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It would be very unreasonable, and prejudicial to the interest of religion, to frown upon all these extraordinary external effects and manifestations of great religious affections. A measure of them is natural, necessary, and beautiful, and the effect in nowise disproportioned to the spiritual cause, and is of great benefit to promote religion. Yet, I think, they greatly err who suppose that these things should be wholly unlimited, and that all should be encouraged in going to the utmost length that they feel themselves inclined to. There ought to be a gentle restraint upon these things, and there should be a prudent care taken of persons in such extraordinary circumstances. They should be moderately advised at proper seasons, not to make more ado than there is need of, but rather to hold a restraint upon their inclinations; otherwise extraordinary outward effects will grow upon them, they will be more and more natural and unavoidable, and the extraordinary outward show will increase, without any increase of the internal cause. Persons will find themselves under a kind of necessity of making a great ado, with less and less affection of soul, till at length almost any slight emotion will set them going; and they will be more and more violent and boisterous, and will grow louder and louder, till their actions and behaviour become indeed very absurd. These things experience proves. Thus I have taken notice of the more proves.—Thus general causes whence the errors that have attended this great revival of religion have " and a each, head have observed some particular errors that have flowed from these fountains,

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M SECTION IV.

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Some particular Errors that have risen from several of the preceding causes-Censuring others.

In some cases, perhaps, they have been chiefly owing to one, and in others to another, and in others to the influence of several, or all conjunctly. And here the first thing I would take notice of is, censuring professing Christians of good standing in the visible church, as unconverted. I need not repeat

what I have elsewhere said, to show this to be against the plain, frequent, and strict prohibitions of the word of God. It is the worst disease that has attended this work, most contrary to the spirit and rules of Christianity, and of worst consequences. There is a most unhappy tincture that the minds of many, both ministers and people, have received that way. The manner of many has been, when they first enter into conversation with any person that seems to make any pretences to religion, to fix a judgment of him, from his manner of talking of religious things, whether he be converted, or experimentally acquainted with vital piety or not; and then to treat him accordingly, and freely to express their thoughts of him to others, especially those of whom they have a good opinion, as true Christians, and accepted as brethren and companions in Christ. Or if they do not declare their minds expressly, yet, by their manner of speaking of them, at least to their friends, they will show plainly what their thoughts are. So, when

they have heard any minister pray or preach, their first work has been to observe him, on a design of discerning him whether he be a converted man or not; whether he prays like one that feels the saving power of God's Spirit in his heart; and whether he preaches like one that knows what he says. It has been so much the way in some places, that many new converts do not know. but it is their duty to do so, they know no other way. And when once persons yield to such a motion, and give in to such a humour, they will quickly grow very discerning in their own apprehension, and think they can easily tell a bypocrite. And when once they have passed their censure, every thing seems to confirm it: they see more and more in the person they have censured, that seems to them to show plainly that he is an unconverted man. And then, if the And then, if the person censured be a minister, every thing in his public performances seems dead and sapless, and to do them no good at all; but, on the contrary, to be of a deadening influence, and poisonous to the soul; yea, it seems worse and worse to them, his preaching grows more and more intolerable; which is owing to a secret, strong prejudice, that steals in more and more upon the mind, as experience plainly and certainly shows. When the Spirit of God was wonderfully poured out in this place more than seven years ago, and near thirty souls in a week, take one with another, for five or six weeks together, were to appearance brought home to Christ, and all the town seemed to be alive and full of God, there was no such notion or humour prevailing here. When ministers preached here, as very many did at that time, young

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and old, our people did not go about to discern whether they were men of experience or not; they did not know that they must. Mr. Stoddard never brought them up in that way; it did not seem natural to them to go about any thing of that nature, nor did any such thing enter into their hearts; but, when any minister preached, the business of every one was to listen and attend to what he said, and apply, it to his own heart, and make the utmost improvement of it. And it is remarkable, that never did there appear such a disposition in the people to relish, approve of, and admire ministers preaching, as at that time. Such expressions as these were frequent in the mouths of one and another, on occasion of the preaching of strangers here, namely, "That they rejoiced there were so many eminent ministers in the country; and they wondered they never heard the fame of them before. They were thankful that other towns had so good means;" and the like. And scarcely ever did any minister preach here, but his preaching did some remarkable service; as I had good opportunity to know, because at that time I had particular acquaintance with most of the persons in the town, in their soul-concerns. That it has been so much otherwise of late, in many places in the land, is another instance of the secret and powerful influence of custom and example.

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There has been an unhappy disposition in some ministers toward their brethren in the ministry in this respect, which has encouraged and greatly promoted such a spirit among some of their people. A wrong improvement has been made of Christ's scourging the buyers and sellers out of the temple. It has been

expected by some, that Christ was now about thus to purge his house of unconverted ministers; and this has made it more natural to them to think that they should do Christ service, and act as co-workers with him, to put to their hand, and endeavour, by all means, to cashier those ministers that they thought to be unconverted. Indeed it appears to me probable, that the time is coming when awful judgments will be executed on unfaithful ministers, and that no sort of men in the world will be so much exposed to divine judgments. But then we should leave that work to Christ, who is the searcher of hearts, and to whom vengeance belongs; and not, without warrant, take the scourge out of his hand into our own. There has been too much of a disposition in some, as it were, to give ministers over as reprobates, being looked upon as wolves in sheep's clothing; which has tended to promote and encourage a spirit of bitterness towards them, and to make it natural to treat them too much as if they knew God hated them. If God's children knew that others were reprobates, it would not be required of them to love them; we may hate those that we know God hates, as it is lawful to hate the devil, and as the saints, at the day of judgment, will hate the wicked.* Some have been too

* In these expressions our excellent Author is not sufficiently guarded. Our knowing or not knowing persons to be reprobates, in any sense of that term, is no sufficient standard of obligation to hate or to love them, in the way of benevolence. The obli. gation to love or to hate is founded on the nature of the object, as good or bad. But here we are liable to err, for want of discriminating between a person and his criminal qualities. Now, every criminal object should be regarded by us as being possessed of physical powers; but this existence, and these powers, being the product of divine bounty, deserve our benevolent approba

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