 Section 1 of Select Cermons of Jonathan Edwards. Enfield, Connecticut, July 8, 1741. Their foot shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 35. In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked, unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived under the means of grace, but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained, as verse 28, void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit, as in the two verses next preceding the text. The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed. 1. That they were always exposed to destruction, as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73, verse 18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou casteth them down into destruction. 2. It implies that they were always exposed to sudden, unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next, and when he does fall, he falls at once, without warning. Which is also expressed in Psalm 73, verses 18 and 19. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou casteth them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? 3. Another thing implied is that they are liable to fall of themselves without being thrown down by the hand of another, as he that stands or walks on slippery ground means nothing but his own weight to throw him down. 4. That the reason why they are not fallen already, and do not fall now, is only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said that when that due time or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go, and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction, as he that stands on such slippery, declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he has let go, he immediately falls and is lost. The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations. 1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind, or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth, so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by. Thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down? 2. They deserve to be cast into hell, so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? Luke chapter 13 verse 7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy and God's mere will that holds it back. 3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them, so that they are bound over already to hell. John chapter 3 verse 18. He that believeth not is condemned already. So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell. That is his place. From thence he is, John chapter 8 verse 23. Ye are from beneath, and thither he is bound. It is the place that justice and God's word and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him. 4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down into hell at each moment is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them, as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Ye, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth. Ye, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell. So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such and one as themselves, though they might imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them. Their damnation does not slumber. The pit is prepared. The fire is made ready. The furnace is now hot, ready to receive them. The flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is wet and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them. Five. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and sees them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him. He has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his goods, Luke chapter 11 verse 12. The devils watch them. They are ever by them at their right hand. They stand waiting for them, like greedy, hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them. Hell opens its mouth wide to receive them, and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost. Six. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning that would presently kindle and flame out into hellfire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them that are seeds of hellfire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isaiah 57 verse 20. For the present God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, hitherto shall thou come, but no further. But if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul, it is destructive in its nature, and if God should leave it without restraint there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury, and while wicked men live here it is like fire pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose it would set on fire the course of nature, and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone. Seven. It is no security to wicked men for one moment that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages shows this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday, the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell that there is nothing to make it appear that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle or go out of the ordinary course of his providence to destroy any wicked man at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world are so in God's hands and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell than if means were never made use of or at all concerned in the case. 8. Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives or the care of others to preserve them do not secure them a moment. To this divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death, that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world and others with regard to their liabilities to early and unexpected death. But how is it in fact? Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 16. How dyeth the wise man even as the fool. 9. All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell while they continue to reject Christ and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell flatters himself that he shall escape it. He depends upon himself for his own security. He flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died here to fore are gone to hell, but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment. He says within himself that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail. But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom. They trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who here to fore have lived under the same means of grace and are now dead are undoubtedly gone to hell, and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive. It was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery, we doubtless should hear one and another reply, No, I never intended to come here. I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind. I thought I should contrive well for myself. I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care, but it came upon me unexpected. I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner. It came as a thief. Death outwitted me. God's wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter, and when I was saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me. 10. God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace, who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the mediator of the covenant. So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction. So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell. They have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it, and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger. Neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment. The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would feign lay hold on them, and swallow them up. The fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out, and they have no interest in any mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of. All that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unabledged forbearance of an incensed God. End of Section 1 Section 2 of Select Cermons of Jonathan Edwards This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Derek McLaughlin Select Cermons of Jonathan Edwards Section 2 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Part 2 Application The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God. There is Hell's wide gaping mouth open, and you have nothing to stand upon, nor anything to take hold of. There is nothing between you and Hell but the air. It is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up. You probably are not sensible of this. You find that you are kept out of Hell, but do not see the hand of God in it. But look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing. If God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it. Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards Hell. And if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence and best contrivance, and all your righteousness would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment, for you are a burden to it. The creation groans with you. The creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly. The sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan. The earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts, nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon. The air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies. God's creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope? There are the black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm and big with thunder. And were it not for the restraining hand of God it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind. Otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff on the summer threshing floor. The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned for the present. They increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given. And the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto. The floods of God's vengeance have been withheld, but your guilt in the meantime is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath. The waters are constantly rising and waxing more and more mighty, and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power. And if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it. The bow of God's wrath is bent and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls, all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them, for destruction came suddenly upon most of them, when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, peace and safety. Now they see that those things on which they depended for peace and safety were nothing but thin air, and empty shadows. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight. You are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince, and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else that you did not go to hell the last night, that you were suffered to awake again in this world after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell. O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in. It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to sing it and burn it asunder, and you have no interest in any mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. And consider here more particularly. One, whose wrath it is. It is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power to be disposed of at their mere will. Proverbs 20 verse 2, The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion, whoso provoketh him to anger, syneth against his own soul. The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince is liable to suffer the most extreme torment that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and mighty creator and king of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth before God are as grasshoppers, they are nothing and less than nothing. Both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great king of kings is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5, And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. 2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God, as in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 18, According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries. So, Isaiah chapter 66 verse 15, For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, To render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire, And in many other places. So, Revelation chapter 19 verse 15, We read of the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, The wrath of God, the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful. But it is the fierceness and wrath of God. The fury of God, The fierceness of Jehovah. Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them? But it is also the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, as though there would be a very great manifestation of his Almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh, then what will be the consequence? What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it? Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk, who shall be the subject of this? Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger implies that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down as it were into an infinite gloom, he will have no compassion upon you. He will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least light in his hand. There shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind. He will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezekiel 8 verse 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them. Now God stands ready to pity you. This is a day of mercy. You may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is passed, your most lamentable and dolerous cries and shrieks will be in vain. You will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery. You shall be continued in being to no other end, for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction, and there will be no other use of this vessel but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only laugh and mock. Proverbs chapter 1 verses 25, 26, etc. How awful are those words, Isaiah chapter 63 verse 3, which are the words of the great God. I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things—vis, contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy. He will crush out your blood and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost contempt. No place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets. 3. The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it on his heart to show to angels and men both how excellent his love is and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is by the extreme punishments they would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean Empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before. Doubtless it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show his wrath and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Romans 9 verse 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? And seeing this as his design and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it. Isaiah chapter 33 verses 12 to 14. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Here ye that are far off what I have done, and ye that are near acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites, etc. Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state if you continue in it. The infinite might and majesty and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is, and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isaiah chapter 66 verses 23 and 24. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be in abhorring unto all flesh. 4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment, but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward you shall see along forever a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul, and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance. And then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains, so that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is? All that we can possibly say about it gives but a very feeble faint representation of it. It is inexpressible and inconceivable. For who knows the power of God's anger? How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery. But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh, that you would consider it, whether you be young or old. There is reason to think that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are or in what seats they sit or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of? If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person? How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him? But alas, instead of one, how many is it likely we'll remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons that now sit here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet, and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition that shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time. Your damnation does not slumber, it will come swiftly, and in all probability very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known that never deserved hell more than you, and that here to fore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope. They are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair. But here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor, damned, hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you now enjoy? And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners, a day wherein many are flocking to him and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south, many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day, to see so many others feasting while you are pining and perishing, to see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have caused to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit. How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ? Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? And so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. O sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generality persons of your years are passed over and left in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God. And you, young men and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity, but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spend all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And you, children who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell to bear the dreadful wrath of that God who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil when so many other children in the land are converted and are become the holy and happy children of the king of kings? And let everyone that is yet out of Christ and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women or middle-aged or young people or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favor to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls, and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land, and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days. The election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you were born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit may be hewn down and cast into the fire. Therefore let every one that is out of Christ now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom, haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed. End of Section 2. Section 3 of select sermons of Jonathan Edwards. This is a LibriVox recording, while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Select sermons of Jonathan Edwards, Section 3. A divine and supernatural light immediately imparted to the soul by the Spirit of God, shown to be both scriptural and rational doctrine, a sermon by Jonathan Edwards, Part 1. Preached at Northampton and published at the desire of some of the hearers in the year 1734. Matthew 1617, and Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Christ says these words to Peter upon occasion of his professing his faith in him as the Son of God. Our Lord was inquiring of his disciples, who men said he was, not that he needed to be informed, but only to introduce and give occasion to what follows. They answered that some said he was John the Baptist, and some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. When they had thus given an account who others said he was, Christ asks them who they said he was. Simon Peter, whom we find always zealous and forward, was the first to answer. He readily replied to the question, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God. Upon this occasion Christ says as he does to him and of him in the text, in which we may observe, one, that Peter is pronounced blessed on this account. Blessed art thou, thou art a happy man that thou art not ignorant of this, that I am Christ the Son of the living God. Thou art distinguishingly happy, others are blinded and have dark and diluted apprehensions, as you have now given an account, some thinking that I am Elias, and some that I am Jeremiah's, and some one thing and some another, but none of them thinking right, all of them misled. Happy art thou that art so distinguished as to know the truth in this matter. Two, the evidence of this his happiness declared, viz, that God and he only had revealed it to him. This is an evidence of his being blessed. First, as it shows how peculiarly favored he was of God above others, Q.D., how highly favored art thou, that others that are wise and great men, the scribes, Pharisees and rulers, and the nation in general, are left in darkness to follow their own misguided apprehensions, and that thou shouldst be singled out, as it were by name, that my heavenly Father should thus set his love on thee, Simon Barjona. This argues thee, blessed, that thou shouldst thus be the object of God's distinguishing love. Secondly, it evidences his blessedness also, as it intimates that this knowledge is above any that flesh and blood can reveal. This is such knowledge as only my Father which is in heaven can give. It is too high and excellent to be communicated by such means as other knowledge is. Thou art blessed, that thou knowest that which God alone can teach thee. The original of this knowledge is here declared both negatively and positively. Positively, as God is here declared the author of it, negatively, as it is declared, that flesh and blood had not revealed it. God is the author of all knowledge and understanding whatsoever. He is the author of the knowledge that is obtained by human learning. He is the author of all moral prudence and of the knowledge and skill that men have in their secular business. Thus it is said of all in Israel that were wise-hearted and skilled in embroidering, that God had filled them with the spirit of wisdom, Exodus 28.3. God is the author of such knowledge, but yet not so, but that flesh and blood reveals it. Mortal men are capable of imparting the knowledge of human arts and sciences and skill in temporal affairs. God is the author of such knowledge by those means. Flesh and blood is employed as the immediate or second cause of it. He conveys it by the power and influence of natural means. But this spiritual knowledge, spoken of in the text, is what God is the author of and none else. He reveals it, and flesh and blood reveals it not. He imparts this knowledge immediately, not making use of any intermediate natural causes as he does in other knowledge. What had passed in the preceding discourse naturally occasioned Christ to observe this. Because the disciples had been telling how others did not know him but were generally mistaken about him and divided and confounded in their opinions of him. But Peter had declared his assured faith that he was the Son of God. Now it was natural to observe how it was not flesh and blood that had revealed it to him but God. For if this knowledge were dependent on natural causes or means, how came it to pass that they, a company of poor fishermen, illiterate men, and persons of low education, attained to the knowledge of the truth? While the scribes and Pharisees, men of vastly higher advantages and greater knowledge and sagacity in other matters, remained in ignorance. This could be owing only to the gracious distinguishing influence and revelation of the Spirit of God. Hence what I would make the subject of my present discourse from these words is this doctrine that there is such a thing as a spiritual and divine light immediately imparted to the soul by God of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means. And on this subject I would, one, show what this divine light is, two, how it is given immediately by God and not obtained by natural means, three, show the truth of the doctrine, and then conclude with a brief improvement. One, I would show what this spiritual and divine light is and in order to it would show, first, in a few things what it is not, and here, one, those convictions that natural men may have of their sin and misery is not this spiritual and divine light. Men in a natural condition may have convictions of the guilt that lies upon them and of the anger of God and their danger of divine vengeance. Such convictions are from light or sensibilities of truth. That some sinners have a greater conviction of their guilt and misery than others is because some have more light or more of an apprehension of truth than others. And this light and conviction may be from the spirit of God. The spirit convinces men of sin. But yet nature is much more concerned in it than in the communication of that spiritual and divine light that is spoken of in the doctrine. It is from the spirit of God only as assisting natural principles and not as infusing any new principles. Common grace differs from special in that it influences only by assisting of nature and not by imparting grace or bestowing anything above nature. The light that is obtained is holy natural or of no superior kind to what mere nature attains to, though more of that kind be obtained than would be obtained if men were left holy to themselves. Or, in other words, common grace only assists the faculties of the soul to do that more fully which they do by nature as natural conscience or reason will, by mere nature, make a man sensible of guilt and will accuse and condemn him when he has gone amiss. Conscience is a principle natural to men, and the work that it doth naturally or of itself is to give an apprehension of right and wrong and to suggest to the mind the relation that there is between right and wrong and a retribution. The spirit of God in those convictions which unregenerate men sometimes have assists conscience to do this work in a further degree than it would do if they were left to themselves. He helps it against those things that tend to stupify it and obstruct its exercise. But in the renewing and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost those things are wrought in the soul that are above nature and of which there is nothing of the like kind in the soul by nature, and they have caused to exist in the soul habitually and according to such a stated constitution or law that lays such a foundation for exercises in a continued course as is called a principle of nature. Not only are remaining principles assisted to do their work more freely and fully, but those principles are restored that were utterly destroyed by the fall, and the mind henceforward habitually exerts those acts that the dominion of sin had made it as holy destitute of as a dead body is a vital acts. The spirit of God acts in a very different manner in the one case from what he doth in the other. He may indeed act upon the mind of a natural man, but he acts in the mind of a saint as an indwelling vital principle. He acts upon the mind of an unregenerate person as an extrinsic occasional agent. For in acting upon them he doth not unite himself to them. For notwithstanding all his influences that they may be the subjects of, they are still sensual having not the spirit, Jude 19. But he unites himself with the mind of a saint, takes him for his temple, actuates and influences him as a new supernatural principle of life and action. There is the difference that the spirit of God in acting in the soul of a godly man exerts and communicates himself there in his own proper nature. Holiness is the proper nature of the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit operates in the minds of the godly by uniting himself to them and living in them and exerting his own nature in the exercise of their faculties. The spirit of God may act upon a creature and yet not in acting communicate himself. The spirit of God may act upon inanimate creatures as the spirit moved upon the face of the waters in the beginning of the creation. So the spirit of God may act upon the minds of men many ways and communicate himself no more than when he acts upon an inanimate creature. For instance, he may excite thoughts in them, may assist their natural reason and understanding, or may assist other natural principles and this without any union with the soul, but may act as it were as upon an external object. But as he acts in his holy influences and spiritual operations, he acts in a way of peculiar communication of himself, so that the subject is thence denominated spiritual. 2. This spiritual and divine light does not consist in any impression made upon the imagination. It is no impression upon the mind as though one saw anything with the bodily eyes. It is no imagination or idea of an outward light or glory, or any beauty of form or countenance, or a visible luster of brightness of any object. The imagination may be strongly impressed with such things, but this is not spiritual light. Indeed, when the mind has a lively discovery of spiritual things and is greatly affected by the power of divine light, it may, and probably very commonly doth, much affect the imagination, so that impressions of an outward beauty or brightness may accompany those spiritual discoveries. But spiritual light is not that impression upon the imagination, but an exceeding different thing from it. Natural men may have lively impressions on their imaginations, and we cannot determine but the devil, who transforms himself into an angel of light, may cause imaginations of an outward beauty or visible glory, and of sounds and speeches, and other such things. But these are things of a vastly inferior nature to spiritual light. 3. This spiritual light is not the suggesting of any new truths or propositions not contained in the Word of God. This suggesting of new truths or doctrines to the mind independent of any antecedent revelation of those propositions, either in word or writing, is inspiration, such as the prophets and apostles had, and such as some enthusiasts pretend to. But this spiritual light that I am speaking of is quite a different thing from inspiration. It reveals no new doctrine, it suggests no new proposition to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God or Christ or another world not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due apprehension of those things that are taught in the Word of God. 4. It is not every affecting view that men have of the things of religion that is the spiritual and divine light. Men by mere principles of nature are capable of being affected with things that have a special relation to religion as well as other things. A person by mere nature, for instance, may be liable to be affected with the story of Jesus Christ and the sufferings he underwent, as well as by any other tragical story. He may be the more affected with it from the interest he conceives mankind to have in it. Yay, he may be affected with it without believing it, as well as a man may be affected with what he reads in a romance or sees acted in a stage play. He may be affected with a lively and eloquent description of many pleasant things that attend the state of the blessed in heaven, as well as his imagination be entertained by a romantic description of the pleasantness of fairyland or the like. And that common belief of the truth of the things of religion that persons may have from education or otherwise may help forward their affection. We read in scripture of many that were greatly affected with things of a religious nature who yet were there presented as holy graceless and many of them very ill men. A person therefore may have affecting views of the things of religion and yet be very destitute of spiritual light. Flesh and blood may be the author of this, one man may give another in affecting view of divine things with but common assistance, but God alone can give a spiritual discovery of them. But I proceed to show, secondly, positively, what the spiritual and divine light is. And it may be thus described, a true sense of the divine Excellency of the things revealed in the Word of God and a conviction of the truth and reality of them then surrising. This spiritual light primarily consists in the former of these, viz, a real sense and apprehension of the divine Excellency of things revealed in the Word of God. A spiritual and saving conviction of the truth and reality of these things arises from such a sight of their divine Excellency and glory, so that this conviction of their truth is an effect and natural consequence of this sight of their divine glory. There is therefore in this spiritual light, one, a true sense of the divine and superlative Excellency of the things of religion, a real sense of the Excellency of God and Jesus Christ and of the work of redemption and the ways and works of God revealed in the Gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things, an Excellency that is of a vastly higher kind and more sublime nature than in other things, a glory greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal. He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is holy and that holiness is a good thing, but there is a sense of the loveliness of God's holiness. There is not only a speculatively judging that God is gracious, but a sense of how amiable God is upon that account or a sense of the beauty of this divine attribute. There is a twofold understanding or knowledge of good that God has made the mind of man capable of. The first, that which is merely speculative and notional, as when a person only speculatively judges that anything is, which by the agreement of mankind is called good or excellent, that which is most to general advantage and between which and a reward there is a suitableness and the like. And the other is that which consists in the sense of the heart, as when there is a sense of the beauty, amiableness, or sweetness of a thing, so that the heart is sensible of pleasure and delight in the presence of the idea of it. In the former is exercised merely the speculative faculty or the understanding strictly so-called or is spoken of in distinction from the will or disposition of the soul. In the latter the will or inclination or heart are mainly concerned. Thus there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former that knows not how honey tastes, but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging anything to be excellent and having a sense of its sweetness and beauty. The former rests only in the head, speculation only is concerned in it, but the heart is concerned in the latter. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person's being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing that the idea of it is sweet and pleasant to his soul, which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent. 2. There arises from this sense of divine excellency of things contained in the Word of God a conviction of the truth and reality of them, and that either directly or indirectly. First, indirectly, and that two ways. One, as the prejudices that are in the heart against the truth of divine things are hereby removed, so that the mind becomes susceptible of the due force of rational arguments for their truth. The mind of man is naturally full of prejudices against the truth of divine things. It is full of enmity against the doctrines of the Gospel, which is a disadvantage to those arguments that prove their truth and causes them to lose their force upon the mind. But when a person has discovered to him the divine excellency of Christian doctrines, this destroys the enmity, removes those prejudices, and sanctifies the reason and causes it to lie open to the force of arguments for their truth. Hence, was the different effect that Christ's miracles had to convince the disciples from what they had to convince the scribes and Pharisees. Not that they had a stronger reason or had their reason more improved, but their reason was sanctified and those blinding prejudices that the scribes and Pharisees were under were removed by the sense that they had of the excellency of Christ and his doctrine. Two, it not only removes the hindrances of reason, but positively helps reason. It makes even the speculative notions the more lively. It engages the attention of the mind with the fixedness and intenseness to that kind of objects which causes it to have a clearer view of them and enables it more clearly to see their mutual relations and occasions it to take more notice of them. The ideas themselves that otherwise were dim and obscure are by this means impressed with the greater strength and have a light cast upon them so that the mind can better judge of them as he that beholds the objects on the face of the earth when the light of the sun is cast upon them so that the mind can better judge of them as he that holds the objects on the face of the earth when the light of the sun is cast upon them is under greater advantage to discern them in their true forms and mutual relations than he that sees them in a dim starlight or twilight. The mind having a sensibleness of the Excellency of divine objects dwells upon them with delight, and the powers of the soul are more awakened and enlivened to employ themselves in the contemplation of them and exert themselves more fully and much more to the purpose. The beauty and sweetness of the objects draws on the faculties and draws forth their exercises, so that reason itself is under far greater advantages for its proper and free exercises and to obtain its proper and free of darkness and delusion. But secondly, a true sense of the Divine Excellency of the things of God's word doth more directly and immediately convince of the truth of them, and that because the Excellency of these things is so superlative. There is a beauty in them that is so divine and Godlike that is greatly and evidently distinguishing of them from things merely human or that men are the inventors and authors of, a glory that is so high and great that when clearly seen commands assent to their divinity and reality. When there is an actual and lively discovery of this beauty and Excellency, it will not allow of any such thought as that it is a human work or the fruit of men's invention. This evidence that they that are spiritually enlightened have of the truth of the things of religion is a kind of intuitive and immediate evidence. They believe the doctrines of God's word to be divine because they see divinity in them, i.e. they see a divine and transcendent and most evidently distinguishing glory in them. Such a glory as, if clearly seen, does not leave room to doubt of their being of God and not of men. Such a conviction of the truth of religion as this arising these ways from a sense of the Divine Excellency of them is that true spiritual conviction that there is in saving faith. And this original of it is that by which it is most essentially distinguished from that common assent which unregenerate men are capable of. End of Section 3. Section 4 of Select Sermons of Jonathan Edwards. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Select Sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Section 4. A Divine and Supernatural Light immediately imparted to the soul by the Spirit of God, shown to be both scriptural and rational doctrine, a sermon by Jonathan Edwards. Part 2. 2. I proceed now to the second thing proposed, viz., to show how this light is immediately given by God and not obtained by natural means. And here, 1. It is not intended that the natural faculties are not made use of in it. The natural faculties are the subject of this light, and they are the subject in such a manner that they are not merely passive but active in it. The acts and exercises of man's understanding are concerned and made use of in it. God in letting in this light into the soul deals with man according to his nature or as a rational creature, and makes use of his human faculties. But yet this light is not the less immediately from God for that. Though the faculties are made use of, it is as the subject and not as the cause. And that acting of the faculties in it is not the cause but is either implied in the thing itself, in the light that is imparted, or is the consequence of it. As the use that we make of our eyes in beholding various objects, when the sun arises, is not the cause of the light that discovers those objects to us. 2. It is not intended that outward means have no concern in this affair. As I have observed already, it is not in this affair, as it is an inspiration, where new truths are suggested. For here is by this light only given a due apprehension of the same truths that are revealed in the Word of God, and therefore it is not given without the Word. The Gospel is made use of in this affair. This light is the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, 2 Corinthians 4-4. The Gospel is as a glass by which this light is conveyed to us, 1 Corinthians 13-12. Now we see through a glass. But 3. When it is said that this light is given immediately by God and not obtained by natural means, hereby is intended that it is given by God without making use of any means that operate by their own power, or a natural force God makes use of means. But it is not as immediate causes to produce this effect. There are not truly any second causes of it, but it is produced by God immediately. The Word of God is no proper cause of this effect. It does not operate by any natural force in it. The Word of God is only made use of to convey to the mind the subject matter of the saving instruction, and this indeed it doth convey to us by natural force or influence. It conveys to our minds these and those doctrines, it is the cause of the notion of them in our heads but not of the sense of the Divine Excellency of them in our hearts. Indeed a person cannot have spiritual light without the Word, but that does not argue that the Word properly causes that light. The mind cannot see the Excellency of any doctrine unless that doctrine be first in the mind, but the seeing of the Excellency of the doctrine may be immediately from the Spirit of God, though the conveying of the doctrine or proposition itself may be by the Word, so that the notions that are the subject matter of this light are conveyed to the mind by the Word of God, but that due sense of the heart wherein this light formally consists is immediately by the Spirit of God. As for instance, that notion that there is a Christ and that Christ is holy and gracious is conveyed to the mind by the Word of God, but the sense of the Excellency of Christ by reason of that holiness and grace is nevertheless immediately the work of the Holy Spirit. I come now, three, to show the truth of this doctrine, that is, to show that there is such a thing as that spiritual light that has been described, thus immediately let into the mind by God. And here I would show briefly that this doctrine is both scriptural and rational. First, it is scriptural. My text is not only full to the purpose, but it is a doctrine that the scripture abounds in. We are there abundantly taught that the saints differ from the ungodly in this that they have the knowledge of God and a sight of God and of Jesus Christ. I shall mention but few texts of many. First John 3.6, whosoever sineth has not seen him nor known him. Third John 11, he that doth good is of God, but he that doth evil hath not seen God. John 14.19, the world seeth me no more, but ye see me. John 17.3, and this is eternal life that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This knowledge or sight of God and Christ cannot be a mere speculative knowledge, because it is spoken of as a seeing and knowing wherein they differ from the ungodly. And by these scriptures it must not only be a different knowledge and degree in circumstances and different in its effects, but it must be entirely different in nature and kind. And this light and knowledge is always spoken of as immediately given of God, Matthew 11, 25 to 27. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomever the Son will reveal him. Here this effect is ascribed alone to the arbitrary operation and gift of God, bestowing this knowledge on whom he will, and distinguishing those with it that have the least natural advantage or means of knowledge, even babes, when it is denied to the wise and prudent. And the imparting of the knowledge of God is here appropriated to the Son of God as his sole prerogative. And again, 2 Corinthians 4, 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. This plainly shows that there is such a thing as a discovery of the divine superlative glory and excellency of God in Christ, and that peculiar to the saints, and also that it is as immediately from God as light from the Son, and that it is the immediate effect of his power and will, for it is compared to God's creating the light by his powerful word in the beginning of the creation, and is said to be by the spirit of the Lord in the eighteenth verse of the preceding chapter. That is spoken of as giving the knowledge of Christ in conversion as of what before was hidden and unseen in that. Galatians 1, 15 and 16, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. The scripture also speaks plainly of such a knowledge of the word of God as has been described as the immediate gift of God, Psalm 119, 18, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. What could the psalmist mean when he begged of God to open his eyes? Was he ever blind? Might he not have resort to the law and see every word and sentence in it when he pleased? And what could he mean by those wondrous things? Was it the wonderful stories of the creation in Deluge and Israel's passing through the Red Sea and the like? Were not his eyes open to read these strange things when he would? Outless by wondrous things in God's law he had respect to those distinguishing and wonderful excellencies and marvelous manifestations of the divine perfections and glory that there was in the commands and doctrines of the word and those works and councils of God that were there revealed. So the scripture speaks of a knowledge of God's dispensation and covenant of mercy and way of grace towards his people as peculiar to the saints and given only by God. Psalm 2514, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant. And that a true and saving belief of the truth of religion is that which arises from such a discovery is also what the scripture teaches. As John 640, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, where it is plain that a true faith is what arises from the spiritual sight of Christ. And John 17, 6, 7, and 8, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me, where Christ's manifesting God's name to the disciples, for giving them the knowledge of God, was what whereby they knew that Christ's doctrine was of God, and that Christ himself was of him, preceded from him, and was sent by him. Again, John 12, 44, 45, 46, Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me, and he that seeeth me seeeth him that sent me, I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Their believing in Christ and spiritually seeing him are spoken of as running parallel. Christ condemns the Jews that they did not know that he was the Messiah, and that his doctrine was true from an inward distinguishing taste and relish of what was divine in Luke 12, 56, 57. He having there blamed the Jews that though they could discern the face of the sky and of the earth and signs of the weather, yet yet they could not discern those times. Or as it was expressed in Matthew, the signs of those times. He adds, yea, and why even of your own selves judge ye not what is right, i.e. without extrinsic signs. Why have ye not that sense of true excellency whereby ye may distinguish that which is holy and divine? Why have ye not that savor of the things of God by which you may see the distinguishing glory and evident divinity of me and my doctrine? The Apostle Peter mentions it as what gave them, the Apostles, good and well-grounded assurance of the truth of the Gospel that they had seen the divine glory of Christ. Second Peter 1.16, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. The Apostle has respect to that visible glory of Christ which they saw in his transfiguration, that glory was so divine having such an ineffable appearance and semblance of divine holiness, majesty and grace, that it evidently denoted him to be a divine person. But if a sight of Christ's outward glory might give a rational assurance of his divinity, why may not an apprehension of his spiritual glory do so too? Doubtless, Christ's spiritual glory is in itself as distinguishing and is plainly showing his divinity as his outward glory and a great deal more, for his spiritual glory is what wherein his divinity consists, and the outward glory of his transfiguration showed him to be divine only as it was a remarkable image or representation of that spiritual glory. Doubtless, therefore, he that has had a clear sight of the spiritual glory of Christ may say, I have not followed cunningly devised fables but have been an eye-witness of his majesty upon his good grounds as the Apostle when he had respect to the outward glory of Christ that he had seen. But this brings me to what was proposed next, this, to show that, secondly, this doctrine is rational. 1. It is rational to suppose that there is really such an excellency in divine things that is so transcendent and exceedingly different from what is in other things that, if it were seen, would most evidently distinguish them. We cannot rationally doubt but that things that are divine that appertain to the supreme being are vastly different from things that are human, that there is that God-like, high and glorious excellency in them that does most remarkably difference them from the things that are of men, in so much that if the difference were but seen it would have a convincing, satisfying influence upon anyone that they are what they are, this divine. What reason can be offered against it unless we would argue that God is not remarkably distinguished in glory from men? If Christ should now appear to anyone as he did on the mount at his transfiguration, or if he should appear to the world in the glory that he now appears in as he will do at the day of judgment, without doubt the glory and majesty that he would appear in would be such as would satisfy everyone that he was a divine person and that religion was true, and it would be a most reasonable and well-grounded conviction, too. And why may there not be that stamp of divinity or divine glory on the word of God on the scheme and doctrine of the gospel that may be in like manner distinguishing and is rationally convincing provided it be but seen? It is rational to suppose that when God speaks to the world there should be something in his word or speech vastly different from man's word. Supposing that God never had spoken to the world, but we had noticed that he was about to do it, that he was about to reveal himself from heaven and speak to us immediately himself in divine speeches or discourses as it were from his own mouth or that he should give us a book of his own inditing. After what manner should we expect that he would speak? Would it not be rational to suppose that his speech would be exceeding different from man's speech, that he should speak like a God, that is, that there should be such an excellency and sublimity in his speech or word, such a stamp of wisdom, holiness, majesty, and other divine perfections, that the word of man, yea of the wisest of men, should appear mean and base in comparison of it? Notice it would be thought rational to expect this and unreasonable to think otherwise. When a wise man speaks in the exercise of his wisdom there is something in everything he says that is very distinguishable from the talk of a little child. So without doubt and much more is the speech of God, if there be any such thing as the speech of God, to be distinguished from that of the wisest of men. Agreeably to Jeremiah 23, 28, 29, God having there been reproving the false prophets, the prophesied in his name and pretended that what they spake was his word, when indeed it was their own word, says, the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 2. If there be such a distinguishing excellency in divine things, it is rational to suppose that there be such a thing as seeing it. What should hinder but that it may be seen? It is no argument that there is no such thing as such a distinguishing excellency, or that if there be that it cannot be seen, that some do not see it, though they may be discerning men in temporal matters. It is not rational to suppose, if there be any such excellency in divine things, that wicked men should see it. It is not rational to suppose that those whose minds are full of spiritual pollution and under the power of filthy lusts should have any relish or sense of divine beauty or excellency, or that their minds should be susceptible of that light that is in its own nature so pure and heavenly. It need not seem at all strange that sin should so blind the mind, seeing that men's particular natural tempers and dispositions will so much blind them in secular matters, as when men's natural temper is melancholy, jealous, fearful, proud, or the like. 3. It is rational to suppose that this knowledge should be given immediately by God and not be obtained by natural means. Upon what account should it seem unreasonable that there should be any immediate communication between God and the creature? It is strange that men should make any matter of difficulty of it. Why should not he that made all things still have something immediately to do with the things that he has made? There lies the great difficulty if we own the being of a God and that he created all things out of nothing of allowing some immediate influence of God on the creation still. If it be reasonable to suppose it with respect to any part of the creation, it is especially so with respect to reasonable intelligent creatures who are next to God in the gradation of the different orders of beings and whose business is most immediately with God, who are made on purpose for those exercises that do respect God and wherein they have nextly to do with God, for reason teaches that man was made to serve and glorify his Creator. If it be rational to suppose that God immediately communicates himself to man in any affair, it is in this. It is rational to suppose that God would reserve that knowledge and wisdom that is of such a divine and excellent nature to be bestowed immediately by himself and that it should not be left in the power of second causes. Spiritual wisdom and grace is that highest and most excellent gift that ever God bestows on any creature. In this the highest excellency and perfection of a rational creature consists. It is also immensely the most important of all divine gifts. It is that wherein man's happiness consists and on which his everlasting welfare depends. How rational is it to suppose that God, however he has left meaner goods and lower gifts to second causes and in some sort in their power, yet should reserve this most excellent divine and important of all divine communications in his own hands to be bestowed immediately by himself as a thing too great for second causes to be concerned in? It is rational to suppose that this blessing should be immediately from God, for there is no gift or benefit that is in itself so nearly related to the divine nature, there is nothing the creature receives that is so much of God of his nature, so much a participation of the deity. It is a kind of emanation of God's beauty and is related to God as the light is to the sun. It is therefore congruous and fit that when it is given of God it should be nextly from himself and by himself according to his own sovereign will. It is rational to suppose that it should be beyond a man's power to obtain this knowledge and light by the mere strength of natural reason, for it is not a thing that belongs to reason to see the beauty and loveliness of spiritual things. It is not a speculative thing, but depends on the sense of the heart. Reason indeed is necessary in order to it, and it is by reason only that we become the subjects of the means of it, which means I have already shown to be necessary in order to it, though they have no power causal in the affair. It is by reason that we become possessed of a notion of those doctrines that are the subject matter of this divine light, and reason may many ways be indirectly and remotely in advantage to it, and reason has also to do in the acts that are immediately consequent on this discovery, a seeing the truth of religion from hence is by reason, though it be but by one step and the inference be immediate. So reason has to do in that accepting of and trusting in Christ that is consequent on it. But if we take reason strictly, not for the faculty of mental perception in general, but for radiosynation or a power of inferring by arguments, the perceiving a spiritual beauty and excellency no more belongs to reason than it belongs to the sense of feeling to perceive colors or to the power of seeing to perceive the sweetness of food. It is out of reason's province to perceive the beauty or loveliness of anything. Such a perception does not belong to that faculty. Reason's work is to perceive truth and not excellency. It is not radiosynation that gives men the perception of the beauty and amiableness of accountants, though it may be many ways indirectly in advantage to it. Yet it is no more reason that immediately perceives it than it is reason that perceives the sweetness of honey. It depends on the sense of the heart. Reason may determine that accountants is beautiful to others, and may determine that honey is sweet to others, but it will never give me a perception of its sweetness. I will conclude with a very brief improvement of what has been said. First, this doctrine may lead us to reflect on the goodness of God that has so ordered it that a saving evidence of the truth of the gospel is such as is attainable by persons of mean capacities and advantages as well as those that are of the greatest parts in learning. If the evidence of the gospel depended only on history and such reasonings as learned men only are capable of, it would be above the reach of far the greatest part of mankind. But persons with but an ordinary degree of knowledge are capable, without a long and subtile train of reasoning, to see the divine excellency of the things of religion. They are capable of being taught by the Spirit of God as well as learned men. The evidence that is this way obtained is vastly better and more satisfying than all that can be obtained by the arguing of those that are most learned and greatest masters of reason. And babes are as capable of knowing these things as the wise and prudent, and they are often hid from these things as the wise and prudent, and they are often hid from these when they are revealed to those. First Corinthians 1, 26, and 27, for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world. Secondly, this doctrine may well put us upon examining ourselves whether we have ever had this divine light that has been described, let into our souls. If there be such a thing indeed, and it be not only a notion or whimsy of persons with weak and distempered brains, then doubtless it is a thing of great importance whether we have thus been taught by the Spirit of God. Whether the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, hath shined unto us, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, whether we have seen the Son and believed on him, or have that faith of gospel doctrines which arises from a spiritual sight of Christ. Thirdly, all may hence be exhorted earnestly to seek this spiritual light. To influence and move to it, the following things may be considered. 1. This is the most excellent and divine wisdom that any creature is capable of. It is more excellent than any human learning. It is far more excellent than all the knowledge of the greatest philosophers or statesmen. Ye, the least glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ, doth more exalt and ennoble the soul than all the knowledge of those that have the greatest speculative understanding in divinity without grace. This knowledge has the most noble object that is or can be, vis, the divine glory or excellency of God in Christ. The knowledge of these objects is that wherein consists the most excellent knowledge of the angels, ye of God himself. 2. This knowledge is that which is above all others, sweet and joyful. Men have a great deal of pleasure in human knowledge in studies of natural things, but this is nothing to that joy which arises from this divine light shining into the soul. This light gives a view of these things that are immensely the most exquisitely beautiful and capable of delighting the eye of the understanding. This spiritual light is the dawning of the light of glory in the heart. There is nothing so powerful as this to support persons in affliction and to give the mind peace and brightness in the stormy and dark world. 3. This light is such as effectually influences the inclination and changes the nature of the soul. It assimilates the nature to the divine nature and changes the soul into an image of the same glory that is beheld. 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. This knowledge will wean from the world and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good and to choose him for the only portion. This light and this only will bring the soul to a saving close with Christ. It conforms the heart to the gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition against the scheme of salvation therein revealed. It causes the heart to embrace the joyful tidings and entirely to adhere to and acquiesce in the revelation of Christ as our Saviour. It causes the whole soul to accord and symphonize with it, admitting it with entire credit and respect cleaving to it with full inclination and affection. And it effectually disposes the soul to give up itself entirely to Christ. 4. This light and this only has its fruit in a universal holiness of life. No merely notional or speculative understanding of the doctrines of religion will ever bring to this. But this light, as it reaches the bottom of the heart and changes the nature, so it will effectually dispose to a universal obedience. It shows God's worthiness to be obeyed and served. It draws forth the heart in a sincere love to God, which is the only principle of a true, gracious and universal obedience. And it convinces of the reality of those glorious rewards that God has promised to them that obey him. End of section 4