love is singled out, and appealed to by motives of terror the most arousing, and of kindness the most persuasive. All this is done by him who cannot err, for the express purpose of kindling up in the heart of man the holy flame of adoration; and surely it must be hazardous to say, that those emotions which rise up and respond to such appeals in their true spirit, and in accordance with the precise form in which they are exhibited, are yet destitute of pious ingredients. There are, confessedly, great diversities among the children of grace, as well as among the children of nature; and that test which is applicable to all, must often be too general to be of service to individuals: but while the man whose piety is greatly disinterested, may warrantably feast his soul with the liveliest hopes, the less favoured man, who seldom rises higher than an humble and tremulous thankfulness for "God's unspeakable gift," is not, on this account, to sink into despondency.

It ought to have been mentioned previously to these remarks, that some things in our Author's illustration, in the eleventh chapter of Part II. of this Treatise, are rather obscurely stated, and capable, as they stand, of a hurtful interpretation.* But, from the particular topic which he is there illustrating, and the connection of the passage with what follows, it is evident that he is combating the error of those who maintain, that although a Christian has no present discernment of spiritual things, but is in a dark and

The passage chiefly referred to, is in the 197th page, beginning with the phrase," And here I cannot but observe." For a masterly dissection of this topic, the reader is referred to the Author's two Letters to Mr. Gillespie, appended to this edition.

secular frame of mind, he ought not to distrust the goodness of his state, but still to cherish the belief that he is accepted of God. He is not asserting that the man who is in darkness ought not to believe the divine testimony, but that he ought not, by a blind and unreasonable confidence, to boast himself a Christian, in the absence of all legitimate evidence, that, in short, his views must be altered, and the frame of his mind improved; or, in other words, he must come out of the "darkness" of sinful indifference," into the light" of gracious exercise, before he can believe himself to be a child of God.

These strictures are deemed necessary, in justice to the Christian public to whom the volume is offered anew for instruction in righteousness: and although the intelligent reader should approve of their import, as intended to minister a necessary caution, he will very easily perceive that they detract scarcely any thing from its general excellence. The inaccuracies hinted at, although apt to be wounding to pious individuals, yet dwindle into a speck before the solid, and salutary, and lucid discussion with which the work is so richly fraught. They are the slips of a mind whose piety was as uncommon as were its powers of subtile research; and it is not to be wondered at, although somewhat to be regretted, that the high test by which it tried itself, (and might find to be useful, as the entire Treatise certainly was, in no small degree, for neutralizing the excesses of its times,) should be given to the public at large. One thing more, against which the reader ought to be guarded, is a relaxed and cursory perusal of the volume; and, considering the present tendency of the public mind

to what is smooth, and tasteful, and superficial in religious reading, as well as in almost every thing else, there is but too much reason for apprehension here. It is a pitiful thing to see the religious community arrested among the elements of their faith, or amused with mere conceits, instead of being trained to that patience of thought, and comprehensiveness of view, which are so essential to the dignity of the man, and the well-being of the Christian. It is for this cause that so many are weak and sickly among us, and so many asleep. Edwards thought vigorously, and, by the grace of God, he thought to purpose: and to his reader here, as in all his works, it may be said with emphatic truth, you cannot follow him to advantage in the interesting region through which he conducts you-you cannot make your own of the varied moral portraitures which he brings into viewyou cannot inhale the spirit of the man, nor see what he saw, nor feel what he felt, unless you surrender to his pages the sharpened power of your intellect, and the wakeful solicitudes of your heart. This is the true state of the case, and to disguise it is to do you injury. But if you make this surrender, which is indeed a reasonable request,-if you make it in the humility of a Christian, and imbue it with the incense of a devout and suppliant spirit, you will find the Treatise a powerful auxiliary to that great system of means by which the " man of God" is made "perfect," being "thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

PERTH, April, 1825.

D. Y.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THE AFFECTIONS, AND THEIR
IMPORTANCE IN RELIGION,

CHAP. I. The affections are nothing else than the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul,

Page

73

78

CHAP. II. True religion, in a great measure, consists in the affections,

82

CHAP. III. Inferences deduced from this proposition,

112

PART II.

WHAT ARE NO CERTAIN SIGNS THAT RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS
ARE TRULY GRACIOUS, OR THAT THEY ARE NOT,

123

CHAP. I. It is no sign one way or the other, that religious affections are very great, or raised very high,

CHAP. II. It is no sign that affections have the nature of true religion, or that they have not, that they have great effects on the body,

CHAP. III. It is no sign that affections are truly gracious, or that they are not, that they cause those who have them to be fluent, fervent, and abundant, in talking of the things of religion,

124

130

136