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state. It is as impossible, in the nature of things, that a holy and Christian hope should be kept alive, in its clearness and strength, in such circumstances, as it is to keep the light in the room, when the candle is put out; or to maintain the bright sunshine in the air, when the sun is gone down. Distant experiences, when darkened by present prevailing lust and corruption, will never keep alive a gracious confidence and assurance; but that sickens and decays as necessarily as a little child by repeated blows on the head with a hammer. Nor is it at all to be lamented, that persons doubt of their state in such circumstances; on the contrary, it is desirable and every way best that they should. It is agreeable to that wise and merciful constitution of things which God hath established, that it should be so. For so hath God contrived and constituted things, in his dispensations towards his own people, that when their love decays, and the exercises of it fail or become weak, fear should arise; for then they need it to restrain them from sin, and to excite them to care for the good of their souls, and so to stir them up to watchfulness and diligence in religion: but God hath so ordered, that when love rises, and is in vigorous exercise, then fear should vanish, and be driven away; for then they need it not, having a higher and more excellent principle in exercise to restrain them from sin, and stir $ them up to their duty. There are no other principles which human nature is under the influence of, that will ever make men conscientious, but one of these two, fear or love; and therefore, if one of these should not prevail as the other decayed, God's people, when fallen into dead and carnal frames, when love

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is asleep, would be lamentably exposed indeed. And therefore God has wisely ordained, that these two opposite principles of love and fear should rise and fall, like the two opposite scales of a balance; when one rises, the other sinks. As light and darkness necessarily and unavoidably succeed each other-if light prevails, so much does darkness cease, and no more; and if light decays, so much does darkness prevail: so it is in the heart of a child of God; if divine love decays and falls aleep, and lust prevails, the light and joy of hope goes out, and dark fear and doubting arises; and if, on the contrary, divine love prevails, and comes into lively exercise, this brings in the brightness of hope, and drives away black lust, and fear with it. Love is the spirit of adoption, or the childlike principle: if that slumbers, men fall under fear, which is the spirit of bondage, or the servile principle and so on the contrary. And if it be so that love, or the spirit of adoption, be carried to a great height, it quite drives away all fear, and gives full assurance. Agreeable to that of the apostle, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." These two opposite principles of lust and holy love, bring hope and fear into the hearts of God's children, in proportion as they prevail; that is, when left to their own natural influence, without something adventitious, or accidental, intervening; as the distemper of melancholy, doctrinal ignorance, prejudices of education, wrong instruction, false principles, peculiar temptations, &c.

Fear is cast out by the Spirit of God no other way than by the prevailing of love; nor is it ever

maintained by his Spirit, but when love is asleep. At such a time, in vain is all the saint's self-examinations, and poring on past experience, in order to establish his peace, and get assurance; for it is contrary to the nature of things, as God hath constituted them, that he should have assurance at such a time.

They, therefore, directly thwart God's wise and gracious constitution of things, who exhort others to be confident in their hope, when in dead frames; under a notion of "living by faith, and not by sight, and trusting God in the dark, and living upon Christ, and not upon experiences;" and warn them not to doubt of their good estate, lest they should be guilty of the dreadful sin of unbelief. And it has a direct tendency to establish the most presumptuous hypocrites, and to prevent their ever calling their state in question, how much soever wickedness rages, and reigns in their hearts, and prevails. in their lives; under a notion of honouring God, by hoping against hope, and confidently trusting in God, when things look very dark. dark. And, doubtless, vast has been the mischief that has been done this way.

Persons cannot be said to forsake Christ, and live on their experiences of the exercises of grace, merely because they take them and use them as evidences of grace; for there are no other evidences that they can or ought to take. But then may persons be said to live upon their experiences, when they make a righteousness of them; and, instead of keeping their eye on God's glory and Christ's excellency, they turn their eyes off these objects without them, on to themselves, to entertain their minds, by viewing their

own attainments, and high experiences, and the great things they have met with; and are bright and beautiful in their own eyes, and are rich and increased with goods in their own apprehensions, and think that God has as admiring an esteem of them, on the same account, as they have of themselves: this is living on experiences, and not on Christ; and is more abominable in the sight of God, than the gross immoralities of those who make no pretences to religion. But this is a far different thing from a mere improving experiences, as evidences of an interest in a glorious Redeemer.

But to return from this digression, I would mention one thing more under the general head that I am upon.

CHAPTER XII.

Nothing can be certainly concluded concerning the nature of Religious Affections from this, that the outward manifestations of them, and the relation persons give of them, are very affecting and pleasing to the truly godly, and such as greatly gain their charity, and win their hearts.

THE true saints have not such a spirit of discerning, that they can certainly determine who are godly, and who are not. For though they know experimentally what true religion is, in the internal exercises of it; yet these are what they can neither feel

nor see in the heart of another.* There is nothing in others that comes within their view, but outward manifestations and appearances; but the Scripture plainly intimates, that this way of judging what is in men by outward appearances, is at best uncertain, and liable to deceit: "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." "He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears."+ They commonly are but poor judges, and dangerous counsellors in soul cases, who are quick and peremptory in determining persons' states, vaunting themselves in their extraordinary faculty of discerning and distinguishing in these great affairs; as though all was open and clear to them. They betray one of these three things: either that they have had but little experience; or are persons of a weak judgment; or that they have a great degree of pride and self-confidence, and so ignorant of them

• "Men may have the knowledge of their own conversion: the knowledge that other men have of it is uncertain, because no man can look into the heart of another, and see the workings of grace there."-Stoddard's Nature of Saving Conversion, Chap. xv. at the beginning.

"Mr. Stoddard observes, that "all visible signs are common to converted and unconverted men; and a relation of experiences among the rest."-Appeal to the Learned, p. 75.

"O how hard is it for the eye of man to discern betwixt chaff and wheat, and how many upright hearts are now censured whom God will clear! how many false hearts are now approved whom God will condemn! Men ordinarily have no convictive proofs, but only probable symptoms; which at most beget but a conjectural knowledge of another's state. And they that shall peremptorily judge either way, may possibly wrong the generation of the upright, or, on the other side, absolve and justify the wicked. And truly, considering what hath been said, it is no wonder that dangerous mistakes are so frequently made in this matter."Flavel's Husbandry Spiritualized, Chap. xii.

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