodly men in their present state may have the same.
Ans. 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 a 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 affections, the same sense of things,
the same kind of impressions on the mind and on the heart. The objection
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 safe 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 experience, 1 Cor. 2:14. I might
also here add that observation and experience, in very many instances,
seem to confirm what Scripture and reason teaches in these things.
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