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EDWAIJIV n.\ REVIVALS
CONTAINING
A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE
SUUriUSiNG W(tIUv (»F GOD IN THE COxNVKRSlON OF
MANY IIlNimKD SOULS IN NtHlTlIAMlTON,
MASSACHUSETTS, A. P. I73.'i.
T 11 O L (i 11 T S
Ki:\l\ AL <»K KKLI'ilMN |.\ .\K\V KXCLAM >. 1712,
AMI I III U \V IN UIIK 11 IT OLCJIIT 'lO I'.i: A« KN('\S'-
ij:dged and puomotki).
\\\ j()\ \'iii \\ i:i)\\ \\i\)>, A. :m.,
Pi-JTOK fir TiiK ciit'Rrii or (.iiititT iH ^onTlI»J^rTox ; ArrKRWARDR prksidext •»
MVSDAU HALL COLLKOIC, rKINC-|CTO)l, N. J.
WITH
jN'i Knurrroiiv i:i mai.ks, an'd a full (;l\kf:al indi:x,
i«;irc \i:ki) pv hi:; rr.E est editcir.
NEW YOHK •
nrNi\ii\(; .sl sPALDJNci
" Entered, according to act of congress, in the year 183-2, by Charka Spalding, in the
clerk's otlicc of the southern district of New York "
SLEIGHT AND ROBINSON, TBINTERS,
CONTENTS.
Page
Recommendations op the work, v
tntroductory remarks by the present editor, , . . . ix
Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work, &c, - - - xvii
Preface by Dr. Watts and Dr. Guysc, xix
Preface by the Boston Ministers, xxvi
Testimony of Ministers in Hampshire county, . . . . xxx
Chap. I. Introductory statement, 31
Chap. II. The manner of conversion various, yet bearing a great
resemblance, - 48
.Chap. III., Of remarkable impressions on the imagination, - - 93
Chap. IV. The work farther illustrated in particular instances, - 87
Chap. V. Defects and decline of the work, .... 104
THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL, &c. - - - - 113
Preface, .... 315
Part I. Showing that the extraordiiutry work that has of late been
going on in this land, is a glorious work of God, - - 117
Sect. 1. We sliould not judge of this work d priori, but by its
effects, - 117
Sect. 2. We should judg« by the rule of scripture, ... 121
Sect. 3. Wo should not judge of the whole by a part, - - - 140
Sect. 4. The nature of tlie work in general, - - - - 154
Sect. 5. The nature of the work in a particular instance, - - 162
Sect. 6. This is a glorious work of God, i74
Part II. Showing the obligations that all are under to acknowledge,
rejoice in, and promote this work, and the great danger of
the contrary, - - 183
Sect. 1. Thedanger of lying still and keeping long silence respecting
any remarkable work of God, 183
Sect. 2. The latter day glory is probably to begin in America, - 189
Sect. 3. The danger of not acknowledging, and encouraging, and
especially of deriding, tliis work, 196
-Sect. 4. Obligations of rulers, ministers, and all sorts, to promote tliis
work, 211
iv toNTENTS.
Part III. Showiri .e, in many instances, wherein the snbjecti?, or zealous
promoters of this work, have ))een injuriously blamed, - 229
Sect. 1, The objection that ministers address themselves to the affec-
tion?;, rather than the understanding, - - - - 231
Sect. 2. Ministers blamed for speaking terror to those who arc already
under great terrors, 236
Sect. 3. The o])jcction of having so frequent meetings, and spending
so much time in religion, 243
Sect. 4. Ministers blamed for making much of outcries, faintings,
and bodily effect!?, - ' 243
Sect. 5. Ministers blamed for keeping persons together that are under
great affections, 250
Sect. 6. Objection against speaking much, and with great earnest-
ness, by persons affected, 252
Sect, 1. Some find fault with so much singing in religiotis meetings, 257
Sect. S. Many dislike the religious meetings of children, to read and
pray together, 259
Part IV. Showing what things are to be corrected or avoided in pro-
moting this Work, or in our behavior under it, - - . 263
Sect. 1, One cause of errors in a great revival, is spiritual pride, - 270
Sect. 2, Errors in a revival arising from The adoption of wrong princi-
ples, - 292
Sect. 3. Errors from being unobservant of things by which the devil
has a special advantage, 324
Sect. 4. Some particular errors that have arisen from these causes, 343
Sett. 5. Of errors connected with lay exhorting, - - - . 354
Sect. 6. Of errors connected with singing praises to God, - - 361
Part V. Showing positively what ought to be done to promote this
work, 371
Sect. 1. Of removing hindrances to this M'ork, - . . . 37 j
Sect. 2. Of what must be done directly to promote the work, - 378
Sect. 3. Duties of ministers, and particular classes of persons, - 383
Sect. 4. Of duties that concern all in general, _ . . _ 394
Sect. 5, The work to be promoted by attention to moral duties, - 402
RECOMMENDATIONS.
T^'hc following recommendations have been politely furnished by gentlemen,
whose opinions, we doubt not, arc in unison with the body of evangelical
"clergy in the United States.
From the President and Professors at Princeton, JV". /.
"We know of no works on the subject of Revivals of Religion^ at once so
scriptural, discriminating, and instructive, as those of the late illustrious
President Edwards. At the present day, when tliis subject so justly en-
gages a large share of the attention of the religious pubUc, we should be
glad if a copy of the volume proposed to be republished by Dunning and
^palding^ could be placed in every dwelling in the United States. It exhibits
the nature of genuine revivals of rehgion, the best means of promoting
them, the abuses and dangers to which tliey arc hable, and tlie duty of
guarding against these abuses and dangers, with a degree of spiritual dis-
cernment and practical wisdom, which have commanded the approbation of
Ihe friends of Zion for the greater part of a century.
SAMUEL MILLER,
A. ALEXANDER,
C. HODGE,
JAMES CARNAHAN.
Princeton^ September 21, 1831.
From the President and Professors at JsTew Brunswick, Jsl'. J.
Much conversation is had at the present day on the subject of revivals of
Teligion in our country.
That there is a difference of opinion among professing Christians, as to
their reality, their nature, and the modes of action to be adopted in promoting
and conducting them, is also very apparent.
If by a revival of religion we understand that operation of the Spirit of
God, which, tlu*ough the instrumentality of his word, produces conviction,
agitation, and conversion, in liitherto careless and impenitent sinners — or
excitement, connected with increase of faith, love, zeal, and holy action, in
the people of God, whether it be exhibited on a smaller or larger scale — in
the case of individuals, families, churches, districts of covmtry, or whole na*
tions — it is strange that the possibility or reality of such a work should be
called in question by those who are famihar with their Bibles, are acquainted
with church history, or have any correct knowledge whatever either of the
ordinary or extraordinary operations of the Holy Spirit upon the souls of
men. In such revivals it is true that there is in some instances only a tempo-
rary excitement of the passions, without a renewal of the heart, and in others
a human co-operation wliich will neither bear the test of enlightened reason
or of the word of God. These circumstances, however, are precisely what
(from human weakness, and the artifice of Satan to bring the whole work
into disrepute) we have a right to expect. Any judicious publication on re-
vivals, and especially that written many years ;igo by the pious and discrimi-
Vi RECOMMENDATIONS.
nating Edwards, cannot fail, and (.specially at the present tunc, to be read
with more than ordinary interest. Considering President Edwards as hand-
ling this subject with great propriety and discretion, I do hereby express my
desire to see his work more extensively circulated through the churches.
PHILIP MILLEDOLER.
College, J^ew Brunswick, Sept. nth, 1831.
The Works of President Edwards have acquired no ordinary reputation.
His "Narrative of Surprising Conversions and Thoughts on Revivals of
Religion," written after much research and close observation of the various
effects produced on the minds of gospel-hearers, in a time of general awa-
kening, cannot fail to profit those who read it in a serious temper. I am
pleased to hear that tliis Narrative is soon to be published in a form that will
render it accessible by all, and hope that it may have an extensive circulation.
JAMES S. CANNON.
Thedogicctl Seminary, J^ew Brunsivick.
My own views of the " Narrative," &c., of President Edwards, are ex-
pressed in the above favorable notice of Dr. Cannon.
JOSEPH H. JONES.
I cannot but hope that the work, will receive an extensive and liberal patro-
nage. It is the best body of practical theology within the compass of my
knowledge. It is searcliing, instructive, edifying, scriptural. Let it be
carefully read by every professor of religion, and studied and digested by
every student of theology, and every young minister of the gospel. Let me
just mention another desideratum : the republication of the same unrivaled
author's work on Original Sin. The diffusion of these treatises in separate
forms, would, with the divine blessing, greatly conduce to the increase of
sound godliness, and check the progress of pernicious errors.
JOHN DE WITT.
JSTew Brunswick, Sept. 1831.
From Ministers in J^eio Ym-k.
To those who are acquainted with the writings of President Edwards, the
highest recommendation of the present work is, that it is the best of them
all. It is more than ten years since I first read it, and I well recollect my
surprise that I had not read it before. I then thought it one of the richest
volumes I ever perused. One impression I distinctly remember ; and that is,
that great injustice might be done the venerable and devout author, by viewing
the work in detached parts. As a whole, it cannot be too highly valued, nor
too extensively read, especially at the present time.
GARDINER SPRING.
J^'ew York, September 6, 1831.
The injportance of reviv(Us of religion is literally infinite : because conver-
sions are infinitely important ; and the spread and jurisdiction of the gospel
of God over the minds of men everywhere is properly the grand desideratum
and the destined prospect of the world. The discrimination of theological
parties (if these must be and have a name) in the Christian world, will soon
l)C made extensively bv this criterion of I'rincipi.ks and persons — their
KNOWN RF.LATioN TO REVIVALS ( )F RELIGION ! At the present time,
all denominations considered, there are many whosi; ignorance of the whole
matter is their oidy pnuninent eharactgristic in regard tu it ; many, as nuich
RECOMMENDATIONS. vil
distinguished by enmity and an affected intellectual superiority to their theory
and their fruits ; many, by a latent ill-concealed antipathy, that allocts to
dislike only their excrescences and occasionally spurious accompaniments ;
and many, I bless God for it, who more and more love them, because they
love Him, see in his li<^ht their incomparable worth, and desire them, prayer-
fully, practically, zealously, and yet soberly, in their destined universal
prevalence.
The age ought not perhaps to be yet dignified as the age of revivals ; be-
cause the dawn ought not to anticipate, or perfectly to characterize, the per-
fect day. But it is such an age exactly as will more and more demand, and
now also does, revival principles, revival ministers, revival Christians, and
revival scenes and glories multiplied : of course, I think revival puhlicalions,
areas appositely needed j of the right kind, and calculated to enlighten, and
guide, and assist the o{>erations of the church of God, in aiming directly at
the conquest of the world to Jesus Christ and his glorious sceptre.
With these views, I think the publication of Edwards on Revivals is very
timely, judicious, and of excellent promise : I therefore cordially desire and
recommend the extensive circidation and full perusal of that valuable and
singular treatise. SAMUEL H. COX.
JVeio York, August 3, 1831.
I am very glad that we are to have a new edition of " Edwards on Revi-
vals," &c. Nothing could be more seasonable at the present day. I have
read the work again and again, and always with new advantage.
J. M. MATHEWS.
J^eio York, September 24, 1831.
We would cordially recommend to the Christian public the works of
President Edwards on Revivals. These works were written in A. D.1736
and 1742, and contain a faithful narrative of the glorious revival in New
England by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in those blessed days, when
clear, pure, and scriptural views of the doctrines of the gospel, and true
practical godliness, sincerely characterized the children of the puritans. We
could sincerely wish that this work, now about to be pubhshed by Dunning
and Spalding, were in the hands of all our Christian brethren.
W. C. BROWNLEE,
CHARLES G. SOMMERS.
JVeio York, August 5, 1831.
At the present time, there is no subject of such deep and increasing interest
to the American churches, as the subject of revivals of religion. It is a sub-
ject too on which no uninspired man was ever better qualified to speak or
write than President Edwards — not only on account of his eminently discri-
minating and sanctified mind, but also on account of his opportunities of ob-
servation resulting from the extensive work of God which occurred under his
own eye. I know of notliing so well calculated to exliibit the blessedness of
such " times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," and at the same
time to guard against the self-deception and other evils which are then likely
to occur, as his " Narrative," and '• Thoughts on the Revival of Religion
in New England, in 1742^" On this account, I rejoice in another attempt to
give this work a more extended circulation. W. D. SNODGRASS.
JSTew York, September 22, 1831.
The " Narrative of Surprisinir Conversions," and "Thoughts on the Re-
vival of Religion in New Enylimd," from the pen of President Edivards, and
originally published, one m 173U, the other in 1742, are works which well de-
Viu RECOMMENDATIONS,
serve to be perused and studied by all who feel a concern for the prosperity
of the churcb, and who would become acquainted with the various ways in
which the Goil of grace is pleased to approach tlio soul with the blessings of
his salvation.
At the present time, when the divine influence is in a remarkable manner
manifesting itself far and wide, it seems to be particularly desirable that the
work should be given to the pubUc in a detached form, so as to be accessible
to all. JOHN KNOX.
JVcio Y(»-Jc,Mgiisl,l33\.
I am pleased to find that it is proposed to republish the work of President
Edwards on Revivals. The character of the author for intellect and piety,
has its praise in all the churches, and needs no commendation. The work
proposed to be republished, as well as the treatise on the affectimis by the same
author, contain a clear, discriminating, and searching delineation of evan-
gelical and vital religion. At its first publication it was highly useful, during
a period of extensive revivals, in promoting the work of God, and in pre-
venting and removing incident evils. It is hoped that at this period its re-
publication will be greatly beneficial. THOMAS DE WITT.
JVm York,.Qngust,6, 1831.
What President Edwards has written on P».evivals, I consider a full and
thorough discussion of the whole subject. If ministers of the gospel would
read it once a year, it seems to me that all controversy among the orthodox
witli respect to the truths which arc to be mainly insisted on, and the means
to be used for giving such truths a free access to men's minds, would come
to an end. If it were circulated among Christians where there is no revival,
it would tend strongly to arouse the church to a sense of the importance of
such a blessing, andflead them to seek successfully to promote the quickenino;
of God's people, and the conversion of sinners. If read in a time of revival,
it might be expected to give increased tone and energy to the revival feelmg,
and at the same time to regulate that feeling when excited. If read by minis-
ter and people in the decline of a revival, it might be expected, under God, to
stop the ebbings of spiritual feeling, and bring back a heavier and richer
tide of mercy." I rejoice in its republication, and recommend it to the careful
perusal of all who love the salvation of sinners.
JOEL PARKER.
Xeio York, September, 1831.
Dear Sir — I consider the proposed publication of Edwards' work on Revi-
vals of Religion, as highly important, and, in the present times, specially ap-
propriate. The work is full of valual)le truth, instructive experifncc, and
discriminating observation, well calculated to guard against pernicious per-
version, that characteristic spirit of these days, which Satan would so gladly
dehidc int«» extravagance and heresy. The ])ublication will richly merit the
patronage of a Christian pubUc. Yours, &c.
CHAS. P. MclLVAINE.
Brovklijii, ScpLe))d>er 23, 1831.
1 cuiicur in the forciromii; recominciidalions.
^ JAMES MILNOR-
^\w York, 1831.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
A REVIVAL OF RELIGION is a subject of great interest and importance. The
phrase has, by common consent, been appropriated to denote a work of the
Spirit of God, turning the attention of considerable numbers in a place to
the things of eternity, and bringing many, in a short time, to a saving
knowledge of Christ. It is merely the success of the gospel, unusually in-
creased. It is the conversion of numbers of sinners in a short space of time.
Whatever interest is attached to the institutions of religion, whatever pleasure
is felt in the success of a preached gospel, or whatever emotions arise, on
earth or in heaven, at seeing one sinner repent and believe in Christ, all these
must be heightened and enhanced abundantly at the multiplication of such
results, which constitutes a revival of religion. The Savior himself sees the
travail of his soul, and is satisfied, when converts arc multiphed, as trophies
of his grace. It is only through mistake or misinfomiation, that any who
love our Lord Jesus Christ are grieved or alarmed at a revival of rehgion.
These seasons are as important as they are interesting. They constitute
not only the glory and the rejoicing of the church, but her safety and life.
In the darkest periods, the church has been saved from utter extinction by
revivals. The first preaching of the gospel was attended with powerful
revivals. The book of Acts is a Iiistory of revivals. The reformation from
popery was almost everywhere accompanied with revivals. There were ex-
tensive revivals in the times of the Puritans in England. The early churches
in New England had numerous revivals. Powerful seasons of the same
kind were experienced in Scotland and Ireland, in the former part of the last
century. At a later period, extensive revivals took place in England, under
the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. The revivals which occurred in Amc^
rica, under the ministrations of PresidcntEdwards and liis cotemporaries, were
distinguished for striking manifestations of divine power and grace, l^umerous
revivals in the United States marked the close of the last and beginning of
the present ccntmy, both in the east and the west. And from that time they
have been regularly growing more frequent, more nmnerous, more powerful
and rapid, all over our country, to the present time. The last year was un-
doubtedly distinguished, above all that have preceded it, since the formation
of the Christian church. Never before has tlie Holy Spirit been poured out
in so many places at once ; never before has the Lord Jesus gathered so
many mto his churches, in the same space, of time, "of such as shall be saved^'>
2
X IxNTRODUCTOKV REMARKS.
There is reason to believe, that these displays of divine grace uill continue
to increase, till one general revival shall extend over the habitable globe.
We are assured of the universal extension and final triumph ot" the gospel in
the whole world. We know, from the " sure word of prophecy," that what
we now sec of the progress and effects of spiritual religion, is only a small
sample of what is yet to be seen. And we thence infer, that all the revivals
which have hitherto taken place, are only the first fruits of the glorious harvest.
It is only by revivals that the work of conversion can overtake the increase of
population in the world. It is only by revivals that the ministers and other
instruments and means for sending out the gospel can be furnished. It is
only in this way that infidelity and the love of the world can be made to yield
to the authority of Clirist. By no other process can the church gain strength
and numbers fast enough, to meet the opposition which will inevitably bo
provoked by the growing influence and power of rehgion.
It is manifest, therefore, that the church is to calculate upon revivals of re-
ligion, as habitual events, and to consider the duties and responsibilities
incident to revivals as her customary burden. Or rather we may say, that the
state of revival, the rapid gathering in of souls to Christ,, by the labors of his
people, and in answer to their efficacious prayers, ought to be regarded as
the natural and appropriate state of the church. And by consequence, the
absence of revivals iujphes something wrong in the church, of declension,
neglect of duty, sinning against the Lord Jesus Cluist, destroying the souls
of men.
It is incumbent then upon the church, to prepare for such a state of revival
as we are thus authorized to anticipate. The subject of revivals must be
more studied, and better understood. And the spirit of revivals must be
more diligently cultivated. What an impulse would at once be given to the
study of the art of war, if it were anticipated that the countiy woidd soon be
involved in such a calamity. Why should not the science of revivals, and
the course of action required in revivals, become a matter of general study hi
the church ? Ministers have doubtless much yet to learn concerning revivals,
the signs of their approach, the means of producing them, the manner of
conducting them, the way to guard against difliculties, and to secure tlie
happiest results. And every Christian ought to understand revivals, because
every one has a part to act in relation to tlrem. There is a growing convic-
tion in tlie church, of the responsibility wliich rests upon every individual pro-
fessor of religion, in tunes of revival. In tunes of revival it becomes manifest
how much the conduct of each one may help or hmder the effect of divine
truth. But without knowledge on the subject, no one can correctly perform
his duty in re\nvals. And unless one understands the principles tliat are ap-
plicable in them, it is impossible he should hb well prepared to act, in tlie
ever-varying emergencies which a revival docs not fail to exhibit. How great
the calamity, to prevent or destroy a revival, from not knowing how to act in
regard to it ! Or to resist and extinguish a real revival, under a mistaken
opinion that it is spurious ! Or to encourage and cherish a spurious excitement,
supposing it to be a gcuubxc work of the Siurit of God ! Or to have tlie
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Xl
fruits which might have followed a revival stinted or marred, by any imbecile
or ill-judged procedures ! •
With these views of revivals, and of their importance as a subject of reli-
gious study, when th.e publishers of the present volume applied to me, last
summer, for advice in selecting a book which would be seasonable and ac-
ceptable in the present revived state of things, I could think of no one so
appropriate as Edwards on Revivals. I was struck also with the coincidence,
when on making ii^quiry of several individuals, whose opinion in such a case
IS of great weight, they spontaneously, and without any suggestion from me,
designated the same work, as one which it was pavticulaily desirable to
have circulated in the churches at the present time. If any fiirther evidence
were needed, it may be found in the testimonials to the value of these writings,
which the publisher has obtained and prefixed to this volume. Coming as
they do, from ministers of different evangelical denominations, and men who
are known to differ in many particulars, the unanimity of their approbation,
and the unqualified terms in which they have given it, are worthy of particu-
and grateful notice. It augurs w^ell for revivals, that a work so full, effi-
*cJent, and thorough, should have united such suffrages in its flivor.
Probably no uninspired man was ever quahficd for such a work, like Prcsi-
ilcnt Edwards. To a very clear, discriminating, and philosophical mind, he
added a habit of patient study and diligent research, excited and governed by a
love of truth. The clearness, Avhich in others is so often cold and dull, in him
was warmed and enlivened by an experience in religion, singularly deep and
spiritual. Having been most thoroughly trained in theology, and received
practical instruction from his father, and from his grandfather Stoddard, res-
pecting revivals, he was privileged to be the instrument of producing one of tlie
most genuine and powerful revivals on record in modern times, the first in a
series of revivals, of great extent and power. These things conspired to put
in requisition all the powers of his copious mind, and employ them on the
subject of revivals. His piety, zeal, faith, judgment, courage, integrity, were
all tried, and not found v.aniing. He wrote these works with all the savor of
the revivals fresh upon his soul. His mind was full of revival influence. He
felt that revivals were the great interest, wliich ought to enlist tlie zeal, and
absorb the sensibilities of the chuich. Indeed, tlicse writings are so pervaded
M'ith the revival spirit, that they cannot be properly appreciated, but by one
who partakes of the same heavenly influence. There is spirituality, a
thoroughness, a devotedness to the subject, a delicacy of discrimination,
wliich no man can duly understand, whose mind is in a cold, worldly, unbe-
lieving, caviling state. None but a revived Christian can rightly compre-
hend, or judiciously apply, the various principles and rules which are here
developed. He who reads this, and does not feel himself moved to prize,
and seek, and pray for revivals, is poorly qualified to use the book, in its
applications to.others.
The account given by President Edwards himself, of the work in 1735, in
the first portion of the subsequent volume, is so full and authentic, that it is
only ncerlful to mention this a:r Ihn first in a series or cluster of revivals.
Xii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
M-hich extended over our wliolo country during a space of twenty years.
The " Thoughts concerning the Revival," which* occupy the principal part
of the hook, is a more labored work. It was written in 1742, during the pro-
gress of a very extensive revival, which commenced in Connecticut and
Massachusetts, and continued for several years. This is what is generally
known by the name of "the great revival." I gather from Trumbull's His-
tory, that it began in Connecticut, early in the year 1740. Its rise in Massa-
chusetts is traced to the first visit of Mr. Whitefield, who reached Boston in
September of that year. The Boston ministers seem to have entered zea-
lously into the work, with the exception of Dr. Chauncey, who afterwards
•WTote a book against it.* Rev. Gilbert Tennent, a preacher of great elo-
quence and remarkable success, also visited New England soon after
Mr. Whitefield, and spent upwards of two months in Boston. He
likewise labored in Connecticut. The work was more powerful in the
years 1740, 1741, and 1742, in Connecticut than in Massachusetts. The
ministers who labored with most extensive effect were Messrs. Mills, Pome-
roy, Wheelock, and Bellamy, who preached in all parts of the colony, and in
Massachusetts, wherever their brethren would admit them. Some of the
leading ministers, however, were bitter enemies of the revival ; and about the
time that this book was written, 1742, their hoslility had reached its height.
Dr. Trumbull says, it was the "plan of the old lights, or Arminians, both
among the clergy and civilians, to suppress, as far as possible, all the zealous
and Calvinistic preachers." The most severe laws were passed against them,
and rigorously executed. As the consequence of this withdrawment of so
many leading ministers, and the opposition which was made to the work,
the zeal of many degenerated to enthusiasm, discord and fanaticism
crept in, and in the subsequent years, many grievous separations and other
evils took place in the churches. Still, however, the work of genuine revival
seems to have gone steadily forward, notwithstanding these mLxtures of hu-
man infirmity, so that l)y the year 1748, the balance of public opinion was
entirely changed, the oppressive laws were repealed, and the ministers who
had been punished for laboring in revivals, were restored to their rights.
Much has been said about the disorders which attended these revivals ; but
Dr. Trumbull says, " Of these, in most of the churches, there was little or
nothing ; and perhaps they were not greater in any, than were found in the
church at Corinth, even in the apostolic age." "It was estimated that in two
or three years of the revival, thirty or forty thousand souls were born into the
family of heaven, in New England, besides great numbers in New York and
New Jersey, and in the more southern provinces."!
President Edwards wrote his "Thoughts on the Re^-ival," in 1742, the
most critical period of this interesting historj^, when the work seemed to be
balancing, as it were, between the deadly opposition of some, and the extra-
wagancies of others. And how admirably calculated was this m.an, how
* Hr subsequrntly avowod himself a believer in univcrsalism.
t Trumbull, Hist. Uonn. Kook II. Cliap. 8.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XUl
twidently was he raised up, to hold the scales in such a juncture. To he duly
estimated, the work should be jud<jed of in connection with the circumstances
under which it was produced. The manner of laying out his plan, and the
topics introduced, the practices which he either defended or censured, the
wisdom with which he conducted his subject, arc much more apparent, to
those who will make themselves familiar with the historical facts by which it
is illustrated.
It would be out of place here, to attempt an extended review of this cele-
brated treatise. The general plan will be seen from the table of contents.
He begins his work, by showing very clearly which side he espoused of the
main qwestion at issue, and by avowing his full conviction that the excitement
then in progress was a great and glorious work of God. He had no sympa-
thy at all with those who doubted on this point, or who were so forever harp-
ing upon real or fancied errors, connected with the work, that they had no
heart to rejoice in its blessed results. He explains, in a masterly manner,
how these errors, so far as they had a real existence, were not only compatible
with a genuine work of grace, but might well have grown out of the work
itself, from the greatness and the novelty of the excitement, the opposition
encounteretl, the weakness of the instruments, (modestly including himself,)
and the imperfection of knowledge and grace in those who were engaged in
tbe work. And he expresses, in no measured terms, but with equal kind-
ness, his sense of the offensiveness of their conduct, who stood aloof at such a
day of the espousals of thechurch, minding nothing but defects and blemishes.
After all their cry about madness and enthusiasm, the worst madness in the
sight of God, was to remain cold and inactive at such a time. Nothing can
exceed the acuteness M'ith which he handles the objections of those, who
would pretend to judge of revivals by philosophy, or custom, or their own shal-
low experience. Would that it might ever be so, that those who feel called
upon to promote the purity of revivals, should begin by such a triumphant vin -
dication of them, as the glorious work of God's Holy Spirit. Were the
principles here laid down duly considered, men would be slower than they are
to discredit the genuineness of a revival, or the piety or orthodoxy of those
who labor in it, merely because it appears to them to be attended with indis-
cretions pr irregularities.
Part second, in which he enforces the obligation of all to be actively en-
gaged in promoting the work, is full of the most solemn and weighty
considerations. The principle is fully brought out, that a time of revi-
vals calls for special efforts, to fall in with the designs of the Spirit, and pro-
mote and extend the work. It is difficult to conceive how a minister can read
this part, and while revivals are prevailing all around him, still quiet his con-
soience without putting forth some special efforts to have his people share
in the passing mercy. There are some passages in this part which hav<7
an awful solemnity, and ought to be deeply pondered by those, who are
not adopting any special miasures to promote and extend the work of
grace now going on in our land. Those especially, who allow themselves
to «peak slightingly of these excitements, and to deride or abuse the instru-
ments that God sees fit to employ, should talvc heed to some of the admoni-
XlV INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
tions, whicli come -with so much forco, as well as discrimination, from the
pen of Edwards.
Havinj» exhibited the danger of not acknowledging and promoting the
work of revival, in a way calculated to carry trembling to the hearts of those
that stand aloof from revivals, because they are carried on in a way which does
not exactly coincide with their views, he next shows the blessedness that
must necessarily attend a hearty co-operation in the work. Two principles
are clearly maintained ; that it is at their peril if men fail to acknowledge a
real revival of religion, through any false notions, or a jmori reasonings of
their own ; and that a time of revival imposes a special duty upon ministeis
and others, to go out of their ordinary course, and do something more than
what is usual, to honor and advance the work. Men may be in fact
opposers of the work, who do not directly speak against it as a whole ; who
even acknowledge, in general terms, that there is a good work carried on in
the country ; but whose habitual conversation shows that they are in fact
more out of humor with the state of things, and enjoy themselves less than
they did before the work began. Such arc known, by being more forward to
take notice of what is amiss than of what is good in the work. And there can
be no doubt their influence, on the whole, is unfavorable to the re-vival. If
men viewed things in a just light, the conversion of numbers of siuners would
so engage their attention, and engross their hearts, that they would not be
in a humor to dwell perpetually upon the errors of the instruments.
In the third part, we have a very discrim.inating and hearty defense of the
subjects and zealous promoters of the work, from many groundless charges
wliich had been brought against them. He vindicates zealous preachers
from the charge of appeahng exclusively to the passions. There is no dan-
ger of raising the affections too high in religion, if they are raised in view of
the proper objects. Neither are ministers to be blamed for preaching terror
to awakened sinners, if it is truth, and if proper pains are taken to enhghten
them, and show them what they must do to be saved. And in regard to fre-
quent meetings, and the like, he mentions that it is to the honor of God, when
people are so much employed in outward acts of religion, as to carry a public
appearance of engagedncss in it, as the main business of life. And though
it is not true, ordinarily, that the time occupied by reUgious meetings en-
croaches seriously upon men's worldly business, yet it may often be highly
proper and useful to do so. And on the subject of frequent prcacliing, in re-
ply to the objection that one sermon will crowd out another from people's
minds, this great master of assembhes avers, that the main beneiit of preach-
ing is by impressions made upon the mind in the time 6f it, and not by any
efl'ect that arises from the subsequent remembrance of it.
Having shown in what way, and to vvhat extent, effects on the body are to
be regarded as probable tokens of God's presence and power ; considered
how far it is proper to use means for increasing the excitement in an assem-
l)ly ; and jiistilied the earnestness of those whAe hearts arc full of the love
of Christ, the practice of frequent singing, and the religious meetings of
•children, under proper regulations ; he thru proceeds, in part fmirtli, to point
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS XV
out what things ought to be corrected or avoided, in promoting the revival.
If any evidence were wanting, to prove the remarkable integrity and single-
ness of heart of this eminent servant of Christ, it may be fouud in the plain,
pointed, and faithful manner in which he has treated this part of the subject.
It required no small measure of grace to acknowledge, and of firmness to
point out to public notice, the faults, errors, and delinquencies of those whom
he had just been strenuously engaged to uphold and defend.
He begins with remarking, that the last resort of the devil to overthrow
a revival of religion, is to corrupt it, or carry it to cextremes ; and that the
errors of its friends and promoters furnish him with liis greatest advantage.
It is a great mistake for Christians to tliink, that even in the seasons of their
highest spiritual enjoyment, they are out of danger from the adversary. These
errors are traced to spiritual pride ; the adoption of some wrong principles,
respecting the guidance of the Spirit, the prayer of faith, or some other point ;
and ignorance of Satan's devices.
No enemy of the revivals could have done tliis part of the work with
a more luisparing hand than Edwards. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend. Aud every one, especially every minister, who is actively engaged in
revivals, and successful in promoting them, should make liimsclf familiar
with this part of the book, as the chart of liis constant dangers and easily
besetting sins. He will find many around him, who are fond of tluowing
these things in his teeth ; aud the only just defense is, so to live and labor
that they shall not be true. In regard to the use which is lawfully to be
made of this part, it is proper to obsei-ve, that the points here agitated, are
points wlrich concern only those who are themselves actively and cordially
engaged in promoting revivals, to be settled among themselves. Those who
are unbelieving and inactive, will find matters enough to occupy their atten-
tion, in the previous pages. Indeed, it would be no bad rule, and would con-
duce much to the peace of the church, to have it understood, that no person
should make use of tliis part, in discussing points connected with revivals,
until he had read, marked, inwardly digested, and cordially approved and
adopted the previous portions. It would silence many complainers, and
might awaken some sleeping consciences.
In commenting thus freely upon the evils which will sometimes be found
among those who are earnestly engaged in promoting the revival, Edwards
shows that it was no part of his principles to cover up such tilings, or to pal-
liate them. He does not admit the doctrine, that speaking of these tilings,
in a friendly way, and for the purpose of correcting them, and of domg good
to those who have fallen into them, will stop the revival. But it ought to be
done by those who are actually engaged themselves in the revival, and not
by those who are looking on, and taking no part nor responsibility in the work.
The pride, false principles, ccnsoriousness, and other tilings wliich he has
pointed out as errors, have not ceased from the church. And this part of the
book still needs to be studied. Probably the views of our most judicious and
warm hearted men are a little altered in regard to the importance which
should be allotted to strong bodily emotions ; and their ideas considerably
XVI INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
enlarged, respecting the extent to which the instrumentality of private brethren-
can be profitably employed in ])romoting the revival. The suggestions in
part fifth, of what things should be done directly to promote the work, arc
not all as applicable to the present state of society, as they were when writ-
ten ; though they are still valuable, for the dcvelopement of important prin-
ciples. And the most of them are of universal apphcation. In particular,
it is clearly implied in what he says, that the means of re\ival are to be varied
from time to time, according to the aspects and circumstances of a commu-
nity. And every engine of influence, which can be used consistently with
truth, ought to be employed in forwarding the work. Ministers should ex-
hibit great zeal and resoluteness in pusliing the work forv\'ard. Mr. White-
field's success was greatly owing to tliis. Coldness and irresolution in
dealing with worldly, unconverted sinners, only confirm them in their
course. . The importance of external reformation, and of abounding in deeds
of charity, as a means of revivals, is clearly set forth by Edwards, and has
been abundantly evinced in the blessing which has every where followed the
temperance reform, and the unusual displays of Christian benevolence, in
the last two years.
In short, the work is full of the wisest practical instnictions, based upwi
the most profound knowledge of the true principles on which these things
proceed. And the hope is now fondly cherished, that the circulation of a
complete and beautiful edition among the churches, at such a juncture as the
present, will be eminently serviceable, in giving force, consistency, purity,
and permanency, to the revivals now in progress throughout the country.
That the blessing of God, and the enlightening and sanctifying influence of
tlie Holy Spirit, may secure such a result, is the earnest prayer of
THE EDITOR.
JVeio Ym-ky March,. 1832..
A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE
OF TUK
SURPRISING WORK OF GOD,
IN THE
CONVERSION OF MANY HUNDRED SOULS
IN NORTHAMPTON,
AND THE NEIGHBORING TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE,
IN NEW ENGLAND :
In a Letter to the Rev. Doctor Colman,
At that time Pastor of Brattle street Church, Boston.
BY PRESIDENT EDWARDS.
WITH PREFACES,
By the Rev. Dr. Watts and Dr. Guyse of London, and by the Boston Ministers.
PREFACE,
BY DR. WATTS AND DR. GUYSE.
The friendly correspondence which we maintain with our brethren
of New England, gives us now and then the pleasure of hearing some
remarkable instances of divine grace in the conversion of sinners, and
some eminent examples of piety in that American part of the world.
But never did we hear or read, since the first ages of Chistianity,
any event of this kind so surprising as the present narrative hath set
before us. The Rev. and worthy Dr. Colman, of Boston, had given
us some short intimations of it in his letters ; and upon our request
of a more large and particular account, Mr. Edwards, the happy and
successful minister of Northampton, which was one of the chief
scenes of these wonders, drew up this history in an epistle to Dr.
Colman.
There were some useful sermons of the venerable and aged Mr.
William Williams, published lately in New England, which were
preached in that part of the country during this season of the glorious
work of God in the conversion of men ; to which Dr. Colman sub-
joined a most judicious and accurate abridgment of this epistle : and
a little after, he sent the original to our hands, to be communicated to
the world under our care hero in London.
We are abundantly satisfied with the triith of this narrative, not
only from the pious character of the writer, but from the concurrent
testimony of many other persons in New England ; for this thing
was not done in a corner. There is a spot of ground, as we are here
informed, wherein there are twelve or fourteen towns and villages,
chiefly situate in the county of Hampshire, near the banks of the river
of Connecticut, within the compass of thirty miles, wherein it pleased
God two years ago to display his free and sovereign mercy in the con-
version of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning
them from a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity, to
the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful prac-
XX PREFACE EV I)K. WATTS AND DR. GUYSE.
tice of our holy religion. The great God has seemed to act over
again the miracle of Gideon's fleece, which was plentifully watered
with the dew of heaven, while the rest of the earth round about it
was dry, and had no such remarkable blessing.
There has been a great and just complaint for many years among
the ministers and churches in Old England, and in New, (except about
the time of the late earthquake there,) that the work of conversion
goes on very slowly, that the Spirit of God in his saving influences is
much withdrawn from the ministrations of his word, and there are few
that receive the report of the gospel, with any eminent success upon
their hearts. But as the gospel is the same divine instrument of grace
still, as ever it was in the days of the apostles, so our ascended Savior
now and then takes a special occasion to manifest the divinity of this
gospel by a plentiful eflusion of his Spirit where it is preached : then
sinners are turned into saints in numbers, and there is a new face of
things spread over a town or country : " The wilderness and the
solitary places are glad, the desert rejoices and blossoms as the
rose ;" and surely concerning this instance we may add, that " they
have seen the glory of the Lord there, and the excellency of our God ;
they have seen the outgoings of God our King in his sanctuary."
Certainly it becomes us, who profess the religion of Christ, to take
notice of such astonishing exercises of his power and mercy, and give
him the glory which is due, when he begins to accomplish any of his
promises concerning the latter days ; and it gives us further encou-
ragement to pray, and wait, and hope for the like display of his power
in the midst of us. " The hand of God is not shortened, that it can-
not save," but we have reason to fear that our iniquities, our coldness
in religion, and the general carnality of our spirits, have raised a wall
of separation between God and us : and we may add, the pride and
perverse humor of infidelity, degeneracy, and apostasy from the Chris-
tian faith, which have of late years broken out amongst us, seem to
have provoked the Spirit of Christ to absent himself much from our
nation. " Return, O Lord, and visit thy churches, and revive thine
own work in the midst of us."
From such blessed instances of the success of the gospel, as appear
in this narrative, we may learn much of the way of the Spirit of God
in his dealing with the souls of men, in order to convince sinners,
and restore them to his favor and his image by Jesus Christ, his Son.
We aknowlcdgc t})at some particular appearances in the work of con-
version among men may bo occasioned by the ministry whicli they
sit under, whether it be of a more or loss evangelical strain, whether
it be more severe and atfrighting, or more gentle and persuasive.
PREPACR by dr. watts ANO dr. (iUYSE. XXI
But wheresoever God works with power for salvation upon the minds
of men, there will be some discovery of a sense of sin, of the danger
of the wrath of God, of the all-sufficiency of his Son Jesus, to relieve
us under all our spiritual wants and distresses, and a hearty consent
of soul to receive him in the various offices of grace, wherein he is set
forth in the holy scriptures. And if our readers had opportunity (as
we have had) to peruse several of the sermons which were preached
during this glorious season, we should find that it is the common plain
_ Protestant doctrine of the reformation, without stretching towards
the Antinomians on the one side, or the Arminians on the other,
that the Spirit of God has been pleased to honor with such illus-
trious success.
We are taught also by this happy event how easy it will be for our
blessed Lord to make a full accomplishment of all his predictions con-
cerning his kingdom, and to spread his dominion from sea to sea,
through all the nations of the earth. We see how easy it is for him,
with one turn of his hand, with one word of his mouth, to awaken
whole countries of sleeping sinners, and kindle divine life in their
souls. The heavenly influence shall run from door to door, filling the
hearts and lips of every inhabitant with importunate inquiries, What
'shall we do to be saved ? And how shall we escape the wrath to
come ? And the name of Christ the Savior sliall diffuse itself like a
rich and vital perfume to multitudes that were ready to sink and
perish under the painful sense of their own guilt and danger. Sal-
vation shall spread through all the tribes and ranks of mankind, as
the lightning from heaven in a few moments would communicate a
living flame through ten thousand lamps or torches placed in a proper
situation and neighborhood. Thus " a nation shall be born in a day"
when our Redeemer pleases, and his faithful and obedient subjects
shall become as numerous as the spires af grass in a meadow newly
mown, and refreshed with the showers of heaven. But the pleasure
of this agreeable hint bears the mind av^ay from our theme.
Let us return to the present narrative. 'Tis worthy of our obser-
vation, that this great and surprising work does not seem to have
taken its rise from any sudden and distressing calamity or public
terror that might universally impress the minds of a people : here
was no storm, no earthquake, no inundation of water, no desolation
by fire, no pestilence or any other sweeping distemper, nor any cruel
invasion by their Indian neighbors, that might force the inhabitants
into a serious thoughtfulness and a religious temper by the fears of
approaching death and judgment. Such scenes as these have some-
times been made happily eflectual to awaken sinners in Zion, and
the formal professor and the hvporrite, have inquired, terrified with
XXll PREFACE BY DR. WATTS AND DR fJUYSE
the tJioug-htsof divine wrath breaking in upon them, '* Who shall
dwell witli everlasting burnings ?" But in the present case the im-
mediate hand of God in the work of his Spirit appears much more
evident, because there is no such awful and threatening Providence
attending it.
It is worthy also of our further notice, that when many profane
sinners, and formal professors of religion, have been affrighted out
of their present carelessness and stupidity by some astonishing ter-
rors approacliingthcm, those religious appearances have not been so
durable, nor tlic real change of heart so thoroughly effected. Many
of these sort of sudden converts have dropt their religious concerns
in a great measure when their fears of the threatening calamity are
vanished. But it is a blessed confirmation of the truth of this pre-
sent work of grace, that the persons who were divinely wrought
upon in this seasqn continue still to profess serious religion, and to
practice it, without returning to their former follies.
It may not be amiss in this place to take notice, that a very sur-
prising and threatening Providence has this last year attended the
people of Northampton, among whom this work of divine grace
was so remarkable : which Providence at first might have been con-
strued by the unthinking world to be a signal token of God's dis-
pleasure against that town, or a judgment from heaven upon the
people ; but soon afterwards, like Paul's shaking the viper off from
his hand, it discovered the astonishing care and goodness of God
expressed towards a place where such a multitude of his young con-
verts were assembled :. nor can we give a better account of it than
in the language of this very gentleman, the Rev. Mr. Edwards,
minister of that town, who wrote the following letter, which was
published in New England.
" Northampton, March I9th, 1737.
" Wo in tliis town wore the last Lord's day the spectators, and
many of us the subjects, of one of the most amazing instances of
divine preservation, that perhaps was over known in the land : our
mooting-house is old and decayed, so that we have been for some
time biiiUling a new one, whicii is yet unfinished : it has been ob-
served of late, that the house that we have hitherto met in has
gradually spread at bottom, tlie cells and walls giving way, especially
in the forosidc, by reason of the weigiit of timber at top pressing on
the braces that are inserted into the posts and beams of the house.
[t has so done more tlian ordinarily this sjjring ; which seems to
have been occasioned by the heaving of tlie ground by tlic extreme
frosts of the winter past, and it. is now sett hng again on tiiat side
PREFACE BY DR. WATTS AND DR. GUYSE. XXlll
which is next the sun, by tlie thaws of the vspring- : l)y this means
the underpinning- has been considerably disordered, which people
were not sensible of, till the ends of the joists whicii bore up the
front gallery, by the walls giving way, were drawn off' from the girts
on which they rested ; so that in the midst of the public exercise in
the forenoon, soon after the beginning of the sermon, the wiiole
gallery full of people, with all the seats and timber, suddenly and
without any warning, sunk, and fell down, with most amazing noise,
upon the lieads of those that sat under, to the astonishment of the
congregation, the house being filled with dolorous shrieking and
crying ; and nothing else was expected than to find many people
dead, and dashed to pieces.
" The gallery in falling seemed to break and sink first in the mid-
dle ; so that those who were upon it were thrown together in heaps
before the front door ; but the whole was so sudden, that many of
them that fell knew nothing in the time of it what it was that had
befallen them ; and others in the congregation knew not what it was
that had happened with so great a noise ; many thought it had been
an amazing clap of thunder : the falling gallery seemed to be broken
all to pieces before it got down ; so that some that fell with it, as
well as those that were under, were buried in the ruins, and were
found pressed under heavy loads of timber, and could do nothing to
help themselves.
" But so mysteriously and wonderfully did it come to pass, that
every life was preserved ; and though many were greatly bruised,
and tlieir flesh torn, yet there is not, as I can understand, one bone
broken, or so much as put out of joint, among them all : some that
were thought to be almost dead at first, are greatly recovered ; and
but one young woman seems yet to remain in dangerous circum-
stances, by an inward hurt in her breast ; but of late there appears
more hope of her recovery.
" There is none can give any account, or conceive by what means
it should come to pass, that people's lives and limbs should be thus
preserved, when so great a multitude were tlms imminently exposed :
it looked as though it was impossible it should be otherwise, than
that great numbers should instantly bo crushed to death or dashed in
pieces : it seems unreasonable to ascribe it to any thhig else, but the
care of Providence in disposing the motions of every stick of timber,
and the precise place of safety where every one should sit and fall,
when none were in any capacity to take care for their own preserva-
tion- The ])reservation seems to be most wondcrfid, with respect
to the women and children that were in the middle alley, under the
XXIV PREFACE BY DR. WATTS AND DR. GUYSE.
gallery, where it cajiie down first, and with greatest force, and where
was nothing to break the force of the falling weight.
** Such an event may be a feufficient argument of a Divine Provi-
dence over the lives of men. We thought ourselves called to set
apart a day to be spent in the solemn worship of God, to humble
ourselves under such a rebuke of God upon us in the time of public
service in God's house, by so dangerous and surprising an accident ;
and to praise iiis name for so wonderful and as it were miraculous a
preservation ; and the last Wednnsday was kept by us to that end :
and a mercy in which the hand of God is so remarkably evident,
may be well worthy to affect the hearts of all that hear it."
Thus far the letter.
But it is time to conclude our preface. If there should be any
thing found in this narrative of the surprising conversion of such
number of souls, where the sentiments or the style of the relator, or
his inferences from matters of fact, do not appear so agreeable to
every reader, we hope it will have no unhappy influence to discourage
the belief of this glorious event. We must allow every writer his
own way ; and must allow him to- choose what particular instances
he would select, from the numerous cases which came before him.
And though he might have chosen others, perhaps, of more signifi-
cancy in the eye of the world, than the Woman and the Child,
whose experiences he relates at large ; yet it is evident he chose
that of the Woman, because she was dead, and she is thereby inca-
pable of knowing any honors or reproaches on this account. And
as for the Child, those who were present, and saw and heard such
a remarkable and lasting change, on one so very young, must neces-
sarily receive a stronger impression from it, and a more agreeable
surprise than the mere narration of it can communicate to others at
a distance. Children's language always loses its striking beauties
at second hand.
Upon the whole, we declare our opinion, that this account of such
an extraordinary and illustrious appearance of divine grace in the
conversion of sinners, is very like by the blessing of God to have a
happy effect towards the honor and enlargement of the kingdom of
Christ.
May the worthy writer of this epistle, and all those his Rev. breth-
ren in the ministry, who have been honored in this excellent and
important service, go on to see their labors crowned with daily and
persevering success ! May the numerous subjects of this surprising
work hold fast wiiat thry have received, and increase in every Chris-
tian grace and blessing ! May a plentiful effusion of the blessed
PREFACE BY DR. WATTS AND DR. GUYSE. XXV
Spirit, also, descend on the British Isles, and all their American
plantations, to renew the face of religion there ! And we intreat
our readers in both Englands, to join with us in our hearty addresses
to the throne of grace, that this wonderful discovery of the hand of
God, in saving sinners, may encourage our faith and hope of the ac-
complishment of all his words of grace, which are written in the Old
Testament and in the New, concerning the large extent of this sal-
vation in the latter days of the world. Come, Lord Jesus, come
quickly, and spread thy dominion through all the ends of the earth.
Amen. ISAAC WATTS.
JOHN GUYSE.
London^ October 12, 1737.
PREFACE,
BY THE BOSTON MINISTERS.
When the disciples of our glorious Lord were filled with sorrow
upon the heavy tidings of his departure from them, he cheered their
drooping spirits with that good word, " Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth : it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send
him unto you." And after his ascension, he fulfilled this great and
precious promise by the extraordinary effusion of his Spirit, under
whose conduct and influence the " apostles went forth and preached
every where, the Lord working with them :" so that when we read
the Acts of the Apostles, we must say ; " Not by might, nor by
power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts." And though, soon
after the first days of Christianity, there was a dreadful apostasy,
yet God did not wholly take his Spirit from his people ; but raised
up faithful witnesses, to testify against the heresies and corruptions
of the times wherein they lived. And since Antichrist, that wicked
one, has been revealed, our Lord, according to his word, has been
gradually consuming him with the spirit of his mouth, in the refor-
mation.
Nor have we in these remote corners of the earth, where Satan
had his scat from time immemorial, been left without a witness of
the divine power and grace. Very remarkable was tlie work of God's
Spirit, stirring up our forefathers to leave a pleasant land, and trans-
port themselves over a vast ocean into this then howling wilderness,
that they might enjoy communion with Christ in the purity of his
ordinances, and leave their children in the quiet possession of the
blessings of his kingdom. And God was eminently present with
them by his word and Spirit.
Yea, we need look no higher than our own times, to find abundant
occasion to celebrate the wonderful works of God. Thus when God
PREFACE BY THE BOSTON MINISTERS. XXVll
arose and shook the earth,* liis loud call to us in that amazing provi-
dence was followed, so far as man can judge, with the still voice of
his Spirit, in which he was present to awaken many, and bring them
to say trembling, " What must we do to be saved V Yea, as we
hope, to turn not a few from sin to God in a thorough conversion.
But wheu the bitterness of death was past, much the greater part of
those whom God's terrors affrighted, gave sad occasion to remember
those words. Psalm Ixxviii. 34, 36., " When he slew them, then they
sought him : and they returned and inquired early after God. And
they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God their
Redeemer. Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and
they lied unto him with their tongue." And there has since been
great reason to complain of our speedy return to our former sins,
notwithstanding some hopes given of a more general reformation.
Yea, when more lately, it pleased God to visit many of our towns
with a very mortal distemper, to that time in a manner unknown ;
whereby great numbers of our hopeful children and youth have been
cut oft", many very suddenly, and with circumstances exceedingly dis-
tressing and awful ; yet, alas ! we have not generally seen nor duly
considered God's hand stretched out against us ; but have given him
reason to complain, as of his ancient people, " Why should ye be
stricken any more 1 ye will revolt more and more." And accord-
ingly his anger is not turned away ; but his hand is stretched out still.
A plain proof of this awful truth, that the most awakening dispen-
sations can no farther humble and do us good, than as it pleaseth
God to accompany them with his Spirit, and so command his bless-
ing upon them. But when the Almighty will work by such means,
or without them, who can hinder him 1 He acts with sovereign
liberty and irresistible power. " The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
John iii. 8. Such was his wonderful work at Northampton, and the
neighboring towns in the county of Hampshire, and some other
places. The Holy Spirit was in a plentiful and extraordinary man-
ner poured out on persons of every age and condition, without such
remarkable providences going before to awaken them ; as the dew
falls in the night, and yet the effects appeared as the light which
goeth forth. So that we might well admiring say, what has God
wrought ! Great was the number of them who published the wonders
of the divme power and grace ; declaring with humility what God
* The EarUiquako of October 29, Anno 1727.
XXVm PREFACE BY THE BOSTON MINISTERS.
had done for their souls. And others who went among them ac-
knowledged that the work exceeded the fame of it.
Now the Psalmist observes that God has made his wonderful works
to be remembered. We therefore apprehend that our Rev. brother
has done well to record and publish this surprising work of God ; and
the fidelity of his account would not have been at all doubted of by
us, though there had not been the concurrent testimony of others to
it. It is also a pleasure to us to hear what acceptance the following
narrative has found in the other England, where it has had two im-
pressions already, and been honored with a recommendatory preface
by two divines of eminent note in London, viz. the Rev. Dr. Watts
and Dr. Guyse : after whom it may seem presumption in us to at-
tempt any thing of this kind. But it having been thought proper to
reprint this letter here, and disperse it among our our people, we
thankfully embrace this opportunity to praise the Most High for the
exceeding riches of his grace, and earnestly to recommend this
epistle to the diligent reading and attentive consideration of all into
whose hands these shall come. " He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches." And indeed, the particu-
lar and distinct account which the author has given of God's dealings
with the souls of men, at this remarkable season, in the variety of
cases then set before him, and in many of his observations there-
upon, we apprehend arc written with that judgment and skill in di-
vine things as declare him to be a scribe well instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven ; and we judge may be very useful to ministers
in leading weary souls to Christ for rest, and for the direction and
encouragement of all under the like operations of the Holy Spirit.
Yea, as the author observes, " There is no one thing I know of, that
God has made such a means of promoting his work among us, as the
news of others' conversion." We hope that the further spreading
of this narrative may, by the divine blessing, still promote the con-
version of souls, and quicken God's children to labor after the clearer
evidences of their adoption, and to bring forth fruits meet for repent-
ance. And as this wonderful work may be considered as an earnest
of what God will do towards the close of the gospel day, it affords
great encouragement to our faith and prayer in pleading those pro-
mises which relate to the glorious extent and flourishing of the king-
dom of Christ upon earth, and that have not yet had their full anJ
final accomplisliment. And surely the very threatening degeneracy
of our times calls aloud to us all, to be earnest in prayer for this
most needed blessing, the plentiful ef!usion of the Spirit of truth and
holiness. Nor ought the sense of our own unworthiness discourage
us, when we go to our heavenly Father in the name of his dear Son,
PREFACE BY THE BOSTON MINISTERS. XXIX
who has purchased and received this great gift for his people, and
says to us, " Ask, and it shall be given you. If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
him." Luke xi. 9—13.
But we must draw to a close. May the worthy author be restored
to health, and long continue to be a rich blessing to his people ! May
he still see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in his hand ; and in
particular, may the Spirit of grace accompany this pious endeavor
to spread the savor of the -knowledge of Christ, for the everlasting
advantage of many ! May it please God to revive his work through-
out this land ; and may all the ends of the earth see his salvation !
Boston, November ^th, 1738.
JOSEPH SEWALL,
Minister of CHd South Church.
THOMAS PRINCE,
Minister of Old South Church.
JOHN WEBB,
Minister of New North Cliurch.
WILLIAM COOPER,
Minister of BratUe street Church.
P. S. Since the writing this Preface, one of us has received a
letter from a Reverend and very worthy minister in Glasgow, in
which is the following passage :
" The friends of serious religion here were much refreshed with
a printed account of the extraordinary success of the gospel, of late,
in some parts of New England. If you can favor me with more
particular accounts of those joyful events, when you have opportunity
of writing to me, it will much oblige me."
TO THE
REV. BENJAMIN COLMAN, D. D
PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN BOSTON.
Westfield, October 11, 1738.
Sir,
In your letter of August 19, you inform us that the Rev. Dr.
Watts and Dr. Guyse desire that some other ministers, who were
eye and ear witnesses to some of those numerous conversions in the
other towns about Northampton, would attest unto what the Rev.
Mr. Edwards has written of them.
We take this opportunity to assure you, that the account Mr. Ed-
wards has given in his narrative of our several towns or parishes is
true ; and that much more of the liive nature might have been added
with respect to some of them.
We are, Rev. Sir, your brethren and servants,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS, Pastor of Hatfield.
EBENEZER DEVOTION,
STEPHEN WILLIAMS,
PETER RAYNOLDS,
NEHKMIAH BULL,
SAMUEL HOPKINS,
of Suffield.
of Long Meadow.
of Enfield.
of Westfield.
of West Springfield,
A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE
LETTER TO REV. DR. COLMAN.
Reverend and Honored Sir,
Having seen your letter to my honored uncle Wil-
liams of Hatfield, of July 20, wherein you inform him of the
notice that has been taken of the late wonderful work of God,
in this, and some other towns in this county, by the Rev.
Dr. Watts, and Dr. Guyse of London, and the congregation
to which the last of these preached on a monthly day of so-
lemn prayer ; as also, of your desire to be more perfectly ac-
quainted with it, by some of us on the spot ; and havir^ been
since informed by my uncle Williams, that you desire me to
undertake it, I would now do it, in as just and faithful a
manner as in me lies.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Statement.
The people of the county, in general, I suppose, are as
sober, and orderly, and good sort of people, as in any part of
New England ; and I believe they have been preserved the
freest by far, of any part of the country, from error, and va-
riety of sects and opinions. Our being so far within the land,
at a distance from sea-ports, and in a corner of the country,
has doubtless been one reason why we have not been so much
32 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
corrupted with vice, as most other parts. But without
question, the rehgion and good order of the county, and their
purity in doctrine, has, under God, been very much owing
to the great abiUties and eminent piety of my venerable and
honored grandfather Stoddard. I suppose we have been the
freest of any part of the land from unhappy divisions, and
quarrels in our ecclesiastical and religious affairs, till the late
lamentable Springfield contention.*
We being much separated from other parts of the province,
and having comparatively but little intercourse with them,
have from the beginning, till now, always managed our ec-
clesiastical affairs within ourselves : it is the way in which
the county, from its infancy, has gone on, by the practical
agreement of all, and the way in which our peace and good
order has hitherto been maintained.
The town of Northampton is of about eighty-two years
standing, and has now about two hundred families ; which
mostly dwell more compactly together than any town of such
a bigness in these parts of the country ; which probably has
been an occasion that both our corruptions, and reformations
have been, from time to time, the more swiftly propagated,
from one to another, through the town. Take the town in
general, and so far as I can judge, they are as rational and
understanding a people as most I have been acquainted with :
Many of them have been noted for rehgion, and particularly,
have been remarkable for their distinct knowledge in things
that relate to heart rehgion, and Christian experience, and
their great regards thereto.
I am the third minister that has been settled in the town :
the Rev. Mr. Eleazer Mather, who was the first, was ordained
in July, 1669. He was one whose heart was much in his
work, abundant in labors for the good of precious souls : he
♦ The Springfield contention relates to the settlement of a minister there,
which occasioned too waim debates between some, both pastors and people,
that were for it, and others that were against it, on acconnt of their different
apprehensions about his principles, and about some steps that were taken to
procure his ordination.
INTKODUCTOIiy ST4TEJWEN T 33
iiad the high esteem and great love of his people, and was
blest with no small success. The Rev. Mr. Stoddard, who
succeeded him, came first to the town the November after his
death, but was not ordained till September 11th, 1672, and
died February lltli, 1728-9. So that he continued in the
work of the ministry here, from hia first coming to town, near
sixty years. And as he was eminent and reno^vned for his
gifts and graces so he was blest, from the beginning, with ex-
traordinary success in his ministry, in the conversion of many
souls. He had five harvests, as he called them : The first
was about fifty-seven years ago ; the second about fifty-three
years ; the third about forty ; and the fourth about twenty-
four ; the fifth and last about eighteen years ago. Some of
these times were much more remarkable than others, and the
ingathering of souls more plentiful. Those that are about
fifty-three and forty, and twenty-four years ago, w^ere much
greater than either the first or the last : but in each of them,
IJiave heard my grandfather say, the larger part of the young
people in the town seemed to be mainly concerned for their
eternal salvation.
After the last of these came a far more degenerate time,
[at least among the young people,) 1 suppose, than ever before.
Mr. Stoddard, indeed, had the comfort before he died, of seeing
a time where there were no small appearances of a divine
work among some, and a considerable ingathering of souls
even after I was settled with him in the ministry, which was
about two years before his death ; and I have reason to bless
God for the great advantage I had by it. In thes3 two years
there were nearly twenty that Mr. Stoddard hoped to be
savingly converted ; but there was nothing of any general
awakening. The greater part seemed to be at that time
very insensible of the things of rehgion, and engaged in other
cares and pursuits. Just after my grandfather's death, it
seemed to be a time of extraordinary dullness in religion : li-
centiousness for some years greatly prevailed among the
yx)uth of the town ; they were many of them very much ad-
3dt J N TRODUC TORVST A TEMEXT
dieted to night-walking, and frequenting the^tavein. and lewd
practices, wherein some by their example exceedingly corrupted
others. It was their man ner very frequently to get together, in
conventions of both sexes, for mirth and jollity, which they
called frolicks ; and they would often spend a greater part of
the night in them, without regard to any order in the families
they belonged to : and indeed family government did too
much fail in the town. It was become very customary with
many of our young people to be indecent in their carriage
at meeting, which doubtless would not have prevailed to such
a degree, had it not been that my grandfather through his
great age (though he retained his powers surprisingly to the
last) was not so able to observe them. There had also long
prevailed in the town, a spirit of contention between two par-
ties, into which they had for many years been divided, by
which was maintained a jealousy one of the other, and they
were prepared to oppose one another in all public affairs.
But in two or three years after Mr. Stoddard's -death, there
began to be a sensible amendment of these evils ; the young
people showed more of a disposition to hearken to counsel,
and by degrees left off their frolicking, and grew observedly
more decent in their attendance on the public worship, and
there were more that manifested a religious concern than
there used to be.
At the latter end of the year 1733, there appeared a very
unusual flexibleness, and yielding to advice in our young
people. It had been too long their manner to make the
evening after the sabbath;* and after our public lecture, to be
especially the times of their mirth and company keeping.
But a sermon was now preached on the sabbath before the
lecture, to show the evil tendency of the practice, and to per-
suade them to reform it ; and it was argued on heads of fa-
milies, that it should be a thing agreed upon among them to
govern their families, and keep their children at home at
♦ It must be noted, that it has never been our manner to observe the even-
inf that follows the sabbath ; 'but that which precedes it. as a part of the holy
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 35
ihese times ; and witlial it was more privately moved that
they should meet together the next day, in their several
neighborhoods, to know each other's minds, which was ac-
cordingly done, and the motion complied with throughout the
town. But parents found little or no occasion for the exer-
cise of government in the case ; tlie young people declared
themselves convinced by what they had heard from the pul-
pit, and were willing of themselves to comply with the coun-
sel that had been given ; and it was immediately, and I sup-
pose almost universally, complied with ; and there was a
thorough reformation of these disorders thenceforward, which
has continued ever since.
Presently after this, there began to appear a remarkable
religious concern at a little village, belonging to the congrega-
tion, called Pascommuck, where a few families were settled,
at about three miles distance from the main body of the town.
At this place, a number of persons seemed to be savingly
wTought upon. In the April following, A. D. 1734, there
happened a very sudden and awful death of a young man.
in the bloom of his youth ; who being violently seized with a
pleurisy, and taken immediately very delirious, died in about
two days ; which (togetlier with what was preached publicly
oa that occasion) much affected many young people. This
w^as followed with another death of a young married woman,
who had been considerably exercised in mind about the
salvation of her soul before she was ill, and was in great
distress hi the beginning of her illness ; but seemed to have
satisfying evidences of God's saving mercy to her, before her
death ; so that she died very full of comfort, in a most earnest
and moving manner warning and counseling others. This
seemed much to contribute to the solemnizing of the spirits
of many young persons : and there began evidently to appear
more of a religious concern on people's minds.
lu the fall of the year I proposed to the young people, that
they should agree among themselves to spend the evenings
after lectures in social religion, and to that end divide them-
selves into several rompanies, to meet in various parts of the
Sy5 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
town ; which was accordingly done, and those meetings
have been since continued, and the example imitated by elder
people. This was followed with the death of an elderly
person, v/hich was attended with many unusual circum-
stances, by which many were much moved and affected.
About this time began the great noise that was in this part
of the country about Arminianism, which seemed to appear
with a very threatening aspect upon the interest of religion
here. The friends of vital piety trembled for fear of the
issue ; but it seemed, contrary to their fear, strongly to be
overruled, for the pi-omoting of religion. Many who looked
on themselves as in a Christless condition, seemed to be
awakened by it, with fear that God was about to withdraw
from the land, and that we should be given up to heterodoxy,
and corrupt principles ; and that then their opportunity for
obtaining salvation would be past ; and many who were
brought a little to doubt about the truth of the doctrines the\'
had hitherto been taught, seemed to have a kind of a trem-
bling fear with their doubts, lest they should be led into b}'-
paths, to their eternal undoing : and they seemed, with much
concern and engagedness of mind, to inquire what was indeed
the way in which they must come to be accepted with God.
There were then some things said publicl}^ on that occasion
concerning " Justification by Faith alone."
Although great fault was found with meddling with the
controversy in the pulpit, by such a person, and at that time,
and though it was ridiculed .by many elsewhere, yet it
proved a word spoken in season here ; and was most evi-
dently attended with a very remarkable blessing of Heaven
to the souls of the people in this town. Tliey received thence
a general satisfaction with resj)ect to the main thing in ques-
tion, which they had l)een in trembling doubis and concern
about ; and their minds were engaged the more earnestly to
seek that they might come to be accepted of God, and saved
in the way of the gospel, which had bedn made evident to
them to be the true and only way. And then it was, in the
latter part of December, that the Spirit of God began cxtrn-
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 37
ordinarily to set in and wonderfully to work among us ; and
there were, very suddenly, one after another, five or six
persons who were to all appearance savingly converted, and
some of them wrought upon in a very remarkable manner.
Particularly, I was surprised with the relation of a young
woman, who had been one of the greatest company keepers
in the whole town : when she came to me I had never heard
that she was become in any wise serious, but by the conver-
sation I then had with her, if appeared to me that what she
gave an account of, was a glorious work of God's infinite
power and sovereign grace ; and that God had given her a
new heart, truly broken and sanctified. I could not then
doubt of it, and have seen much in my acquaintance with
her since to confirm it.
Though the work was glorious, yet I was filled with con-
cern about the effect it might have upon others. I was ready
to conclude (though too rashly) that some would be hardened
by it in carelessness and looseness of life ; and would take
occasion from it to open their mouths in reproaches of reli-
gion. But the event was the reverse to a wonderful degree :
God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening
to others of any thing that ever came to pass in the town.
I have had abundant opportunity to know the effect it had,
by my private conversation with many. The news of it
seemed almost like a flash of lightning upon the hearts of
young people all over the town, and upon many others.
Those persons among us who used to be laithcst from se-
riousness, and that I most feared would make an ill improve-
ment of it, seemed greatly to be awakened with it ; many
went to talk with her, concerning what she had met with ;
and what app3ared in her seemed to be to the satisfaction of
all that did so.
Presently upon this, a great and earnest concern about the
great things of religion, and the eternal world, became uni-
versal in all parts of the town, and among persons of all
degrees, and all ages ; the noise among the dry bones waxed
38 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
louder and loader. All other talk but about spiritual and
eternal things was soon thrown by ; all the conversation in
all companies, and upon all occasions, was upon these things
only, unless so much as was necessary for people to carry on
their secular business. Other discourse than of the things
of religion would scarcely be tolerated in any company. The
minds of people were wonderfully taken off from the world :
it was treated among us as a thing of very little consequence :
they seemed to follow their worldly business more as a part
of their duty than from any disposition they had to it. The
temptation now seemed to lie on thai hand, to neglect worldly
affairs too much, and to spend too much time in the imme-
diate exercise of rehgion ; which thing was exceedingly mis-
represented by reports that were spread in distant parts of
the land, as though the people here had wholly thrown by all
worldly business, and betook themselves entirely to reading
and praying, and such like religious exercises.
But nlthough people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly
business, yet there then was the reverse of what commonly
is : religion was with all sorts the great poncerh, and the
world was a thing only by the by. The only thing in their
view was to get the kingdom of heaven, and every one ap-
peared pressing into it. The engagedness of their hearts in
this great concern could not be hid ; it appeared in their very
countenances. It then was a dreadful thing among us to
lie out of Christ, in danger every day of dropping into hell :
and what persons' minds were intent upon, was to escape for
their lives, and to " fly from the wrath to come." All would
eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls, and were
wont very often to meet together in private houses for reli-
gious purposes; and such meetings, when appointed, were
wont greatly to be thronged.
There was scarcely a single person in the town, either old
or young, that was left unconcerned about the great things
of the eternal world. Those that were wont to be the vainest
and loosest, and those that had been the most disposed to
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 39
ihiak and speak slightly of vital and experimental religion,
were now generally subject to great awakenings. And the
work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing
manner, and increased more and more ; souls did, as it were,
come by flocks to Jesus Christ. From day to day, for matiy
months together, might be seen evident instances of sinners
brought " out of darkness into marvelous light," and deli-
vered " out of a horrible pit, and from the miry clay, and
set upon a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their
mouths."
Tliis work of God, as it was carried on, and the number
of true saints multipHed, soon made a glorious alteration in
the town ; so that in the spring and summer following, A.
D. 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God.
It never was so full of love, nor so full of joy, and yet so full
of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable tokens
of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of
joy in families, on the account of salvation being brought
unto them ; parents rejoicing over their children as new
born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their
husbands. The goings of God were then seen in his sanc-
tuary ; God's day was a dehght, and his tabernacles were
amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautifcil ; the
congregation was alive in God's service, every one earnestly
intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in
the words of the minister as they came from his mouth ; the
assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while
the word was preached ; some weeping with sorrow and
distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and con-
cern for the souls of their neighbors.
Our public praises were then greatly enlivened ; God was
then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty
of holiness. It has been observable, that there has been
scarce any part of djvine worship wlierein good men among
lis have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so lifted
lip in the ways of God, as in singing his praises. Our con -
40 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
g-iegation excelled all that ever I knew in the external part
of the duty before, the men generally carrying regularly and
well three parts of music, and the women a part by them-
selves; but now they were evidently wont to sing with
unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty
pleasant indeed.
In all companies in other days, on whatever occasions
persons met together, Christ was to be heard of and seen in
the midst of them. Our young people, when they met, were
wont to spend the time in talking of the excellency and
dying love of Jesus Christ, the gloriousness of the way of
salvation, the wonderful, free, and sovereign grace of God,
his glorious work in the conversion of a soul, the truth and
certainty of the great things of God's word, the sweetness of
the views of his perfections, &c. And even at weddings,
which formerly were merely occasions of mirth and joUity,
there was now no discourse of any thing but the things of
religion, and no appearance of any but spiritual mirth.
Those among us that had been formerly converted were
greatly enhvened and renewed with fresh and extraordinary
incomes of the Spirit of God ; though some much more than
others, " according to the measures of the gift of Christ r
Many that before had labored under difficulties about their
own state, had now their doubts removed by more satisfying
experience, and more clear discoveries of God's love.
When this work of God first appeared, and was so extra
ordinarily carried on among us in the winter, others round
about us, seemed not to know what to make of it ; and there
v.^ere many that scoffed at and ridiculed it ; and some com-
pared, what we called conversion, to certain distempers. But
it was very observable of many that occasionally came
among us from abroad with disregard ful hearts, that what
they saw here cured them of such a temper of mind : Stran-
gers were generally surprised to find things so much beyond
what they had heard, and were wont to tell others that the
state of the town could not be conceived of by those that had
INTIlODUCTOllY STATEMENT 41
not seen it. The notice that was taken of it hy the people
that came to town on occac-ion of the court, that sat heie in
the beginning of March, was very observable. And those
that came from the neighborhood to our pubHc lectm'es were
for the most part remarkably aflected. Many that came to
town, on one occasion or other, had their consciences smitten
and awakened, and went home with those impressions that
never wore off till they had hopefully a saving issue ; and
those that before had serious thoughts, had their awakenings
and convictions greatly increased. And there were many
instances of persons that came from abroad, on visits, or on
business, that had not been long here before to all appear-
ance they were savingly wrought upon, and partook of that
shower of divine blessing that God rained down here, and
went home rejoicing ; till at length the same work began
evidently to appear and prevail in several other towns in the
county.
In the month of March, the people in South Hadley began
to be seized with deep concern about the tidings of religion ;
which very soon l)ecame universal. And the work of God
has been very wonderful there ; not much, if any thing,
short of what it has been here, in proportion to the size of
the place. About the same time it began to break forth in
the west part of Suffield, (where it has also been very great,)
and it soon spread into all parts of the town. It next ap-
peared at Sunderland, and soon overspread the town : and
I believe it was, for a season, not less remarkable than it
was here. About the same time, it began to appear in a part
of Deerfield, called Green river, and afterwards filled the
town, and there has been a glorious work theie : it began
also to be manifest in the south part of Hatfield, in a
place called the Hill, and after that the whole town, in the
second week in April, seemed to be seized, as it were at once,
with concern about the thuigs of religion ; and the work of
Ood has been great there. There has been also a very
general awakening at West Spriugtield, and Lonii Meadow:
42 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
and ill Enfield there was for a time no small concern
among some that before had very loose persons. About the
same time that this appeared at Enfield, the Rev. Mr. Bull,
of Westfield, informed me, that there had been a great altera-
tion there, and that more had been done in one week there
than in seven years before. Something of this work like-
wise appeared in the first precinct in Springfield, piincipally
in the north and south extremities of the parisli. And in
Hadley, old town, there gradually appeared so much of a
work of God on souls as at another time would hav« been
thought worthy of much notice. For a short time there was
also a very great and general concern of the like nature at
Northfield. And wherever this concern appeared, it seemed
not to be in vain : but in every place God brought saving
blessings with him, and his word attended with his Spirit
(as we have all reason to think) returned not void. It might
well be said at that time in all parts of the country, " Who
are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their win-
dows?"
As what other towns heard of and found in this, was a
great means of awakening them ; so our hearing of such
a swift and extraordinary propagation, and extent of this
work, did doubtless for a time serve to uphold the work among
us. The continual news kept alive the talk of religion, and
did greatly quicken and rejoice the hearts of God's people,
and much awakened those that looked on tliemselves as still
left behind, and made them the more earnest that they also
might share in the great blessings that others had obtained.
This remarkable pouring out of the Spirit of God, which
thus extended from one end to the other of this county, was
not confined to it, l3ut many places in Connecticut have par-
took in the same mercy : as for instance the first parish in
Windsor, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Marsh, was
thus blest about the same time as we in Northampton, while
we had no knowledge of each other's circumstances : there
has been a very great ingathering of souls to Christ in thnt
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 43
place, and something considerable of the same work begun
afterwards in East Windsor, my honored father's parish,
which has in times past been a place favored with mercies
of this nature above any on this western side of New Eng-
land, excepting Northampton ; there having been four or
five seasons of the pouring out of the Spirit to the general
awakening of the people tliere, since my father's settlement
among them.
Tnere was also the last spring and summer a wonderful
work of God carried on at Coventry under the mintstry of
the Rev. Mr. Meacham : Ihad opportunity to converse with
some of Coventry people, who gave me a very remarkable
account of the surprising change that appeared in the most
rude and vicious persons there. The like was also very great
at the same time in a part of Lebanon, called the Crank,
where the Rev. Mr. Wheelock, a young gentleman, is lately
settled : and there has been much of the same at Durham,
under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Chauncey ; and to appear-
ance no small ingathering of souls there. And likewise
among many of the young people in the first precinct in
Stratford under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Gould, where
the work was much promoted by the remarkable conversion
of a young woman that had been a great company keeper^
as it was here.
Something of this work has appeared in other towns in
those parts, as I was informed when I was there the last fall.
And we hav^e since been acquainted with something very
remarkable of tliis nature at another parish in Stratford,
called Ripton, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Mills.
And there was a considerable revival of religion last summer
at New Haven, old town, as I was once and again informed
by the Rev. Mr. Noyes, the minister there, and by others ;
and ])y a letter which I very lately r3ceived from Mr. Noyes,
and also by information we have had otherwise, this flou-
rishing of religion still continues, and has lately much in-
creased. Mr. Noyes writes, that many this summer have
44 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
been adtkMl to (lie cliuicli, and particularly nieniions several
young persons that belong to the principal families of that
town.
There lias been a degree of the same woric at a part of
Guilford; and very considerable at Mansfieldj under the
ministry of the Rev. Mr. Eleazer WiUiams; and an unusual
religious concern at Tolland ; and something of it at lie
bron, and ]3olton. There was also no small effusion of tlic
Spirit of God in the North Parish in Preston, in the eastern
part of Connecticut, which Iwas informed of, and saw some-
thing of it, when I was the last autumn at the house, and
in the congregation of the Rev. Mr. Lord, the minister there ;
who, with the Rev. Mr. Owen of Groton, came up hither
in May, the last year, on purpose lo see lbs work of God
here ; and having heard various and contradictory accounts
of it, were careful when they were here to inform and satisfy
themselves ; and to that end particularly conversed with
many of our people ; which they declared to be entirely to
their satisfaction, and that the one half had not been told
them, nor could be told them. Mr. Lord told me that when
he got home he informed his congregation of what he had
seen, and that they were greatly affected with it, and that it
proved the begirming of the same work among them, which
prevailed till there was a general awakening, and many in-
stances of persons who seemed to be remarkably converted.
1 also have lately heard that there has been something of the
same work at Woodbury.
But this shower of divine blessing has been yet more ex-
tensive. There was no small degree of it in some parts of
the Jerseys, as I was hiformed when I was at New York (in
a long journey I took at that time of the year for my health)
l)y some people of the Jerseys, whom I saw. Especiall}^ the
Rev. William Tennent, a minister who seemed to have such
tilings much at heart, told me of a very great awakening of
many in a place called the Mountains, under the ministry of
one Mr. Cross ; and of a very considerable revival of religion
JNTKOIJUCTOKV STATKMENT 45
in aiiollici- place nndcr the minidtiy of his brother, the Rev.
Mr. Gilbert Teiinent ; and also at another place under the
ministry of a very pious young gentleman, a Dutch minis-
ter, whose name, as I remember, was Freelinghousa.
'^riiis seems to have been a very extraordinary dispensa-
tion of [)rovidence: God has in many respects gone out of,
and much l)cyond, his usual and ordinary way. Tire work
in this town, and some otheis about us, has ])een extraordi-
nary on account of the universality of it, affecting all sorts,
sober and vicious, high and low, rich and })oor, wise and
unwise ; it reached the most considerable families and per-
sons, to all appearance, as much as others. In former stir-
rings of this nature, the bulk of the young people have been
greatly affected, but old men and little children have been
so now. Many of the last have, of their own accord, formed
themselves into religious societies, in different parts of the
town. A loose, careless person C3uld scarcely find a com-
panion in the whole neighborhood ; and if there was any one
that seemed to remain senseless or unconcerned, it would be
spoken of as a strange thing.
This dispensation has also appeared very extraordinary in
the numbers of those on whom we have reason to hope it has
had a saving efiect. We have about six hundred and twenty
communicants, which include. almost all our adult persorLs.
The church was very large before, but persons never
thronged into it as they did in the late extraordinary time.
Our sacraments are eight weeks asunder, and I received into
our communion about a hundred before one sacrament^
and fourscore of them at one time, whose ap])earance when
they presented themselves together to make an open, explicit
profession of Christianity, was very affecting to the congre-
gation. I took in near sixty before the next sacrament day ;
and I had very sufficient evidence of the conversion of their
souls, through divine grace.
I am far from pretending to be ablci to determine how
many have lately been the subjects of such mercy : but if I
46 INTRODUCTORY STaTEMUNT
laay be allowed to declare any thing that appears to me
probable in a thing of this nature, I hope that more than
three hundred souls were savingly brought home to Christ
in this town in the space of half a year, (how many more I
don't guess,) and about the same number of males as females;
which by wliat I hav^e heard Mr. Stoddard say, was far from
what has been usual in years past, for he observed that in
his time many more women were converted than men.
Those of our young people that are on other accounts most
likely and considerable, are mostly, as I hope, truly pious,
and leading persons in ways of religion. Those that were
formerly loose yoiuig persons, are generally, to all appear-
ance, become true lovers of God and Christ, and spiiitual in
their dispositions. And I hope that. by far the greater part
of persons in this town above sixteen years of age, are such
as have the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ ; and so by
what I heard, I suppose it is in some other places, particularly
at Sunderland and South Hadlcy.
This has also appealed to be a very extraordinary dispen-
?Ttion, in that the Spirit of God has so much extended not
only his awakening, Init regenerating influences both to
elderly persons, and also to those that are very young. It
has been a thing heretofore rarely to be Iieard of, that any
were converted past middle age ; but now we have the same
ground to think that many such have in this time l)een
savingly changed, as that others have been so in more early
/years. I suppose there were upwards of fifty persons con-
/ verted in tliis towji a'oove forty years of age ; and more than
I twenty of them above fifty, and above ten of them above sixty ;^
'' and two of them above seventy years of age.
It has heretofore been looked on as a strange thing, when
any had seemed to be savingly wrought upon, and remark-
ably changed in their childhood ; but now I suppose, near
thirty were to apj)earance so wrought upon, betv.een ten and
fourteen years of age, and two between nine and ten, and
one of about four years of age ; and because I suppose this
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 47
lasl will be witli most tlifficulty believed, I will hcieafter give
a particular account of it. The influences of God's Spirit
have also been very remarkable on children in some other
places, particularly at Sunderland and South Hadley, and
the west part of Suffield. There are several families in this
town that are all hopefully pious ; yea, there are several nu-
merous families, in which I think we have reason to hope that
all the children are truly godly, and most of them lately l^ecome
so: and there are very few houses in the whole town, into which
salvation has not come in one or more instances. There are
seveial negroes, that from what was seen in them then, and
what is discernible in them since, appear to have been truly
born again in the late remarkable season.
God has seemed to have gone out of his usual way, in the
quickness of his work, and the swift progress his Spirit has
made in his operations on the hearts of many. It is wonder-
ful that persons should be so suddenly, and yet so greatly
chaiiged. Many have been taken from a loose and careless
way of living, and seized with strong convictions of their
guilt and misery, and in a very little time old things have
passed away, and all things have become new with them.
God's work has also appeared very extraordinary in the
degrees of the influences of his Spirit, both in the degree of
awakening and conviction, and also in the degree of saving-
light, and love, and joy, that many have experienced. It
has also been ver}'^ extraordinary in the extent- of it, and its
being so swiftly propagated from town to town. In former
times of the pouring out of the Spirit of God on this town,
though in some of them it is very remarkable, yet it reached
no further than this town ; the neighboring towns all around
continued mimoved.
The work of God's Spirit seemed to be at its greatest
height in this town, in the former part of the spring, in March
and April, at which time God's work in the conversion of
souls was carried on among us in so wonderful a manner,
that so far as J, Ijy looking back, can judge from the particu-
48 Manner of conversion various.
lar acquaintance T have had with souls in this wovk, it ap-
pears to luc probaljle to have been at the rate at least of fom'
persons in a day, or near thirty in a week, take one with an-
other, for five or six weeks together. When God in so re-
markable a manner took the work into his own hands, there
was as much done in a day or two, as at ordinary times with
all endeavors that men can use, and with such a blessing
as we commonly have, is done in a year.
I am very sensible how apt many would be if they should
see the account I have here given, presently to think with
themselves that I am very fond of making a great many con-
verts, and of magnifiying and aggrandizing the matter ; and
to think that, for want of iudgment, I take ever)^ religious
pang, and enthusiastic conceit, for saving conversion ; and I
don't much wonder if they should be apt to think so : and
for this reason T have forborne to publish an account of this
great work of God, though I have often been put upon it ; but
having now as I thought a special call to give an account of
it, upon mature consideration I thought it might not be beside
my duty to declare this amazing work, as it appeared to me,
to be indeed divine, and to conceal no part of the glory of it,
leaving it with God to take care of the credit of his own work,
and running the venture of any censorious thoughts which
might be entertained of me to my disadvantage : but that
distant persons may be under as great advantage as may be,
to judge for themselves of this matter, 1 would be a little more
large and particular.
CHAPTER 11.
*lltc niannar of conversion various^ yet bearing a great
resemblance.
I THEKEFOKE procecd to give an account of the manner of
persons l>eiii,if wroui^hl upon : and here there is a vast variety,
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 49
perhaps as manifold as the subjects of the operation ; but yet
in many things there is a great analogy in all.
Persons are first awakened with a sense of their miserable
condition by nature, the danger they are in of perishing
eternally, and that it is of great importance to them that they
speedily escape, and get into a better state. Those that be-
fore were secure and senseless, are made sensible how much
they were in the way to ruin in their former courses. Some
are more suddenly seized with convictions ; it may be by
the news of others' conversion, or something they hear in pub-
lic or in private conference ; their consciences are suddenly
smitten as if their hearts were pierced through Avith a dart :
Others have awakenings that come upon them more gradu-
ally ; they begin at first to be something more thoughtful and
considerate, so as to come to a conclusion in their minds,
that it is their best and wisest way to delay no longer, but to
improve the present opportunity ; and have accordingly set
themselves seriously to meditate on those things that have
the most awakening tendency, on puipose to obtain convic-
tions ; and so their awakenings have increased, till a sense
of their misery, by God's Spirit setting in therewith, has had
fast hold of them. Others that, before this wonderful time,
had been somewhat religious and concerned for their salva-
tion, have been awakened in a new manner, and made
sensible that their slack and dull way of seeking was never
like to attain their purpose, and so have been roused up to a
greater violence for the kingdom of heaven.
These awakenings, when they have first seized on per-
sons, have had two effects : one was, that they have brought
them immediately to quit their sinful practices, and the
looser sort have been brought to forsake and dread their
former vices and extravagancies. When once the Spirit of
God began to be so wonderfully poured out in a general way
through the town, people had soon done with their old quar-
rels, backbitings, and intermeddling with other men's mat-
ters ; the tavern was soon left empty, and persons kept very
7
50 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS.
much at home ; none went abroad, unless on necessary
business, or on some religious account, and every day seemed
in many respects like a sabbath day. And the other effect
was, that it put tl.em on earnest application to the means of
salvation, reading, prayer, meditation, the ordinances of
God's house, and private conference ; their cry was, " What
shall we do to be saved ?" The place of resort was now
altered ; it was no longer the tavern, but the minister's
house, that was thronged far more than ever the tavern had
been wont to be.
I'here is a very great variety as to the degree of fear and
trouble that persons are exercised with before they obtain any
comfortable evidences of pardon and acceptance with God :
some are from the beginning carried on with abundantly
more encouragement and hope than others: some have had
ten times less trouble of mind than others, in whom yet the
issue seems to be the same. Some have had such a sense
of the displeasure of God, and the great danger they were in
of damnation, that they could not sleep at night ; and many
have said that when they have laid down, the thoughts of
sleeping in such a condition have been frightful to them,
and they have scarcely been free from terror while they have
been asleep, and they have awaked with fear, heaviness,
and distress still abiding on their spirits. It has been very
common that the deep and fixed concern that has been on
person's minds has had a painful influence on their bodies,
and has given disturbance to animal nature.
The awful apprehensions persons have had of their mi-
sery, have for the most part been increasing, the nearer they
have approached to deliverance; though they often pass
through many changes and alterations in the frame and cir-
cumstances of their minds. Sometimes they think them-
selves wholly senseless, and fear that the Spirit of God has
left them, and that they are given up to judicial hardness ;
yet they appear very deeply exercised about tliat fear, and
are in great earnest to obtain convictions again.
*♦
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 51
Together with those fears, and that exercise of mind which
is rational, and which tliey have just ground for, they have
often suffered many needless distresses of thought, in which
Satan probably has a great hand, to entangle them and block
up their way ; and sometimes the distemper of melancholy
has been evidently mixed ; of which, when it happens, the
tempter seems to make great advantage, and puts an un-
happy bar in the way of any good effect. One knows not
how to deal with such persons ; they turn every thing that
is sciid to them the wrong way, and most to their own dis-
advantage ; and there is nothing that the devil seems to
make so great a handle of, as a melancholy hmnor, unless
it be the real corruption of the heart.
But it has been very remarkable that there has been far
less of this mixture in this time of extraordinary blessing
than there was wont to be in persons under awakenings at
other times ; for it is evident that many that before had been
exceedingly involved in such difficulties seemed now strangely
to be set at liberly. Some persons that had before, for a long
time, been exceedingly cxtangled with peculiar temptations,
of one sort or other, and unprofitable and hurtful distresses,
were soon helped over former stumbling blocks, that hin-
dered any progress toward saving good ; and convictions
have wrought more kindly, and they have been successfully
carried on in the way to life. And thus Satan seemed to
be restrained, till towards the latter end of this wonderful
time, when God's Spirit was about to withdraw.
Many times persons under great awakenings were con-
cerned, because they thought they were not awakened, but
miserable, hard-hearted, senseless, sottish creatures still, and
sleeping upon the brink of hell. The sense of the need they
have to be awakened, and of their comparative hardness,
grows upon them with their awakenings ; so that they seem
to themselves to be very senseless, when indeed most sensi-
ble. There have been some instances of persons that have
had as great a sense of their danger and misery as their
52 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS.
natures could well subsist under, so that a little more would
probably have destroyed them ; and yet they have expressed
themselves much amazed at their own insensibility and
sottishness, in such an extraordinary time as it then was.
Persons are sometimes brought to the borders of despair,
and it looks as black as midnight to them a little before the
day dawns in their souls ; some few instances there have
been of persons who have had such a sense of God's wrath
for sin, that they have been overborne and made to cry out
under an astonishing sense of their guilt, wondering that
God suffers such guilty wretches to live upon earth, and that
he doth not immediately send them to hell : and sometimes
their guilt does so glare them in the face that they are in
exceeding terror for fear that God will instantly do it ; but
more commonly the distresses under legal awakenings have
not been to such a degree. In some, these terrors do not
seem to be so sharp, when near comfort, as before ; their con-
victions have not seemed to work so much that way, but
they seem to be led further down into their own hearts, to
a further sense of their own universal depravity, and dead-
ness in sin.
The corruption of the heart has discovered itself in various
exercises in the time of legal convictions ; sometimes it
appears in a great struggle, like something roused by an
enemy, and Satan, the old inhabitant, seems to exert him-
self, like a serpent disturbed and enraged. Many in such
circumstances have felt a great spirit of envy towards the
godly, especially towards those that are thought to have been
lately converted, and most of all towards acquaintance and
companions, when they are thought to be converted. In-
deed, some have felt many heart-risings against God, and
murmurings at his ways of dealing with mankind, and his
dealings with themselves in particular. It has been much
insisted on, both in public and private, that persons should
have the utmost dread of such envious thoughts, which, if
allowed, tend exceedingly to quench the Spirit of God, if not
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 63
to provoke him finally to forsake them. And when such a
spirit has much prevailed, and persons have not so earnestly
strove against it as they ought to have done, it has seemed
to be exceedingly to the hindrance of the good ol their souls ;
but in some other instances, where persons have been much
terrified at the sight of such wickedness in their hearts, God
has brought good to them out of evil ; and made it a means
of convincing them of their own desperate sinfulness, and
bringing them off fiom all self-confidence.
The drift of the Spirit of God in his legal strivings with
persons, has seemed most evidently to be, fo make way for,
and to bring to, a conviction of their absolute dependence on
his sovereign powder and grace, and a universal necessity of a
Mediator, by leading them more and more to a sense of their
exceeding wickedness and guiltiness in his sight ; the pollu-
tion and insufficiency of their own righteousness, that they
can in no wise help themselves, and that God would be
wholly just and righteous in rejecting them, and all that they
do, and in casting them off forever : though there be a
vast variety, as to the manner and distinctness of persons'
c6nvictions of these things.
As they are gradually more and moic convinced of the
corruption and wickedness of their hearts, they seem to them-
selves to grow worse and w^orse, harder and blinder, and
more desperately wicked, instead of growing better ; they
are ready to be discourged by it, and oftentimes never think
themselves so far off from good, as when they are nearest.
Under the sense which the Spirit of God gives them of their
sinfulness, they often think that they differ from all others ;
their hearts are ready to sink with the thought that they are
the worst of all, and and that none ever obtained mercy that
were so wicked as they.
When awakenings first begin, their consciences are com-
monly most exercised about their outward vicious course, or
other acts of sin ; but afterwards are much more burdened
with a sense of heart-sins, the dreadful corruption of their
64 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS.
nature, their enmity against God, the pride of their hearts,
their unbeHef, their rejection of Christ, the stubborn-
ness and obstinacy of their wills ; and tbe like. In
many, God makes much use of their own experience,
in the course of tbeir awakenings and endeavors after
saving good, to convince them of their own vileness and
universal depravity.
Very often under first awakenings, when they are l:r jught
to reflect on the sin of their past lives, and have something
of a terrifying sense of God's anger, they set themselves to
walk more strictfy, and confess their sins and perform many
religious duties, with a secret hope of appeasing God's anger
and making up for the sins they liave committed : and often-
times, at first setting out, their affections are moved, and they
are full of tears in their confessions and prayers, which tliey
are ready to make very much off as tbough they were some
atonement, and had power to move coriespondent aflfectiong
in God too : and hence they are for a while big with expec-
tation of what God will do for them ; and conceive that they
grow better apace, and shall sooti be thoroughly converted.
But these affections are but short lived ; they quickly find
that they fail, and then they think themselves to be grown
worse again : they don't find such a prospect of being soon
converted, as they thought: instead of being nearer, they seem
to be farther off; their hearts they think are grown harder,
and by this means their fears of perishing greatly increase.
But though they are disappointed, they renew their attempts
again and again ; and still as their attempts are multiplied
so are their disappointments ; i\\\ fails, they see no token of
having inclined God's heart to them, they don't see that he
hears their prayers at all, as they expected he would ; and some-
times there have been great temptations arising hence to leave
off seeking, and to yield up the case. But as they are still more
terrified vvithfears of perishing, and their former hopes of prevail-
ing on God tobe merciful tothemina great measure fail; some-
times their religious affections have turned into heart-risings
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS 56
against God, because that he does net pily them, and seems
to have httle regard to their distress, and piteous cries, and
to all the pains that they take ; they think of the mercy that
God has shown to others^ how soon, and how easily others
have obtained comfort, and those too that were worse than
they, and have not labored so much as they have done, and
sometimes they have had even dreadful blasphemous
thoughts, in these circumstances.
But when they reflect on these wicked workings of heart
against God, if their convictions are continued, and the Spi-
rit of God is not provoked utterly to forsake them, they have
more distressing apprehensions of the anger of God towards
those whose hearts work after such a sinful maner about him ;
and it may be have great fears that they have committed
the unpardonable sin, or that God will surely never show
mercy to them that are such vipers ; and are often tempted
to leave off in despair. But then perhaps, by something
they read or heard of the infinite mercy of God, and all-suf-
ficiency of Christ for the chief of sinners, they have some en-
couragement and hope renewed ; but think that as yet they
are not fit to come to Christ; they were so wicked that Christ
will never accept of them : and then it may be they set them-
selves upon a new course of fruitless endeavors in their own
strength to make themselves better, and still meet with new
disappointments. They are earnest to inquire what they
shall do ? They do not know but there is something else to
be done in order to their obtaining converting grace, that
they have never done yet. It may be they hope that they
are something better than they were ; but then the pleasing
dream all vanishes again. If they are told that they trust
too much to their own strength and righteousness, they go
about to strive to bring themselves off from it, and it may be
think they have done it, when they only do the same thing
under a new disguise, and still find no appearance of any
good, but all looks as dark as midnight to them. Thus they
wander about from mountain to hill, seeking rest and finding
56 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS.
none ; when they are beat out of one refuge they fly to an-
other, till they are as it were debilitated, broken, and subdued
with legal humblings ; in which God gives them a convic-
tion of their own utter helplessness and insufllciency, and dis-
covers the true remedy.
When they begin to seek salvation, they are commonly
profoundly ignorant of themselves ; they are not sensible
how blind they are, and how little they can do towards bring-
ing themselves to see spiritual things aright, and towards
putting forth gracious exercises in their own souls : they are
not sensible how remote they are from love to God, and other
holy dispositions, and how dead they are in sin. When
they see unexpected pollution in their own hearts, they go
about to wash away their own defilements, and make them-
selves clean ; and they weary themselves in vain, till Gcd
shows them that it is in vain, and their help is not where they
have sought it, but elsewhere.
But some persons continue wandering in such a kind of
labyrinth ten times as long as others, before their own ex-
perience will convince them of their insufficiency ; and
so it appears not to be their own experience only, but the
convincing influence of God's Spirit with their experience,
that attains the effect : and God has of late abundantly
shown that he does not need to wait to have men convinced
by long and often repeated fruitless trials ; for in multitudes
of instances he has made a shorter work of it : he has so
awakened and convinced persons' consciences, and made tliem
so sensible of their exceedingly great vileness, and giv^en them
such a sense of his wrath against sin, as has quickly over-
come all their vain self-confidence, and borne them down
into the dust before a holy and righteous God.
There have been some who have not had great terrors,
but haye had a very quick work. Some of those that have
not had so deep a conviction of these things before their con-
version, have, it may be, much more of it afterwards. God
has appeared far from limiting himself to any certain method
MANNER OF CONVERSION \ AKIOI S 57
lii his pioceedings with sinners under legal convictions. In
some instances it seems easy for our reasoning powers to dis-
cern the methods of Divine Wisdom, in his dealings with the
soul under awakenings : in others his footsteps cannot be
traced, and his ways are past finding out : and some that
are less distinctly wrought upon in what is preparatory to
grace, appear no less eminent in gracious experiences after-
wards.
There is in nothing a greater difference, in different per-
sons, than with respect to the time of their being under
trouble ; some but a few days, and others for months or
years. There were many in this town, that had been, be-
fore this effusion of God's Spirit upon us, for years, and some
for many years, concerned about their salvation ; though
probably they were not thoroughly awakened, yet they wTre
concerned to such a degree as to be very uneasy, so as to
liv^e an vmcomfortable, disquieted life, and so as to continue
in a way of taking considerable pains about their salvation,
but had never obtained any comfortable evidence of a good
state, who now, in this extraordinary time, have received
light ; but many of them were some of the last. They
first saw multitudes of others rejoicing, and with songs of
deliverance in their mouths, who seemed wholly careless and
at ease, and in pursuit of vanity, while they had been bowed
down with solicitude about their souls : yea, some had lived
licentiously, and so continued till a little before they were
converted, and grow up to a holy rejoicing in the infinite
blessings God had bestowed upon them.
And whatever minister has the like occasion to deal with
souls, in a flock under such circumstances as this was in the
last 5'ear, I cannot but think he will soon find himself under
a necessity, greatly to insist upon it with them, that God is
under no mannei" of obligation to show mercy to any natural
man, whose heart is not turned to God ; and that a man can
challenge nothing, either in absolute justice, or by free pro-
mise, from any thins: he docs before he ha? believed on Jesus
58 MANJN'£R OF CONVERSION VAftlOLS.
Christ, or has true repentance begun in liim. It appears to
me, that if I had taught those that came to me under
trouble, any other doctrine, I should have taken a most di-
rect course utterly to have undone them. I should have
directly crossed what was plainly the drift of the Spirit of
God in his influence upon them ; for if they had believed
what I said, it would either have promoted self-flattery and
carelessness, and so put an end to their awakenings, or che-
rished and established their contention and strife with God,
concerning his dealings with them and others, and blocked
up their way to that humiliation, before the Sovereign Dis-
poser of life and death, whereby God is wont to prepare them
for his consolations. And yet those that have been under
awakenings, have oftentimes plainly stood in need of being
encouraged, by being told of the infinite and all-sufficient
mercy of God in Christ ; and that it is God's manner to
succeed diligence, and to bless his own means, that so awa-
kenings and encouragements, fear and hope, may be duly
mixed, and proportioned to preserve their minds in a just
medium between the two extremes of self-flattery and de-
spondence, both which tend to slackness, and negligence, and
in the end, to security. I think I have found that no dis-
courses liave been more remarkably blessed, than those in
which the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty with re-
gard to the salvation of sinners, and his just liberty with
regard to his answering the prayers or succeeding the pains
of natural men, continuing such, have been insisted on. I
never found so much immediate saving fruit, in any mea-
sure, of any discourses I have offered to my congregation, as
some from those words, Rom. iii. 19. ; " That every mouth
may be stopped ;" endeavoring to show fnjm thence that it
would be just with God forever to reject and cast off mere
natural men.
In those in whom awakenings seem to have a saving
issue, commonly the first thing that appears after their legal
troubles, is a conviction of the justice of God in their con-
3IANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOTS 59
demnation, in a sense of their own exceeding sinfulness, and
tlie vileness of all their performances. In giving account of
this, they expressed themselves very variously ; some, that
God was sovereign, and might receive others and reject
them : some, that they were convinced that God might justly
bestow mercy on every person in the town, and on every
person in the world, and damn themselves to all eternity ;
some, that they see that God may justly have no regard to
all the pains they have taken, and all the prayers they have
made ; some, that they see that if they should seek and take
the utmost pains, all their lives, God might justly cast them
into hell at last, because all their labors, prayers, and tears^
cannot make an atonement for the least sin, nor merit an}^
blessing at the hands of God ; some have declared them-
selves to be in the hands of God, that he can and may dis-
pose of them just as he pleases ; some, that God may glorify
himself in their damnation, and they wonder that God has
suffered them to live so long, and has not casi them into
hell long ago.
Some are brought to this conviction by a great sense of
their sinfulness in general, that they are such vile, wicked
creatures, in heart and life : others have the sins of their
lives in an extraordinary manner set before them, multitudes
of them coming just then fresh to their memories, and being
set before them with their aggravations ; some have their
minds especially fixed on some particular wicked practice
they have indulged ; some are especially convinced by a
sight of the corruption and wickedness of their hearts ; some,
from a view they have of the horridness of some particular
exercises of corruption which they have had in the time of
their awakenings, whereby the enmity of the heart against
God has been manifested ; some are convinced especially by
a sense of the sin of unbelief, the opposition of their hearts
to the way of salvation by Christ, and their obstinacy in re-
jectino; Iiim and his irrare.
GO MANNER or CONVERSION VARIOUS
There is a great deal of difference as to persons' distinct-
ness here ; some, that have not so clear a sight of God's jus-
tice in their condemnation, yet mention things that plainly
imply it. They find a disposition to acknowledge God to
be just and righteous in his threatenings, and that they are
deserving of nothing. And many times, tliough they had
not so particular a sight of it at the beginning, they have
very clear discoveries of it soon afterwards, with great hum-
blings in the dust befoie God.
Commonly persons' minds immediately before this dis-
covery of God's justice, are exceedingly restless, and in a kind
of struggle and tumult, and sometimes in mere anguish :
but generally as soon as they have this conviction, it imme-
diately brings their minds to a calm, and a before unexpected
quietness and composure : and most frequently, though not
always, then the pressing weight upon their spirits is taken
away, and a general hope arises that some time or other God
will be gracious, even before any distinct and particular dis-
coveries of mercy ; and often they then come to a conclusion
within themselves, that they will lie at God's feet, and wait
his time ; and they rest in that, not being sensible that the
Spirit of God has now brought them to a frame wliereby they
are prepared for mercy ; for it is remarkable that persons
when they first have this sense of the justice of God, rarely
in the time of it think any thing of its being that humihation
that they have often heard insisted on, and that others' ex-
perience.
In many persons, the first conviction of Ihe justice of God
in their condemnation, which they take particulor notice of,
and probably the first distinct conviction of it that they have
is of such a nature as seems to be above any thing merely
legal : though it be after legal humblings, and much of the
sense of their own helplessness, and of the insufficiency of
their own duties ; yet it does not appear to be forced by mere
legal terrors and convictions ; but rather from a high exercise
of grace, in saving repentance and evangelical humiliation :
MANNER or CONVERSION VARIOUS, 01
for there is in it a sort of complacency of soul in the attribute
of God's justice, as displayed in his threatenings of eternal
damnation to sinners. Sometimes at the discovery of it, they
can scarcely forbear crying out, His just ! His just! Some
express themselves, that they see the glory of God would
shine bright in their own condemnation ; and they are ready
to think that if they are damned, they could take i)art with
God against themselves, and would glorify his justice therein.
And when it is thus, they commonly have some evident
sense of free and all-sufficient grace, though they give no
distinct account of it ; but it is manifest by that great degree
of liope and encouragement that they then conceive, though
they were never so sensible of their own vileness and ill-de-
servingSj as they were at that time.
Some, when in such circumstances, have felt that sense of
the excellency of God's justice, appearing in the vindictive
exercises of it against such sinfulness as theirs was, and have
had such a submission of mind in their idea of this attribute,
and of those exercises of it, together with an exceeding loath-
ing of their own unworthiness, and a kind of indignation
against themselves, that they have sometimes almost culled
it a willingness to be damned ; though it must be owned
they had not clear and distinct ideas of damnation, nor does
any word in the Bible require such self-denial as this. But
the truth is, as some have clearly expressed it, that salvation
has appeared too good for them, that they were worthy of
nothing but condemnation, and they could not tell how to
think of salvation's being bestowed upon them, fearing it w^as
inconsistent with the glory of God's majesty, that they had
so much contemned and affronted.
That calm of spirit that some persons have found after
their legal distresses, continues some time before any special
and delightful manifestation is made to the soul, of the grace
of God, as revealed in the gospel ; but very often some com-
fortable and sweet view of a merciful God, of a sufficient Re-
deemer, or of some great and joyful things of the gospel, im-
62 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS,
mediately follows, or in a very little time : and in some, the
first sight of their just desert of hell, and God's sovereignty
with respect to their salvation, and a discovery of all-sufficient
grace, are so near that they seem to go as it were together.
Tl)ese gracious discoveries that are given, whence the first
special c nforts are derived, are in many respects very va-
viou ; more frequently Christ is distinctly made the object of
the mind, in his all-sufficiency and willingness to save sin-
ners : but some have their thoughts more especially fixed on
God, in some of his sweet and glorious attributes manifested
in the gospel, and shining forth in the face of Christ. Some
view the all-sufficiency of the mercy and grace of God ; some,
chiefly the infinite power of God, and his ability to save them,
and to do all things for them ; and some look most at the
truth and faithfulness of God : in some, the truth and cer-
tainty of the gospel in general is the first joyful discovery
they have ; in others, the certain truth of some particular
promises ; in some, the grace and sincerity of God in his in-
vitations, very commonly in some particular invitation in the
mind, and it now appears real to them that God does indeed
invite them. Some are struck with the glory and wonder-
fulness of the dying love of Christ ; and some with the suffi-
ciency and preciousness of his blood, as offered to make an
atonement for sin ; and others w^ith the value and glory of
his obedience and righteousness. In some, the excellency
and Joveliness of Christ, chiefly engages their thoughts ; in
some, his divinity, that he is indeed the Son of the living-
God ; and in others, the excellency of the way of salvation
by Christ, and the suitableness of it to their necessities.
Some have an apprehension of these things so given, that
it seems more natural to them to express it by siglit or dis-
covery ; others tliink what they experience better expressed
by the realizing conviction, or a lively or feeling sense of
heart; meaning, as I suppose, no other difference but wlint
ismerelv circumstantial or crradual,
3IANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 63
There is often in the mind some particular text of scripture,
holding forth some evangelical ground of consolation ; some-
times a multitude of texts, gratious invitations, and promises,
flowing in one after another, fiUing the soul more and more
with comfort and satisfaction ; and comfort is given to some
while reading some portion of scripture ; but in some it is at-
tended with no particular scripture at all, either in reading or
meditation. In some, many divine things seem to be dis-
covered to the soul as it were at once ; others have their
minds especially fixing on some one thing at first, and after-
wards a sense is given of others ; in some with a swifter, and
others a slower succession, and sometimes with interrup-
tions of much darkness.
The way that grace seems sometimes first to appear, after
legal humihation, is in earnest longings of soul after God
and Christ, to know God, to love him, to be humbled before
him, to have communion with Christ in his benefits, which
longings, as they express them, seem evidently to be of such
a nature as can arise from nothing but a sense ot the super-
lative excellency of divine things, with a spiritual taste and
relish of them, and an esteem of them as their highest hap-
piness and best portion. Such longings as I speak of are
commonly attended with firm resolutions to pursue this good
forever, together with a hoping, waiting disposition. When
persons have begun in such frames, commonly other expe-
riences and discoveries have soon followed, which have yet
more clearly manifested a change of heart.
It must needs be confessed that Christ is not always dis-
tinctly and exphcitly thought of in the first sensible act of
grace (though most commonly he is) ; but sometimes he is
the object of the mind only implicitly. Thus sometimes
when persons have seemed evidently to be stript of all their
own righteousness, and to have stood self-condemned as
guilty of death, they have been comforted with a joyful and
satisfying view that the mercy and grace of God is sufficient
for them : that their sins, though never so great, shall be no
04 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS,
hindeiance to their being accepted ; that there is merc\
enough in God for the whole world, and the like, when they
give no account of any particular or distinct thought of
Christ ; but yet when the account they give is duly weighed,
and they are interrogated about it, it appears that the reve-
lation of the mercy of God in the gospel is the ground of this
their encouragement and hope ; and that it is indeed the
mercy of God through Christ that is discovered to them, and
that it is depended on in him, and not in any wise moved by
any thing in them.
So sometimes disconsolate souls among us have been re-
vived and brought to rest in God, by a sweet sense given of
his grace and faithfulness, in some special invitation or pro-
mise, in which is no particular mention of Christ, nor is it
accompanied with any distinct thought of him in their
minds ; but yet it is not received as out of Christ, but as one
of the invitations or promises made of God to poor sinners
through his Son Jesus, as it is indeed ; and such persons
have aftervvards had clear and distinct discoveries of Christ,
accompanied with lively and special actings of faith and love
towards him.
It has more frequently been so among us that when per-
sons have first had the gospel ground of relief for lost sinners
discovered to them, and have been entertaining their minds
with the sweet prospect, they have thought nothing at that
time of their being converted ; to see that there is such an
all-sufficieucy in God, and such plentiful provision made in
Christ, after they have been borne down and sunk with a
sense of their guilt and fears of wrath, exceedingly refreshes
them ; the view is joyful to them, as it is in its own nature
glorious, and gives them quite new and more delighful ideas
of God and Christ, and greatly encourages them to seek con-
version, and begets in them a strong resolution to give up
themselves, and devote their whole lives to God and his Son,
and patiently to wait till God shall see fit to make all efloo-
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 65
tiial ; and very often they entertain a strong persuasion that
he will in his own time do it for them.
There is wrought in them a holy repose of soul in God
through Christ, and a secret disposition to fear and love him,
and to hope for blessings from him in this way ; and yet
they have no imagination that they are now converted ; it
does not so much as come into their minds : and very often
the reason is, that they do not see that they do accept of this
sufficiency of salvation that they behold in Christ, having
entertained a wrong notion of acceptance ; not being sen-
sible that the obedient and joyful entertainment which their
hearts give to this discovery of grace, is a real acceptance of
it. They know not that the sweet complacence they feel in
the mercy and complete salvation of God, as it includes par-
don and sanctification, and is held forth to them only through
Christ, is a true receiving of this mercy, or a plain evidence
of their receiving it. They expected I know not what kind
of act of soul, and perhaps they had no distinct idea of it
themselves.
And indeed it appears very plainly in some of them that
before their own conversion they had very imperfect ideas
what conversion was. It is all new and strange, and what
there was no clear conception of before. It is most evident,
as they themselves acknowledge, that the expressions that
were used to describe conversion, and the graces of God's
Spirit, such as a spiritual sight of Christ, faith in Christ,
poverty of spirit, trust in God, resignedness to God, <fcc., were
expiiessions that did not convey those special and distinct
ideas to their minds which they were intended to signify, in
some respects, no more than the names of colors are to con-
vey the ideas to one that is blind from his birth.
This town is a place where there has always been a great
deal of talk of conversion and spiritual experiences ; and
therefore people in general had before foimed a notion in
their own minds what these things were ; but when they
come to be the subjects of them themselves, they found them-
9
66 MANNER OP CONVERSION VARIOUS
selves much confounded in their notions, and overthrown in
many of their former conceits. And it has been very ob-
servable, that persons of the greatest understanding, and that
had studied most about things of this nature, have been more
confounded than others. Some such persons that have lately
been converted, declared that all their former wisdom is
brought to nought, and they appear to have been mere babes,
who knew nothing. It has appeared that none have stood
more in need of enlightening and instruction, even of their
fellow-Christians, concerning their own circumstances and
difficulties, than they : and it has seemed to have been with
delight, that they have seen themselves thus brought down
and become nothing, that free grace and divine power may
be exalted in them.
It was very wonderful to see after what manner persons'
affections were sometimes moved and wrought upon, when
God did, as it were, suddenly open their eyes, and let into
their minds a sense of the greatness of his grace, and the
fullness of Christ, and his readiness to save ; who before were
broken with apprehensions of divine wrath, and sunk into
an abyss under a sense of guilt, which they were ready ta
think was beyond the mercy of God ; their joyful surprise
has caused their hearts as it were to leap, so that they have
been ready to break forth into laughter, tears often at the
same time issuing hke a flood, and intermingling a loud
weeping : and sometimes they have not been able to forbear
crying out with a loud voice, expressing their great admim-
tion. In some, even the view of the glory of God's sove-
reignty in the exercises of his grace has surprised the soul
with such sweetness as to produce the same effects. 1 re-
member an instance of one, who, reading something con-
cerning God's sovereign way of saving sinners, as being
self-moved, and having no regard to men's own righteous-
ness as the motive of his grace, but as magnifying himself
and abasing man, or to that purpose, felt such a sudden
rapture of jov and delight in the consideration of it : and yet
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 67
he then sirspected himself to be in a Christless condition,
and had been long in great distress for fear that God would
not have mercy on him.
Many continue a long time in a course of gracious exer-
cises and experiences, and do not think themselves to be con-
verted, but conclude themselves to be otherwise ; and none
knows how long they would continue so, were they not
helped by particular instruction. There are undoubted in-
stances of some that have lived in this way for many years
together ; and continuing in these circumstances of being
converted and not believing it, has had various consequences
with various persons, and with the same persons at various
times; some continue in great encouragement and hope, that
they shall o]:>tain mercy in a steadfast resolution to persevere
in seeking it, and in a humble waiting for it at God's foot;
but very often, when the lively sense of the sufficiency of
Christ, and the riches of divine grace begins to vanish upon a
withdrawment of the influence of the Spirit of God, they return
to greater distress than ever ; for tbey have now a far greater
sense of the misery of a natural condition than before, being
in a new manner sensible of the reality of eternal things, and
the greatness of God, and his excellency, and how dreadful
it is to be separated from him, and to be subject to his wrath;
so that they are sometimes swallowed up with darkness and
amazement. Satan has a vast advantage in such cases to
ply them with various temptations, which he is not wont to
neglect. In such a case, [)ersons do very much need a guide
to lead them to an understanding of what we are taught in
the word of God of the nature of grace, and to help them to
apply it to themselves.
1 have been much blamed and censured by many, that I
should make it my practice, when I have been satisfied con-
cerning persons' good state, to signify it to them : which thing
has been greatly misrepresented abroad, as innumerable other
things concerning us, to prejudice the country against the
whole affair. But let it be noted that what I have underta-
68 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS
ken to judge of, lifts ratlier been qnalificalions, and declared
experiences, tlian persons : not but that I have tliought it
ray duty as a pastor to assist and instruct persons in apply-
ing scripture rules and characters to their own case (in doing
of which, I think many greatly need a guide) ; and have,
where I thought the case plain, used freedom in signifying
my hope of them, to others ; but have been far from doing
this concerning all that I have had some hopes of ; and I
believe have used much more caution than many have
supposed. Yet I should account it a great calamity to
be deprived of the comfort of rejoicing with those of my
flock, that have been in great distress, whose circum-
stances I have been acquainted with, when there seems
to be good evidence that those that were dead are alive,
and those that Avere lost are found. I am sensible the
practice would have been safer in the hands of one of a
riper judgment, and greater experience; but yet there has
seemed to be an absolute necessity of it on the forementioned
accounts ; and it has been found to be that which God has
most remarkably owned and blest among us, both to the per-
sons themselves and others.
Grace in many persons, through this ignorance of their
state, and their looking on themselves still as the objects of
God's displeasure, has been like the trees in winter, or like seed
in the spring suppressed under a liard clod of earth ; and many
in such cases have labored to their utmost to divert their minds
from the pleasing and joyful views they have had, and to sup-
press those consolations and gracious affections that arose
thereupon. And when it has once come into their minds
to inquire whether or no this was not true grace, they
have been much afiaid lest they should be deceived with
common illuminations and flashes of affection, and eternally
undone with a false hope. But when they have been better
instructed, and so brought to allow of hope, this has awa-
kened the gracious disposition of their hearts into life and
vigor, as the warm beams of (he sun in the spring have
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS, 69
quickened the seeds and productions of the earth : grace,
being now at Uberty, and cherished with hope, has soon
flowed out to their abundant satisfaction and increase.
There is no one thing that I know of that God has made
such a means of promoting his work among us as the news
of others' conversion ; in the awakening of sinners, and en-
gaging them earnestly to seek the same blessing, and in the
quickening of saints. Though I have thought that a minis-
ter's declaring his judgment about particular persons' expe-
riences might from these things be justified, yet 1 am often
signifying to my people how unable otie man is to know an-
other's heart, and how unsafe it is depending merely on the
judgment of ministers or others, and have abundantly in-
sisted on it with them, that a manifestation of sincerity i n
fruits brought forth is better than any manifestation they can
make of it in words alone, can be ; and that without this, all
pretenses to spiritual experiences are vain ; as all my congre-
gation can witness. And the people in general, in this late
extraordinary time, have manifested a very great dread of
being deceived, being exceedingly fearful lest they should
build wrong, and some of them backward to receive hope,
even to a great extreme.
Conversion is a great and glorious work of God's power,
at once changing the heart, and infusing life into the dead
soul ; though that grace that is tlien implanted does more
gradually display itself in some than in others. But as to
fixing on the precise time when they j)ut forth tlie very first
act of grace, there is a great deal of diOerence in diflerent
persons ; in some it seems to be veiy discernible when the
very time of this was ; but others are more at a loss. In
this respect there arc very many that do not know the time,
(as has already been observed,) that when they have the first
exercises of grace, do not know that it is the grace of con-
version, and sometimes do not think it to be so till a long
time after : and many, even when they come to entertain
great hope that they are converted, if they remember what they
70 MANNER OF f'ONVERSrON VARIOUS
experience in the first, exercises of grace, tliey are at a loss
whether it was any thing more than a common illumination ;
or whether some other more clear and remarkable experience
that they had afterwards was not the first that was of a saving
nature. And the manner of God's work on the soul is (some-
times especially) very mysterious, and it is with the kingdom
of God as to its manifestation in the heart of a convert, as is
said, Mark iv. 26, 27, 28. " So is the kingdom of God, as if
a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep,
and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring, and
grow up he knoweth iiot how ; for the earth bringetli forth
of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in
the ear."
In some, converting light is like a glorious brightness
suddenly shining in upon a person, and all around him :
they are in a remarkable manner brought out of darkness
into marvelous light. In many others it has been like the
dawning of the day, when at first but a Ifttle light appears,
and it may be is presently hid with a cloud ; and then it
appears again, and shines a little brighter, and gradually in-
creases with intervening darkness, till at length, perhaps, it
i)reaks forth more clearly from behind the clouds. And
many are, doubtless, ready to date their conversion wrong,
throwing by those lesser degrees of light that appeared at
first dawning, and calling some more remarkable experience
they had afterwards, their conversion, which often in great
measure arises from a wrong understanding of what they
have always been taught, that conversion is a great change,
wherein " old things are done away, and all things become
new," or at least from a false arguing from that doctrine.
Persons commonly at first conversion, and afterwards,
have had many texts of scripture brought to their minds,
that are exceeding suitable to their circumstances, which
often come with great power, and as the word of God or
Christ indeed ; and many have a multitude of sweet invita-
tions, promises, doxologies, flowing in one after another,
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 71
bringing great light and comfort with them, filling the soul
brinifull, enlarging the heart, and opening the mouth in re-
ligion. And it seems to me necessary to suppose that there
is an immediate inliuence of the Spirit of God oftentimes in
bringing texts of scripture to the mind ; not thai I suppose
it is done in a way of immediate revelation, without any
manner of use of the memory, but yet there seems plainly
to be an immediate and extraordinary influence in leading
their thoughts to such and such passages of scripture, and
exciting them in the memory. Indeed, in some God seems
to bring texts of scripture to their minds no otherwise than
by leading them into such frames and meditations as harmo-
nize with those scriptures ; but in many persons there seems
to be sometliing more than this. Those that, while under
legal convictions, have had the greatest terrors, have not al-
ways obtained the greatest light and comfort ; nor have they
always light most suddenly communicated ; but yet, I think,
the time of conversion has generally been most sensible in
such persons. Oftentimes the first sensible change after the
extremity of terrors, is a calmness, and then the light gra-
dually comes in ; small glimpses at first, after their midnight
darkness, and a word or two of comfort, as it were, softly
spoken to them. The}'^ hav3 a little taste of the sweetness
of divine grace, and the love of a Savior, when terror and
distress of conscience begins to be turned into a humble,
meek sense of their own unworthiness before God ; and
there is felt inwardly, perliaps, some disposition to piaise God ;
and after a little while the liglit comes in more clearly and
powerfully. But yet, I think, more frequently, great terrors
have been followed with more sudden and great light and
comfort ; when the sinner seems to be as it were subdued
and brought to a calm, from a kind of tumult of mind, then
God lets in an extraordinary sense of his great mercy
through a Redeemer.
The converting influences of God's Spirit ver}^ commonly
bring an extraordinary conviction of the reality and certainty
72 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS
of tlie great things of religion ; (though in some this is
much greater, some time after conversion, than at first ;)
they have that sight and taste of the divinity, or divine ex-
cellency, that there is in the things of the gospel, that is
more to convince them than reading many volumes of argu-
ments without it. It seems to me that in many instances
among us, when the divine excellency and glory of the
things of Christianity have been set before persons, and they
have at the same time as it were seen, and tasted, and felt
the divinity of them, they have been as far from doubting
of the truth of them, as they are from doubting whether
there be a sun, when their eyes are open upon it in the
midst of a clear hemisphere, and the strong blaze of his
light overcomes all objections against his being. And yet
many of them, if w^e should ask them why they believed
those things to be true, would not be able well to express or
communicate a sufficient reason to satisfy the inquirer, and
perhaps would make no other answer but that they see them
to be true : but a person might soon be satisfied, by a par-
ticular conversation with them, that what they mean by such
an answer is, that they have intuitively beheld, and imme-
diately felt, most illustrious works, and powerful evidence of
divinity in them.
Some are thus convinced of the truth of the gospel in
general, and that the scriptures are the word of God : others
have their minds more especially fixed on some particular
great doctrine of the gospel, some particular truths that they
are meditating on ; or arc in a special manner convinced of
the divinity of the things they are reading of, in some por-
tion of the scripture. Some have such convictions in a
much more remarkable manner than others ; and there are
some that never had such a special sense of the certainty of
divine things impressed upon them with such inward evi-
dence and strength, who have yet very clear exercises of ^
grace, such as love to God, repentance, and holiness. And
if they be more particularly examined, they appear plainly
3IANxVER or CONVERSION VARIOUS. 73
to Iiave ail inward, firm persuasion of the reality of divine
things, such as they did not use to liave before their conver-
sion. And those that have the most clear discoveries of
divine truth, in the mtmner that has been spoken of, cannot
have this always in view. When the sense and relish of the
divine excellency of these things fades, on a withdrawment
of the Spirit of God, they have not the medium of the con-
viction of their truth at command : in a dull frame, they
cannot recall the idea and inward sense they had, perfectly
to mind ; things appear very dim to what they did before ;
and though there still remains an habitual strong persuasion,
yet not so as to exclude temptations to unbelief, and all pos-
sibility of doubting, as before ; but then at particular times,
by God's help, the same sense of things revives again, hke
fire that lay hid in ashes.
I suppose the grounds of such a conviction of the truth
of divine things to be just and rational, but yet in some
God makes use of their own reason much more sensibly
than in others. Oftentimes persons have (so far as could be
judged) received the first saving conviction from reasoning
which they have heard from the pulpit ; and often in the
course of reasoning which they are led into in their own
meditations.
The arguments are the same that they have heard hun-
dreds of times ; but the force of the arguments, and their
conviction by them, is altogether new ; they come with a
new and before unexperienced power : before, they heard it
was so, and they allowed it to be so ; but now they see it to
be so indeed. Things now look exceedingly plain to them,
and they wonder that they did not see them before.
They are so greatly taken with their new discovery, and
things appear so plain and rational to them, that they are
often at first ready to think they can convince others, and
are apt to engage in talk with every one they meet with,
almost to this end ; and when thev are disappointed, are
74 IyIA^J^£R ojt' conversion various
ready to wonder tlmt their reasonings seem to make no more
impression.
Many fall under such a mistake as to be ready to
doubt of their good state, because there was so much use
made of their own reason in the convictions they have re-
ceived : they are afraid that they have no illumination above
the natural force of their own faculties : and many make
that an objection against the spirituahty of their convictions,
that it is so easy to see things as they now see them. They
have often heard that conversion is a woik of mighty power,
manifesting to the soul what no man or angel can give such
a conviction of ; but it seems to them that the things that
they see are so plain, and easy, and rational, that any body
can see them ; and if they are inquired of why they never
saw so before, they say, it seems to them it was because they
never thought of it. But very often these difficulties arc
soon removed by those of another nature ; for when God
withdraws, they find themselves as it were blind again ; they
for the present lose their realizing sense of those things that
looked so plain to them, and by all that they can do they
cannot recover it, till God renews the influences of his Spirit.
Persons after their conversion often speak of things of re-
ligion as seeming new to them ; that preaching is a new
thing ; that it seems to them they never heard preaching
before ; that the Bible is a new book : they find there new
chapters, new psalms, new histories, because they see them
in a new light. Here was a remarkable instance of an aged
woman that had spent most of her days under Mr. Stod-
dard's powerful ministry, who, reading in the New Testa-
ment concerning Christ's suOerings for sihners, seemed to
be surprised and astonished at what she read, as at a thing
that was real and very wonderful, but quite new to her, inso-
much that at first, before she had time to turn her thoughts,
she wondered within herself that she had never heard of it
iDfcfore ; but then immediately recollected herself, and thought
(hat she had often heard of it and read it, but never till now
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS. 75
saw it as a thing real ; and then cast in her mind how won-
derful this was, that the Son of God should undergo such
things for sinners, and how she had spent her time in un-
gratefully sinning against so good a God, and such a Savior;
though she was a person, as to what was visible, of a very
blameless and inoffensive life. And she was so overcome
by these considerations that her nature was ready to fail
under them. Those that were about her, and knew not
what was the matter, were surprised, and thought she was
dying.
Many have spoken much of their hearts being drawn out
in love to GocJ and Christ ; and their minds being wrapt
up in delightful contemplation of the glory and wonderful,
grace of God, and the excellency and dying love of Jesus
Chiist; and of their souls going forth in longing desires
after God and Christ. Several of our young children have
expressed much of this, and have manifested a willingness
to leave father and mother, and all things in the world, to
go to be with Christ. Some persons have had longing de-
sires after Christ, which have risen to that degree as to take
away their natural strength. Some have been so overcome
with a sense of the dying love of Christ to such poor, wretch-
ed, and unworthy creatures, as to v. eaken the body. Se-
veral persons have had so great a sense of the glory of God
and excellency of Christ, that nature and life have seemed
almost to sink under it ; and in all probability, if God had
showed them a little more of himself, it would have dissolved
their frame. I have seen some, and been in conversation
with them in such frames, Avho have certainly been perfectly
sober and very remote from any thing like enthusiastic wild-
ness : and have talked, when able to speak, of the glory of
God's perfections, and the wonderfulness of his grace in
Christ, and their own unworthiness, in such a manner that
cannot be perfectly expressed after them. Their sense of
their exceeding littleness and vileness, and their disposition
to abase themselves before God, has appeared to be s^reat in
76 3IANNER OP CONVERSION VARIOUS.
proportion to their liglit and joy. Such persons among us
as have been distinguished with the most extraordinary dis-
coveries of God, have commonly in nowise appealed with the
assuming, and self-conceited, and self-sufficient airs of enthu-
siasts, but exceedingly the contrary ; and are eminent for a
spirit of meekness, modesty, self-diffidence, and low opinion
of themselves. No persons seem to be so sensible of their
need of instruction and so eager to receive it as some of them
are. Those that have been thought to be converted among
us have generally manifested a longing to lie low and in the
dust before God : withal complaining of their not being able
to lie low enough. They very often speak much of their
sense of the excellency of the way of salvation by free and
sovereign grace, through the righteousness of Christ alone :
and how it is with dehght that they renounce their own
righteousness, and rejoice in having no account made of it.
Many have expressed themselves to this purpose, that it
would lessen the satisfaction they hope for in heaven to have
it by their own righteousness, or in any other way than as
bestowed by free grace, and for Christ's sake alone. They
speak much of the inexpressibleness of what they experience,
how their words fail, so that they can in nowise declare it :
and particularly speak with exceeding admiration of the su-
perlative excellency of that pleasure and delight of soul w^iich
they sometimes enjoy ; how a little of it is sufficient to pa}-
them for the pains and trouble they have gone through in
seeking salvation, and how far it exceeds all earthly plea-
sures ; and some express much of the sense which these
spiritual views give them of the vanity of earthly enjoy-
ments, how mean and worthless all these things appear to
them.
Many, while their minds have been filled with spiritual
dehghts, have as it were forgotten their food ; their bodily ap-
\yt\Ale has failed, while their minds have been entertained
with meat to eat that others know not of. The light and
comfort which some of them enjov, gives a now relish to
MANNER OP CONVERSION VARIOLs«. '7t
iheir common blessings, and causes all things about them to
appear as it were beautiful, sweet, and pleasant to them.
All things abroad, the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and
sky, the heavens and earth, appear as it were with a cast of
divine glory and sweetness upon them. The sweetest joy
that these good people among us express is not that which
consists in a sense of the safety of their own state, and that
now they are out of the danger of hell ; frequently in times
of their highest spiritual entertainment this seems to be as
it were forgotten. The supreme attention of their minds is
to the glorious excellencies of God and Christ which they
have in view ; not but there is very often a ravishing sense
of God's love accompanying a sense of his excellency, and
they rejoice in a conviction of the faithfulness of God's pro-
mises as they respect the future eternal enjoyment of God.
The joy that many of them speak of, as that to which
none is to be paralleled, is that which they find when they
are lowest in the dust, emptied most of themselves, as it were
annihilating themselves before God, when they are nothing
and God is all ; thus seeing their own unworthiness, de-
pending not at all on themselves but alone on Christ, and
ascribing all glory to God : then their souls are most in the
enjoyment of satisfying rest, excepting that, at such times,
they apprehend themselves to be not sufficiently self-abased ;
for then above all times do they long to be lower. Some
speak much of the exquisite sweetness and rest of soid that
is to be found in the exercise of a spirit of resignation to
God, and humble submission to his will. Many express
earnest longings of soul to praise God ; but at the same
time complain that they cannot praise him as they would
do, and ihey want to have others help them in praising him :
they want to have every one praise God, and are ready to
call upon every thing to praise him. They express a long-
ing desire to live to God's glory, and to do something to liis
honor ; but at the same time cry out of their insufficiency
and barrenness : that they are poor, impotent creatures, can
"S MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS.
do nothing of themselves, and are utterly insufficient to
glorify their Creator and Redeemer.
While God was so remarkably present among us by his
Spirit, there was no book so delighted in as the Bible ; es-
pecially the book of Psalms, the prophecy of Isaiah, and the
New Testament. Some, by reason of their esteem and love
to God's word, h:.ve at some times been greatly and wonder-
fully delighted and affected at the sight of a Bible : and
then also, there was no time so prized as the Lord's da}^,
and no place in this world so desired as God's house. Our
converts then appeared remarkably united in dear affection
to one another, and many have expressed much of that
spirit of love which they felt toward all mankind ; and par-
ticularly to those that had been least friendly to them.
Never, I believe, was so much done in confessing injuries,
and making up differences, as the last year. Persons after
their own conversion have commonly expressed an exceeding
desire for the conversion of others : some have thought that
they should be willing to die for the conversion of any soul,
though of one of the meanest of their fellow- creatures, or of
their worst enemies ; and many have indeed been in great
distress with desires and longings for it. This work of God
bad also a good effect to unite the people's affections much
to their minister.
There are some persons that I have been acquainted with,
but more especially two, that belong to other towns, that
have been swallowed up exceedingly with a sense of the
awful greatness and majesty of God ; and both of them told
me to this purpose, that if they in the time of it had had the
least fear that they were not at peace with this so great a
God, they should instantly have died.
It is to be remarked, that some persons by their conversion
seem to be greatly helped as to their doctrinal notions of
religion ; it was particularly remarkable in one, who having
been taken captive in his childhood, was trained up in
Canada, in the Popish religion ; and some years since re-
MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS, 79
turned to this his native place, and was in a measure brought
off from Popery : but seemed very awkward and dull of
receiving any true and clear notion of the Protestant scheme,
till he was converted ; and then he was remarkably altered
in this respect.
There is a vast difference, as has been observed, in the
degree and also in the particular manner of persons' expe-
riences both at and after conversion ; some have grace
working more sensibly in one way, others in another. Some
speak more fully of a conviction of the justice of God in
their condemnation ; others more of their consenting to the
way of salvation by Christ ; some, more of the actings of
love to God and Christ : some, more of acts of affiance, in a
sweet and assured conviction of the truth and faithfulness of
God in his promises : others more of their choosing and
resting in God as their whole and everlasting portion, and
of their ardent and longing desires after God, to have com-
munion with him ; others more of their abhorrence of them-
selves for their past sins, and earnest longings to live to
God's glory for the time to come. Some have thtir mind
fixed more on God ; others on Christ, as I have observed
before ; but it seems evidently to be tiie same work, the
same thing done, the same habitual change v7rou'.iiit in the
heart ; it all tends the same way, and to the same end ; and
it is plainly the same Spirit that breathes and acts in various
persons. There is an endless variety in the particular man-
ner and circumstances in which persons are wrought on ;
and an opportunity of seeing so much of such a work of
God, will show that God is further from confining himself
to certain steps and a particular method in his work on souls,
than it may be some do imagine. I believe it has occa-
sioned some good people among us, that were before too
ready to make their own experiences a rule to others, to bo
loss censorious and more extended in their charity. The
work of God has been glorious in its variety ; it has the
)Uore displayed the manifold ness and unsearchableness of
80 MANNER OF CONVERSION VARIOUS.
the wisdom of God, and wrought more charity among his
people.
There is a great difference among those that are converted;
as to the degree of hope and satisfaction that they have con-
cerning their own state. Some have a high degree of
satisfaction in tliis matter ahnost constantly ; aad yet it is
rare that any do enjoy so full an assurance of their interest
in Christ, that self-examination should seem needless to
them ; unless it be at particular seasons, while in the actual
enjoyment of some grctit discovery, that God gives of his
glory and rich grace in Christ, to the drawing forth of extra-
ordinary acts of grace. But the greater part, as they some-
times fall into dead frames of spirit, are frequently exercised
with scruples and fears concerning their condition.
They genen^lly have an awful apprehension of the dread-
fulness and fatal nature of a false hope ; and tliere has been
observable in most a great caution lest in giving an account
of their experiences, they should say too much, and use too
strong terms : and many, after they related their experiences,
have been greatly afflicted with fears lest they have played
the hypocrite, and used stronger terms than their case would
fairly allow of ; and 3'et could not find how they could cor-
rect themselves.
I think that the main ground of the doubts and feai-s which
persons, after their conversion, have been exercised with about
their own state, has been that they found so much corruption
remaining in their hearts. At first their souls seem to be all
alive, their hearts arc fixed, and their affections flowing ;
they seem to live quite above the world, and meet with but
little ditTiculty in religious exercises ; and they are ready to
ihink it will always be so : though they are truly abased un-
der a sense of their vileness by reason of former acts of sin,
yet they are not then sufficiently sensible what corruption
still remains in their hearts ; and therefore are surprised
when they find that they begin to be in dull and dead frames,
to be troubled with wandering thoughts in the time of public
MAN.NER OF CONVERSION VARIOLS. 81
and piiyate worship, and to be iitteiiy unable to keep them-
selves from them ; also when they find themselves, unaftected
at seasons in which they think there is the greatest occasion
to be affected ; and when they feel worldly dispositions work-
ing in them, and it may be piide, and envy, and stirrings of
revenge, or some ill spirit towards some person that has in-
jured them, as well as other workings of indwelling sin :
Their hearts are almost sunk with the disappointment ; and
they are ready presently to think that all which they have
met with is nothing, and that they are mere hypocrites.
. They are ready to argue that if God had indeed done such
great things for them as they hoped, such ingratitude is in-
consistent with it : they cry out of the hardness and wick-
edness of their hearts ; and say there is so much corruption,
that it seems to them impossible that there should be any
goodness tliere ; and many of tlienj seem to be much more
sensible how corrupt their hearts are than ever they were be-
fore they were converted ; and some have been too ready to
be impressed with fear, that instead of becoming better, thej
are grown much worse, and make it an argument against the
goodness of their state. But in truth the case seems plainly to
be, that now they feel the pain of their own wound ; they
have a watchful e3^e upon their hearts, that they did not use
to liave : they take more notice what sin is tliere, and sin is
now more burthensome to them ; they strive more against it,
and feel more of the strength of it.
They are somewhat surprised that they should in''this re-
spect find themselves so different from the idea that they ge-
nerally had entertained of godly persons ; for though grace
be indeed of a far more excellent nature tlian they imagined,
yet those that are godly have much less of it, and much
more remaining corruption than they thought. They
never realized it, that persons were wont to meet with such
difficulties after they were once converted. When they are
thus exercised with doubts about their state, through the
dea<lness of their frames of spirit, as lonji' as these frames last,
U
82 MANNER Of CONVERSION VARIOUS.
they are commonly unable to satisfy themselves of the truth
of their grace, by all their self-examination. When they
hear of the signs of grace laid down for them to try them-
selves by, they are often so clouded, that they do not know
how to apply them : they hardly know whether they have
such and such things in them or not, and whether they have
experienced them or not ; that which was sweetest, and best;
and most distinguishing in their experiences, they cannot re-
cover a sense or idea of.
But on a return of the influences of the Spirit of God to
revive the lively actings of grace, the light breaks through
the cloud, and doubting and darkness soon vanish away.
Persons are often revived out of their dead and dark frames,
by religious conversation : while they are talkitig of divine
things, or ever they are aware, their souls are carried away
into holy exercises with abundant pleasure. And oftentimes
while they are relating their past experiences to their Christian
brethren, they have a fresh sense of them revived, and the
aame experiences in a degree again renewed. Sometimes while
persons are exercised in mind with several objections against
the goodness of their state, they have scriptures, one after
another, coming to their minds, to answer their scrUples and
unravel their difficulties, exceedingly apposite and proper to
their circumstances ; by which means their darkness is scat-
tered ; and often before the bestowment of any new remark-
able comforts, especially after long continued deadness and
ill frames, there are renewed humblings in a great sense of
their own exceeding vileness and unworthiness, as before
their first comforts were bestowed.
OF REx\IABKABI,E IMPRESSiOX.S. 83
CHAPTER III.
Of remarkable impressions on the imagination.
Many in the country have entertained a mean thouglit of
this great work that there has been among us, from what
they have heard of impressions that have been made on per-
sons' imaginations. But there have been exceedingly great
misrepresentations, and innumerable false reports concerning
that matter. It is notj that I know of, the profession or
opinion of any one person in the town, that any weight is to
be laid on any thing seen with the bodily eyes : I know the
contrary to be a received and established principle among us.
I cannot say that there have been no instances of persons
that have been ready to give too much heed to vain and use-
less imaginations ; but they have been easily corrected ; and
I conclude it will not be wondered at that a congregation
should need a guide in such cases to assist them in distin-
guishing wheat from chaif. But such impressions on the
imagination as have been more usual, seem to me to be plaiur
ly no other than what is to be expected in human nature in
such circumstances, and what is the natural result of the
strdng exercise of the mind, and impressions on the heart.
I do not suppose that they themselves imagined that they
saw any thing with their bodily eyes; but only have had
within them ideas strongly impressed, and as it were hvely
pictures in their minds ; as for instance, some when in great
tei'rors throui^h fear of hell, have had lively ideas of a dreadful
furnace. Some, when their hearts have been strongly im-
pressed, and their aflections greatly moved with a sense of the
beauty and excellency of Christ, it has wrought on their
imaginations so, that, together with a sense of his glorious
spiritual perfections, there has arisen in the mind an idea of
one of glorious ninjesty, and of a sweet and a gracious as-
84 OF REMARKABLE IMPRESSIONS.
pect. So some, wlieti they have heen greatly alTected with
Christ's death, have at the same time a Uvely idea of Christ
hanging upon the cross, and of his blood running from his
wounds ; which things will not be wondered at by them that
have observed how strong affections about temporal matters,
will excite lively ideas and pictures of different things in the
mind.
But yet the vigorous exercise of the mind, does doubtless
more strongly impress it with imaginary ideas in some, than
in others, which probably may arise from the difference of
constitution, and seems evidently in some partly to arise from
their pecuhar circumstances. When persons have been ex-
ercised with extreme terrors, and there is a sudden change to
light and joy, the imagination seenas more susceptive of strong
ideas, and the inferior powers, and even the frame of the
body, is much more affected and wrought upon, than when
the same persons have as great spiritual light and joy after-
wards ; of which it might perhaps be easy to give a reason.
The aforementioned Rev. Messrs. Lord and Owen, who, I
believe, are esteemed persons of learning and discretion, where
they are best know n, declared that they found these im-
pressions on persons' imaginations quite different things from
what fame had before represented to them, and that they were
what none need to wonder at, or be stumbled by, or to that
purpose.
There have indeed been some few instances of impressions
on persons' imaginations, that liave been something myste-
rious to me, and f have been at a loss about them; for
though it has been exceedingly evident to me by many
things that appeared in them, both then (when they related
them) and afterwards, that they indeed had a great sense of
tlie spiritual excellency of divine things accompanying them :
yet 1 have not been able well to satisfy myself, whether their
imaginary ideas have been more than could naturally arise
from their spiritual sense of things. However, 1 have used
the utmosi rimtion in such cases: sfreat rare hnsheen taken
OF REMARKABLE IMPRESSIONS. 85
both ill public and in private, to teach persons the diirerence
between what is spiritual and what is merely inmginary. I
have often warned persons not to lay the stress of their hope
on any ideas of any outward gloiy, or any external thing
whatsoever, and have met with no opposition in such instruc-
tions. But it is not strange if some weaker persons, in
giving an account of their experiences, have not so prudently
distinguished between the spiritual and imaginary part ;
which some that have not been well affected to religion might
take advantage of.
There has been much talk in many parts of the country,
as though the people have symbolized with the Quakers,
and the Quakers themselves have been moved with such re-
ports ; and came here, once and again, hoping to find good
waters to fish in ; but without the least success ; and seem
to be discouraged, and have left off coming. There have
also been reports spread about the country, as though the first
occasion of so remarkable a concern on peoples' minds here,
was an apprehension that the world was near to an end,
which was altogether a false report : Indeed after this stirring
and concern became so general and extraordinary, as has
been related, the minds of some wer*e filled with speculation,
what so great a dispensation of divine providence might fore-
bode ; and some reports were heard from abroad, as though
certain divines and others thought the conflagration was
nigh : but such reports were never generally looked upon as
worthy of notice.
The work tliat ha? now been wrought on souls is evident-
ly the same that was wrought in my venerable predecessor's
days ; as I have had abundant opportunity to know, having
been in the ministry here two years with him, and so con-
versed with a considerable number that my grandfather
thought to be savingly converted in that time ; and having
been particularly acciuainted with experiences of many that
were converted under his ministry before. And T know no
one of thein that in llie least doubts of its beins: of the same
86 OF UEMARKADLE IMPRESSIONS.
Spirit, and the same work. Persons have now no otiierwise
been subject to impressions on their imaginations than for-
merly : the work is of the same nature, and has not been
attended with any extraordinary circumstances, excepting
such as are analogous to the extraordinary degree of it before
described. And God's people, that were formerly converted,
have now partook of the same shower of divine blessing in
the renewing, strengthening, edifying influences of the Spi-
rit of God, that others have in his converting influences ; and
the work here has also been plainly the same with that
which has been wrought in those of other places that have
been mentioned as partaking of the same blessing. I have
particularly conversed with persons about their experiences
that belong to all parts of the county, and in various parts of
Connecticut, where a religious concern has lately appeared ;
and have been informed of the experiences of many others
by th6ir own pastors.
It is easily perceived by the foregoing account that it is
very much the practice of the people here to converse freely
one with another cf their spiritual experiences, which is a
ihing that many have been disgusted at. But however our
people may have in somfe respects gone to extremes in it, yet
it is doubtless a practice that the circumstances of this town,
and neighboring towns, has naturally led them into. What-
soever people are in sucli circumstances, where all have their
minds engaged to such a degree, and in the same affair, that
it is ever uppermost in their thoughts, — they will naturally
make it the subject of conversation one with another when
they get together, in which they will grow more and more
free : restraints will soon vanish ; and they will not conceal
from one another what they meet with. And it has been a
practice which in the general has been attended with many
good efl'ccts, and what God has greatly blest among us: but it
must be confessed there may have been some ill consequences
of it; which yet are rather to be. laid to the indiscreet ma-
nagement of it, than (o tlie practice itself; and none ran
TWO PARTICULAR INSTANCES. 87
wonder if among such a multitude some fail of exercising so
much prudence in choosing the time, manner, and occasion
of such discourse as is desirable.
CHAPTER IV.
This work further illustrated in particular instances.
But to give a clearer idea of the nature and manner of the
operations of God's Spirit in this wonderful effusion of it, I
would give an account of two particular instances. The
first is an adult person, a young woman whose name was
Abigail Hutchinson. I select her case especially because she
is now dead, and so it may be more fit to speak freely of, her
than of living instances : though I am under far greater dis-
advantages on other accounts to give a full and clear narra-
tive of her experiences than I might of some others ; nor can
any account be given but what has been retained in the
memories of her near friends and some others of what they
have heard her express in her life-time.
She was of a rational, understanding family : there could
be nothing in her education that tended to enthusiasm, but
rather to the contrary extreme. It is in no wise the temper
of the family to be ostentatious of experiences, and it was far
from being her temper. She was before her conversion, to
the observation of her neighbors, of a sober and inoffensive con-
versation, and was a still, quiet, reserved person. She had
long been infirm of body, but her infirmity had never been
observed at all to incline her to be notional or fanciful, or to
occasion any thing of religious melancholy. She was under
awakenings scarely a week before there seemed to be plaiii
evidence of her being savingly converted.
She was first awakened in the winter season, on Monday,
by somethiiifT she heard her l>rotiicr ^ay of the necessity of
88 CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON
being in good earnest in seeking regenerating grace, together
with the news of the conversion of the young woman before
mentioned, whose conversion so generally affected most of
the young people here. This news wrought mucli upon
her, and stirred up a spirit of envy in her towards this young
woman, whom she thought very unworthy of being distin-
guished from others by such a mercy ; but withal it en-
gaged her in a firm resolution to do her utmost to obtain the
same blessing ; and considering with herself what course
she should take, she thought that she had not a sufficient
knowledge of the principles of religion, to render her capable
of conversion ; whereupon she resolved thoroughly to search
the scriptures ; and accordingly immmediately began at the
beginning of the Bible, intending to read it through. She
continued thus -till Thursday ; and then there was a sudden
alteration, by a great increase of her concern, in an extraor-
dinary sense of her own sinfulness, particularly the sinful-
ness of her nature, and wickedness of her heart, which came
upon her (as she expressed it) as a flash of lightning, and
struck her into an exceeding terror. Upon which she left
off reading the Bible in course as she had begun, and turned
to.. the New Testament, to see if she could not find some re-
lief there for her distressed soul.
Her great terror, she said was, " that she had sinned
against God." Her distress grew more and more for three
days ; until (as she said) she saw nothing but blackness of
darkness before her, and her very flesh trembled for fear of
God's wrath : she wondered and was astonished at herself,
that she had been so concerned for her body, and had applied
so often to physicians to heal that, and had neglected her
soul. Her sinfulness appeared with a very awful aspect to
her, especially in three things, viz. her original sin, and her
sin in murmuring at God's providence, in the weakness and
afllicLions she had been under, and in want of duty to parents,
though others had looked upon her to excel in dutiful ness.
On Saturday t?lic wut: ^o earnestly engaged in reading the
CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON. 89
Bible and other books, that she continued in it, searching for
something to reUeve her, till her eyes were so dim, that she could
not know the letters. While she was thus engaged in read-
ing, prayer, and other religious exercises, she thought of
those words of Christ wlierein he warns us not to be as the
heathen, that think they shall be heard for their much speak-
ing ; which, she said, led her to see that she had trusted to
her own prayers and religious performances, and now she
was put to a nonplus, and knew not which way to turn her-
self, or where to seek relief.
While her mind was in this posture, her heart, she said,
seemed to fly to the minister for refuge, hoping that he could
give her some relief. She came the same day to her brother,
with the countenance of a person in distress, expostulating
with him, why he had not told her more of her sinfulness,
and earnestly inquiring of him what she should do. She
seemed that day to feel in herself an enmity against the Bi-
ble, which greatly affrighted her. Her sense of her own ex-
ceeding sinfulness continued increasing from Thursday till
Monday ; and she gave this account of it, that it had been
an opinion, which till now she had entertained, that she was
not guilty of Adam's sin, nor any way concerned in it, be-
cause she was not active in it ; but that now she saw she
was guilty of that sin, and all over defiled by it ; and that
the sin which she brought into the world with her, was alone
sufficient to condemn her.
On the sabbath-day she was so ill that her friends thought
it not best that she should go to public worship, of which she
seemed very desirous : but when she went to bed on the sab-
bath-day night, she took up a resolution that she would the
next morning go to the minister, hoping to find some relief
there. As she awaked on Monday morning, a little before
day, she wondered within herself at the easiness and calm-
ness she felt in her mind, which was of that kind she never
felt before ; as she thought of this, such words as these were
in her mind : '' The words of the Lord are pine words, health
12
90 CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON.
to the soul, and marrow to the bones :" and then these words
came to her mind, " the blood of Christ cleanses from all
sin ;" which were accompanied with a hvely sense of the
excellency of Christ, and his sufficiency to satisfy for the sins
of the whole world. She then thought of that expression,
" It is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun ;"
which words then seemed to her to be very applicable to Je-
sus Christ. By these things her mind was led into such
contemplations and views of Christ as filled her exceedingly
full cf joy. She told her brother in the morning that she
had seen (that is, in realizing views by faith) Christ the last
night, and that she had really thought that she had not
knowledge enough to be converted ; but, says she, God can
make it quite easy ! On Monday she felt all day a constant
sweetness in her soul. She had a repetition of the same dis-
coveries of Christ three mornings together, that she had on
Monday morning, and much in the same manner at each
time, waking a little before day ; but brighter and brighter
every time.
At the last time on Wednesday morning, while in the en-
joyment of a spiritual view of Christ's glory and fullness, her
soul was filled with distress for Christless persons, to consider
what a miserable condition they were in : and she felt in
herself an inclination immediately to go forth to warn sinners;
and proposed it the next day to her brother to assist her in
going from house to house ; but her brother restrained her,
by telling her of the unsuitableness of such a method. She
told one of her sisters that day, that she loved all mankind,
but especially the people of God. Her sister asked her why
she loved all mankind ? She replied, because God had made
them. After this there happened to come into the shop
■where she was at work, three persons that were thought to
have been lately converted ; her seeing them as they stepped
in one after another into the door, so affected her, and so
drew forth her love to them, that it overcame her, and she
almost fainted : and when they began to talk of the things
CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON. 91
of religion, it was more than she could bear ; they were
obliged to cease on that account. It was a very frequent
thing with her to be overcome witli a How of affection to them
that she thought godly, in conversation with them, and some-
times only at the sight of them.
She had many extraordinary discoveries of the glory of
God and Christ ; sometimes in some particular attributes,
and sometimes in many. She gave an account that once,
as those four words passed through her mind, Wisdom,
Justice, Goodness, and TrutJt, her soul was filled with a
sense of the glory of each of these divine attributes, but es-
pecially the last : Truth, said she, sunk the deepest ! And
therefore, as these words passed, this was repeated, Truth,
Truth ! Her mind was so swallowed up with a sense of
the glory of God's truth and other perfections, that she said
it seemed as though her life was going, and that she saw it
was easy with God to take away her life by discoveries of
himself. Soon after this, she went to a private religious
meeting, arxd her mind was full of a sense and view of the
glory of God all the time ; and when the exercise was ended,
some asked her concerning what she had experienced ; and
she began to give them an account ; but as she was relating
it, it revived such a sense of tho same things, that her strength
failed, and they were obliged to take her and lay her upon
the bed. Afterwards she was greatly affected, and rejoiced
with these words, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."
She had several days together a sweet sense of the excel-
lency and kiveliness of Christ in his meekness, which dis-
posed her continually to be repeating over these words, which
were sweet to her. Meek and loioly in heart, Meek and
loioly in Jteart. She once expressed herself to one of her
sisters to this purpose, that she had continued whole days
and whole nights in a constant ravishing view of the glory
of God and Christ, having enjoyed as much as her life could
bear. Once, as her brother was speaking of the dying love
92 CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON.
of Christ, she told liim that she had such a sense of it, that
the mere mentioning of it was ready to overcome her.
Once, when she came to me, she told how tliat at such
and sucli a time she thought she saw as much of God, and
had as much joy and pleasure as was possible in this hfe,
and that yet afterwards God discovered himself yet far more
abundantly, and she saw the same things that she had seen
before, yet more clearly, and in another and far more excel-
lent and delightful manner, and was filled with a more ex-
ceeding sweetness ; she likewise gave me such an account
of the sense she once had, from day to day, of the glory of
Christ, and of God, in his various attributes, that it seemed
to me she dwelt for days together in a kind of beatific vision
of God ; and seemed to have, as I thought, as immediate an
intercourse with him, as a child with a father : and at the
same time she appeared most remote from any high thought
of herself, and of her own sufficiency, but was like a little
child, and expressed great desire to be instructed, telling me
that she longed very often to come to me for instruction,
and wanted to live at my house, that I might tell her her
duty.
She often expressed a sense of the glory of God appearing
in the trees, and growth of the fields, and other works of
God's hands. She told her sister that lived near the heart
of the town, that she once thought it a pleasant thing to live
in the niiddle of the town ; but now, says she, I think it
much more pleasant to sit and see the wind blowing the
trees, and to behold what God has made. She had some-
times the powerful breathings of the Spirit of God on her
soul, while reading the scripture, and would express a sense
that she had of the certain truth and divinity thereof. She
sometimes would appear with a pleasant smile on her coun-
tenance ; and once when her sister took notice of it, and
asked why she smiled, she replied, I am brimfull of a sweet
feeling within ! She often used to express how good and
sweet it was to lie low before God, and the lower, said she,
CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON. 93
the better ! and that it was pleasant to think of lying in the
dust all the days of her life, mourning for sin. She was
wont to manifest a great sense of her own meanness and
dependence. She often expressed an exceeding compassion
and pitiful love which she found in her heart towards per-
sons in a Christless condition, which was sometimes so strong,
that as she was passing by such in the streets, or those that
she feared were such, she would be overcome by the sight of
them. She once said, that she longed to have the whole
world saved ; she wanted, as it were, to pull them all to her ;
she could not bear to have one lost.
She had great longings to die, that she might be with
Christ ; which increased until she thought she did not know
how to be patient to wait till God's time should come. But
once when she felt those longings, she thought with herself,
if I long to die, why do I go to physicians ? Whence she
concluded that her longings for death were not well regu-
lated. After this she often put it to herself which she should
choose, whether to live or to die, to be sick or to be well ? and
she found she could not tell, till at last she found herself
disposed to say these words : I am quite willing to live, and
quite willing to die ; quite willing to be sick, and quite wil-
ling to be w^ell ; and quite willing for any thing that God
will bring upon me ! And then, said she, I felt myself
perfectly easy, in a full submission to the will of God. She
then lamented much that she had been so eager in her
longings for death, as it argued want of such a resignation
to God as ought to be. She seemed henceforward to con-
tinue in this resigned frame till death.
After this her illness increased upon her ; and once, after
she had before spent the greater part of the night in extreme
pain, she waked out of a little sleep with these words in her
heart and mouth : I am wiUing to sufler for Christ's sake ;
I am willing to spend and to be spent for Christ's sake ; I
am willing to spend my hfe, even my very life, for Christ's
sake ! And though she had an extraordinary resignation
94 CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON.
with respect to life or death, yet the thoughts of dying were
exceedingly sweet to her. At a time when her brother was
reading in Job, concerning worms feeding on tbe dead body,
she appeared with a pleasant smile ; and being inquired of
al)out it, she said it was sweet to her to think of her being
in sucb circumstances. At another lime, when her brother
mentioned to lier the danger there seemed to be that the ill-
ness she then labored under might be an occasion of her
death, it filled her with joy that almost overcame her. At
another time, when she met a company following a corpse
to the grave, she said it was sweet to her to think that
they would in a little time follow her in like manner.
Her illness, in the latter part of it, was seated much in
her throat ; and swelling inward, filled up the pipe so that
she could swallow nothing but what was perfectly hquid,
and but very little of that, and with great and long stiUg-
glings and stranglings ; that which she took in flying out
at her nostril, till she at last could swallow nothing at all.
She had a raging appetite to food, so that she told her sister,
when talking with her about her circumstances, that the
worst bit that she threw to her swine, would be sweet to
her : but yet when she saw that she could not swallow it,
she seemed to be as perfectly contented without it, as if she
had no appetite for it. Others were greatly moved to see
what she underwent, and were filled with admiration at her
unexampled patience. At a time when she was striving in
vain to get down a little food, something liquid, and was very
much spent with it, she looked up on her sister with a smile,
saying, " O sister, this is for my good 1" At another time,
when her sister was speaking of what she underwent, she
told her that she lived a heaven upon earth for all that.
She used sometimes to say to her sister, under her extreme
sufferings, " It is good to be so !" Her sister once asked her
why she said so ? " Why,*' said she, " because God w'ould
have it so : it is best that things should be as God would
have them : it looks best to me." After her confinement, as
CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON. 95
they were leading her from the bed to the door, she seemed
overcome by the sioht of things abroad, as showing forth
the glory of the Being that had made them. As she lay on
her death-bed, she would often say these words, " God is my
friend !" And once looking up on her sister, with a smile,
said, " O sister ! how good it is ! how sweet and comforta-
ble it is to consider and think of heavenly things !" and
used this argument to persuade her sister to be much in
such meditations.
She expressed on her death-bed, an exceeding longing,
both for persons in a natural state, that they might be con-
verted, and for the godly, that they might see and know
more of God. And when those that looked on themselves
as in a Christless state, came to see her, she would be greatly
moved with compassionate affection. One in pariicular, that
seemed to be in great distress about the state of her soul, and
had come to see her from time to time, she desired her sister
to persuade not to come any more, because the sight of her
so wrought on her compassion, that it overcame her nature.
The same week that she died, when she was in distressing
circumstances as to her body, some of the neighbors that
came to see her asked if she was willing to die ? She re-
plied that she was quite wilhng either to live or die ; she
was willing to be in pain ; she was willing to be so always
as she was then, if that was the will of God. She willed
what God willed. They asked her whether she was wilhng
to die that night ? She answered, Yes, if it be God's will.
And seemed to speak all with that perfect composure of
spirit, and with such a" cheerful and pleasant countenance,
that it filled them with admiration.
She was very weak a considerable time before she died,
having pined away with ftxmine and thirst, so that her flesh
seemed to be dried upon her bones ; and therefore could say
but little, and manifested her mind very much by signs.
She said she had matter enough to fill up all her time with
talk, if she had but strength. A few days before her death,
96 CONVERSION OF ABIGAIL HUTCHINSON.
some asked her whether she held her integrity still 7 Whe-
ther she was not afraid of death? She answered to this
purpose, that she had not the least degree of fear of death.
They asked her why she would be so confident ? She an-
swered, If I should say otherwise, I should speak contrary
io what I know : there is, says she, indeed a dark entry that
looks something dark, but on the other side there appears
such a bright shining light, that I cannot be afraid ! Siie
said, not long befoie she died, that she used to be afraid how
she should grapple with death ; but, says she, God lias
showed me that he can make it easy in great pain. Several
days before she died she could scarcely say any thing but
just yes and no, to questions that were asked her, for she
seemed to be dying for three days together ; but seemed to
continue in an admirably sweet composure of soul, without
any interruption, to the last, and died as a person tliat went
to sleep, without any struggling, about noon, on Friday,
June 27th, 1735.
She had long been infirm, and often had been exercised
with great pain ; but she died chiefly of famine. It was,
doubtless, partly owing to her bodily weakness, that her na-
ture was so often overcome, and ready to sink with gracious
aflfection ; but yet the truth was, that she had more grace,
and greater discoveries of God and Christ, than the present
frail state did well consist with. She wanted to be where
strong grace might have more liberty, and be ^\^thout the
clog of a weak body ; there she longed to be, and there she
doubtless now is. She was looked upon among us as a very
eminent instance of Christian experience ; but this is but a
very broken and imperfect account I have given of her.
Her eminency would much more appear, if her experiences
were fully related, as she was wont to express and manifest
them, while living. I once read this account to some of
her pious neighbors, who were acquainted with her, who
said, to this purpose, that the picture fell much short of the
life ; and particularly that it much failed of duly represent-
CONVERSION OF PHEBE BARTLET. 97
ing her humility, and that admirable lowHness of heart, that
at ail times appeared in her. But there are, blessed be God !
many hving instances of much the like nature, and in some
things no less extraordinary.
But I now proceed to the <>ther instance that I would give
an account of, which is of the httle child before mentioned.
Her name is Pliebe Bartlet, daughter of William Bartlet.
I shall give the account as I took it from the mouths of her
parents, whose veracity none that know them doubt of.
She was born in March, in the year 1731. About the
latter end of April, or the beginning of May, 1735, she was
greatly affected by the talk of her brother, who had been
hopefully converted a little before, at about eleven years of
age, and then seriously talked to her about the great things
of religion. Her parents did not know of it at that time,
and were not wont, in the counsels they gave to their chil-
dren, particularly to direct themselves to her, by reason of
her being so young, and as they supposed, not capable of
understanding : but after her brother had talked to her, they
observed her very earnestly to listen to the advice they gave
to the other children ; and she was ubyerved very constantly
to retiie, several times in a day, as was concluded, for secret
prayer, and grew more and more engaged in religion, and
was more frequent in her closet, till at last she was wont to
visit it five or six times in a day ; and was so engaged in it,
that nothing would at any time divert her from her stated
closet exercises. Her mother often observed and watched
her, when such things occurred as she thought most likely
to divert her, either by putting it out of her thoughts, or other-
wise engaging her inclinations, but never could observe her
to fail. She mentioned some very remarkable instances.
She once of her own accord spoke of her unsuccessfulness,
in that she could not find God, or to that purpose. But on
Thursday, the last day of July, about the middle of the day,
the child being in the closet, where it used to retire, its mo-
ther heard it speaking aloud, which was unusual, and never
98 CONVERSION OF PHEBE BARTLEl
had been observed before : and her voice seemed to be as of one
exceedingly importunate and engaged ; but her mother could
distinctly hear only these words, (spoken in her childish man-
ner, but seemed to be spoken v\^ith extraordinary earnestness
and out of distress of soul,) Pray^ blessed Lord, give me
salvation ! I pray ^ heg, pardon all my sins ! When the
child had done prayer, she came out of the closet, and
sat down by her mother, and cried out aloud. Her mother
very earnestly asked her several times, what the matter
was, before he could make any answer ; but she continued
crying exceedingly, and writhing her body to and fro, like
one in anguish of spirit. Her mother then asked her, whe-
ther she was afraid that God would not give her salvation.
She answered, ' Yes, I am afraid I shall go to hell ! ' Her
mother then endeavored to quiet her; and told her she
would not have her cry ; she must be a good girl, and pray
every day, and she hoped God would give her salvation.
But this did not quiet her at all ; but she continued thUvS
earnestly crying, and taking on for some time, till at length
she suddenly ceased crying, and began to smile, and presently-
said with a smiling countenaace, ' Mother, the kingdo^n of
heaveii is come to me ! ' Her mother was surprised at the
sudden alteration, and at the speech ; and knew not what
to make of it, but at first said nothing to her. The child
presently spoke again, and said, ' There is another come to
me, and there is another, there is three ;' and being
asked what she meant, she answered. ' One is. Thy will be
done, and there is another, Enjoy him forever ;' by which it
seems, that when the child said, ' There is three come to
me,' she meant three passages of her Catechism that came to
her mind.
After the child had said this, she retired again into her
closet ; and her mother went over to her brother's, who was
next neighbor ; and when she came back, the child, being
out of the closet, met her mother with this cheerful speech.
■ I can find God now ! ' referring to what she had before
CONVERSION OF PHEBE BARTLET 99
complained of, that she could not find God. Then the child
spoke again and said; ' I love God ! ' Her mother asked her
how well she loved God, whether she loved God better than her
father and mother, she said, ' yes.' Then she asked her whe-
ther she loved God better than her little sister Rachel ? She
answered, ' Yes, better than any thing ! ' Then her eldest sis-
ter, referring to her saying she could find God now, asked her
where she could find God. She answered, ' In heaven.' Why,
said she, have you been in heaven 7 ' No,' said the^child.
By this it seems not to have been any imagination of any
thing seen with bodily eyes, that she called God, when she
said, I can find God now. Her mother asked her whe-
ther she was afraid of going to hell, and that had made her
cry. She answered^ " Yess, I was, but now I shan't."' Her
mother asked her whether she thought that God had given
her salvation ; she answered, " yes." Her mother asked her
when. She answered, " to-day." She appeared all the af-
ternoon exceedingly cheerful and joyful. One of her neigh-
bors asked her how she felt herself? She answered, I feel
better than I did." The neighbor asked lier, what made
her feel better ? she answered, " God makes me." That
evening as she lay in bed, she called one of her Httle cousins
to her that was present in the room, as having something to
say to him ; and when he came, she told him.. that " heaven
was better than earth." The next day being Friday, her
mother asking her her catechism, asked her what God made
her for. She answered, " To serve him," and added, " everv
body should serve God, and get an interest in Christ."
The same day the elder children, when they came home
from school, seemed much affected with the extraordinary
change that seemed to be made in Phebe : and her sister
Abigail standing by, her mother took occasion to counsel her
now to improve her time to prepare for another world : on
which Phebe burst out in tears, and cried out, " Poor Nab-
by !" Her mother told her she would not have her cry, she
hoped that God would give Nabby salvation ; but that did
100 CONVERSION OF PHEBE EARTLE I
not quiet her, but she continued earnestly crying for some
time ; and when she had in a measure ceased, her sister
Eunice being by her, she burst out again, and cried, " Poor
Eunice !'' and cried exceedingly ; and when she had almost
done, she went into another room, and there looked up on
her sister Naomi, and burst out again, crying, " Poor Amy !"
Her mother was greatly affected at such a behavior in the
child, and knew not what to say to her. One of the neigh-
bors coming in a little after, asked her what she had cried
for. She seemed at first backward to tell the reason : her
mother told her she might tell that person, for he had given
her an apple ; upon which she said, she '• cried because she
was afraid they would go to hell."
At night a certain minister that was occasionally in the
town, was at the house, and talked considerably with her of
the things of religion ; and after he was gone, she sat leaning
on the table, with tears running out of her eyes : and being
asked what made her cry, she said it was " thinking about
God." The next day being Saturday, she seemed, great
part of the day, to ■ in a very affectionate frame, had four
turns of crying, and seemed to endeavor to curb herself and
hide her tears, and was very backward to talk of the occa-
sion of it. On the sabbath-day she was asked whether she
believed in God ; she answered " yes :" and being told that
XlJhrist was the Son of God, she made ready answer, and
said, " I know it."
From this time there has appeared a very remarkable,
abiding change in the child : slie has been very strict upon
the sabbath; and seems to long for the sabbath-day before it
comes, and will often in the week time be inquiring how
long it is to the sabbath-day, and must have the days par-
ticularly counted over that are between, before she will be
contented. And she seems to love God's liouse, and is very
eager to go thither. Her mother once asked her why she
had such a mind to go ? whether it was not to see fine folks'?
She said. '= No, it was to hear Mr. Edwards preach.'' "When
CONVERSION or PHEBE BARTLET. 101
she is in the place of worship, she is very far from spending
her time there as children at her age usually do, but appears
with an attention that is very extraordinary for such a child.
She also appears very desirous at ail opportunities to go to
private religious meetings ; and is very still and attentive at
hoii'e in prayer-time, and has appeared .iflfected in time of
family prayer. She seems to delight much in hearing re-
ligious conversation. When I once was there with some
others that were strangers, and talked to her something of
religion, she seemed more than ordinarily attentive ; and
when we were gone, she looked out earnestly after us, and
said, " I wish ihey would come again !" Her mother asked
her why ? says she, " I love to hear them talk."
She seems to have very much of the fear of God before
her eyes, and an extraordinary dread of sin against him ; of
which her mother mentioned the following remarkable in-
stance. Some time in August, the last year, she went with
some larger children to get some plums, in a neighbor's lot,
knowing nothing of any harm in what she did ; but when
she brought some of the plums into the house, her mother
mildly reproved her, and told her that she must not get
plums without leave, because it was sin : God had com-
manded her not to steal. The child seemed greatly sur-
prised, and burst out in tears, and cried out, " I will not have
these pl'iiiis!" and turning to her sister Eunice, very ear-
nestly said to her, " Why did you ask me to go to that plum-
tree ? I should not have gone if you had not asked me."
The other children did not seem to be much aflected or con-
cerned ; but there was no pacifying Phebe. Her mother
told her she might go and ask leave, and then it would not
be sin for her to eat them ; and sent one of the children to
that purpose ; and when she returned, her mother told her
that the owner had given leave, now she might eat them,
and it would not be stealing. This stilled her a httle while :
but presently she broke out again into an exceeding fit of
crying : her mother asked her what made her cry again ?
102 CONVERSION OF PHEBE BARTLET.
Why she cried now, since they had asked leave ? What ii
was that troubled her now ? And asked her several times
very earnestly, before slie made any answer ; but at last
said, " it was because, because it was sinP She continued
a considerable time crying, and said she would not go again
if Eunice asked her a hundred times ; and she retained her
aversion to that fruit for a considerable time, under the re-
membrance of her former sin.
She at sometimes appears greatly affected, and delighted
with texts of scripture that come to her mind. Particularly,
about the beginning of November, the last year, that text
came to her mind, Rev. iii. 20. " Behold 1 stand at the door
and knock : If any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in and sup with him, and he with me."' She
spoke of it to those of the family, with a great appearance of
joy, a smiling countenance, and elevation of voice, and
afterwards she went into another room, where her mother
overheard her talking very earnestly to the children about it,
and particularly heard her say to them, three or four times
ovefj with an air of exceeding joy and admiration, " Why it
is to sup with God.'''' At some time about the middle of
winter, very late in the night, when all were in bed, her mo-
ther perceived that she was awake, and heard her, as though
she was weeping. She called to her, and asked her what
was the matter. She answered with a low voice, so that
her mother could not hear what she said ; but thinking that
it might be occasioned by some spiritual affection, said no
more to her ; but perceived her to lie awake, and to continue
in the same frame, for a considerable time. The next morn-
ing, slie asked her wheihcr she did not cry the last night :
The child answered, " Yes, I did cry a little, for I was think-
ing about God and Christ, and they loved me."' Her mother
asked her whether to think of God and Christ's loving her
made her cry : She answered, " Yes, it does sometimes."
She has often manifested a great concern for the good of
others' souls : and has been wont many times affectionatelv
CONVERSION OF PHEBE BARTLET. 103
lo counsel the other children. Once about the latter end of
September, the last year, wlien she and some others of the
children were in the room by themselves, husking Indian
corn, the child, after a while, came out and sat by the fire.
Her mother took notice that she appeared with a more than
ordinarily serious and pensive countenance, but at last she
broke silence, and said, " 1 have been talking to Nabby and
Eunice." Her mother asked her what she had said to them.
" Why," said she, " I told them that they must pray, and pre-
pare to die, that they had but a little while to live in tliis
world, and they must be always ready." When Nabby came
out, her mother asked her whether she had said that to them.
''' Yes," said she, " she said that, and a great deal more." At
other times, the child took her opportunities to talk to the
other children about the great concern of their souls, some*
times, so as much to affect them, and set them into tears. She
was once exceedingly importunate with her mother to go
with her sister Naomi, to pray. Her mother endeavored to
put her off; but she pulled her by the sleeve, and seemed as
if she would by no means be denied. At last her mother told
her that Amy must go and pray herself; " but," says the
child, " she will not go ;" and persisted earnestly to beg of
her mother to go with her.
She has discovered an uncommon degree of a spirit of
charity ; particularly on the following occasion : A poor man
that hves in the woods, had lately lost a cow, that the family
much depended on, and being at the house, he was relating
his misfortune, and telling of the straits and difficulties they
were reduced to by it. She took much notice of it, and it
wrought exceedingly on her compassion : and after she had
attentively heard him a while, she went away to her father,
who was in the shop, and entreated him to give that man a
cow ; and told him that the poor man had no cow ; that the
hunters or something else had killed his cow ; and entreated
him to give him one of theirs. Her father told her that they
could not spare one. Then she entreated him to let him and
104 DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK.
his family come aad live at his house, and had much more
talk of the same nature, whereby she manifested bowels of
compassion to the poor.
She has manifested great love to her minister ; particularly
when 1 returned from my luug journey for my health, the
last fall. When she heard of it she appeared very joyful at the
news, and told the children of it, with an elevated voice, as
the most joyful tidings : repeating it over and over, " Mr. Ed-
wards is come home ! Mr. Edwards is come home !" She
still continues very constant in secret prayer, so far as can be
observed, (for she seems to have no desire that others should
observe her when she retires, but seems to be a child of a re-
served temper), and every night before she goes to bed, will
say her catechism, and will by no means miss of it : she
never forgot it but once, and then after she was in bed, thought
of it, and cried out in tears, " I have not said my catechism !''
and would not be quieted, till her mother asked her the cate-
chism as she lay in bed. She sometimes appears to be in
doubt about the condition of her soul, and when asked whe-
ther she thinks that she is prepared for death, speaks some-
thing doubtfully about it : at other times seems to have no
doubt, but when asked, replies yes, without hesitation.
CHAPTER V
Defects and decline of the work.
In the former part of this great work of God among u^.
till it got to its height, we seemed to be wonderfully smiled
upon, and blest in edl respects. Satan (as has been already
observed) seemed to be unusually restrained. Persons that
before had been involved in melancholy, seemed to be as it
were waked up out of it ; and those that had been entangled
with extraordinary temptations,, seemed wonderfully to be se'
DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK. 105
lit liberty ; aiitl not only so, but it was the most remarkable
time of health that ever I knew since I have been in the
town. We ordinarily have several bills put up every sabbath,
for persons that are sick ; but now w^e had not so much as
one for many sabbaths together. But after this it seemed to
be otherwise : when this work of God appeared to be at its
greatest height, a poor weak man that belongs to the town,
being in great spiritual trouble, was hurried with violent
temptations to cut his own throat, and made an attempt, but
did not do it effectually. He after this continued a consider-
able time exceedingly overwhelmed with melancholy ; but
has now of a long time been very greatly delivered by the
light of God's countenance lifted up upon him, and has ex-
pressed a great sense of his sin in so far yielding to tempta-
tion ; and there are in him all hopeful evidences of his having
been made a subject of saving mercy.
In the latter part of May it began to be very sensible that
the Spirit of God was gradually withdrawing from us, and
after this time Satan seemed to be more let loose, and raged
in a dreadful manner. The first instance wherein it ap-
peared, was a person's putting an end to his own life, by
cutting his throat. He was a gentleman of more than com-
mon understanding, of strict morals, religious in his beha-
vioi", and a useful, honorable person in the town ; but was
of a fomily that are much prone to the disease of melancholy,
and his mother was killed with it. He had, from the be-
ginning of this extraordinary time, been exceedingly con-
cerned about the state of his soul, and there were some
things in his experience that appeared very hopefully ; but
he durst entertain no hope concerning his own good state.
Towards the latter part of his time he grew much discou-
raged, and melancholy grew amain upon him, till he was
wholly overpowered by it, and was in great measure past, a
capacity of receiving advice, or being reasoned with to any
purpose : the devil took the advantage, and drove him into
despairing thoughts. He was kept awake nights, medi-
14
106 DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF TTIE WORK.
tating tenor ; so that he had scarce any sleep at all, for a long"
thiie together. And it was observed at last, that he was
scarcely well capable of managing his ordinaiy business, and
was judged delirious by the coroner's inquest. The news
of this extraordinarily affected the minds of the people here,
and struck them as it were with astonishment. After this,
multitudes in this and other towns seemed to have it
strongly suggested to them, and pressed upon them, to do as
this person liad done. And many that seemed to be under
no melancholy, some pious persons, that had no special dark-
ness, or doubts about the goodness of theii* state, nor were
under any special trouble or concern of mind about any
thing spiritual or temporal, yet had it urged upon them, as
if somebody had spoken to them. Cut your oivn throat,
now is a good oj^portunity. Noio, now ! So that they
were obliged to fight with all their might to resist it, and yet
no reason suggested to them why they should do it.
About the same time there were two remarkable instances
of persons led away with strange, enthusiastic delusions —
one at Suffield, another at South Hadley. That which has
made the greatest noise in the country was of the man at
South Hadley, whose delusion was, that he thought himself
divinely instructed to direct a poor man in melancholy and
despairing circumstances, to say certain words in prayer to
God, as recorded in Psal. cxvi. 4. for his own relief. The
man is esteemed a pious mail. I have, since this error of
hisj had a particular acquaintance with him ; and I believe
none would question his piety, that had such an acquaint-
ance. He gave me a particular account of the manner how
he was deluded, which is too long to be here inserted. But
in short, he was exceedingly rejoiced and elevated with this
extraordinary work, so carried on in this part of the country ;
and was'^ix)ssessed with an opinion that it was the beginning
of the glorious times of the church spoken of in scripture :
and had read it as the opinion of some divines, that there
would be many in these times that should be endued with
DEFFXTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK, 107
extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, and had embraced
the notion ; though he had at fust no apprehensions that
any besides ministers would have such gifts. But he since
exceedingly laments the dishonor he has done to God, and
the wound he has given religion in it, and has lain low-
before God and man for it.
After these things, the instances of conversion were rare
here in comparison of what the)^ had before been, (though
that remarkable instance of the little child was after this,)
and the Spirit of God not long after this time appeared very
sensibly withdra^^^ng from ail parts of the county ; (though
we have heard of its going on in some places of Connecticut,
and that it conthiues to be carried on even to this day.) But
icligion remained here, and I believe in some other places,
the main subject of conversation for several months after
this. And there were some turns, wherein God's ^vork
seemed something to revive, and we were ready to hope that
all was going to be renewed again : yet in the main there
was a gradual decline of that general, engaged, lively spirit
in religion, which had been before. Several things have
happened since, that have diverted people's minds, and
turned their conversation more to others' affairs, particularly
his excellency, the governor, coming to this place, and the
committee of general court, on the treaty with the Indians :
and afterwards the Springfield controversy ; and since that,
our people in this town have been engaged in the building
of a new meetinsr-house : and some other occurrences mischt
l)e mentioned, that have seemed to have this eflfcct. But as
to those that have been thought to be converted among us,
in this time, they generally seem to be persons that have had
an abiding change wronglit on them. I have had particular
acquaintance with many of them since, and they generally
appear to be persons that have a new sense of things, new
apprehensions and views of God, of the divine attributes, and
Jesus Christ,' and the o;reat things of the gospel : tliey have
a new sense of the truih of tliem, and they alTecl them in a
108 DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK.
new manner ; though it is very far from being always aUke
with them, neitlier can they revive a sense of things when
they please. Their hearts are often touched, and sometimes
filled, with new sweetnesses and delights ; there seems to be
an inward ardor and burning of heart that they express,
the like to which they never experienced before ; sometimes,
perhaps, occasioned only by the mention of Christ's name,
or some one of the divine perfections. There are new appe-
tites, and a new kind of breathings and pantings of heart,
and groanings that cannot be uttered. There is a new kind
of inward labor and struggle of soul towards heaven and
holiness.
Some, that before were very rough in their temper and
manners, seem to be remarkably softened and sweetened.
And some have had their souls exceedingly filled, and over-
whelmed with light, love, and comfort, long since the work
of God has ceased to be so remarkably carried on in a ge-
neral way : and some have had much greater experiences
of this nature than they had before. And there is still a
great deal of religious conversation continued in the town,
among young and old ; a religious disposition appears to be
still maintained among our people, by their upholding fre-
quent private religious meetings ; and all sorts are generally
worshiping God at such meetings, on sabbath-nights, and
in the evening after our public lecture. Many children in
the town do still keep up such meetings among themselves.
I know of no one young person in the town that has re-
turned to former ways, or looseness and extravagancy in
any respect ; but we still remain a reformed people, and God
has evidently made us a new people.
I cannot say that there has been no instance of any one
person that has carried himself so that others should justly
be stumbled concerning his profession ; nor am I so vain as
to imagine that we liave not been mistaken concerning any
that we have entertained a good opinion of, or that there are
none pass among us for sheep, that are indeed wolves in
DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK. 109
sheep's clothiug, who probably ma)^ some time or other dis- *
cover themselves by their fruit. We are not so pure
but that we have great cause to be humbled and ashamed
that we are so impure, nor so religious but that those that
watch for our halting may see things in us whence they
may take occasion to reproach us and religion : but in the
main there has been a great and marvelous work of con-
version and sanctification among the people here ; and they
have paid all due respect to those who have been blest of
God to be the instruments of it. Both old and young have
shown a forwardness to hearken not only to my counsels,
but even to my reproofs from the pulpit.
A great part of the country have not received the most
favorable thoughts of this affair ; and to this day many re-
tain a jealousy concerning it, and prejudice against it. I
have reason to think that the meanness and weakness of
the instrument that has been made use of in this town, has
prejudiced many against it ; it does not appear to me strange
that it should be so : but yet this circumst'ance of this great
work of God is analogous to other circumstances of it. God
has so ordered the manner of the work in many respects, as
very signally and remarkably to show it to be his own pe-
culiar and immediate work, and to secure the glory of it
wholly to his own almighty power and sovereign grace.
And whatever the circumstances and means have been, and
though we are so unworthy, yet so hath it pleased God to
work ! And we are evidently a people blessed of the Lord !
And here, in this corner of the world, God dwells, and
manifests his glor}^
Thus, Rev. Sir, I have given a large and particular ac-
count of this remarkable affair ; and yet, considering how
manifold God's works have been among us, that are worthy
to be written, it is but a brief one. I should have sent it
much sooner, had I not been greatly hindered by illness in
my family, and also in myself It is, probably, much larger
110 DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK.
than you expected, and it may be tlian you would have
chosen. I thought that the extraordinariness of the thing,
and the innumerable misrepresentations which have gone
abroad of it, many of which have, doubtless, reached your
ears, made it necessary that I should be particular. But I
would leave it entirely to your wisdom to make what use of
it you think best, to send a part of it to England, or all, or
none, if you think it not worthy ; or otherwise to dispose of
it as you may think most for God's glory, and the interest
of religion. If you are pleased to send any thing to the
Rev. Dr. Guyse, I should be glad to have it signified to him
as my humble desire, that since he, and the congregation
to which he preached, have been pleased to take so much
notice of us as they have — that they would also think of us
at the throne of grace, and seek there for us, that God would
not forsake us, but enable us to bring forth fruit answerable
to our profession and our mercies, and that our light may
shine before men, that others seeing our good works, may
glorify our Father who is in heaven.
When I first heard of the notice the Rev. Dr. Watts
and Dr. Guyse took of God's mercies to us, I took occasion
to inform our congregation of it in a discourse from these
words : " A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid." And
having since seen a particular account of the notice the Rev.
Dr. Guyse, and the congregation he preached to, took of it,
in a letter you wrote to my honored uncle Williams, I read
that part of your letter to the congregation, and labored as
much as in me lay to enforce their duty from it. The con-
gregation were very sensibly moved and affected at both
times.
I humbly request of you. Rev. Sir, your prayers for this
county, in its present melancholy circumstances, into which
it is brought by the Springfield quarrel, which, doubtless,
above all things that have happened, has tended to put a
stop to the glorious work here, and to prejndice this country
DEFECTS AND DECLINE OF THE WORK. Ill
against it, and hinder the propagation of it. I also ask your
prayers for this town, and would particularly beg an interest
in them for him, who is,
Honored sir,
With humble respect,
Your obedient son and servant,
JONATHAN EDWARDS.
Northainpton^
Nov. 6, 1736.
'^■^C\ ■
THOUGHTS
ON
THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION
IN NEW ENGLAND,
THE WAY IN WHICH IT OUGHT TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED
AND PROMOTED.
IN FIVE PARTS.
BY JONATHAN EDWARDS, A. M.
PASTOR OF THK CHURCH OF CHRIST, AT NORTHAMPTON.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for
our God Isaiah xI. 3.
15
PREFACE,
In the ensuing treatise, I condemn ministers assuming, or taking
too much upon them, and appearing as though they supposed that they
were the persons to whom it especially belonged to dictate, direct, and
determine ; but perhaps shall be thought to be very guilty of it myself:
and some, when they read this treatise, may be ready to say that I con-
demn this in others, that I may have the monopoly of it. I confess
that I have taken a great deal of liberty freely to express my thoughts
concerning almost every thing appertaining to the wonderful work
of God that has of late been carried on in the land, and to declare
what has appeared to me to be the mind of God, concerning the duty
and obligations of all sorts of persons, and even those that are my su-
periors and fathers, ministers of the gospel and civil rulers : but yet
I hope the liberty I have taken is not greater than can be justified.
In a free nation, such liberty of the press is allowed, that every author
takes leave without offense, freely to speak his opinion concerning
the management of public affairs, and the duty of the legislature, and
those that are at the head of the administration, though vastly his su-
periors : as now at this day, private subjects offer their sentiments
to the public, from the press, concerning the management of the war
with Spain ; freely declaring what they tiiink to be the duty of par-
liament, and the principal ministers of state, .&c. We in New Eng-
land are at this day engaged in a more important war : and I am sure
if we consider the sad jangling and confusion that has attended it,
we shall confess ihat it is highly requisite that somebody should speak
his mind concerning the way in which it ought to be managed : and
that not only a few of the many particulars, that are the matter of
strife in the land, should be debated on the one side and the other in
pamphlets ; (as has of late been done with heat and fierceness
enough ;) which does not tend to bring the contention in general to
116 PREFACE.
an end, but rather to inflame it, and increase the uproar : but that
something should be published to bring the affair in general, and the
many things that attend it that are the subjects of debate, under a
particular consideration. And certainly it is high time that this was
done. If private persons may speak their minds without arrogance,
much more may a minister of the kingdom of Christ speak freely
about things of this nature which do so nearly concern the interest of
the kingdom of his Lord and Master, at so important a juncture. If
some elder minister had undertaken this, I acknowledge it would
have been more proper ; but I have heard of no such thing a doing,
or like to be done. I hope therefore I shall be excused for underta-
king such a piece of work. I think that nothing that I have said can
justly be interpreted, as though I would impose my thoughts upon
any, or did not suppose that others have equal right to think for them-
selves, with myself. We are not accountable one to another for our
thoughts ; but we must all give an account to Him who searches our
hearts, and has doubtless his eye especially upon us at such an extra-
ordinary season as this. If I have well confirmed my opinion con-
cerning this work, and the way in which it should be acknowledged
and promoted, with scripture and reason, I hope others that read it
will receive it as a manifestation of the mind and will of God. If
others would hold forth further light to me in any of these particulars,
I hope I should thankfully receive it. I think I have been made in
some measure sensible, and much more of late than formerly, of my
need of more wisdom than I have. I make it my rule to lay hold of
light and embrace it wherever I see it, though held forth by a child or
an enemy. If I have assumed too much in the following discourse,
and have spoken in a manner that savors of a spirit of pride, no won-
der that others can better discern it than I myself. If it be so, I ask
pardon, and beg the prayers of every Christian reader, that I may
have more light, humility, and zeal ; and that I may be favored with
such measures of the divine Spirit, as a minister of the gospel stands
in need of at such an extraordinary season.
THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL, &c
PART I.
SHOWING THAT THE EXTRAORDINARY WORK THAT HAS
OF LATE BEEN GOING ON IN THIS LAND, IS A GLORIOUS
i WORK OF GOD.
The error of ihose who have had ill thoughts of the great
rehgious operation on the minds of men, that has been car-
ried on of late in New England (so far as the ground of such
an error has been in the understanding, and not in the dis-
position) seems fundamentally to lie in three things :
Firsts In judging of this work a priori.
Secondly^ In not taking the holy scriptures as a whole
rule whereby to judge of such operations.
Thirdly^ In not justly separating and distinguishing the
good from the bad.
SECTION I.
We shoidd not judge of this ivork a priori, but by its
effects.
They have greatly erred in the way in which they have
gone about to try this work, whether it be a work of the
Spirit of God or no, viz. in judging of it a priori ; from the
way that it began, the instruments that have been employed,
the means that have been made use of, and the methods
118 WE SHOULD JUDGE OF THE WORK
that have been taken and succeeded in carrying it on.
Whereas, if we duly consider the matter, it will evidently
appear that such a work is not to be judged- of a priori, but
a posteriori : we are to observe the effect wrought ; and if,
upon examination of it, it be found to be agreeable to the
word of God, we are bound, without more ado, to rest in it
as God's work ; and shall be like to be rebuked for our ar-
rogance, if we refuse so to do till God shall explain to us how
he has brought this effect to pass, oi- why he has made use
of such and such means in doing it. Those texts are
enough to cause us with trembling to forbear such a way of
proceeding in judging of a work of God's Spirit, Isa. xl. 13,
14. " Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his
counselor hath taught him ? With whom took he counsel,
and who instructed him, and who taught him in the path of
judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him
the way of understanding ?" John iii. 8. " The wind blow-
eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."
We hear the sound, we perceive the effect, and from thence
we judge that the wind does indeed blow ; without waiting
before we pass this judgment, first, to be satisfied what should
be the cause of the wind's blowing from such a part of the
heavens, and how it should come to pass that it should blow
in such a manner, at such a time. To judge a priori, is a
a wrong way of judging of any of the works of God. We
are not to resolve that we will first be satisfied how God
brought this for the other effect to pass, and why he hath
made it thus, or why it has pleased him to take such a
course, and to use such and such means, before we will ac-
knowledge his work, and give him the glory of it. This is
too much for the day to take upon it with respect to the
potter. " God gives not an account of his matters : His
judgments are a great deep : He hath his way in the sea,
and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not
known : and who shall teach God knowledge, or enjoin him
BY ITS EFFECTS. 119
liitf v/ay, or say uiilo liim what doest thou 7 We know not
what is the way of tlie Spirit, nor how the bones do grow
in the womb of her that is with child ; even so we know not
the works of God who maketh all." No wonder therefore if
those that go this forbidden way to w^ork, jn judging of the
present wonderful operation, are perplexed and confounded.
We ought to take heed that we do not expose ourselves to
the calamity of those who pried into the ark of God, when
God mercifully returned it to Israel, after it had departed
from them.
Indeed God has not taken that course, nor made use of
those means, to begin and carry on this great work, which
men in their wisdom would have thought most advisable, if
he had asked their counsel ; but quite the contrary. But it
appears to me that the great God has wrought like himself,
in the manner of his carrying on this work ; so as very much
to show his own glory, and exalt his own sovereignity, power
and all-sufficiency, and pour contempt on all that human
strength, wisdom, prudence, and sufficiency, that men have
been wont to trust, and to glory in ; and so as greatly to cross,
rebuke, and chastise the pride and corruptions of men ; in a
fulfillment of that, Isa. ii. 17. " And the loftiness of man shall
be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men, shall be made
low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." God
doth thus, in intermingling in his providence so many stum-
bling-blocks with this work ; in suffering so much of human
weakness and infirmity to appear ; and in ordering so many
things that are mysterious to men's wisdom : in pouring out
his Spirit chiefly on the common people, and bestowing his
greatest and highest favors upon them, admitting them nearer
to himself than the great, the honorable, the rich, and the
learned, agreeable to that prophecy, Zech. xii. 7. ''The
Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory
of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of
Terusalem, do not magnify themselves against Judah."
Those that dwelt in the tents of Judah were the common
120 WE SHOULD JUDGE OF THE WORK
people that dwelt in the country, and were of inferior rank.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem were their citizens, their men
of wealth, and figure : and Jerusalem also was the chief
place of the habitation or resort of their priests, and Levites,
and their officers and judges ; there sat the great Sanhedrim.
The house of David were the highest rank of all, the royal
family, and the great men that were round about the king.
It is evident by the context, that this prophecy has respect to
something further than the saving the people out of the Ba-
bylonish captivity.
God in this work has begun at the lower end, and he has
made use of the weak and foolish things of the world to car-
ry on his work. The ministers that have been chiefly im-
proved, some of them have been mere babes in age and
standing, and some of them such as have not been so high
in reputation among their fellows as many others ; and God
has suffered their infirmities to appear in the sight of others,
so as much to displease them ; and at the same time it has
pleased God to improve them, and greatly to succeed them,
while he has not so succeeded others that are generally re-
puted vastly their superiors. Yea, there is reason to think
that it has pleased God to make use of the infirmities and
sins of some that he has improved and succeeded ; as parti-
cularly their imprudent and rash zeal, and censorious spirit,
to chastise the deadness, negligence, earthly-mindedness, and
vanity that have been found among ministers in the late
times of general declension and deadness, wherein wise vir-
gins and foolish, ministers and people, have sunk into such
a deep sleep. These things in ministers of the gospel, that
go forth as the embassadors of Christ, and have the care of
immortal souls, are extremely abominable to God ; vastly
more hateful in his sight than all the imprudence, and intem-
perate heats, wildness, and distraction (as some call it) of
these zealous preachers. A supine carelessness, and a vain,
carnal, worldly spirit, in a minister of the gospel, is the worst
madness and distraction in the sight of God. God m^y also
BY THE SCRIPTURE ONLY. 121
make use at this day, of the unchristian censoriousness of
some preachersj the more to humble and purify some of his
own children and true servants, that have been wrongfully
censured, to lit them for more eminent service and future
honor that he designs them for.
SECTION II.
We should judge by the ride of scrijHure.
Another foundation-error of those that do not acknowledge
the divinity of this work, is not taking the holy scriptures
as a tohole^ and in itself a sufficient rule to judge of such
things by. They that have one certain consistent rule to
judge by, are like to come to- some clear determination ; but
they that have half a dozen different rules to make the thing
they would judge of agree to, no wonder that instead of justly
and clearly determining, they do but perplex and darken them-
selves and others. They that would learn the true measure
of any thing, and will have many different measures to try
it by, and find in it a conformity to, have a task that they
will not accomplish.
Those that I am speaking of, will indeed make some use
of scripture, so far as they think it serves their turn ; but do
not make use of it alone, as a rule sufficient by itself, but
make as much, and a great deal more use of other things,
diverse and wide from it, to judge of this work by. As par-
ticularly,
1. Some make jjhilosophy, instead of the holy scriptures,
their rule of judging of this work ; particularly the philoso-
phical notions they entertain of the nature of the soul, its fa-
culties and affections. Some are ready to say, " There is but
little sober solid religioa in this work : it is little else but flash
and noise. Religion now-a-days all runs out into transports
16
122 WE SHOULD JUDGE OF THE WORK:
and high flights of the passions and affections." In their
philosophy, the affections of the soul are something diverse
from the will, and not appertaining to the noblest part of the
soul, but the meanest principles that it has, that belong to
men as partaking of animal nature, and what he has in com-
mon with the brute creation, rather than any thing whereby
he is conformed to angels and pure spirits. And though they
acknowledge that there is a good use may be made of the af-
fections in rehgion, yet they suppose that the substantial part
of rehgion does not consist in them, but that they are rather
to be looked upon as something adventitious and accidental
in Christianity.
But I cannot but think that these gentlemen labor under
great mistakes, both in their philosophy and divinity. It is
true, distinction must be made in the affections or passions.
There is a great deal of difference in high and raised affec-
tions, which must be distinguished by* the skill of the obser-
ver. Some are much more sohd than others. There are
many exercises of the affections that are very flashy, and little
to be depended on ; and oftentimes there is a great deal that
appertains to them, or rather that is the effect of them, that
has its seat in animal nature, and is very much owing to the
constitution and frame of the body ; and that which sometimes
more especially obtains the name of passion, is nothing solid or
substantial. But it is false philosophy to suppose this to be
the case with all exercises of affection in the soul, or with all
great and high affections ; and false divinity to suppose that
religious affections do not appertain to the substance and es-
sence of Christianity : on the contrary, it seems to me that the
very life and soul of all true religion consists in them.
I humbly conceive that the affections of the soul are not
properly distinguished from the will, as though they were
two faculties in the soul. All acts of the affections of the soul
are in some sense acts of the will, and ail acts of the will are
acts of the affections. All exercises of the will are, in some
degree or other, exercises of the soul's appetition or aversion ;
BY THE SCRIPTURE ONLY 128
or which is the same thing, of its love or hatred. The soul
wills one thing rather tlian another, or chooses one thing ra-
ther than another, no otherwise than as it loves one thing
more than another ; but love and hatred are affections of the
soul : and therefore all acts of the will are tiiily acts of the
affections ; though the exercises of the will do not obtain the
name of passions, unless the will, either in its aversion or op-
position, be exercised in a high degree, or in a vigorous and
lively manner.
All will allow that true virtue or holiness has its seat
chiefly in the heart, rather than in the head : it therefore
follows from what has been said alread3^ tliat it consists
chiefly in holy affections. The things of religion take place
in men's hearts^ no further than they are affected with them.
The informing of the understanding is all vain, any farther
than it affects the heart ; or which is the same thing, has
influence on the affections.
Those gentlemen that make light of these raised affec-
tions in rehgion, W\\\ doubtless allow that true religion and
holiness, as it has its seat in the heart, is capable of very high
degrees, and high exercises in the soul. As for instance :
they will doubtless allow that the holiness of the heart or
will is capable of being raised to a hundred times as great
a degree of strength as it is in the most eminent saint on
earth, or to be exerted in a hundred times so strong and
vigorous exercises of the heart ; and yet be true religion or
holiness still, but only in a high degree. Now therefore I
would ask them, by what name they will call these high and
vigorous exercises of the will or heart ? Are the)^ not high
affections ? What can they consist in, but high acts of love ;
strong and vigorous exercises of benevolence and compla-
cence ; high, exalting, and admiring thoughts of God and
his perfections : strong desires after God, &c. ? And now
what are w^e come to, but high and raised affections ? Yea,
those very same high and raised affections that before they
objected against, or made light of, as worthy of little
regard.
124 RELIGION ADMITS OF AFFECTIONS.
I suppose furthermore that all will allow that there is no-
thing but solid religion in heaven : but that there, rehgion
and holiness of heart is raised to an exceeding great height,
to strong, high, exalted exercises of heart. Now what other
kinds of such exceeding strong and high exercises of the
heart, or of holiness as it has its seat in their hearts, can we
devise for them, but only holy affections, high degrees of
actings of love to God, rejoicing in God, admiring of God,
<fcc. ? Therefore these things in the saints and angels in
heaven are not to be despised and cashiered by the name of
great heats and transports of the passions.
And it will doubtless be yet further allowed, that the more
eminent the saints are on earth, and the stronger their grace
is, and the higher its exercises are, the more they are like
the saints in heaven ; i. e. (by what has been just now ob-
served) the more they have of high or raised affections in
religion.
Though there are false affections in rehgion, and affec-
tions that in some respects are raised high, that are flashy,
yet undoubtedly there are also true, holy, and solid affec-
tions ; and the higher these are raised, the better : and if
they are raised to an exceeding great height, they are not
to be thought meanly of, or suspected, merely because of
their great degree, but on the contrary to be esteemed and
rejoiced in. Charity, or divine love, is in scripture repre-
sented as the sum of all the rehgion of the heart ; but this is
nothing but a holy affection : and therefore, in proportion
as this is firmly fixed in the soul, and raised to a great
height, the more eminent a person is in holiness. Divine
love or charity is represented as the sum of all the religion
of heaven, and that wherein mainly the religion of the
church in its more perfect state on earth shall consist, when
knowledge, and tongues, and prophecyings shall c^ase ; and
therefore the higher this lioly affection is raised in the church
of God, or in a gracious soul, the more excellent and perfect
is the state of the church, or a particular soul.
RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS MAY BE HIGH 125
If we take the scriptiues for oui* rule, then the gieatei and
higher are the exercises of love to God, delight and compla-
cence in God, desires and longings after God, delight in the
children of God, love to mankind, brokenness cf heart, ab-
horrence of sin, and self-abhorrence for sin ; and the peace
of God which passeth all understanding, and joy in the
Holy Ghost, joy unspeakable and full of glory ; admiring
thoughts of God, exulting and glorying in God ; so much
the higher is Christ's religion, or that virtue which he and
his apostles taught, raised in the soul.
It is a stumbling to some, that rehgious affections should
seem to be so powerful, or that they should be so violent (as
they express it) in some persons : they are therefore ready to
doubt whether it can be the Spirit of God, oi- whether this
vehemence be not rather a sign of the operation of an evil
spirit. But why should such a doubt arise from no other
ground than this? What is represented in scripture, as
more powerful in its effects, than the Spirit of God ? which
is therefore called " the power of the Highest," Luke i. 35 ;
and its saving effect in the soul called " the power of godli-
ness." So we read of the " demonstration of the Spirit, and
of power," 1 Cor. ii. 4. And it is said to operate in the minds
of men with the "exceeding greatness of divine power,"
and " according to the working of God's mighty power,"
Eph. i. 19. So we read of "the effectual working of his
power," Eph. iii. 7. And of the "power that worketh in
Christians," v. 20. And of the " glorious power," of God
in the operations of the spirit. Col. i. 11. And of " the work
of faith," its being wrought '' with power," 2 Thess. i. 11.
And in 2 Tim. i. 7. the Spirit of God is called " the spirit
of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." So the Spirit
is represented by a mighty wind, and by fire, things most
powerful in their operation.
2. Many are guilty of not taking the holy scriptures as a
sufficient and whole rule, whereby (o judge of this work,
whether it be the work of God ; in that they judge by those
126 EFFECTS OF RELIGION ON THE BODY.
things which the scripture does not give as any signs or
marks whereby to judge one way or the other, and therefore
do in no wise belong to the scripture rule of judging, viz.
the effects that religious exercises and aifections of mind have
upon the body. Scripture rules respect the state of the mind,
and persons' moral conduct, and volunlaiy behavior, and not
the physical state of the body. The design of the scripture
is to teach us divinity, and not ph3^sic and anatomy. Minis-
ters are made the watchmen of men's souls, and not their
bodies ; and therefore the great rule which God has com-
mitted into their hands, is to make them divines, and not
physicians. Christ knew what instructions and rules his
church would stand in need of better than we do ; and if he
had seen it needful in order to the church's safety, he doubt-
less would have given ministers rules to judge of bodil}^
effects, and would have told them how the pulse should beat
under such and such religious exercises of mind ; when men
should look pale, and when they should shed tears ; when
they should tremble, and whether or no they should ever be
faint or cry out ; or whether the body should ever be put
into convulsions : he probably would have put some book
into their hands, that should have tended to make them
excellent anatomists and physicians : but he has not done it,
because he did not see it to be needful. He judged, that if
ministers thoroughly did their duty as watchmen and over-
seers of the state and frame of men's souls, and of their
voluntary conduct, according to the rules he had given, his
church would be well provided for, as to its safety in these
matters. And therefore those ministers of Christ and over-
seers of souls, that busy themselves, and are full of concern
about the involuntary motions of the fluids and solids of men's
bodies, and from thence are full of doubts and suspicions
of the cause, when nothing appears but that the state and
frame of their minds, and their voluntary behavior is good,
and agreeable to God's word ; 1 say, such ministers go out
of the place that Christ has set them in, and leave their
OP INJURIES TO HEALTH. 127
proper business, as much as if they should undertake to tell
who are under the influence of the Spirit by their looks or
their gait. I cannot see which way we are in danger, or
how the devil is like to get any notable advantage against
us, if we do but thoroughly do our duty with respect to those
two things, viz. the state of person's minds, and their
moral conduct, seeing to it that they may be maintained in
an agreeableness to the rules that Christ has given us. If
things are but kept right in these respects, our fears and
suspicions arising from extraordinary bodily effects seem
wholly groundless.
The most specious thing that is alledged against these
extraordinary effects on the body, is-, that the body is im-
paired and health wronged ; and that it is hard to think that
God, in the merciful influences of his Spirit on men, would
wound their bodies, and impair their health. But if it were
so pretty commonly, or in multiphed instances (which I do
not suppose it is), that persons received a lasting wound to
their health by extraordinary religious impressions made
upon their minds, yet it is too much for us to doLermine that
God shall never bring an outward calamity, in bestowing a
vastly greater spiritual and eternal good. Jacob, in doing
his duty in wrestling with God for the blessing, and v/hile
God was striving with him, at the same time that he re-
ceived the blessing from God, suffered a great outward ca-
lamity from his hand : God impaired his body so that he
never got over it as long as he lived. He gave him the
blessing, but sent him away halting on his thigh, and he
went lame all his life after. And yet this is not mentioned
as if it were any diminution of the great mercy of God to
him, wlien God blessed him, and he received his name
Israel, because as a prince he had power with God, and had
prevailed.
But, say some, the operations of the Spirit of God are of a
benign nature ; nothing is of a more kind influence on human
nature than the merciful breathings of God's own Spirit.
128 STRONG RELIGIOUS EXERCISES.
But it has been a tiling generally supposed and allowed in
the church of God, till now, that there is such a thing as
being sick of love to Christ, or having the bodily strength
weakened by strong and vigorous exercises of love to him.
And however kind to human nature the influences of the
Spirit of God are, yet nobody doubts but that divine and
eternal things, as they may be discovered, would overpower
the nature of man in its present w^eak state ; and that there-
fore the body, in its present weakness, is not fitted for the
views and pleasures and employments of heaven : and that
if God did discover but a little of that which is seen by the
saints and angels in heaven, our frail natures would sink
under it. Indeed, I know not what persons may deny now,
to defend themselves in a cause they have had their spirits
long engaged in, but I know these things did not use to be
denied or doubted of. Let us rationally consider what we
profess to believe of the infinite greatness of the things of
God, the divine wrath, the divine glory, and the divine infi-
nite love and grace in Jesus Christ, and the vastness and
infinite importance of the things of eternity ; and how rea-
sonable it is to suppose that if it pleases God a little to with-
draw the veil, and let in hght into the soul, and give some-
thing of a view of the great things of another world in their
transcendent and infinite greatness, that human nature, that
is as the grass, a shaking leaf, a weak withering flower,
should totter under such a discovery ? Such a bubble is too
weak to bear the weight of a view of things that are so vast.
Alas ! What is such dust and ashes, that it should support
itself under the view of the awful wrath or infinite glory
and love of Jehovah ! No wonder therefore that it is said,
" No man can see me and live, and flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God." That external glory and
majesty of Christ which Daniel saw when '• there remained
no strength in him, and his comeliness was turned in him
into corruption," Dan. x. 6, 7, 8., and which the apostle
John saw when he fell at his feet as dead, was but an image
OVERCOMING THE BODILV POWERS. 129
or shadow of that spiritual glory and majesty of Christ
which will be manifested in the souls of the saints in another
worldj and which is sometimes, in some degree, manifested
to the soul in this world, by the influences of the Spirit of
God. And if the beholding the image and external repre-
sentation of this spiritual majesty and glory, did so over-
power human nature, is it unreasonable to suppose that a
sight of the spiritual glory itself, which is the substance of
which that was but the shadow, should have as powerful an
effect ? The prophet Habakkuk, speaking of the awful
manifestations God made of his majesty and wrath, at the
Red sea, and in the wilderness, and at Mount Sinai, where
he gave the law ; and of the merciful influence and strong
impression God caused it to have upon him, to the end that
he might be saved from that wrath, and rest in the day of
trouble, says, Hab. iii. 16. " When I heard, my belly trem-
bled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into
my bones, I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day
of trouble." Which is much such an effect as the discovery
of the same majesty and wrath, in the same awful voice
from Mount Sinai, has had upon many in these days, and
to the same purposes, viz. to give them rest in the day of
trouble, and save them from that wrath. The Psalmist
also speaks of very much such an effect as I have often seen
on persons under religious affections of late. Psalm cxix. 131.
" I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for thy com-
mandments."
God is pleased sometimes in dealing forth spiritual bless-
ings to his people, in some respect to exceed tlie capacity of
the vessel, in its present scantiness, so that he does not only
fill it full, but he makes their cup to run over, agreeable to
Psalm xxiii. 5., and pours out a blessing, sometimes in such
a manner and measure that there is not room enough to re-
ceive it, Mai. iii. 10., and gives them more riches than they
can carry away ; as he did to Jehoshaphat and bis people,
in a time of great favor, by the word of his prophet Jeha-
17
130 DISCOVERIES OF GOD IN THE SOUL
ziel, ill answer to an earnest })rayer, when the people blessecl
the Lord in the valley of Berachah, 2 Chron. xx. 25, 26,
It has been with the disciples of Christ, for a long time, a
time of great emptiness upon spiritual accounts : they have
gone hungry, and have been toiling in vain, during a <iark
season, a time of night with the church of God ; as it was
with the disciples of old, when they had toiled all night for
something to eat and caught nothing, Luke v. 5, and John
xxi. 3. But now^, the morning being come, Jesus appears
to his disciples, and takes a compassionate notice of their
wants, and says to them, " Children, have ye any meat T
and gives some of them such abundance of food, that they
are not able to draw their net ; yea, so that their net breaks,
and their vessel is overloaded, and begins to sink ; as it was
with the disciples of old, Luke v. 6, 7, and John xxi. 6.
We cannot determine that God never shall give any per-
son so much of a discovery of himself, not only as to weaken
their bodies, but to take away their lives. It is supposed by
very learned and judicious divines, that Moses' life was taken
away after this manner ; and this has also been supposed to
be the case with some other saints. Yea, I do not see any
solid sure grounds any have to determine, that God shall never
make such strong impressions on the mind by his Spirit, that
shall be an occasion of so impairing the frame of the body,
and particularly that part of the body, the brain, that persons
shall be deprived of the use of reason. As I said before, it
is too much for us to determine, that God will not bring an
outward calamity in bestowing spiritual and eternal bless-
ings: so it is too much for us to determine, how great an
outward calamity he will bring. If God give a great in-
crease of discoveries of himself, and of love to hini; the bene-
fit is infinitely greater than the calamity, though the life
should presently after be taken away ; yea, though the soul
should not immediately ha taken to heaven, but should lie
some yeai>^ in a deep sleep, and then be taken to heaven ;
or, which is irmch the same thirig. if it be deprived of the use
MAY TAKE AAVAV THE REASON. 131
of its faculties, and 1)6 inactive and unserviceable, as if it lay
in a deep sleep for some years, and then should pass into glory.
We cannot determine how great a calamity distraction is,
when considered with all its consequences, and all that might
have been consequent, if the distraction had not happened ;
nor indeed whether (thus considered) it be any calamity at
all, or whether it be not a mercy, by preventing some great
sin, or some more dreadful thing, if it had not been. It is a
great fault in us to limit a sovereign, all-wise God, whose
judgments are a great deep, and his ways past finding out,
where he has not limited himself, and in things concerning
which he has not told us what his way shall be. It is re-
markable, considering in what multitudes of instances, and to
how great a degree, the frame of the body has been over-
powered of late, that persons' lives have notwithstanding been
preserved, and that the instances of those that have been de-
prived of reason have been so very few, and those, perhaps, all
of them, persons under the peculiar disadvantage of a w^eak,
vapory habit of body. A merciful and careful divine hand is
very manifest in it, that in so many instances where the
ship has begun to sink, yet it has been upheld, and has not
totally sunk. The instances of such as have been deprived
of reason are so few, that certainly they are not enough to
cause us to be in any fright, as though this work that has
been carried on in the country, was like to be of baneful in-
fluence ; vmless we are disposed to gather up all that we can
to darken it, and set it forth in frightful colors.
There is one particular kind of exercise and concern of
mind, that many have been overpowered by, that has been
especially stumbling to some ; and that is the deep concern
and distress that they have been in for the souls of others. I
am sorry that any put us to the trouble of doing that which
seems so needless, as defending such a thing as tliis. It
seems like mere trifling in so plain a case, to enter into a for-
mal and particular debate, in order to determine whether
there be any thing in the greatness and importance of the case,
132 CONCERN FOR THE SOULS OF OTHERS.
that will answer, and bear a proportion to the greatness of
the concern that some have manifested. Men may be al-
lowed, from no higher a principle than common ingenuity
and humanity, to be very deeply concerned, and greatly ex-
ercised in mind, at seeing others in great danger of no
greater a calamity than drowning, or being burnt up in a
house on fire. And if so, then doubtless it will be allowed to
be equally reasonable, if they saw them in danger of a ca-
lamity ten times greater to be still much more concerned :
and so much more still, if the calamity was still vastly greater.
And why then should it be thought unreasonable, and looked
upon with a very suspicious eye, as if it must come from
some bad cause, when persons are extremely concerned at
seeing others in very great danger of suffering the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God to all eternity ? And besides it will
doubtless be allowed that those that have very great degrees of
the Spirit of God, that is a spirit of love, may well be sup-
posed to have vastly more of love and compassion to their
fellow-creatures, than those that are influenced only by com-
mon humanity. Why should it be thought strange that
those that are full of the Spirit of Christ, should be proportion-
ably, in their love to souls, like to Christ ? who had so strong
a love to them and concern for them, as to be willing to drink
the dregs of the cup of God's fury for them ; and at the
same time that he offered up his blood for souls, offered up
also as their high priest, strong crying and tears, with an ex-
treme agony, wherein the soul of Christ was as it were in
travail for the souls of the elect ; and therefore in saving
them he is said to see of the travail of his soul. As such a
spirit of love to and concern for souls was the Spirit of Christ,
so it is the spirit of the church ; and therefore the church.
in desiring and seeking that Christ might be brought forth
in the world, and in the souls of men, is represented. Rev.
xii. as " a woman crying, travaihng in birth, and pained
to be delivered." The s[)irit of those that have been in dis-
tress for the souls of others, so far as I can discern, seems not
NEW SCENES TO BE EXPECTED. 133
to be different from that of the apostle who travailed for souls,
and was ready to wish himself accursed from Christ for
others. And that of the psalmist, Psalm cxix. 53. " Horror
hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake
thy law." And v. 136. " Rivers of waters run down mine
eyes, because they keep not thy law." And that of the pro-
phet Jeremiah, Jer. iv. 19. " My bowels ! my bowels ! I am
pained at my very heart ! My heart maketh a noise in me !
I cannot hold my peace ! Because thou hast heard, O my
soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war !" And so,
chap. ix. 1. and xiii. 17. and xiv. 17. and Isa. xxii. 4. We
read of Mordecai, when he saw his people in danger of being
destroyed with a tempoial destruction, Esther iv. 1. that
he " rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and
went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud
and bitter cry." And why then should persons be thought
to be distracted, when they cannot forbear crying out at the
consideration of the misery of those that are going to eternal
destruction ?
3. Another thing that somfe make their rule to judge of
this work by, instead of the holy scriptures, is history, or for-
mer observation. Herein they err two ways : First, if there
be any thing new and extraordinary in the circumstances of
this work that was not observed in former times, that is a
rule with them to reject this work as not the work of God.
Herein they make that their rule, that God has not giv^en
them for their rule ; and limit God, where he has not limited
himself And this is especially unreasonable in this case :
for whosoever has well weighed the wonderful and mysteri-
ous methods of Divine Wisdom, in carrying on the work of
the new creation, or in the progress of the work of redemp-
tion from the first promise of the seed of the woman to this
time may easily observe tliat it has all along been God's
manner to open new scenes, and to bring forth to view
things nev/ and wonderful, such as eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, nor entered into the heart of men or angels, to the
134 MANY EXTRAORDINARY THINGS
astonisliineiit of heaven and earth, not only in the revelation
he makes of his mind and will, but also in the works of his
hands. As the old creation was carried on through six days,
and appeared all complete, settled in a state of rest on the
seventh ; so the new creation, which is immensely the great-
est and most glorious work, is carried on in a gradual pro-
gress, from the fall of man to the consummation of all things
at the end of the world. A^nd as in the progress of the old
creation there were still new things accomplished ; new won-
ders appeared every day in the sight of the angels, the spec-
tators of that work ; while those morning stars sang together,
new scenes were opened or things that they had not seen be-
fore till the whole was finished ; so it is in the progress of
the new creation. 80 that that promise, Isa. Ixiv. 4. "For
since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, be-
sides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for
him ;" though it had a glorious fulfillment in the days of
Christ and the apostles, as the words are applied, 1 Cor. ii.
9. yet it always remains to be fulfilled in the things that are
yet behind, till the new creation is finished, at Christ's deh-
vering up the kingdom to the Father. And we live in those
latter days, wherein we may be especially waiianted to ex-
pect that things will be accomplished concerning which it
will be said. Who hath heard such a thing ? Who hath seen
such things 7
And besides, those things in this work that have been
chiefly complained of as new, are not so new as has been
generally imagined : though they have been much more
frequent lately, in proportion to the uncommon degree, extent
and swiftness, and other extraordinary circumstances of the
work, yet they are not new in their kind, but are things of
the same nature as have been found and well approved of
in the church of God before, from time to time.
We have a remarkable instance in Mr. l^olton, that noted
minister of the church of England, who, being awakened
FALSELY THOUGHT TO BE NEW. 135
by the preaching of the famous Mr. Perkiijs, iriiiiister uf
Christ in the University of Cambridge, was subject to such
terrors as threw him to the ground, and caused him to roar
with anguish ; and the pangs of the new birth in him were
such, that he lay pale and without sense, like one dead ; as
we have an account in the FuJfiUinq' of the Scripture^ the
5th edition, p. 103, 104. We have an account in the same
page of another, whose comforts under the sunshine of God's
presence were so great, that he could not forbear crying out
in a transport, and expressing in exclamations, the great
sense he had of forgiving mercy and his assurance of God's
love. And we have a remarkable instance in the life of Mr.
George Trosse, written by himself, (who, of a notoriously
vicious profligate liver, became an eminent saint and minis-
ter of the gospel) of terrors occasioned by awakenings of
conscience, so overpowering the body as to deprive, for some
time, of the use of reason.
Yea, such extraordinary external effects of inward im-
pressions have not only been to be found in here and there
a single person, but there have also before now been times
wherein many have been thus affected, in some particular
parts of the church of God ; and such effects liave appeared
in congregations, in many at once. So it was in the year
1625, in the west of Scotland, in a time of great outpouring
of the Spirit of God. It was then a frequent thing for many
to be so extraordinarily seized with terror in the hearing of
the word, by the Spirit of God convincing them of sin, that
they fell down, and were carried out of the church, who af-
terwards proved most solid and lively Christians ; as the
author of the Fulfilling of the ^Scripture informs us, p. 185.
The same author, in the preceding page, informs of many
in France that were so wonderfully affected with the preach-
ing of the gospel, in the time of those famous divines, Farel
and Viret, that for a time they could not follow their secular
business. And p. 186, of many in Ireland, in a time of
great outpouring of the Spirit there, in the year 1628, that
136 CASES IN FORMER REVIVALS.
were so filled with divine comforts, and a sense of God, that
they made but liltle use of either meat, drink, or sleep, and
professed that they did not feel the need thereof. The same
author gives an account of very much such things in Mrs.
Catharine Brettergh, of Lancashire, in England, p. 391,
392, as have been cried out of, here amongst us, as wild and
distracted : how that after great distress, which very much
affected lier body, the sweat sometimes bursting out upon
her, God did so break in upon her mind with light and dis-
coveries of himselfj that she was forced to burst out, crying,
" O the joys, the joys, the joys, that I feel in my soul ! O
they be wonderful, they be wonderful ! The place where 1
now am is sweet and pleasant ! How comfortable is the
sweetness I feel, that delights my soul ! The taste is pre-
cious ; do you not feel it ? O so sweet as it is !" And at
other times, ^' O my sweet Savior, shall I be one with thee,
as thou art one with the Father ? And dost thou so love me
that am but dust, to make me partaker of glory with Christ?
how wonderful is thy love ! And O that my tongue and
heart were able to sound forth thy praises as I ought." At
another time she burst forth thus : " Yea, Lord, I feel thy
mercy, and am assured of thy love ! And so certain am I
thereof, as thou art that God of truth , even so certainly do
1 know myself to be thine, O Lord my God ; and this my
soul knoweth right well !" Which last words she again
doubled. To a grave minister, one Mr. Harrison, then with
her, she said, "My soul hath been compassed with the ter-
rors of death, the sorrows of hell were upon me, and a wil-
derness of wo was in me ; but blessed, blessed, blessed be
the Lord my God ! he hath brought me to a place of rest,
even to the sweet running waters of life. The way I now
go in is a sweet and easy way, strewed with flowers ; he
hath brought me into a place more sweet than the garden
of Eden. O the joy, the joy, the dehghts and joy that I
feel ! O how wonderful !"
EXPERIENCE OF MR. FLAVEL, 137
Great outcries under awakenings were more frequently
heard of in former times in the country, than they have been
of late, as some aged persons now living do testify : particu-
larly I think fit here to insert a testimony of my honored
father, of what he remembers formerly to have heard.
" I well remember that one Mr. Alexander AUyn, a Scots
gentleman of good credit, that dwelt formerly in this town,
showed me a letter that came from Scotland, that gave an
account of a sermon preached in the city of Edinburgh (as
I remember) in tlie time of the sitting of the general assem-
bly of divines in that kingdom, that so affected the people,
that there was a gi-eat and loud cry made throughout the
assembly. I have also been credibly informed, and how of-
ten I cannot now say, that it was a common thing, when the
famous Mr. John Rogers, of Dedham, in England, was
preaching, for- some of his hearers to cry out ; and by what
I have heard, I conclude that it was usual for many that
heard that very awakening and rousing preacher of God's
word, to make a great cry in the congregation."
TIMOTHY EDWARDS.
Windsor, May 5, 1742.
Mr. Flavel gives a remarkable instance of a man that he
knew, that was wonderfully overcome with divine comforts ;
which it is supposed he knew, as the apostle Paul knew the
man that was caught up to the third heaven. He relates
that,
" As the person was traveling alone, with his thoughts
closely fixed on the great and astonishing things of another
world, his thoughts began to swell higher and higher, like
the water in Ezekiel's vision, till at last they became an
overflowing flood. Such was the intenseness of his mind,
such the ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, and such his full
assurance of his interest therein, that he utterly lost all sight
and sense of this world, and the concernments thereof, and
18
138 RELIGIOUS TRANSPORTS IN NEW ENGLAND.
for some hours knew not where he was, nor whiit he was
about : but having lost a great quantity of blood at the nose,
he found himself so faint that it brought him a little more
to himself And after he had washed himself at a spring,
and drank of the water for his refreshment, he continued to
the end of his journey, which was thirty miles ; and all this
while was scarce sensible, and says he had several trances
of considerable continuance. The same blessed frame was
preserved all that night, and in a lower degree, great part of
the next day : the night passed without one wink of sleep,
and yet he declares he never had a sweeter night's re^t in
all his life. Still (adds the story) the joy of the Lord over-
flowed him, and he seemed to be an inhabitant of another
world. And he used, for many years after, to call that day
one of the days of heaven ; and professed that he under-
stood more of the life of heaven by it, than by all the books
he ever read, or discourses he ever entertained about it."
There have been instances before now, of persons' crying
out in transports of divine joy, in New England. We have
an instance in Captain Clapp's memoirs, published by the
Rev. Mr. Prince, not of a silly woman or child, but a man of
solid understanding, that in a high transport of spiritual joy,
was made to cry out aloud on his bed. His words, p. 9, are,
« God's Holy Spirit did witness, I do believe, together with
my spirit, that I was a child of God, and did fill my heart
and soul with such full assurance that Christ was mine, that
it did so transport me, as to make me cry out upon my bed,
with a loud voice, He is come, he is come !"
There has, before now, been both crying out and falling
down, in this town, under aAvakenings of conscience, and in
che pangs of the new birth, and also in some of the neighbor
towns. In one of them, more than seven years ago, was a
great number together that cried out and fell down, under
convictions ; in most of which, by good information, was a
hopeful and abiding good issue. And the Rev. Mr. Williams,
of Deerfield, gave me an account of an aged man in that
JUDGING BY TTIEIR OWN EXPERIENCK. 139
town, many 3^ears before lliatj that being awakened by his
preaching, cried out aloud in the congregation. Tliere have
been many instances in this and some neighbor towns, before
now, of persons fainting with joyful discoveries made to their
souls : once several together in this town. And there also
formerly have been several instances here, of persons' flesh
waxing cold and benumbed, and their hands clenched, yea,
their bodies being set into convulsions, being overpowered
with a strong sense of the astonishingly great and excellent
things of God, and the eternal world.
Secondly^ Another way that some err in making history
and former observation their rule to judge of this work, in-
stead of the holy scripture, is in comparing some external ac-
cidental circumstances of this work, with what has appeared
sometimes in enthusiasts ; and as they find an agreement in
some such things, so they reject the whole work, or at least
the substance of it, concluding it to be enthusiasm. So, great
use has been made to this purpose of many things that are
found amongst the (Quakers ; however totally and essentially
different in its nature this work is, and the principles it is
built upon, from the whole religion of the Quakers. So, to
the same purpose, some external appearances that were found
amongst the French prophets, and some other enthusiasts in
former times, have been of late trumped up with great assu-
rance and triumph.
4. I would propose it to be considered, whether oi* no some,
instead of making the scriptures their only rule to judge of
this work, do not make their own experience the rule, and
reject such and such things as are now professed and expe-
rienced, because they never felt them themselves. Are there
not many, that chiefly on this ground, have entertained and
vented suspicions, if not peremptory condemnations of those
extreme terrors, and those great, sudden, and extraordinary
discoveries of the glorious perfections of God, and of the
beauty and love of Christ ; and such vehement affections,
such high transports of love and joy, such pity and distress
140 WE SHOULD NOT EXPECT PERFECTION,
for the souls of others, and exercises of mind that have such
great effects on j3ersons' bodies, merely, or chiefly, because
they knew nothing about them by experience ? Persons are
very ready to be suspicious of what they have not felt them-
selves. It is to be feared many good men have been guilty
of this error ; which yet does not make it the less unreason-
able. And perhaps there are some that upon this ground do
not only reject these extraordinary things, but all such con-
viction of sin, and such discoveries of the glory of God, and
excellency of Christ, and inward conviction of the truth of
the gospel, by the immediate influence of the Spirit of God,
that are now supposed to be necessary to salvation.
These persons that thus make their own experiences their
rule of judgment, instead of bowing to the wisdom of God.
and yielding to his word as an infallible rule, are guilty of
casting a great reflection upon the understanding of the
Most High.
SECTION III.
We should not judge of the whole hy a 'pari.
Another foundation error of those that reject this work^-
is their not duly distinguishing the good from the bad, and
very unjustly judging of the whole by a part ; and so reject-
ing the work in general, or in the main substance of it, for
the sake of some things that are accidental to it, that are evil.
They look for more in men that are divinely influenced, be-
cause subject to the operations of a good spirit, than is justly
to be expected from them for that reason, in this imperfect
state, and dark world, where so much blindness and corrup-
tion remains in the best. When any profess to have re-
ceived light, and influence, and comforts from heaven, and to
have had sensible communion with God, many are ready to
JUDGING OP THE WORK AS A WHOLE. 141
expect tliat now they appear like angels, and not still like
poor, feeble, blind, and sinful worms of the dust. There being
SO much corruption left in the hearts of God's own children,
and its prevaiUng as it sometimes does, is indeed a mysterious
thing, and always a stumbling-block to the world ; but will
not be so much wondered at by those that are well versed in,
and duly mindful of, two things, viz. First, The word of
God, which teaches us the state of true Christians in this
world ; and Secondly, their own hearts, at least if they have
any grace, and have experience of its conflicts with corrup-
tion. They that are true saints are most inexcusable in
making a great difficulty of a great deal of blindness, and
many sinful errors in those that profess godliness. If all our
conduct, both open and secret, should be known, and our
hearts iaid open to the world, how should we be even ready
to fly from the light of the sun, and hide ourselves from the
view of mankind ! And what great allowances would it be
found that we should need, that others should make for us !
perhaps much greater than we are willing to make for others.
The great weakness of the bigger part of mankind, in any
affair that is new and uncommon, appears in not distin-
guishing, but either approving or condemning all in the
lump. They that highly approve of the affair in general,
cannot bear to have any thing at all foimd fault with ; and
on the other hand, those that fasten their eyes upon some
things in the affair that are amiss, and appear very disagree-
able to them, at once reject the whole. Both which errors
oftentimes arise from want of persons' due acquaintance with
themselves. It is rash and unjust when we proceed thus in
judging, either of a particular person, or a people, or of such
an affair as the present wonderful influence on the minds of
the people of this land. Many, if they see any thing very
ill in a particular person, a minister or private professor, will
at once brand him as a hypocrite. And if there be two or
three of a people or society that behave themselves very irre-
gularly, the whole must bear the blame of it. And if there
142 GOOD MAY BE ACCIDENTALLY
be a few, tlioiigli it may be not above one in a liimdrcd,
that professed, and had a show of being the happy partakers
of what are called the saving benefits of this woriv, that prove
nought, and give the world just grounds to suspect them,
tlie whole work must be rejected on their account ; and those
in general that make the like profession must be condemned
for their sakes.
So careful are some persons lest this work should be de-
fended, that now they will hardly allow that the influences
of the Spirit of God on the heart, can so much as indirectly,
and accidentally, be the occasion of the exercise of corrup-
tion, and commission of sin. Thus far is true, that the
influence of the Spirit of God in his saving operations, will
not be an occasion of the increase of the corruption of the
heart in general, but on the contrary of the weakening of it :
but 5^et there is nothing unreasonable in supposing, that at
the same time that it weakens corruption in general, it may
be an occasion of turning what is left into a new channel,
and so of there being more of some certain kinds of the exer-
cise of corruption than there was before ; as that which tends
to hinder and stop the course of a stream, if it does not do it
wholly, may give a new course to so much of the water as
gets by the obstacle. The influences of the Spirit, for in-
stance, may be an occasion of new ways of the exercise of
pride, as has been acknowledged by orthodox divines in
general. That spiritual discoveries and comforts may,
through the corruption of the heart, be an occasion of the
exercises of spiritual pride, did not use to be doubted of, till
now it is found to be needful to maintain the war against
this work.
They that will hardly allow that a work of the Spirit of
God can be a remote occasion of any sinful behavior or
unchristian conduct, I suppose will allow that the truly gra-
cious influences of the Spirit of God, yea and a high degree
of love to God, is consistent with these two things, viz. a
considerable degree of remaining corruption, and also many
THE OCCASION OP EVIL. 143
errors in judgment in matters of religion, and in matters of
practice. And this is all that need to- be allowed, in order
to its being, most demonstratively evident, that a high degree
of love to God may accidentally move a person to that which
is very wrong, and contrary to the mind and will of God.
For a high degree of love to God will strongly move a person
to do that which he believes to be agreeable to God's will ;
and therefore, if he be mistaken, and be persuaded that that
is agreeable to the will of God, which indeed is very contrary
to it, then his love will accidentally, but strongly, inchne him
to that, which is indeed very contrary to the will of God.
They that are studied in logic have learned that the na-
ture of the cause is not to be judged of by the nature of the
effect, nor the nature of the effect from the nature of the
cause, when the cause is only causa sine qua non^ or an
occasional cause ; yea, that in such a case, oftentimes the
nature of the effect is quite contrary to the nature of the
cause.
True disciples of Christ may have a great deal of false
zeal, such as the disciples had of old, when they would have
fire called for from heaven to come down on the Samaritans,
because they did not receive them. And even so eminently
holy, and great, and divine a saint as Moses, who conversed
with God frdtn time to time, as a man speaks with his friend,
and concerning whom God gives his testimony, that he ivas
very mee/v, above any man ujwn the face of the earth,
yet may be rash and sinful in his zeal, when his spirit is
stirred by the hard-heartedness and opposition of others, so
as to speak very unadvisedly with his hps, and greatly to
offend God, and shut himself out from the possession of the
good things that God is about to accomplish for his church
on earth ; as Moses was excluded Canaan, though he had
brought the people out of Egypt, Psalm cvi. 32, 33. And
men, even in those very things wherein they are influenced
by a truly pious principle, yet, through error and want of
due consideration and caution, may be very rash with their
144 ERRORS GROWING OUT OF ZEAL.
zeal. It was a truly good spirit that animated that excellent
generation of Israel that was in Joshua's time, in that affair
that we have an account of in the twenty-second chapter of
Joshua ; and yet they were rash and heady with their zeal,
to go about to gather all Israel together to go up so furiously
to war with their brethren of the two tribes and half, about
their building the altar Ed, without first inquiring into the
matter, or so much as sending a messenger to be informed.
So the Christians that were of the circumcision, with warmth
and contention condemned Peter for receiving Cornelius, as
we have account, Acts xi. This their heat and censure
was unjust, and Peter was wronged in it ; but there is all
appearance in the story that they acted from a real zeal and
concern for the will and honor of God. So the primitive
Christians, from their zeal for and against unclean meats,
<:ensured and condemned one another : this was a bad effect,
and yet the apostle bears them witness, or at least expresses
his charity towards them, that both sides acted from a good
principle, and true respect to the Lord, Rom. xiv. 6. The
zeal of the Corinthians with respect to the incestuous man,
though the apostle highly commends it, yet he at the same time
saw that they needed a caution, lest they should carry it too
far, to an undue severity, and so as to fail of Christian meek-
ness and forgiveness, 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II* and chap,
vii. 11. to the end. Luther, that great reformer, had a great
deal of bitterness with his zeal.
It surely cannot be wondered at by considerate persons,
that at a time when multitudes all over the land have their
affections greatly moved, great numbers should run into
many errors and mistakes with respect to their duty, and
consequently into many acts and practices that are impru-
dent and irregular. I question whether there be a man in
New England, of the strongest reason and greatest learning,
but what would be put to it to keep master of himself, tho-
roughly to weigh his words, and consider all the conse-
quences of his behavior, so as to behave himself in all re-
CONFUSION MAY SPRING FRoM SURPRISE, l45
rip'ects pmdently, if he were so strongly impressed with a
sense of divine and eternal things, and his affections so ex-
ceedingly moved, as has been frequent of late among the
common people. How little do they consider human natiue
who look upon it so insu{>erable a stumbling-block when
such multitudes of all kinds of capacities, natural tempers,
educations, customs, and manners of life, are so greatly and
variously affected, that imprudencies and irregularities of con-
duct should abound ; especially in a state of things so uncom-
mon. and when the degree, extent, swiftness, and power of the
operation is so very extraordinary, and so new, that there
has not been time and experience enough to give birth to
rules for peoples' conduct, and so unusual in times past, that
the writings of divines do not afford rule? to direct us in such
a state of things.
A great deal of norse and tumult, confusion and uproar,
and darkness mixed with hght, and evil with good, is al-
ways to be expected in the beginning of something very ex-
traordinary, and very glorious in the state of things in hti-
man society, or the church of God. As after nature has
long been shut up in a cold, dead state in time of winter,
when the sun returns in the spring, there is, together with
the increase of the light and heat of the sun, very dirty and
t.em|:>estuous weather, before all is settled calm and serene,
and all nature rejoices in its bloom and beauty. It is in the
new creation, as it was in the old, the Spirit of God first
moved upon the face of the water^^, which was an occasion
of great uproar and tumult, and things were gradually
brought to a settled state, till at length all stood forth in that
beautiful, peaceful order, when the heavens and the earth
were fmished, and God saw every thing that he had made,
and, behold, it was very good. When God is about to bring
to pass something great and glorious in the world, nature is
in a ferment and struggle, and the world as it were in tra-
vail. As when God was about to introduce the Messiah into
ihc world, and thnt new and glorious dispensation that he
19
146 WEAKNESS OF HUMAN NATURE
set up, he shookihe heavens and the earthy and shook all na-
tions. There is nothing that the church of God is in scrip-
ture more frequently represented hy than vegetables ; as a
tree, a vine, corn, &c., which gradually bring forth their
fruit, and are first green before they are ripe. A great revi-
val of religion is expressly compared to this gradual produc-
tion of vegetables, Isa. Ixi. 11. "As the earth bringeth forth
her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown
in it to spring forth \ so the Lord God will cause righteous-
ness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." The
church is in a special manner compared to a palm-tree, Cant,
vii. 7, 8. Exod. xv. 27. 1 Kings vi. 29. Psalm xcii. 12. Of
which tree this pecuhar thing is observed, that the fruit of it;
though it be very sweet and good when it is ripe, yet, before
it has had time to ripen, has a mixture of poison.
The weakness of human nature has always appeared in
times of great revival of rehgion, by a disposition to run to
extremes and get into confusion ; and especially in these three
things, enthusiasm, superstition, and intemperate zeal. So it
appeared in the time of the reformation very remarkably ; and
also in the days of the apostles ; many were tlien exceedingly
disposed to lay weight on those things that were very notional
and chimerical, giving heed to fables and whimsies, as appears
by 1 Tim. i. 4. and iv. 7. 2 Tim. ii. 16. and v. 23. and Tit. i.
14. and iii.9. Many, as ecclesiastical history informs us, fell off
into the most wild enthusiasm, and extravagant notions of
spirituahty, and extraordinary illumination from heaven be-
yond others : and many were prone to superstition, will- wor-
ship, and a voluntary humihty, giving heed to the command-
ments of men, being fond of an unprofitable bodily exercise;
as appears by many passages in the apostles' writmgs : and
what a proneness then appeared among professors to swerve
from the path of duty, and the spirit of the gospel, in the ex-
ercises of a rash indiscreet zeal, censuring and condemning
ministers and people ; one saying, I am of Paul, another.
I of Apollos, another. I of Cephas ; judging one another for
i-N TIMES Of GREAT REVIVAL. 147
iliti'ereiices of opinion about smaller matters, unclean meats,
lioly days, and holy places, and their different opinions and
j)ractices respecting civil intercourse and communication uith
their heathen neighbors ! And how much did vain jang-
ling and disputing and confusion prevail through undue heat
of spirit, under the name of a religious zeal! 2 Tim. vi. 4,
5. 2 Tim. ii. 16. and Tit. iii. 9. And what a task had the
apostles to keep them within bounds, and maintain good or-
der in the cluuches ! How often are they mentioning their
irregularities ! The prevailing of such like disorders seems
to have been the special occasion of writing many of their
epistles. The church, in that great effusion of the Spirit
that was then, and the strong impressions that God's people
were then under, was under the care of infallible guides, that
watched over them day and night ; but yet so prone were
the}, througli tlie weakness and corruption of human na-
ture to get out of the way, that irregularity and confusion
rose in some churches, where there was an extraordinary out-
pouring of the Spirit to a very great height, even in tlie
apostles' lifetime, and under their eye. And though some of
the apostles lived long to settle the state of things, yet pre-
sently after they were dead, the Christian church ran into
many superstitions and childish notions and practices, and
in some respects into a great severity in their zeal. And
let any wise person that has not, in the midst of the disputes
of the present day, got beyond the calmness of consideration,
impartially consider to what lengths we may reasonably sup-
pose many of the primitive Christians, in their heat of zeal,
and under their extraordinary impressions, would soon have
gone, if they had had no inspired guides ; and whether o]-
no it is not probable that the church of Corinth in particular,
by an increase of their irregularities and contentions, would
not in a little time have broke to .pieces, and dissolved in a
state of the utmost confusion : and yet this would have been
no evidence that there had not been a most glorious and re-
markable outpouring of the Spirit in that city. But ns for
148 HUMAN ERRORS NOT INCONSISTliNT
iiSj we have no iafallible apostle to guide and direct us, to
rectify disorders, and reclaim us when we are wandering ;
but every one does what is right in his own eyes ; and they
that eir in judgment, and are got into a wrong path, conti-
nue to wander, till experience of the mischievous issue con-
vinces them of their error.
If we look over this affair, and seriously weigh it in its cir-
cumstances, it will appear a matter of no great difficulty to
account for the errors that have been gone into, supposing
the work in general to be from a very great outpouring of the
Spirit of God. It may easily be accounted for, that many
have run into great errors, and into just such errors as they
they have. It is known, that some that have been improved
as great instruments to promote this work, have been very
j^oung ; and how natural is it for such as are themselves
newly awaked out of sleep, and brought out of that state of
darkness, insensibility, and spiritual death, which they had
been in ever since they were born ; and have a new and
wonderful scene opened to them ; and have in view the
reality, the vastness, and infinite importance, and nearness
of spiritual and eternal things ; and at the same time are
s-urprised to see the world asleep about them ; and have not
the advantage of age and experience, and have had but little
opportunity to study divinity, or to converse with aged expe-
rienced Christians and divines ; I say, how natural is it for
such to fall into many errors with respect to the state of man-
kind, with which they are so surprised, and with respect to
the means and methods of their relief? Is it any wonder
that they have not at once learned how to make all the allow-
ances that are to be made, and that they do not at once find
out that method of dealing w4th the world, that is adapted to
the mysterious state and nature of mankind ^ Is it any won-
der, that they cannot at once foresee what the consequences
of things will be, what evils are to be guarded against, and
what difficulties are like to arise, thai are to be provided for ?
WITH THE WORK OP THE HOLY SPIRIT. 149
We have long been in a strange stupor ; the influences of
the Spirit of God upon the heart have been but httle felt, and
the nature of them but little taught ; so that they are in ma-
ny respects new to great numbers of those that have lately
fallen under them. And is it any wonder that they that ne-
ver before had experience of the supernatural influence of the
Divine Spirit upon their souls, and never were instructed in
the nature of these influences, do not so well know how to
distinguish one extraordinary new impression from another,
and so (to themselves insensibly) run into enthusiasm, taking
every strong impulse or impression to be divine ? How na-
tural is it to suppose, that among the multitudes of illiterate
people (most of which aft in their youth) that find themselves
so wonderfully changed, and brought into such new, and be^
fore (to them) almost unheard of circumstances, that many
should pass wrong, and very strange judgments of both per-
sons and things that are about them ; and that now they
behold them in such a new light, they in their surprise
should go further from the judgment that they were wont to
make of them than they ought, and in their great change of
sentiments should pass from one extreme to another ? And
why should it be thought strange, that those that sceirce ever
heard of any such thing as an outpouring of the Spirit of
God before ; or if they did, had no notion of it ; do not know
how to behave themselves in such a new and strange state
of things ? And is it any wonder that they are ready to
hearken to those that have instructed them, that have been
the means of dehvering them from such a state of death and
misery as they were in before, or have a name for being tlie
liappy instruments of promoting the same work among
others ? Is it unaccountable that persons in these circum-
stances are ready to receive every thing they say, and to drink
down error as well as truth from them ? And why should
there be all indignation and no compassion towards thof=p
that are thus misled ?
150 PAST COLDNESS IN THE CHURCH
When these persons are extraordinarily affected with u.
new sense, and recent discovery they have received, of the
greatness and excellency of the Divine Being, the certainty
and infinite importance of eternal things, the preciousness of
souls, and the dreadful danger and madness of mankind, to-
gether with a great sense of God's distinguishing kindness
and love to them ; no wonder that now they think they must
exert themselves, and do something extraordinary for the ho-
nor of God and the g(»od of the souls of their fellow-creatures,
and know not how to sit still, and forbear speaking and act-
ing with uncommon earnestness and vigor. And in these
circumstances, if they be not persons of more than common
steadiness and discretion, or have notfsome person of wisdom
to direct them, it is a wonder if they do not proceed without
due caution, and do things that are irregular, and that will,
in the issue, do much more hurt than good.
Censuring others is the worst disease witli which this af-
fair has been attended : but yet such a time as this is indeed
a time of great temptation to this sinful error. When there
has been such a time of great and long continued deadness,
and many are brought out of a state of nature, into a state of
grace, in so extraordinary a manner, and filled with such un-
common degrees of hght, it is natural for such to form their
notions of a state of grace wholly from what they experience ;
many of them know no other way ; for they never have been
taught much about a state of grace, and the different degrees
of grace, and the degrees of darkness and corruption that
grace is consistent with, nor concerning the manner of the
influences of the Spirit in converting a soul, and the variety
of the manner of his operations : they therefore forming their
idea of a state of grace only by their own experience, no won-
der that it appears an insuperable difficulty to them to recon-
cile such a state, of which they have this idea, with what they
observe in professors that are about them. It is indeed in it-
self a very great mystery, that grace should be consistent
with so much and such kind of corniption as tometimes pre-
A REASON FOR PRESENT EXTREMES. 151
vails in the truly godly ; and no wonder that it especially
appears so to uninstructed new converts, that have been con-
verted in an extraordinary manner.
Though censoriousness be a thing that is very sinful, and
is most commonly found in hypocrites and persons of a
pharasaical spirit, yet it is not so inconsistent with true god-
liness as some imagine. We have remarkable instances of
it in those holy men that we have an account of in the book
of Job : not only were Job's three friends, that seem to have
been eminently holy men, guilty of it, in very unreasonably
censurinLic the best man on earth, very positively determining
that he was an unconverted man ; but Job himself, that was
not only a man of true piety, but excelled all men in piety,
and particularly excelled in a humble, meek, and patient
spirit, was guilty of bitterly censuring his three friends, as
wicked, vile hypocrites. Job xvi. 9, 10, 11. "He teareth me
in his wrath who hateth me, he gnasheth upon me with his
teeth ; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me : they have
gaped upon me with their mouth. God hath delivered me
to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the
wicked." So he is very positive in it that they are hypo-
crites, and shall be miserably destroyed as such, in the next
chapter, v. 2, 3, 4. "Are there not mockers with me? And
doth not mine eye continue in their provocation ? Lay down
now, put me in surety with thee, who is he that will strike
hands with me ? For thou hast hid their heart from under-
standing, therefore shalt tliou not exalt them." And again,
V. 8, 9, 10. " Upright men shall be astonished at this, and
the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite : The
righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean
hands shall be stronger and stronger. But as for you all,
do you return and come now, for I cannot find one wise man
(i. e. one good man) among you."
Thus I think the errors and irregularities that attend tliis
work, may be accounted for, from the consideration of the
infirmity and weakness and common corruption of mankind.
152 GOD PEWVIITS HUMAN ERRORS
together with the circumstances of the work, though we
should suppose it to be the work of God. And it would not
be a just objection in any to say, if these powerful impres-
sions and great affections are from the Spirit of God, why
does not the same Spirit give strength of understanding and
capacity in proportion, to those persons that are the subjects
of them ; so that strong affections may not, througli their
error, drive them to an irregular and sinful conduct ? For I
do not know that God has any where obliged himself to do it.
The end of the influences of God's Spirit is to make men spi-
ritually knowing, wise to salvation, which is the most excel-
lent wisdom ; and he has also appointed means for our gain-
ing such degrees of other knowledge as we need, to conduct
ourselves regularly, which means should be carefully used :
But the end of the influence of the Spirit of God is not to in-
crease men's natural capacities, nor has God obliged himself
immediately to increase civil prudence in proportion to the
degrees of spiritual light.
If we consider the errors that attend this work, not only
as from man, and his infirmity, but also as from God, and by
his permission and disposal, they are not strange, upon the
supposition of its being, as to the substance of it, a work of
God. If God intends this great revival of religion to be the
dawning, or a forerunner of a happy state of his church on
earth, it may be an instance of the divine wisdom, in the be-
ginning of it, to sutler so many irregularities and errors in
conduct, to which he knew men, in their present weak state,
were most exposed, under great religious affections, and when
animated with great zeal. For it will be very likely to be of
excellent benefit to his church, in the continuance and pro-
gress of the work atterwards : Their experience in the first
setting out, of the mischievous consequences of tliese errors,
and smarting for them in the beginning, may be a happy dc
fense to them afterwards, for many generations, from these
errors, wliich otherwise they might continually be exposed to.
As when David and all Israel went about to bring back ihr^
TO TEACH AND HUMBLE THE CHURCH, 163
ark into the midst of the land, after it had been long absent,
first in the land of the Philistines, and then in Kirjathjearim,
in the utmost borders of the land ; they at first sought not
the Lord after the due order, and they smarted for their error ;
but this put them upon studying tlie law, and more tho-
roughly acquainting themselves with the mind and will of
God, and seeking and serving him with great circumspec-
tion ; and the consequence was glorious, viz. their seeking
God in such a manner as was accepted of him ; and the ark
of God's ascending into the heights of Zion, with those great
and extraordinary rejoicings of the king and all the people,
without any frown or rebuke from God intermixed ; and
God's dwelling thenceforward in the midst of the people, to
those glorious purposes that are expressed in the 68th psalm.
And it is very analogous to the manner of God's dealing
with his people, to permit a great deal of eiror, and suffer the
infirmity of.his people much to appear, in the beginning of a
glorious work of his grace for their felicity, to teach them
what they be, to humble them, and fit them for that glorious
prosperity he is about to advance them to, and the more to
secure to himself the honor of such a glorious work : for by
man's exceeding weakness appearing in the beginning of it,
it is evident that God does not lay the foundation of it in
man's strength or wisdom.
And as we need not wonder at the errors that attend this
work, if we look at the hand of men that are guilty of them,
and the hand of God in permitting them, so neither shall
we see cause to wonder at them, if we consider them with
regard to the hand that Satan has in them. For as the
work is much greater than any other outpouring of the
Spirit that ever has been in New England, so no wonder
that the devil is more alarmed and enraged, and exerts him-
self more vigorously against it, and does more powerfully
endeavor to tempt and mislead those that are the subjects of
it, or are its promoters.
20
154 THE NATURE OF THE WORK IN GENERAL.
SECTION V.
The nature of the work in general.
Whatever imprudences there have been, and whatever
sinful irregularities ; whatever veliemence of the passions,
and heats of the imagination, transports and ecstasies ; and
whatever error in judgment, and indiscreet zeal ; and what-
ever outcries, and faintings, and agitations of body ; yet it
is manifest and notorious, that there has been of late a very
uncommon influence upon the minds of a very great part of
the inhabitants of New England, from one end of the land
to the other, that has been attended with the following ef-
fects, viz. a great increase of a spirit of seriousness and sober
consideration of the things of the eternal world. ; a disposi-
tion to hearken to any thing that is said of things of this
nature, with attention and affection ; a disposition to treat
matters of religion with solemnity, and as matters of great
importance ; a disposition to make these things the subject
of conversation ; and a great disposition to hear the word of
God preached, and to take all opportunities in order to it ;
and to attend on the public worship of God, and all external
duties of religion in a more solemn and decent manner ; so
that there is a remarkable and general alteration in the face
of New England in these respects : multitudes in all parts
of the land, of vain, thoughtless, regardless persons, are
quite changed, and become serious and considerate. There
is a vast increase of concern for the salvation of the precious
soul, and of that inquiry, what shall I do to be saved ? The
hearts of multitudes have been greatly taken ofT from the
things of the world, its profits, pleasures, and honors, and
there has been a great increase of sensibleness and tender-
ness of conscience : multitudes in all parts have had their
consciences awakened, and have been made sensible of the
A WONDERFUL CHANGE IN PEOPLE. 155
pernicious nature and consequences of sin, and what a
dreadful thing it is to he under guilt and the displeasure of
God, and to hve without peace and reconcihation with him.
They have also been awakened to a sense of the shortness
and uncertainty of life, and the reality of anotlier world and
future judgment, and of the necessity of an interest in
Christ : they are more afraid of sin, more careful and inqui-
sitive that they may know what is contrary to the mind and
will of God, that they may avoid it, and what he requires of
them, that they may do it ; more careful to guard against
temptations, more watchful over their own hearts, earnestly
desirous of being informed what are the means that God
has directed to for their salvation, and diligent in the use of
the means that God has appointed in his word, in order to it.
Many very stupid, senseless sinners, and persons of a vain
mind, have been greatly awakened. There is a strange al-
teration almost all over New England amongst young peo-
ple : by a powerful, invisible influence on their minds, they
have been brought to forsake those things in a general way,
as it were, at once, that they were extremely fond of, and
greatly addicted to, and that they seemed to place the liap-
piness of their lives in, and that nothing before could induce
them to forsake ; as their frohcking, vain company keeping,
night walking, their mirth and jollity, their impure language,
and lewd songs : in vain did ministers preach against those
things before, and in vain were laws made to restrain them,
and in vain was all the vigilance of magistrates and civil
officers ; but now they have almost every where dropped
them, as it weie, of themselves. And there is a great alte-
ration amongst old and young as to drinking, tavern haunt-
ing, profane speaking, and extravagance in apparel. Many
notoriously vicious persons have been reformed, and become
externally quite new creatures : some that are wealthy, and
of a fashionable, gay education ; some great beaux and fine
ladies, that seemed to have their minds swallowed up with
nothing but the vain shows and pleasures of the world, have
156 GREAT SERIOUSNESS OF CONDUCT
been wonderfully altered, and have relinquished these vani-
ties, and are becomes erious, mortified, and humble in their
conversation. It is astonishing to see the alteration that is
in some towns, where before was but little appearance of
religion, or any thing but vice and vanity : and so remote
was all that was to be seen or heard amongst them from
any thing that favored of vital piety or serious religion, or
that had any relation to it, that one would have thought, if
they had judged only by what appeared in them, that they
had been some other species from the serious and reUgious,
' which had no concern with another world, and whose na-
tures were not made capable of those things that appertain
to Christian experience, and pious conversation ; especially
was it thus among young persons : and now they are trans-
formed into another sort of people ; their former vain,
worldly, and vicious conversation and dispositions seem to be
forsaken, and they are, as it were, gone over to a new world :
their thoughts, and their talk, and their concern, affections
and inquiries, are now about the favor of God, an interest in
Christ, a renewed, sanctified heart, and a spiritual blessed-
ness, and acceptance and happiness in a future world. And
through the greater part of New England, the Holy Bible is
in much greater esteem and use than it used to be ; the
great things that are contained in it are much more regarded,
as things of the greatest consequence, and are much more
the subjects of meditation and conversation ; and other
books of piety that have long been of established reputation,
as the most excellent and most tending to promote true god-
liness, have been abundantly more in use ; the Lord's day
is more religiously and strictly observed ; and abundance
has been lately done at making up differences, and confessing
faults one to another, and making restitution ; probably more
within these two years, than was done in thirty years before :
it has been so undoubtedly in many places. And surprising
has been the power of that Spirit that has been poured out
on the land, in many instances, to destroy old grudges, and
AND REFORMATION OF MORALS. 157
make up long continued breaches, and to bring tliose that
seemed to be in a confirmed irreconcilable alienation, to em-
brace each other in a sincere and entire amity. Great num-
bers under this influence have been brought to a deep sense
of their own sinfulness and vileness ; the sinfulness of their
lives, the heinousness of their disregard of the authority of
the great God, and the heinousness of their living in con-
tempt of a Savior : they have lamented their former negli-
gence of their souls, and neglecting and losing precious time.
Their sins of hfe have been extraordinarily set before them ;
and they have also had a great sense of their sins of heart ;
their hardness of heart, and enmity against that which is
good, and proneness to all evil ; and also of the worthless-
ness of their own religious performances, how unworthy
their prayers, praises, and all that they did in religion, was
to be regarded of God : and it has been a common thing
that persons have had such a sense of their own sinfulness,
that they have thought themselves to be the worst of all, and
that none ever was so vile as they : and many seem to have
been greatly convinced that they were utterly unworthy of
any mercy at the hands of God, however miserable they
were, and though they stood in extreme necessity of mercy,
and that they deserved nothing but eternal burnings ; and
have been sensible that God would be altogether just and
righteous in inflicting endless damnation upon them, at the
same time that they have had an exceeding affecting sense
of the dreadfulness of such endless torments, and have ap-
prehended themselves to be greatly in danger of it. And
many have been deeply affected with a sense of their own
ignorance and blindness, and exceeding helplessness, and so
of their extreme need of the divine pity and help. And so
far as we are worthy to be credited one by another, in what
we say, (and persons of good understanding and sound mind,
and known and experienced probity, have a right to be be-
lieved by their neighbors when they speak of things that
fall under their observation and experience,) multitudes in
158 A SAVING KTTOWLEDGE OF CHRIST,
New England have lately been brought to a new and great
conviction of the truth and certainty of the things of the
gospel ; to a firm persuasion that Christ Jesus is the Son of
God, and the great and only Savior of the world ; and that
the great doctrines of the gospel touching reconciliation by
his blood, and acceptance in his righteousness, and eternal
life and salvation through him, are matters of undoubted
truth, together with a most affecting sense of the excellency
and sufficiency of this Savior, and the glorious wisdom and
grace of God shining in this way of salvation : and of the
wonders of Christ's dying love, and the sincerity of Christ
in the invitations of the gospel, and a consequent affiance
and sweet rest of soul in Christ, as a glorious Savior, a strong
rock and high tower, accompanied with an admiring and
exalting apprehension of the glory of the divine perfections,
God's majesty, holiness, sovereign grace, &c. ; with a sensi-
ble, strong, and sweet love to God, and delight in him, far
surpassing all temporal dehghts, or earthly pleasures ; and a
rest of soul in him as a portion and the fountain of all good,
attended with an abhorrence of sin, and self-loathing for
it, and earnest longings of soul after more holiness and con-
formity to God, with a sense of the great need of God's
help in order lo holiness of life ; together with a most dear
love to all that are supposed to be the children of God, and
a love to mankind in general, and a most sensible and ten-
der compassion for the souls of sinners, and earnest desires
of the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the world. And
these things have appeared to be in many of them abiding
now for many months, yea, more than a year and half: with
an abiding concern to live a holy life, and great complaints
of remaining corruption, longing to be more free from the
body of sin and death. And not only do these effects ap-
pear in new converts, but great numbers of those that were
formerly esteemed the most sober and pious people, have,
under the influence of this work, been greatly quickened,
and their hearts renewed with greater degrees of light, re-
AND CONTINUED HOLINESS OF LIFE. 159
newed repentance and humiliation, and more lively exercises
of faith, love, and joy in the Lord. Many, as 1 am well
knowing, have of late been remarkably engaged to watch,
and strive, and fight against sin, and cast out every idol, and
sell all for Christ, and give up themselves entirely to God,
and make a sacrifice of every worldly and carnal thing to the
welfare and prosperity of their souls. And there has of late
appeared in some places an unusual disposition to bind them-
selves to it in a solemn covenant with God. And now in-
stead of meeting at taverns and drinking houses, and meet-
ings of young people in frolics and vain company, the
country is full of meetings of all sorts and ages of persons,
young and old, men, women, and Httle children, to read and
pray, and sing praises, and to converse of the things of God
and another world. In very many places the main of the
conversation in all companies turns on religion, and things
of a spiritual nature. Instead of vain mirth amongst young
people, there is now either mourning under a sense of the
guilt of sin, or holy rejoicing in Christ Jesus ; and instead
of their lewd songs, are now to be heard from them songs of
praise to God, and the Lamb that was slain to redeem them
by his blood. And there has been this alteration abiding on
multitudes all over the land, for a year and half, without any
appearance of a disposition to return to former vice and
vanity. And under the influences of this work, there have
been many of the remains of those wretched people and
dregs of mankind, the poor Indians, that seemed to be next
to a state of brutality, and with whom, till now, it seemed to
be to little more purpose to use endeavors for their instruction
and awakening, than with the beasts ; whose minds have
now been strangely opened to receive instruction, and have
been deeply affected v/ith the concerns of their precious
souls, and have reformed their lives and forsaken their for-
mer stupid, barbarous, and brutish way of Uving — and par-
ticularly that sin to which they have been so exceedingly
addicted, their drunkenness — and are become devout and
160 STRANGE IT SHOULD BE QUESTIONED
serious persons ; and many of them to appeaiance brought
truly and greatly to delight in the things of God, and to
have their souls very much engaged and entertained with
the great things of the gospel. And many of the poor ne-
groes also have been in like manner wrought upon and
changed. And the souls of very many little children have
been remarkably enlightened, and their hearts wonderfully
affected and enlarged, and their mouths opened, expressing
themselves in a manner far beyond their years, and to the
just astonishment of those that have heard them ; and some
of them from tune to time, for many months, greatly and
delightfully affected with the glory of divine things,, and the
excellency and love of the Redeemer, with their hearts
greatly filled with love to and joy in him, and have con-
tinued to be serious and pious in their behavior.
The divine power of this work has marvelously appeared
in some instances I have been acquainted with, in support-
ing and fortifying the heart under great trials, such as the
death of children, and extreme pain of body : wonderfully
maintaining the serenity, calmness, and joy of the soul, in
an immovable rest in God, and sweet resignation to him.
There also have been instances of some that have been the
subjects of this work, that under the blessed influences of it
have, in such a calm, bright, and joyful frame of mind, been
carried through the valley of the shadow of death.
And now let us consider : is it not strange that in a Chris-
tian, orthodox country, and such a land of light as this is,
there should be many at a loss w^hose work this is, whether
the w^ork of God, or the work of the devil ? Is it not a shame
to New England that such a work should be much doubted
of here ? Need we look over the histories of all past times,
to see if there be not some circumstances and external ap-
pearances that attend this work, that have been formerly
found amongst enthusiasts ? Whether the Montanists had
not great transports of joy, and whether the French prophets
had not agitations of body ? Blessed be God ! He does not
put us to the toil of such inquiries. We need not say, Who
WHOSE WORK IS SUCH A CHANGE. 161
shall ascend into heaven, to bring us down something
whereby to judge of this work ? Nor does God send us be-
yond the seas, nor into the past ages, to obtain a rule that
shall determine and satisfy us. But we have a rule near at
hand, a sacred book that God himself has put into our
hands, w^th clear and infallible marks, sufficient to resolve
us in things of this nature ; which book I think we must
reject, not only in some particular passages, but in the sub-
stance of itj if we reject such a work as has now been de-
scribed, as not being the work of God. The whole tenor of
the gospel proves it ; all the notion of religion that the scrip-
ture gives us confirms it.
I suppose there is scarcely a minister in this land, but from
sabbath to sabbath used to pray that God would pour out his
Spirit, and work a reformation and revival of religion in the
country, and turn us from our intemperance, profaneness,
uncleanness, worldhness, and other sins ; and we have kept,
from year to year, days of public fasting and prayer to God,
to acknowledge our backslidings, and humble ourselves for
our sins, and to seek of God forgiveness and reformation :
and now when so great and extensive a reformation is so
suddenly and \vonderfully accomplished, in those very things
that we have sought to God for, shall we not acknowledge
it ? Or when we do, do it with great coldness, caution, and
reserve, and scarcely take any notice of it in our public
prayers and praises, or mention it but slightly and cursorily,
and in such a manner as carries an appearance as though
we w^ould contrive to say as httle of it as ever we could, and
were glad to pass from it 1 And that because (although in-
deed there be such a work attended with all these glorious
effects, yet) the work is attended with a mixture of error,
impriidencies, darkness, and sin ; because some persons are
carried away with impressions, and are indiscreet, and too
censorious with their zeal ; and because there are high trans-
ports of religious affection ; and because of some effects on
persons' bodies that we do not understand the reason of ?
21
162 THE NATURE OF THE WORK
SECTION V.
The nature of the %oork in a jiarticular instance.
I have been i^articulaiiy acquainted with many persons
that have been the subjects of the high and extraordinary
transports of the present day ; and in the liighest transports
of any of the instances that I have been acquainted with,
and where the affections of admiration, love, and joy, so far
as another could judge, have been raised to a higher pitch
than in any other instances I have observed or been in-
formed of, the following things have been united, viz. a very
frequent dwelling, for some considerable time together, in such
views of the glory of the divine perfections, and Christ's excel-
lencies, that the soul in the mean time has been as it were
perfectly overwhelmed, and swallowed up with light and
love and a sweet solace, rest and joy of soul, that was altogether
unspeakable ; and more than once continuing for five or
six hours together, without interruption, in that clear and
lively view or sense of the infinite beauty and amiableness
of Christ's person, and the heavenly sweetness of his excel-
lent and transcendent love ; so that (to use the person's awn
expressions) the soul remained in a kind of heavenly ely-
sium, and did as it were swim in the rays of Christ's love,
hke a little mote swimming in the beams of the sun, or
streams of his light that come in at a window ; and the
heart was swallowed up in a kind of glow of Christ's love,
coming down from Christ's heart in heaven as a constant
stream of sweet light, at the same time the soul all flowing
out in love to him ; so that there seemed to be a constant
flowing and reflowing from heart to heart : the soul dwelt
on high, and was lost in- Ciod, and seemed ahiiost to leave
the body ; dwelling in a pure delight that fed and satisfied
the soul ; enjoying pleasure without the least sting, or any
JN A PARTICULAR INSTANCE. 163
interruption : a sweetness that the soul was lost in ; so that
(so far as tlie judgment and word of a person of discretion
may: be taken, speaking upon the most deliberate considera-
tion) what was enjoyed in each single minute of the whole
space, which was many hours, was undoubtedly worth more
than all the outward comfort and pleasure of the whole life
put together ; and this without being in any trance, or being
at air deprived of the exercise of the bodily senses : and the
like heavenly delight and unspeakable joy of soul, enjoyed
from time to time, for years together ; though not frequently
so long together, to such a height : extraordinary views of
divine things, and religious affections, being frequently at-
tended with very great effects on the body, nature often sink-
ing under the weight of divine discoveries, the strength of
the body taken away, so as to deprive of all ability to stand
or speak ; sometimes the hands clenched, and the flesh cold,
but senses still remaining ; animal nature often in a great
emotion and agitation, and the soul very often, of late, so
overcome with great admiration, and a kind of omnipotent
joy, as to cause the person (wholly unavoidably) to leap with
all the might, with joy and mighty exultation of soul ; the
soul at the same time being so strongly drawn towards God
and Christ in heaven, that it seemed to the person as though
soul and body would, as it were of themselves, of necessity
mount up, leave the earth and ascend thither. These effects
on the body did not begin now in this wonderful season, that
they should be owing to the influence of the example of the
times, but about seven years ago; and began in a much
higher degree, and greater frequency, near three years ago,
when there was no such enthusiastical season, as many
account this, but it was a very dead time through the land :
they arose from no distemper catched from Mr. Whitefield or
M-V.K Tennent, because they began before either of them
came into the country ; they began, as I said, near three
years ago, in a great increase, upon an extraordinary
self-dedication, and renunciation of the world and re-
signation of all to God, made in a great view of God's
164 THE NATURE OF THE WORK
excellency, and high exercise of love to him, and rest and joy-
in him ; since which time they have been very frequent ; and
began in a yet higher degree, and greater frequency, about a
year and a half ago, upon another new resignation of all to
God, with a yet greater fervency and delight of soul ; since
which time the body has been very often fainting, with the
love of Christ ; and began in a much higher degree still, the
last winter, upon another resignation and acceptance of God,
as the only portion and happiness of the soul, wherein the
whole world, with the dearest enjoyments in it, were re-
nomiced as dirt and dung, and all that is pleasant and glori-
ous, and all that is teirible in this world, seemed perfectly to
vanish into nothing, and nothing to be left but God, in
whom the soul was perfectly swallowed up, as in an infinite
ocean of blessedness : since which time there have often
been great agitations of body, and an unavoidable leaping
for joy ; and the soul as it were dwelling almost without in-
terruption, in a kind of paradise ; and very often, in high
transports, disposed to speak of those great and glorious
things of God and Christ, and the eternal world, that are in
view, to others that are present, in a most earnest manner,
and with a loud voice, so that it is next to impossible to avoid
it : these effects on the body not arising from any bodily dis-
temper or weakness, because the greatest of all have been in
a good state of health. This great rejoicing has been a re-
joicing with trembling, i. e. attended with a deep and lively
sense of the greatness and majesty of God, and the person's
own exceeding littleness and vileness. Spiritual joys in this
person never were attended, either formerly or lately, with
the least appearance of any laughter or lightness of counte-
nance, or manner of speaking; but with a peculiar abhorrence
of such appearances in spiritual rejoicings, especially since
joys have been greatest of all : these high transports, when
they have been past, have had abiding effects in the increase
of the sweetness, rest, and humihty that they have left upon
the soul ; and a new engagedness of heart to live to God's
IN A PARTICULAR INSTANCi:. 165
honor, and watch and fight against sin. And these things
not in one that is in the giddy age of youth, nor in a new-
convert, and unexperienced Christian, but in one that was
converted above twenty-seven years ago ; and neither con-
verted, nor educated in that enthusiastical town of Northamp-
ton (as some may be ready to call it) but in a town and fa-
mily that none that I know of suspected of enthusiasm ; and
in a Christian that has been long, and in an uncommon
manner, growing in grace, and rising, by very sensil)le de-
grees, to higher love to God, and weaned ness from the world,
and mastery over sin and temptation, through great trials
and conflicts, and long continued struggling and fighting
with sin, and earnest and constant prayer and labor in reli-
gion, and engagedness of mind in the use of all means, at-
tended with a great exactness of life : which growth has
been attended, not only with a great increase of religious af-
fections, but with a w^onderful alteration of outward beha-
vior, in many things, visible to those who are most intimate-
ly acquainted, so as lately to have become as it were a new
person ; and particularly in living so much more above the
world, and in a greater degree of steadfastness and strength
in the way of duty, and self-denial, maintaining the Christian
conflict against temptation, and conquering from time to
time under great trials ; persisting in an nnmoved, untouched
calm and rest, under the changes and accidents of time.
The person had formerly in lower degrees of grace, been
subject to unsteadiness, and many ups and downs, in the
frame of mind : the mind being under great disadvantages,
through a vapory habit of body, and often subject to melan-
choly, and at times almost overborne witli it, it having been
so even from early youth ; but strength of grace, and divine
light, has, of a long time, wholly conquered these disadvan-
tages, and carried the mind in a constant manner, quite
above all such effects of vapors. Since that resignation spo-
ken of before, made near three years ago, ^very thing of
that nature seems to be overcome and crushed by the power
166 THE NATURE OF THE WORK
of faith and trust in God, and resignation to him ; tlie per-
son has remained in a constant, uninterrupted rest, and hum-
ble joy in God, and assurance of his favor, without one hour'^s
melancholy or darkness, from that day to this ; vapors have
had great effects on the body, such as they used to have be-
fore, but the soul has been always out of their reach. And
this steadfastness and constancy has remained through great
outward changes and trials ; such as times of the most ex-
treme pain, and apparent hazard of immediate death. What
has been felt in late great transports is known to be nothing
new in kind, but to be of the same nature with what was
felt formerly, when a little child of about five or six years of
age ; but only in a vastly higher degree. These transporting
views and rapturous affections are not attended with any en-
thusiastic disposition to follow impulses, or any supposed pro-
phetical revelations ; nor have they been observed to be at-
tended with any appearance of spiritual pride,_but very much
of a contrary disposition, an increase of a spirit of humility
and meekness, and a disposition in honor to prefer others.
And it is worthy to be remarked, that at a time remarkably
distinguished from all others, wherein discoveries and holy
affections were evidently at the greastest height that ever
happened, the greatness and clearness of divine light being
overwhelming, and the strength and sweetness of divine love
altogether overpowering, which began early in the morning
of the holy sabbath, and lasted for days together, melting all
down in the deepest humility and poverty of spirit, reverence,
and resignation, and the sweetest meekness and univeisal
benevolence ; I say, it is worthy to be observed, that there
were these two things in a remarkable manner felt at that
time, viz. a peculiar sensible aversion to judging others that
were professing Christians of good standing in the visible
chinch that they were not converted, or with respect to their
degrees of grace ; or at all intermeddling with that matter,
so much as to ^determine against and condemn others in tlie
thought of the heart ; it appearing hateful, as not agree-
ing witli that lamb-like liumilit}^, meekness, gentleness,
IN A PARTICULAR INSTANCE. 167
and cliarily, wliicli tlie soul tlien, above otiier limes, saw
the beauty of. and felt a disposition to. The disposition
that was then felt was, on the contrary, to prefer others to
self, and to hope that they saw more of God and loved him
better : though before, under smaller discoveries, and feebler
exercises of divine affections, there had been felt a disposition
to censure and condemn others. And another thing that
was felt at that time, was a very great sense of the import-
ance of moral, social duties, and how great a part of religion
lay in them : there was such a new sense and conviction of
this, beyond what had been before, that it seemed to be as it
were a clear discovery then made to tlie soul : but in general
there has been a very great increase of a sense of these two
things, as divine views and divine love have increased.
The things already mentioned have been attended also
with the following things, viz. an extraordinary sense of the
awful majesty and greatness of God, so as oftentiiiics to take
away the bodily strength ; a sense of the holiness of God,
as of a llame infinitely pure and bright, so as sometimes to
overwhelm soul and body ; a sense of the piercing all-seeing
eye of God, so as sometimes to take away the bodily strength ;
and an extraordinary view of the infinite terribleness of the
wrath of God, which has very frequently been strongly im-
|)ressed on the mind, together with a sense of the ineffable
misery of sinners that are exposed to this v/ratli, that has
been overbearing : sometimes the exceeding pollution of the
person's own heart, as a sink of all manner of abomination,
and a nesl of vipers, and the dread fulness of an eternal hell
of God's wrath, opened to view both together ; with a clear
view of a desert of that misery, without the least degree of
divine pity, and that by the pollution of the best duties ;
yea, only by the pollution and irreverence, and want of hu-
mility that attended once speaking of the holy name of
God, when done in the best manner that ever it was done ;
the strength of the body very often taken away with a deep
mourning for sin, as committed against so holy and good a
168 THL NATURE OF THE WORK
God, sometimes with an affecting sense of actual sin. some-
times especially indwelling sin, sometimes ihe consideration
of the sin of the heart as appearing in a particular thing, as
for instance, in that there was no greater forwardness and
readiness to self-denial for God and Christ, that had so denied
himself for us ; yea, sometimes the consideration of sin that
was in only speaking one word concerning the infinitely
great and holy God, has beeri so affecting as to overcome the
strength of nature : a very great sense of the certain truth
of the great things revealed in the gospel ; an overwhelming
sense of the glory of the work of redemption, and the way
of salvation by Jesus Christ ; the glorious harmony cf the
divine attributes appearing therein, as that wherein mercy
and truth are met together, and righteousness and peace
have kissed each other ; a sight of the fullness and glorious
sufficiency of Christ, that has been so affecting as to over-
come the body : a constant immovable trust in God through
Christ, with a great sense of his strength and faithfulness,
the sureness of his covenant, and the immutability of his
promises, so that the everlasting mountains and perpetual
hills have appeared as mere shadows to these things : some-
times the sufficiency and faithfulness of God as the covenant
God of his people, appearing in these words, I AM THAT
I AM. in so affecting a manner as to overcome the body :
a sense of the glorious, unsearchable, unerring wisdom of
God in his works, both of creation and providence, so as to
swallow up the soul, and overcome the strength of the body:
a sweet rejoicing of soul at the thoughts of God's being in-
finitely and unchangeably happy, and an exulting gladness
of heart that God is self-sufficient, and infinitely above all
dependence, and reigns over all, and does his will with abso-
lute and uncontrollable power and sovereignty ; a sense of
the glory of the Holy Spirit, as the great Comforter, so as to
overwhelm both soul and body ; only mentioning the word
Comforter^ has immediately taken away all strength ; that
word, as the person expressed it, seemed great enough to fill
IN A PARTICULAR INSTANCE. 169
heaven and earth : a most vehement and passionate desire
of the honor and glory of God's name ; a sensible, clear,
and constant preference of it not only to the person's own
temporal interest) but spiritual comfort in this world ; and a
willingness to suffer the hidings of God's face, and to hve
and die in darkness and horror if God's honor should re-
quire it, and to have no other reward for it but that God's
name should be glorified, although so much of the sweetness
of the light of God's countenance had been experienced : a
great lamenting of ingratitude, and the lowness of the de-
gree of love to God, so as to deprive of bodily strength ; and
very often vehehient longings and faintings after more love
to Christ, and greater conformity to him ; especially longing
after these two things, viz. to be more perfect in humility
and adoration ; the flesh and heart seems often to cry out
for a lying low before God, and adoring him with greater
love and humility : the thoughts of the perfect humility
with which the saints in heaven worship God, and fall down
before his throne, have often overcome the body, and set it
into a great agitation. A great delight in singing praises to
God and Jesus Christ, and longing that this present life may
be. as it were, one continued song of praise to God ; longing,
as the person expressed it, to sit and sing this life away ; and
an overcoming pleasure in the thoughts of spending an
eternity in that exercise : a living by faith to a great degree ;
a constant and extraordinary distrust of our own strength
and wisdom ; a great dependence on God for his help, in
order to the performance of any thing to God's acceptance,
and being restrained from the most horrid sins, and running
upon God, even on his neck, and on the tliick bosses of his
buckler : such a sense of tlie black ingratitude of true saints'
coldness and deadness in rehgion, and their setting their
hearts on the things of this world, as to overcome the bodily
frame : a great longing that all the children of God might
be lively in religion, fervent in their love, and active in the
service of God ; and when there have been appearances of
22
170 THE NATURE OF THE WORK
it ill others, rejoicing so in beholding the pleasing sight, that
the joy of soul has been too great for the body : taking
pleasure in the thoughts of watching and striving against
sin, and fighting through the way to heaven, and filling up
this hfe with hard labor, and bearing the cross for Christ, as
an opportunity to give God honor ; not desiring to rest from
labors till arrived in heaven, but abhorring the thoughts of
it, and seeming astonished that God's own children should
be backward to strive and deny themselves for God : earnest
longings that all God's people might be clothed with humility
and meekness, like the Lamb of God, and feel nothing in
their hearts but love and compassion to all mankind ; and
great grief wlien any thing to the contrary seems to appear in
any of the children of God, as any bitterness, or fierceness of
zeal, or censoriousness, or reflecting uncharitably on others,
or disputing with any appearance of heat of spirit ; a deep
concern for the good of others' souls ; a melting compassion
to those that looked on themselves as in a state of nature,
and to saints under darkness, so as to cause the body to faint :
a universal benevolence to mankind, with a longing, as it
were, to embrace the whole world in the arms of pity and
love ; ideas of suffering from enemies, the utmost conceiva-
ble rage and cruelty, with a disposition felt to fervent love
and pity in such a case, so far as it could be realized in
thought ; fainting with pity to the world that lies in igno-
rance and wickedness ; sometimes a disposition felt to a life
given up to mourning alone in a wilderness over a lost and
miserable world ; compassion towards them being often to
that degree that would allow of no support or rest but in
going to God and pouring out the soul in prayer for them :
earnest desires that the work of God that is now in the land
may be carried on, and that with greater purity, and freedom
from all bitter zeal, censoriousness, spiritual pride, hot dis-
putes, &c. ; a vehement and constant desire for the setting
up of Christ's kingdom through the earth, as a kingdom of
holiness, purity, love, peace, and happiness to mankind : the
IN A PARTICULAR INSTANCE. 171
soul often entertained witli unspeakable delight, and bodily-
strength overborne at the thoughts of heaven, as a world of
love, where love shall be the saints' eternal food, and they
shall dwell in the light of love, and swim in an ocean of
love, and where the very air and breath will be nothing but
love ; love to the people of God. or God's true saints, as such
that have the image of Christ, and as those that will in a
very little time shine in his perfect image, that has been at-
tended witli that endearment and oneness of heart, and that
sweetness and ravishment of soul, that has been altogether
inexpressible : the strength very often taken away with
longings that others might love God more, and servo God
better, and have more of his comfortable presence, than the
person that was the subject of these longings, desiring to
follow the whole world to heaven, or that every one should
go before, and be higher in grace and happiness, not by this
person's diminution, but by others' increase : a delight in
conversing of things of religion, and in seeing Christians
together, talking of the most spiritual and heavenly things
in religion, in a lively and feehng manner, and very fre-
quently overcome with the pleasure of such conversation :
a great sense often expressed of the importance of the duty
of charity to the poor, and how much the generality of
Christians come short in the practice of it : a great sense of
the need God's ministers have of much of the Spirit of God,
at this day especially, and most earnest longings and wiest-
lings with God for them, so as to take away the l)otlily
strength : the greatest, fullest, longest continued, and most
constant assurance of the favor of God, and of a title to fu-
ture glory, that ever I saw any appearance of in any person,
enjoying, especially of late, (to use the person's own expres-
sion,) the riches of full assurance : formerly longing to die
with something of impatience, but lately, since that resigna-
tion forementioned about three years ago, an uninterrupted,
entire resignation to (»od with respect to life or death, sick-
ness or health, ease or pain, which has remained unchanged
172 THE NATURE OF THE WORK
and unshaken, wlien actually under extreme and violent
pains, and in times of threatenings of immediate death ;
but though there be this patience and submission, yet the
thoughts of death and the day of judgment are always ex-
ceeding sweet to the soul : this resignation is also attended
with a constant resignation of the lives of dearest earthly
friends, and sometimes when some of their lives have been
imminently threatened ; often expressing the sweetness of
the liberty of having wholly left the world, and renounced
all for God, and having nothing but God, in whom is an
infinite fullness. These things have been attended with a
constant sweet peace and calm and serenity of soul, without
any cloud to interrupt it ; a continual rejoicing in all the
works of God's hands, the works of nature, and God's daily
works of providence, all appearing with a sweet smile upon
them ; a wonderful access to God by prayer, as it were,
seeing him, and sensibly immediately conversing with him,
as much oftentimes (to use the person's own expressions) as
if Christ were here on earth, sitting on a visible throne, to
be approached to and conversed w^ith ; frequent, plain, sen-
sible, and immediate answers of prayer ; all tears wiped
away ; all former troubles and sorrows of life forgotten, and
all sorrow and sighing fled away, excepting grief for past
sins, and for remaining corruption, and that Christ is loved
no more, and that God is no more honored in the world, and
a compassionate grief towards fellow-creatures ; a daily sen-
sible doing and suffering every thing for God, for a long time
past, eating for God, and w^orking for God, and sleeping for
God, and bearing pain and trouble for God, and doing all as
the service of love, and so doing it with a continual, unin-
terrupted cheerfulness, peace, and joy. O how good, said
the person once, is it to work for God in the day-time, and
at night to lie down under his smiles ! High experiences
and rehgious affections in this person have not been attended
with any disposition at all to neglect the necessary business
of a secular calling, to spend the time in reading and prayer,
IN A PARTICULAR INSTANCE. 173
and other exercises of devotion ; but worldly business has
been attended with great alacrity, as part of the service of
God ; the person declaring that it being done thus, it is
found to be as good as prayer. Tliese things have been ac-
companied with an exceeding concern and zeal for moral
duties, and that all professors may with them adorn the doc-
trine of God their Savior ; and an uncommon care to per-
form relative and social duties, and a noted eminence in
them ; a great inoffensiveness of life and conversation in the
sight of others ; a great meekness, gentleness, and benevo-
lence of spirit and behavior ; and a great alteration in those
things that formerly used to be the person's failings ; seeming
to be much overcome and swallowed up by the late great
increase of grace, to the observation of those that are most
conversant and most intimately acquainted : in times of the
brightest light and highest flights of love and joy, finding
no disposition to any opinion of being now perfectly free
from sin, (agreeable to the notion of the Wesleys and their
followers, and some other high pretenders to spirituality in
these days,) but exceedingly the contrary : at such times es-
pecially, seeing how loathsome and polluted the soul is, soul
and body, and every act and word appearing like rottenness
and corruption in that pure and holy hght of God's glory :
not slighting instruction or means of grace any more for
having had great discoveries ; on the contrary, never more
sensible of the need of instruction than now. And one
thing more may be added, viz. that these things have been
attended with a particular dishke of placing religion much
in dress, and spending much zeal about those things that in
themselves are matters of indifference, or an affecting to
show humihty and devotion by a mean habit, or a demure
and melanclioly countenance, or any thing singular and
superstitious.
174 THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD
SECTION VI.
This is a glorious work of God.
Now if such things are enthusiasm, and the fruits of a
distempered brain, let my brain be evermore possessed of that
happy distemper ! If this be distraction, I pray God that
the world of mankind may be all seized with this benign,
meek, beneficent, beatifical, glorious distraction ! If agita-
tions of body were found in the French prophets, and ten
thousand prophets more, it is httle to their purpose who bring
it as an objection against such a work as this, unless their
purpose be to disprove the whole of the Christian religion.
The great affections and high transports that otheis have
lately been under, are in general of the same kind with
those in the instance that has been given, though not to so
high a degree, and many of them not so pure and unmixed,
and so well regulated. I have had opportunity to observe
many instances here and elsewhere ; and though there are
some instances of great affections in which there has been a
great mixture of nature with grace, and in some a sad de-
generating of religious affections ; yet there is that unifor-
mity observable, that it is easy to be seen that in general it
is the same spirit from whence the work in all parts of the
land has originated. And what notions have they of reli-
gion, that reject what has been described as not true rehgion ?
What shall we find to answer those expressions in scripture,
" the peace of God that passes all understanding ; rejoicing
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, in beheving and in
loving an unseen Savior ; all joy and peace in believing ;
God's shining into our hearts, to give the light of the know-
ledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ ; with
open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
and being changed into the same image, from glory to glory.
OF WAITING FOR THE FRUITS. 175
even as by the Spirit of the Lord ; having the love of God
shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given to us :
having the Spirit of God, and of glory rest upon us ; a being
called out of darkness into marvelous hght ; and having the
day-star arise in our hearts :" 1 say, if those things that have
been mentioned do not answer these expressions, what else
can we find out that does answer them ? Those that do not
think such things as these to be the fruits of the true Spirit,
would do well to consider what kind of spirit they are wait-
ing and praying for, and what sort of fruits they expect he
should produce when he comes. I suppose it will generally
be allowed that there is such a thing as a glorious outpouring
of the Spirit of God to be expected, to introduce very joyful
and glorious times upon religious accounts ; times wherein
holy love and joy will be raised to a great height in true
Christians : but if those things that have been mentioned
be rejected, what is left that we can find wherewith to patch
up a notion, or form an idea, of the high, blessed, joyful re-
hgion of these times ? What is that any have a notion of,
that is very sweet, excellent, and joyful, of a religious na-
ture, that is entirely of a different nature from these things ?
Those that are waiting for the fruits in order to determine
whether this be the work of God or no, would do well to con-
sider two things : 1. What they are waiting for : whether it
be not this ; to have this wonderM religious influence that
is on the minds of people over and past, and then to see how
they will behave themselves? That is, to have grace subside,
and the actings of it in a great measure to cease, and to have
persons grow cold and dead, and then to see whether after
that, they will behave themselves with that exactness and
brightness of conversation, that is to be expected of lively
Christians, or those that are in the vigorous exercises of grace.
T lie re are many that will not be satisfied with any exact-
ness or laboriousness in religion now, while persons have
their minds much moved, and their affections are high ; for
they lay it to their flash of alfection, and heat of zeal, a:^ they
176 THIS WORK IS VERY WONDERFUL.
call it : they are waiting to see whether they will carry them-
selves as well when these affections are over : that is, they
are waiting to have persons sicken and lose their strength,
that they may see whether they will then hehave them-
selves like healthy, strong men. I would desire that they
would also consider whether they be not waiting for more
than is reasonably to be expected, supposing this to be really
a great work of God, and much more than has been found
in former great outpourings of the Spirit of God, that have
been universally acknowledged in the Christian church ?
Do not they expect fewer instances of apostasy, and evi-
dences of hypocrisy in professors, and those that for the pre-
sent seem to be under the influences of the Spirit, than were
after that great outpouring of the Spirit in the apostles' days,
or that which was in the time of the reformation ? And do
not they stand prepared to make a mighty argument of it
against this work, if there should be half so many? And
2. They would do well to consider how long they will wait
to see the good fruit of this work, before they will determine
in favor of it. Is not their waiting unlimited ? The visible
fruit that is to be expected of a pouring out of the Spirit of
God on a country, is a visible reformation in that country :
What reformation has lately been brought to pass in New
England, by this work, has been before observed : and has
it not continued long enough alread}^, to give reasonable sa-
tisfaction ? If God cannot work on the hearts of a people
after such a manner, as to show his hand so plainly, as rea-
sonably to expect it should be acknowledged in a year and
a half, or two years time ; yet surely it is unreasonable, that
our expectations and demands should be unlimited, and our
waiting without any bounds.
As there is the clearest evidence, from those things that
have been observed, that this is the work of God, so it is evi-
dent that it is a very great and wonderful, and exceeding glo-
rious work of God. This is certain, that it is a great and
wonderful event, a strange revolution, an unexpected, sur-
THIS WORK IS VERV GLORIOUS. 177
prising overturning of things, suddenly brought to pass ; such
as never has been seen in New England, and scarce ever has
been heard of in any land. Who that saw the state of things
in New England a few years ago, the state that it was settled
in, and the way that we had been so long going on in, would
have thought that in so little a time there would be such a
change ? This is undoubtedly either a very great work of
God, or a great work of the devil, as to the main substance
of it. For though undoubtedly, God and the devil may work
together at the same time, and in the same land ; and when
God is at work, especially if he be veiy remarkably at work,
Satan will do his utmost endeavor to intrude, and by inter-
minghng his work, to darken and hinder God's work ; yet
God and the devil do not work together in producing the
same event, and in effecting the same change in the hearts
and lives of men. But. it is apparent that there are some
things wherein the main substance of this work consists, a
certain effect that is produced, and alteration that is made in
the apprehensions, affections, dispositions, and behavior of
men, in Avhich there is a likeness and agreement everywhere :
Now this, I say, is either a wonderful work of God, or a
mighty work of the devil ; and so is either a most happy
event greatly to be admired and rejoiced in, or a most awful
calamity. Therefore if what has been said before, be suffi-
cient to determine it to be, as to the main, the work of God,
then it must be acknowledged to be a very wonderful and
glorious work of God.
Such a work is, in its nature and kind, the most glorious
of any work of God whatsoever ; and is always so spoken of
in scripture. It is the work of redemption (the great end of
all other works of God, and of which the work of creation
was but a shadow) in the event, success and end of it. It is
the work of a new creation, that is infmitely more glorious
than the old. 1 am bold to say, that the work of God in the
conversion of one soul, considered together with the source,
foundation, and purchase of it, and also the benefit, end,
23
178 THIS WORK IS VERY GLORIOUS
and eternal issue of it, is a more glorious work of God than
the creation of the whole material universe : it is the most
glorious of God's works, as it above all others manifests the
glory of God : it is spoken of in scripture, as that which shows
the exceeding greatness of God)s yotocr^ and the glory
and riches of divine grace, and wherein Christ has the
most glorious triumph over his enemies, and wherein God is
mightily exalted : and it is a work above all others glorious,
as it concerns the happiness of mankind ; more happiness,
and a greater benefit to man, is the fruit of each single drop
of such a shower, than all the temporal good of the most
happy revolution in a land or nation amounts to, or all that a
people could gain by the conquest of the woiid.
And as this work is very glorious in ita nature, so it is in
its degree and circumstances. It will appear very glorious if
we consider the unworthiness of the people that are the sub-
jects of it ; what obligations God has laid us under by the
special privileges we have enjoyed for our souls' good, and the
great things God did for us at our first settlement in the land ;
and how he has followed us with his goodness to this day,
and how w^e have abused his goodness ; how long we have
been revolting more and more (as all confess), and how very
corrupt we were Vjecome at last ; in how great a degree we
had cast off God, and forsaken the fountain of living v/aters :
how obstinate we have been under all manner of means that
God has used with us to reclaim us : how often we have
mocked God with hypocrital pretenses of humiliation, as in
our annual days of public fasting, and other things, while
instead of reforming, we only grew worse and worse ; how
dead a time it was every wlier^ before this work began : If
we consider these things, we shall be most stupidly ungrateful
if we do not acknowledge God's visiting of us as he has done,
as an instance of the glorious triumph of free and sovereign
grace.
The work is very glorious if we consider the extent of it ;
being in this respect vastly beyond any former outpouring of
THIS WORK IS VERY GLORIOUS. 179
the Spirit that ever was known in New England. There
has formerly sometimes been a remarkable awakening and
success of the means of grace, in some particular congrega-
tion ; and this used to be much taken notice of, and acknow-
ledged to be glorious, though the towns and congregations
round about continued dead : but now God has brought to
pass a new thing, he has wrought a great work of this na-
ture, that has extended from one end of the land to the other,
besides what has been wrought in other British colonies in
America.
The work is very glorious in the great numbers that have,
to appearance, been turned from sin to God, and so delivered
from a wretched captivity to sin and Satan, saved from ever-
lasting burnings, and made heirs of eternal glory. How
high an honor, and great reward of their labors, have some
eminent persons, of note in the church of God, signified that
they should esteem it, if they should be made the instruments
of the conversion and eternal salvation of but one soul ? And
no greater event than that is thought worthy of great notice
in heaven, among the hosts of glorious angels, who rejoice
and sing on such an occasion : and when there are many
thousands of souls thus converted and saved, shall it be es-
teemed worth but little notice, and be mentioned with cold-
ness and indifference here on earth, by those among whom
such a work is wrought ?
The work has been very glorious and wonderful in many
circumstances and events of it, that have been extraordinary,
wherein God has in an uncommon manner made his hand
visible, and his power conspicuous ; as in the extraordinary
degrees of awakening, the suddenness of conversions in in-
numerable instances, in whom though the work was quick,
yet the thing wrought is manifestly durable. How common .
a thing has it been for great part of a congregation to be at
once moved, by a mighty invisible power ; and for six, eight,
or ten souls to be converted to God (to all appearance) in an
exercise, in whom the visible change still continues ? How
IBO THIS WORK IS VERY GLORIOUS.
great an alteration has been made in some towns ; yea, some
populous towns ; the change still abiding? And how many-
very vicious persons have been wrought upon, so as to become
visibly new creatures? God has also made his hand very visi-
ble, and his work glorious, in the multitudes of little children
that have been wrought upon : I suppose there have been
some hundreds of instances of this nature of late, any one of
which formei-ly would have been looked upon so remarkable,
as to be worthy to be recorded, and pu Wished through the
land. Tile work is very glorious in its influences and effects
on many that have been very ignorant and barbarous, as I
before observed of the Indians and Negroes.
The work is also exceeding glorious in the high attain-
ments of Christians, in the extraordinary degrees of light,
love, and spiritual joy, that God has bestowed upon great
multitudes. In this respect also, the land in all parts has
abounded in such instances, any one of which, if they had
happened formerly, would have been thought worthy to be
taken notice of by God's people, throughout the British domi-
nions. The New Jerusalem in this respect has begun to
come down from heaven, and perhaps never were more of
the prelibations of heaven's glory given upon earth.
There being a great many errors and sinful irregularities
mixed with this work of God, arising from our weakness, dark-
ness, and corruption, do not hinder this work of God's power
and grace from being very glorious. Our follies and sins that we
mix, d© in some respects manifest the glory of it. The glory of
divine power and grace is set off with the greater lustre, by
what appears at the same time of the weakness of the earth-
en vessel. It is God's pleasure that there should be some-
thing remarkably to manifest the weakness and unworthi-
ness of the subject, at the same time that he displays the ex-
cellency of his power, and riches of his grace. And I doubt
not but some of those things that make some of us here on
earth to be out of humor, and to look on this work with a
sour, displeased countenance, do heighten the songs of the
THIS WORK IS VERY GLORIOUS. X81
angels, when they praise God and the Lamb for what they
see of the glory of God's all-sufficiency, and the efficacy of
Christ's redemption. And how unreasonable is it that we
should be backward to acknowledge the glory of what God
has done, because withal, the devil, and we in hearkening
to him, have done a great deal of mischief.
THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL, &c.
PART II.
SHOWING THE OBLIGATIONS THAT ALL ARE UNDER, TO
ACKNOWLEDGE, REJOICE IN, AND PROMOTE THIS WORK^
AND THE GREAT DANGER OF THE CONTRARY.
SECTION I.
The danger of lying still, and keeping lo?ig silence re-
specting any remarkable loork of God.
There are many things in the word of God, that show
that when God remarkably appears in any great work for his
church, and against his enemies, it is a most dangerous thing,
and highly provoking to God, to be slow and backward to
acknowledge and honor God in the work, and to lie still and
not to put to a helping hand. Christ's people are in scrip-
ture represented as his army ; he is the Lord of hosts or
armies : He is the Captain of the host of the Lord, as he
called himself when he appeared to Joshua, with a sword
drawn in his hand, Joshua v. 13, 14, 15. He is the Cap-
tain of his people's salvation ; and therefore it may well be
highly resented if they do not resort to him when he orders
his banner to be displayed ; or if they refuse to follow him
when he blows the trumpet, and gloriously appears going
fortli against his enemies. God expects that every hving
soul should have his attention roused on such an occasion,
and should most cheerfully yield to the call, and heedfully
184 THE DANGER OF LYING STILL
and diligently obey it ; Isaiah xviii. 3. -'All ye inhabitants
of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye when he hft-
eth up an ensign on the mountains ; and when he bloweth
the trumpet, hear ye." Especially should all Israel be ga-
thered after their captain, as we read they were after Ehud,
when he blew the trumpet in mount Ephraim, when he had
slain Eglon, king of Moah, Judg. iii. 27, 28. How severe
is the martial law in such a case, when any of an army re-
fuses to obey the sound of the trumpet, and follow his gene-
ral to the battle? God at such a time appears in pecuhar
manifestations of his glory ; and therefore not to be affected
and animated, and to lie still, and refuse to follow God, will
be resented as a high contempt of him. If a subject should
stand by, and be a spectator of the solemnity of his prince's
coronation and should appear silent and sullen, when all the
multitude were testifying their loyalty and joy, -svith loud
acclamations ; how greatly would he expose liimself to be
treated as a rebel, and quickly to perish by the authority of
the prince that he refuses to honor ?
At a time when God manifests himself in such a great
work for his church, there is no such thing as being neuters ;
there is a necessity of being either for or against the King
that then gloriously appears. As when a king is crowned,
and there are public manifestations of joy on that occasion,
there is no such thing as standing by as an indifferent spec-
tator ; all must appear as loyal subjects, and express their
joy on that occasion, or be accounted enemies : so it always is
when God, in any great dispensation of his pived the
true religion of the old continent ; the church of ancient
times has been there, and Christ is from thence : but that
there may be an equality, and inasmuch as that continent
has crucified Christ, they shall not have the honor of com-
municating religion in its most glorious state to us, but we
to them.
The old continent has been the source and original of
mankind, in several respects. The first parents of mankind
dwelt there ; and there dwelt Noah and his sons ; and there
the second Adam was born, and was crucified, and rose
again : and it is probable that, in some measure to balance
these things, the most glorious renovation of the world shall
originate from the new continent, and the church of God in
that respect be from hence. And so it is probable that that
will come to pass in spirituals, that has in temporals, with
respect to America ; that whereas, till of late, the world was
supphed with its silver and gold and earthly treasures from
the old continent, now it is supplied chiefly from the new, so
the course of things in spiritual respects w^ill be in like man-
ner turned.
TO BEGIN IN AMERICA. 193
And it is worthy to be noted that America was discovered
about the time of the reformation, or but Uttle before ; which
reformation w^as the first thing that God did towards the
glorious renovation of the world, after it had sunk into the
depths of darkness and ruin under the great Antichristian
apostasy. So that as soon as this new world is (as it were)
created, and stands forth in view, God presently goes about
doing some great thing to make way for the introduction of
the church's latter day glory, that is to have its first seat in,
and is to take its rise from that new w^orld.
It is agreeable to God's manner of working, when he ac-
comphshes any glorious work in the world, to introduce a
new and more excellent state of his church, to begin his
work where his church had not been till then, and where
was no foundation already laid, that the power of God might
be the more conspicuous ; that the work might appear to be
entirely God's, and be more manifestly a creation out of no-
thing ; agreeable to Hos. i. 10, " And it shall come to pass
that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my
people, there it shall be said vinto them, ye are the sons of
the living God." When God is about to turn the earth into
a paradise, he does not begin his work where there is some
good growth already, but in a wilderness, where nothing
grows, and nothing is to be seen but dry sand and barren
rocks ; that the light may shine out of darkness, and the
W'orld be replenished from emptiness, and the earth watered
by springs from a droughty desert ; agreeable to many pro-
phecies of scripture, as Isa. xxxii. 15. " Until the Spirit be
poured from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful
field ;" and chap, xviii. 19. " I will open rivers in high
places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys ;• I will
make the wilderness a pool of w^ater, and the dry land
springs of water ; I will plant in the wilderness tlie cedar,
the shittah-tree, and the myrtle and oil-tree ; I will set in
the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree to-
gether ;" and chap, xliii. 20. " I will give waters in the wil
25
194 THE GLORIOUS TIMES ARE PROBABLY
derness, and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people,
iny chosen." And many other parallel scriptures might be
mentioned.
I observed before, that when God is about to do some great
work for his church, his manner is to begin at the lower
end ; so when he is about to renew the whole habitable
earth, it is probable that he will begin in this utmost, mean-
est, youngest, and weakest part of it, where the church of
God has been planted last of all ; and so the first shall be
last, and the last first ; and that will be fulfilled in an emi-
nent manner in Isa. xxiv. 19. " From the uttermost part of
the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous."
There are several things that seem to me to argue, that
when the Sun of Righteousness, the sun of the new hea-
vens and new earth, comes to rise, and " comes forth as the
bridegroom" of his church, " rejoicing as a strong man to
run his race, having his going forth from the end of heaven,
and his circuit to the end of it, that nothing may be hid
fiom the light and heat of it ;"*" that the sun shall rise in
the west, contrary to the course of this world, or the course
of things in the old heavens and earth. The course of God's
providences shall in that day be so wonderfully altered in
many respects, that God will, as it were, change the course
of nature, in answer to the prayers of his church ; as God
changed the course of nature, and caused the sun to go from
the west to the east, when Hezekiah was healed, and God
promised to do such great things for his church, to deliver it
out of the hand of the king of Assyria, by that mighty
slaughter by the angel, which is often used by the prophet
Isaiah, as a type of the glorious deUverance of the church
from her enemies in the latter days : the resurrection of He-
* It is evident that the Holy Spirit, in those expressions in Psalm xix. 4, 5,
G., has respect to something else besides the natural sun ; and that an eye is
had to the Sun of Rig-hteousness, that by his lig-ht converts the soul, makes
wise the simple, cnhg-htens the eyes, and rejoices the heart ; and by his
preached gospel enlightens and warms the world of mankind ; by the
psalmist's own application, in v. 7.. and the apostle's application of v. 4. in
Rom. X. 1°
TO BEGIN IN AMERICA, 195
zekiah, the king and captain of the church, (as he is called,
2 Kings XX. 5.) as it were, from the dead, is given as an
earnest of the church's resurrection and salvation, Isaiah
xxxviii. 6., and is a type of the resurrection of Christ. At
the same time there is a resurrection of the sun, or coming
back and rising again from the west, whither it had gone
down ; which is also a type of the Sun of Righteousness.
The sun was brought back ten degrees, which probably
brought it to the meredian. The Sun of Righteousness has
long been going down from east to west, and probably when
the time comes of the church's deliverance from her enemies,
so often typified by the Assyrians, the light will rise in the
west, till it shines through the world, like the sun in its me-
ridian brightness.
The same seems also to be represented by the course of
the waters of the sanctuary, Ezek. xlvii., which was from
west to east, which waters undoubtedly represent the Holy
Spirit, in the progress of his saving influences, in the latter
ages of the world ; for.it is manifest that the whole of those
last chapters of Ezekiel, are concerning the glorious state of
the church that shall then be.
And if we may suppose that this glorious work of God
shall begin in any part of America, I think, if we consider
the circumstances of the settlement of New England, it must
needs appear the most likely of all American colonies, to be
the place whence this work shall principally take its rise.
And if these things are so, it gives us most abundant rea-
son to hope that what is now seen in America, and especially
in New England, may prove the dawn of that glorious day :
and the very uncommon and wonderful circumstances and
events of this work, seem to me strongly to argue that God
intends it as the beginning or forerunner of something
vastlv s^reat.
l9ei THE DANGER OF NOT ACKNO^\ LELGINO
SECTION III.
The danger of not acknowledging^ and encouraging,
and especially of deriding^ this work.
I HAVE thus long insisted on this point, because if these
things are so, it greatly manifests how much it behooves us
to encourage and promote this work, and how dangerous it
will be to forbear to do so.
It is very dangerous for God's professing people to lie still,
and not to come to the help of the Lord, whenever he re-
markably pours out his Spirit, to carry on the work of re-
demption in the application of it ; but above all, when he
comes forth in that last and greatest outpouring of his Spirit,
to introduce that happy day of God's power and salvation,
so often spoken of. That is especially the appointed seeison
of the application of the redemption of Christ ; it is the
proper time of the kingdom of heaven upon earth, the ap-
pointed time of Christ's reign ; the reign of Satan as god
of this world lasts till then : this is the proper time of actual
redemption, or new creation, as is evident by Isa. Ixv. 17,
18., and Ixvi. 12., and Rev. xxi. 1. All the outpourings of
the Spirit of God that are before this are, as it were, by way
of anticipation.
There was indeed a glorious season of the application of
redemption, in the first ages of the Christian church, that
began at Jerusalem on the day of pentecost ; but that was
not the proper time of ingathering ; it was only, as it were,
the feast of the first fruits ; the ingathering is at the end of
the year, or in the last ages of the Christian church, as is
represented. Rev. xiv. 14, 1,5, 16., and will probably as much
exceed what was in the first ages of the Christian church,
though that filled the Roman empire, as that exceeded all
AND ENCOURAGING THIS WORK, 197
that had been before, under the Old Testament, confined
only to the land of Judea.
The great danger of not appearing openly to acknowledge,
rejoice in, and promote that great work of God, in bringing
in that glorious harvest, is represented in Zech. xiv. 16, 17,
18, 19. " And it shall come to pass, that every one that is
left of all the nations which come up against Jerusalem,
shall even go up, from year to year, to worship the King,
the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
And it shall be that whoso will not come up, of all the
families of the earth, unto Jerusalem, to worship the King,
the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And
if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have
no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord w^ll
smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of
tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and
the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the
feast of tabernacles." It is evident by all the context, that
the glorious day of the church of God in the latter oges of
the world, is the time spoken of. The feast of tabernacles
here seems to signify that glorious spiritual feast, which God
shall then make for his church, the same that is spoken of
Isa. XXV. 6., and the great spiritual rejoicings of God's peo-
ple at that time. There were three great feasts in Israel, at
which all the males were appointed to go up to Jerusalem :
the feast of the passover ; and the feast of the first fruits, or
the feast of pentecost ; and the feast of ingathering, at the
end of the year, or the feast of tabernacles. In the first of
these, viz. the feast of the passover, was represented the pur-
chase of redemption by Jesus Christ, the paschal lamb, that
was slain at the time of that feast. The other two that fol-
lowed it, were to represent the two great seasons of the ap-
plication of the purchased redemption : in the former of
them, viz. the feast of the first fruits, which was called the
feast of pentecost, was represented that time of the outpour
ing of the Spirit that was in the first asTPs of the Christinn
198 THE DANGER OF NOT ACKNOWLEDGING
church, for the bringing in the first fruits of Christ's redemp-
tion, which began at Jerusalem, on the day of pentecost :
the other, which was the feast of ingathering, at the end of
the year, which the children of Israel were appointed to keep
on occasion of their gathering in their corn, and their wine,
and all the fruit of their land, and was called the feast of ta-
bernacles, represented the other more joyful and glorious
season of the application of Christ's redemption, which is to
be in the latter days ; the great day of ingathering of the^
elect, the proper and appointed time of gathering in God's
fruits, when the angel of the covenant shall thrust in his
sickle, and gather the harvest of the earth ; and the clusters
of the vine of the earth shall also be gathered. This was
upon many accounts the greatest feast of the three : there
were much greater tokens of rejoicing in this feast, than any
other : the people then dwelt in booths of green boughs, and
were commanded to take the boughs of goodly trees, branches
of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of
the brook, and to rejoice before the Lord their God : which
represents the flourishing, beautiful, pleasant state the church
shall be in, rejoicing in God's grace and love, triumphing
over all her enemies, at the time typified by this feast. The
tabernacle of God was first set up among the children of
Israel, at the time of the feast of tabernacles ; but in that
glorious time of the Christian church, God will, above all
other times, set up his tabernacle amongst men. Rev. xxi. 3.
" And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, The ta-
bernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, and be their God." The world is supposed to have
been created about the time of year wherein the feast of ta-
bernacles was appointed ; so in that glorious time God will
create a new heaven and a new earth. The temple of
Solomon was dedicated at the time of the feast of taberna-
cles, when God descended in a pillar of cloud, and dwelt in
the temple : so at this happy time, tlie temple of God shall
AND REJOICING IN THIS WORK. 199
be gloriously built up in the world; and God shall, in a won-
derful manner, come down from heaven to dwell with his
church. Christ is supposed to have been born at the feast of
tabernacles ; so at the commencement of that glorious day,
Christ shall be born ; then, above all other times, shall " the
woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,
that is in travail, and pained to be dehvered, bring forth her
son, to rule all nations," Rev. xii., at the beginning. The
feast of tabernacles was the last feast that Israel had in the
whole year, before the face of the earth was destroyed by the
winter ; presently after the rejoicings of that feast were past,
a tempetuous season began, Acts xxvii. 9. " Sailing was
now dangerous, because the feast was now already past."
So this great feast of the Christian church will be the last
feast she shall have on earth : soon after it is past, this lower
world will be destroyed. At the feast of tabernacles, Israel
left their houses to dwell in booths, or green tents, which
signifies the great weanedness of God's people from the
world, as pilgrims and strangers on the earth, and their great
joy therein. Israel were prepared for the feast of tabernacles,
by the feast of trumpets, and the day of atonement, both on
the same month ; so way shall be made for the joy of the
church of God, in its glorious state on earth, by the extraor-
dinary preaching of the gospel, and deep repentance and
humiliation for past sins, and the great and long continued
deadiiess and carnality of the visible church. Christ, at the
great feast of tabernacles, stood in Jerusalem, and cried,
saying, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink : he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of Uving waters :" signify-
ing the extraordinary freedom and riches of divine grace
towards sinners at that day, and the extraordinary measures
of the Holy Spirit that shall be then given, agreeable to Rev.
xxi. 6., and xxii. 17.
It is threatened here in this fourteenth chapter of Zecha-
riah, that those who at that time shall not come to keep this
^00 THE DANGER OF OPPOSING
feast, i. e. that shall not acknowledge God's glorious works,
and praise his name, and rejoice with his people, but should
stand at a distance, as unbelieving and disaffected, upon
them shall be no rain ; and that this shall be the plague
wherewith they shall all be smitten ; that is, they shall have
no share in that shower of divine blessing that shall then
descend on the earth, that spiritual rain spoken of, Isa. xliv.
3. But God would give them over to hardness of heart,
and bUndness of mind.
The curse is yet in a more awful manner denounced
against such as shall appear as opposers at that time, v. 12.
*' And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall
stnite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, their
flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,
and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their
tongue shall consume away in their mouth." Here also in
all probability it is a spiritual judgment, or a plague and
curse from God upon the soul, rather than upon the body,
that is intended ; that such persons, who at that time shall
oppose God's people in his work, shall, in an extraordinary
manner, be given over to a state of spiritual death and ruin,
that they shall remarkably appear dead while aHve, and shall
be as walking rotten corpses, while they goabout amongst men.
The great danger of not joining with God's people at that
glorious day is also represented, Isa. Ix. 12. " For the nation
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish ; yea, those
nations shall be utterly wasted."
Most of the great temporal deliverances that were wrought
lor Israel of old, as divines and expositors observe, were
typical of the great spiritual works of God for the salvation
of men's souls, and the dehverance and prosperity of his
church, in the days of the gospel ; and especially did they
represent that greatest of all deliverances of God's church,
and chief of God's works of actual salvation, that shall be
in the latter days, which, as has been observed, is above all
others, the appointed time, and proper season of actual re
THE DANGER OF LFING STILL. 201
demption of men's souls. But it may be observed that if
any appeared to oppose God's work in those great temporal
deliverances ; or if there were any of his professing people,
that on such occasions lay still, and stood at a distance, and
did not arise and acknowledge God in his work, and appear
to promote it ; it was what in a remarkable manner incensed
God's anger, and brought his curse upon such persons.
So when God wrougfit that great work of bringing the
children of Israel out of Egypt (which was a type of God's
delivering his church out of the spiritual Ei^^ypt, at the time
of the fall of Antichrist, as as evident by Rev. xi. 8., and
XV. 3.), how highly did God resent it, when the Amalekites
appeared as opposers in that affair ! And how dreadfully did
he curse them for it ! Exod. xvii. 14, 15, 16. " And tlie
Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book,
and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua ; for I will utterly put
out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And
Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-
Nissi ; for he said, because the Lord will have war with
Amalek, from generation to generation." And accordingly
we find that God remembered it a long time after, 1 Sam.
XV. 3. And how highly did God resent it in the Moabites
and Ammonites, that they did not lend a helping hand, and
encourage and promote the affair ! Deut. xxiii. 3, 4. " /\.n
Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation
of the Lord ; even to their tenth generation, shall they not
enter into the congregation of the Lord forever ; because
they met you not with bread and with water, in the way
when ye came forth out of Egypt." And how were the
children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half
tribe of Manasseh, threatened, if they did not go and help
their brethren in their wars against the Canaanites, Deut.
xxxii. 20, 21, 22, 23., " And Moses said unto them, if ye
will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to
war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan, before the
Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him,
26
202 THE DANGER OF LYING STILL,
and the land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye
shall return and jjc guiltless before the Lord, and before
Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord ;
but if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the
Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out."
That was a glorious work of God that he wrought for Is-
rael, when he delivered them from the Canaanites, by the
hand of Deborah and Barak : almost every thing about it
showed a remarkable hand of God. It was a prophetess, one
immediately inspired by God, that called the people to the
battle, and conducted them in the whole affair. The people
seem to have been miraculously animated and encouraged
in the matter, when they willingly offered themselves, and
gathered together to the battle ; they jeoparded their lives in
the high places of the field, without being pressed or hired ;
when one would have thought they should have but little
courage for such an undertaking ; for what could a number
of. poor, weak, defenseless slaves do, without a shield or
spear to he seen among forty thousand of them, to go
against a great prince, with his mighty host, and nine hun-
dred chariots of iron. And the success did wonderfully show
the hand of God ; which makes Deborah exultingly to say,
Judg. V. 21 . " O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength 1"
Christ with his heavenly host was engaged in that battle ;
and therefore it is said, v. 20, " They fought from heaven,
the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." The work
of God. therefore, in this victory and deliverance that Christ
and his host wrought for Israel, was a type of that victory
and dehverance which he will accomplish for his church in
that great battle, that last conflict that the church shall have
with her open enemies, that shall introduce the church's lat-
ter day glory ; as appears by Rev. xvi. 16, (speaking of that
great battle) " And he gathered them together into a place,
called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon," i. e. the moun-
tain of Megiddo ; alluding, as is supposed by expositors, to
the place where the iDattle was fought with the host of Si-
THE DANGER OF LYING STILL 203
sera, Judg. v. 19. '' The king's caine and fought; tlie kings
of Canaan, in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo." Which
can signify nothing else, than that this battle, which Christ
and his church shall have with their enemies, is the antitype
of the battle that was fought there. But what a dreadful
curse from Christ, did some of God's professing people Israel,
bring upon themselves, by lying still at that time, and not
putting to a helping hand ? Judg. v. 23. " Curse yc Meroz,
said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants
thereof, because they came not to the help of the liOrd, to the
help of the Lord against the miglity." The Angel of tlie
Lord was the Captain of the host ; he that had l«^d Israel
and fought for them in that battle, who is very often called
the Angel of the Lord^ in scripture ; the same that appeared
to Joshua with a sword drawn in his hand, and told him
that he was come as the CajJtain of the host of the hord ;
and the same glorious Captain that we have an account of,
as leading forth his hosts to that battle, of which this was
the type. Rev. xix. 11, &c. It seems the inhabitants of Me-
roz were unbelieving concerning this great work, nor w^ould
they hearken to Deborah's pretenses, nor did it enter into
them that such a poor defenseless company should ever pre-
vail against those that were so mighty ; they did not acknow^-
ledge the hand of God, and therefore stood at a distance, and
did nothing to promote the work : but what a bitter curse
from God, did they bring upon themselves by it !
It is very probable tliat one great reason why the inhabit-
ants of Meroz were so unbelieving concerning this work, was
that they argued a 'priori ; they did not like the beginning of
it, it being a woman that first led the wa}^, and had the chief
conduct in the affair ; nor could they believe that such des-
picable instruments, as a company of unarmed slaves, were
ever like to effect so p^reat a tiling ; and pride and unbelief
wrought together, in not being willing to follow Deborah to
the battle.
204 THE DANGER OF LYING STILL,
It was another glorious work of God that he wrought for
Israel, in the victory that \vas obtained by Gideon over the
Midianites and Airialekites, and the children of the east,
when they came up against Israel like grasshoppers, a mul-
titude that could not be numbered. This also was a re-
markable type of the victory of Christ and his church over
his enemies, by the pouring out of the Spirit with the
preached gospel, as is evident by the manner of it, which
Gideon was immediately directed to of God ; which was not
by human sword or bow, but only by blowing of trumpets,
and by lights in earthen vessels. We read on this occasion,
Gideon called the people together to help in this great affair ;
and that accordingly, great numbers resorted to him, and
came to the help of the Lord, Judg. vii. 23, 24. But there
were some also at that time, that were unbelieving, and
would not acknowledge the hand of God in that work, though
it was so great and wonderful, nor would they join to pro-
mote it ; and they were the inhabitants of Succoth and Pe-
nuel : Gideon desired their help, when he was pursuing after
Zeba and Zalmuna ; but they despised fiis pretenses, and
his confidence of the Lord's being on his side, to deliver those
two great princes into the hands of such a despicable com-
pany, as he and his three hundred men, and would not own
the work of God, nor afford Gideon any assistance : God
proceeded in this work in a way that was exceeding cross to
their pride. And they also refused to own the work, because
they argued a priori ; they could not believe that God would
do such great things by such a despicable instrument ; one
of such a poor mean family in Manasseh, and he the least
in his father's house ; and the company that was with him
appeared very wretched, being but three hundred men, and
they weak and faint : but we see how they suffered for their
folly, in not acknowledging, and appearing to promote this
work of God. Gideon when he returned from the victory,
took them, and taught them with the briers and thorns
of the wilderness^ and heat doion the tower of Pemiel^
THE DANGER OP LYING STILL. 205
(he brought down their pride, and their false confidence) and
slew the tnen of the city^ Judg. viii. This, in all proba-
bihty, Gideon did, as moved and directed by the Angel of the
Lord, that is, Christ, that first called him. and sent him forth
in this battle, and instructed and directed him in the whole
affair.
The return of the ark of God to dwell in Zion, in the
midst of the land of Israel, after it had been long absent,
first in the land of the Philistines, and then in Kirjath-jearim,
in the utmost borders of the land, did livelily represent the
return of God to a professing people, in the spiritual tokens
of Ills presence, after long absence from them ; as well as
the ark's ascending up into a mountain typified Christ's as-
cension into heaven. It is evident by the psalms that were
penned on that occasion, especially the sixty-eighth psalm,
that the exceeding rejoicings of Israel, on that occasion, re-
presented the joy of the church of Christ, on his returning
to it, after it has been in a low and dark state, to revive his
work, bringing his people back, as it were, fi^om Bashan,
and fro?n the depth of the sea, scattering their spiritual
enemies, and causing that though they had lien among
the pots, yet they should be as the loings of a dove, covered
with silver, and her feathers xoith yellow gold ; and
giving the blessed tokens of his presence in his house, that
his people may see the goings of God their King in his
sanctuary ; and that the gifts which David, with such royal
bounty, distributed amongst the people on that occasion, (2
Sam. vi. 18, 19, and 1 Chron. xvi. 2, 3.) represent spiritual
blessings, that Christ liberally sends down on his church, by
the outpourings of his Spirit. See Psalm Ixviii. 1, 8, 13,
18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. And we have an account how
that all the people, from Shihor, of Egypt, even unto the
entering in of Hemath, gathered together, and appeared to
join and assist in that great affair ; and that all Israel
" brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with
shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets.
206 THE DANGER OF DERIDING.
and \vith cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps,"
1 Chron. xiii. 2, 5, and xv. 28. And not only the men, but
the women of Israel, the daughters of Zion, appeared as
publicly joining in the praises and rejoicings that were on
that occasion, 2 Sam. vi. 19. But we read of one of David's
wives, even Michal, Saul's daughter, whose heart was not
engaged in the affair, and did not appear with others to re-
joice and praise God on this occasion, but kept away, and
stood at a distance, as disaffected, and disliking the manage-
ments ; she despised and ridiculed the transports and extra-
ordinary manifestations of joy that then were ; and the curse
that she brought upon herself by it, was that of being barren
to the day of her death. Let this be a warning to us ; let
us take heed, in this day of the bringing up of the ark of
God, that while we are in visibihty and profession the spouse
of the spiritual David, we do not show ourselves to be indeed
the children of false hearted and rebellious Saul, by our
standing aloof, and not joining in the joy and praises of the
day, and disliking and despising the joys and affections of
God's people, because they are to so high a degree, and so
bring the curse of perpetual barrenness upon our souls.
Let us take heed that we be not like the son of the bond-
woman, that was born after the flesh, that persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, and mocked at the feasting
and rejoicings that were made for Isaac when he was
weaned ; lest we should be cast out of the family of Abra-
ham, as he was, Gen. xxi. 8, 9. That affair contained
spiritual mysteries, and was typical of things that come to
pass in these days of the gospel ; as is evident by the
apostle's testimony. Gal. iv. 22. to the end. And particu-
larly it seems to have been typical of two things. 1. The
weaning of the church from its milk of carnal ordinances,
ceremonies, shadows, and beggarly elements, upon the
coming of Christ, and pouring out of the Spirit in the days
of the apostles. The church of Christ, in the times of the
Old Testament, was in its minority, and was a babe ; and
THE DANGER OF DERIDING, 207
the apostle tells us that babes must be fed with milk, and
not with strong meat ; but when God weaned his church
from these carnal ordinances, on the ceasing of the legal
dispensation, a glorious gospel feast was provided for souls,
and God fed his people with spiritual dainties, and filled them
with the Spirit, and gave them joy in the Holy Ghost. Ish-
inael, in mocking at the time of Isaac's feast, by the apostle's
testimony, represented the carnal Jews, the children of the
literal Jerusalem, who when they beheld the rejoicings of
Christians, in their spiritual and evangelical privileges, were
filled with envy, deriding, contradicting and blaspheming.
Acts ii. 13. and chap. xiii. 45. and xviii. 6. And therefore
were cast out of the family of Abraham, and out of the land
of Canaan, to wander through the earth. 2. This weaning
of Isaac's seems also to represent the conversion of sinners,
which is several times represented in scripture by the weaning
of a child ; as in Psalm cxxxi. and Isa. xxviii. 9. Because
in conversion the soul is weaned from the enjoyments of the
world, which are as it were the breast of our mother earth ;
and is also weaned from the covenant of our first parents,
which we as naturally hang upon, as a child on its mother's
breasts : and the great feast that Abraham made on that
occasion represents the spiritual feast, the heavenly privi-
leges, and holy joys and comforts, which God gives souls at
their conversion. Now is a time when God is in a remark-
able manner bestowing the blessings of such a feast. Let
every one take heed that he does not show himself to be the
son of the bond-woman, and born after the flesh, by standing
and deriding, with mocking Ishmael ; lest they be cast out
as he was, and it be said concerning them, these sons of the
bond-woman shall not be heirs with the sons of the free-
woman. Do not let us stumble at the things that have
been, because they are so great and extraordinary ; for if we
have run with the footmen, and they have wearied us, how
shall v;e contend with horses ? There is doubtless a time
208 TO PROMOTE THIS WORK THE WAY
coming when God will accomplish things vastly greater and
more extraordinary than these.
And that we may be warned not to continue doubting
and unbelieving concerning this work, because of the extra-
ordinary degree of it, and the suddenness and swiftness of
the accomplishment of the great things that pertain to it ;
let us consider the example of the unljelieving lord in Sa-
maria, who could not believe so extraordinary a work of
God to be accomplished so suddenly as was declared to him ;
the prophet Elisha foretold that the great famine in Samaria
should very suddenl}^, even in one day, be turned into an
extraordinary plenty ; but the work was too great, and too
sudden for him to believe ; says, he, if the Lord should
make loindoivs in heaven, might this thing be 7 And
the curse that he brought upon himself by it, was that he
saw it with his eyes, and did not eat thereof, but miserably
perished, and was trodden down as the mire of the streets,
when others were feasting and rejoicing. 2 Kings, chap,
vii.
When God redeemed his people from their Babylonish
captivity, and they rebuilt Jerusalem, it was, as universally
owned, a remarkable type of the spiritual redemption of
God's church ; and particularly, was an eminent type of the
great deliverance of the Christian church from spiritual
Babylon, and their rebuilding the spiritual Jerusalem, in the
latter days ; and therefore they are often spoken of under
one by the prophets ; and this probably was the main reason
that it was so ordered in providence, and particularly noted
in scripture, that the children of Israel, on that occasion,
kept the greatest feast of tabernacles that ever had been
kept in Israel, since the days of Joshua, when the people
were first settled in Canaan (Neh. viii. 16, 17.) ; because at
that time happened that restoration of Israel, that had the
greatest resemblance of that great restoration of the church
of God, of which the feast of tabernacles was the type, of
any that had been since Joshua first brought the people out
TO A PECULIAR BLESSING. 209
of the wilderness, and settled them in the good land. But
we read of some that opposed the Jews in that affair, and
weakened their hands, and ridiculed God's people, and the
instruments that were improved in that work, and despised
their hope, and made as though their confidence was little
more than a shadow, and v/ould utterly fail them : " What
do these feehle Jews ? (say they) Will they fortify them-
selves ? Will they sacrifice ? Will they make an end in a
day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the
rubbish which are burnt? Even that which they build, if
a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone-wall."
Let not us be in any measure like them, lest it be said to us,
as Nehemiah said to them, Neh. ii. 20., " We his servants
will arise and build ; but you have no portion, nor right, nor
memorial in Jerusalem." And lest we bring Nehemiah's
imprecation upon us, chap. vi. 5., " Cover not their iniquity,
and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee ; for
they have provoked thee to anger, before ihe builders."
As persons will greatly expose themselves to the curse of
God, by opposing, or standing at a distance, and keeping
silence at such a time as this ; so for persons to arise, and
readily to acknowledge God, and honor him in such a work,
and cheerfully and vigorously to exert themselves to promote
it, will be to put themselves much in the way of the divine
blessing. What a mark of honor does God put upon those
in Israel, that wilUngly offered themselves, and came to the
help of the Lord against the mighty, when the angel of the
Lord led forth his armies, and they fought from heaven
against Sisera? Judg. v. 2, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18. And what a
great blessing is pronoimced on Jael, the wife of Heber, the
Kenite, for her appearing on the Lord's side, and for what
she did to promote this work ? v. 24. Which was no less
than the curse jjrouounccd in the preceding verse, against
Meroz, for lying still : Blessed above women, shall Jael,
the Wife of Heber the Kenite, be, blessed shall she be
above women in the tent. And what a blessing is pro-
27
210 TO PROMOTE THIS WORK THE WAY, ETC.
nounced on those which shall have any hand in the de-
struction of Babylonj which was the head city of the king-
tlom of Satan, and of the enemies of the church of God ?
Psahn cxxxvii. 9. " Happy shall he be that taketh and
dasheth thy little ones against the stones." What a parti-
cular and honorable notice is taken, in the records of God's
word, of those that arose and appeared as David's helpers,
to introduce him into the kingdom of Israel, in the 1 Chron.
xii. The host of those that thus came to the help of the
Lord, in that work of his, and glorious revolution in Israel,
by which the kingdom of that great type of the Messiah was
set up in Israel, is compared to the host of God, v. 22. " At
that time, day by day, there came to David, to help him,
until it was a great host, like the host of God." And doubt-
less it was intended to be a type of that host of God, that
shall appear with the spiritual David, as his helpers, when
he shall come to set up his kingdom in the world ; the same
host that we read of, Rev. xix. 14. The Spirit of God then
pronounced a special blessing on David's helpers, as those
that were co-workers with God, v. 18. " Then the Spirit
came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he
said, thine are we David, and on thy side, thou son of
Jesse ; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine
helpers, for thy God helpeth thee." So we may conclude
that God will much more give his blessing to such as come
to the help of the Lord, when he sets his own dear Son as
King on his holy hill of Zion ; and they shall be received
by Christ, and he will put peculiar honor upon them, as
David did on those his helpers : as we have an account, in
the following words, v. 18. " Then David received them,
and made them captains of the band." It is particularly
noted of those that came to David to Hebron, ready armed
to the war, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according
to the word of the Lord, that " they were men that had
understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to
do." V. 23. and 32. Herein thev differed from the Phari
OBLIGATIONS OF ALL TO THE WORK. 211
sees and other Jews, that did not come to tlie help of the
Lord, at the time that the great Son of David appeared to
set up his kingdom in the world, whom Christ condemns,
that they had not understanding of those times, Luke xii.
56. " Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, and
of the earth ; but how is it, that ye do not discern these
times ?" So it always will be, when Christ remarkably
appears on earth, on a design of setting up his kingdom
here, there will be many that will not understand the times,
nor what Israel ought to do, and so will not come to turn
about the kingdom to David.
The favorable notice that God will take of such as appear
to promote the work of God, at such a time as this, may
also be argued from such a very particular notice being
taken in the sacred records, of those that helped in rebuilding
the wall of Jerusalem, upon the return from the Babylonish
captivity. Nehem. iii.
SECTION IT.
Obligations of rulers, ministers, and all sorts, to pro-
Tiiote this work.
At such a time as this, when God is setting his King on
his holy hill of Zion, or estabUshing his dominion, or show-
ing forth his regal glory from thence, he expects that his
visible people, without exception, should openly appear to
acknowledge him in such a w ork, and bow before him, and
join with him. But especially does he expect this of civil
rulers : God's eye is especially upon them, to see how they
behave themselves on such an occasion. If a new king
comes to the throne, when he comes from abroad, and enter?
into his kingdom, and makes his solemn entry into the
212 OBLIGATIONS OF RULERS
royal city, it is expected that all sorts should acknowledge
him ; but above all others is it expected that the great men
and public officers of the nation should then make their
appearance, and attend on their sovereign, with suital^le con-
gratulations, and manifestations of respect and loyalty : if
such as these stand at a distance, at such a time, it will be
much more taken notice of, and will awaken the prince's
jealousy and displeasure much more, than such a behavior
in the common people. And thus it is, when that eternal
Son of God, and heir of the world, by whom kings reign.
and princes decree justice, whom his Father has appointed
to be King of kings, comes as it w^ere from afar, and in the
spiritual rokens of his presence, enters into the royal city
Zion ; God has his eye at such a time, especially upon those
princes, nobles, and judges of the earth, spoken of, Prov. viii.
16., to see how^ they behave themselves, whether they bow
to him, that he has made the head of all principality and
power. This is evident by Psalm ii. 6, 7, 10, 11, 12. " Yet
have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. 1 will
declare the decree ; the Lord hath said unto me, thou art
my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Be wise now there-
fore, O ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth ; serve
the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling ; kiss the
Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when
his wrath is kindled but a little." There seems to be in the
words an allusion to a new Icing's coming to the throne, and
making his solemn entry into the royal city 5 (as Zion was
the royal city in Israel ;) when it is expected that all, espe-
cially men in public office and authority, should manifest
their loyalty by some o[)en and visible token of respect, by
the way^ as he passes alojig ; and those that refuse or ne-
glect it arc in danger of ])eing immediately struck down,
and perishing from ihc v^iy^ by which the king goes in
solemn procession.
The day wherein God does in an eminent manner send
forth the rod of Christ's strength out of Zion, \\\\\{ he may
TO PROMOTE THIS WORK 213
I iile in the midst of his enemies, the day of liis power wherein
liis people shall be made wilhng, is also eminently a day of
his wrath, especially to such rulers as oppose him, or will
not bow to him ; a day wherein he " shall strike through
kings, and fill the places with the dead bodies, and wound
the heads over many countries." Psalm ex. And thus it is,
that when the Son of God gir^ds his siuo7^d njwn his
thigh, ivith his glory and his majesty, and in his ma-
jesty rides prosperously, because of truth, meekness, and
righteousness, his right hand teaches him terrible things.
It was the princes of Succoth especially, that suffered punish-
ment, when the inhabitants of that city refused to come to
the help of the Liord, when Gideon was pursuing after Ze-
bah and Zalmunna ; we read that Gideon took the elders
of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and
with them he taught the men of Succoth. It is especially
taken notice of that the riders and chief men of Israel, were
called upon to assist in the affair of bringing up the ark of
God ; they were chiefly consulted, and were principal in the
management of the affair. 1 Cliron. xiii. 1. " And David
consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and
with every leader." And xv. 3.5. " So David and the elders
of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up
the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of
Obed-edom, AVith joy." So 2 Sam. vi. 1. And so it was
when the ark was brought into the temple, 1 Kings viii. 1,
3, and 2 Chron. v. 2, 4.
And as rulers, by neglecting their duty at such a time, will
especially expose themselves to God's great displeasure, so by
fully acknowledging God in such a work, and by cheerfully
and vigorously exerting themselves to promote it, they will
especially he. in the way of receiving peculiar honors and re-
wards at God's hands. It is noted of the princes of Israel,
that they especially appeared to honor God with their princely
offering, on occasion of the setting up the tabernacle of God
in the congregation of Israel (which T have observed already
214 OBLIGATIONS OF RULERS
was done at the time of the feast of tabernaclesj and was a
type of the tabernacle of God's being with men, and his
dwelhng with men in the latter days). And with what
abundant particularity is it noted of each prince how much
he offered to God on that occasion, for their everlasting
honor, in Num. vii. ? And so with how much favor and
honor does the Spirit of God take notice of those princes in
Israel that came to the help of the Lord in the war against
Sisera ? Judg. v. 9. " My heart is towards the governors of
Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people."
And V. 14. ^' Out ot Machir came down governors." v. 15.
" And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah." And in
the account that we have of the rebuilding the wall of Jeru-
salem, in Nehem. iii., it is particularly noted what a hand
one and another of the rulers had in this affair ; we have
an account that such a part of the wall was repaired by the
ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, and such a part by the
ruler of the other half part of Jerusalem, and such a part
by the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem, and such a part by
the ruler of part of Mizpah, and such a part by the ruler of
the half part of Bethzur, and such a part by the ruler of
Mizpah, v. 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19. And there it is particu-
larly noted of the rulers of one of the cities, that they put
not their necks to the work of the Lord, thuugh the common
people did ; and they are stigmatized for it in the sacred re-
cords, to their everlasting reproach, v. 5. " And next unto
ihem the Tekoites repaired ; but their nobles put not their
necks to the work of the Lord." So the Spirit of God, with
special honor, takes notice of princes and rulers of several
tribes, that assisted in bringing up the ark. Psalm Ixviii. 27.
And I humbly desire that it may be considered whether
we have not reason to fear that God is provoked with this
land, that no more notice has been taken of this glorious
work of the Lord, that has been lately carried on, by the civil
authority ; that there has no more been done by them, as a
public acknowledgment of God in this work, and no more
TO PROMOTE THIS WORK 215
improvement of their authority to promote it, either by ap-
pointing a day of public thanksgiving to God, for so un-
speakable a mercy, or a day of fasting and prayer, to humble
ourselves before God, for our past deadne^s and unprofitable-
ness under the means of grace, and to seek the continuance
and increase of the tokens of his presence ; or so much as
to enter upon any public consultation, v^hat should be done
to advance the present revival of religion, and great reforma-
tion that is begun in the land. Is there not danger that such
a behavior, at such a time, will be interpreted by God, as a
denial of Christ ? If but a new governor comes into a pro-
vince, how much is there done, especially by those that are
in authority, to put honor upon him, to arise, and appear
publicly, and go forth to meet him, to address and congratu-
late him, and with great expense to attend upon him, and
aid him ? If the authority of the province, on such an oc-
casion, shotild all sit still, and say and do nothing, and take
no notice of the arrival of their new governor, would there
not be danger of its being interpreted by him, and his prince
that sent him, as a denial of his authority, or a refusing to
receive him, and honor him as their governor ? And shall
the head of the angels, and Lord of the universe, come down
from heaven, in so wonderful a manner, into the land, and
shall all stand at a distance, and be silent and inactive on
such an occasion ? I would humbly lecommend it to our ru-
lers, to consider whether God does not say to them, be wise
now ye rulers^ be ifistructed ye judges of Neiv England ;
kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the
way.
It is prophesied, Zech. xii. 8., that in the glorious day of
the Christian church, the house of David, or the rulei-s in
God's Israel, shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord,
before his people. But how can such rulers expect to have
any share in this glorious promise, that do not so much a?
openly acknowledge God in the work of that Spirit, by
which the glory of that day is to be accomplished ? The
216 SPECIAL DUTY OF MINISTERS
days are comiiigj so often spoken of, when the saints shall
reign on earth, and all dominion and authority shall be given
into their hands : but if our rulers would paitake of this
honor, they ought, at such a day as this, to bring their glory
and honor into the spiritual Jerusalem, agreeable to Rev.
xxi. 24.
But above all others, is God's eye upon ministers of the
gospel, as expecting of them that they should arise and ac-
knowledge and honor him in such a work as this, and do
their utmost to encourage and promote it : for to promote
such a work, is the very business which they are called and
devoted to ; it is the office to which they are appointed, as
co-workers with Christ, and as his embassadors and instru-
ments, to awaken and convert sinner&y and establish, build
up, and comfort saints ; it is the business they have been
solemnly charged with, before God, angels, and men, and
that they have given up themselves to, by the most sacred
vows. These especially are the officers of Christ's kingdom,
that above all other men upon earth, do represent his person,
mto whose hands Christ has committed the sacred oracles,
and holy ordinances, and all his appointed means of grace,
to be administered by them ; they are the stewards of his
household, into whose hands he has committed its provision ;
the immortal souls of men are committed to them, as a flock
of sheep are committed to the care of a shepherd, or as a
master commits a treasure to the care of a servant, of which
he must give an account : it is expected of them, above all
others, that they should have understanding of the times,
and know what Israel ought to do ; for it is their business to
accjuaint themselves with things pertaining to the kingdom
of God, and to teach and enlighten others in things of this
nature. We that are employed in the sacred work of the
gosi)el ministry, are the watchmen over the city, to whom
God has committed the keys of the gates of Zion ; and if
when tlic riglitful King of Zion comes to deliver his people
from the eiiciiiy that oj>[)rcsscs iheni, we refuse to open the
TO PROMOTE THIS WORK. 217
gates to him, how greatly shall we expose ourselves to his
wrath ? We are appointed to be the captains of the host in
this war ; and if a general will highly resent it in a private
soldier, if he refuses to follow him when his banner is dis-
played, and his trumpet blown, how much more will he re-
sent it in the officers of his army ? The work of the gospel
ministry, consisting in the administration of God's word and
ordinances, is the principal means that God has appointed
for carrying on his work on the souls of men ; and it is his
revealed will, that whenever that glorious revival of rehgion
and reformation of the world, so often spoken of in his word,
is accomplished, it should be principally by the labors of his
ministers ; and therefore how heinous will it be in the sight
of God, if when a work of that nature is begun, we appear
unbeheving, slow, backward, and disaffected ? There was
no sort of persons among the Jews that was in any measure
treated with such manifestations of God's great displeasure,
and severe indignation, for not acknowledging Christ, and
the work of his Spirit, in the days of Christ and his apostles,
as the ministers of religion : see how Christ deals with them
for it, in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew ; with what
gentleness did Christ treat publicans and harlots, in com-
parison of them ?
When the tabernacle was erected in the camp of Israel,
and God came down from heaven to dwell in it, the priests
were, above all otliers, concerned and busily employed in the
solemn transactions of that occasion, Levit. viii. and ix.
And so it was at the time of the dedication of the temple of
Solomon, 1 Kings viii., and 2 Chron. v. and vi. and vii.,
which was at the time of the feast of tabernacles, at the
same time that the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness :
and the Levites were primarily and most immediately con-
cerned in bringing up the ark into mount Zion ; the busi-
ness properly belonged to them, and the ark was carried upon
their shoulders. 1 Chron. xv. 2. " Then David said, none
ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites ; for them
28
218 LIABILITY OF MINISTERS
hath the Lord chosen to caiiy the ark of God, and to minis-
ter unto him forever." And v. 11, 12. " And David called
for Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, and for the I^evites, for
Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Ehel,and Aminadab,
and said unto them, ye are the chief of the fathers of the
Levites ; sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that
you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto
the place that I have prepared for it." So we have an ac-
count that the priests led the way in rebuilding the wall of
Jerusalem, after the Babylonish captivity, Neh. iii., at the
beginning.
If ministers preach never so good doctrine, and are never
so painful and laborious in their work, yet, if at such a day
as this, they show to their people, that they are not well af-
fected to this work, but are very doubtful and ' suspicious of
it, they will be very hkely to do their people a great deal more
hurt than good : for the very fame of such a great and ex-
traordinary work of God, if their people were suffered to be-
lieve it to be his work, and the example of other towns, toge-
ther with what preaching they might hear occasionally, would
be hkely to have a much greater influence upon the minds of
their people, to awaken them and animate them in religion,
than all their labors with them : and besides their minster's
opinion would not only beget in them a suspicion of the work
they hear of abroad, whereby the mighty hand of God that
appears in it, loses its influence upon their minds, but it will
also tend to create a suspicion of every thing of the like na-
ture, that shall appear among themselves, as being something
of the same distemper that is become so epidemical in the
land ; and that is, in effect, to create a suspicion of all vital
religion, and to put the people upon talking against it, and
discouraging it, wherever it appears, and knocking it in the
head, as fast as it rises. And we that are ministers, by look-
ing on this work, from year to year, with a displeased coun-
tenance, shall effectually keep the sheep from their pasture,
instead of doing the part of shepherds to them, by feeding
TO HINDER THIS WORK. 219
them ; and our j3eople had a great deal better be without any
settled minister at all, at such a day as this.
We that are in this sacred office, had need to take heed
what we do, and how we behave ourselves at this time : a
less thing in a minister will hinder the work of God, than in
others. If we are very silent, or say but little about the work,
in our pubUc prayers and preaching, or seem carefully to
avoid speaking of it in our conversation, it will, and justly
may be interpreted by our people, that we who are their
guides, to whom they are to have their eye for spiritual in-
struction, are suspicious of it; and this will tend to raise the
same suspicions in them ; and so the fore-mentioned conse-
quences will follow. And if we really hinder, and stand in
the way of the work of God, whose business above all others
it is to promote it, how can we expect to partake of the glo-
rious benefits of it 7 And by keeping others from the benefit
of it, we shall keep them out of heaven ; therefore those aw-
ful words of Christ to the Jewish teachers should be consi-
dered by us, Mat. xxiii. 13. "Wo unto you, for you shut
up the kingdom of heaven ; for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering, to go in." If we
keep the slieep from their pasture, how shall we answer it to
the great Shepherd, that has bought the flock with his pre-
cious blood, and has committed the care of them to us ? I
would humbly desire of every minister that has thus long re-
mained disaffected to this work, and has had contemptible
thoughts of it, to consider whether he has not hitherto been
hke Michal without any child, or at least in a great measure
barren and unsuccessful in his work : T pray God it may not
be a perpetual barrenness as hers was.
The times of Christ's remarkably appearing in behalf of
his church, and to revive religion, and advance his kingdom
in the world, are often spoken of in the prophecies of scripture,
as times wherein he will remarkably execute judgments on
such ministers or shepherds, as do not feed the flock, but
hinder their being fed, and so deliver his flock fi-om them, as
220 WARNING TO MINISTERS
Jer. xxiii. thionghout, and Ezek. xxxiv. throughout, and
Zech. X. 3, and Isa. Ivi. 7, 8, 9, (fee. I observed before,
that Christ's solemn, magnificent, entry into Jerusalem,
seems to be designed as a representation of his glorious
coming into his church, the spiritual Jerusalem ; and
therefore it is worthy to be noted, to our present pur-
pose, that Christ at that time, cast out all them that sold
and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables (»f the
money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves ;
signifying that when he should come to set up his kingdom
on earth, he would cast out those out of his house, who, in-
stead of being faitliful ministers, officiated there only for
worldly gain ; not that I determine that all ministers that are
suspicious of this work, do so ; but I mention these things to
show that it is to be expected, that a time of a glorious out-
pouring of the Spirit of God to revive rehgion, will be a time
of remarkable judgments on those ministers that do not serve
the end of their ministry.
The example of the unbelieving lord in Samaria, should
especially be for the warning of ministers and rulers. At the
time when God turned an extreme famine into a great
plenty, by a wonderful work of his, the king appointed this
lord to have the charge of the gate of the city ; where he
saw the common people, in multitudes, entering with great
joy and gladness, loaden with provision, to feed and feast
their almost famished bodies ; but he himself, though he saw
it with his eyes, never had one taste of it, but being weak
with famine, sunk down in the crowd, and was trodden to
death, as a punishment of God, for his not giving credit to
that great and wonderful work of God, when sufficiently
manifested to him, to require his behef. Ministers are those
that the King of the church has appointed to have the charge
of the gate, at which his people enter into the kingdom of
heaven, there to be entertained and satisfied with an eternal
feast ; ministers have the charge of the house of God, which
is the gate of heaven.
TO TAKE HEED OF ENVY. 221
Ministers should especially take heed of a spirit of envy to-
wards other ministers, that God is pleased to make more
use of to carry on this work, than they ; and that they do
not, from such a spirit, reproach some preachers, that have
the true spirit, as though they were influenced by a false spi-
rit or were bereft of reason, and were mad, and were proud,
false pretenders, and deserved to be put in prison, or the
stocks, as disturbers of the peace ; lest they expose themselves
to the curse of Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, who envied the
prophet Jeremiah, and in this manner reviled him, in his let-
ter to Zephaniah the priest, Jer. xxix. 26, 27. " The Lord
hath made thee priest, in the stead of Jehoiada the priest,
that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord, for every
man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou
shouldst put him in prison, and in the stocks. Now there-
fore, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth,
which maketh himself a prophet to you ?" His curse is de-
nounced in V. 32. " Therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold,
I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed ; he
shall not have a man to dwell among his people, neither
shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith
the Lord, because he hath taught rebellion against the
Lord." All those that are others' superiors or elders, should
take heed that at this day they be not like the elder brother,
who could not ^ear it, that the prodigal should be made so
much of, and should be so sumptuously entertained, and
would not join in the joy of the feast : was like Michal,
Saul's daughter, offended at the music and dancing that he
heard ; the transports of joy displeased him ; it seemed to
him to be an unseemly and unseasonable noise and ado, that
was made; and therefore stood at a distance, sullen, and
much offended, and full of invectives against the young
prodigal.
It is our wisest and best way, fully, and without reluc-
tance, to bow to the great God in this work, and to be en-
tirely resigned to him, with respect to the manner in which
222 OBLIGATIONS OF ALL CLASSES.
he carries it on, and tlie instruments he is pleased to make use
of, and not to show ourselves out of humor, and suUenl}^ to re-
fuse to acknowledge the work, in the full glory of it, because
we have not had so great a hand in promoting it, or have
not shared so largely in the blessings of it, as some others ;
and not to refuse to give all that honor that belongs to others,
as instruments, because they are young, or are upon other
accounts much inferior to ourselves, and many others, and
may appear to us very unworthy, that God should put so
much honor upon them. When God comes to accomplish
any great work for his church, and for the advancement of
the kingdom of his Son, he always fulfills that scripture, Isa.
ii. 17. " And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and
the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord
alone shall be exalted in that day." If God has a design of
carrying on this work, every one, whether he be great or
small, must either bow to it, or be broken before it. It may
be expected that God's hand will be upon every thing that is
high, and stiff, and strong in opposition, as in Isa. ii. 12, 13,
14, 15. "For the day of the Lord of hosts, shall be upon
every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is
lifted up, and he shall be brought low ; and upon all the
cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all
the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and
upon all the hills that are hfted up, and upon every high
tower, and upon every fenced wall."
Not only magistrates and ministers, but every living soul,
is now obhged to arise and acknowledge God in this work,
and put to his hand to promote it, as they would not expose
themselves to God's curse. All sorts of persons, throughout
the whole congregation of Israel, great and small, rich and
poor, men and women, helped to build the tabernacle in the
wilderness ; some in one way, others in another, each one
according to his capacity : every one whose heart stirred him
up, and every one whom his Spirit made willing ; all sorts
contributed, and all sorts were employed in that affair, in la-
ALL MAY BE EMPLOYED. 223
bors of their hands, both men and women : some brought
gold and silver, others blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine
linen ; others offered an offering of brass ; others, with whom
was found shittim-wood, brought it an offering to the Lord :
the rulers brought onyx-stones, and spice, and oil ; and some
brought goats' Jiair, and some rams' skins, and others badgers'
skins. See Exod. xxxv. 20, &c. And we are told, v. 29.,
" The children of Israel brought a wiUing offering unto the
Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them will-
ing." And thus it ought to be in this day of building the
tabernacle of God ; with such a wilUng and cheerful heart
ought every man, woman, and child, to do something to
promote this work : those that have not onyx-stone, or are
not able to bring gold or silver, yet may bring goats' hair.
As all sorts of persons were employed in building the ta-
bernacle in the wilderness, so the whole congregation of
Israel were called together to set up the tabernacle in Shiloh,
after they came into Canaan, Josh, xviii. 1. And so again
the whole congregation of Israel were gathered together, to
bring up the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim ; and again,
they were all assembled to bring it up out of the house of
Obed-edom into mount Zion ; so again, all Israel met to-
gether to assist in the great affair of the dedication of the
temple, and bringing the ark into it : so we have an account
how that all sorts assisted in the rebuilding the wall of Jeru-
salem, not only the proper inhabitants of Jerusalem, but
those that dwelt in other parts of the land ; not only the
priests and rulers, but the Nethinims and merchants, hus-
bandmen and mechanics, and women, Neh. iii. 5, 12, 26,
31, 32. And we have an account of one and another, that
he repaired over against his house, v. 10, and 23, 28., and of
one that repaired over against his chamber, v. 30. So now,
at this time of the rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, every
one ought to promote the work of God within his own
sphere, and by doing what belongs to him, in the place in
which God has set him : men in a private capacity may re-
224 THE PRESS SHOULD BE IMPROVED IN IT.
pair over against their houses ; and even those that have
not the government of families, and have but part of a house
belonging to them, should repair, each one, over against his
chamber : and every one should be engaged to do the ut-
most that lies in his power, laboring with the utmost watch-
fulness, care, and diligence, with united hearts, and united
strength, and the greatest readiness, to assist one another in
this work : as- God's people rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem^
who were so diligent in the work that they wrought from
break of day till the stars appeared, and did not so much as
put off their clothes in the night, and wrought with that care
and watchfulness, that with one hand they wrought in the
work, and with the other hand held a weapon, besides the
guard they set to defend them, and were so well united in it,
that they took care that one should stand ready^ with a
trumpet in his hand, that if any were assaulted in one part,
those in the other parts, at the sound of the trumpet, might
resort to them, and help them, Neh. iv., at the latter end.
Great care should be taken that the press should be im-
proved to no purpose contrary to the interest of this work.
We read that when God fought against Sisera, for the de-
liverance of his oppressed church, they that haiidle the pen
of the writer came to the help of the Lord in that affair,
Judg. V. 14. Whatever sort of men in Israel they were that
were intended, yet as the w^ords were indited by a Spirit that
had a perfect view of all events to the end of the world, and
had a special eye in this song, to that great event of the de-
liverance of God's church, in the latter days, of which this
deUverance of Israel was a type, it is not unlikely that they
have respect to authors, those that should fight against the
kingdom of Satan, with their pens. Those therefore that
publish pamphlets to the disadvantage of this work, and
tending either directly or indirectly to bring it under suspi-
cion, and to discourage or hinder it, would do well thoroughly
to consider whether this be not indeed the work of God, and
whether, if it be, it is not likely that God will go forth as
WHO ARE OPPOSERS, 225
rlre, to consume all that stands in his way, and so burn up
those pamphlets ; and whether there be not danger that tlie
lire that is kindled in them, will scorcli the authors.
When a people oppose Christ in the work of his Holy
Spirit, it is because it touches them in something that is dear
to their carnal minds, and because they see the tendency ol
it is to cross their pride, and deprive them of the objects of
their lusts. We should take heed that at this day we be not
like the Gadarenes, who, when Christ came into their coun-
try in the exercise of his glorious power and grace, triumph-
ing over a legion of devils, and dehvering a miserable crea-
ture, that had long been their captive, were all alarmed,
because they lost their swine by it, and the whole multitude
of the country came and besought him to depart out of their
coasts : they loved their filthy swine better than Jesus Christ,
and had rather have a legion of devils in their country, with
their herd of swine, than Jesus Christ without them.
This work may be opposed, not only by directly speaking
against the whole of it : persons may say that they believe
there is a good work carried on in the country, and may
sometimes bless God, in their public prayers, in general terms,
for any awakenings or revivals of religion there have lately
been in any part of the land, and may pray that God
would carry on his own Avork, and pour out his Spirit
more and more ; and yet, as I apprehend, be in the sight
of God great opposers of his work : some will express
themselves after this manner, that are so far from acknow-
ledging and rejoicing in the inCmite mercy and glorious
grace of God, in causing so happy a change in the land,
that they look upon the religious state of the country, take
it in the whole of it, much more sorrowful than it was ten
years ago, and whose conversation, to those that a,re well ac-
quainted with them, evidently shows that they are more out
of humor with the state of things, and enjoy themselves
less, than they did before ever this work began. If it be
manifestly thus witli us, and our talk nud behavior with
29
226 OF INSISTING ON IMPRUDENCIES.
respect to this work be siicli as has (though but) an indirect
tendency to beget ill thoughts and suspicions in others con-
cerning it, we are opposers of the work of God.
Instead of coming to the help of the Lord, we shall act-
ually fight against him, if we are abundant in insisting on
and setting forth the blemishes of the work, so as to manifest
that we rather choose, and are more forward to take notice
of what is amiss, than what is good and glorious in the
work. Not but that the errors that are committed, ought to
be observed and lamented, and a proper testimony borne
against them, and the most probable means should be used
to have them amended ; but an insisting much upon them,
as though it were a pleasing theme, or speaking of them with
more appearance of heat of spirit, or with ridicule, or an air
of contempt, than grief for them, has no tendency to correct
the errors, but has a tendency to darken the glory of God's
power and grace, appearing in the substance of the work,
and to beget jealousies and ill thoughts in the minds of others
concerning the whole of it. Whatever erroi's many zealous
persons have run into, yet if the work, in the substance of it,
be the work of God, then it is a joyful day indeed ; it is so
in heaven, and ought to be so among God's people on earth,
especially in that part of the earth where this glorious work
is carried on. It is a day of great rejoicing with Christ him-
self : the good Shepherd, when he finds his sheep that was
lost, lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and calls together his
friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me : if we there-
fore are Christ's friends, now it should be a day of great re-
joicing with us. If we viewed things in a just light, so great
an event as the conversion of such a multitude of sinners,
would draw and engage our attention much more than all
the imprudencies and irregularities that have been ; ouv
hearts would be swallowed up with the glory of this event,
and we should have no great disposition to attend to any
thing else. The imprudencies and errors of poor feeble
worms, do not hinder or prevent great rejoicing, in the pre-
<?pncft of the angel? of God, over so many poor sinners that
OP INSISTING ON IMPRUDENtlES 227
have repented, and it will be an argument of something very
ill in us, if they prevent our rejoicing.
Who loves, in a day of great joy and gladness, to be much
insisting on those things that are uncomfortable ? Would it
not be very improper, on a king's coronation da}^, to be much
in taking notice of the blemishes of the royal family ? Or
would it be agreeable to the bridegroom, on the day of his
espousals, the day of the gladness of his heart, to be much
insisting on the blemishes of his bride ? We have an account
how that, at the time of that joyful dispensation of Provi-
dence, the restoration of the church of Israel after the Ba-
bylonish captivit}^, and at the time of the feast of taberna-
cles, many wept at the faults that were found amongst the
people, but were reproved for taking so much notice of the
blemishes of that affair, as to overlook the cause of rejoicing.
Neh. viii. 9, 10, 11, 12. "And Nehemiah, which is the Tir-
shatha, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that
taught the people, said unto all the people. This day is holy
unto the Lord your God, mourn not nor weep ; for all the
people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then
he said unto them, go your way, eat the fat, and drink the
sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is
prepared, for this day is holy unto our Lord ; neither be you
sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the liC
vites stilled all the people, saying, hold your peace, for the
day is holy, neither be ye grieved. And all the people went
their way, to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to
make great mirth, because they had understood the words
that were declared unto them."
God doubtless now expects that all sorts of persons in
New England, rulers, ministers and people, high and low.
rich and poor, old and young, should take great notice of his
hand in this mighty work of his grace, and should appear
to acknowledge his glory in it, and greatly to rejoice in it,
every one doing his utmost, in the place that God has set
them in. to promote it. And God, according to his wonder-
228 DANGER OF NOT PROMOTING THIS WORK
ful patience, seems to be still waiting to give us opportuniiy
thus to acknowledge and honor him. But if we finall}'- re-
fuse, there is not the least reason to expect any other, than
that his awful curse will pursue us, and that the pourings
out of his wrath will be proportionable to the despised out-
pourings of his Spirit and grace.
THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL, &c.
PART III.
SHOWING, IN MANY INSTANCES, WHEREIN THE SUBJECTS,
OR ZEALOUS PROMOTERS OF THIS WORK, HAVE BEEN
INJURIOUSLY BLAMED.
This work that has lately been carried on in the land, is
the work of God, and not the work of man. Its beginning
lias not been of man's power or device, and its being carried
on depends not on our strength or wisdom ; but yet God ex-
pects of all, that they should use their utmost endeavors to pro-
mote it, and that the hearts of all should be greatly engaged in
this affair, and that we should improve our utmost strength in
it, however vain human strength is without the power of God :
and so he no less requires that we should improve our utmost
care, wisdom, and prudence, though human wisdom, of itself,
be as vain as human strength. Though God is wont to
carry on such a work, in such a manner, as many ways to
show the weakness and vanity of means and human en-
deavors in themselves, yet at the same time he carries it on
in such a manner as to encourage dihgence and vigilance in
the use of proper means and endeavors, and to punish the
neglect of them. Therefore, in our endeavors to promote
this great work, we ought to use the utmost caution, vigi-
lance, and skill, in the measures we take in order to it. A
great affair should be managed with great prudence : this i;^
the most important affair that ever New England was called
to be concerned in. When a people are engaged in war
230 THE NEED OF CARE AND DISCRETION
with a powerful and crafty nation, it concerns tliem to ma-
nage an affair of such consequence with the utmost discre-
tion. Of what vast importance then must it be, that we
should be vigilant and prudent in the management of this
great war that New England now has, with so great a host
of such subtle and cruel enemies, wherein we must either
conquer or be conquered, and the consequence of the victory
on one side, will be our eternal destruction, in both soul and
body in hell, and on the other side, our obtaining the king-
dom of heaven, and reigning in it in eternal glory ? We
had need always to stand on our watch, and to be well
versed in the art of war, and not to be ignorant of the de-
vices of our enemies, and to take heed lest by any means we
be beguiled through their subtlety.
Thoifgh the devil be strong, yet in such a war as this, he
depends more on his craft than his strength : and the course
he has chiefly taken, from time to time, to clog, hinder, and
overthrow revivals of religion in the cliurch of God, has
been by his subtle, deceitful management, to beguile and
mislead those that have been engaged therein ; and in such
a course God has been pleased, in his holy and sovereign
providence, to suffer him to succeed, oftentimes, in a great
measure, to overthrow that which, in its beginning, appeared
most hopeful and glorious. The work that is now begun in
New England, is, as I have shown, eminently glorious, and
if it should go on and prevail, would make New England a
kind of heaven upon earth : is it not, therefore, a thousand
pities, that it should be overthrown, through wrong and im-
proper management, that we are led into by our subtle ad-
versary, in our endeavors to promote it ?
In treating of the methods that ought to be taken to pro
mote this work, I would,
Firsts Take notice, in some instances, wherein fault has
been found with the conduct of those that have appeared to
be the subjects of it, or have been zealous to promote it (a?
I apprehend) beyond just cause.
OF ADDRESSES TO THE AFFECTIONS. 231
l^econdly^ I would show wliat things ought to be col-
lected or avoided.
Thirdly^ I would show positively what ought to be done
to promote thid glorious work of God.
I. I would take notice of some things at which offense has
been taken without, or beyond just cause.
SECTION I.
The objection that ministers address themselves to the
affections^ rather than the understanding.
One thing that has been complained of, is ministers' ad-
dressing themselves rather to the affections of their hearers,
than to their undei standings, and striving to raise their pas-
sions to the utmost height, rather by a very affectionate
manner of speaking, and a great appearance of earnestness,
in voice and gesture, than by clear reasoning, and informing
their judgment ; by which means it is objected that the af-
fections are moved without a proportionable enlightening of
the understanding.
To which I would say, I am far from thinking that it is
not very profitable for ministers, in their preaching, to en-
deavor clearly and distinctly to explain the doctrines of reli-
gion, and unravel the difficulties that attend them, and to
confirm them with strength of reason and argumentation,
and also to observe some easy and clear method and order in
their discourses, for the help of the understanding and me-
mory ; and it is very probable that these things have been
of late too much neglected by many ministers ; yet I believe
that the objection that is made, of afTections raised without
enlightening the understanding, is in a great measure built
on a mistake, and confused notions ttiat some have about
the nature and cause of the aflections, and the manner in
232 OF VERY EARNEST PREACHIN<^.
which they depend on the understanding. All afiections are
raised either by light in the under standing ^ or by some er-
ror and delusion in the understanding ; for all affections
do certainly arise from some apprehension in the understand-
ing, and that apprehension must either be agreeble to truth,
or else be some mistake or delusion ; if it be an apprehen-
sion or notion that it is agreeable to truth, then it is light in
the understanding. Therefore the thing to be inquired
into is, whether the apprehensions or notions of divine and
eternal things, that are raised in people's minds by these af-
fectionate preachers, whence their affections are excited, be
apprehensions that are agreeable to truth, or whether they
are mistakes. If the former, then the affections are raised
the way they should be, viz. by informing the mind, or con-
veying light to the understanding. They go away with a
wrong notion, that think that those preachers cannot affect
their hearers by enlightening their understanding, that do
not do it by such a distinct and learned handling of the doc-
trinal points of, religion as depends on human discipline, or
the strength of natural reason, and tends to enlarge their
hearers' learning and speculative knowledge in divinity.
The manner of preaching without this may be such as shall
tend very much to set divine and eternal things in a right
view, and to give the hearers such ideas and apprehensions
of them as are agreeable to truth, and such impressions on
their htarts as are answerable to the real nature of things :
and not only the words that are spoken, but the manner of
speaking, is one thing that has a great tendency to this. I
think an exceeding affectionate way of preaching about the
great things of religion, has in itself no tendency to beget
false apprehensions of them ; but on the contrary, a much
greater tendency to beget true apprehensions of them, than
a moderate, dull, indifferent way of speaking of them. An
appearance of affection and earnestness in the manner of
delivery, if it be very great indeed, yet if it be agreeable to
the nature of the subject, and be not beyond a proportion tr>
KNOWLEDGE ALONE NOT SUFFICIENT. 233
its importance and worthiness of affection, and there be no
appearance of its bein^^ feigned or forced, has so much the
greater tendency to beget true ideas or apprehensions in the
minds of the hearers of the subject spoken of, and so to en-
lighten the understanding ; and that for this reason, that
such a way or manner of speaking of these things does in
fact more truly represent thein, than a more cold and indif-
ferent way of speaking of them. If the subject be in its
own nature worthy of very great affection, then a speaking
of it with very great affection is most agreeable to the nature
of that subject, or is the truest representation of it, and
therefore has most of a tendency to beget true ideas of it in
the minds of those to whom the representation is made.
And I do not think ministers are to be blamed for raising the
affections of their hearers too high, if that w^iich they are
affected with be only that which is worthy of affection, and
their affections are not raised beyond a proportion to their
importance or worthiness of affection. I should think my-
self in the way of my duty to raise the affections of ray
hearers as high as possibly I can, provided that they are af-
fected with nothing but truth, and with affections that are
not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with.
I know it has long been fashionable to despise a very earnest
and pathetical way of preaching ; and they, and they only,
have been valued as preachers, that have shown the greatest
extent of learning, and strength of reason, and correctness
of method and language ; but I humbly conceive it has
been for want of understanding, or duly considering human
nature, that such preaching htis been thought to have the
greatest tendency to answer the ends of preaching ; and the
experience of the present and past ages abundantly confirms
the same. Though, as I said before, clearness of distinction
and illustration, and strength of reason, and a good method,
in the doctrinal handhng of the truths of religion, is many
ways needful and profitable, and not to be neglected, yet an
increase in speculative knowledge in divinity, is not what is
30
234 OF AFFECTIONATE AN/J
SO much needed by our people, as something else. Men
may abound in this sort of light, and have no heat. How
much has there been of this sort of knowledge, in the Chris-
tian world, in this age ! Was there ever an age wherein
strength and penetration of reason, extent of learning, ex-
actness of distinction, correctness of style, and clearness of
expression, did so abound ? And yet was there ever an age
wherein there has been so little sense of the evil of sin, so
little love to God, heavenly mindedness, and holiness of hfe,
among the professors of the true religion ? Our people do
not so much need to have their heads stored, as to have their
hearts touched ; and they stand in the greatest need of that
sort of preaching that has the greatest tendency to do this.
Those texts, Isa. Iviii. 1. " Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy
voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgres-
sion, and the house of Jacob their sins." And Ezek. vi. 11.
" Thus saith the Lord God, Smite with thine hand, and
stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abomina-
tion of the house of Israel !" I say these texts (however
the use that some have made of them has been laughed at)
will fully justify a great degree of pathos, and manifestation
of. zeal and fervency in preaching the word of God : they
may indeed be abused, to justify that which would be odd
and unnatural, amongst us, not making due allowance for
difference of manners and custom, in different ages and na-
tions ; but let us interpret them how we will, they at least
imply, that a most affectionate and earnest manner of deli-
very, in many cases, becomes a preacher of God's word.
Preaching of the word of God is commonly spoken of in
scripture in such expressions as seem to import a loud antl
earnest speaking ; as in Isa. xl. 2. " Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto hei', that her iniquity is par-
doned." And V. 3. " The voice of him that crieth in the wil-
derness, prepare ye the way of the Lord." v. 7. "The voice
said cry. And he said, what shall I cry 7 All flesh is grass,
and all the goodUness thereof, as the llower of the field." Jer.
EARNEST PREACHING. 235
ii. 2. " Go and cry in tlie ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus
saith tfie Lord, dec." Jonah i. 2. " Arise, go to Nineveh, that
great city, and cry against it." Isa. Ixi. 1, 2. " The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed
me, to preach good tidings to the meek, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and
the year of vengeance of our God." Isa. Ixii. IL "Behold,
the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye
to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy slavation cometh, (fcc."
Rom. 'x. 18. " Their sound went into all the earth, and theii-
words to the end of the world." Jer. xi. 6. '' Proclaim all
these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jeru-
salem, saying, Hear yc the words of this covenant, and do
them." So chap. xix. 2. and vii. 2. Prov. viii. 1. " Doth not
wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice ?" v. 3, 4.
" She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the com-
ing in at the doors ; unto you, O men, I call, and my voice
is to the sons of men ?" And chap; i. 20. "Wisdom crieth
without, she uttereth her voice in the streets." chap. ix. 3.
" She hath sent forth her maidens, she crieth upon the high
places of the city." John vii. 37. " In the last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
It seems to be foretold, that %e gospel should be especially
preached in a loud and earnest manner, at the introduction
of the prosperous state of religion, in the latter days. Isa. xl.
9. " O Zion, that bringeth good tidings, get thee up into the
high mountain ! O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings,
hft up thy voice with strength ! lift up and be not afraid !
Say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God !" Isa. hi. 7,
8. "How beautiful upon the mountains, are the feet of him
that bringeth good tidings ! Thy watchmen shall lift up the
voice." Isa. xxvii. 13. " And it shall come to pass, in that
day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall
come which were ready to perish." And this will be one
236 OF PREACHING TERROR
way, that the church of God will cry at that time, Hke a
travailing woman, wlien Christ mystical is going, to be
brought forth ; as Rev. 12. at the beginning. It will be by
ministers, that are her mouth : and it will be tips way that
Christ will then cry, like a travailing woman, as in Isa. xhi.
14. " I have long time holden my peace : I have been still
and refrained myself; now will I cry, like a travailing wo-
man." Christ cries by his ministers, and the church cries
by her officers. And it is worthy to be noted, that the word
commonly used in the new testament, that we translate
f reach, properly signifies to proclaim aloud like a crier.
SECTION II.
Ministei^s blamed for speaking terror to those who are
already under great terrors.
Another thing that some ministers have been greatly
blamed for, and I think unjustlyj is speaking terror to them
that are already under great terrors, instead of comforting
them. Indeed, if ministers in sucl>a case go about to terrify
persons with that which is not true, or to affright them by
representing their case wors# than it is, or in any respect
otherwise than it is, they are to the condemned ; but if they
terrify them ordy by still holding forth more light to them,
and giving them to understand more of the truth of their
case, they are altogether to be justified. When siimers' con-
sciences are greatly awakened by the Spirit of God, it is by
light imparted to the conscience, enabling them to see their
case to be, in some measare, as it is ; and if more light be
let in, it will terrify them still more : but ministers are not
therefore to be blamed that they endeavor to hold forth more
light to the conscience, and do not rather alleviate the pain
they are under, by intercepting and obstructing that light
TO THE DISTRESSED. 237
that shines aheady. To say anything to those who liave
never beheved in the Lord Jesus Christ, to represent their
case any otherwise than exceeding terrible, is not to preach
the word of God to them ; for the word of God reveals no-
thing but truth, but this is to delude them. Why should we
be afraid to let persons that are in an infinitely miserable
condition, know the truth, or bring them into the hght, for
fear it should terrify them ? It is light that must convert them,
if ever they are converted. The more we bring sinners into
the light, while they are miserable, and the light is terrible
to them, the more likely it is, that by and by the light will
be joyful to them. The ease, peace, and comfort, that natu-
ral men enjoy, have their foundation in darkness and blind-
ness ; therefore as that darkness vanishes, and light
comes in, their peace vanishes, and they are terrified : but
that is no good argument why we should endeavor to hold
their darkness, that we may uphold their comfort. The
truth is, that as long as men reject Christ, and do not saving-
ly believe in him, however they may be awakened, and how-
ever strict, and conscientious, and laborious they may be in re-
ligion, they have the wrath of God abiding on them, they are
his enemies, and the children of the devil ; (as the scripture
calls all that be not savingly converted, Mat. xiii. 38. 1 John
iii. 10.), and it is uncertain v/hether they shall ever obtain
mercy : God is under no obligation to show them mercy,
nor will he be if they fast and pray and cry never so much ;
and they are then especially provoking God under those ter-
rors, that they stand it out against Christ, and will not ac-
cept of an offered Savior, though they see so much need
of him : and seeing this is the truth, they should be told so,
that they may be sensible what their case indeed is.
To blame a minister for thus declaring the trutli to those
who are under awakenings, and not immediately administer-
ing comfort to them, is like blaming a surgeon, because
when he has begun to thrust in his lance, whereby he has
already put his patient to great pain, and he shrinks and
238 TRUTH TERRIBLE TO THOSE
cries out with anguish, he is so cruel that he will not slay
his hand, but goes on to thrust it in further, till he conies to
the core of the wound. Such a compassionate physician,
who as soon as his patient began to flinch, should withdraw
his hand, and go about immediately to apply a plaster, to
skin over the wound, and leave the core untouched, would
be one that would heal the hurt slightly, crying Peace, peace,
when there is no peace.
Indeed something else besides terror is to be preached to
them, whose consciences are awakened. The gospel is to be
preached to them : they are to be told that there is a Savior
provided, that is excellent and glorious, who has shed his
precious blood for sinners, and is every way sufficient to save
them, that stands ready to receive them, if they will heartily
embrace him ; for this is also the truth, as well as that they
now are in an infinitely dreadful condition : this is the word
of God. Sinners at the same time that they are told how
miserable tlieir case is, should be earnestly invited to come
and accept of a Savior, and yield their hearts unto him, with
all the winning, encouraging arguments, for them so to do,
that the gospel afibrds : but this is to induce them to escape
from the misery of the condition that they are now in : but
not to make them think their present condition less misera-
ble than it is, or at all to abate their uneasiness and distress,
while they are in it : that would be the way to quiet them,
and fasten them in it, and not to excite them to fly from it.
Comfort, in one sense, is to be held forth, to sinners under
awakenings of conscience, i. e. comfort is to be offered to them
in Clirist, on condition of their flying from their prcsoit
miserable state^ to him : but comfort is not to be adminis-
tered to them, in their present state, as any thing that they
have now any title to, or while out of Christ. No comfort is
to be administered to them, from any thing in them, ixny of
their qualifications, prayers, or other performances, past, pre-
sent, or future ; but ministers should, in such cases, strive to
their utmost to take all such comforts from them, though it
WHO REJECT CHRIST. 239
greatly increases tlieir tenor. A person tliat sees himself
ready to sink into hell, is ready to strive, some way or other,
to lay God under some obligation to him ; but he is to be
beat off from every thing of that nature, though it greatly in-
creases his terror to see himself wholly destitute, on every
side, of any refuge, or any thing of his own to lay hold of;
as a man that sees himself in danger of drowning, is in ter-
ror, and endeavors to catch hold on every twig within his
reach; and he that pulls away those twigs from him, increases
his terror ; yet if they are insufficient to save him, and by
being in his way, prevent his looking to that which will save
him, to pull them away is necessary to save his life.
If sinners are in any distress, from any error that they em-
brace, or mistake they are under, that is to be removed : for
instance, if they are in terror from an apprehension that they
have committed the unpardonable sin, or that those things
have happened to them that are certain signs of reprobation,
or any other delusion, such terrors have no tendency to do
them any good ; for these terrors are from temptation, and
not from conviction : but that terror which arises from con-
viction, or a sight of truth, is to be increased ; for those that
are most awakened, have great remaining stupidity, they
have a sense of but httle of that which is ; and it is from re-
maining blindness and darkness, that they see no more ; and
that remaining blindness is a disease, that we ought to en-
deavor to remove. T am not afraid to tell sinners, that are
most sensible of their misery, that their case is indeed as mi-
serable as they think it to be, and a thousand times more so ;
for this is the truth. Some may be ready to say that though
it be the truth, yet the truth is not to be spoken at all times,
and seems not to bo seasonal)le then : but it seems to me,
such truth is never more seasonable than at such a time,
Avhen Christ is beginning to open the eyes of conscience.
Ministers ought to act as co-workers with him ; to take that
opportunity, and to the utmost to improve that advantage,
and strike while the iron is hot, and when the lisht has be-
240 THE CASE OF MELANCHOLY.
gun to shine, then to remove all obstacles, and use all proper
means, that it may come in more fully, and the work be done
thoroughly then. And experience abundantly shows, that
to take this course, is not of a hurtful tendency, but very
much the contrary : I have seen, in very many instances,
the happy effects of it, and oftentimes a very speedy happy
issue, and never knew any ill consequence, in case of real
conviction, and when distress has been only from thence.
I know of but one case, wherein the truth ought to be
withheld from sinners in distress of conscience, and that is
the case of melancholy : and it is not to be withheld from
them then, because the truth tends to do them hurt, but be-
cause if we speak the truth to them, sometimes they will be
deceived, and led into error by it, through that strange dispo-
sition there is in them, to take things wrong. So that that
which, as it is spoken, is truth ; as it is heard and received,
and applied by them, is falsehood ; as it will be, unless the
truth be spoken with abundance of caution and prudence,
and consideration of their disposition and circumstances. But
the most awful truths of God's word ought not to be with-
held from public congregations, because it may happen that
some such melancholic persons may be in it ; any more than
the Bible is to be withheld from the Christian world, because
it is manifest that there are a great many melancholic, per-
sons in Christendom, that exceedingly abuse the awful things
contained in the scripture, to their own wounding. Nor do
I think that to be of weight, which is made use of by some,
as a great and dreadful objection against the terrifying
preaching that has of late been in New England, viz. that
there have been some instances of melancholic persons that
have so abused it, that the issue has been the murder of
themselves. The objection from hence is no stronger against
awakening preaching, than it is against the Bible itself.
There arc hundreds, and probably thousands of instances,
might l)e produced, of persons that have murdered them-
selves, under religious melancholy : these murders probably
or rniGHTENING CHILDREN. 241
never would liavc been, if it had not been for the Bible, or if
the world had remained in a state of heathenish darkness.
The Bible has not only been the occasion of these sad effects,
but of thousands; and I suppose millions, of other cruel mur-
dersj that have been committed, in the persecutions that have
been raised, that never would have been, if it had not been
for the Bible. Many whole countries have been, as it were,
deluged with innocent blood, whicii would not have been, if
the gospel never had been preached in the world. It is not
a good objection against any kind of preaching, that some
men abuse it greatly to their hurt. It has been acknowledged
by all divines, as a thing common in all ages, and all Chris-
tian countries, that a very great part of those that sit under
the gospel, do so abuse it, that it only proves an occasion of
their far more aggravated damnation, and so of men's eter-
nally murdering their souls ; whicli is an effect infinitely
more terrible than the murder of their bodies. It is as un-
just to lay the blame of these sclf-inurders to those ministers
who have declared the awful truths of God's word, in the
most lively and affecting manner they were capable of, as it
would be to lay the blame of hardening men's hearts, and
blinding their eyes, and their mure dreadful eternal damna-
tion, to the prophet Isaiah, or Jesus Christ, because this was
the consequence of their preaching, with respect to many of
their hearers. Isa. vi. 10. John ix. 39. Mat. xiii. 14.
Though a very few have abused the awakening preaching
that has lately been, to so sad an effect as to be the cause of
their own temporal death ; yet it may be, to one such in-
stance, there have been hundreds, yea, thousands, that have
been saved, by this means, from eternal death.
What has more especially given offense to many, and
raised a loud cry against some preachers, as though their
conduct were intolerable, is their flighting poor innocent
children, with talk of hell-fire, and eternal damnation. But
if those that complain so loudly of this, really believe,
what is the general profession of the country, viz. that all
31
242 OF PREACHING TERROR TO CHILDREN.
are by nature the children of wrath, and heirs of hell ; and
that every one that has not been born again, whether he be
young or old, is exposed every moment to eternal destruction,
under the wrath of Almighty God : I say, if they really be-
lieve this, then such a complaint and cry as this betrays a
great deal of weakness and inconsideration. As innocent as
children seem to be to us, yet, if they are out of Christ, they
are not so in God's sight, but are young vipers, and are infi-
nitely more hateful than vipers, and are in a most miserable
condition, as well as grown persons ; and they are naturally
very senseless and stupid, being horn as the wild ass^s colt,
and need much to awaken them. Why should we conceal
the truth from them ? Will those children that have been
dealt tenderly with, in this respect, and lived and died insen-
sible of their misery, till they come to feel it in hell, ever
thank parents, and others, for their tenderness, in not letting
them know what they were in danger of? If parents' love
towards their children was not blind, it would affect them
much more, to see their children every day exposed to eter-
nal burnings, and yet senseless, than to see them suffer the
distress of that awakening, that is necessary in order to their
escape from them, and that tends to their being eternally
happy, as the children of God. A child that has a danger-
ous wound, may need the painful lance, as well as grown
persons ; and that would be a foolish pity, in such a case,
that should hold back the lance, and throw away the life.
I have seen the happy effects of dealing plainly and tho-
roughly with children, in the concerns of their souls, without
sparing them at all, in many instances ; and never knew
any ill consequence of it, in any one instance.
SPENDING MUCH TIME IN RELIGION. 243
SECTION III.
TJie objection of having so frequent religious meetings^
and sjjending so much time in religion.
Another thing, that a great deal has been said against,
is having so frequent religious meetings, and spending so
much time in rehgion. And indeed there are none of the
externals of religion, but what are capable of excess : and I
believe it is true, that there has not been a due proportion ob-
served in religion of late. We have placed religion too much
in the external duties of the first table ; we have abounded in
religious meetings, and in praying, reading, hearing, singing,
and religious conference ] and there has not been a propor-
tionable increase of zeal for deeds of charity, and other duties
of the second table ; (though it must be acknowledged that
they are also much increased.) But yet it appears to me,
that this objection of persons' spending too much time in re-
hgion, has been in the general groundless. Though worldly
business must be done, and persons ought not to neglect the
business of their particular callings, yet it is to the honor of
God, that a people should be so much in outward acts of re-
ligion, as to carry, in it a visible, public appearance, of a great
engagedness of mind in it, as the main business of life : and
especially is it fit, that at such an extraordinary time, when
God appears unusually present with a people, in wonderful
works of power and mercy, that they should spend more time
than usual in religious exercises, to put honor upon that God
that is then extraordinarily present, and to seek his face ; as
it was with the Christian cliurch in Jerusalem, on occasion
of that extraordinary pouring out of tlie Spirit, soon after
Christ's ascension. Acts ii. 40. '- And they continued daily,
with one accord, in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house." And so it was at Ephcsus, at a time of
244 SECULAR BUSINESS SHOULD SOMETIMES
great outpoiuing of the Spirit there ; the Christians there at-
tended pubUc religious exercises, every day for two years to-
gether. Acts xix. 8, 9, 10. " And he went into the syna-
gogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, dis-
puting and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of
God : but when divers were hardened, and believed not, but
spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from
them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the
school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space
of two years ; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the
word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." And as to
the grand objection of six days shalt thou labor, all that
can be understood by it, and all that the very objectors them-
selves understand by it, is that we may follow our secular la-
bors in those six days, that are not the sabbath, and ought to
be diligent in them : not but that sometimes we may turn from
them, even within those six days, to keep a day of fasting, or
thanksgiving, or to attend a lecture; and that more fre-
quently or rarely, as God's providence and the state of things
shall call us, according to the best judgment of our discre-
tion.
Though secular business, as I said before, ought not to be
neglected, yet I cannot see how it can be maintained, that
religion ought not to be attended, so as in the least to injure
Qur temporal affairs, on any other principle^J:han those of in-
fidelity. No one objects against injuring one temporal affair
for the sake of another temporal affair of much greater im-
portance ; and therefore, if eternal things are as real as tem-
poral things, and are indeed of infinitely greater importance ;
then why may we not voluntarily suffer, in some measure,
in our temporal concerns, while we are seeking eternal riches,
and immortal glory ? It is looked upon no way improper
for a whole nation to spend considerable time, and much of
their outward substance, on some extraordinary temporal oc-
casions, for the sake only of the ceremonies of a public re-
joicing ; and it would be thought dishonorable to be very
GIVE WAY TO RELIGION. 245
exact about what we spend, or careful lest we injure our es-
tates, on such an occasion : and wliy should we be exact
only with Almighty God, so that it should be a crime to be
otherwise than scrupulously careful, lest we injure ourselves
in our temporal interest, to put honor upon him, and seek our
own eternal happiness ? We should take heed that none of
us be in any wise like Judas, who greatly complained of
needless expense, and waste of outward substance, to put ho-
nor upon Christ, when Mary broke her box, and poured the
precious ointment on his head : he had indignation within
himself on that account, and cries out, " Why was this waste
of the ointment made ? For it might have been sold for
more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the
poor." Mark xiv. 3, 4, 5, (fee, and John xii. 4, 5, &c.
And besides, if the matter be justly considered and ex-
amined, I believe it will be found, that the country has lost
no time from their temporal affairs by the late revival of reli-
gion, but have rather gained time ; and that more time has
been saved from frolicking and tavern haunting, idleness, un-
profitable visits, vain talk, fruitless pastimes, and needless
diversions, than has lately been spent in extraordinary reli-
gion ; and probably five times as much has been saved in
persons' estates, at the tavern, and in their apparel, as has
been spent by religious meetings.
The great complaint that is made against so much time
spent in religion, cannot be in general from a real concern
that God may be honored, and his will done, and the best
good of men promoted ; as is very manifest from this, that
now there is a much more ear)iest and zealous outcry made
in the country against this extraordinary religion, than was
before against so much time spent in tavern haunting, vain
company keeping, night walking, and other things which
wasted both our time and substance, and injured our moral
virtue.
The frequent preaching that has lately been, has in a \mi-
licular manner been objected against as unprofitable and pre-
246 OF FREQUENT PREACHING,
judicial. It is objected that when sermons are heard so very
often, one sermon tends to thrust out-another ; so that persons
lose the benefit of all : they say two or three sermons in a
week is as much as they can remember and digest. Such
objections against frequent preaching, if they be not from an
enmity against rehgion, are for want of duly considering the
way that sermons usually profit an auditory. The main
benefit that is obtained by preaching, is by impression made
upon the mind in the time of it, and not by any effect that
arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.
A-nd though an after remembrance of what was heard in a
sermon, is oftentimes very profitable ; yet, for the most part,
that remembrance is from an impression the words made on
the heart in the time of it ; and the memory profits as it re-
news and increases that impression ; and a frequent inculca-
ting the more important things of religion in preaching, has
no tendency to rase out out such impressions, but to increase
them, and fix them deeper and deeper* in the mind, as is
found by experience. It never used to be objected against,
that persons, upon the sabbath, after they have heard
two sermons that day, should go home, and spend the re-
maining part of the sabbath in reading the scriptures, and
printed sermons ; which, in proportion as it has a tendency
to affect the mind at all, has as much of a tendency
to drive out what they have heard, as if they heard, another
sermon preached. It seems to have been the practice of the
apostles to preach every day in places where they went ; yea,
though sometimes they continued long in one place. Acts
ii. 42 and 46. Acts xix. 8, 9, 10. They did not avoid
preaching one day, for fear they should thrust out of the
minds of their hearers what they had delivered the day be-
fore ; nor did Christians avoid going every day to hear, for
fear of any such bad effect, as is evident by Acts ii. 42, 46.
There arc some things in scripture that seem to signify as
much, as that there sliould be preaching in an extraordinary
FREQUENT PREACHING FORETOLD. 147
frequency, at the time when God should be about to intro-
duce that flourishing state of religion that should be in the
latter days ; as that in Isa. Ixii. at the beginning : " For
Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, for Jerusalem's sake
I will not rest ; until the righteousness thereof go forth as
brightness, and the salvation thereof, as a lamp that burnetii :
and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy
glory." And ver. 5, 6. '• For as a young man marrieth a vir-
gin, so shall thy sons marry thee : and as the bridegroom re-
joiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I
have set watchmen upon thy walls, Q Jerusalem, which shall
never hold their peace, day nor night." The destruction of
the city of Jericho, is evidently, in all its circumstances, in-
tended by God as a great type of the overthrow of Satan's
kingdom ; the priests blowing with trumpets at that time,
represents ministers preaching the gospel ; the people com-
passed the city seven days, the priests blowing the trumpets ;
but when the day was come that the walls of the city were
to fall, the priests were more frequent and abundant in blow-
ing their trumpets ; there was as. much done in one day then,
as had been done in seven days before ; they compassed the
city seven times that day, blowing their trumpets, till at
length it came to one long and perpetual blast, and then the
walls of the city fell down flat. The extraordinary preach-
ing, that shall be at the beginning of that glorious jubilee of
the churchy is represented by the extraordinary sounding of
trumpets throughout the land of Canaan, at the beginning
of the year of jubilee ; and by the reading of the law before
all Israel, in the year of release, at the feast of tabernacles.
And the crowing of the cock, at the break of day, which
brought Peter to repentance, seems to me to be intended to
signify the awakening of God's church out of their lethargy,
wherein they had denied their Lord, by the extraordinary
preaching of Clic gospel that shall be at the dawning of the
day of the church's light and glory. And there seems at
248 OF MAKING MUCH OF OUTCRIES.
ihis day to be an uncommon hand of Divine Piovidencc, in
animating, enabling, and upholding some ministers in such
abundant labors.
SECTION IV.
Ministers blamed for making much of outcries ^ fainting s,
and bodily effects.
Another thing wherein I think some ministers have
been injured, is in being very much blamed for making so
much of outcries, faintings, and other bodily eiTects ; speak-
ing of them as tokens of the presence of God, and arguments
of the success of preaching ; seeming to strive to their ut-
most to bring a congregation to that pass, and seeming to
rejoice in it, yea even blessing God for it, when they sec
these effects.
Concerning this I would observe, in the first place, that
there are many things, with respect to cryings out, falling
down, &c., that are charged on ministers, that they are not
guilty of. Some would have it that they speak of these
things as certain evidences of a work of the Spirit of God on
the liearts of their hearers, or that they esteem these bodily
effects themselves to be the work of God, as though the Spirit
of God took hold of, and agitated the bodies of men ; and
some are charged with making these things essential, and
supposing that persons cannot be converted without them ;
whereas I never yet could see the person that held either of
these things.
But for speaking of such effects as probable tokens of God's
presence, and arguments of the success of preaching, it seems
to me they arc not to be blamed ; because I think they arc
so indeed : and tlicrcforc when I see thcmtjxcited by preach-
ing the important truths of God's word, urged and enforced
OUTCRIES MAY SHOW GOD's PRESENCE. 249
by proper arg-nments and motives, or as consequent on any
other means that are good, I do not scruple to speak of them,
and to rejoice in them, and bless God for them as such ; and
that for this (as I think) good reason, viz. that from time to
time, upon proper inquiry and examination, and observation
of the consequences and fruits, I have found that these are
all evidences that the persons in whom these effects appear,
are under the influences of God's Spirit in such cases. Cry-
ings out, in such a manner, and with such circumstances as
I have seen them from time to time, is as much an evidence
to me, of the general cause it proceeds from, as language :
I have learned the meaning of it the same way that persons
learn the meaning of language, viz. by use and experience.
I confess that when I see a great crying out in a congregation,
in the manner that I have seen it, when those things are
held forth to them that are worthy of their being greatly af-
fected by, I rejoice in it much more than merely in an ap-
pearance of solemn attention, and a show of affection by
weeping ; and that because when there have been those out-
cries, I have foimd from time to time a much greater and
more excellent effect. To rejoice that the work of God is
carried on calmly, without much ado, is in effect to rejoice
that it is carried on with less power, or that there is not so
much of the influence of God's Spirit : for though the de-
gree of the influence of the Spirit of God on jy articular per-
sons is by no means to be judged of by the degree of exter-
nal appearances, because of the different constitutions, tem-
pers, and circumstances of men ; yet if there be a very pow-
erful influence of the Spirit of God on a mixed multitude, it
will cause, some way or other, a great visible commotion.
And as to ministers' aiming at such effects, and striving
by all means to bring a congregation to that pass, that there
should be such an uproar among them ; I suppose none aim
at it any otherwise, than as they strive to raise the affections
of their hearers to such a height as very often appears in
these effects ; and if it be so, that those affections are com-
32
260 OF KEEPING THE AFFECTED TOGETHER.
monly good, and it be found by experience that such a de-
gree of them commonly has a good effect, I think they are
to be justified in so doing.
SECTION V.
Ministers blamed for keeping persons together that are
under great affectioyis.
Again, some ministers have been blamed for keeping per-
sons together, that have been under great affections, v^hich
have appeared in such extraordinary outward manifestations.
Many think this promotes confusion, that persons in such
circumstances do but discompose each others' minds, and dis-
turb the minds of others ; and that therefore it is best they
should be dispersed, and that when any in a congregation
are strongly seized, that they cannot forbear outward mani-
festations of it, they should be removed that others' minds
may not be diverted.
But I cannot but think that those that thus object go upon
quite wrong notions of things : for though persons ought to
take lieed that they do not make an ado without necessity ;
for this will be the way in time to have such appearances
lose all their effect ; yet the unavoidable manifestations of
strong rehgious affections tend to a happy influence on the
minds of by-standers, and are found by experience to have
an excellent and durable effect ; and so to contrive and order
things, that others may have opportunity and advantage to
observe them, has been found to be blessed, as a great means
to promote the v/ork of God ; and to prevent their being in
the way of observation, is to prevent the effect of that which God
makes use of as a principal means of carrying on his work
at such an extraordinary time, viz. example ; which is often
THE HAPPY INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. 2#1
spoken of in scripture as one of the chief means by which
God would carry on his work, in the time of the prospeiity
of religion in the latter days : I have mentioned some texts
already to this purpose, in what I published before, of the
tnarks of a work of the true Spirit ; but would here men-
tion some others. In Zech. ix. 15, 16., those that in the
latter day should be filled in an extraordinary manner with tlie
Holy Spirit, so as to appear in outward manifestations, and
making a noise, are spoken of as those that God, in these
uncommon circumstances, will set up to the view of others,-
as apprize or ensign, by their examph and the excellency of
their attainments, to animate and draw others, as men gather
about an ensign, and run for a prize, a crown, and precious
jewels, set up in their view. The words are, "And they
shall drink, and make a noise, as through wine ; and they
shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar : and
the Lord their God shall save them, in that day, as the flock
of his people ; for they shall be as the stones of a crown,
lifted up as an ensign upon his land." (But I shall have
occasion to say something more of this scripture afterwards.)
Those that make the objection I am upon, instead of suffer-
ing this prize or ensign to be in public view, are for having
ir removed, and hid in some corner. To the like purpose is
that, Isa. Ixii. 3. " Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the
hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem, in the hand of thy
God." Here it is observable, that it is not said. Thou shalt
be a crown upon the head, but m theJiayid of the Lord, i. e.
held forth in thy beauty and excellency, as a prize, to be be-
stowed upon others that shall behold thee, and be animated
by the brightness and lustre which God shall endow thee
with. The great influence of the example of God's people,
in their bright and excellent attainments, to propagate reli-
gion in those days, is further signified in Isa. Ix. 3. " And the
Gentiles shall come to thy fight, and kings to the brightness
of thy rising." With ver. 22. " A little one shall become a
thousand, and a small one a strong nation." And Zech.
252 OF MUCH AND EARNEST SPEAKING.
X. 8j 9. " And they shall increase, as they have increased ;
and I will sow them among the people." And Hos. ii. 23.
" And I will sow her unto me in the earth." So Jer. xxxi,
27,
SECTION VI.
Objection against speaking much, and loith great ear-
7iestnesSj by persons affected.
Another thing that gives great disgust to many, is the
disposition that persons show, under great affections, to speak
so much, and with such earnestness and vehemence, to be
setting forth the greatness, and w^onderfulness, and impor-
tance of divine and eternal things, and to be so passionately
warning, inviting, and entreating others. Concerning which
I would say, that I am far from thinking that such a dispo-
sition should be wholly without any limits or regulation (as
I shall more particularly show afterwards) ; and I believe
some have erred in setting no bounds, and indulging and
encouraging this disposition without any kind of restraint or
direction : but yet it seems to me that such a disposition in
general, is what both reason and scripture will justify. Those
that are offended at such things, as though they were unrea-
sonable, are not just : upon examination it will probably be
found that they have one rule of reasoning about temporal
things, and another about spiritual things. They will not
at all wonder, if a person, on some very great and affecting
occasion of extraordinary danger or great joy, that eminently
and immediately concerns him and others, is disposed to
speak much, and with great earnestness, especially to those
to whom he is united in the bonds of dear affection, and
great concern for their good. And therefore if they were
OF EARNEST AND MUCH TALKING. 253
just, why would not they allow it in spiritual things ? And
much more in them, agreeably to the vastly greater impor-
tance, and more affecting nature of spiritual things, and the
concern which true religion causes in men's minds for the
good of others, and the disposition it gives and excites to
speak God's praises, to show forth his infinite glory, and talk
of all his glorious perfections and works ?
That a very great sense, of the right kind, of the impor-
tance of the things of religion, and the danger sinners are
in, should sometimes cause an almost insuperable disposition
to speak and warn others, is agreeable to Jer. vi. 10, 11.
" To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may
hear ? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot
hearken : behold,, the word of the Lord is unto them a re-
proach ; they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of
the fury of the Lord ; I am weary with holding in ; I will
pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly
of the young men together ; for even the husband with the
wife shall be taken, the aged, with him that is full of days."
And that true Christians, when they come to be, as it were,
waked out of sleep, and to be filled with a sweet and joyful
sense of the excellent things of religion, by the preaching of
the gospel, or by other means of grace, should be disposed to
be much in speaking of divine things, though before they
were dumb, is agreeable to what Christ says to his church,
Cant. vii. 9. " And the roof of thy mouth is like the best
wine, for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the
lips of those that are asleep to speak." The roof of the
church's mouth, is the officers of the church that preach the
gospel ; their word is to Christ's beloved, like the best wine,
that goes down sweetly ; extraordinarily refreshing and en-
livening the saints, causing them to speak, though before
they were mute and asleep. It is said by some that the
people that are the subjects of this work, when they get to-
gether, talking loud and earnestly in their pretended great
joys, several in a room talking at the same time, make a
254 OF THE NOISE PERSONS MAKE
noise just like a company of drunken persons. On which I
would observe, that it is foretold that God's people should do
so, in that forementioned place, Zech. ix. 15, 16, 17., which
I shall now take more particular notice of : the words are as
follows : " The Lord of hosts shall defend them ; and they
shall devour aud subdue with sling stones ; and they shall
drink, and make a noise, as through wine, and they shall be
filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar : and the
Lord their God shall save them in that day, as the flock of
his people ; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted
up as an ensign upon his land : for how great is his good-
ness ! and how great is his beauty ! Corn shall make the
young men cheerful, and new wine the maids." The words
are very remarkable : here it is foretold, that at the time
when Christ shall set up a universal kingdom upon earth,
ver. 20., the children of Zion shall drink till they are filled
like the vessels of the sanctuary ; and if we would know
what they shall be thus filled with, the prophecy does in ef-
fect explain itself : they shall be filled as the vessels of the
sanctuary that contained the drink offering, which was wine ;
and yet the words imply that it shall not literally be wine
that they shall drink and be filled with, because it is said
they shall drink and make a noise, as through ivine, as if
they had drank wine ; which implies that they had not
literally done it, and therefore we must understand the words,
that they shall drink into that, and be filled with that, which
the wine of the drink offering represented, or was a type of,
which is the Holy Spirit, as well as the blood of Christ, that
new wine that is drank in our heavenly Father's kingdom :
they shall be filled with the Spirit, which the apostle sets in
opposition to a being drunk with wine, Eph. v. 18. This
is the new wine spoken of, ver. 17. It is the same with that
best \oine, spoken of in Canticles, VAa^ goes down sweetly,
causins^ the lips of those that are asleep to speak. It is
here foretold that the children of Zion, in the latter days,
should be filled with that which should make them cheerful,
WHEN TOGETHER UNDER GREAT AFFECTIONS. 255
and cause them to make a noise as through wine, and by
which these joyful, happy persons, that are thus filled, shall
be as the stones of a crown hfted up as an ensign upon God's
land, being made joyful in the extraorduiary manifestations
of the beauty and love of Christ : as it follows. How great
is his goodness ! and hoio great is his beauty ! And it
is further remarkable, that it is here foretold that it should
be thus especially amongst young people ; Corn shall make
the young men cheerful^ and new wine the maids. It
would be ridiculous to understand this of literal bread and
wine : without doubt, the same spiritual blessings are signi-
fied by bread and wine here, which were represented by
Melchizedeck's bread and wine, and are signified by the
bread and wine in the Lord's supper. One of the marginal
readings is, shall tnake the young men to speak ; which is
agreeable to that in Canticles, of the best ivine^s causing
the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
We ought not to be, in any measure, hke the unbelieving
Jews in Christ's time, who were disgusted both with crying
out with distress and with joy. When the poor blind man
cried out before all the multitude, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me ! and continued instantly thus doing,
the multitude rebuked him, and charged him that he should
hold his tongue, Mark x. 46, 47, 48., and Luke xviii. 3S, 39.
They looked upon it to be a very indecent noise that he
made ; a thing very ill-becoming him to cause his v^oice to
be heard so much and so loud among the multitude. And
when Christ made his solemn and triumphant entry into
Jerusalem, (which, I have before observed, was a type of the
glory and triumph of the latter days,) the whole multitude
of the disciples, of all sorts, especially young people, began
to rejoice and praise God, with a loud voice, for all the
mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the
King that conieth in the name of the Lord ! Peace in
heaven, and glory in the highest ! The Pharisees said to
Christ, Master, rebuke thy disciples. They did not im-
256 OF MANY SPEAKING TOGETHER.
derstand such great transports of joy ; it seemed to them a
very unsuitable and indecent noise and clamor that they
made, a confused uproar, many crying out together, as
though they were out of their wits ; they wondered that
Christ would tolerate it. But what says Christ ? 1 tell you^
that if these should hold their peace^ the stones would im-
mediately cry out. The words seem to intimate as much
as that there was cause enough to constrain those whose
hearts were not harder than the very ptones, to cry out, and
make a noise ; which is something like that other expression,
of causing the lijJS of those that are asleep to sj^eak.
When many, under great religious affections, are earnestly
speaking together, of divine wonders, in various parts of a
company, to those that are next to them ; some attending
to what one says, and others to another, there is something
very beautiful in it, provided they do not speak so many as
to drown each others' voices, that none can hear what any
say ; there is a greater and more affecting appearance of a
joint engagedness of heart, in the love and praises of God.
And I had rather see it, than to see one speaking alone, and
all attending to what he says ; it has more of the appearance
of conversation. When a multitude meets on any occasion
of temporal rejoicing, freely and cheerfully to converse to-
gether, they be not wont to observe the ceremony, of but one
speaking at a time, while all the rest, jn a formal manner,
set themselves to attend to what he says ; that would spoil
all conversation, and turn it into the formality of set speeches,
and the solemnity of preaching. It is better for lay persons,
when they speak one to another of the things of God, when
they meet together to speak after the manner of Christian
conversation, than to observe the formality of but one speak-
ing at a time, the whole multitude silently and solemnly
attending to what he says ; which would carry in it too
much of the air of the authority and solemnity of preaching.
What the apostle says, 1 Cor. xiv. 29, 30, 31., " Let the
prophets speak, two, or three, and let the other judge : if any
OF FREQUENT SINGING, 257
thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold
his peace ; for ye may all prophesy, one by one, that all
may learn, and all may be comforted ;" I say, this does not
reach this case ; because what the apostle is speaking of, is
the solemnity of their rehgious exercises, in public worship,
and persons speaking in the church by immediate inspira-
tion, and in the use of the gift of prophecy, or some gift of
inspiration, in the exercise of which they acted as extraordi-
nary ministers of Christ.
SECTION VII.
iSonie find fault wiiJi so much ainging in religious
meetings^
Another thing that some have found fault with, is
abounding so much in singing in religious meetings. Ob-
jecting against such a thing as this, seems to arise from a
suspicion already established of this Work : they doubt of
the pretended extraordinary love and joys that attend this
work, and so find fault with the manifestations of them. If
they thought persons were truly the subjects of an extraor-
dinary degree of divine love, and heavenly rejoicing in God,
I suppose they would not wonder at their having a disposi-
tion to be much in praise. They will not object against the
saints and angels in heaven singing praises and hallelujahs
to God, without ceasing, day or night ; and therefore doubt-
less will allow, that the more the saints on earth are like
them in their dispositions, the more they will be disposed to
do like them. They will readily own that the generality of
Christians have great reason to be ashamed that they have
so little thankfulness, and are no more in praising God,
whom they have such infinite cause to praise : and wJiy
therefore should Christians be found fault with for showing
33
258 OF HYMNS OF HUMAN COMPOSURE.
a disposition to be much in praising God, and manifesting a
delight in that heavenly exercise ? To complain of this, is
to be too much like the. Pharisees, who were disgusted when
the multitude of the disciples began to rejoice, and with loud
voices to praise God, and cry hosanna, when Christ was en-
tering ^nto Jerusalem.
There are many things in scripture that seem to intimate,
that praising God, both in speeches and songs, will be what
the church of God will very mucli abound in, in the ap-
proaching glorious day. So on the seventh day of com-
passing the walls of Jericho, when the priests blew with the
trumpets, in an extraordinary manner, the people shouted
with a great shout, and the wall of the city fell down flat.
So the ark was brought back from its banishment, with ex-
traordinary shouting and singing of the whole congregation
of Israel. And the places in the prophecies of scripture,
that signify that the church of God, in that glorious jubilee
that is foretold, shall greatly abound in singing and shouting
forth the praises of God, are too . many to be mentioned.
And there will be cause enough for it : I believe it will be a
time wherein both heaven and earth will be much more full
of joy and praise than ever they were before.
But what is more especially found fault with in the sing-
ing tliat is now practiced, is making use of hymns of human
composure. And I am far from thinking that the book of
psalms should be thrown by in our pubhc worship, but that
it should always be used in the Christian church, to the end*
of the world : but I know of no obligation we are under to
confine ourselves to it. I can find no command or rule of
God's word, that does any more confine us to the words of
the scripture in our singing, than it does in our praying ; we
speak to God in both : and I can see no reason why we
should limit ourselves ^o such particular forms of words, that
we find in the Bible, in speaking tor him by way of praise, in
metre, and with music, than when we speak to him in prose,
by way of prayer and supplication. And it is really needful
OF CHILDRENS' MEETINGS. 259
tliat we sliould have sonic other songs besides the psalms of
David : it is unreasonable to suppose that the Christian
church, should forever, and even in times of her greatest
light, in her praises of God and the Lamb, be confined only
to the words of the Old Testament, wherein all the greatest
and most glorious things of the gospel, that are infinitely
the greatest subjects of her praise, are spoken of under a
veil, and not so much as the name of our glorious Redeemer
ever mentioned, but in some dark figure, or as hid under the
name of some type. And as to our making use of the words
of others, and not tliose that are conceived by ourselves, it is
no more than we do in all our public prayers ; the whole
worshiping assembly, excepting one only, makes use of the
words that are conceived by him that speaks for the rest.
SECTION VIII.
Many dislike the religious meetings of children, to read
and fray together.
Another thing that many have disliked, is. the religious
meetings of children, to read and pray together, and perform
religious exercises by themselves. What is objected, is chil
dren's want of that knowledge and discretion that is requisite
in order to a decent and profitable management of rehgious
e;xercises. But it appears to me the objection is not sufficient :
children, as they have the nature of men. are inclined to
society ; and those of them that are capable of society one
with another, are capable of the influences of tli.e Spirit of
God, in its active fruits ; and if they are inclined by a reli-
gious disposition that they have from the Spirit of God, to
improve their society one with another, in a religious man-
ner) and to religious purposes, who should forbid them ? If
they have not discretion to observe method in their religious
260 OP CHILDRENS' MEETINGS.
performances, or to speak sense in all that they say in prayer,
they may, notwithstanding, have a good meaning, and God
understands them, and it does not spoil or interrupt their de-
votion one with another. We that are grown persons, have
defects in our prayers, that are a thousand times worse in
the sight of God, and aie a greater confusion, and more ab-
surd nonsense in his eyes, than their childish indiscretions.
There is not so much difference before God, between children
and grown persons, as we are ready to imagine ; we are all
poor, ignorant, foolish babes, in his sight : our adult age does
not bring us so much nearer to God, as we are apt to think.
God in this work has shown a remarkable regard to httle
children • never was there such a glorious work amongst
persons in their childhood, as has been of late in New Eng-
land : he has been pleased in a wonderful manner to perfect
praise out of the mouths of babes c^nd suckUngs ; and many
of them have more of that knowledge and wisdom, that
pleases him, and renders their religious worship acceptable,
than many of the great and learned men of the v/orld : it
is they, in the sight of God, are the ignorant and foolish
children : these are grown men, and a hundred years old,
in comparison with them ; and it is to be hoped that the
days are coming, prophesied of Isa. Ixv. 20., when " the
child shall die a hundred years old."
I have seen many happy effects of children's religious
meetings ; and God has seemed often remarkably to own
them in their meetings, and really descended from heaven to
be amongst them : I have known several probable instances
of children being converted at such meetings. I should
therefore think, that if children appear to be really moved to
it, by a religious disposition, and not merely from a childish
affectation of imitating grown persons, they ought by no
means to be discouraged or discountenanced : but yet it is
fit that care should be taken of them, by their parents, and
pastors, to instruct and direct them, and to correct imprudent
conduct and irregularities, if tliey are perceived ; or any
261
thing by which the devil may pervert and destroy the design
of their meetings. All should take heed that they do not
find fault with, and despise the rehgion of children, from an
evil principle, lest they should be like the chief priests and
scribes, who were sore displeased at the religious worship and
praises of httle children, and the honor they gave Christ in
the temple. We have an account of it, and of what Christ
said upon it, in Mat. xxi. 15, 16. " And when the chief
priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and
the children crying in the temple, and saying, hosanna to
the Son of David, they were sore displeased, and said unto
him, Hearest thou what these say ? And Jesus saith unto
them, Yea, have ye never read. Out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise ?"
THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL, &c.
PART IV.
SHOWING WHAT THINGS ARE TO BE CORRECTED OR
AVOIDED IN PROMOTING THIS WORK, OR IN OUR BE-
HAVIOR UNDER IT.
Having thus observed, in some instances, wherein the
conduct of those that have appeared to be the subjects of this
work, or liave been zealous to promote it, has been objected
against, or complained of, without or beyond just cause, I
proceed now, in the
Second place, to show what things ought to be corrected
or avoided.
Many that are zealous for this glorious work of God, are
heartily sick of the great noise there is in the country about
imprudences and disorders ; they have heard it so often
from the mouths of opposers, that they are prejudiced against
the sound ; and they look upon it that that which is called
a being jprudent and regular .^ which is so much insisted
on, is no other than being asleej), or cold and dead in reli-
gion, and that the great imprudence that is so much cried
out of, is only being ahve, and engaged in the things of God :
and they are therefore rather confirmed in any practice, than
brought off from it, by the clamor they hear against it, as
imprudent and irregular. And to tell the truth, the cry of
irregularity and imprudence has been much more in the
mouths of those that have been enemies to the main of tlic
work, than others ; for they have watched for the halting of
264 THE ART OF THE DEVIL
the zealous, and eagerly catched at any thing that has bepn
wrong, and have greatly insisted on it, made the most of it,
and magnified it ; especially liave they watched for errors
in zealous preachers, that are much in reproving and con-
demning the wickedness of the times : they would therefore
do* well to consider that scripture, Isa. xxix. 20, 21. " The
scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut
off, that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare
for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just
for a thing of nought." They have not only too much in-
sisted on, and magnified real errors, but have very injuriously
charged them as guilty, in things wherein they have been
innocent, and have done their duty. This has so prejudiced
the minds of some, that they have been ready to think that
all that has been said about errors and imprudences, was in-
jurious, and from an ill spirit ; and has confirmed them in
it, and there is no such thing as any prevailing impru-
dences ; and it has made them less cautious and suspicious
of themselves, lest they should err. Herein the devil has had
an advantage put into his hands, and has taken the advan-
tage ; and, doubtless, has been too subtle for some of the
true friends of religion. That would be a strange thing
indeed, if in so great a commotion and revolution, and such
a new state of things, wherein so many have been engaged,
none have been guilty of any imprudence ; it would be such
a revival of religion as never was yet, if among so many
men, not guided by infallible inspiration, there had not been
prevailing a pretty many notable errors in judgment and
conduct : our young preachers, and young converts, must in
general vastly exceed Luther, the head of the reformation,
who was guilty of a great many excesses in that great af-
fair in which God made him the chief instrument.
If we look back into the history of the church of God in
past ages, we may observe that it has been a common device
of the devil, to overset a revival of religion, when he finds
he can keep men quiet and secure no longer, then to drive
TO DRIVE MEN TO EXTREMES. 265
tliem to excesses and extravagances. He holds them back
as long as he can, but when he can do it no longer, then lie
will push them on, and if possible, run ihem upon their
heads. And it has been b}'^ this means chiefly, that he has
been successful, in several instances, to overthrow most hope-
ful and promising beginnings : yea, the principal means by
which the devil was successful, by degrees, to overset that
grand religious revival of the world, that was in the primi-
tive ages of Christianity, and in a manner to overthrow the
Christian church through the earth, and to make way for,
and bring on the great Antichristian apostasy, that master-
piece of all the devil's works, was to improve the indiscreet
zeal of Christians, to drive them into those three extremes,
of enthusiasm^ superstitio?i^ and severity towards oppo-
sers ; which should be enough for an everlasting warning
to the Christian church.
Though the devil will do his diligence to stir up the open
enemies of religion, yet he knows what is for his interest so
well, that in a time of revival of religion, his main strength
shall be tried with the friends of it, and he will chiefly exert
himself in his attempts upon them, to mislead them. One
truly zealous person, in the time of such an event, that seems
to have a great hand in the affair, and draws the eyes of
many upon him, may do more (through Satan's being too
subtle for him) to hinder the work, than a hundred great, and
strong, and open opposers.
In the time of a great loork of Christ, his liands, with
which he works, are often wounded in the house of his
friends ; and his work hindered chiefly by them : so that if
any one inquires, as in Zech. xiii. 6., "What are those
wounds in thine hands ?" He may answer, those with which
I was ivoimded in the house of nuj friends.
The errors of the friends of the work of God, and especially
of the great promoters of it, give vast advantage to the ene-
mies of such a work. Indeed there are many things that are
no- errors, but are only duties faithfully and thoroughly done,
34
266 OF THE ILL CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS.
that wound the minds of such persons more, and are more
cross to them, than real errors : but yet one real error gives
opposers as much advantage, and hinders and clogs the work,
as much as ten that are only supposed ones. Real errors do
not fret and gall the enemies of religion, so much as those
things that are strictly right ; but they encourage them more ;
they give them liberty, and open a gap for them ; so that
some that before kept their enmity burning in their own
bowels, and durst not show themselves, will on such an oc-
casion take .courage, and give themselves vent, and their
rage will be like that of an enemy let loose ; and those that
lay still before, having nothing to say, but what they would
be ashamed of, (agreeable to Tit. ii. 8.), when they have
such a weapon put into their hands, will fight with all vio-
lence. And indeed the enemies of religion would not know
what to do for weapons to fight with, were it not for the er-
rors of the friends of it ; and so must soon fall before them.
And besides, in real errors, things that are truly disagreeable
to the rules of God's word, we cannot expect the divine pro-
tection, and that God will appear on our side, as if our errors
were only supposed ones.
Since therefore the errors of the friends and promoters of
such a glorious work of God, are of such dreadful conse-
quence ; and seeing the devil, being sensible of this, is so as-
siduous, and watchful, and subtle, in his attempts with them,
and has thereby been so successful to overthrow religion
heretofore, certainly such persons ought to be exceeding cir-
cumspect and vigilant, diffident and jealous of themselves,
and humbly dependent on the guidance of the good Shep-
herd. 1 Pet. iv. 7., " Be sober, and watch unto prayer."
And chap. v. 8., " Be sober, be vigilant ; because your ad-
versary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about." For per-
sons to go on resolutely, in a kind of heat and vehemence,
despising admonition and correction, being confident that
they must be in the right, because they are full of the Spirit,
OF NEED OF CIRCUMSPECTION. 267
is directly contrary to the import of these words, be sober, be
vigilant.
It is a mistake, I have observed in some, by which they
have been greatly exposed, to their wounding, that they
think they are in no danger of going astray, or being misled
by the devil, because they are near to God ; and eo have no
jealous eye upon themselves, and neglect vigilance and cir-
cumspection, as needless in their case. They say, they do
not think that God will leave them to dishonor him, and
wound religion, as long as they keep near to him : and I be-
lieve so too, as long as they keep near to God in that respect,
that they maintain a universal and diligent watch, and care
to do their duty, and avoid sin and snares, with diffidence in
themselves, and humble dependence and prayerfulness : but
not merely because they are near to God, in that respect, that
they now are receiving blessed communications from God, in
refreshing views of him ; if at tlie same time they let down
their watch, and are not jealous over their own hearts, by
reason of its remaining bhndness and corruption, and a
subtle adversary. It is a grand error, for persons to think
they are out of danger of the devil, and a corrupt, deceitful
heart, even in their highest flights, and most raised frames of
spiritual joy. For persons in such a confidence to cease to
be jealous of themselves, and to neglect watchfulness and
care, is a presumption by which I have known many wofull}?'
ensnared. However highly we may be favored with divine
discoveries and comforts, yet as long as we are in the world,
we are in the enemy's country ; and therefore that direction
of Christ to his disciples, is never out of date in this world ;
Luke xxi. 30., " Watch and pray always, that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things, and to stand be-
fore the Son of man." It was not out of date with the dis-
ciples, to whom it was given, after they came to be filled so
full of the Holy Ghost, and out of their bellies flowed rivers
of living water, by that great eflfusion of the Spirit upon them,
that began on the day of pentecost. And though God stands
268 DANGER OF FALLING INTO ERRORS,
ready to protect his people, especially tliose that are near to
him, yet he expects great care and labor of all ; and that we
should put on the whole armor of God, that we may stand in
the evil day : and whatever spiritual privileges we are raised
to, we have no warrant to expect piotection in any other
way ; for God has appointed this whole life as a state of la-
bor, to be all as a race or a battle ; the state of rest, wherein
we shall be so out of danger, as to have no need of watching
and fighting, is reserved for another world. I have known
it in abundance of instances, that the devil has come in very
remarkably, even in the midst of the most exalted, and upon
some accounts excellent frames : it may seem a great mys-
tery that it should be so ; but it is no greater mystery, than
that Christ should be taken captive by the devil, and carried
into the wilderness, immediately after the heavens had been
opened to him, and the Holy Ghost descended like a dove
upon him, and he heard that comfortable, joyful voice from
the Father, saying, This is ray beloved Son, i?i whom I
am well pleased. In like manner, Christ in the heart of a
Christian is oftentimes, as it were, taken by the devil, and car-
ried captive into a wilderness, presently after heaven has been,
as it were, opened to the soul, and the Holy Ghost has de-
scended upon it like a dove, and God has been sweetly own-
ing the believer, and testifying his favor to him as his be-
loved child.
It is therefore a great error and sin in some persons, at this
day, that they are fixed in their way, in some things that
others account errors, and will not hearken to admonition
and counsel, but are confident that they are in the right of
it, in those practices that they find themselves disiX)sed to,
because God is much with them, and they have great de-
grees of the Spirit of God. There were some such in
the apostles' days : the apostle Paul, writing to the Corin-
thians, was sensible that some of them would not be easily
convinced that they had been in any error, because they
Jooked upon themselves spiritual, or full of the Spirit of
IN TIMES OF HIGH EXPERIENCE. 269
Gocl. 1 Cor. xiv. 37, 38. " If any man think himself to be
a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge tliat the things
that I write unto you, are the commandment of the Lord ;
but if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant."
And although those that are spiritual amongst us have no
infallible apostle to admonish them, yet let me entreat them,
by the love of Christ, calmly and impartially to weigh what
may be said to them, by one that is their hearty and fervent
friend (though an inferior worm) in giving his humble opi-
nion concerning the errors that have been committed, or that
we may be exposed to, in methods or practices that have been,
or may be fallen into by the zealous friends or promoters of
this great work of God.
In speaking of the errors that have been, or that we are in
danger of, I would in the
First place, Take notice of the causes whence the errors
that attend a great revival of religion usually arise ; and "as
I go along, take notice of some particular errors that arise
from each of those causes.
Secondly^ Observe some errors that some have lately gone
into, that have been owing to the influence of several of those
causes conjunctly.
As to the first of these, the errors that attend a gi'eat revi-
val of religion, usually arise from tliese three things. 1. Un-
discerned spiritual pride. 2. Wrong principles. 3. Igno-
rance of Satan's advantages and devices.
270 OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE.
SECTION I.
One cause of errors in a great revival^ is spiritual
pride.
The first, and the worst cause of errors, that prevail in
such a state of tilings, is spiritual pride. This is the main
door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those that are
zealous for the advancement of religion. It is the chief inlet
of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind, and
mislead the judgment : this is the main handle by which
the devil has hold of religious persons, and the chief source
of all the mischief that he introduces, to clog and hinder a
work of God. This cause of error is the main spring, or at
ledst the main support of all the rest. Till this disease is
cured, medicines are in vain applied to heal other diseases. It
is by this that the mind defends itself in other errors, and
gTiards itself against light, by which it might be corrected
and reclaimed. The spiritually proud man is full of light
already, he does not need instruction, and is ready to despise
the offer of it. But if this disease be healed, other things are
easily rectified. The humble person is like a little child, he
easily receives instruction ; he is jealous over himself, sensi-
ble how liable he is.td go astray ; and therefore if it be sug-
gested to him that he does so, he is ready most narrowly and
impartially to inquire. Nothing sets a person so much out
of the devil's reach, as humility, and so prepares the mind
for true divine light, without darkness, and so clears the eye
to look on things as they truly are. Psalm xxv. 9. " The
meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek he will teach
his way." Therefore we should fight neither with small
nor with great, but with the king of Israel : our first care
should be to rectify the heart, and pull the beam out of our
eye, and then we shall see clearly.
SPIRITUAL PRIDE UNDISCERNED. 2"71
I know that a great many things at this day are very in-
juriously laid to the pride of those that are zealous in the
cause of God. When any person appears, in any respect,
remarkably distinguished in religion from others, if he pro-
fesses those spiritual comforts and joys that are greater than
ordinary, or if he appears distinguishingly zealous in rehgion,
if he exerts himself more than others do in the cause of reli-
gion, or if he seems to be distinguished with success, ten to
one but it will immediately awaken the jealousy of those
that are about him ; and they will suspect (whether they
have cause or no) that he is very proud of his goodness,
and that he affects to have it thought that nobody is so good
as he ; and all his talk is heard, and all his behavior beheld,
with this prejudice. Those that are themselves cold and dead,
and especially such as never had any experience of the power
of godliness on their own hearts, are ready to entertain such
thoughts of the best Christians, which arises from a secret
enmity against vital an(J fervent piety.
But then those that are zealous Christians should take
heed that this injuriousness of those that aie cold in reli-
ligion, do not prove a snare to them, and the devil do not
take advantage from it, to blind their eyes from beholding
what there is indeed of this nature in their hearts, and make
them think, because they are charged with pride wrongfully,
and from an ill spirit, in many things, that therefore it is so
in every thing. Alas, how much pride have the best of us
in our hearts ! It is the worst part of the body of sin and
death. It is the first sin that ever entered into the universe,
and the last that is rooted out ; it is God's most stubborn
enemy !
The corruption of nature may all be resolved into two
things, pride and loorldly-mindedness, the devil and the
beast^ or self and the world. These arc the two pillars of
Dagon's temple, on which the whole house leans. But the
former of these is every way, the worst part of the corruption of
nature ; it is the first born son of the devil, and his image in
272 SPIRITUAL PRIDE MOST HATEFUL.
the heart of man cbiefly consists in it : it is the last thing in
a sinner that is overborne by conviction, in order to conver-
sion ; and here is the saint's hardest conflict ; it is the last
thing that he obtains a good degree of conquest over, and
liberty from ; it is that which most directly mihtates against
God, and is most contrary tot he Spirit of the Lamb of God ;
and it is most like the devil its father, in a serpentine deceit-
fulness and secrecy ; it lies deepest, is mosjL^ active, and is
most ready secretly to mix itself w^ith every thing.
And of all kindj of pride, spiritual pride is, upon many ac-
counts, the most hateful ; it is most like the devil ; it is most
like the sin he committed in a heaven of light and glory,
where he was exalted high in divine knowledge, honor, beauty,
and happiness. Pride is much more difficultly discerned
than any other corruption, for that reason, that the nature of
it does very much consist in a person's having too high a
thought of himself: but no wonder that he that has too high
a thought of himself, does not know it ; for he necessarily
thinks that the opinion he has of himself, is what he has just
grounds for, and therefore not too high ; if he thought such
an opinion of himself was without just grounds, he would
therein cease to have it. But of all kinds of pride, spiritual
pride is the most hidden, and difficultly discovered ; and that
for this reason, because those that are spiritually proud, their
pride consists much in a high conceit of those two things,
viz. their light and their humility : both which are a strong
prejudice against a discovery of their pride. Being proud of
their lights that makes them not jealous of themselves ; he
that thinks a clear hght shines around him, is not suspicious
of an enemy lurking near him, unseen: and then being proud
of their humility^ that makes them least of all jealous of
themselves in that particular, viz. as being under the preva-
lence of pride. There are many sins of the heart that are
very secret in their nature, and difficultly discerned. The
psalmist says, Psalm xix. 12., " Who can imderstand his
errors ? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." But spiritual
SPIRITUAL PRIDE DECEITFUL. 273
pride is the most secret of all sins. The heart is so deceitful
and unsearchable in nothing in the world, as it is in this
matter, and there is no sin in the world, that men are so con-
fident in, and so difficultl}^ convinced of: the very nature of
it is to work self-confidence, and drive away self-diffidence,
and jealousy of any evil of that kind. There is no sin so
much like the devil, as this ; for secrecy and subtlety, and ap-
pearing in a great many shapes, undiscerned and unsus-
pected, and appearing as an angel of light : it takes occasion
to arise from every thing ; it perverts and abuses every thing ;
and even the exercises of real grace, and real humility, as an
occasion to exert itself: it is a sin that has, as it were, many
lives ; if you kill it, it will live still ; if you mortify and sup-
press it in one shape, it rises in another ; if you think it is
all gone, yet it is there still : there are a great many kinds
of it, that lie in different forms and shapes, one under an-
other, and encompass the heart like the coats of an onion ; if
you pull off one there is another underneath. We had need,
therefore, to have the greatest watch imaginable over our
hearts, with respect to this matter, and to cry most earnestly
to the great Searcher of hearts for his help. He that trusts
his own heart is a fool.
God's own people should be the more jealous of themselves
with respect to this particular, at this day, because the tempta-
tions that many have to this sin are exceeding great : the great
and distinguishing privileges to which God admits many of
his saints, and the high honors that he puts on some minis-
ters, are great trials of persons in this respect. It is true that
great degrees of the spiritual presence of God, tends greatly
to mortify pride and all corruption ; but yet, though in the
experience of such favors there be much to restrain pride one
way, there is much to tempt and provoke it another ; and we
shall be in great danger theieby, without great watchfulness
and prayerfulness. There was much in the circumstances
that the angels that fell were in, in heaven, in their great
honors and liigh privileges, in beholding the face of God, and
35
274 THE NATURE AND EFFECTS
view of his iufiiute glory, to cause in them exercises of hu-
mility, and to keep them from pride ; yet through want of
watchfulness in them, their great honor and heavenly privi-
lege proved to be, to them, an undoing temptation to pride,
though they had no principle of pride in their hearts, to ex-
pose them. Let no saint, therefore, however eminent, and
however near to God, think himself out of danger of this :
he that thinks himself most out of danger, is indeed most in
danger. The apostle Paul, who doubtless was as eminent
a saint as any are now, was not out of danger, even just
after he was admitted to see God in the third heavens, by the
information he himself gives us, 2 Cor. xii. And yet doubt-
less, what he saw in heaven of the ineffable glory of the Di-
vine Being, had a direct tendency to make him appear ex-
ceeding httle and vile in his own eyes.
Spiritual pride in its own nature is so secret, that it is not
so well discerned b}'' immediate intuition on the thing it-
self, as by the effects and fruits of it ; some of which I would
mention, together with the contrary fruits of pure Christian
humility.
Spiritual pride disposes to speak of other persons' sins,
their enmity against God and his people, the miserable delu-
sion of hypocrites, and their enmity against vital piety, and
the deadness of some saints, with bitterness, or with laughter
and levity, and an air of contempt ; whereas pm'c Christian
humility rather disposes, either to be silent about them, or to
speak of them with grief and pity.
Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others ; whereas a
humble saint is most jealous of himself; he is so suspicious of
nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The spirit-
ually proud person is apt to find fault with other saints, that
they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold
and dead they be, and crying out of them for it, and to be
quick to discern and take notice of their deliciences : but the
eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home, and
sees so much evil in his own heart, and is so concerned about
OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE, 275
it, that he is not apt to be very busy with others' hearts ; he
complains most of himself, and cries out of his own coldness
and lowness in grace, and is apt to esteem others better than
himself, and is ready to hope that there is nobody but what
has more love and thankfulness to God than he, and cannot
bear to think that others should bring forth no more fruit to
God's honor than he. Some that have spiritual pride mixed
with high discoveries and great transports of joy, that dispose
them in an earnest manner to talk to others, are apt, in such
frames, to be calling upon other Christians that are about
them, and sharply reproving them for their being so cold and,
lifeless. And there are some others that behave themselves
very differently from these, who in their raptures are over-
whelmed with a sense of their own vileness ; and when they
have extraordinary discoveries of God's glory, are all taken
up about their own sinfulness ; and though they also are
disposed to speak much and very earnestly, yet it is very
much in crying out of themselves, and exhorting fellow-
Christians, but in a charitable and humble manner. Pure
Christian humility disposes a person to take notice of every
thing that is in any respect good in others, and to make the
best of it, and to diminish their failings ; but to have his eye
chiefly on those things that are bad in himself, and to take
much notice of every thing that aggravates them.
In a contrariety to this, it has been the manner in some
places, or at least the manner of some persons, to speak of
almost every thing that they see amiss in others, in the most
harsh, severe, and terrible language. * It is frequent with
them to say of others' opinions, or conduct, or advice, or of
their coldness, their silence, their caution, their moderation,
and their prudence, and many other things that appear in
them, tliat they are from the devil, or from hell ; that such a
thing is devilish, or hellish, or cursed, and that such persons
are serving the devil, or the devil is in them, and they are
soul-murderers, and the like ; so that the words devil and
hell are almost continually in their moutl^s. And siirh kind
2?6 OF HARSH AND TERRIBLE LANGUAGE
of language they will commonly use, not only towards
wicked men, but towards them that they themselves allow
to be the true children of God, and also towards ministers of
the gospel, and others that are very much their superiors.
And they louk upon it a virtue and high attainment thus to
behave themselves. " O, (say they,) we must be plain
hearted and bold for Christ, we must declare war against sin
wherever we see it, we must not mince the matter in the
cause of God, and when speaking for Christ." And to make
any distinction in persons, or to speak the more tenderly,
because that which is amiss is seen in a superior, they look
upon as very mean for a follower of Christ, when speaking
in the cause of his Master.
What a strange device of the devil is here to overthrow
all Christian meekness and gentleness, and even all show
and appearance of it, and to defile the mouths of the chil-
dren of God, and to introduce the language of common
sailors among the followers of Christ, under a cloak of high
sanctity, and zeal, and boldness for Christ ! And it is a re-
markable instance of the w^eakness of the human mind,
and how much too cunning the devil is for us !
The grand defense of this way of talking is, that they
say no more than what is true ; they only speak the truth
without mincing the matter ; and that true Christians that
have a great sight of the evil of sin, and acquaintance with
their own hearts, know it to be true, and therefore will not
be offended to hear such harsh expressions made use of con-
cerning them and tlier sins ; it is only (say they) hypocrites,
or cold and dead Christians, that arc provoked, and feel their
enmity rise on such an occasion.
But it is a grand mistake to think that we may commonly
use, concerning one another, all such language as represents
the worst of each other, according to strict truth. It is really
true, that every kind of sin, and every degree of it, is devilish,
and from hell, and is cursed, hellish, and condemned or
damned : and if persons had a full sight of their hearts,
AMONG CHRISTIANS. 277
ihey would ihink no terms too bad for them ; they would
look like beasts, like serpents, and like devils, to themselves ;
they would be at a loss for language to express what tliey
see in themselves ; the worst terms they could think of
would seem, as it were, faint to represent what they see in
themselves. But shall a child, therefore, from time to time,
use such language concerning an excellent and eminently
holy father or mother, as that the devil is in them, that they
have such and such devilish, cursed dispositions, that they
commit, every day, hundreds of helHsh, damned acts, and
that they are cursed dogs, hell-hounds, and devils 7 And
shall the meanest of the people be justified, in commonly
using such language concerning the most excellent magis-
trates, or their most eminent ministers ? I hope nobody has
gone to this height : but the same pretenses of boldness,
plain heartednessj and declared war against sin, will as well
justify these things, as the things they are actually made use
of to justify. If we proceed in such a manner, on such
principles as these, what a face will be introduced upon the
church of Christ, the little beloved flock of that gentle
Shepherd, the Lamb of God ? What a sound shall we bring
into the house of God, into the family of his dear little chil-
dren ? How far off shall we soon banish that lovely appear-
ance of humility, sweetness, gentleness, mutual honor,
benevolence, complacence, and an esteem of others above
themselves, which ought to clothe the children of God all
over ? Not but that Christians should watch over one an-
other, and in any wise reprove one another, and be much in
it, and do it plainly and faithfully ; but it does not thence
follow that dear brethren in the family of God, in rebuking
one another, should use worse language than Michael the
archangel durst use when rebuking the devil himself.
Christians, that are but fellow-worms, ought at least to
treat one another with as much humility and gentleness as
Christ, that is infinitely above them, treats them. But how
did Christ treat his disciples when they were so cold towards
278 HARSHNESS AND SEVERITY
liim, and so regardless of him, at the time when his soul
was exceeding sorrowful even unto death, and he in a dismal
agony was crying, and sweating blood for them, and they
would not watch with him, aud allow him the comfort of
their company one hour in his great distress, though he once
and again desired it of them ? One would think that then
was a proper time, if ever, to have reproved them for a devil-
ish, hellish, cursed, and damned slothfulness and deadness.
But after what manner does Christ reprove them ? Behold
his astonishing gentleness ! Says he, " What, could ye not
watch with me one hour ? The spirit indeed is willing, but
the flesh is weak." And how did he treat Peter when be
w^as ashamed of his Master, while he was made a mocking-
stock, and a spitting-stock for him ? Why, he looked upon
him with a look of love, and melted his heart.
And though we read that Christ once turned and said
mito Peter, on a certain occasion, get thee behind me, Sa-
tan ; and this may seem hke an instance of harshness and
severity in reproving Peter, yet I humbly conceive that this
is by many taken wrong, and that this is indeed no instance
of Christ's severity in his treatment of Peter, but on the
contrary, of his wonderful gentleness and grace, distinguish-
ing between Peter and the devil in him, not laying the
blame of what Peter had then said, or imputing it to him,
but to the devil that influenced him. Christ saw the devil
then present, secretly influencing Peter to do the part of a
tempter to his Master ; and therefore Christ turned him
about to Peter, in whom the devil then was, and spake to
the devil, and rebuked him. Thus the grace of Christ does
not l>ehold iniquity in his people, imputes not what is amiss
in them to them, but to sin that dwells in them, and to
Satan that influences them.
But to return : spriritual pride often disposes persons to
singularity in external appearance, to aflect a singular way
of speaking, to use a different sort of dialect from others, or
to be sinofular in voice, or air of countenance or behavior •
OP REPROOF AMONG CHRISTIANS. 279
but he that is an eminently humble Christian, though he
will be firm to his duty, however singular he is in it, he will
go in the way that leads to heaven alone, though all the
world forsakes him ; yet he delights not in singularity for
singularity's sake, he does not affect to set up himself to be
viewed and observed as one distinguished, as desiring to be
accounted better than others, or despising rheir company, or
a union and conformity to them ; but on the contrary, is
disposed to become all things to all men, and to yield to
others, and to conform to them, and please them, in every
thing but sin. Spiritual pride commonly occasions a certain
stiffness and inflexibility in persons, in their own judgment,
and their own ways ; whereas the eminently humble person,
though he be inflexible in his duty, and in those things
wherein God's honor is concerned ; and with regard to temp-
tation to those things he apprehends to be sinful, though in
never so small a degree, he is not at all of a yieldable spirit,
but is like a brazen wall ; yet in other things he is of a plia-
ble disposition, not disposed to set up his own opinion, or his
own will ; he is ready to pay deference to others' opinions,
and loves to comply with their inclinations, and has a heart
that is tender and flexible, like a little child.
Spiritual pride disposes persons to affect separation, to
stand at a distance from others, as better than they, and
loves the show and appearance of the distinction : but on the
contrary, the eminently humble Christian is ready to look
upon himself as not worthy that others should be united to
him, to think himself more brutish than any man, and wor-
thy to be cast out of human society, and especially unworthy
of the society of God's children ; and though he will not be
a companion with one that is visibly Christ's enemy, and
delights most in the company of lively Christians, will choose
such for his companions, and will be most intimate with them,
and does not at all delight to spend away much time in the
company of those that seem to relish no conversation but
about worldly things ; yet he does not love the appearance
280 ZEALOUS MINISTERS SHOULD ABOUND
of an open separation from visible Christians, as being a kind
of distinct company from them, that are one visible company
with him by Christ's appointment, and will as much as pos-
sible shun all appearances of a superiority, or distinguishing
himself as better than others : his universal benevolence de-
lights in the appearance of union with his fellow-creatures,
and will maintain it as much as he possibly can, without
giving open countenance to iniquity, or wounding his own
soul ; and herein he follows the example of his meek and
lowly Redeemer, who did not keep up such a separation and
distance as the Pharisees, but freely ate with publicans and
sinners, that he might win them.
The eminently humble Christian is, as it were, clothed
with lowliness, mildness, meekness, gentleness of spirit and
behavior, and with a soft, sweet, condescending, winning air
and deportment ; these things are just like garments to him,
he is clothed all over with them. 1 Pet. v. 5. " And be
clothed with humility." Col. iii. 12. " Put on, therefore, as
the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kind-
ness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering."
Pure Christian humility has no such thing as roughness,
or contempt, or fierceness, or bitterness in its nature ; it makes
a person like a little child, harmless and innocent, and that
none need to be afraid of ; or like a lamb, destitute of all
bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor, agreeable to Eph. iv. 31.
With such a spirit as this ought especially zealous minis-
ters of the gospel to be clothed, and those that God is pleased
to imi)rove as instruments in his hands of promoting his
work : they ought indeed to be thorough in preaching the
word of God, without mincing the matter at all ; in hand-
ling the sword of the Spirit, as the ministers of the Lord of
hosts, they ought not to be mild and gentle ; they are not to
be gentle and moderate in searching and awakening the
conscience, but should be sons of thunder : the word of God,
which is in itself sharper than any two-edged sword, ought
not to be sheathed by its ministers, but so used that its sharp
IN HUMILITY AND LOVE. 281
edges may have their full effect, even to the dividing asun-
der soul and spirit, joints and marrow (provided they do it
without judging particular persons, leaving it to conscience
and the Spirit of God to make the particular application) :
but all their conversation should savor of nothing but lowli-
ness and good will, love and pity to all mankind ; so that
such a spirit should be like a sweet odor diffused around
them wherever they go, or Uke a light shining about them,
their faces should, as it were, shine with it ; they should be
like lions to guilty consciences, but like lambs to men's per-
sons. This would have no tendency to prevent the awa-
kening of men's consciences, but on the contrary, would
have a very great tendency to awaken them ; it would make
way for the sharp sword to enter ; it would remove the ob-
stacles, and make a naked breast for the arrow. Yea, the
amiable, Christ-like conversation of such ministers, in itself
would terrify the consciences of men, as well as their terril^le
preaching ; both would co-operate one with another, to sub-
due the hard, and bring down the proud heart. If there
had been constantly and universally observable such a be-
havior as this in itinerant preachers, it would have terrified
the consciences- of sinners, ten times as much as all the in-
vectives, and the censorious talk there has been concerning
particular persons, for their opposition, hypocrisy, delusion,
Pharisaism, <fcc. These things in general have rather stu-
pified sinners' consciences ; they take theni up, and make
use of them as a shield, wherewith to defend themselves
from the sharp arrows of the word, that are shot by these
preachers : the eneniies^ of the present work have been glad
of these things with all their hearts. Many of the most
bitter of them are probably such as in the beginning of this
work had their conscierYces something galled and terrified
with it ; but these errors of awakening preachers are the
things they chietly make use of as plasters to heal the sore
that was made in their consciences.
36
282- MEEKNESS THE SUREST WAY
Spiritual pride takes great notice of opposition and inju-
ries that are received, and is apt to be often speaking of
them, and to be much in taking notice of the aggravations
of them, either with an air of bitterness or contempt : where-
as pure, unmixed Christian humilit}^, disposes a person rather
to be hke his blessed Lord, when reviled, dumb, not opening
his mouth, but committing himself in silence to Him that
judgeth righteously. The eminently humble Christian, the
more clamorous and furious the world is against him, the
more silent and still will he be ; unless it be in his closet, and
there he will not be still. Our blessed Lord Jesus seems
never to have been so silent as when the world compassed
him round reproaching, buffeting, and spitting upon him,
with Icud and virulent outcries, and horrid cruelties.
There has been a great deal too much talk of late among
many of the true friends of lehgion about opposition and per-
secution. It becomes the followers of the Lamb of God,
when the world is in an uproar about them, and full of cla-
mor against them, not to raise another noise to answer it,
but to be still and quiet : it is not beautiful, at such a time,
to have pulpits and conversation ring with the sound, perse-
cution^ Ijersecution^ or with abundant talk- about Pharisees,
carnal persecutions, and the seed of the serpent.
Meekness and quietness among God's people, when op-
posed and reviled, would be the surest way to have God re-
markably to appear for their defense, it is particularly ob-
served of Moses, on the occasion of Aaron and Miriam their
envying him, and rising up in opposition against him, that
he '' was very meek, above all men upon the face of the
earth," Numb. xii. 3., doubtless because he remarkably
showed his meekness on that occasion, being wholly si-
lent under tlie abuse. And how remarkable is the ac-
count that follows, of God's being, as it were, suddenly
roused to appear for his vindication? And what high honor
did he put upon Moses ? And how severe were his rebukes
of his oppose rs ? The story is very remarkable, and worth
TO OBTAIN GOD S FAVOR 283
every one's observing. Nothing is so effectual to bring God
down from heaven in the defense of his people, as their pa-
tience and meekness under sufferings. When Christ " girds
his sword upon his thigh, with his glory and majesty, and in
his majesty rides prosperously^ his right hand teaching him
terrible things, it is because of truth and meekness and right-
eousness." Psalm xlv. 3, 4. " God will cause judgment to be
heard from heaven ; the eaith shall fear and be still, and
God will arise to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth."
Psalm Ixxvi. 8, 9. " He wnll lift up the meek, and cast the
wicked down to the ground." P^alm cxlvii. 6. " He will
reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth, and will
smite the earth Vvith the rod of his mouth, and with the
breath of his lips will he slay the wicked." Isa. xi. 4. The
great commendation that Christ gives the church of Phila-
delphia, is, that "Thou hast kept the word of my patience."
Rev. iii. 10. And we may see what reward he promises her,
in the preceding verse, " Behold, I will make them of the syna-
gogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do
lie ; behold, I will make themto come and worship at thy feet,
and to know that I have loved thee." And thus it is that
we might expect to have Christ appear for us, if under all
reproaches we are loaded with, we behavedourselves with a
lamblike meekness and gentleness ; but if our spirits are
raised, and we are vehement and noisy with our complaints
under color of Christian zeal, this will be to take upon us our
own defense, and God will leave it with us to vindicate our
cause as well as we can : yea, if we go on in a way of bit-
terness, and high censuring, it will be the way to have him
rebuke us, and put us, to shame before our enemies.
Here some may be ready to say. " it is not in our own
cause that we are thus vehement, but it is in the cause of
God ; and the apostle directed the primitive Christians to
contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints,"
But how was it that the primitive Christians contended ear-
nestly for the faith ? They defended the truth with argu-
2S4 VEHEMENCE IN THE CAUSE OF OOD.
mentSj and a holy conversation ; but yet gave their reasons
with meekness and fear : they contended earnestly for the
faith, by fighting violently against their own unbelief, and
the corruption of their hearts ; yea. they resisted unto blood,
striving against sin ; but the blood that was shed in this
earnest strife, was their own blood, and not the blood of their
enemies. It was in the cause of God, that Peter was so
fierce, and drew his sword, and began to smite with it ; but
Christ bids him put up his sword again, telling him that
they that take the sword shall perish by the sword ; and
while Peter wounds, Christ heals. They contend the most
violently, and are the greatest conquerorsin a time of perse-
cution, who bear it with the greatest meekness and patience.
Great humility improves even the reflections and re-
proaches of enemies, to put upon serious self-examination,
whether or no there be not some just cause, whether they
have not in some respect given occasion to the enemy to
speak reproachfully : whereas spiritual pride improves such
reflections to make them the more bold and confident, and to
go the greater lengths in that for which they are found feult
with. I desire it may be considered whether there has been
nothing amiss of late, among the true friends of vital piety
in this respect ;*and whether the words of David, when re-
viled by Michal, have not been misinterpreted and misapplied
to justify them in it, when he said, I will be yet more vile,
and will be base in mine own sight. The import of his
words is that he would humble himself yet more before
God, being sensible that he was far from being sufticiently
abased ; and he signifies this to Michal, and that he longed
to be yet lower, and had designed already to abase himself
more in his behavior : not that he would go the greater
length, to show his legardlessness of her revilings ; that
would be to exalt himself, and not more to abase himself, as
more vile in his own sight.
Another effect of spiritual pride is a certain unsuitable and
self-confident boldness before God and men. Thus some in
OF THE FEAR OF MAN. 2S5
their great rejoicings before God, have not paid a sulTicient
regard to that rule, in Psahii ii. 11. Tliey have not re-
joiced with a reverential trembling, in a proper sense of the
awful majesty of God, and the awful distance between God
and them. And there has also been an improper boldness
before men, that has been encouraged and defended, by a
misapplication of that scripture, Prov. xxx. 25. " The fear
of man bringeth a snare." As though it became all persons,
high and low, men, women, and children, in all religious
conversation, wholly to divest themselves of all manner of
shamefacedness, modesty, or reverence towards^man ; which
is a great error, and quite contrary to scripture. There is a
fear of reverence that is due to some men. Rom. xiii. 7.
" Fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." And there is
a fear of modesty and shamefacedness, in inferiors towards su-
periors, that is amiable, and required by Christian rules. 1
Pet. iii. 2. " While they behold our chaste conversation, cou-
pled with fear." AikI 1 Tim. ii. 9. " In hke manner also,
that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-
facedness and sobriety." And the apostle means that this
virtue shall have place, not only in civil communication, but
also in spiritual communication, and in our religious con-
cerns and behavior, as is evident by what follows. Ver. 11,
12. " Let the women learn in silence, with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over
the man, but to be in silence." Not that I would hence infer
that women's mouths should be shut up from Christian con-
versation • but all that I mean from it at this time is, that
modesty or shamefacedness, and reverence towards men,
ought to have some place, even in our rehgious communica-
tion one with another. The same is also evident, by 1 Pet.
iii. 15 '' Be ready always to give an answer, to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear." It is well if that very fear and shame-
facedness, which the apostle recommends, has not sometimes
been condemned, under the name of a cAirsed fear of man.
286 OF AN ASSUMING AIR.
It is beautiful for persons when they are at prayer as the
mouth of others, to make God only their fear and their dread,
and to be wholly forgetful of men that are present, who, let
them be great or small, are nothing in the presence of the
great God. And it is beautiful for a minister, when he speaks
in the name of the Lord of hosts, to be bold, and put off all
fear of men. And it is beautiful in private Christians, though
they are women and childreUj to be bold in professing the
faith of Christ, and in the practice of all lehgion, and in
owning God's hand in the work of his power and grace,
without any fear of men, though they should be reproached
as fools and madmen, and frowned upon by great men, and
cast off by parents and all the world. But for private Chris-
tians, women and others, to instruct, rebuke, and exhort, with
a like sort of boldness as becomes a minister when preaching,
is not beautiful.
Some have been bold in some things that have really been
errors ; and have gloried in their Iwldneas in practicing them,
though cried out of as odd. and irregular. And those that
have gone the greatest lengths in these things, have been by
some most highly esteemed, as those that come out, and ap-
pear bold . for the Lord Jesus Christ, and fully on his side ;
and others that have professed to be godly, that have con-
demned such things, have been spoken of as enemies of the
cross of Christ, or at least very cold and dead ; and mau}^
that of themselves were not inclined to such practices, have
by this means been drivsn on, being ashamed to be iDehind,
and accounted poor soldiers for Christ.
Another effect of spiritual pride is assu^ning : it often-
times makes it natural to persons so to act and speak, as
though it in a special manner belonged to them to be taken
notice of and much regarded. It is very natural to a person
that is much under the influence of spiritual pride, to take
all that respect that is paid him : if others show a disposition
to submit to him, and yield him the deference of a preceptor,
he is open to it, and freely admits it ; yea, it is natural for
MINISTERS SHOULD NOT BE ASSUMING. 287
him to expect such treatment, and to take much notice of it
if he fails of it, and to liave an ill opinion of others that do
not pay him that which he looks upon as Ins prerogative :
he is apt to think that it belongs to him to speak, and to
clcthe himself with a judicial and dogmatical air in conver-
sation, and to take it upon him as what belongs to him, to
give forth his sentence, and to determine and decide :
whereas pure Christian humility vaunteth not itself^ doth
not behave itself unseemly^ and is apt to j)refer others in
honor. One under the influence of spiritual pride, is more
apt to instruct others, than to inquire for himself, and. natu-
rally puts on the airs of a master : whereas one that is full
of pure humility, naturally has on the air of a disciple ; his
voice is, " What shall I do ? What shall I do that I may
live more to God's honor ? What shall I do with this wicked
heart ?" He is ready to receive instruction from any body,
agreeable to James i. 19. " Wherefore, my beloved brelhren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak." The emi-
nently humble Christian thinks he wants help from every
body, whereas he that is spiritually proud, thinks that every
body wants his help. Christian humility, under a sense of
others' misery, entreats and beseeches ; spiritual pride affects
to command, and warn with authority.
There ought to be the utmost watchfulness against all
such appearances of spiritual pride, in all that profess to have
been the subjects of this work, and especially in the promo-
ters of it, but above all, in itinerant preachers : the most
eminent gifts, and highest tokens of God's favor and bless-
ing, will not excuse them : alas ! what is man at his best
estate ! What is the most highly favored Christian, or the
most eminent and successful minister, that he should now
think he is sufficient for something, and somebody to be re-
garded, and that he should go forth, and act among his fel-
low-creatures, as if he were wise, and strong, and good !
Ministers that have been the principal instruments of car-
rying on this glorious revival of religion, and that God has
288 ministers' temptations to assuming.
made use of, as it were, to bring up his people out of Egypt,
as he did of Moses, should take heed that they do not pro-
voke God as Moses did, by assuming too much to themselves,
and by their intemperate zeal, to shut them out from seeing
the good things that God is going to do for his church in
this world. The fruits of Moses' unbelief, which provoked
God to shut him out of Ganaart, and not to suffer him to
partake of those great things God was about to do for Israel
on earth, were chiefly these two things : First, his mingling
bitterness with his zeal : he had a great zeal for God, and
he .could not bear to see the intolerable stiff-neckedness of the
people, that they did not acknowledge the work of God, and
were not convinced by all his wonderathat they had seen :
but human passion was mingled with his zeal. Psalm cvi.
32, 33. *' They angered him also at the w^aters of strife ; so
that it went ill with Moses for their sakes : because they
provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his
lips." Hear now ye rebels, says he, with bitterness of lan-
guage. vSecondly, he behaved himself, and spoke with an
assuming air : he assumed too much to himself: hear now,
ye rebels, must ive fetch \oater out of this rock ! Spirit-
ual pride wrought in Moses at that time : his temptations to
it were very great, for he hkd had great discoveries of God,
and had been privileged with intimate and sweet communion
with him, and God had made him the instrument of great
good to his church ; and though he was so humble a person,
and, by God's own testimony, meek above all men upon the
face of the whole earth, yet his temptations were too strong
for him : which surely should make our young ministers,
that have of late been highly favored, and have had great
success, exceeding careful, and distrustful of themselves.
Alas ! how far are we from having the strength of holy,
meek, aged Moses ! The temptation at this day is exceed-
ing great, to both those errors that Moses was guilty of ; there
is great temptation to bitterness and corrupt passion with
zeal ; for there is so much unreasonable opposition made
OF THE EXAMPLE OF IIZZA, 289
against this glorious work of God, and so'much stiff-neck-
edness manifested in multitudes of this generation, notwith-
standing all the great and wonderful works in which God
has passed before them, that it greatly tends to provoke the
spirits of such as have the interest of this work at heart, so
as to move them to speak unadvisedly with their lips. And
there is a.lso great temptation to an assuming behavior in
some persons : when a minister is greatly succe.eded, from
time to time, and so draws the eyes of the multitude upon
him, and he sees himself flocked after, and resorted to as an
oracle, and people are ready to adore him, and to offer sacri-
fice to him, as it was with Paul and Barnabas, at Lystra, it
is almost impossible for a man to avoid taking upon him the
airs of a master, or some extraordinary person ; a man had
need to have a great stock of humility, and much divine as-
sistance, to resist the temptation. But the greater our dan-
gers are, the more ought tt) be our watchfulness and prayer-
fulness, and diffidence of ourselves, lest we bring ourselves
into mischief. Fishermen that have been very successful,
and have caught a great many fish, had need to be careful
that they dq not at length begin to burn incense to their net.
And we should take warning by Gideon, who, after God had
highly favored and exalted him, and made him the instru-
ment of working a wonderful deliverance for his people, at
length made a god of the spoils of his enemies, which be-
came a snare to him and to his house, so as to prove the
ruin of his family.
All yoiing ministers,' in this day of the bringing up the ark
of God, should take warning by the example of a young
Levite in Israel, viz. Uzza, the son of Abinadab. He
seemed to have a real concern for the ark of God, and to be
zealous and engaged in his mind, on that joyful occasion of
bringing up the ark, and God made him an instrument to bring
the ark out of its long contuiued obscurity in Kirjath-jearim,
and he was succeeded to bring it a considerable way towards
Mount Zion ; but for his want of humility, reverence, and
37
290 DEFEkENCE TO THE AGED.
circumspection, and assuming to himself, or taking too much
upon him, God broke forth upon him, and smote him for his
error, so that he never hved to see and partake of the great
joy of his church, on occasion of the carrying up the ark
into Mount Zion, and the great blessings of heaven upon
Israel, that were consequent upon it. Ministers that have
been improved to carry on this work, have been chiefly of
the younger sort, who have doubtless (as Uzza had) a real
concern for the ark ; and it is evident that they are much
animated and engaged in their minds (as he was) in this joy-
ful day of bringing up' the ark ; and they are afraid what
will become of the ark under the conduct of its ministers
(that are sometimes in scripture compared to oxen) ; they
see the ark shakes, and they are afraid these blundering
oxen will throw it ; and some of them, it is to be feared,
have been over officious on this occasion, and have assumed
too much to themselves, and havfe been bold to put forth
their hand to take hold of the ark, as though they were the
only fit and worthy persons to defend it.
If young ministers had great humility, without a mixture,
it would dispose them especially to treat ageji ministers
with respect and reverence, as their fathers, notwithstanding
that a sovereign God may have given them greater assist-
ance and success than they have had. 1 Pet. v. 5. " Like-
wise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder ; yea, all
of you, be subject one to another ; and be clothed with hu-
mility ; for God lesisteth the proud, and giveth giace to the
humble." Lev. xix. 32. " Thou shalt rise up before the
hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy
God ; I am the Lord."
As spiritual pride disposes persons to assume much to
themselves, so it also disposes them to treat others w^ith neg-
lect:- on the contrary, pure Christian humilit}^ disposes per-
sons to honor all men. agreeable, to that rule, 1 Pet. ii. 17.
There has been In some, that I believe are true friends of
religion, too much of an appearance of this fruit of spiritual
TRKATMENT OF THE UNCONVERTED 291
pride, in their treatment of those that they looked upon to be
carnal men ; and particularly in refusing to enter into any
discourse or reasoning with them. Indeed to spend a great
deal of time in jangling and warm debates about religion, is
not the way to propagate religion, but to hinder it ; and some
are so dreadfully set against this work, that it is a dismal
task to dispute with them, all that one can say is utterly in
vain ; I have found it so by experience ; and to go to enter
into disputes about religion, at some times, is quite unseason-
able, as particularly in meetings for religious conference, or
exercises of worship. But yet we ought to be very caroful
that we do not refuse to discourse with men, with any ap-
pearance of a supercilious neglect, as though we counted them
not worthy to be regarded ; on the contrary, we should conde-
scend to carnal men, as Christ has condescended to us, to
bear with our unteachableness and stupidity, and still to fol-
low us with instructions, line upon line, and precept upon
precept, saying, Come let us reason together ; setting light
before us, and using all manner of arguments with us, and
waiting upon such dull scholars, as it were hoping that we
should receive light. We should be ready with meekness
and calmness, without hot disputing, to give our reasons, why
v/e think this work is the work of God, to carnal men when
they ask us, and not turn them by as not worthy to be
talked with ; as the apostle directed the primitive Christians
to be- ready to give a renson of the Christian faith xind hope,
to. the enemies of Christianity. I Pet. iii. 15. "Be ready al-
ways to give an answer to every man that asketh you a rea-
son of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."
And we ought not to'condemn all reasoning about things of
religion, under the name of carnal reason. For my part, I
desire no better than that those that oppose this work, should
come fairly to submit to have the cause betwixt us tried by
strict reasoning.
One quaUfication that the scripture speaks of, once and
again, as. requisite in a minister, is, that he should be apt to
292 WRONG PREMISES LEAD TO ERROR.
teachj 1 Tim. iii. 2. And the apostle seems to explain what
he means by it, in 2 Tim. ii. 24. 25. ; or at least there ex-
presses one thing he intends by it, viz. that a minister should
be ready meekly to condescend to and instruct opposers.
" And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle
unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give
them repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth."
SECTION II.
Errors in a revival^ arising from the adoption of wrong
'principles.
Secondly, Another thing from whence errors in conduct^
that attend such a revival of religion, do arise, is lorong
principles.
And one erroneous principle, than which scarce any has
proved more mischievous to the present glorious work of God,
is a notion that it is God's manner, now in these days, to
guide his saints, at least some that are more eminent, by in-
spiration, or immediate revelation, and to make known to
them what shall come to pass hereafter, or what it is his* will
that they -should do, by impressions that he by his Spirit
makes upon their minds, either with or without texts of
scripture ; whereby something is made known to them, that
is not taught in the scripture as the words lie in the Bible:
By such a notion the devil has a great "floor opened for him ;
and if once this opinion should come to be fully yielded to,
and established in the church of God, Satan would have op-
portunity thereby to set up himself as the guide and oracle
of God's people, and to have his word regarded as their in-
fallible rule, and so to lead them where he would, and to in-
troduce what he pleased, and soon to bring the Bible into
IMPRESSIONS AND IMPULSES. 293
neglect and contempt. Late experience in some instances,
has shown that the tendency of this notion is to cause per-
sons to esteem the Bible as a book that is in a great measure
useless.
This error will defend and support all errors. As long as
a person h^s a notion that he is guided by immediate direc-
tion from heaven, it makes him incorrigible and impregnable
in all his misconduct : for what signifies it, for poor blind
worms of the dust, to go to argue with a man, and endeavor
to convince him and correct him, that is guided by the im-
mediate couYisels and commands of the great Jehovah ?
This great work of God has been exceedingly hindered
by this error ; and till we have (juite taken this handle out
of the devil's hands, the work of God will nevei- go on with-
out great clogs and hinderances. But Satan will always
have a vast advantage in his hands against it, and as he has
improved it hitherto, so he will do still : and it is evident that
the devil knows the vast advantage he has by it, that* makes
liim exceeding loath to let go his hold.
It is strange what a disposition there is in* many well-dis-
posed and religious persons, to fall in with and hold fast this
notion. It is enough to astonish one that such multiplied,
plain instances of the foiUng of such supposed revelations, in
the event, do not open every one's eyes. I have seen so
many instances of the faihng of such impressions, that would
almost furnish a history : I have been acquainted with them
when made under all kinds of circumstances, and have seen
them fail in the event, when made with such circumstances
as have been fairest and brightest, and most promising ; . as
when they have been n*iade upon the minds of such, as there
was all reason to think were true saints, yea, eminent saints,
and at the very time when they have had great divine dis-
coveries, and kave been in the high exercise of true commu-
nion with God, and made with great strength, and with great
sweetness accompanying, and I have had reason to think
with an excellent heavenly frame of spirit, yet continued.
294 SUFFICIENCY OF THE SCRIPTURES,
and made with texts of scripture, that seemed to be exceed-
ing apposite, yea, many texts following one another, extra-
ordinarily and wonderfully brought to the mind, and with
great power and majesty, and the impressions repeated over
and over, after prayers to be directed ; and yet all has most
manifestly come to nothing, to the full conviction of the per-
sons themselves. And God has in so many instances 6f late
in his providence, centered such things with darkness, that
one would think it should be enough quite to blank the ex-
pectations of suoh as have been ready to think highly of such
things ; it seems to be a testimony of God, that he has no
design of reviving revelations in his church, and a rebuke
from him to the groundless expectations of it.
It seems to me that that scripture, Zech. xiii. 5., is a pro-
phecy concerning ministers of the gospel, in the latter and
glorious day of the Christian church, which is evidently
spoken of in this and foregoing chapters ; the words are, " I
am no prophet; I am a husbandman : for man taught me
to keep cattle from my youth." The words, I apprehend,
are to be interpreted in a spiritual sense ; / am a husband-
man. The work of ministers is very often. in the New Tes-
tament, compared to the business of the husbandman, that
take care of God's husbandry, to whom he lets out his vine-
yard, and sends them forth to labor in his field, where one
plants and another waters, one sows and another reaps ; so
ministers are called laborers in God's harvest. And as it is
added, mayi taught me to keep cattle from, my youth ; so
Che worK of a minister is very often in scripture represented
by .the business of a shepherd or pastor. And whereas it is
said, / am no projjhel : .hut m^an' taught m.e from, my
youth : it is as much as to say, I do not preteiKl to have re-
ceived my skill, whereby I am fitted for the business of a pas-
tor or shepherd in the church of God, by imiifcdiate inspira-
tion, but by education, by being trained up to the business
by human learning, and instructions I . have received from
my youth or childhood, by o»*dinary means.
KNOWLEDGE ALONE NOT SUFFICIENT. 295
And why cannot wc be contented with tlie divine oracles,
that holy, pure word of God, that we have in such abun-
dance, and such clearness, now since tiie canon of scripture
is completed ? Why should we desire to have any thing
added to them by impulses from above ? Why should not
we rest in that standing rule that God has given to his
church, which the apostle teaches us is surer than a voice
from heaven ? And why should we desire to make the scrip-
ture speak more to us than it does ? .Or why should any
desire any higher kind of intercourse with Heaven, than that
which is by having the Holy Spirit given in liis sanctifying
influences, infusing and exciting grace and hohness, love
and joy, which is the highest kind of intercourse that the
saints and angels in heaven have with God, and the chief
excellency of the glorified man Christ Jesus ?
Some that follow impulses and impressions, go away with
a notion that they do not other than follow the guidance of
God's word, and make the scripture their rule, because the
impression is made with a text of scripture that comes to
their mind, though they take that text as it is impressed on
their minds, and improve it as a new revelation, to all intents
and purposes, or as the revelation of a particular thing, that
is now newly made, while the text in itself, as it is in the
Bible, implies no such thing, and they themselves do not
suppose that any such revelation was contained in it befo.re.
As for instance, suppose that text should come into a person's
mind with strong impression. Acts ix. 6., " Arise, and go
into the city : and it shall be told thee what thou must do."
And he should interpret it as an immediate signification of
the will of God, that he should now forthwith go to such a
neighbor town, and as a revelation of that future event, viz.
that there he should meet with a further discovery of his
duty. If such things as th^e are revealed by the impres-
sion of these words, it is to all intents a new revelation, not
the less because certain words of scripture are made use of
in the case : here are propositions or truths entirely new,
296 IMPRESSIONS WITH TEXTS OP SCRIPTURES.
that are supposed now to be revealed, that those words do
not contain in themselves, and that till now theic was no
revelation of any where to be found in heaven or earth.
These propositions, that it is God's mind and will that such
a person by name,- should arise at such a time, and go from
such a place to such a place, and that there he should meet
with discoveries, are entirely new propositions, wholly differ-
ent from the propositions contained in that text of scripture,
no more contained, .or consequently implied in the words
themselves, without a new revelation, than it is implied that
he should arise and go to any other place, or that any other
person should arise and go to that" place. The propositions
supposed to be now revealed, are as really different from those
contained in that scripture, as they are from the propositions
contained in that text, Gen. v. 6., " And Seth lived a hun-
dred and five years, and begat Enos."
This is quite a different thing from the Spirit's enlighten-
ing the mind to understand the precepts or propositions of
the word of God, and know what is contained and revealed
in thein, and what consequences may justly be drawn from
them, iivA to see how they are applicable to our case and
circumstances ; which is done without any new revelation,
only by enabling the mind to understand and apply a reve-
lation already made.
Those texts of scripture that speak of the children of God
as led hy the Spirit^ have been by some brought to defend
a being guided by such impulses ; as particularly, those
Rom. viii. 14., " For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God :" and Gal. v. 18., "But if
ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law." But
these texts themselves confute them that bring them ; for it
is evident that the leading of the Spirit that the apostle
speaks of is «, gracious leading, or what is peculiar to the
children of God, and that natural men cannot have ; for he
speaks of it as a sure evidence of their being the sons of
God, and not under the law 4 but a leading or directing a
now THE SAINTS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT. 297
person, by immediately revealing to him where he should
gOj or what shall hereafter come to pass, or what shall *be
the future consequence of his doing thus or thus, if there be
any such thing in these days, is not of the nature of the
gracious leading of the Spirit of God, that is peculiar to God's
children ; it is no more than a common gift ; there is no-
thing in it but what natural men are capable of, and many
of them have had in the days of inspiration : a man may
have ten thousand such revelations and directions from the
Spirit of God, and yet not have a jot of grace in his heart :
it is no more than the gift of prophecy, which immediately
reveals what will be, or should be hereafter ; but this is but
a common gift, as the apostle expressly shows, 1 Cor. xiii. 2,
8. If a person has any thing revealed to him from God, or
is directed to any thing by a voice from heaven, or a whis-
per, or words immediately suggested and put into his mind,
there is nothing of the nature of grace merely in this ; it is
of the nature of a common influence of th& Spiiit, and is
but dross and dung, in comparison of the excellency of that
gracious leading of the Spirit that the saints have. Such a
way of being directed where one shall go, and what he shall
do, is no more than what Balaam had from God, who from
time to time revealed to him what he should do, and when
he had done one thing, then directed him what he should
do next ; so that he was in this sense led by the Spirit, for a
considerable time. There is a tnore excellent way that the
Spiiit of God leads the sons of God, that natural men can-
not have, and that is, by inclining thenl to do the will of
God, and go in the shining path .of truth, and Christian ho-
liness, from a holy, heavenly disposition, which the Spirit of
God gives them, and enlivens in them, wiiich inclines them,
and leads them to those things that are excellent, and agree-
able to God's mind, whereby they " are transformed, by the
renewing of their minds, and prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God," as in Rom. xii. 2. And
so the S})irit of Gud docs in a gracious manner teach the
2b
298 ASSISTANCE OF THE SPIRIT
saints their duty ; and teaches them in a higlier manner
than ever Balaam, or Saul, or Judas were taught, or any
natural man is capable of while such. The Spirit of God
enlightens them with respect to their duty, by making their
eye single and pure, whereby the whole body is full of light.
The sanctifying influence of the Spirit of God rectifies the
taste of the soul, whereby it savors those things that are of
God, and naturally relishes and delights in those things that
are holy and agreeable to God's mind, and Uke one of a dis-
tinguishing taste, chooses those things that are good and
wholesome, and rejects those things that are evil ; for the
sanctified ear tries words, and the sanctified heart tries ac-
tions, as the mouth tastes meat. And thus the Spirit of God
leads and guides the meek in his way, agreeable to his pro-
mises ; he enables them to understand the commands and
counsels of his word, and rightly to apply them. Christ
blames the Pharisees that they had not this holy distinguish-
ing taste, to discern and distinguish what was right and
wrong. Luke xii. 57. " Yea, and why, even of your own
selves, judge ye not what is right ?"
The leading of the Spirit which God gives his children,
which is peculiar to them, is that teaching them his statutes,
and causing them to understand the way of his precepts,
which the psalmist so very often prays for, especially in the
119th psalm ; and not in giving of them new statutes^ and
neio jprecepts : he graciously gives them eyes to see, and
ears to hear, and hearts to understand ; he causes them to
understand the fear of the Lord, and so brings the blind by
a way they knew not, and leads them in paths that they had
not known, and makes darkness hght before them, and
crooked things straight.
So the assistance of the Spirit in })raying and preaching,
seems by some to have l3een greatly misunderstood, and they
have sought after a miraculous assistance of inspiration, by
immediate suggesting of words to them, by such gifts and
influences of the Spirit, iii praying and teaching, as the
IN PRAYER AND PREACHING. 299
npostle speaks of, 1 Cor. xiv. 14, 26. (which many natural
men had in those clays), instead of a gracious holy assistance
of the Spirit of God, which is the far more excellent way
(as 1 Cor. xii. 31., and xiii. 1). The gracious and most ex-
cellent kind assistance of the Spirit of God in praying and
preaching, is not by immediate suggesting of words to the
apprehension, which may be with a cold, dead heart, but by
warming the heart, and filling it with a great sense of those
things that are to be spoken of, and with holy affections, that
that sense and those affections may suggest words. Thus
indeed the Spirit of God may be said indirectly and medi-
ately to suggest words to us, to indite our petitions for us,
and to teach the preacher what to say ; he fills the heart,
and that fills the mouth ; as we know that when men are
greatly affected in any matter, and their hearts are very full,
it fills them with matter for speech, and makes them elo-
quent upon that subject ; and much more have spiritual af-
fections this tendency, for many reasons that might be
given. When a person is in a holy and lively frame in se-
cret prayer, it will wonderfully supply him with matter, and
with expressions, as eveiy true Christian knows ; and so it
will fill his mouth in Christian conversation, and it has the
like tendency to enable a person in public prayer and
preaching. And if he has these holy influences of the
Spirit on his heart in a high degree, nothing in the world
will have so great a tendency to make both the matter and
manner of his public performances excellent and profitable.
But since there is no immediate suggesting of words from
the Spirit of God to be expected or desired, they who neglect
and despise study and premeditation, in order to a prepara-
tion for the pulpit, in such an expectation, are guilty of pre-
sumption ; though doubtless it may be lawful for some
persons, in some cases, (and they may be called to it) to
preach with very little stud}^ ; and the Spirit of God, by tlie
heavenly frame of heart that he gives them, may enable
them to do it to excellent purj)o.se.
300 IMPRESSIONS AND REVELATIONS.
Besides this most excellent way of the Spirit of God, in
assisting ministers in pubhc performances, which (considered
as the preacher'ri privilege) far excels inspiration, there is
a common assistance which natural men may have in these
days, and which the godly may have intermingled with a
gracious assistan,ce, which is also very different from inspira-
tion, and that is his assisting natural principles ; as his as-
sisting the natural apprehension, reason, memory, conscience,
and natural affection.
But to return to the head of impressions and immediate
revelations ; many lay themselves open to a delusion by ex-
pecting direction from heaven in this way, and waiting for
it : in such a case it is easy for persons to imagine that they
have it. They are perhaps at a loss concerning something,
undetermined what they shall do, or what course they should
take in some affair, and they pray to God to direct them, and
make known to them his mind and vdll ; and then, instead
of expecting to be directed, by being assisted in consideration
of the rules of God's word, and their circumstances, and
God's providence, and enabled to look on things in a true
light, and justly to weigh them, they are waiting for some
secret immediate influence on their minds, unaccountably
swaying their minds, and turning their thoughts or inchna-
tions that way that God would have them go, and are ob-
serving their own minds, to see vrhat arises there, whether
some texts of scripture do not come into the mind, or whe-
ther some ideas, or inward motions and dispositions do not
arise in something of an unaccountable jnianner, that they
may call a divine direction. Hereby they are exposed to
two things. First, they lay themselves open to the devil,
and give him a fair opportunity to lead them where he
pleases ; for they stand ready to follow the first extraordinary
impulse that they shall have, groundlessly concluding it is
from God. And secondly, they are greatly exposed to be
deceived by their own imaginations ; for such an expecta-
tion awakens and quickens the imagination ; and that often-
PRAYING IN FAITH. 301
times is called an uncommon impression, that is no such
thing ; and they ascribe that to the agency of some invisi-
ble being, that is owing only to themselves.
Again, another way that many have been deceived, is by
drawing false conclusions from true premises. Many true
and eminent saints have been led into mistakes and snares,
by arguing too much from that, that they have prayed in
faith ; and that oftentimes \vhen the premises are true, they
have indeed been greatly assisted in prayer for such a par-
ticular mercy, and have had the true spirit of prayer in ex-
ercise, in their asking it of God ; but they have concluded
more from these premises than is a just consequence from
them : that they have thus prayed is a sure sign that their
prayer is accepted and heard, and that God will give a gra-
cious answer, according to his owai wisdom, and that the
particular thing that was ask^d shall be given, or that which
is equivalent ; this is a just consequence from it ; but it is
not inferred by any new revelation now made, but by the
revelation that is made in God's word, the promises made to
the prayer of faith in the holy scriptures : but that God will
answer them in that individual thing that they ask, if it be
not a thing promised in God's word, or they do not certainly
know that it is that which will be most for the good of God's
church, and the advancement of Christ's kingdom and glory,
nor whether it will be best for them, is more than can be
justly concluded from it. If God remarkably meets with
one of his children w^hile he is praying for a particular mercy
of great importance, for himself, or some other person, or any
society of men, and does by the influences of his Spirit
greatly humble him, and empty him of himself in his prayer,
and manifests himself remarkably in his excellency, sove-
reignty, and his all-sufficient power and grace in Jesus Christ,
and does in a remarkable manner enable the person to come
to him for that mercy, poor in spirit, and with humble resig-
nation to God, and with a great degree of faith in the divine
sufficiency, and the sufficiency of Christ's mediation, tliat,
302 PRAYING IN FAITH FOR
person has indeed a great deal the more reason to hope that
God will grant that mercy, than otherwise he would have ;
the greater probability is justly inferred from that, agreeably
to the promises of the holy scripture, that the prayer is ac-
cepted and heard ^ and it is much more probable that a
prayer that is heard will be returned \vith the particular
mercy that is asked, than one that is not heard. And there
is no reason at all to doubt, but that God does sometimes
especially enable to the exercises of faith, when the minds
of his saints are engaged in thoughts of and prayer for some
particular blessing they greatly desire ; i. e. God is pleased
especially to give them a believing frame, a sense of his full-
ness, and a spirit of humble dependence on him, at such
times as when they are thinking of and praying for that
mercy, more than for other mercies ; he gives them a par-
ticular sense of his ability to do that thing, and of the suffi-
ciency of his power to overcome such and such obstacles,
and the sufficiency of his mercy, and of the blood of Christ,
for the removal of the guilt that is in the w^ay of the bestow-
ment of such a mercy in particular. When this is the case,
it makes the probability still much greater, that God intends
to bestow the particular mercy sought, in his own time, and
his own way. But here is nothing of the nature of a reve-
lation in the case, but only a drawing rational conclusions
from the particular manner and circumstances of the ordi-
nary gracious influences of God's Spirit. And as God is
pleased sometimes to give his saints particular exercises of
faith in his sufficiency, with regard to particular mercies they
seek, so he is sometimes pleased to make use of his w^ord in
order to it, and helps the actings of faith with respect to such
a mercy, by texts of scripture that do especially exhibit the
sufficiency of God's power or mercy, in such a like case, or
speak of such a manner of the exercise of God's strength
and grace. The strengthening of their faith in God's suffi-
ciency in this case is therefore a just improvement of such
scriptures ; it is no more than what those scriptiu*es, as they
A PARTICULAR MERCV. 303
stand in the Bible, do hold forth just cause for. But to take
them as new whispers or revelations from heaven, is not
making a just improvement of them. If persons have thus
a spirit of prayer remarkably given them, concern mg a par-
ticular mercy, from time to time, so as evidently to be assisted
to act faith in God, in that particular, in a very distinguish-
ing manner, the argument in some cases may be very strong
that God does design to grant that mercy, not from any
revelation now made of it, but from such a kind and manner
of the ordinary influence of his Spirit, with respect to that
thing.
But here a great deal of cq^ution and circumspection must
be used in drawing inferences of this nature : there are many
ways persons may be misled and deluded. The ground on
which some expect that they shall receive the thing they have
asked for, is rather a strong imagination, than any true hum-
ble faith in the divine sufficiency. They have a strong per-
suasion that the thing asked shall be granted, (which they
can give no reason for,) without any remarkable discovery
of that glory and fullness of God and Christ, that is the
ground of faith. And sometimes the confidence that persons
have that their prayers shall be answered, is only a self-
righteous confidence, and no true faith : they have a high
conceit of themselves as eminent sahits, and special favorites
of G(Jd, and have also a high conceit of the prayers they
have made, because they were much enlarged and affected
in them ; and hence they are positive in it that the thing
will come to pass. And sometimes when once they have
conceived such a notion, they grow stronger and stronger in
it ; and this they think is from an immediate divine hand
upon their minds to strengthen their confidence ; whereas it
is only by their dwelling in their minds on their own excel-
lency, and higli experiences, and great assistances, whereby
they look brighter and brighter in their own eyes. Hence it
is found by observation and experience, that nothing in the
364 OF BBING MOVED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
world exposes so much to enthusiasm, as spiritual pride and
self-righteousness.
In order to drawing a just inference from the supposed as-
sistance we have had in prayer for a particular mercy, and
judging of the probability of the bestowment of that indivi-
dual mercy, many things must be considered. We must
consider the importance of the mercy sought, and the prin-
ciple whence we so earnestly desire it ; how far it is good,
and agreeable to the mind and will of God ; the degree of
love to God that we exercised in our prayer ; the degree of
discovery that is made of the divine sufficiency, and the de-
gree in which our assistance is manifestly distinguishing
with respect to that mercy. And there is nothing of greater
importance in the argument than the degree of humihty, po-
verty of spirit, self-emptiness, and resignation to the holy
will of God, which God gives us the exercise of in our seek-
ing that mercy : praying for a particular mercy with much
of these things, I have often seen blessed with a remarkable
bestowment of the particular thing asked for.
From what has been said, we may see which way God
may, only by the ordinary gracious influences of his Spirit,
sometimes give his saints special reason to hope for the be-
stowment of a particular mercy they desire and have prayed
for, and which we may suppose he oftentimes gives eminent
saints, that have great degrees of humility, and much*com-
munion with God. And here, I humbly conceive, some
eminent servants of Jesus Christ that have appeared in the
churcVi of God, that we read of in ecclesiastical story, have
been led into a mistake ; and through want of distinguishing
such things as these from immediate revelations, have thought
that God has favored them, in some instances, with the same
kind of divine influences that the apostles and prophets had
of old.
Another erroneous principle that some have embraced,
that has been a source of many errors in their conduct, is,
that persons ought, always to do whatsoever the Spirit of
YET NOT SECURED FROM ILL MISTAKES. 305
God (though but indirectly) inclines them to. Indeed the
Spirit of God in itself is infinitely perfect, and all his imme-
diate actings, simply considered, are perfect, and there can be
nothing wrong in them ; and therefore all that the Spirit of
God inclines us to directly and immediately, without the in-
tervention of any other cause that shall pervert and misim-
prove what is from the Spirit of God, ought to be done ; but
there may be many things that we may be disposed to do,
which disposition may indirectly be from the Spirit of God,
that we ought not to do. The disposition in general may
be good, and be from the Spirit of God, but the particular de-
termination of that disposition, as to particular actions, objects,
and circumstances, may be ill, and not from the Spirit of
God, but may be from the intervention or interposition of
some infirmity, blindness, inadvertence, deceit, or corruption
of ours ; so that although the disposition, in general, ought
to be allowed and promoted, and all those actings of it that
are simply from God's Spirit, yet the particular ill direction, or
determination of that disposition which is from some other
cause, ought not to be followed.
As for instance : the Spirit of God may cause a person to
have a dear love to another, and so a great desire of delight
in his comfort, ease, and pleasure : this disposition, in general,
is good, and ought to be followed ; but yet through the in-
tervention of indiscretion, or some other bad cause, it may be
ill directed, and have a bad determination, as to particular
acts ; and the person indirectly, through that real love that
he has to his neighbor, may kill him with kindness ; he
may do that out of sincere good will to him. that may tend
to ruin him. A good dispositioi* may, through some inad-
vertence or delusion, strongly inchne a person to that, which
if he saw all things as they are, would be most contrary to
that disposition. The true loyalty of a general, and his zeal
for the honor of his prince, may exceedingly animate him
in war ; but yet this that is a good disposition, through in-
discretion and mistake, may push him forward to those things
39
306 TRUE ZEAL MUST BE REGULATED.
that give the enemy great advantage, and may expose him
and his army to ruin, and may tend to the ruin of his mas-
ter's interest. '
The apostle does evidently suppose that the Spirit of God,
in his extraordinary, immediate, and miraculous influences
on men's minds, may in some respect excite inclinations in
men, that if gratified, would tend to confusion, and therefore
must sometimes be restrained, and in their exercise, must be
under the government of discretion. 1 Cor. xiv. 31, 32, 33.
" For ye may all prophesy, one by one, that all may learn,
and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets
are subject to the prophets ; for God is not the author of con-
fusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints."
Here, by the sjiirits of the prophets^ according to the known
phraseology of the apostle, is meant the Spirit of God acting
in the prophets, according to those special gifts with which
each one was endowed. And here it is plainly imphed that
the Spirit of God, thus operating in them, may be an occa-
sion of their having sometimes an inclination to do that, in
the exercise of those gifts, which it was not proper, decent,
or profitable that they should ; and that therefore the inclina-
tion, though indirectly from the Spirit of God, should be re-
strained, and that it ought to be subject to the discretion of
the prophets, as to the particular time and circumstances of
its exercise.
I can make no doubt but that it is possible for a minister
to have given him by the Spirit of God, such a sense of the
importance of eternal things, and of the misery of mankind,
that are so many of them exposed to eternal destruction, to-
gether with such a love to souls, that he might find in him-
self a dispositioi^ to spend all his time, day and night, in
warning, exhorting, and calling upon men, and so that he
must be obliged, as it were, to *do violence to himself ever to
refrain, so as to give himself any opportunity to eat, drink, or
sleep. And so I believe there may be a disposition in like
manner, indirectly excited in lay persons, through the inter-
WE MUST LOOK AT THE CONSEQUENCES. 307
vention of their infirmity, to do what only belongs to minis-
ters. Yea, to do those things that would not become either
ministers or people : through the influence of the Spirit of
God, together with want of discretion, and some remaining
corruption, women and children might feel themselves in-
clined to break forth and scream aloud, to great congrega-
tions, warning and exhorting the whole multitude, and to go
forth and halloo and scream in the streets, or to leave the fa-
milies they belong to, and go from house to house, earnestly
exhorting others ; but yet it would by no means follow that
it was their duty to do these things, or that they would noc
have a tendency to do ten times as much hurt as good. .
Another wrong principle from whence have arisen errors
in conduct, is, that whatsoever is found to be of present and
immediate benefit, may and ought to be practiced, w^ithout
looking forward to future consequences. Some persons seem
to think that it sufliciently justifies any thing that they say
or do, that it is found to be for their present edification, and
the edification of those that are with them ; it assists and
promotes their present affection, and therefore they think they
should not concern themselves about future consequences,
but leave them with God. Indeed, in things that are in
themselves our duty, being required by moral rules, or abso-
lute positive commands of God, they must be done, and fu-
ture consequences must be left with God ; our election and
discretion takes no place here : but in other things we arc
to be governed by discretion, and must not only look at the
present good, but our view must be extensive, and we must
look at the consequences of things. It is the duty of minis-
ters especially to exercise this discretion : in things wherein
they are not determined by an absolute rule, and that are not
enjoined them by a wisdom superior to their own, Christ has
left them to their own discretion, with that general rule, that
they should exercise the utmost wisdom they can obtain, in
pursuing that which, upon the best view of the conse-
quences of things they can get, will tend most to the ad-
308 WE MUST LOOK AT THE CONSEQUENCES,
vancement of his kingdom. This is imphed in those words
of Christ to his disciples, when he sent them forth to preach
the gospel, Mat. x. 16. " Be ye wise as serpents." The
scripture always represents the work of a gospel minister by
those employments that do especially require a wise foresight
of and provision for future events and consequences. So it
is compared to the business of a steward, that is, a business
that in an eminent manner requires forecast, and a wise
laying in of provision, for the supply of the needs of the
family, according to its future necessities ; and a good minis-
ter is called a wise steward : so it is compared to the business
of a husbandman, that almost wholly consists in those things
that are done with a view to the future fruits and conse-
quences of his labor : the husbandman's discretion and
forecast is eloquently set forth in Isa. xxviii, 24, 25, 26.
•'Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow ? Doth he open
and break the clods of his ground ? When he hath made
plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches,
and scatter tlie cummin, and cast in the principal wheat, and
the appointed barley, and the rye, in their place ? For his
God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him."
So the work of the ministry is compared to that of a wise
builder or architect, who has a long reach, and comprehen-
sive view ; and for whom it is necessary, that when he be-
gins a building, he should have at once a view of the whole
frame, and all the future parts of the structure, even to the
pinnacle, that all may be fitly framed together. So also it
is compared to the business of a trader or merchant, who is
to gain by trading with the money that he begins with :
this also is a business that exceedingly requires forecast, and
without it, is never like to be followed with any success, for
any long time : so it is represented b;^ the business of a fish-
erman, which depends on craft and subtlety : it is also com-
pared to the business of a soldier that goes to war, which is
a business that perhaps above any other secular business,
BEHAVIOR TOWARDS THE IMPENITENT. 309
requires great foresight, and a wise provision for future
events and consequences.
And particularly ministers ought not to be careless how
much they discompose and ruffle the minds of those that
they esteem natural men, or how great an uproar they raise
in the carnal world, and so lay blocks in the way of the
propagation of religion. This certainly is not to follow the
example of that zealous apostle Paul, who, though he would
not depart from his enjoined duty to please carnal men, yjet
wherein he might with a good conscience, did exceedingly
lay out himself to please them, and if possible to avoid
raising in the multitude prejudices, oppositions, and tumults,
against the gospel ; and looked upon it that it was of great
consequence that it should be if possible avoided. 1 Cor. x.
32, 33, " Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the
Gentiles, nor to the church of God : even as I please all
men, in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the
profit of many, that they may be saved." Yea, he declares
that he laid himself out so much for this, that he made him-
self a kind of a servant to all sorts of men, conforming to
their customs and various humors, in every thing wherein
he might, even in things that were very burdensome to him,
that he might not fright men away from Christianity, and
cause them to stand, as it were, braced and armed against
it, but on the contrary, if possible, might with condescension
and friendship win and draw them to it ; as you may see,
1 Cor. ix. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. And agreeable hereto, are
the directions he gives to others, both ministers and people :
so he directs the Christian Romans ''not to please them-
selves, but every one please his neighbor, for his good, to
edification," Rom, xv. 1, 2. " And to follow after the things
that make for peace," chap. xiv. 19. And he presses it in
terms exceeding strong, Rom. xii. 18. " If it be possible, as
much as lieth in you, hve peaceably with all men." And
he directs ministers to endeavor if possible to gain opposers
by a meek condescending treatment, avoiding all appearance
310 NECESSITY OF SUFFERING PERSECUTION.
of Strife or fierceness, 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25, 26. To the like
purpose the same apostle directs Christians to " walk in wis-
dom towards them that are without," Eph. iv. 5. And to
avoid giving offense to others, if we can, " that our good
may not he evil spoken of," Rom. xiv. 16. So that it is
evident that the gieat and most zealous and most successful
propagator of vital religion that ever was, looked upon it to
be of great consequence to endeavor, as much as possible, by
all, the methods of lawful meekness and gentleness, to avoid
raising the prejudice and opposition of the world against re-
ligion. When we have done our utmost there will be oppo-
sition enough against vital religion, against which the carnal
mind of man has such an enmity ; (we should not therefore
needlessly increase and raise that enmity) as in the apostle's
days, though he took so much pains to please men, yet be-
cause he was faithful and thorough in his work, persecution
almost every w^iere was raised against him.
A fisherman is careful not needlessly to ruflSe and disturb
the water, lest he should drive the fish away from his net ;
but he will rather endeavor, if possible, to draw them, into
it. Such a fisherman was the apostle. 2 Cor. xii. 15, 16.
" And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though
the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But
be it so, I did not burden you, nevertheless, bping crafty, I
caught you with guile."
The necessity of suflTering persecution in order to being a
true Christian, has undoubtedly by some been carried to an
extreme, and the doctrine has been abused. It has been
looked upon necessar\^ to uphold a man's credit amongst
others as a Christian, that he should be persecuted. I have
heard it made an objection against the sincerity of particular
persons, that they were no more hated and reproached. And
the manner of glorying in persecution, or the cross of Christ,
has in some been very wrong, so as has had too much an
appearance of lifting up themselves in it, that they were very
much hated and reviled, more than most, as an evidence of
NECESSITY OF SUFFERING PERSECUTION. 311
their excelling- others, in being good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Such an improvement of the doctrine of the enmity between
the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and of
the necessity of persecution, becoming credible and custo-
mary, has a direct tendency to cause those that would be
accounted true Christians, to behave themselves so towards
those that are not well affected to religion, as to provoke
their hatred, or at least to be but little careful to avoid it,
and not very studiously and earnestly to strive (after the
apostle's example and precepts) to please them to their edifi-
cation, and by meekness and gentleness to win them, and
by all possible means to live peaceably with them.
I believe that saying of our Savior, /came not to send
feace on earthy hut division^ has been abused ; as though
when we see great strife and division arise about religion,
and violent heats of spirit against the truly pious, and a loud
clamor and uproar against the work of God, it was to be
rejoiced in, because it is that which Christ came to send. It
has almost been laid down as a maxim by some, that the
more division and strife, the better sign ; which naturall}^
leads persons to seek it and provoke it, or leads them to and
encourages them in such a manner of behavior, such a
roughness and sharpness, or such an affected neglect, as has
a natural tendency to raise prejudice and opposition ; instead
of striving, as the apostle did to his utmost, by all meekness,
gentleness, and benevolence of behavior, to prevent or as-
suage it. Christ came to send a sword on earth, and to cause
division, no otherwise than he came to send damnation ; for
Christ, that is set for the glorious restoration of some, is set
for the fall of others, and to be a stone of stumblingf, and
rock of offense to them, and an occasion of their vastly more
aggravated and terrible damnation ; and this is always the
consequence of a great outpouring of the Spirit and revival
of vital religion ; it is the means of the salvation of some,
and the more aggravated danmation of others. But cer-
tainly this is no just argument, that men's exposedness to
312 OF NEW AND STRANGE MEASURES,
damnation is not to be lamented, or that we should not exert
ourselves to our utmost, in all the methods that we can
devise, that others might be saved, and to avoid all such
behavior towards them as tends to lead them down to hell.
I know there is naturally a great enmity in the heart of
man against vital rehgion ; and I believe there would have
been a great deal of opposition against this glorious work of
God in New England, if the subjects and promoters of it
had behaved themselves never so agreeably to Christian
rules ; and I believe if this work goes on and spreads much
in the world, so as to begin to shake kingdoms and nations,
it will dreadfully stri* up the rage of earth and hell, and will
put the world into the greatest uproar that ever it was in
since it stood ; I believe Satan's dying struggles will be the
most violent : but yet I believe a great deal might be done
to restrain this opposition, by a good conformity to that of
the apostle James, Jam. iii. 13. " Who is a wise man and
endued with knowledge ? Let him show out of a good con-
versation, his v/orks, with meekness of wisdom." And I
also believe that if the rules of Christian charity, meekness,
gentleness, and prudence, had been duly observed by the
generality of the zealous promoters of this work, it would
have made three times the progress that it has ; i. e. if it
had pleased God in such a case, to give a blessing to means
in proportion as he has done.
Under this head of carelessness of the future consequences
of things, it may be proper to say something of introducing
things new and strange, and that have a tendency by their
novelty to shock and surprise people. Nothing can be more
evident from the New Testament, than that such things
ought to be done with great caution and moderation, to avoid
the offense that may be thereby given, and the prejudices
that might be raised, to clog and hinder the progress of reli-
gion : Yea, that it ought to be thus in things that are in
themselves good and excellent, and of great weight, provided
they are not things that are of the nature of absolute duty.
OF NEW AND STRANGE MEASURES. 313
which, though they may appear to be innovations, yet can-
not be neglected without immoraUty or disobedience to the
commands of God. What great caution and moderation
did the apostles use in introducing things that were new, and
aboUshing things that were old, in their day ? How gradual
were the ceremonial performances of the law of Moses re-
moved and abolished among the Christian Jews ? And how
long did even the apostle Paul himself conform to those
ceremonies which he calls weak and beggarly elements ?
Yea, even the rite of circumcision, (Acts xvi. 3.) that he
speaks so much in his epistles of the worthlessness of, that
he might not prejudice the Jews against Christianity ? So it
seems to have been very gradually that the Jewish sabbath
was abolished, and the Christian sabbath introduced, for the
same reason. And the apostles avoided teaching the Chris-
tians in those early days, at least for a great while, some high
and excellent divine truths, because they could not bear them
yet. 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2. Heb. v. 11. to the end. Thus strictly
did the apostles observe the rule that their blessed Master
gave them, of not putting new wine into old bottles, lest they
should burst the bottles, and lose the wine. A.nd how did
Christ himself, while on earth, forbear so plainly to teach his
disciples the great doctrines of Christianity, concerning his
satisfaction, and the nature and manner of a sinner's justi-
fication and reconciliation with God, and the particular bene-
fits of his death, resurrection, and ascension, because in that
infant state the disciples were then in, their minds were not
prepared for such instructions ; and therefore the more clear
and full revelation of these things was reserved for the time
when their minds should be further enlightened and strength-
ened by the outpouring of the Spirit after his ascension.
John xvi. 12, 13. " I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now : howbeit, when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." And
Mark iv. 33. " And with many such parables spake he the
word unto them, as they were able to bear it." These
40
314 INDISCREET AND HASTY ZEAL.
things might be enough to convince any one, that does not
think himself wiser than Christ and his apostles, that great
prudence and caution should be used in introducing things
into the church of God, that are very uncommon, though in
themselves they may be very excellent, lest by our rashness
and imprudent haste we hinder religion much more than we
help it.
Persons that are influenced by an indiscreet zeal are always
in too much haste; they are impatient of delays, and there-
fore are for jumping to the uppermost step first, before they
have taken the preceding steps ; whereby they expose them-
selves to fall and break their bones. It is a thing very taking
with them to see the building rise very high,^and all their en-
deavor and strength is employed in advancing the building
in height, without taking care withal proportionably to enlarge
the bottom ; whereby the whole is in danger of coming to the
ground ; or they are for putting on the cupola and pinnacle
before they are come to it, or before the lower parts of the
building are done; which tends at once to put a stop to the
building, and hinder its ever being a complete structure.
Many that are thus imprudent and hasty with their zeal,
have a real eager appetite for that which is good ; but are like
children, that are impatient to wait for the fruit till the proper
season of it, and therefore snatch it before it is ripe : Often-
times in their haste they overshoot their mark, and frustrate
their own end ; they put that which they would obtain fur-
ther out of reach than it was before, and establish and
confirm that which they would remove. Things must have
time to ripen : The prudent husbandman waits till he has
received the former and the latter rain, and till tl^ie harvest is
ripe, before he reaps. We are now just as it were beginning
to recover out of a dreadful disease that we have been long
under ; and to feed a man recovering from a fever witli strong
meat at once, is the ready way to kill him. The reforma-
tion from popery was much hindered by this hasty zeal :
Many were for immediately rectifying all disorders by force,
WRONG NOTION OF ATTESTATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 315
which were condemned by Luther, and were a great trouble
to him. See Sleiden's histoiy of the reformation, p. 52, <fcc.
and book v. throughout. It is a vain prejudice that some
have lately imbibed against such rules of prudence and mo-
deration : they will be forced to come to them at last ; they
will find themselves that they are not able to maintain their
cause without them : and if they will not hearken before, ex-
perience will convince them at last, when it will be too late
for them to rectify their mistake.
Another error, that is of the nature of an- erroneous princi-
ple, that some have gone upon, is a wrong notion that they
haveof an attestation of Divine Provide nee to persons or things.
We go too far when we look upon the success that God gives
to some persons, in making them the instruments of doing
much good, as a testimony of God's approbation of those per-
sons and all the courses they take. It is a main argument
that has been made use of to defend the conduct of some of
those ministers, that have been blamed as imprudent and ir-
regular, that God has smiled upon them and blessed them,
and given them great success, and that however men charge
them as guilty of many wrong things, yet it is evident that
God is with them, and then who can be against them ? And
probably some of those ministers them,5clves, by this very
means, have had their ears stopped against all tiiat has been
said to convince them of.their misconduct. But there are in-
numerable ways that persons may be misled, in fojming a
judgment of the mind and will of God, from the events of
Providence. If a person's success be a reward of something
that God sees in him, that he approves of^ yet it is no argu-
ment that he approves of every thing in him. Who can tell
how far the divine grace may go in greatly rewarding some
small good that he sees in a person, a good meaning, some-
thing good in his disposition, while he at the same time, in
sovereign mercy^ hides his eyes from a great deal that is bad,
that it is his pleasure to forgive, and not to mark against the
person, though in itself it be very ill I God has not told us
31d PROVIDENCE NOT OUR RULE.
after what manner he will proceed in this matter, and we go
upon most uncertain grounds when we undertake to deter-
mine. It is an exceeding difficult thing to know how far
love or hatred are exercised towards persons or actions, by all
that is before us. God w^as pleased in his sovereignty to give
such success to Jacob in that, which from beginning to end,
was a deceitful, lying contrivance and proceeding of his, that
in that way he obtained that blessing that was worth infi-
nitely more than the fatness of the earth, and the dew of hea-
ven, that was given to Esau, in his blessing, yea, worth more
than all that the world can afford. God was for a while
with Judasj so that he, by God's power accompanying him,
wrought miracles and cast out devils ; but this could not
justly be interpreted as God's approbation of his person, or
his thievery, that he lived in at the same time.
The dispensations and events of Providence, with their
reasons, are too little understood by us, to be improved by us
as our rule, instead of God's word ; God has his loay in the
sea, and his "path in the inighty waters^ and his footsteps
are not known, and he gives us no account of any of his
matters ; and therefore we cannot safely take the events of
his providence as a revelation of his mind concerning a per-
son's conduct and behavior, w^e have no warrant so to do,
God has never appointed those things, but something else to
be our rule ; we have but one rule to go by, and that is his
holy word, and when we join any thing else with it as having
the force of a rule, v/e are guilty of that which is strictly for-
bidden, Deut. iv. 2. Prov. xxx. 6. and Rev. xxii. 18. They
who make what they imagine is pointed forth to them in pro-
vidence, their rule of behavior, do err, a.s well as those that
follow impulses and impressions : we should put nothing in
the room of the word of God. It is to be feared that some
have been greatly confirmed and emboldened b}^ the great
success that God has given them, in some things that have
really been contrary to the rules of God's holy word. If it
has been so, they have been guilty of presumption, and
TIME OF INWARD COMFORTS NO RULE. 317
abusing God's kindness to them, and the great honor he has
put upon them : they have seen that God was with them, and
made them victorious in their preaching ; and this it is to be
feared has been abused by some to a degree of self-confidence ;
it has much taken off all jealousy of themselves ; they have
been bold therefore to go great lengths, in a presumption that
God was with them, and would defend them, and finally baffle
all that found fault with them.
Indeed there is a voice of God in his providence, that may
be interpreted and well understood by the rule of his word ;
and providence may to our dark minds and weak faith, con-
firm the word of God, as it fulfills it : but to improve Divine
Providence thus, is quite a different thing from making a
rule of providence. There is a good use may be made of
the events of providence, of our own observation and expe-
rience, and human histories, and the opinion of the fathers,
and other eminent men ; but finally all must be brought to
one rule, viz. the word of God, and that must be regarded
as our onhj rule.
Nor do I think that they go upon sure ground, that con-
clude that they have not been in an error in their conduQt,
because that at the time of their doing a thing, for whi^h they
have been blamed and reproached by others, they were fa-
vored with special comforts of God's Spirii. God's bestowing
special spiritual mercies on a person at such a time, is no sign
that he approves of ever}^ thing that he sees in him at that
time. David had very much of the presence of God while
he lived in polygamy : and Solomon had some very high
favors, and peculiar smiles of Heaven, and particularly at the
dedication of the temple, while he greatly multiplied wives to
himself, and horses, and silver, and gold ; all contrary to the
most express command of God to the king, in the law of
Moses, Deut. xvii. 16, 17. We cannot tell how far God may
hide his eyes from beholding iniquity in Jacob, and seeing
perverseness in Israel. We cannot tell what are the reasons
of God's actions any tUrther than he interprets for himself.
318 TIME OP INWARD COMFORTS NO RULE.
God sometimes gave some of the primitive Christians, the ex-
traordinary influence of his Spirit, when they were out of the
way of their duty ; and contiimed it, while they were abusing-
it; as is plainly implied, 1 Cor. xiv. 31, 32, 33.
Yea, if aperson has done a thing for which he is reproached,
and that reproach be an occasion of his feeling sweet ex-
ercises of grace in his soul, and that from time to time, I do
not think that is a certain evidence that God approves of the
thing he is blamed for. For undoubtedly a mistake may be
the occasion of stirring up the exercise of grace, in a man that
has grace. If a person, through mistake, thinks he has re-
ceived some particular great mercy, that mistake may be the
occasion of stirring up the sweet exercises of love to God, and
true thankfulness and joy in God. As for instance, if one
that is full of love of God should hear credible tidings, con-
cerning a remarkable deliverance of a child, or other dear
friend, or of some glorious thing done for the city of God, no
wonder if, on such an occasion, the sweet actings of love to
God, and delight in God should be excited, though indeed
afterwards it should prove a false report that he heard. So if
one that loves God, is much maligned and reproached for
doing that which he thinks God required and approves, no
wonder that it is sweet to such a one to think that God is
his friend, though men are his enemies ; no wonder at all,
that this is an occasion of his, as it were, leaving the world,
and sweetly betaking himself to God, as his sure friend, and
finding sweet complacence in God ; though he be indeed in
a mistake, concerning that which he thought was agreeable
to God's will. As I have before shown that the exercise of a
truly good affection, may be the occasion of error, and may
indirectly incHne a person to do that which is wrong ; so on
the other hand, error, or a doing that which is wrong, may
be an occasion of the exercise of a truly good affection. The
reason of it is this, that however all exercises of grace be from
the Spirit of God, yet the Spirit of God dwells and acts in
the hearts of the saints, in some measure after the manner of
DISREGARD OF EXTERNAL ORDER.* 319
a vital, natiiial principle, a principle of new nature in them ;
whose exercises are excited by means, in some measure as
other natural principles are. Though grace be not in the
saints, as a mere natural jyrinciple, but as a sovereign agent,
and so its exercises are not tied to means^ by an immutable
law of nature, as in mere natural principles ; yet God has so
constituted, that -grace should dwell so in the hearts of the
saints, that its exercise should have some degree of connec-
tion with means, after the manner of a principle of nature.
Anotlier erroneous principle that there has been something
of, and that has been an occasion of some mischief and con-
fusion, is that external order in matters of religion, and use of
the means of grace, is but little to be regarded ; it is spoken
lightly of under the names of ceremonies and dead forms, <fec.
And is probable the more despised by some because their
opposers insist so much upon it, and because they are so con_
tinually hearing from them the cry of disorder and confu-
sion. It is objected against the importance of external order
that God does not look at the outward form, he looks at the
heart: but that is a weak argument against its importance,
that true godliness does not consist in it ; for it may be equaL
lymade use of against all the outward means of grace what-
soever. True godliness does not consist in ink and paper,
but yet that would be a foolish objection against the import-
ance of ink and paper in religion, when without it we could
not have the word of God. If any external means at all are
needful, any outward actions of a public nature, or wherein
God's people are jointly concerned in public society, without
doubt external order is needful : the management of an ex-
ternal, affair that is public, or wherein a multitude is con-
cerned withoutorder, is in every thing found impossible. With-
out order there can be no general direction of a multitude to
any particular designed end, their purposes will cross one ano-
ther, and they will not help but hinder one another. A mul-
titude cannot act in union one with another without order;
confusion separates and divides them, so that there can be no
320 IMPORTANCE OF EXTERNAL ORDER.
concert or agreement. If a multitude would help one ano-
ther in any affair, they must unite themselves one to another
in a regular subordination of members, in some measure as it
is in the natural body ; by this means they will be in some
capacity to act with united strengtli : and thus Christ has
appointed that it should be in the visible church, as 1 Cor.
xii. 14. to the end, and Rom. xii. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Zeal with-
out order will do but little, or at least it will be effectual but a
little while. Let a company that are very zealous against
the enemy, go forth to war, without any manner of order,
every one rushing forward as his zeal shall drive him, all in
confusion, if they gain something at first onset, by surprising
the enemy, yet how soon do they come to nothing, and fall
an easy, helpless prey to their adversaries 7 Order is one of
the most necessary of all external means of the spiritual good
of God's church : and therefore it is requisite even in heaven
itself where there is the least need of any external means of
grace ; order is maintained amongst the glorious angels there.
And the necessity of it in order to the carrying on any design,
wherein a multitude are concerned, is so great, that even the
devils in hell are driven to something of it, that they may car-
ry on the designsof their kingdom. And it is very observa-
ble, that those kinds of irrational creatures, for whom it is
needful that they should act in union and join a multitude
together, to carry on any work for their preservation, they do
by a wonderful instinct that God has put into them, observe
and maintain a most regular and exact order among them-
selves ; such as bees and some others. And order in the visi-
ble church is not only necessary to the carrying on the designs
of Christ's glory and the church's pros'perity,. but it is abso-
lutely necessary to its defense ; without it, it is like a city
without walls, and can be in no capacity to defend itself from
any kind of mischief: and so however it be an* external
thing, yet is not to be despised on that account ; for though it
be not the food of souls, yet it is in some respect their defense.
The people of Holland would be very foolish to despise the
ABSENCE FROM FAMILY WORSHIP. 321
dikes tliat kceji out the sea from oveuwhelmiiig them, under
the names of dead stones and vile earth, because the matter
of which they are built is not good to eat.
It seems to be partly on the foundation of this notion of
the worthlessness of external order, that some have seemed
to act on that principle, that the power of judging and openly
censuring others should not be reserved in the hands of par-
ticular persons, or consistories appointed thereto, but ought to
be left at large, for any body that pleases to take it upon
them, or that think themselves fit for it ; but more of this
afterwards.
On this foundation also, an orderly attending on the stated
worship of God in families, has been made too light of; and
it has been in some places too much of a common and cus-
tomary thing to l)e absent from family worship, and to be
abroad late in the night at religious meetings, or to attend reli-
gious conversation. Not but that this may be, on certain
extraordinary occasions ; I have seen the case to be such in
many instances, that I have thought did afford sufficient war-
rant for persons to be absent from family prayer, and to be
from home till very late in the night : but we should take
heed that this docs not become a custom or common practice;
if it should be so, we shall soon find the consequences to be
very ill.
It seems to be on the same foundation of the supposed un-
profitableness of external order, that it has been thought by
some, that there is no need that such and such religious ser-
vices and performances should be limited to any certain oflSce
in the church ; (of which more afterwards.) And also that
those offices themselves, as particularly that of the gospel mi-
nistry, need not be limited as it used to be, to persons of a
liberal education ; but some of late have been for having
others that they have supposed to be persons of eminent ex-
perience, publicly licensed to preach, yea, and ordained to the
work of the ministry ; and some ministers have seemed to
favor such a thing : but liow little do they seem to look for-
11
I
322 LICENSING UNLEARNED MEN TO PREACH.
ward, and consider the unavoidable consequences of opening
such a door ? If once it should become a custom, or a thing
generally approved and allowed of, to admit persons to the
work of the ministry that have had no education for it, be-
cause of their remarkable experiences, and being persons of
good understanding^ how many lay persons would soon ap-
pear as candidates for the work of the ministry ? I doubt
not but that I have been acquainted with scores that would
have desired it. And how shall we know where to stop ?
If one is admitted because his experiences are remarkable,
another will think his experiences also remarkable ; and we
perhaps shall not be able to deny but that they are near as
great : if one is admitted because, besides experiences, he has
good natural abilities, another by himself, and many of his
neighbors, may be thought equal to him. It will be found
of absolute necessity that there should be some certain, visible
limits fixed, to avoid bringing odium upon ourselves, and
breeding uneasiness and strife amongst others ; and I know
of none better, and indeed no other that can well be fixed,
than those that the prophet Zechariah fixes, viz. that those
only should be appointed to be pastors or shepherds in God's
church, that have been taught to keep cattle from their
youth, or that have had an education for that purpose. Those
ministers that have a disposition to break over these limits,
if they should do so, and make a practice of it, w^ould break
down that fence, which they themselves after a while, after
they have been wearied with the ill consequences, would be
glad to have somebody else build up for them. Not but that
there may probably be some persons in the land, that have
had no education at college, that are in themselves better
qualified for the work of the ministry than some others that
have taken their degrees, and are now ordained. But yet I
believe the breaking over those bounds that have hitherto
been set, in ordaining such persons, would in its conse-
quences be a greater calamity, than the missing such persons
in the work of the ministry. The opening a door for the
USING. THE STYLE OF CHRIST AND THE PROPHETS, 323
admission of unlearned men to the work of the ministry,
though they should be persons of extraordinary experience,
would, on some accounts, be especially prejudicial at such a
day as this ; because such persons, for want of an extensive
knowledge, are oftentimes forward to lead others into those
things, which a people are in danger of at such a time, above
all other times, viz. impulses, vain imaginations, superstition,
indiscreet zeal, and such like extremes ; instead of defend-
ing them from them, for which a people especially need a
shepherd, at such an extraordinary season.
Another erroneous principle that it seems to me some have
been, at least, in danger of, is, that ministers, because they
speak as Christ's embassadors, may assume the same style,
and speak as with the same authority that the prophets of
old did, yea, that Jesus Christ himself did in Mat. xxiii., "Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers," &c., and other places ; and
that not only when they are speaking to the people, but also
to their brethren in the ministry ; which principle is absurd,
because it makes no difference in the different degrees and
orders of messengers that God has sent into the world, though
God has made a very great difference : for though they all
come, in some respect, in the name of God, and with some-
thing of his authority, yet certainly there is a vast difference
in the degree of authority with which God has invested
them. Jesus Christ was one that was sent into the world
as God's messenger, and so was one of his apostles, and so
also is an ordinary pastor of a church ; but yet it does not
follow, that because Jesus Christ and an ordinary ministsr
are hot h messengers of God, that therefore an ordinary mi-
nister in his office, is vested with an equal degree of authority,
that Christ was in his. As there is a great difference in their
authority, and as Clnist came as God's messenger, in a vastly
higher manner, so another style became him, more authorita-
tive than is proper for us worms of the dust, though we also
are messengers of inferior degree. It would be strange if
God, when ho has made so i]rreat a difference in the degree
324 MIXTURES IN EXPERIENCES.
in which he has invested different messengers with his au-
thority, should make no difference as to the outward appear-
ance and show of authority, in style and behavior, which is
proper and fit to be seen in them. Though God has put
great honor upon ministers, and they may speak as his em-
bassadors, yet he never intended that they should have the
same outward appearance of authority and majesty, either in
their behavior or speech, that his Son shall have, when he
comes to judgment, at the last day ; though both come, in
different respects and degrees, in the name of the Lord.
Alas ! can any thing ever make it enter into the hearts of
worms of the dust, that it is fit and suitable that it should be
so?
Thus I have considered the two first of those three causes
of error in conduct that were mentioned.
SECTION III.
Errors from bei7ig ignorant or unobservant of thing s^ hy
which the devil has a special advantage.
I COME now to the third and last cause of the errors of
those that have appeared to be the subjects or zealous pro-
moters of this work, viz. a being ignorant or unobservant of
some particular things, by which the devil has special ad-
vantage.
And here I would particularly take notice, 1. Of some
things with respect to the inward experiences of Christians
themselves. And 2. Something with regard to the external
effects of experiences.
I. There are three things I would take notice of with re-
gard to the experiences of Christians, by which the devil has
many advantages against us.
WHAT THINGS ARE MINGLED IN EXPERIENCES. 325
1. The first thing is the mixture there oftentimes is in the
experiences of true Christians ; whereby when they have truly
gracious experiences, and divine and spiritual discoveries
and exercises, they have something else mixed with them,
besides what is spiritual : there is a mixture of that which is
natural, and that which is corrupt, with that which is divine.
This is what Christians are liable to in the present exceeding
imperfect state : the great imperfection of grace, and feeble-
ness and infancy of the new nature, and the great remains of
corruption, together with the circumstances we are in in this
world, where we are encompassed all round with what tends
to pollute us, exposes to this. And indeed it is not to be sup-
posed that Christians ever have any experiences in this world
that are wholly pure, entirely spiritual, without any mixture
of what is natural and carnal : the beam of light, as it comes
from the fountain of light upon our hearts, is pure, but as it is
reflected thence, it is mixt : the seed as sent from heaven and
planted in the heart, is pure, but as it springs up out of the
heart, is impure ; yea there is commonly a much greater mix-
ture, than persons for the most part seem to have any ima-
gination of ; I have often thought that the experiences of
true Christians are very frequently as it is with some sorts of
fruits, that are enveloped in several coverings of thick shells
or pods, that are thrown away by him that gathers the fruit,
and but a very small part of the whole bulk is the pure ker-
nel, that is good to eat.
The things, of all which there is frequently some mixture
with gracious experiences, yea with very great and high ex-
periences, are these three, hiunan^ or natural affection and
2)assion ; imjjressions 07i the imagination ; and a degree
of self-righteousness or sjririttial pride. There is very
often with that w^hich is spiritual a great mixture of that
affection or passion which arises from natural principles ; so
that nature has a very great hand in those vehement motions
and flights of the passions that appear. Hence the same de-
grees of divine communications from heaven, shall have
vastly different effects, in what outwardly appears, in persons
326 HUMAN PASSIONS MIXED WITH EXPERIENCES.
of different natural tempers. The great mixture of that
which is natural with that which is spiritual, is very manifest
in the peculiar effects that divine influences have in some
certain fa-iiilies, or persons of such a blood, in a distinguishing
manner of the operating of the passions and affections, and the
manner of the outward expressions of them. I know some
remarkable instances of this. The same is also evident by
the different effects of divine communications on the same
person at different times, and in different circumstances :
The novelty of things, or the sudden transition from an op-
posite extreme, and many other things that might be men-
tioned, greatly contribute to the raising of the passions. And
sometimes there is not only a mixture of that which is com-
mon and natural with gracious experience, but even that
which is animal, that which is in a great measure from the
body, and is properly the result of the animal frame. In what
true Christians feel of affections towards God, all is not always
purely holy and divine ; every thing that is felt in the affec-
tions does not arise from spiritual principles, but common and
natural principles have a very great hand ; an improper self-
Jove may have a great share in the effect. God is not loved
for his own sake, or for the excellency and beauty of his own
perfections as he ought to be ; nor have these things in any
wise, that proportion in the effect that they ought to have.
So in that love that true Christians have one to another, very
often there is a great mixture of what arises from common
and natural principles, with grace ; and self-love has a great
hand : the children of God be not loved purely for Christ's
sake, but there may be a great mixture of that natural love
that many sects of heretics have boasted of, who have been
greatly united one to anothei', because they were of their
company, on their side, against the rest of the world ; yea,
there may be a mixture of natural love to the opposite sex,
with Christian and divine love. So there may be a great
mixture in that sorrow for sin that the godly have ; and also
in their joys ; natural piinciple? may greatly contribute to
IMPRESSIONS ON THE IMAGINATION. 327
what is felt, a great many ways, as might easily be shown,
would it not make my discourse too lengthy. There is no-
thing that belongs to Christian experience that is more liable
to a corrupt mixture than zeal ; though it be an excellent
virtue, a heavenly flame, when it is pure : but as it is exer-
cised in those who are so little sanctified, and so little hum-
bled, as we are in the present state, it is very apt to be mixed
with human passion, yea with corrupt, hateful affections,
pride and uncharitable bitterness, and other things that are
not from heaven but from hell.
Another thing that is often mixed with what is spiritual
in the experiences of Christians, are, impressions on the ima-
gination ; whereby godly persons, together with a spiritual
understanding of divine things, and conviction of their reality
and certainty, and a strong and deep sense of their excellency
or great importance upon their hearts, have strongly im-
pressed on their minds external ideas or images of things. A
degree of imagination in such a case, as I have observed else-
where, is unavoidable, and necessarily arises from human
nature, as constituted in the present state ; and a degree of
imagination is really useful, and often is of great benefit •
but when it is in too great a degree, it becomes an impure
mixture that is prejudicial. This mixture very often arises
from the constitution of the body. It commonly greatly con-
tributes to the other kind of mixture mentioned before, viz.
of natural affections and passions ; it helps to raise them to a
great height.
Another thing that is often mixed with the experiences of
true Christians, which is the worst mixture of all, is a degree
of self-righteousness or spiritual pride. This is often mixed
with the joys of Christians : the joy that they have is not
purely the joy of faith, or a rejoicing in Christ Jesus, but is
partly a rejoicing in themselves : there is oftentimes in their
elevations a looking upon themselves, and a viewing their
own high attainments ; they rejoice partly because they are
taken with their own ex[)eriences and great discoveries, which
328 MIXTURES IN HIGH AFFECTIONS.
makes the in in their own apprehensions so to excel ; and
this heightens all their passions, and especially those effects
that are more external.
There is a much greater mixture of these things in the
experiences of some Christians than others ; in some the
mixture is so great, as very much to obscure and hide the
beauty of grace in them, like a thick smoke that hinders all
the shining of the fire.
These things we ought to be well aware of, that we may
not take all for gold that glistens, and that we may know
what to countenance and encourage, and what to discourage;
otherwise Satan will have a vast advantage against us, for
he works in the corrupt mixture. Sometimes for want of
persons distinguishing the ore from the pure metal, those ex-
periences are most admired by the persons themselves that
are' the subjects of tliem, and by others, that are not the most
excellent. The great external effectSj and vehemence of the
passions, and violent agitations of the animal spirits, is some-
times much owing to the corrupt mixture (as is very appa-
rent in some instances), though it be not always so. I have
observed a great difference among those that are vmder high
affections, and seem disposed to be earnestly talking to those
that are about them ; some insist much more, in their talk,
on what they behold in God and Christ, the glory of the
divine perfections, Christ's beauty and excellency, and won-
derful condescension and grace, and their own unworthiness,
and the great and infinite obligations that they themselves
and others are under to love and serve God : some insist al-
most wholly on their own high privileges, then* assurance of
God's love and favor, and the weakness and wickedness of
opposers, and how much tliey are above their reach. The
latter may have much of the presence of God, but their ex-
periences do not appear to be so solid and unmixed as the
former. And there is a great deal of difference in persons'
earnestness in their talk and behavior ; in some it seems to
come indeed from the fullness of their hearts, and from tiie
DEFECTS IN EXPERIENCES. 329
great sense they have of truth, a deep sense of the certainty
and infinite greatness, excellency, and importance of divine
and eternal things, attended with all appearances of great
humility ; in others their earnestness seems to arise from a
great mixture of human passion, and an undue and intem-
perate agitation of the spirits, which appears by their ear-
nestness and vehemence not heing proportioned to the nature
of the subject they insist on, but they are violent in every
thing they say, as much when they are talking of things of
smaller importance, as when speaking of things of greater
weight. I have seen it thus in an instance or two, in which
this vehemence at length issued in distraction. And there
have been some few instances of a more extraordinary nature
still, even of persons finding themselves disposed earnestly
to talk and cry out, from an unaccountable kind of bodily
pressure, without any extraordinary view of any thing in
their minds, or sense of any thing upon their hearts ;
wherein probably there was the immediate hand of the
devil.
II. Another thing by which the devil has great advantage,
is the unheeded defects there sometimes are in the experi-
ences of true Christians, and those high affections wherein
there is much that is truly good.
What I now have respect to is something diverse from
that defect, or imperfection of degree, which is. in every holy
disposition and exercise in this life, in the best of the saints.
What I aim at is experiences being especially defective in
some particular thing, that ought to be in them ; which,
though it be not an essential defect, or such a defect as is in
the experiences of hypocrites, which renders them utterly
vain, monstrous, and altogether abominable to God, yet is
such a defect as maims and deforms the experience ; the
essence of truly Christian experiences is not wanting, but
yet that is wanting that is very needful in order to the proper
beauty of the image of Christ in such a person's experi-
ences ; but things are very much out of a due proportion.
42
330 DISPROPORTION IN THE EXPERIENCES,
There is indeed much of some things, but at the same time
there is so httle of some other things that should bear a pro-
portion, that the defect very much deforms the Christian,
and is truly odious in the sight of God.
What I observed before was something that deformed the
Christian, as it was too mueh^ something mixed, that is not
belonging to the Christian as such ; what I speak of now is
something that deforms the Christian the other way, viz. by
there not being enough, something wanting, that does be-
long to the Christian as such : the one deforms the Christian
as a monstrous excrescence, the other as thereby the new
creature is maimed, and some member in a great measure
wanting, or so small and withering as to be very much out
of due proportion. This is another spiritual calamity that
the saints are liable to through the great imperfection of
grace in this life ; like the chicken in the egg, in the begin-
ning of its formation, in which, though there are indeed the
rudiments or lineaments of all the parts, yet some few parts
are plain to be seen, when others are hid, so that without a
microscope it appears very monstrous.
When this deficiency and disproportion is great, as some-
times it is in real saints, it is not only a great deformity in
itself, but has many ill consequences ; it gives the devil
great advantage, and leaves a door open for corruption, and
exposes to very deformed and unlovely actions, and issues
oftentimes in the great wounding of the soul.
For the better understanding of this matter, w^e may ob-
serve that God, in the revelation that he has made of him-
self to the world by Jesus Christ, has taken care to give a
proportionable manifestation of two kinds of excellences or
perfections of his nature, viz. those that especially tend to
possess us with awe and reverence, and to search and hum-
ble us, and those that tend to win, and draw, and encourage
us : by the one, he appears as an infinitely great, pure, holy,
and heart-searching Judge ; by the other, as a gentle and
gracious Father and a loving friend : by the one he is a
OF MANY TRUE CHRISTIANS. 331
pure, searching, and burning flame ; by the other a sweet,
refreshing hglit. These two kinds of attributes are, as it
were, admirably tempered together in the revelation of the
gospel : there is a proportionable manifestation of justice and
mercy, holiness and grace, majesty and gentleness, authority
and condescension. God hath thus ordered that his divei"se
excellences, as he reveals himself in the face of Jesus Christ,
should have a proportionable manifestation, herein providing
for our necessities : he knew it to be of great consequence that
our apprehensions of these diverse perfections' of his nature
should be duly proportioned one to another ; a defect on the
one hand, viz. having much of a discovery of his love and
grace, without a proportionable discovery of his awful ma-
jesty, and his holy and searching purity, would tend to spi-
ritual pride, carnal confidence, and presumption ; and a de-
fect on the other hand, viz. having much of a discovery of
his holy majesty, without a proportionable discovery of his
grace, tends to unbelief, a sinful fearfulness, and spirit of
bondage : and therefore herein chiefly consists that defi-
ciency of experiences that I am now speaking of The
revelation God has made of himself in his word, and the
provision made for our spiritual welfare in the gospel is per-
fect, but yet the actual light and communications we have,
are not perfect, but many ways exceeding imperfect and
maimed. And experience plainly shows that Christians
may have high experiences in some respects, and yet their
circumstances may be unhappy in this regard, that their ex-
periences and discoveries are no more general. There is a
great -diflference among Christians in this respect ; some have
much more general discoveries than others, who are upon
many accounts the most, amiable Christians. Christians
may have experiences that are very high, and yet there may
be very much of this deficiency and disproportion : their
high experiences are truly from the Spirit of God, but sin
comes in by the defect ; (as indeed all sin is originally from
a defective., privative cause ;) and in such a case high dis-
332 DEFECTIVE EXPERIENCES ARE CAUSES OF SIN.
coveries, at the same time that they are enjoyed, may be,
and sometimes are, the occasion, or causa sine qua non of
sin ; sin may come in at that back door, the gap that is left
open ; as spiritual pride often does : and many times the
Spirit of God is quenched by this means, and God punishes
the pride and presumption that rises, by bringing such dark-
ness, and suffering such awful consequences and horrid
temptations, as are enough to make one's hair stand on end
to hear them. Christians therefore should dihgently observe
their own hearts as to this matter, and should pray to God
that he would give them experiences in wliich one thing
may bear a proportion to another, that God may be honored,
and their souls edified thereby ; and ministers should have
an eye to this, in their private dealings with the souls of
their people.
It is chiefly from such a defect of experiences that some
things have arisen that have been pretty common among
true Christians of late, that have been supposed by many to
have risen from a good cause ; as particularly talking of di-
vine and heavenly things, and expressing divine joys with
laughter, or a light behavior. I believe in many instances
such things have arisen from a good cause, as their causa
sine qua noii, that high discoveries and gracious joyful af-
fections have been the occasion of them ; but tlie proper
cause has been sin, even that odious defect in their expe-
rience, whereby there has been wanting a sense of the awful
and holy majesty of God as present with them, and their
nothingness and vileness before him, proportionable to the
sense they have had of God's grace and the love of Christ.
And the same is true in many cases of persons' unsuitable
boldness, their disposition to speak with autbority, intempe-
rate zeal, and many other things that sometimes appear in
true Christians, under great religious affections.
And sometimes the vehemence of the motion of the animal
spirits, under great affections, is owing in considerable mea-
sure, to experiences being thus partial. I have known it in
WHAT ARE THE BEST EXPERIENCES. 333
several instances, that persons have hcen greatly aflTected with
the dying love of Christ, and the consideration of ihe happi-
ness of the enjoyment of him in heaven, and other things of
that nnture, and their animal spirits at the same time have
have been in a great emotion, but in the midst of it have had
given them a deep sense of the awful, holy majesty of God,
and it has at once composed them, and quieted animal na-
ture, without diminishing their comfort, but only has made
it of a better and more solid nature ; when they have had a
sense both of the majesty and grace of God, one thing has,
as it weve, balanced another, and caused a more happy sedate-
ness and composure of body and mind.
From these things we may learn how to judge of expe-
riences, and to estimate their goodness. Those are not al-
ways the best experiences, the^t are attended with the most
violent affections, and most vehement motions of the animal
spirits, or that have the greatest effects on the body ; nor are
they always the best, that do most dispose persons to abound
in talk to others, and to speak in the most vehement man-
ner ; (though these things often arise from the greatness of
spiritual experiences ;) but those that are the most excellent
experiences that are qualified as follows : 1. That have the
least mixture, or are the most purely spiritual. 2. That are
the least deficient and partial, in which the diverse things that
appertain to Christian experience are proportionable one to
another. And 3. That are raised to the highest degree. It
is no matter how high they are raised, if they are qualified as
before mentioned, the higher the better. Experiences thus
qualified, will be attended with the most amiable behavior,
and will bring forth the most solid and sweet fruits, and will
be the most durable, and will have the greatest effect on the
abiding temper of the soul.
If God is pleased to carry on this work, and it should prove
to be the dawning of a general revival of the Christian church,
it may be expected that the time will come, before long,
when the experiences of Christians shall be much more ge-
334 THE DEGENERATING OF EXPERIENCES,
nerally thus qualified. We must expect green fruits before
we have ripe ones. It is probable ihat hereafter the disco-
veries which the sairits shall have of divine things, will be in
a much higher degree than yet have been ; but yet shall be
so ordered of an infinitely wise and all-sufficient God, that
they shall not have so great an effect, in proportion, on the
body, and will be less oppressive to nature ; and that the out-
ward manifestations will rather be like those that were in
Stephen, when he was full of the Holy Ghost, when all
that sat in the council^ looking steadfastly on him, saiv
his face, as it had been the face of an angel. Their in-
ward fullness of the Spirit of God, in his divine, amiable, and
sweet influences, shall, as it were, shine forth in a heavenly
aspect, and manner of speech and behavior. But,
III. There is another thing concerning experiences of Chris-
tians, of which it is of yet greater importance that we should
be aware, than either of the preceding, and that is the dege-
nerating of experiences. What I mean, is something di-
verse from the mere decay of experiences, or their gradually
vanishing, by persons' losing their sense of things : it is per-
sons' experiences growing by degrees worse and worse in
their kind, more and more partial and deficient, in which,
things are more out of due proportion ; and also have more
and more of a corrupt mixture, the spiritual part decreases,
and the other useless and hurtful parts greatly increase.
There is such a thing, and it is very frequent, as experi-
ence abundantly evidences : I have seen it in very many in-
stances ; and great are the mischiefs that have risen through
want of being more aware of it.
There is commonly, as I observed before, in high expe-
riences, besides that which is spiritual, a mixture of three
things, viz. natural or common affections and workings of
the imagination, and a degree of self-righteousness or spiri-
tual pride. Now it often comes to pass, that thicugh persons'
not distinguishing the wheat from the chaff, and lor want of
watchfulness and humble jealousy of themselves, and laying
THE DEGENERATING OF EXPERIENCES. 335
great weight on the natural and imaginary part, and yielding
to it, and indulging of it, that part grows and increases,
and the spiritual part decreases ; the devil sets in, and
works in the corrupt part, and cheriohes it to his utmost ;
till at length the experiences of some persons, who began
well, come to but little else, but violent motions of carnal af-
fections, with great heats of the imagination, and a great de-
gree of enthusiasm, and swelling of spiritual pride; very
much like some fruits which bud, blossom, and kernel well,
but afterwards are blasted with an excess of moisture; so
that though the bulk is monstrously great, yet there is little
else in it but what is useless and unwholesome. It appears
to me very probable, that many of the heresies that have
arisen, and sects that have appeared in the Christian world,
in one age and another, with wild enthusiastical notions and
practices, began at first by this means, that it was such a de-
generating of experiences that first gave rise to them, or at
least led the way to them.
There is nothing in the world that does so much expose
to this degenerating of experiences, as an unheeded spiritual
pride and self-confidence, and persons' being conceited of their
own stock, without a humble, daily and continual depend-
ence on God. And this ver}'' thing seems to be typified of
old, by the corrupting of the manna. Some of the children
of Israel, because they had gathered a store of manna, trusted
in it, there being as they apprehended, sufficient in the store
they had gathered and laid up, without humbly looking to
heaven, and stooping to the earth for daily supplies ; and the
consequence was, that their manna bred worms and stank,
Exod. xvi. 20. Pride, above all things, promotes this dege-
neracy of experiences, because it grieves and quenches the
Spirit of the Lamb of God, and so kills the spiritual part ;
and it cherisiies the natural part, it inflames the carnal aflfec-
tions, and heats the imagination.
The unhappy person that is the subject of such a degene-
racy of experiences, for the most part, is not sensible of his
336 PRODUCED BY MIXTURES.
owQ calamity ; but because he finds himself still violently
moved, and has greater heats of zeal, and more vehement
motions of his animal spirits, thinks himself fuller of the Spirit
of God than ever. But indeed it is with him, as the apostle
says of the Galatians, Gal. iii. 3. " Having begun in the
Spirit, they are made perfect by the flesh."
By the mixture there is of common affection with love to
God, the love of true Christians is liable to degenerate, and
to be more and more built on the foundation of a supposition
of being his high and peculiar favorites, and less and less on
an apprehension of the excellency of God's nature, as he is
in himself. Sd the joy of Christians, by reason of the mix-
ture there is with spiritual joy, is liable to degenerate, and to
come to that at last, as to be but little else but joy in self, joy
in a person's own supposed eminency, and distinction from
others in the favor of God. So zeal, that at first might be in
great part spiritual, yet through the mixture there is, in a long
continuance of opposition and controversy, may degenerate
more and more into human and proud passion, and may come
to bitterness, and even a degree of hatred. And so love to
the brethren ma}" by degrees come to little else but fondness,
and zeal for a party ; yea, through a mixture of a natural
love to the opposite sex, may degenerate more and more, till
it issues in that v/hich is criminal and gross. And I leave it
with those who are better acquainted with ecclesiastical his-
tory, to inquire whether such a degeneracy of affections as
this might not be the first thing that led the way, and gave
occasion to the rise of the abominable notions of some sects
that have arisen, concerning the community of women. How-
ever that is, yet certainly the mutual embraces and kisses of
persons of diiferent sexes, under the notion of Christian love
and holy kisses, are utterly to be disallowed and abominated,
as having the most direct tendency quickly to turn Christian
love unto unclean and brutish lust, which will not be the
better, but ten times the worse, for being christened by the
name of Christian love. I should also think it advisable,
DEGENERATING OF EXPERIENCES PRODUCED BY DEFECTS. 3§7
that meetings of young people, of both sexes, in the evening,
by themselves, without a minister, or any elder people amongst
them, for religious exercises, should be avoided : for though
for the present, while their minds are greatly solemnized with
lively impressions, and a deep sense of divine tilings, there may
appear no ill consequences ; yet we must look to the further
end of things, and guard against future dangers and advan-
tages that Satan might gain against us. As a lively, solemn
sense of divine things on the minds of young persons may
gradually decay, so there will be danger that an ill improve-
ment of these meetings may gradually prevail ; if not in any
unsuitable behavior while together in the meeting, yet when
they break up to go home, they may naturally consort toge-
ther in couples, for other than religious purposes ; and it may
at last come to that, that young persons may go to such meet-
ings, chiefly for the sake of such an opportunity for company-
keeping.
The defect there sometimes is in the experiences of Chris-
tians exposes them to degenerate, as well as the mixture that
they have. Deficient, maimed experiences do sometimes be-
come more and more so : the mind being wholly intent on
those things that are in view, and those that are most want-
ing being neglected, there is less and less of them, and so the
gap for corruption to come in grows wider and wider. And
commonly both these causes of the degenerating of experi-
ences operate together.
We had need to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jea-
lousy, as the apostle was over the Christian Corinthians, lest
by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his sub-
telty,so our minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in Christ. God indeed will never suffer his true saints to-
tally and finally to fall away, but yet may punish their pride
and self-confidence, by suffering them to be long led into a
dreadful wilderness, by the subtle serpent, to the great wound-
ing of their own souls, and the interest of religion.
43
338 NATURAL AFFECTIONS
And before I dismiss this head of the degenerating of ex-
periences, I would mention one thing more that tends to it ;
and that is persons' aiming in their experience to go beyond
the rule of God's word, i. e. aiming at that, which is indeed.
in some respect, beyond the rule. Thus some persons have
endeavored utterly to root out and abolish all natural affec-
tion, or any special affection or respect to their near relations,
under a notion that no other love ought to be allowed, but
spiritual love, and that all other love is to be abolished as
carnal, and that it becomes Christians to love none upon the
account of any thing else, but the image of God ; and that
therefore love should go out to one and another only in that
proportion in which the image of God is seen in them. They
might as well argue that a man ought utterly to disallow of,
and endeavor to abolish all love or appetite to their daily food,
under a notion that it is a carnal appetite, and that no other
should be tolerated but spiritual appetites. Why should the
saints strive after that, as a high attainment in holiness,
which the apostle, in Rom. i. 31., mentions as one instance
wherein the heathen had got to the most horrid pass in wick-
edness, viz. a being- without natural affection 7
Some have doubted whether they might pray for the con-
version and salvation of the souls of their children, any more
than for the souls of others ; because the salvation of the
souls of others would be as much to God's glory, as the sal-
vation of their children ; and they have supposed that to pray
most for their own, would show a selfish disposition. So
they have been afraid to tolerate a compassionate grief and
concern for their nearest friends, for fear it would be an argu-
ment of want of resignation to God.
And it is true, there is great danger of persons' setting their
hearts too much upon their earthly friends ; our love to earthly
friends ought to be under the government of the love of God,
and should be attended with a spirit of submission and resig-
nation to his will, and every thing should be subordinated to
his glory : but that is no argument that these aflections should
be entirely uboli^hed, which the CiCiitor of the world liar, put
SHOULD NOT BE DESTROYED. 339
within mankind, for the good of mankind, and because he
saw they would be needful for them, as they must be united
in society, in the present state, and arc of great use, when
kept in their proper place ; and to endeavor totally to root
them out, would be to reproach and oppose the wisdom of
the Creator. Nor is the being of these natural inclinations,
if well regulated, inconsistent with any part of our duty to
God, or any argument of a sinful selfishness, any more than
the natural abhorrence that there is in the human nature of
pain, and natural ■ iaclination to ease that was in the man
Christ Jesus himself
It is the duty of parents to be more concerned, and to pray
more for the salvation of their children, than for the children
of their neighbors ; as, much as it is the duty of a minister to
be more concerned for the salvation of the souls of his flock,
and to pray more for them, than those of other congregations,
because they are committed to his care ; so our near friends
are more committed to our care than others, and our near
neighbors, than those that Hve at a great distance ; and the
people of our land and nation are more, in some sense, com-
mitted to our care, than the people of China, and w^e ought
to pray more for them, and to be more concerned that the king-
dom of Christ should flourish among them, than in another
country, where it would be as much, and no more for the
glory of God. Compassion ought to be especially exercised
towards friends. Job vi. 14. Christ did not frown upon a
special affection and compassion for near friends, but coun-
tenanced and encouraged it from time to time, in those that,
in the exercise of such an affection and compassion, applied
to him for relief for their friends ; as in the instance of the
woman of Canaan, Jairus, Mary and Martha, the centurion,
the widow of Nain, and many others. The apostle Paul,
though a man as nuich resigned and devoted to God, and
under the power of his love, perliaps as any mere man that
ever lived, yet had a jicculiar concern for liis countrymen the
Jews, the rather on tliat accoimt. thaltbey were his hrvthrcn
340 EXTERNAL EFFECTS OF APPEARANCES.
and kinsmen according to the flesh ; he had a very high
degree of compassionate grief for them, insomuch that he
tells us he had great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart
for them, and could wish himself accursed from Christ for
them.
There are many things that are proper for the saints in
heaven, that are not suitable to the state God has set us in,
in this world : and for Christians, in these and other in-
stances, to affect to go beyond the present state of mankind,
and what God has appointed as fit for it, is an instance of that
which the wise man calls a being righteous overmuch^ and
has a tendency to open a door for Satan, and to cause reli-
gious affections to degenerate into something very unbecoming
of Christians.
Thus I have, as I proposed, taken notice of some things
with regard to the inward experiences of Christians, by which
Satan has an advantage. I now proceed in the
11. place, to take notice of something with regard to the
external effects of experiences, which also gives Satan an ad-
vantage. What I have respect to, is the secret and unac-
countable influence that custom has upon persons, with re-
spect to the external effects and manifestations of the inward
affections of the mind. By custom, I mean both a person's
being accustomed to a thing in himself, in his own common,
allowed, and indulged practice, and also the countenance and
approbation of others amongst whom he dwells, by their ge-
neral voice and practice. It is well known, and appears
sufficiently by what I have said already in this treatise and
elsewhere, that I am far from ascribing all the late uncom-
mon effects and outward manifestations of inward expe-
riences to custom and fashion, as some do ; I know it to
be otherwise, if it be possible for me to know any thing of
this nature by the most critical observation, under all manner
of opportunities of observing. But yet, this also is exceeding
evident by experience, that custom has a strange influence
in these things : I know it by the different manners and de-
INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE AND CUSTOM. 341
grees of external effects and manifestations of great affections
and high discoveries, in different towns, according to what
persons are gradually led into, and insensibly habituated to,
by example and custom ; and also in the same place, at dif-
ferent times, according to the conduct that they have : if
some person is among them to conduct them, that much coun-
tenances and encourages such kind of outward manifesta-
tions of great affections, they naturally and insensibly pre-
vail, and grow by degrees unavoidable : but when afterwards
they come under another kind of conduct, the manner of ex-
ternal appearances will strangely alter: and yet it seems to
be without any proper design or contrivance of those in whom
there- is this alteration ; it is not properly affected by them,
but the influence of example and custom is secret and insen-
sible to the persons themselves. These things have a vast
influence in the manner of persons' manifesting their joys,
whether with smiles and an air of lightness, or whether with
more solemnity and reverence ; and so they have a great
influence as to the disposition persons have under high affec-
tions to abound in talk ; and also as to the manner of their
speaking, the loudness and vehemence of their speech ;
(though it would be exceeding unjust, and against all the
evidence of fact and experience, and the reason of things, to
lay all dispositions persons have to be much in speaking to
others, and to speak in a very earnest manner, to custom.) It
is manifest that example and custom has, some way or other,
a secret or unsearchable influence on those actions that are
involuntary, by the difference that there is in different places,
and in the same places at different times, according to the
diverse examples and conduct that they have.
Therefore, though it would be very unreasonable, and pre-
judicial to the interest of religion, to frown upon all these ex-
traordinary external effects and manifestations of great reli-
gious affections (for a measure of them is natural, necessary,
and beautiful, and the effect in no wise disproportioned to the
spiritual cause, and is of great benefit to promote religion ;)
342 INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE ArND CUSTOM,
yet I think they greatly err who think that these things
should be wholly unlimited, and that all should be encou-
raged in going in these things to the utmost length that they
feel themselves inclined to : the consequence of this will be
very bad : there ought to be a gentle restraint held upon
these things, and there should be a prudent care taken of
persons in such extraordinary circumstances, and 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 inchnations ; 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 behavior become
indeed very absurd. These things experience proves.
Thus I have taken notice of the more general causes
whence the errors that have attended this great revival of
religion have risen, and under each head have observed
some particular errors that have flowed from these fountains.
I now proceed, as I proposed, in the
Second place, to take notice of some particular errors that
have risen from several of these causes ; in some perhaps
they have been chiefly owing to one, and in others to another,
and in others to the influence of several, or all conjunctly.
OF CENSURING MINISTERS. 34iJ
SECTION IV.
Some pai^ticular errors that have arisen from these
causes.
And here the first thing I would take notice of, is cen-
suring others that are professing Christians, in 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, and 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 have any show, or make any pretenses to religion, to dis-
cern him, or to fix a judgment of him, from his manner of
talking of things of religion, whether he be converted, or ex-
perimentally acquainted with vital piety or not, and then to
treat him accordingly, and freely to express their thoughts
of him to others, especially those that they have a good
opinion of 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 dis-
cerning him, whether he be a converted man or no ; whe-
ther 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
344 A DISPOSITION TO PROFIT BY PREACHING.
once persons yield to such a notion, and give in to such a
humor, tliey will quickly grow very discerning in their own
apprehension, they think they can easily tell a hypocrite :
and when once they have passed their censure, every thing
seems to confirm it, they see more and more in the person
that they have censured, that seems to them to show plainly
that he is an unconverted man. And then, if the person
censured be a minister, every thing in his public perform-
ances seems dead and sapless, and to do them no good at all,
but on the contrary, to be of deadening influence, and poi-
sonous to the soul ; yea, it seems worse and worse to them ;
liis 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 w^eek, 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 humor prevailing here ; when ministers
preached here, as • very many did at that time, young 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 occa-
sion of the preaching of strangers here, viz. that they re-
joiced that there were so many such eminent ininisters iii
the country ; and they icoiidered they never heard the
OF ministers' censuring other ministers. 345
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 re-
markable service ; as I had good opportunity to know, be-
cause 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 influ-
ence of custom and example.
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 endeavor 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 di-
vine judgments ; but then we should leave that work to
Christ, who is the Searcher of hearts, and to whom ven-
geance 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, that have been looked upon as wolves in sheep's
clothing ; which has tended to promote and encourage a spiiit
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.
44
346 OF CENSURFNG MINISTERS.
Some have been too apt to look for fire from heaven upon
particular ministers ; and this has naturally excited that dis-
position to call for it, that Christ rebuked in his disciples at
Samaria. For my part, though I believe no sort of men on
earth are so exposed to spiritual judgments as wicked minis-
ters, yet I feel no disposition to treat any minister as if I sup-
posed that he was finally rejected of God ; for I cannot but hope
that there is coming a day of such great grace, a time so ap-
pointed for the magnifying the riches and sovereignty of
divine mercy, beyond what ever was, that a great number of
unconverted ministers will obtain mercy. There was no
sort of persons in Christ's time, that were so guilty, and so
hardened, and towards whom Christ manifested such great
indignation, as the priests and scribes, and there were no
such persecutors of Christ and his disciples as they ; and
yet in that great outpouring of the Spirit that began on the
day of pentecost, though it began with the common people,
yet in the progress of the work, after a while, " a great com-
pany of priests in Jerusalem were obedient to the faith,"
Acts vi. 7. And Saul, one of the most violent of all the
persecuting Pharisees, became afterwards the greatest pro-
moter of the work of God that ever was. I hope we shall
yet see in many instances a fulfillment of that in Isa. xxix.
24. " They also that erred in spirit shall come to under-
standing, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."
Nothing has been gained by this practice. The end that
some have aimed at in it has not been obtained, nor is ever
like to be. Possibly some have openly censured ministers,
and encouraged their people's uneasiness under them, in
hopes that it would soon rome to that, that the uneasiness
would be so general, and so great, that unconverted minis-
ters in general would be cast off, and that then things would
go on happily : but there is no likelihood of it. The devil
indeed has obtained his end ; this practice has bred a great
deal of unhappiness among ministers and people, has spoiled
Christians' enjoyment of sabbaths, and made them their
OF CENSURING MINISTERS. 347
most uneasy, uncomfortable, and unprofitable days, and has
stirred up great contention, and set all in a flame ; and in
one place and another where there was a glorious work of
God's Spirit begun, it has in a great measure knocked all in
the head, and their ministers hold their places. Some have
aimed at a better end in censuring ministers ; they have
supposed it to be a likely means to awaken them : whereas,
indeed, there is no one thing has had so great a tendency to
prevent the awakening of disaffected ministers in general ;
and no one thing has actually had such influence to lock up
the minds of ministers against any good effect of this great
work of God in the land, upon their minds, in this respect :
I have known instances of some that seemed to be much
moved by the first appearance of this work, but since have
seemed to be greatly deadened by what has appeared of this
nature. And if there be one or two instances of ministers
that have been awakened by it, there are ten to one on whom
it has had a contrary influence. The worst enemies of this
work have been inwardly eased by this practice ; they have
made a shield of it to defend their consciences, and have
been glad that it has been carried to so great a length ; at
the same time that they have looked upon it, and improved
it, as a door opened for them to be more bold in opposing the
work in general.
There is no such dreadful danger of natural men's being
undone by our forbearing thus to censure them, and carrying
it towards them as visible Christians ; it will be no bloody,
hell-peopling charity, as some seem to suppose, when it is
known that we do not treat them as Christians, because we
have taken it upon us to pass a judgment on their state, on
any trial, or exercise of our skill in examining and discern-
ing them, but only as allowing them to be worthy of a public
charity, on their profession and good external behavior ; any
more than Judas was in danger of being deceived, by Christ's
treating him a long time as a disciple, and sending him forth
as an apostle (because he did not then take it upon hini to
348 MINISTERS CENSURED AS UNCONVERTED OR DEAD.
act as the Judge and Searcher of hearts, but only as the
Head of the visible church). Indeed, such a charity as this
may be abused by some, as every thing is, and will be, that
is in its own nature proper, and of never so good tendency.
I say nothing against dealing thoroughly with conscience,
by the most convincing and searching dispensation of the
word of God : I do not desire that that sword should be
sheathed, or gently handled by ministers ; but let it be used
as a two-edged sword, to pierce, even to the dividing asunder
soul and spirit, joints and marrow ; let conscience be dealt
with, without any compliments ; let ministers handle it in
flaming fire, without having any more mercy on it, than the
furnace has on those metals that are tried in it. But let us
let men's persons alone : let the word of God judge them,
but do not let us take it upon us till we have warrant for it.
Some have been ready to censure ministers because they
seem, in comparison of some other ministers, to be very cold
and lifeless in their ministerial performances. But then it
should be considered that for aught we know, God may here-
after raise up ministers of so much more excellent and hea-
venly qualifications, and so much more spiritual and divine
in their performances, that there may appear as great a differ-
ence between them, and those that now seem the most lively,
as there is now between them, and others that are called dead
and sapless ; and those that are now called lively ministers
may appear to their hearers, when they compare them with
others that shall excel them, as wretchedly mean and their
performances poor, dead, dry things ; and many may be ready
to be prejudiced against them, as accounting them good for
nothing, and it may be calling them soul-murderers. What
a poor figure may we suppose, the most lively of us, and those
that are most admired by the people, do make in the eyes of
the saints of heaven, any otherwise than as their deadness,
deformity and rottenness is hid by the veil of Christ's right-
eousness.
OF CENSURING BECAUSE OF OPPOSITION. 349
Another thing that has been supposed to be sufficient war-
rant for openly censuring ministers as unconverted, is their
opposing this work of God that has lately been carried on in
the iand. And there can be no doubt with me but that oppo-
sition against this work may be such, as to render either
ministers or people, truly scandalous, and expose them to
public ecclesiastical censure ; and that ministers hereby may
utterly defeat the design of their ministry (as I observed be-
fore) ; and so give their people just cause of uneasiness : I
should not think that any person had power to oblige me,
constantly to attend the ministry of one, who did from time
to time, plainly pray and preach against this work, or speak
reproachfully of it frequently in his public performances, after
all Christian methods had been used for a remedy, and to no
purpose.
But as to determining how far opposing this work is con-
sistent with a state of grace, or how far, and for how long
time, some persons of good experience in their own souls,
through prejudices they have received from the errors that
have been mixed with this work, or through some peculiar
disadvantages they are under to behold things in a right view
of them, by reason of the persons they converse with, or their
own cold and dead frames, is, as experience shows, a very
difficult thing ; I have seen that which abundantly convinces
me that the business is too high for me ; I am glad that God
has not committed such a difficult affair to me ; I can joy-
fully leave it wholly in his hands, who is infinitely fit for it,
without meddhng at all with it myself We may represent
it as exceeding dangerous to oppose this work, for this we
have good warrant in the word of God ; but I know of no
necessity we are under to determine whether it be possible
for those that are guilty of it to be in a state of grace or no.
God seems so strictly to have forbidden this practice, of
our judging our brethren in the visible church, not only be-
cause he knew that we were too much of babes, infinitely too
weak, fallible and blind, to be well capacitated for it, but also
360 THE DANGER OP CENSURING.
because he knew that it was not a work suited to our proud
hearts ; that it would be setting us vastly too high, and
making us too much of lords over our fellow-creatures.
Judging our brethren and passing a condemnatory sentence
upon them, seems to carry in it an act of authority, especially
in so great a case, to sentence them with respect to that state
of their hearts, on which depends their hableness to eternal
damnation ; as is evident by such interrogations as those (to
hear which from God's mouth,ls enough to make us shrink
into nothing with shame and confusion, and sense of our own
blindness and worthlessness), Rom. xiv. 4. " Who art thou
that judgest another man's servant ? To his own master he
standeth or falleth." And James iv. 12. " There is one Law-
giver that is able to save and to destroy ; who art thou that
judgest another ?" Our wise and merciful Shepherd has gra-
ciously taken care not to lay in our way such a temptation
to pride ; he has cut up all such poison out of our pasture ;
and therefore we should not desire to have it restored.
Blessed be his name that he has not laid such a temptation
in the way of my pride ! I know that in order to be fit for
this business, I rhust not only be vastly more knowing, but
more humble than I am.
Though I believe some of God's own children have of late
been very guilty in this matter, yet by what is said of it in
the scripture, it appears to me very likely, that before these
things which God has lately begun have an end, God will
awfully rebuke that practice ; may it in sovereign and infi-
nite mercy be prevented, by the deep and open humihation
of those that have openly practiced it.
As this practice ought to be avoided, so should all such
open visible marks of distinction and separation that imply
it : as particularly, distinguishing such as we have judged to
be in a converted state with the compellations of brother or
sister, any further than there is a visible ecclesiastical dis-
tinction. In those places where it is the manner to receive
such, and such only to the communion of the visible church .
CENSURING IN OPEN PRAYER. 351
as Recommend themselves by giving a satisfying account
of their inw^ard experiences, there Christians may openly dis-
tinguish such personsj in their speech and ordinary behavior,
with a visible separation, without being inconsistent with
themselves : and I do not now pretend to meddle with that
controversy, whether such an account of experience be requi-
site to church-fellowship : but certainly, to admit persons to
communion with us as brethren in the visible church, and
then visibly to reject them, and to make an open distinction
between them and others, by different names or appellations,
is to be inconsistent with ourselves ; it is to make a visible
church vnthin a visible church, and visibly to divide between
sheep and goats, setting one on the right hand, and the other
on the left.
This bitter root of censoriousness must be totally rooted
out, as we would prepare the way of the Lord. It has nou-
rished and upheld many other things contrary to the humi-
lity, meekness, and love of the gospel. The minds of many
have received an unhappy turn, in some respects, with their
religion. There is a certain point or sharpness, a disposition
to a kind of warmth, that does not savor of that meek, lamb-
like, sweet disposition that becomes Christians. Many have
now been so long habituated to it, that they do not know
how to get out of it ; but we must get out of it ; the point
and sharpness must be blunted, and we must learn another
way of manifesting our zeal for God.
There is a way of reflecting on others, and censuring them
in open prayer, that some have ; which, though it has a fair
show of love, yet is indeed the boldest way of reproaching
others imaginable, because there is implied in it an appeal to
the Most High God, concerning the truth of their censures
and reflections.
And here I would observe by the way, that some have a
way of joining a sort of imprecations with their petitions for
others, though but conditional ones, that appear to me wholly
needless and improper : they pray that others may either be
352 OF PRAYING THAT OTHERS MAY
converted or removed. I never heard nor read of any such
thing practiced in the church of God till now, unless it be
with respect to some of the most visibly and notoriously aban-
doned enemies of the church of God. This is a sort of
cursing men in our prayers, adding a curse with our bless-
ing; whereas the rule is bless and curse not. To pray
that God would kill another, is to curse him with the hke
curse wherewith Elisha cursed the children that came out of
Bethel. And the case must be very great and extraordinary
indeed to warrant it, unless we were prophets, and did not
speak our own words, but words indited by the immediate
inspiration of the Spirit of God. It is pleaded that if God
has no design of converting others, is is best for them, as well
as best for others, that they should be immediately taken
away and sent to hell before they have contracted more guilt.
To which I would say, that so it was best that those chil-
dren that met Elisha, seeing God had no design of convert-
ing them, should die immediately as they did ; but yet Eli-
sha's imprecating that sudden death upon them, was cursing
them ; and therefore would not have been lawful for one that
did not speak in the name of the Lord as a prophet.
And then if we give way to such things as these, where
shall we stop ? A child that suspects he has an unconverted
father and mother, may pray openly that his father and mo-
ther may either be converted, or taken away and sent to hell
now quickly, before their guilt is greater. (For unconverted
parents are as likely to poison the souls of their family in
their manner of training them up, as unconverted ministers
are to poison their people.) And so it come to that, that it
might be a common thing all over the country, for children
to pray after this manner concerning their parents, and breth-
ren and sisters concerning one another, and husbands con-
cerning their wives, and wives concerning husbands ; and so
for persons to pray concerning all their unconverted friends
and neighbors ; and not only so, but we may also pray con-
cerning all those saint.s that are not lively Christians, that
BE CONVERTED OR REMOVED. 353
they may either he enlivened or taken away ; if that be true
that is often said by some at this day, that these cold, dead
saints do more hurt than natural men, and lead more souls
to hell, and that it would be well for mankind if they were
all dead.
How needless are such petitions or imprecations as these ?
What benefit is there of them ? Why is it not sufficient for us
to pray that God would provide for his church, and the good
of souls, and take care of his own flock, and give it needful
means and advantages for its spiritual prosperity? Does
God need to be directed by us in what way he shall do it ?
What need we ask of God to do it by killing such and such
persons, if he does not convert them ? unless we delight in
the thoughts of God's answering us in such terrible ways,
and with such awful manifestations of his wrath to our fel-
low-creatures.
And why do not ministers direct sinners to pray for them-
selves, that God would either convert them or kill them, and
send them to hell now, before their guilt is greater ? In this
way we should lead persons in the next place to self-murder:
for many probably would soon begin to think that that which
they may pray for, they may seek, and use the means of.
Some with whom I have discoursed about this way of
praying, have said that the Spirit of God, as it were, forces
them to utter themselves thus, as it were forces out such
words from their mouths, when otherwise they should not
dare to utter them. But such a kind of impulse does not
look like the influence of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of
God sometimes strongly inclines men to utter words ; but
not by putting expressions into the mouth, and urging to
utter them ; but by filling the heart with a sense of divine
things, and holy affections ; and those affections and that
sense incUnes the mouth to speak. That other way of men's
being urged to use certain expressions, by an unaccountable
force, is very probably from the influence of the spirit of the
devil.
45
354 or LAY EXHORTING.
SECTION V.
Of errors co7inected with lay exhorting.
Another thing I would take notice of, in the manage-
ment of which there has been much error and misconduct,
is lay exhorting ; about which there has been abundance of
disputing, jangUng, and contention.
In the midst of all the disputes that have been, I suppose
that all are agreed as to these two things, viz. 1. That all
exhorting one another of laymen is not unlawful or impro-
per ; but on the contrary, that some exhorting is a Christian
duty. And 2. I suppose also, all will allow that there is
something that is proper only for ministers; that there is
some kind or way of exhorting and teaching or other, that
belongs only to the office of teachers. All will allow that
God has appointed such an office as that of teachers in the
Christian church, and therefore doubtless will allow that some-
thing or other is proper and pecuhar to that office, or some
business of teaching that belongs to it, that does not belong
as much to others as to them.
If there be any w^ay* of teaching that is pecuhar to that
office, then for others to take that upon them, is to invade
the office of a minister : which doubtless is very sinful, and
is often so represented in scripture. But the great difficulty
is to settle the bounds, and to tell exactly how far laymen
may go, and when they exceed their limits : which is a mat-
ter of so much difficulty, that 1 do not wonder if many in
their zeal have transgressed. The two ways of teaching
and exhorting, the one of which ought^ordinarily to be left
to ministers, and the other of which may and ought to be
practiced by the people, may be expressed by those two names
oi preachings and exhorting in a way of Christian con-
versation. But then a great deal of difficulty and contro-
WHAT IS PROPER FOR LAYMEN. 355
versy arises to determine what is 'preachings and what is
Christian conversation. However I will humbly offer my
thoughts cencerning this subject of lay exhorting, as follows.
I. The common people in exhorting one another ought
not to clothe themselves with the like authority with that
which is proper for ministers. There is a certain authority
that ministers have, and should exercise in teaching, as well
as governing the flock. Teaching is spoken of in scripture
as an act of authority, 1 Tim. ii. 12. In order to a man's
preaching, special authority must be committed to him. Rom.
X. 15. " How shall they preach, except they be sent ?" Mi-
nisters in this work of teaching and exhorting are clothed
with authority, as Christ's messengers, Mai. ii. 7. and as re-
presenting him, and so speaking in his name, and in his
stead, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20. And it seems to be the most
honorable thing that belongs to the office of a minister of the
gospel, that to him is committed the word of reconciliation,
and that he has power to preach the gospel, as Christ's mes-
senger, and speaking in his name. The apostle seems to
speak of it as such, 1 Cor. i. 16, 17. Ministers therefore in
the exercise of this power, may clothe themselves with autho-
rity in speaking, or may teach others in an authoritative
manner. Tit. ii. 15. " These things speak and exhort, and
rebuke, with all authority : let no man despise thee." But
the common people, in exhorting one another, ought not thus
to exhort in an authoritative manner. There is a great deal
of difference between teaching as a father amongst a com-
pany of children, and counseling in a brotherly w^ay, as the
children may kindly counsel and admonish one another.
Those that are mere brethren ought not to assume authority
in exhorting, though one may be better, and have more ex-
perience than another. Laymen ought not to exhort as
though they were the embassadors or messengers of Christ,
as ministers do; nor should they exhort, and warn, and
charge, in his name^ according to the ordinary import of
such an expression, when applied to teaching ; indeed in one
356 OF EXHORTING WITH AUTHORITY.
sense, a Christian ought to do every thing lie does in reU-
gion in the name of Christ, i. e. he ought to act in a depend-
ence on him as his Head and Mediator, and do all for his
glory : but the expression as it is usually understood, when
applied to teaching or exhorting, is speaking in Christ's stead,
and as having a message from him.
Persons may clothe themselves with authority in speak-
ing, either by the authoritative words they make use of, or
in the manner, and authoritative air of their speaking : though
some may think that this latter is a matter of indifferency, or
at least, of small importance, yet, there is indeed a great deal
in it : a person may go much out of his place, and be guilty
of a great degree of assuming, in the manner of his speaking
those words, which as they might be spoken, might be pro-
per for him : the same words spoken in a different manner,
may express what is very diverse : doubtless, there may be
as much hurt in the manner of a person's speaking, as there
may in his looks ; but the wise man tells us, that " a high
look is an abomination to the Lord," Prov. xxi. 4. Again, a
man may clothe himself with authority, in the circumstances
under which he speaks : as for instance, if he sets himself
lip as a lyuhlic teacher. Here I would have it observed, that
1 do not suppose that a person is guilty of this, merely be-
cause he speaks in the hearing of many : persons may speak,
and speak only in a way of conversation, and yet speak in
the hearing of a great number, as they often do in their com-
mon conversation about temporal things, at feasts and enter-
tainments, where women, as well as others, do converse free-
ly togetlier about worldly things, in thehearing of a considera-
ble number ; and it may happen to be in tlie hearing of a
great number, and yet without offense : and if their conver-
sation on such occasions should turn on spiritual things, and
they should speak as freely and openly, I do not see why it
would not ]je as harmless. Nor do I think, that if besides a
great nuniljer boing present, persons speak with a very ear-
liest and loud voice, this is for them to set up themselves as
OF EXHORTING WITH AUTHORITY. 357
public teachers, if they do it from no contrivance or premedi-
tated design, or as purposely directing themselves to a con-
gregation or multitude, and not speaking to any that are com-
posed to the solemnity of any public service ; but speaking
in the time of conversation, or a time when all do freely con-
verse one with another, they express what they then feel, di-
recting themselves to none but those that are near them, and
fall in their way, speaking in that earnest and pathetical
manner, to which the subject they are speaking of, and the
affecting sense of their souls naturally leads them, and as it
were constrains them : I say, that for persons to do thus,
though many happen to hear them, yet it does not appear to
me to be setting themselves up as public teachers : yea, if
this be added to these other circumstances, that all this hap-
pens to be in a meeting-house ; I do not think that merely
its being in such a place, much alters the case, provided the
solemnity of public service and divine ordinances be over, and
the solemn assembly broke up, and some stay in the house
for mutual religious conversation ; provided also that they
speak in no authoritative way, but in a humble manner,
becoming their degree and station, though they speak very
earnestly and pathetically.
Indeed modesty might in ordinary cases restrain some per-
sons, as women, and those that are young, from so much as
speaking, w^hen a great number are present ; at least, when
some of those present are much their superiors, unless they
are spoken to : and yet the case may be so extraordinary, as
fully to warrant it. If something very extraordinary hap-
pens to persons, or if they are in extraordinary circumstances ;
as if a person be struck with lightning, in the midst of a great
company, or if he lies a dying, it appears to none any viola-
tion of modesty for him to speak freely, before those that are
much his superiors. I have seen some women and children
in such circumstances, on religious accounts, that it has ap-
peared to me no more a transgressing the laws of humility
358 OF EXHORTING AS A PUBLIC TEACHER.
and modesty, for them to speak freely, let who will be present,
than if they 'were dying.
But then may a man be said to set up himself as a pubhc
teacher, when he in a set speech, of design, directs himself
to a multitude, either in the meeting-house, or elsewhere, as
looking that they should compose themselves to attend to
what he has to say ; and much more when this is a con-
trived and premeditated thing, without any thing hke a con-
straint, by any extraordinary sense or affection that he is
then under ; and more still, when meetings are appointed
on purpose to hear lay persons exhort, and they take it as
their business to be speakers, while they expect that others
should come, and compose themselves, and attend as hearers ;
when private Christians take it upon them in private meet-
ings, to act as the masters or presidents of the assembly, and
accordingly from time to time to teach and exhort the rest,
this has the appearance of authoritative teaching.
When private Christians, that are no more than mere
brethren, exhort and admonish one another, it ought to be
in a humble manner, rather by way of entreaty, than with
authority : and the more, according as the station of persons
is lower. Thus it becomes women, and those that are young,
ordinarily to be at a greater distance from any appearance of
authority in speaking than others : thus much at least is
evident by that in 1 Tim. ii. 9, 11, 12.
That lay persons ought not to exhort one another as
clothed with authority, is a general rule, but it cannot justly
be supposed to extend to heads of -families in their own
families. Every Christian family is a little church, and the
heads of it are its authoritative teachers and governors. Nor
can it extend to schoolmasters among their scholars ; and
some other cases might perhaps be mentioned, that ordinary
discretion will distinguish, where a man's circumstances do
properly clothe him with authority, and render it fit and
suitable for him to counsel and admonish others in an au-
thoritative manner.
OF EXHORTING AS AN OFFICE. 359
11. No man but only a minister tliat is duly appointed to
that sacred calling, ought to follow teaching and exhorting
as a call'mg^ or so as to neglect that which is his 'proper
calling. A having the office of a teacher in the church of
God implies two things : 1, a being invested with the au-
thority of a teacher ; and 2, a being called to the business
of a teacher, to make it the business of his life. Therefore
that man that is not a minister, that takes either of these
upon him, invades the office of a minister. Concerning
assuming the authority of a minister, 1 have spoken already.
But if a layman does not assume authority in his teaching,
yet if he forsakes his proper calling, or doth so at least in a
great measure, and spends his time in going about from
house to house, to counsel and exhort, he goes beyond his
line, and violates Christian rules. Those that have the
office of teachers or exhorters, have it for their calling, and
should make it their business, as a business proper to their
office ; and none should make it their business but such.
Rom. xii. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8. " For I say, through the grace
given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think
of himself more highly than he ought to think ; but to think
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the pro-
portion of faith. For as we have many members in one
body, and all members have not the same office ; so we
being many, are one body in Christ. He that teacheth, let
him wait on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation."
1 Cor. xii. 29. '.^ Are all apostles ? Are all prophets ? Are
all teachers ?" 1 Cor. vii. 20. " Let every man abide in the
same caUing wherein he was called." 1 Thes. iv. 11. "And
that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and
to work with your own hands, as we commanded you."
It will be a very dangerous thing for laymen, in either of
these respects, to invade the office of a minister ; if this be
common among us, we shall be in danger of having a stop
put to the work of God, and the ark's turning aside from us,
before it comes to Mount Zion, and of God's making a
360 OF RESTRAINTS ON LAV EXHORTING.
breach upon us ; as of old there was an unhappy stop put
to the joy of the congregation of Israel, in bringing up the
ark of God, because others carried it besides the Levites :
and therefore David, when the error was found out, says,
1 Chron. xv. 2., " None ought to carry the ark of God, but
the Levites only ; for them hath the Lord chosen to carry
the ark of God, and to minister unto him forever." And
because one presumed to touch the ark that was not of the
sons of Aaron, therefore the Lord made a breach upon them,
and covered their day of rejoicing with a cloud in his anger.
Before I dismiss this head of lay exhorting, 1 would take
notice of three things relating to it, upon which there ought
to be a restraint.
1. Speaking in the time of the solemn worship of God,
as public prayer, singing, or preaching, or administration of
the sacrament of the holy supper ; or any duty of social
worship : this should not be allowed. I know it will be
said, that in some cases, when persons are exceedingly af-
fected, they cannot help it ; and I believe so too : but then
I also believe, and know by experience, that there are several
things that contribute to that inability, besides merely and
absolutely the sense of divine things they have upon their
hearts. Custom and example, or the thing's being allowed,
have such an influence, that they actually help to make it
impossible for persons under strong affections to avoid speak-
ing. If it was disallowed, and persons at the time that they
were thus disposed to break out, had this apprehension, that
it would be a very unbecoming, shocking thing for them so
to do, it would be a help to them as to their ability to avoid
it : their inability arises from their strong and vehement
disposition ; and so far as that disposition is from a good
principle, it would be weakened by the coming in of this
thought to their minds, viz. " What I am going to do, will
be for the dishonor of Christ and rehgion :" and so that in-
ward vehemence, that pushed them forward to speak, would
OF ERRORS CONNECTED WITH SINGING. 861
fall, and they would be enabled to avoid it. This experi-
ence confirms.
2. There ought to be a moderate restraint on the loudness
of persons talking mider high affections; for if there be not,
it will grow natural and unavoidable for persons to be louder
and louder, without any increase of their inward sense : till
it becomes natural to them, at last, to scream and halloo to
almost every one they see in the streets, when they are much
affected : but this is certainly a thing very improper, and
what has no tendency to promote religion. The man Christ
Jesus, when he was upon earth, had, doubtless, as great a
sense of the infinite greatness and importance of eternal
things, and the worth of souls, as any have now-a-days ; but
there is not the least appearance in his history, of his taking
any such course, or manner of exhorting others.
3. There should also be some restraint on the abundance
of persons' talk, under strong affections ; for if persons give
themselves an unbounded liberty, to talk just so much as they
feel an inclination to, they will increase and abound more
and more in talk, beyond the proportion of their sense or affec-
tion ; till at length it will become ineffectual on those that
hear them, and by the commonness of their abundant talk,
they will defeat their own end.
SECTION VI.
Of errors connected loith singing praises to God.
One thing more I would take notice of before I conclude
this part, is the mismanagement that has been in some places
of the duty of singing praises to God. I believe it to have
been one fruit of the extraordinary degrees of the sweet and
joyful influences of the Spirit of God that have been lately
given, that there has appeared such a disposition to abound
46
362 SINGING"; IN THi: STREETS.
in that duty, and frequently to fall into this divine exercise ;
not only in appointed solemn meetings, but when Christians
occasionally meet together at each other's houses. But the
mismanagement I have respect to, is the getting into a way
of performing it, without almost any appearance of that reve-
rence and solemnity with which all visible, open acts of di-
vine worship ought to be attended ; it may be two or three
in a room singing hymns of praise to God, others that are
present talking at the same time, others about their work,
with little more appearance of regard to what is doing, than
if some were only singing a common song, for their amusement
and diversion. There is danger, if such things are continued,
of its coming to that by degrees, that a mere nothing be made
of this duty, to the great violation of the third commandment.
Let Christians abound as much as they will in this holy,
heavenly exercise, in God's house, and in their own houses ;
but w^hen it is performed, let it be performed as a holy act,
wherein they have immediately and visibly to do with God.
When any social, open act of devotion, or solemn worship of
God ie performed, God should be reverenced as visibly pre-
sent, by those that are present. As we would not have the
ark of God depart from us, nor provoke God to make a
breach upon us, we should take heed that we handle the ark
with reverence.
With respect to companies singing in the streets, going to,
or coming from, the place of public worship, I w^ould humbly
offer my thoughts in the following particulars.
1. The rule of Christ concerning ^^?«^//??.^ new wine into
old bottles^ does undoubtedly take place in things of this na-
ture, supposing it to be a thing that in itself is good, but not
essential, and not particularly enjoined or forbidden. For
things, so very new and uncommon, and of so open and pub-
lic a nature, to be suddenly introduced and set up and prac-
ticed, in many parts of the country, without the matter being
so nmch as first proposed to any public consideration, or
giving any opportunity for the people of God to weigh the
NOT TO BE JNTROnUCEI) SUDDENLY. 363
matter, or to consider any reasons tliat might be oflered to
support it, is putting new wine into old bottles with a wit-
ness ; as if it were with no other design than to burst them
directly. Nothing else can be expected to be the consequence
of this, than uproar and confusion, and great otfense, and
unhappy mischievous disputes, even among the children of
God themselves : not that that which is good in itself, and is
new, ought to be forborne, till there is nobody that will dis-
Hke it ; but it ought to be forborne till the visible church of
God is so prepared for it, at least, that there is a probability
that it will not do more hurt than good, or hinder the work
of God more than promote it ; as is most evident from Christ's
rule, and the apostles' practice. If it be brought in, when
the country is so unprepared, that the shock and surprise on
persons' minds, and the contention and prejudice against reli-
gion, that it is hke to be an occasion of, will do more to hinder
religion, than the practice of it is like to do to promote it,
then the fruit is picked before it is ripe. And indeed, such a
hasty endeavor to introduce such an innovation, supposing
it to be good in itself, is the likeliest way to retard the effec-
tual introduction of it ; it will hinder its being extensively
introduced, much more than it will promote it, and so will
defeat its own end. But,
2. As to the thing itself, if a considerable part of a congre-
gation have occasion to go in company together to a place of
public worship, and they should join together in singing
praises to God, as they go, I confess, that after long considera-
tion, and endeavoring to view the thing every way, with the
utmost diligence and impartiahty I am capable of, I cannot
fmd any valid objection against it. As to the common ob-
jection from Matt. vi. 5. " And when thou prayest, thou shalt
not be as the hypocrites are ; for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they
may be seen of men ;"' it is strong against a single person's
singing in the streets, or in the meeting-house, by himself, as
offering to God personal worsliip: but as it is brought against
361 SINGING IN THE STREETS
a considerable company, their thus pubhcly worshiping God,
it appears to me to have no weight at all ; to be sure it is of
no more force against a company's thus praising God in the
streets, than against their praising him in the synagogue or
meeting-house, for the streets and the synagogues are both
put together in these words of our Savior, as parallel in the
case that he had respect to. It is evident that Christ speaks
of personal, and not public worship. If to sing in the streets
be ostentatious, then it must be because it is a public place,
and it cannot be done there without being very open ; but it
is no more public than the synagogue or meeting-house is
when full of people. Some worship is in its nature private,
us that which is proper to particular persons, or families, or
private societies, and has respect to their particular concerns :
but that which I now speak of is performed under no other
notion than a part of God's public worship, without any rela-
tion to any private, separate society, or any chosen or picked
number, and in which every visible Christian has equal liber-
ty to join, if it be convenient for him, and he has a disposi-
tion, as in the worship that is performed in the meeting-house.
When persons are going to the house of public worship, to
serve God there with the assembly of his people, they are
upon no other design than that of putting public honor upon
God ; that is the business they go from home upon, and even
in their walking the streets on this errand, they appear in a
public act of respect to God ; and therefore if they go in com-
pany with public praise, it is not a being public when they
ought to be private. It is one part of the beauty of public wor-
ship, that it be very jnihlic ; the more public it is, the more open
honor it puts upon God; and especially is it beautifidinthat part
of public worship, viz. public praise : for the, very notion of
public praising of God, is to declare abroad his glory, to pub-
lish his praise, to make it known, and proclaim it aloud, as
is evident by innumerable expressions of scripture. It is fit
that God's honor should not be concealed, but made known
in the great congregation, and proclaimed before the sun, and
NOT WHOLLY OBJECTIONABLE. 365
upon the house-tops, before kings, and all nations, and that
his praises should be heard to the utmost ends of the earth.
I suppose none will condemn singing God's praises,
merely because it is performed in the open air, and not in a
close place : and if it may be performed by a company in
the open air, doubtless they may do it moving, as well as
standing still. So the children of Israel praised God, when
they went to Mount Zion, with the ark of God ; and so the
multitude praised Christ, when they entered with him into
Jerusalem, a little before his passion ; and so the children of
Israel were wont, from year to year, to go up to Jerusalem,
when they went in companies, from all parts of the land,
three times in a year, when they often used to manifest the
engagedness of their minds, by traveling all night, and ma-
nifested their joy and gladness, by singing praises, with great
decency and beauty, as they went towards God's holy moun-
tain ; as is evident by Isa. xxx. 29. " Ye shall have a song,
as in the night, when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness
of heart ; as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the
mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel." And
Psalm xlii. 4. " When I remember these things, I pour out
my soul in me ; for I had gone with the multitude, I went
with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and
praise, with a multitude that kept holy day." Psalm, c. 4.
" Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts
with praise." When God's people are going to his house,
the occasion is so joyful to a Christian in a lively frame, (the
language of whose heart is, Come^ let us go up to the
house of the Lord, and who is glad when it is so said to
him,) that the duty of singing praises seems to be pecu-
Uarly beautiful on such an occasion. So that if the state of
the country was ripe for it, and it should be so that there
should be frequent occasions for a considerable part of a con-
gregation to go together to the places of public w^orship, and
there was in other respects a proportionable appearance of
fervency of devotion, it appears to me that it would be ra-
366 IT SHOULD BE DONE BY CONSENT.
vishiiigly beautiful, if such things were practiced all over
the land, and would have a great tendency to enhven, ani-
mate, and rejoice the souls of God's saints, and greatly to
propagate vital religion. I believe the time is coming when
the world will be full of such things.
3. It seems to me to be requisite that there should be
the consent of the governing part of the worshiping socie-
ties, to which persons have joined themselves, and of which
they own themselves a part, in order to the introducing of
things in public worship, so new and uncommon, and not
essential, nor particularly commanded, into the places where
those worshiping societies belong : the peace and uni5n of
such societies seems to require it ; seeing they have volun-
tarily united themselves to these worshiping societies, to that
end, that they might be one in the affairs of God's public
worship, and obliged themselves in covenant to act as breth-
ren and mutual assistants, and members of one body, in
those affairs, and all are hereby naturally and necessarily led
to be concerned with one another, in matters of religion and
God's worship ; and seeing that this is a part of the public
worship, and worship that must be performed from time to
time in the view of the whole, being performed at a time
when they are meeting together for mutual assistance in
w^orship, and therefore that which all must unavoidably be
in some measure concerned in, so at least as to show their
approbation and consent, or open dislike and separation from
them in it ; I say, it being thus, charity, and a regard to the
union and peace of such societies, seems to require a consent
of the governing part, in order to the introducing any thing
of this nature (unless they think those societies unworthy
that they should be joined to them any longer, and so first
renounce them, as the worshiping societies of which they
are members). Certainly, if we are of the spirit of the
apostle Paul, and have his discretion, we shall not set up
any such practice without it : he, for the sake of peace, con-
formed, in things wherein he was not particularly forbidden,
EVIL ISSUE OF THESE EXTREMES. 367
to tlie Jews, when among them ; and so when among those
that were without the law, conformed to them, wherein he
might. To be sure those go much beyond proper Umits,
who, coming from abroad, do immediately of their own
heads, in a strange place, set up such a new and uncommon
practice among -a people.
In introducing any thing of this nature among a people,
their minister especially ought to be consulted, and his voice
taken, as long as he is owned for their minister. Ministers
are pastors of worshiping societies, and their heads and guides
in the affairs of public worship. They are called in scrip-
ture, those that rule over them., and their people are com-
manded to obey theni^ because they watch for their souls,
as those that must give account. If it belongs to these
shepherds and rulers to direct and guide the flock in any
thing at all, it belongs to them so to do, in the circumstan-
tials of their public worship.
Thus I have taken particular notice of many of those
things that have appeared to me to be amiss, in the manage-
ment of our religious concerns, relating to the present revival
of religion, and have taken liberty freely to express my
thoughts upon them. Upon the whole, it appears manifest
to me, that things have, as yet, never been set agoing in
their right channel ; if they had, and means had been
bles&ed in proportion as they have been now, this work would
have so prevailed, as before this time to have carried all afore
it, and have triumphed over New England as its conquest.
The devil, in driving things to these extremes, besides the
present hindrance of the work of God, has, I believe, had in
view a twofold mischief hereafter, in 'the issue of things ;
one with respect to those that are more cold in religion ; to
carry things to such an extreme, that people in general, at
length having their eyes opened, by the great excess, and
seeing that things must needs be wrong, he might take the
advantage to tempt them entirely to reject the whole work,
as being all nothini!; l^ut delusion and distraction. And
368
another is with respect to those that have been very warm
and zealous, of God's own children that have been out of
the way, to sink them down in unbelief and darkness.
The time is coming, I doubt not, when the bigger part of
them will be convinced of their errors ; and then probably
the devil will take advantage to lead them into a dreadful
wilderness, and to puzzle and confound tTiem about .their
own experiences, and the experiences of others ; and to
make them to doubt of many things that they ought not to
doubt of, and even to tempt them with atheistical thoughts.
I beheve if all true Christians all over the land, should now
at once have their eyes opened, fully to see all their errors, it
would seem for the present to damp religion : the dark
thoughts, that it would at first be an occasion of, and the
inward doubts, difficulties, and conflicts that would rise in
their souls, would deaden their lively affections and joys,
and would cause an appearance of a present decay of reli-
gion. But yet it would do God's saints great good in their
latter end ; it would fit them for more spiritual and excellent
experiences, more humble and heavenly love, and unmixed
joys, and would greatly tend to a ipore powerful, extensive,
and durable prevalence of vital piety.
I do not know but we shall be in danger, by and by, after
our eyes are fully opened to see our errors, to go to contrary
extremes. The devil has driven the pendulum far beyond
its proper point of rest ; and when he has carried it to tlie
utmost length that he can, and it begins by its own weight
to swing back, he probably will set in, and drive it with the
utmost fury the other way, and so give us no rest, and if pos-
sible prevent our settling in a proper medium. ' AVhat a poor,
bhnd, weak, and miserable creature is man, at his best es-
tate ! We are like poor, helpless sheep ; the devil is too
subtle for us. What is our strength ! What is our wisdom !
How ready are we to go astray ! How easily are we drawn
aside, into innumerable snares, while we in the mean time
OUR NEED OP Christ's help. 359
are bold and confident, and doubt not but that we are right
and safe We are foolish sheep, in the midst of subtle ser-
pents, and cruel wolves, and do not know it. O how unfit
m needof the wisdom, the power, the condescension, patience
forgmf'ness, and gentleness of our good Shepherd !
47
THOUGHTS ON THE REVIVAL, &c.
PART V.
PROMOTE THIS WORK.
In considering of means and methods for promoting this
glorious work of God, I have aheady observed, in some in-
stances, wherein there has been needless objecting and com-
plaining, and have also taken notice of many things amiss,
that ought to be amended : I now proceed in the
Third and last place, to show positively, what ought to
be done, or what courses (according to my humble opinion)
ought to be taken to promote this work. The obligations
that all are under, with one consent, to do their utmost, and
the great danger of neglectipg it, were observed before. I
hope that some, upon reading what was said under that head,
will be ready to say, What shall we do ? To such readers
I wQuld now offer my thoughts, in answer to such an in-
quiry.
SECTION. I.
Of removing the hi7idrances to this work.
And that which I think we ought to set ourselves about
in the first place, is to remove stumbling-blocks. When God
is revealed, as about to come, gloriously to set up his kingdom
372 OF CONFESSING FAULTS.
in the world, this is proclaimed, " Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God,"
Isa. xl. 3. And again, Isa. Ivii. 14., " Cast ye up, cast ye
up ; prepare the way ; take up the stumbling-block out of
the way of my people." And chap. Ixii. 10., " Go through,
go through the gates ; prepare you the way of the people ;
cast up, cast up the highway ; gather out the stones."
And in order to this, there must be a great deal done at
confessing of faults, on both sides : for undoubtedly many and
great are the faults that have been committed, in the jangling
and confusions, and mixtures of light and darkness, that
have been of late. There is hardly any duty more contrary
to our corrupt dispositions, and mortifying to the pride of man ;
but it must be done. Repentance of faults is, in a peculiar
manner, a proper duty, when the kingdom of heaven is at
hand, or when we especially expect or desire that it should
come ; as appears by John the Baptist's preaching. And if
God does now loudly call upon us to repent, then he also
calls upon us to make proper manifestations of our repent-
ance. I am persuaded that those, that have openly opposed
this work, or have from time to time spoken lightly of it,
cannot be excused in the sight of God, without openly con-
fessing their fault therein ; especially if they be ministers.
If they have any way, either directly or indirectly, opposed
the work, or have so behaved in their public performances or
private conversation, as has prejudiced the minds of their
people against the work, if hereafter they shall be convinced
of the goodness and divinity of what they have opposed, they
ought by no means to palliate the matter, and excuse them-
selves, and pretend that they always thought so, and that it
was only such and such imprudences that they objected
against, but they ought openly to declare their conviction,
and condemn themselves for what they have done ; for it is
Christ that they have spoken against, in speaking lightly of,
and prejudicing others against this work ; yea, worse than
that, it is the Holy Ghost. And though they have done it
OF MUTUAL FORBEARANCE. 37S
ignorantly, and in unbelief, yet when they find out who it is
that they have opposed, undoubtedly God will hold them
bound pubhcly to confess it.
And on the other side, if those that have been zealous to
promote the work, have in any of the forementioned in-
stances openly gone much out of the way, and done that
which is contrary to Christian rules, whereby they have
openly injured others, or greatly violated good order, and so
done that which has wounded religion, they must publicly
confess it, and humble themselves, as they would gather out
the stones, and prepare the way of God's people. They who
have laid great stumbling-blocks in other's way, by their open
transgression^ are bound to remove them, by their open re-
pentance.
Some probably will be ready to object against this, that
the opposers will take advantage by this to behave themselves
insolently, and to insult both them and religion. And in-
deed, to the shame of some, they have taken advantage by
such things ; as of the good spirit that Mr. Whitefield showed
in his retractions, and some others. But if there are some
imbittered enemies of rehgion, that stand ready to improve
every thing to its disadvantage, yet that ought not to hinder
doing an enjoined Christian duty ; though it be in the mani-
festation of humility and repentance, after a fault openly
conimitted. To stand it out, in a visible impenitence of a
real fault, to avoid such an inconvenience, is to do evil to
prevent evil. And besides, the danger of an evil consequence
is much greater on the other side ; to commit sin, and then
stand in it, is what will give the enemy the greatest advan-
tage. For Christians to act like Christians, in openly hum-
bling themselves, when they have openly offended, in the
end brings the greatest honor to Christ and religion ; and in
this way are persons most likely to have God appear for
them.
Again, at such a day as this, God does especially call his
people to the exercise of extraordinary meekness and mutual
374 OF MUTUAL FORBEARANCE.
forbearance : for at such a time, Christ appears as it were
coming in his kingdom, which calls for great moderation in
our behavior towards all men ; as is evident Phil. iv. 5., "Let
your moderation be known imto all men : the Lord is at
hand." The awe of the divine majesty that appears present
or approaching, should dispose us to it, and deter us from the
contrary. For us to be judging one another, and behaving
with fierceness and bitterness, one towards another, when he
who is the Searcher of all hearts, to whom we must all give
an account, appears so remarkably present, is exceeding un-
suitable. Our business at such a time should be at home,
searching ourselves, and condemning ourselves, and taking
heed to our own behavior. If there be glorious prosperity to
the church of God approaching, those that are the most meek,
will have the largest share in it : for when Christ'" rides
forth, in his glory and majesty, it is because of truth, meek-
ness, and righteousness." Psalm xlv. 3, 4. And when God
remarkably " arises, to execute judgment, it is to save all the
meek of the earth." Psalm Ixxvi. 9. And it is " the meek
that shall increase their joy in the Lord." Isa. xxix. 19.
And when the time comes that God will give this lower world
into the hands of his saints, it is " the meek that shall inherit
the earth.'i. Psalm xxxvii. 11. and Mat. v. 9. "But with
the froward, God will show himself unsavory."
Those, therefore, that have been zealous for this work,
and have greatly erred and been injurious in their zeal, ought
not to be treated with bitterness. There is abundant reason
to think, that most of them are the d^ar children of God,
for whom Christ died ; and therefore that they >\ill see their
error. As to those things, wherein we see them to be in an
error, we have reason to say of them as the apostle, Philip,
iii. 15., " If any are otherwise minded, God shall reveal this
unto them." Their errors should not be made use of by us,
so much to excite indignation towards them, but should in-
fluence all of us, that hope that we are the children of God,
to humble ourselves, and become more entirely dependent on
OF WAITING ON GOD. 375
the Lord Jesus Christ, when we see those, that are God's
own people, so ready to go astray. And those ministers
that have been judged, and injuriously dealt with, will do
the part of Christ's disciples, not to judge and revile again,
but to receive such injuries with meekness and forbearance,
and making a good improvement of them, more strictly ex-
amining their hearts and ways, and committing themselves
to God. This will be the way to have God vindicate them
in his providence, if they belong to him. We have not yet
seen the end of things ; nor do we know who will be most
vindicated, and honored of God, in the issue. Eccl. vii. 8.
" Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof ;
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit."
Contrary to this mutual meekness, is each party's stigma-
tizing one another with odious names, as is done in many
parts of New England, which tends greatly to widen and
perpetuate the breach. Such distinguishing names of re-
proach, do, as it were, divide us into two armies, separated,
and drawn up in battle array, ready to fight one with another,
which greatly hinders the work of God.
And as such an extraordinary time as this does especially
require of us the exercise of a great deal of forbearance, ojie
totoards another ; so there is peculiarly requisite in God's
people, the exercise of great patience, in waiting on God,
under any special difficulties and disadvantages they may be
under, as to the means of grace. The beginning of a re
vival of rehgion will naturally and necessarily be attended
with a great many difficulties of this nature ; many parts of
the reviving church will, for a while, be under great disad-
vantages, by reason of what remains of the old disease, of a
general corruption of the visible church. We cannot expect
that, after a long time of degeneracy and depravity in the
state of things in the church, things should all come to rights
at once ; it must be a work of time : and for God's people
to be over hasty and violent, in such a case, being resolved
to have every thing rectified at once, or else forcibly to de-
376 OF WAITING ON GOD.
liver themselves, by breaches and separations, is the way to
hinder things coming to rights as they otherwise would, and
to keep them back, and the way to break all in pieces. Not
but that the case may be such, the difficulty may be so in-
tolerable, as to allow of no delay, and God's people cannot
continue in the state wherein they were, without violations of
absolute commands of God. But otherwise, though the dif-
ficulty may be very great, another course should be taken.
God's people should have their recourse directly to the throne
of grace, to represent their difficulties before the great Shep-
herd of the shesp, that has the care of all the affairs of his
church ; and when they have done, they should wait pa-
tiently upon him : if they do so, they may expect that in his
time, he will appear for their deliverance : but if instead of
that, they are impatient, and take the work into their own
hands, they will betray their want of faith, and will dishonor
God, and cannot have such reason to hope that Christ will
appear for them, as they have desired, but have reason to
fear that he will leave them to manage their affairs for them-
selves, as well as they can : when otherwise, if they had
waited on Christ patiently, continiiing still instant in prayer,
they might have had an appearing for them, much more
effectually to deliver them. "He that believeth shall not
make haste ;" and it is for those that are found patiently
waiting on the Lord, under difficulties, that he will especially
appear, when he comes to do great things for his church, as
is evident by Isa. xxx. 18. and chap. xl. at the latter end,
and xlix. 23., and Ps. xxxvii. 9., and many other places.
I have somewhere, not long since, met with an exposition
of those words of the spouse, that we have several times
repeated in the book of Canticles, " I charge you, O daugh-
ters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love,
till he please," wliicli is the only satisfying exposition that
ever I met with ; which was to this purpose, viz. that when
the church of God is under great difficulties, and in distress,
and Christ does not appear for her help, but seems to neglect
OF PATIENT WAITING ON GOD 377
liei, as tliough lie were asleep, God's people, or the daugh-
ters of Jerusalem, in such a case, should not show a liasty
spirit ; and not having patience to wait for Christ to awake
for their help, till liis time comes, take indirect courses for
their own deliverance, and use violent means for their es-
cape, before Christ appears to open the door for them ; and
so, as it were, stir up^ and awake Christy before his time,
When the church is in distress, and God seems not to ap-
pear for her in his providence, he is very often represented
in scripture, as being asleep ; as Christ was asleep in the
ship, when the disciples were tossed by the storm, and the
ship covered with waves : and God's appearing afterwards
for his people's help, is represented as his awaking out of
sleep. Psalm vii. 6. and xxxv. 23. and xUv. 23. and lix. 4.
and Ixxiii. 20. Christ has an appointed time for his thus
awaking out of sleep : and his people ought to wait upon
him ; and not, in an impatient fit, stir him up before his
time. It is worthy to be observed how strict this charge is
given to the daughters of Jerusalem, which is repeated three
times over in the book of Canticles, chap. ii. 7. and iii. 5.
and viii. 4. In the second chapter and six first verses, is
represented the supports Christ gives his church, while she
is in a suffering state, as the lily among thorns : in the
seventh verse is represented her patience in waiting for
Christ, to appear for her deliverance, when she charges the
daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up, nor awake her love
till he please, by the roes and the hinds of the field ;
which are creatures of a gentle, harmless nature, are not
beasts of prey, do not devour one another, do not fight with
their enemies, but fly from them ; and are of a pleasant,
loving nature, Prov. v. 19. In the next verse, we see the
Church's success, in this way of waiting under sufferings,
with meekness and patience ; Christ soon awakes, speedily
appears, and swiftly comes : The voice of rny beloved !
Behold^ he conieth^ leaping upon the mountains^ skipping
upon the hills !
48
378 OF TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN SOULS.
SECTION II.
Of what must be done directly to promote the work.
What has been mentioned hitherto, has relation to tlie
behavior we are obh^d to, as we would prevent the hin-
drances of the work ; but besides these, there are things that
must be done, more directly to advance it. And here it
concerns every one, in the first place, to look into his own
heart, and see to it that lie be a partaker of the benefits of
the work himself, and that it be promoted in his own soul.
Now is a most glorious opportunity for the good of souls.
It is manifestly with respect to a time of great revival of re-
ligion in the world, that we have that gracious, earnest, and
moving invitation proclaimed in Isa. Iv., "Ho, every one that
thirsteth 1" &c. as is evident by what precedes in the fore-
going chapter, and what follows in the close of this. Here,
in the sixth verse, it is said, " Seek ye the Lord, while he
may be found ; call upon him, while he is near." And it is
with special reference to such a time, that Christ proclaims
as he does, Rev. xxi. 6., "I will give unto him that is athirst,
of the fountain of the water of life freely." And chap. xxii.
17. "And the Spirit and the bride say, come ; and let him
that heareth say, come ; and let him that is athirst, come ;
and whosoever will, let him take the w^ater of life freely."
And it seems to be with reference to such a time, which is
typified by the feast of tabernacles, that Jesus, at that feast,
stood and cried, as we have an acccount, John vii. 37, 38.,
" In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink. He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of hving water." And it is with special reference to
God's freeness and readiness to bestow grace at such a time,
that it is said in Isa. Ix. 11., of the spiritual Jerusalem, "Thy
TO OPPOSERS AND ARMINIANS. 379
gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day
or night."
And though I judge not those that have opposed this
work, and would not have others judge them, yet, if any
such shall happen to read this treatise, I would take the
liberty to entreat them to leave off concerning themselves so
much about others, and look into their own souls, and see to
it that they are the subjects of a true, saving work of the
Spirit of God. If they have reason to think they never
have been, or it be but a very doubtful hope that they have,
then how can they have any heart to be busily and fiercely
engaged about the mistakes, and the supposed false hopes of
others ? And I would now l^eseech those that have hitherto
been something inclining to Arminian principles, seriously
to weigh the matter with respect to this work, and consider
whether, if the scriptures are the word of God, the work
that has been described in the first part of this treatise, must
not needs be, as to the substance of it, the work of God, and
the flourishing of that rehgion, that is taught by Christ and
his apostles ; and whether any good medium can be found,
where a man can rest, with any stability, between owning
this work, and being a deist ; and also to consider whether
or no, if it be indeed so, that this be the work of God, it
does not entirely overthrow their scheme of religion ; and
therefore whether it does not infinitely concern them, asthey
would be partakers of eternal salvation, to relinquish their
scheme. Now is a good time for Arminians to change their
principles. I would now, as one of the friends of this work,
humbly invite them to come and join with us, and be on
our side ; and if 1 had the authority of Moses, I would say
to them as he did to Hobab, Num. x. 29., " We are journey-
ing unto the place, of which the Lord said, I will give it
you : come thou with us, and we will do thee good : for
the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel."
As the benefit and advantage of the good improvement of
such a season, is extraordinary great ; so the danger of neg-
380 DANGER OF NEGLECTING THIS SEASON.
lecting and niisimpioving it is proportionably great. It is
abundantly evident by the scripture, that as a time of great
outpouring of the Spirit is a time of great favor to those that
are partakers cf the blessing ; so it is always a time of re-
markable vengeance to others. So in Isa. Ixi. 2. the same
that is called " the acceptable year of the Lord," is called also,
" the day of vengeance of our God." So it was amongst the
Jews, in the apostles' days : the apostle in 2 Cor. vi. 2. says
of that time, that it was " the accepted time, and day of sal-
vation ;" and Christ says of the same time, Luke xxi. 22^
" These are the days of vengeance." At the same time that
the blessings of the kingdom of heaven were given to some,
there was an " axe laid at the root of the trees, that those
that did not bear fruit might be hewn down, and cast into
the fire," Matt. iii. 9, 10, U. Then was glorified,, both the
goodness and severity of God, in a remarkable manner. Rom.
xi. 32. The harvest and the vintage go together: at the
same time that the earth is reaped, and God's elect are ga-
thered into the garner of God, " the angel that has power
over fire thrusts in his sickle and gathers the cluster of the
vine of the earth, and casts it into the great wine-press of the
wrath of God," Rev. xiv. at the latter end. So it is foretold,
that at the beginning of the glorious times of the Christian
church, at the same time that "the hand of the Lord is
known towards his servants, so shall his indignation, towards
his enemies," Isa. Ixvi. 14. So when that glorious morning
shall appear, wherein " the Sun of Righteousness shall arise
to the elect, with healing in his wings, the day shall burn as
an oven to the wicked," Mai. iv. 1, 2, 3.
There is no time hke such a time, for the increase of guilt,
and treasuring up wrath, and desperate hardening of heart,
if men stand it out ; which is the most awful judgment, aiiid
fruit of divine wrath, that can be inflicted on any mortal.
So that at a time of great grace, and pouring out of the Spirit,
and tVie fruits of divine mercy, is evermore also a time of
TO AGED PERSONS. 381
great outpouring of something else, viz. divine vengeance
on those that neglect and misimprove such a season.
The state of the present revival of religion, has an awful
aspect upon those tliat are advanced in years. The work
has been chiefly amongst those that are young ; and compa-
ratively but few others have been made partakers of it. And
indeed; it has commonly been so, when God has begun any
great work for the revival of his church ; he has taken the
young people, and has cast' off the old and stiff-necked gene-
ration. There was a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of
God on the children of Israel in the wilderness, on the younger
generation, their little ojies, that they said should he a
prey^ the generation that entered into Canaan with Joshua ;
which is evident by many things in scripture. That gene-
ration seems to have been the most excellent generation that
ever was in the church of Israel. There is no generation,
of which there is so much good, and so little hurt spoken in
scripture, as might be shown, if it would not be too long. In
that generation that were under twenty years, when they
went out of Egypt, was that kijidiiess of youth, and love of
espousals, spoken of, Jer. ii. 2, 3. But the old generation
were passed by, and remained obstinate and stiff-necked, were
always murmuring, and would not be convinced by all God's
wondrous w^orks that they beheld. God, by his awful judg-
ments that he executed in the wilderness, and the affliction
that the people suffered there, convinced and humbled the
younger generation, and fitted them for great mercy, as is
evident by Deut. ii. 16, but he destroyed the old generation ;
" he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his
rest, and their carcasses fell in the wilderness ." When it was
a time of great mercy, and pouring out of God's Spirit on their
children, it was remarkably a day of vengeance unto them,
as appears by Psalm xc. Let the old generation in this land
take warning from hence, and take heed that they do not re-
fuse to be convinced, by all God's wonders that he works be-
fore their eyes, and that they do not continue forever object-
382 (;reat danger of aged persons.
ing-, murnuiring, and caviling against the wofk of (^od, lest
while God is bringing their children into a land flowing with
milk and honey, he should swear in his wrath concerning
them, that their carcasses shall fall in the wilderness.
So when God had a design of great mercy to the Jews, in
bringing them out of the Babylonish captivity, and return-
ing them to their own land, there was a blessed outpouring
of the Spirit upon them in Babylon, to bring them to deep
conviction and repentance, and to a spirit of prayer, to cry
earnestly to God for mercy ; which is often spoken of by the
prophets : hut it was not upon the old generation, that were
carried captive. The captivity continued just long enough
for that perverse generation to waste away and die in their
captivity ; at least those of them that were adult persons,
when carried captive. The old generation, and heads of
famihes, were exceeding obstinate, and would not hearken
to the earnest repeated warnings of the prophet Jeremiah ;
but he had greater success among the young people ; as ftp-
pears by Jer. vi. 10, 11. " To whom shall I speak and give
warning, that they may hear ? Behold, their ear is uncircum-
cised, and they cannot hearken : Behold, the word of the
Lord is unto them a reproach : they have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord ; I am weary
with holding in ; I will pour it out upon the chid ren abroad,
and upon the assembly of the young men together ; for even
the husband witli the wife (i. e. the heads of families, and
parents of tlicse children) shall be taken, the aged, with him
that is full of days." Blessed be God ! there are some of
the elder people, that have been made partakers of this work;
and those that are most awakened by these warnings of God's
word, and the awful frowns of his providence, will be most
likely to be made partakers hereafter. It infinitely concerns
them to take heed to themselves, that they may be partakers
of it ; for how dreadful will it be to go to h*ell, after having
spent so many years in doing nothing, but treasure up
wrath !
DUTIES OF MINISTERS.
383
fSEGTlON 111.
Ditties of ministers and particular classes of persons.
But above till others whatsoever, does it concein us that
are ministers, to see to it that we are partakers of this work,
or that we have experience of the saving operations of the
same spirit, that is now poured out on the land. How sor-
rowful and melancholy is the case, when it is otherwise?
For one to stand at the head of a congregation of God's peo-
ple, as representing Christ and speaking in his stead, and to
act the part of a shepherd and guide to a people, in such a
state of things, when many are under great awakenings, and
many are converted, and many of God's saints are filled with
divine light, love, and joy, and to undertake to instruct and
lead them all, under all these various circumstances, and to
b^ put to it, continually to play the hypocrite, and force the
airs of a saint in preaching, and from time to time, in private
conversation, and particular dealing with souls, to undertake
to judge of their circumstances, to try to talk with those that
come to him, as if he knew what they said ; to try to talk
with persons of experience, as if he knew how to converse
w^ith them, and had experience as well as they ; to make
others believe that he rejoices when others are converted, and
to force a pleased and joyful countenance and manner of
speech, when there is nothing in the heart, what sorrowful
work is here ! O how miserably must such a person feel !
What a wretched bondage and slavery is this ! What pains,
and how much art nuist such a minister use to conceal him-
self! And how weak are his hands! Besides the infinite
provocation of the Most High God, and displeasure of his
Lord and Master, that he incurs, by continuing a secret
enemy to him in his heart, in such circumstances, I think
there is a great deal of reason, from the scripture, to conclude,
384 MINISTERS NEED MUCH OF THE SPIRIT.
that no SOI t of men in tlie world, will be so low in hell, as
ungodly ministers : every thing that is spoken of in scrip-
ture, as that which aggravates guilt, and heightens divine
wrath, meets in them ; however some particular persons, of
other sorts, may be more guilty than some of these.
And what great disadvantages are unconverted ministers
under, to oppose any irregularities, or imprudences, or intem-
perate zeal, that they may see in those that are the children
of God, when they are conscious to themselves, that they
have no zeal at all ? If enthusiasm and wildness comes in
like a flood, what poor weak instruments are such ministers
to withstand it ? With what courage can they open their
mouths, when they look inward, and consider how it is \yith
them ?
We that are ministers, not only have need of some true
experience of the saving influence of the Spirit of God upon
our heart, but we need a double portion of the Spirit of God
at such a time as this ; we had need to be as full of light, as
a glass is, that is held out ia the sun ; and with respect to
love and zeal, we had need at this day, to be like the angels,
that are a flame of fire. The state of the times extremely
requires, a fullness of the divine Spirit in ministers, and we
ought to give ourselves no rest till we have obtained it. And
in order to this, I should think ministers, above all persons,
ought to be much in secret prayer and fasting, and also much
in praying and fasting one with another. It seems to me it
would be becoming the circumstances of the present day, if
ministers in a neighborhood would often meet together, and
spend days in fasting and fervent prayer among themselves,
earnestly seeking for those extraordinary supphes of divine
grace from heaven, that we need at this day : and also if, on
theii occasional visits one to another, instead of spending a\vay
their time in sitting and smoking, and in diverting, or worldly,
unprofitable conversation, telling news, and making their re-
marks on this and the other trifling subject, they would spend
their time in praying together, and singing praises, and reli-
OF MINISTERS IIELITNG ONE ANOTHER. 385
gious conference. How inuch do many of the common
people shame many of ns that are in the work of the ministry,
in these respects ? Surely we do not i^ehave ourselves so
much like Christian ministers, and the disciples and embas-
sadors of Christ, as we ought to do. And while we condemn
zealous persons for their doing so much at censuring minis-
ters at this day, it ought not to be without deep reflections
upon, and great condemnation of, ourselves : for indeed, we
do very much to provoke censoriousness, and lay a great temp-
tation, before others, to the sin of judging : and if we can
prove, that those that are guilty of it do transgress the scrip-
ture rule, yet our indignation should be chiefly against our-
selves.
Ministers, at this day in a special manner, should act as
fellow-helpers, in their great work. It should be seen that
they are animated and engaged, and exert themselves with
one heart and soul, and with united strength, to promote the
present glorious revival of religion : and to that end should
often meet together, and act in concert. And if it were a
common thing in the country, for ministers to join in public
exercises, and second one another, in their preaching, I believe
it would be of great service. I mean that ministers, having
consulted one another as to the subjects of their discourses
before they go to the house of God, should there speak, two
or three of them going, in short discourses, as seconding each
other, and earnestly enforcing each others' warnings and
counsels. Only such an api>earance of united zeal in minis-
ters, would have a great tendency to awaken attention, and
much to impress and animate the hcarej-s ; as has been found
by experience, in some parts of the country.
Ministers should carefully avoid weakening one another's
hands. And therefore every thing should be avoided, by
which their interest with their people might be diminished^
or their union with them broken. On the contrary, if minis-
ters have not forfeited their acceptance in that character, in
the vicible church, by their doctrine or behavior, their brethren
49
386 OF ZEAL AISU KESULU'lUJIS IN IMliMSJ EKft .
in the minisUy ought j^tiidioiisly to endeavor to heighten the
esteem and affection of their people towards them, that they
may have no temptation to repent their admitting other mi-
nisters to come and preach in their pulpits.
Two things that are exceeding needful in ministers, as they
would do any great matters, to advance the kingdom of Christ,
are zeal and resolution. The influence and power of these
things, to bring to pass great effects, is greater than can well
be imagined : a man of but an ordinary capacity, will do more
with them, than one of ten times the parts and learning,
without them : more may be done with them, in a few days,
or at least weeks, than can be done without them in many
years. Those that are possessed of these qualities, commonly
carry the day, in almost all aflfairs. Most of the great things
that have been done in the world of mankind, the great revo-
lutions that have been accomplished in the kingdoms and
empires of the earth, have been chiefly owing to these things.
The very sight or appearance of a thoroughly engaged spirit,
together with a fearless courage and unyielding resolution,
in any person that has undertaken the managing any affair
amongst mnnkind, g^es a great way towards accomplishing
the effect aimed at. It is evident that the appearance of these
things in Alexander, did three times as much towards his
conquering the world, as all the blows that he struck. And
how much were the great things that Oliver Cromwell did,
owing to these things ? And the greater things that Mr.
Whitefield has done, every where, as he lias run through the
British dominions (so fai- as they arc owing to means), are
very much owing to the appearance of these things, which
he is eminently possessed of. When the people see these
things apparently in a person, and to a great degree, it awes
them, and has a commanding influence upon their minds ;
it seems to them that they must yield ; they, naturally fall
before them, without standing to contest or dispute the matter ;
they are conquered as it were by surprise. But while we are
cold and heartless, and only go on in a dull mannei-, in an
whitefield's zeal and resolution 381
old formal round, we sliall never do any great matters. Our
attempts, with the appearance of such coldness and irresolu-
tion, will not so much as make persons think of yielding: they
will hardly be sufficient to put it into their minds ; and if it
be put into their mindsj the appearance of such indifference
and cowardice does as it were call for and provoke opposi-
tion. Our misery is want of zeal and courage ; for not only
through want of them, does ail fail that we seem to attempt,
but it prevents our attempting any thing very remarkable,
for the kingdom of Chiist. Hence, oftentimes it has been,
that when any thing very considerable, that is new, is pro-
posed to be done for the advancement of religion, or the
public good, many difficulties are found out, that are in the
way, and a great many objections are started, and it may
be, it is put off from one to another ; but nobody does any
thing. And after this manner good designs or proposals
have oftentimes failed, and have sunk as soon as proposed.
Whereas, if we had but Mr. Whitefield's zeal and courage,
what could not we do, with such a blessing as we might
expect ?
Zeal and courage will do much in persons of but an ordi-
nary capacity ; but especially would they do great things, if
joined with great abilities. If some great men, that have ap-
peared in our nation, had been as eminent in divinity, as
they were in philosophy, and had engaged in the Christian
cause, with as much zeal and fervor as some others have
done, and with a proportionable blessing of Heaven, they
would have conquered all Christendom, and turned the world
upside down. We have n^iany ministers in the land that do
not want for abilities ; they are persons of bright parts and
learning ; they should consider how much is expected, and
will be required of them, by their Lord and Master, and how
much they miglit do for Christ, and what great honor and
how glorious a reward they might receive, if they had in
their hearts a heavenly warmth, and divine heat, proportiona-
ble to their light.
308 OF CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY.
With respect to candidates for the ministry, I would not
undertake particularly to determine what kind of examina-
tion or trial they should pass under, in order to their admis-
sion to that sacred work : but I think this is evident from
the scripture, that another sort of trial, with regard to their
virtue and piety is recjuisite, than is required in order to per-
sons being admitted into the visible church. The apostle di-
rects, that hands he laid suddenly on no man ; but that
they should ^r^^ he tried before they are admitted to the work
o«f the ministry : but it is evident that persons were suddenly
admitted, by baptism, into the visible church, from time to
time, on their profession of their faith in Christ, without such
caution and strictness in their probation. And it seems to
me, those would act very unadvisedly, that should enter on
•that great and sacred work, before they had comfortable sa-
tisfaction concerning themselves, that they have had a saving
work of God on their souls.
And though it may be thought, that I go out of my pro-
per sphere, to intermeddle in the affairs of the colleges, yet I
will take the liberty of an Enghshman (that speaks his mind
freely, concerning pubhc affairs), and the liberty of a minister
of Christ (who, doubtless, may speak his mind as freely about
things that concern the kingdom of his Lord and Master), to
give my opinion, in some things, with respect to those socie-
ties ; the original and main design of which is to train up
persons, and fit them for the work of the ministry. . And I
would say in general, that it appears to me that care should
be taken, some way or other, that those societies should be
so regulated, that they should, in fact, be nurseries of piet3^
Otherwise, they are fundamentally ruined and undone, as to
tlieir main design, and most essential end. They ought to
be so constituted, that vice and idleness should have no hving
tliere: they ar« intolerable in societies, whose main design is
to train up youth in Christian knowledge and eminent piety,
to fit tliein to be pastors of the flock of the blessed .Tesus. I
have Jierctofore had some acqauitancc with the affairs of a
or THE REGULATION OF COLLEGES. 389
college, and experience of what belonged to its tuition and
government ; and I cannot but think it is practicable enough,
so to constitute such societies, that there should be no being
there, without being virtuous, serious, and diligent. It seems
to me to be a reproach to the land, that ever it should be so
with our colleges, that instead of being places of the greatest
advantages for true piety, one cannot send a child thither
without great danger of his being infected, as to his morals ;
as it has ceitainly sometimes been with these societies : it is
i^erfectly intolerable ; and any thing should be done, rather
than it should be so. If we pretend to have any colleges at
all, under any notion of training up youth for the ministry,
there should be some way found out that should certainly
prevent its being thus. To have societies for bringing per-
sons up to be embassadors of Jesus Christ, and to lead souls
to heaven, and to have them places of so much infection, is
the greatest nonsense and absurdity imaginable.
And, as thorough and effectual care should be taken that
vice and idleness be not tolerated in these societies, so cer-
tainly, the design of them requires, that extraordinary means
should be used in them, for training up the students in vital
lehgion, and experimental and practical godliness, so that
they should be holy societies, the very place should be as it
were sacred : they should be in the midst of the land foun-
tains of piety and holiness. There is a great deal of pains
taken to teach the scholars human learning ; there ought to
be as much, and more care, thoroughly to educate them in
religion, and lead them to true and eminent holiness. If the
main design of these nurseries is to bring up persons to teach
Christ, then it is of greatest importance that there should be
care and pains taken to bring those that are there educated
to the knowledge of Christ. It has been common in our
public prayers to call these societies the schools of the pro-
phets ; and if they arc schools to train up young men to be
prophets, certainly there ought to be extraordinaiy care there
kiken. to ti-ain them up to be CItristians.
390
And I cannot see why it is not on all accounts fit and con-
venient for the governors and intructors of the colleges, parti-
cularly, singly and frequently to converse with the students
about the state of their souls. As is the practice of the Rev.
Dr. Doddridge, one of the most noted of the present dissent-
ing ministers in England, who keeps an academy at North-
ampton, as he himself informs the Rev. Mr.Wadsworth, of
Hartford, in Connecticut, in a letter, dated at Northampton,
March 6, 1740 — 41. The original of which letter I have
seen, and have by me an extract of it, sent to me by Mr.
Wadsworth, which is as follows :
" Through the divine goodness, I have every year the plea-
sure to see some plants taken out of my nursery and set in
neighboring congregations, where they generally settle with
a unanimous consent, and that to a very remarkable degree,
in some very large, and once divided congregations : a cir-
cumstance in which I own and adore the hand of a wise and
gracious God, and cannot but look upon it as a token for good.
I have at present a greater proportion of pious and ingenious
youth under my care than I ever before had. So that I hope
the church may reasonably expect some considerable relief
from hence, if God spare their lives a few years, and continue
to them those gracious assistances which he has hitherto mer-
cifully imparted, I will not, sir, trouble yon at present with
a large account of my method of academical education : only
would observe, that I think it of vast importance to instruct
them carefully in the scriptures, and not only endeavor to
estabhsh them in the great truths of Christianity, but to labor
to promote their practical influence on their hearts. For which
purpose I frequently converse with each of them alone, and
conclude the conversation with prayer. This does indeed
take up a great deal of time ; but I bless God it is amply re-
paired, in the pleasure I have in seeing my labor is not in vain
in the Lord." n
There are some that are not ministers, nor are concerned
immediately in those things that appertain to their oflice, or in
DUTIES OF GREAT MEN. 391
the education of persons for it, that are under great advan-
tages to promote such a glorious work as this. Some lay-
men, though it be not their business pubhcly to exhort and
teach, yet are in some respects under greater advantage to en-
courage and forward this work, than ministers. As particu-
larly great men, or men that are high in honor and influence.
How much might such do to encourage religion, and open
the way for it to have free course, and bear down opposition,
if they were but inchned ? There is commonly a certain
unhappy shyness in great men with respect to rehgion, as
though they were ashamed of it, or at least, ashamed to do
very much at it ; whereby they dishonor, and doubtless,
greatly provoke the King of kings, and very much wound
religion among the common people. They are careful of
their honor, and seem to be afraid of appearing openly for-
ward and zealous in religion, as though it were what would
debase their character and expose them to contempt. But
in this day of bringing up the ark, they ought to be like Da-
vid, that gi'eat king of Israel, who made himself vile before
the ark ; and as he was the highest in honor and dignity among
God's people, so thought it became him to appear foremost in
the zeal and activity he manifested on that occasion ; there-
by animating and encouraging the whole congregation to
praise the Lord, and rejoice before him, with all their might :
and though it diminished him in the eyes of scoflSng Mi-
chal, yet it did not at all abate the honor and esteem of the
congregation of Israel, but advanged it ; as appears by 2 Sam.
vi. 22.
Rich men have a talent in their hands, in the disposal and
improvement of which, they might very much promote such
a work as this, if they were so disposed. They are far be-
yond others under advantage to do good, and lay up for them-
selves treasures in heaven. What a thousand pities is it,
that for want of a heart, they have commonly no share at all
there, but heaven is peopled mostly with the poor of this
world ? One would think that our rich men, that call them-
392 DUTIES OF RICH MEN TO ADVANCE
selves Christians, might devise some notable things^ to dc
with their mone)^, to advance the kingdom of their professed
Redeemer, and the prosperity of the souls of men, at this
time of such extraordinary advantage for it. It seems to me^
that in this age, most of us have but very narrow, penurious
notions of Christianity, as it respects our use and disposal of
our temporal goods. The primitive Christians had not such
notions ; they were trained up by the apostles in another
way. God has greatly distinguished some of the inhabitants
of New England, from others, in the abundance that he has
given them of the good things of this life. If they could now
be persuaded to lay out some considerable part of that which
God has given them, for the honor of God, and lay it up m
heaven, instead of spending it for their own honor, or laying
it up for their posterity, they would not repent of it after-
wards. How liberally did the heads of the tribes contribute
of their wealth, at the setting up of the tabernacle, though it
was in a barren wilderness ? These are the days of the
erecting the tabernacle of God amongst us. We have a par-
ticular account how the goldsmiths and the merchants helped
to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, Neh. iii. 32. The days
are coming spoken of in scripture, and I believe not very far
off, when the sons of 2^ion shall come from far, bringing
their silver and their gold witJi them, unto the name of
the Lord their God, and to the Holy One of Israel ; and
when the merchants of the earth shall trade for Christ, more
than for themselves, and their nierdiandise and hire shall
he lioliness to the Lord, and shall not he treasured, or laid
up for posterity, hut shall he for them that dicell before
the Lord, to eat sufficiently, arid for durable clolJiiiig :
and when the ships of Tarshish shall bring the wealth of
the distant parts of the earth, to the jylace of God^s sanc-
tuary, and to make the place of his feet glorious ; and
the abundance of the sea shall be converted to the use of
God's churcJi, ajid she shall suck the milk of the Gen-
tiles, and suck the breasts of kings. The days are
THE KUSGDOM OF CHKIST. 393
coming, when tiie great and rich men of tlie world shall
bring their honor and glory into the churchy and shall, as
it were, strip themselves to spread their g-arments under
Christ's feet, as lie enters triumphantly into Jerusalem ; and
when those that will not do so shall have no glory, and their
silver and gold shall be cankered, and their garments moth-
eaten : for the saints shall then inlierit the earth, and they
shall reign on earth, and those that honor God he will honor,
and those that despise him sliall be lightly esteemed.
If some of our rich men \yould give one quarter of their
estates to promote this work, they would act a little as if they
were designed for the kingdom of heaven, and a little as rich
men will act by and by, that shall be partakers of the spiri-
tual wealth and glories of that kingdom.'
Great things might de done for the advancement of the
kingdom of Christ, at this day, by those that have ability,
by estabhshing funds for the support and propagation of re-
ligion ; by supporting some that are eminently qualified with
gifts and grace, in preaching the gospel in certain parts of
the country, that are more destitute of the means of grace ;
in searching out children of promising abiUties, and their
hearts full of love to Christ, but of poor families, (as doubtless
there are such now in the land,) and bringing them up for
the ministry ; and in distributing books that are remarkably
fitted to promotes vital religion, and have a great tendency to
advance this work ; or if they would only bear the trouble, ex-
pense, and loss of sending such books into various parts of the
land to be sold, it might be an occasion that ten times so many
of those books should be bought, as otherwise would be ; and
in establishing and supporting schools in poor towns and
villages ; which might be done on such a Ibundation, as not
only to bring up children in common learning, but also,
might very much tend to their conviction and conversion,
and being trained up in vital piety ; and doubtless something
might be done this way, in old towns, and more populous
50
394 OF FASTING AND PRAYER.
places, tliar. might have a great tendency to the flourishing
of rehgion in the rising generation.
SECTION IV.
Of duties that concern cdl in general.
But I would now proceed to mention some things, that
ought to be done, at such a day as this, that concern all in
general.
And here, the first thing I shall mention, is fasting and
'prayer. It seems to me, that the circumstances of the pre-
sent work do loudly call God's people to abound in this ; whe-
ther they consider the experience God has lately given them,
of the worth of his presence, and of the blessed fruits of the
effusions of his Spirit, to excite them to pray for the continu-
ance and increase, and greater extent of such blessings ; or
whether they consider the great encouragement God has
lately given them to pray for the outpourings of his Spirit,
and the carrying on this work, by the great manifestations
he has lately made of the freeness and riches of his grace ;
and how much there is in what we have seen of the glorious
works of God's power and grace, to put us in'mind of the yet
greater things of this nature, that he has spoken of in his
word, and to excite our longings for those things, and hopes
of their approach ; or whether we consider the great opposi-
tion that Satan makes against this work, and the inany diffi-
culties with which it is clogged, and the distressing circum-
stances that some parts of God's church in this land are under
at this day, on one account and another.
So it is God's will, through his wonderful grace, that the
prayers of his saints shovdd be one great and principal means
of carrying on the designs of Christ's kingdom in the world.
When God has something very great to accom])lish for his
OP PASTING ANT) PRAYER. 395
church, it is liis will that there should precede it the extra-
ordinary prayers of his people ; as is manifested by Ezek.
xxxvi. 37. " I will yet, for this, be inquired of, by the house
of Israel, to do it for them ;" together with the context.
And it is revealed that, when God is about to accomplish
great things for his church, he will begin by remarkably
pouring out the Spirit of grace and supplication, Zech. xii.
10. If we are not to expect that the devil should go out of
a particular person, that is under a bodily possession, without
extraordinary prayer, 07^ jnayer and fasting ; how much
less, should we expect to have him cast out of the land, and
the world, without it.
I am sensible that considerable has been done in duties of
this nature, in some places ; but I do not think so much as
God, in the present dispensations of his providence, calls for.
I should think the people of God in this land, at such a time
as this is, would be in the way of their duty, to do three
times so much at fasting and prayer as they do ; not only,
nor principally, for the pouring out of the Spirit on those
towns or places where they belong ; but that God would ap-
pear for his church, and in mercy to miserable men, to carry
on his work in the land, and in the world of mankind, and
to fulfill the things that he has spoken of in his word, that
his church has been so long wishing and hoping and'wait-
ing for. They that make mention of the Lord^ at this
day, ought not to keep silence^ and should give God no
rest, till he establish, and till he m>ake Jerusalem, a praise
in the earth, agreeably to Isa. Ixii. 6, 7. Before the first
great outpouring of the Spirit of God, on the Christian
church, which began at Jerusalem, the church of God gave
themselves to incessant prayer, Acts i. 13, 14. There is a
time spoken of, wherein God will remarkably and wonder-
fully appear, for the deliverance of his church from all her
enemies, and when he will avenge his ovm elect : and
Christ reveals that this will be in answer to their incessant
prayers, or rrying day and night, Luke xviii. 7. In Israel,
396 GOD IS NOW WAITING FOR SOMETHING.
(lie day of atoiioiiicnf. wliich was ihcir groat, da}' of fasting
and prayer, preceded and made way for the glorious and
joyful feast of tabernacles. When Christ is mystically born
into the world, to rule over all nations, it is represented in
Rev. xii. as being in consequence of the church's " crying,
and travailing in birth, and being pained to be delivered."
One thing here intended, doubtless is, her crying and ago-
nizing in prayer.
God seems now, at this very time, to be waiting for this
from us. When God is about to bestow some great bless-
ing on his church, it is often his manner, in the first place,
so to order things in his providence, as to show^ his church
their great need of it, and to bring them into distress for want
of it, and so put them upon crying earnestly to him for it.
And let us consider God's present dispensations towards his
church in this land : a glorious work of his grace has been
begun and carried on ; and God has, of late, suffered innu-
merable difficulties to arise, that do in a great measure clog
and liinder it, ami bring many of God's dear children into
great distress ; and yet does not wholly forsake the work of
Ids hand ; there are remarkable tokens of his presence still
to be seen, here and there ; as though he was not forward
to forsake us, and (if I may so say) as though he had a
mind*to carry on his work ; but only was waiting for some-
thing that he expected in us, as requisite in order to it. And
we have a great deal of reason to think, that one thing at
least is, that we should further acknowledge the greatness
and necessity of such a mercy, and our dependence on
God for it, in earnest and importunate prayers to him. And
by the many errors that have been run into, and the wounds
we iinve thereby given ourselves and the cause that we would
promo! i\ and the mischief and confusion we have thereby
made, (tod has hitluMto been remarkably showing us our
great and universal dependence on him. and exceeding need
of his help and gnico : wliirh shoiild encfnfre our cries to
him for ii.
ALL CAN AID BY FASTING AND PRAYER 397
Tliere is no way that Chiistians, in a private capacity,
can do so much to promote the work of God, and advance
the kingdom of Christ, as by prayer. By this, even women,
children, and servants, may have a public influence. Let
persons be never so weak, and never so mean, and under
never so poor advantages to do much for Christ, and the
souls of men, otherwise ; yet, if they have much of the
spirit of grace and supplication, in this way, they may have
power with Him that is infinite in power, and has the go-
vernment of the whole world : and so a poor man in his
cottage may have a blessed influence all over the world.
God is, if I may so say, at the command of the prayer of
faith ; and in this respect is, as it were, under the power of
his people ; as 'princes^ they have power with God, and
prevail : though they may be private persons, their prayers
are put up in the name of a Mediator, that is a public per-
son, bein^ the Head of the whole church, and the Lord of
the universe : and if they have a great sense of the impor-
tance of eternal things, and concern for the precious souls of
men, yet they need not regret it, that they are not preachers ;
they may go in their eainestness and agonies of soul, and
pour out their souls before one that is able to do all things ;
before him they may speak as freely as ministers ; they have
a great High Priest, through whom they may come boldly
at all times, and may vent themselves before a prayer-hear-
ing Father, without any restraint.
If the people of God, at this day, instead of spending time
in fiiiitless disputing, and talking about opposers, and judging
of them, and animadverting upon the unreasonableness of
their talk and behavior, and its inconsistence with true ex-
perience, would be more silent in this way, and open their
mouths much more before God, and spend more time in
fasting and prayer, they v^ould be more in the way of a
blessing. And if some Chiistians in the land, that have
been complaining of their ministers, and struggling in vain
to dehver themselves from the difliculties thev liave com-
398 METHOD OF FASTING AND PRAVER.
plained of under their ministry, had said and acted less be-
fore men, and had applied themselves with all their might
to cry to God for their ministers, had, as it were, risen, and
stormed heaven with their humble, fervent, and incessant
prayers for them, they would have been much more in the
way of success.
God, in his providence, appearing in the present state of
things, does especially call on his people in New England to
be very much in praying to him for the pouring out of the
Spirit upon ministers in the land. For though it is not for
us to determine, concerning particular ministers, how much
they have of the Spirit of God ; yet in the general, it is
apparent that there is, at this day, need of very great de-
grees of the presence of God with the ministry in New
England, much greater degrees of it than has hitherto been
granted ; they need it for themselves, and the church of God
stands in extreme need of it.
In days of fasting and prayer, wherein the whole church
or congregation is concerned, if the whole day, besides what
is spent in our families, was not spent in the meeting-house,
but part of it in particular praying companies or societies, it
would have a tendency to animate and engage devotion,
more than if the whole day were spent in public, where the
people are no way active themselves in the worship, any
otherwise than as they join with the minister. The inha-
bitants of many of our towns are now divided into particular
praying societies, most of the people, young and old, have
voluntarily associated themselves in distinct companies, for
mutual assistance, in social worship, in private houses :
What I intend therefore is, that days of prayer should be
spent partly in these distinct praying companies. Such a
method of keeping a fast as this^ has several times been
proved, viz. in the forenoon, after the duties of the family
and closet, as early as might be, all the people of the con-
gregation have gathered in their particular religious socie-
ties ; companies of inen liy themselves, and companies of
CONCERT OF FASTING AND PRAYER 399
women by themselves ; young men by tliemselves, and
young women by themselves ; and companies of children,
in all parts of the town, by themselves, as many as were
capable of social religious exercises ; the boys by themselves,
and girls by themselves : and about the middle of the day,
at an appointed hour, all have met together in the house of
God, to offer up public prayers, and to hear a sermon suita-
ble to the occasion : and then, they have retired from the
house of God again, into their private societies, and spent
the remaining part of the day in prayiug together there, ex-
cepting so much as was requisite for the duties of the family
and closet, in their own houses. And it has been found to
be of great benefit, to assist and engage the minds of the
people in the duties of the day.
I have often thought it would be a thing very desirable,
and very likely to be followed with a great blessing, if there
could be some contrivance that there should be an agr'eement
of all God's people in America, that are well affected to this
work, to keep a day of fasting and prayer to God ; wherein
we should all unite on the same day in humbling ourselves
before God for our past long continued lukewarmness and
unprofitableness ; not omitting humiliation for the errors
that so many of God's people that have been zealously af-
fected towards this work, through their infirmity and re-
maining blindness and corruption, have run into ; and to-
gether with thanksgiving to God, for so glorious and won-
derful a display of his power and grace, in the late outpour-
ings of his Spirit, to address the Father of mercies, with
prayers and supplications, and earnest cries, that he would
guide and direct his own people, and that he would con-
tinue, and still carry on his work, and more abundantly and
extensively pour out his Spirit ; and particularly that he
would pour out his Spirit 4ipon ministers ; and that he would
bow the heavens and come down, and erect his glorious
kingdom through the earth. Some perhaps may think that
its being all on the same day, is a circumstance of no great
400 OF FAStlNG AND PRAYER,
consequence ; but I cannot be of that mind : such a cir-
cumstance makes the union and agreement of God's people
in his worship the more visible, and puts the greater honor
upon God, and would have a great tendency to assist and
enliven the devotions of Christians : it seems to me it would
mightily encourage and animate God's saints, in humbly
and earnestly seeking to God, for such blessings which con-
cerns them all ; and that it would be much' for the rejoicing
of all to think, that at the same time, such multitudes of
God's dear children, far and near, were sending up their cries
to the same common Father, for the same mercies, Christ
speaks of agreement in asking, as what contributes to the
prevalence of the prayers of his people, Mat. xviii. 19.
" Again, I say unto you, that if an}^ two of you, shall agree
on earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall
be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." If the
agreenfent, or united purpose and appointment of but two of
God's children, would contribute much to the prevalence of
their prayers, how much more the agreement of so many
thousands ? Christ delights greatly in the union of his peo-
ple, as appears by his prayer in John xvii. And especially
is the appearance of their union in worship lovely and at
tractive unto him.
I doubt not but such a thing as I have now mentioned is
practicable, without a great deal of trouble : some consider-
able number of ministers might meet together, and draw up
the proposal, wherein a certain day should be pitched upon,
at a sufficient distance, endeavoring therein to avoid any other
public day, that might interfere with the design, in any of
the provinces, and the business of the day should be parti-
cularly mentioned ; and these proj)osals should be pubUshed
and scut abroad, into all parts, with a desire, that as many
ministers as are disposed to fall in»with them, would propose
the matter to their congregations, and having taken their
consent, would subscribe tlieir names, together with the places
of which they arc ministers, and send back the proposals thus
BY A GENERAL AGREEMENT. 401
subscribed, to the piinter ; (tlie hands of many ministers
might be to one paper) ; and the printer having received the
papers, thus subscribed, from all the provinces, might print
the proposals again, with all the names ; thus they might be
sent abroad again, with the names, that God's people might
know who arc united with them in the affair : one of the
ministers of Boston might be desired to have the oversight of
the printing and dispersing the proposals. In such a way,
perhaps, might be fulfilled, in some measure, such a general
mourning and supplication of God's people, as is spoken of,
Zech. xii. at the latter end, with which the church's glorious
day is to be introduced. And such a day might be some-
thing like the day of atonement in Israel, before the joyful
feast of tabernacles.
One thing more I would mention concerning fasting and
prayer, wherein I think there has been a neglect in ministers ;
and that is, that although they recommend, and much insist
on the duty of secret prayer, in their preacliing, so little is
said about secret fasting. It is a duty recommended by our
Savior to his follov/ers, just in like manner as secret prayer
is ; as may be seen by comparing ver. 5, 6. of Matt. vi. with
ver. 16, 17, 18. Though I do not suppose that secret fast-
ing is to be practiced in a stated manner, and steady course,
as secret prayer, yet it seems to me, it is a duty that all pro-
fessing Christians should practice, and frequently practice.
There are many occasions, of both a spiritual and temporal
nature, that do properly require it ; and there are many par-
ticular mercies, that we desire for ourselves or friends, that it
would be proper, in this manner, to seek of God.
Another thing I would also mention, wherein it appears to
me that there has been an omission, with respect to the ex-
ternal worship of God. There has been of late, a great in-
crease of preaching the word, and a great 'increase of social
prayer, and a great increase of singing praises : these exter-
nal duties of religion are attended, much more frequently
than they used to be ; yet I cannot understand that there is
51
402 OF MORAL DUTIES
any increase of the administration of the Lord's supper, or
that God's people do any more frequently commemorate the
dying love of their Redeemer, in this sacred memorial of it,
than they used to do : though T do not see why an increase
of love to Christ, should not dispose Christians, as much to
increase in this, as in those other duties ; or why it is not as
proper, that Christ's disciples should abound in this duty, in
this joyful season, which is spiritually supper-time, a feast-
day with God's saints, wherein Christ is so abundantly mani-
festing his dying love to souls, and is dealing forth so liberally
of the precious fruits of his death. It seems plain by the
scripture, that the primitive Christians were wont to celebrate
this memorial of the sufferings of their dear Redeemer every
Lord's day : and so 1 believe it will be again in the church of
Cbrist, in days that are approaching. And whether we at-
tend this holy and sweet ordinance so often now, or, no, yet I
cannot but think it would become us, at such a time as this,
to attend it much oftener than is commonly done in the land.
SECTION V.
The work to be j^romoted by attention to moral duties.
But another thing I would mention, which it is of much
greater importance, that we should attend to : and that is
the duty, that is incumbent upon God's people at this day,
to take heed, that wdiile they abound in external duties of
devotion, such as praying, hearing, singing, and attending
rehgious meetings, there be a proportionable care to abound
jn moral duties, such as acts of righteousness, truth, meek-
ness, forgiveness and love towards our neighbor ; which are
of much greater importance in the sight of God, than all the
externals of his worship ; which our Savior was particu-
larly careful, that men should be well aware of. Matt. ix.
OF MORAL DUTIES. 403
13. "But go ye, and le.'un wliat tliat meanetb^ I will have
mercy and not sacrifice."' And chop. xii. 7. " But if ye
had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not
sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless."
The internal acts and principles of the worship of God, or
the worship of the heart, in the love and fear of God, trust in
God, and resignation to God, dec, are the most essential and
important of all duties of religion whatsoever ; for therein
consists the essence of all religion. But of this inward reli-
gion, t^iere are two sorts of external manifestations or ex-
pressions. The one sort are outward acts of worship, such
as meeting in religious assemblies,.attending sacraments, and
other outward institutions, and honoring God with gestures,
such as bowing, or kneeling before bim, or with words, in
speaking honorably of him, in prayer, praise, or rehgious
conference. And tbe other sort, are the expressions of our
love to God, by obeying his moral commands, of self-denial,
righteousness, meekness, and Christian love, in our behavior
among men. And the latter are of vastlv the greatest im-
portance in the Christian life. God makes little account of
the former, in comparison of them. They are abundantly
more insisted on, by the prophets, in the old testament, and
Christ and his apostles, in the new. When these two kinds
of duties are spoken of together, the latter are evermore greatly
preferred-. As in Isa. i. 12 — 18. and Amos v. 21. &c., and
Mic. vi. 7, 8. and Isa. Iviii. 5, 6, 7. and Zech. vii. ten first
verses, and Jer. ii. seven first verses, and Matt. xv. 3., <fec.
Often, when the times were very corrufjt in Israel, the people
abounded in the former kind of duties, but were at such
times, always notoriously deficient in the latter;., as the pro-
phets complain, Isa. Iviii. four first verses, Jer. vi. 13. com-
pared with ver. 20. Hypocrites and self-righteous persons,
do much more commonly abound in the former kind of
duties, than the latter; as Christ remarks of the Pharisees,
Matt. X'xiii. 14, 25, 34. When the scripture directs us to
sJiow our faith by our 'works, it is principally the latter sort
404 IN A REVIVAL OF RELIGION GOD CALLS
are intended ; as appears by James ii. from ver. 8. to the
end, and 1 John ii. 3, 7, S, 9, 10, 11. And we are to be
judged at the last day, especially by these latter sort of works ;
as is evident by the account we have of the day of judgment,
in Matt. xxv. External acts of worship, in words and ges-
tures, and outward forms, are of httle use, but as signs of
something else, or as they are a profession of inward wor-
ship : they are not so properly showing our religion by our
deeds ; for they are only a showing our religion by words,
or an outward profession. But he that shows religion in the
other sort of duties, shows it in something more than a pro-
fession of words, he shows it in deeds.. And though deeds
may be hypocritical, as well as words ; yet in themselves
they are of greater importance, for they are much more pro-
fitable to oui-selves and our neighbor. We cannot express
our love to God, by doing any thing that is profitable to God ;
God would therefore have us to do it in those things that are
profitable to our neighbors, whom he has constituted his re-
ceivers : our goodness extends not to God, but to our fellow-
Christians. The latter sort of duties puts greater honor upon
God, because there is greater self-denial in them. The exter-
nal acts of worship, consisting in bodily gestures, words, and
sounds, are the cheapest part of religion, and least contrary
to our lusts. The difficulty of thorough, external religion,
does not lie in them. Let wicked men enjoy their Covetous-
ness and their pride, their malice, envy and revenge, and
their sensuality and voluptuousness, in their behavior amongst
men, and they will be willing to compound the matter with
God, and submit to what forms of worship you please, and as
many as yjou please ; as is manifest in the Jews of old, in
the days of the prophets, and the Pharisees in Christ's time,
and the Papists and IMahometans, at this day.
At a time when there is an appearance of the approach of
any glorious revival of God's church, God does especially
call his professing peopb to the practice of moral duties. Isa.
Ivi. 1. '• Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do
TO DEEDS OF CHARITY, 405
justice ; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteous-
ness to be revealed." So when John preached, that " the
kingdom of heaven was at hand/' and cried to the people,
" Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,"
as we have an account, Luke iii. 4., the people asked him,
" What they should do?" he answers, '' He that hath two
coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that
hath meat, let him do likewise. The publicans said, " What
shall we do ?" He answers, " Exact no more than that
which is appointed you." And the soldiers asked him, " What
shall we do ?" He replies, " Do violence to no man ; neither
accuse any falsely ; and be content with your wages." ver.
10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
God's people, at such a time as this, ought especially to
abound in deeds of charity or alms- giving. We generally,
in these days, seem to fall far below the true spirit and prac-
tice of Christianity, with regard to this duty, and seem to
have but little notion of it, so far as I can understand the
New Testament. At a time when God is so liberal of spi-
ritual things, we ought not to be straight-handed towards him,
and sparing of our temporal things. So far as I can judge
by the scripture, there is no external duty whatsoever, by
which persons will be so much in the way, not only of receiv-
ing temporal benefits, but also spiritual blessings, the influ-
ences of God's Holy Spirit in the heart, in divine discoveries,
and spiritual consolations. I think it would be unreasona-
ble to understand those promises made to this duty, in Isa.
Iviii. in a sense exclusive of spiritual discoveries and comforts.
Isa. Iviii. 7, &-c. " Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,
and that thou bring the poor that are cast out, to thy house ?
When thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that
thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? Then shall
thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall
spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before
thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rere-ward : then
shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer, thou shalt cry,
406 DEEDS OF CHARITY SHOULD ABOUND
and he slialt say, Here I am. If thou take away from the
midst of thee the yoke, the putting fortli of the finger, and
speaking vanity ; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hun-
gry, and satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light rise
in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday : and the
Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in
drouglit, and make fat thy bones ; and thou shalt be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail
not." So that giving to the poor is the way to receive spi-
ritual blessings, is manifest by Psalm cxii. 4, (fee. " Unto the
upright, there ariseth light in the darkness : he is gracious,
and full of compassion and righteous : a good man show-
eth favor and lendeth, he will guide his affairs with discre-
tion : surely he shall not be moved forever ; the righteous
shall be in everlasting remembrance ; he shall not be afraid
of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord ; his
heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his
desire upon his enemies : he hath dispersed, he hath given to
the poor ; his horn shall be exalted with honor." That this
is one likely means to obtain assurance, is evident by 1 John
iii. 18, 19. " My little children, let us not love in word,
neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth ; and hereby we
know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts
before him."
We have a remarkable instance in Abraham, of God's re-
warding deeds of charity with sweet discoveries of himself,
when he had been remarkably charitable to his brother Lot,
and the people that he had redeemed out of captivity with
him, by exposing his life to rescue them, and had retaken not
only the persons, but all the goods, the spoil that had been
taken by Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him,
and the king of Sodom ollered him, that if he would give him
the persons, he might take the goods to himself, Abraham
refused to take any thing, even so much as a thread or shoe-
latchet, but rr^turned all. He might have greatly enriched
himself, if he had taken the spoils to himself, for it was the
IN TIMES OF REVIVAL. 407
spoils qf five wealthy kings, and their kingdoms, yet he co-
veted it not ; the king and people of Sodom were now be-
come objects of charity, having been stripped of all by ilieir
enemies, therefore Abraham generously bestowed all upon
them ; as we have an account in Gen. xiv. and four last
verses. And he was soon rewarded for it, by a blessed dis-
covery that God made of himself to him; as we have an ac-
count ill the next words : " After these things, the word of
the Lord came unto Abram, in a vision, saying, Fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."
" I am thy shield, to defend thee in battle, as I have now
done ; and though thou hast charitably refused to take any
reward, for exposing thy life, to rescue this people, yet fear
not, thou shalt not lose, thou shalt have a reward, I am thy
exceeding great reward."
When Christ was upon earth, he was poor, and an object
of charity ; and during the time of his public ministry, he
was supported by the charity of some of his followers, and par-
ticularly certain women, of whom we read Luke viii. 2, 3.
And these women were rewarded, by being peculiarly favor-
ed with gracious manifestations, which Christ made of him-
self to them. He discovered himself first to them after his
resurrection, before the twelve disciples : they first saw a vi-
sion of glorious angels, who spake comfortably to them ; and
then Christ appeared to them, and spake peace to them,
" saying, All hail, be not afraid ;" and they were admitted to
come, and hold him by the feel, and worship him. Matt,
xxviii. And though we cannot now be charitable in this
way, to Christ in person, who, in his exalted state, is infi-
nitely above the need of our charity ; yet we may be chari-
table to Christ now, as well as they then ; for though Christ
is not here, yet he has left others in his room, to be his re-
ceivers ; and they are the poor. Christ is yet poor in his
members, and he that gives to them lends to the Lord : and
Christ tells us that he shall look on what is done to them, as
done to him.
408 DEEDS OF CHARITY NEED NOT
Rebekah, in her marriage with Isaac, was undoubtedly a
remarkable type of the church, in her espousals to the liOrd
Jesus. But she found lier husband, in doing deeds of cha-
rity, agreeable to the prayer of Abraham's servant, who prayed
that this might be the thing that might distinguish and mark
out the virgin, that w^as to be Isaac's wife. So CorneHus was
brought to the knowledge of Christ in this way. *' He was a
devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house ;
which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God al-
way. And an angel appeared to him, and said to him, thy
prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before
God ; and now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon,
whose surname is Peter," &c. Acts x. at the beginning. And
w^e have an account in the following parts of the chapter,
how God, by Peter's preaching, revealed Christ to Cornelius
and his family, and of the Holy Ghost descending upon them,
and filling their hearts with joy, and their mouths with
praise.
Some may possibly object, that for persons to do deeds of
charity, in hope of obtaining spiritual blessings and comforts
in this wa}^, would seem to show a self-righteous spirit, as
though they would offer something to God, to purchase these
favors. But if this be a good objection, it may be made against
every duty whatsoever. All external duties of the first table
will be excluded by it, as well as those of the second. First
table duties have as direct a tendency to raise self-righteous
persons' expectations of receiving something from God, on
account of them, as second table duties ; and on some ac-
counts more, for those duties are more immediately offered
to God, and therefore persons are more ready to expect some-
thing /ro?7i God for them. But no duty is to be neglected,
for fear of making a righteousness of it. And I have always
observed, that those professors that are most partial in their
duty, exact and abundant in external duties of the first table,
and slack as to those of the second, are the most self-righteous.
LHAP TO Sr.LF HTCHTEOUSNESS. 409
If God's people in this land, were once brought to abound
in such deeds of love, as much as in praying, hearing, sing-
ing, and religious meetings and conference, it would be a
most blessed omen : there is nothing would liave a greater
tendency to bring the God of love down from heaven to the
earth : so amiable would be the sight, in the eyes of our
loving and exalted Redeemer, that it would soon as it were
fetch him down from his throne in heaven, to set up his
tabernacle with men on the earth, and dwell with them. I
do not remember ever to have read of any remarkable out-
pouring of the spirit, that continued any long time, but what
was attended with an abounding in this dut}^ So we know
it was with that great effusion of the Spirit that began at Je-
rusalem in the apostles' days : and so in the late remarkable
revival of religion in Saxony, which began by the labors of
the famous professor Franck, and has now been carried on
for above thirty years, and has spread its happy influence into
inany parts of the world ; it was begun, and has been car-
ried on, by a wonderfid practice of this duty. And the re-
markable blessing that God has given Mr. Whitefield, and
the great success with which he has crowned him, may well
be thought to be very much owing to his laying out himself
so abundantly in charitable designs. And it is foretold, that
God's people shall abound in this duty, in the time of the
great outpouring of the spirit that shall be in the latter days,
Tsa. xxxii. 5, 8. " The vile person shall no more be called
liberal, nor the churl said to be b^mtiful. But the liberal
deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand."
To promote a reformation, with respect to all sorts of duties j
among a professing })eople, one proper means, and that which
is recommended by frequent scripture examples, is their so-
lemn, public renewing their covenant with God. And doubt-
less it would greatly tend to promote this work in the land,
if the congregations of God's people could generally be brought
to this. If a draft of a covenant should be made by their
ministers, wherein there should be an express mention of
52
410 OF RENEWING THE COVENANT.
those particular duties, that the people of tlie respective con-
gregations have been observed to be most prone to neglect,
and those particular sins that they have heretofore especially
fallen into, or that it may be apprehended they are especially
in danger of, whereby they may prevent or resist the motions
of God's Spirit, and the matter should be fully proposed and
explained to the people, and they have sufficient opportunity
given them for consideration, and then they should be led,
all that are capable of understanding, particularly to subscribe
the covenant, and also should all appear together, on a day
of prayer and fasting, publicly to own it before God in his
house, as their vow to the Lord ; hereby congregations of
Christians would do that which would be beautiful, and would
put honor upon God, and be very profitable to themselves.
Such a thing as this was attended with a veiy wonderful
blessing in Scotland, and followed with a great increase of
the blessed tokens of the presence of God, and remarkable
outpourings of his Spirit, as the author of the fulfdling of
the scripture informs, p. 186, fifth edition.
A people must be taken when they are in a good mood,
when considerable religious impressions are prevailing among
them ; otherwise they will hardly be induced to this ; but
innumerable will be their objections and cavils against it.
One thing more I would mentioji, v/hich if God should
still carry on this work, would tend much to promote it, and
that is, that a history should be published once a month, or
once a fortnight, of the progress of it, by one of the ministers
of Boston, who are near the press, and are most conveniently
situated, to receive accounts from all parts. It has been found
by experience, that the tidings of remarkable elTects of the
power and grace of God, in any place, tend greatly to awaken
and engage the minds of persons, in other places. It is great
pity therefore, but that some means should be used, for the
most speedy, most extensive and certain giving information
of such things, and that the country be not left only to the
THE CONCLUSION. 41]
slow, partial, and doubtful information, and false repre^
sentations of common report.
Thus I have (I hope, by the help of God) finished what I
proposed. I have taken the more pains in it, because it ap-
pears to me, that now God is giving us the most happy sea-
son to attempt a universal reformation, that ever was given
in New England. And it is a thousand pities that we should
fail of that which would be so glorious, for want of l^eing sen-
sible of our opportunity, or being aware of those things that
tend to hmder it, or our taking improper courses to obtain it,
or not being sensible in what way God expects we should
seek It. If It should please God to bless any means, for the
convincing the country of his hand in this work, and bring-
ing them fully and freely to acknowledge his glorious power
and grace in it, and engage with one heart and soul, and by
due methods, to endeavor to promote it, it would be a dispen-
sation of Divine Providence that would have a most glorious
aspect, happily signifying the approach of great and glorious
things to the church of God, and justly causing us to hope
that Christ would speedUy come, to set up his kingdom of
tight, holiness, peace and joy on earth, as is foretold in his
word. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus !
I N D E X.
A.
Abuse no argument against what is
good, 241
Admonition should be listened to, 268
Advantages of the devil, 324
Affectation a proof of spiritual pride,
278
Affections not diverse from the will,
122
-, distinction in them, 122
124
— essential to reU^ion, 123
— , high, prevail m heaven,
— , hiofh, tote desired and che-
rished, 125
should be addressed, 231
depend on the understand-
ing, 232
should be regulated, 342
Aged persons converted, 46
-, their peculiar danger.
381
soon left in a revival-
SSI
Agreement m prayer, benefits of, 400
• — , arrangement for,
America, millenium to begiiaiuoro, isq
Animal feeling from defects in expe-
rience, 332
Apostles practiced frequent preach-
ing, 246
,fi priori judgment of the work, 1 17
wrong to judge of the works
of God, 118
Arminians 'exhorted to change their
principles, 379
Arminianism, progress of, 36
successfully opposed, 36
Assuming airs of ministers, 287
Assurance enjoyed, 171
Authority not to be assumed, 323
, how assumed, 356
of ministers, 367
Awakenings, manner of, 49
, effects of, 49
, degree of, 50
increased before deliver-
ance, 50
, duration of, 57
B.
Bartlet, Phebe, her case, 97
, her secret prayer, 97
, finding God, 98
,happiness in religion,99
— , concern for her friends.
100
, manifest change of
character, 100
, dread of sin, 101
, love for the scriptures,
102 ^ t- ♦
, concern for sinners,102
, spirit of charity, 102
— , love to her minister, 104
Bible remarkably valued in the revi-
val, 78
has been a means of fjrcat evils,
not blai^Dlc for being abused,
241
Bitterness should not be shown to op-
posers, 374
Blessedness of joining in the work, 209
Blessings promised to charity, 406
Bodily effects of reliorious exercises, 126
Body affected by divine love, 75
Boldness the effect of pride, 284
Boston ministers, their preface, xxvi
Business should sometimes give way
to religion, 344
414
mBEX.
Business not injured by revivals, 345
Busybodies, false concern of, 1 26
C.
Candidates for the ministry, 388
should
be
thoroughly tried, 388
Censoriousness, means of good to
others, 121
— , sinfulness of, 151
, not inconsistent with
true godliness, 151
must be rooted out be-
fore revivals, 351
Censuring, great temptations to, in
revivals, 150
ministers destroys the good
Compassion due to yonnrt- converts,
149
Complaints about spending time in
rehgion, 245
cannot be from good motives,
245
Concern, for the soul, prevailing, 38
for others, reasonable, 132
Concert of action, by ministers, 385
of prayer for revivals, 399
Confession of faults, duty of, 372
necessary to the revival, 372
of their preaching, 348 ,
by other ministers, 345
not a means of good to the
unconverted, 346
for coldness, 348
■ • in public prayer, 351
Character of the people in Northamp-
ton, 30
Charity, a duty in revivals, 405
— , pleasing to God, 405
■ does nnt }cac\ tr»«f>lf rigV,f(3Qyg_
ness, 408
Children, many converted, 46
need regeneration, 242
should be aw^akened, 242
Children's meetings objected against,
259
not to be found
Confession by opposers of the vs^ork,
372
of disorderly or unkind pro-
cedures, 373
honorable to rehgion, 373
should be public, 373
Confusion not the necessary effect of
will stop the work, 360
Connecticut, revivals in, 42
, places visited, 43
fault with, 261
may be acceptable
to God, 260
Christ, the theme of conversation, 40
not always thought of in the
first act of grace, 63
glorified in revivals, 186
should judge the heart, 345
■ assisted in his members;, -107
Christians hMvp mnnj faults, 143
Chnrrh order necessary, 320
offices preserved, 321
Coldness in ministers, the worst mad-
ness, 120
, censuring for, 348
Colleges shoiild be nurseries of piety,
388 ^ •^'
Colman, Dr., letter to, 31
Comfort, not to be too hastily admi-
nistered, 237
Communion, frequent in revivals, 401
Companies fornw^d for social praver, 35
Consequences not to be disregarded,
307
— -, not a rule of duty, 307
Controversy about Arminianism, its
good effects. He
Controversies hinder the work, 107
Uoiivciaion, first in the revival, 37
, various manner of, 48
, imperfect ideas of, 65
, often not thought of at
the time, 67
, suddenness of, 66
, time of, not always
known, 69
, compared to light, 70
by texts of scripture, 70
Conversions daily, 39
Conversation, religious, its utility, 82,
86
Converts, their number, 45
, ".^cQ persons, 46
, children, 46
often need encouragement.
-, characteristics of, 73
remain steadfast, 107
Convictions, legal, described, 52
Corruption of the heart discovered, 52
remaining after conver-
sion, 81
allowance to be made for.
140
Covenant renewed, 409
should be full and
409
specific,
415
Crying out, not a novelty, 134, 138
Custom, its influence, 340
, should restrain feeling, 360
D.
Daily meetings proper, 243
Danger of doubting the work, 187
of not acknowledging the re-
vival, 197
• of opposing it, 200
of not joining in it, 200
of despising the instruments.
204
267
of ridiculing the work, 206
of continued unbelief, 208
of error, when near to God,
Doubting of the work, its absurdity,
160
danger of, 187
Duration of awakenings, 57
E.
Earnest speaking, natural effect of
deep feeling, 252
not an objection to revivals, 253
of misimproving the season of
revivals, 379
Days of fasting and prayer, 398
Defects of the revival, 107
in experiences, 329
cause of error, 332
Degenerating of experiences 334
caused by spiritual pride, 335
not readily perceived, 336
■ caused by their mixture, 336
• by their defectiveness, 337
by extravagance, 338
Despair, before deliverance, 52
Devil promotes defective experiences,
335
wishes to drive to extremes, 367
, his advantages, 324
Difficulties in coiiversion, less than
usual, 51
Disaffection of ministers to the work,
218
Discoveries of God enjoyed, 62
Discretion should be exercised, 308
Disgust at revivals, shows unbelief
and pride, 255
Disorder to be expected in extraordi-
nary times, 145
in the primitive churches,
146
easily accounted for, 148
Disproportion in rehgious exercises,
330
Distress of sinners not a reason for
comforting them, 239
Distinction in affections, 122
Divisions not to be aimed at, 311
cannot be wholly avoided, 312
Doddridge's school, 390
Doubts and fears, causes of, 80
Doubters, what are they waitins' for,
175 J ^ '
Earnestness of contention consistent
with meekness, 284
Education of ministers, 321
Effects of conversion, 62
of the revival, 158
prove its genuineness, 161
Encouragement often necessary to
converts, 68
to labor in revivals, 209
Enlightening of the Spirit, 296
Enthusiasm, how resisted, 384
Enthusiastic delusions, cause of, 106
Envy in ministers, hatefulness of, 221
Errors of those who think ill of the
work, 117
, God's permission of them, 152
, Satan's agency in them, 153
, not to be too much dwelt up-
on, 226
, in revivals, should be corrected
or avoided, 263
should be freely pointed out,
263
have been too much insisted
on, 264
give advantaee to the enemies,
265
266
furnish weapons for opposers,
causes of, 270
■ produced by spiritual pride, 270
-, the effect of wrong principles,
expen-
292
, caused by defects in
ences, 332
Example, happy effect of, 250
Excitement necessary to the power of
the work, 249
not a ground of objection
or alarm, 249
Exhorting and preaching distinguish-
ed, 354
Experience of Mr. Flavel, 137
, past, not a lioie for judg-
ing, 130
of Mrs. Edwards, 162
Experiences, varieties of, 79
, remarkable cases, 134
416
INDEX.
Experiences, liigli, may produce spi-
ritual pride, 273
, mixture in, 324
, defects in, 329
, proportion in, 330
, how to be judged, 333
, will grow better, 334
, degenerating of, 334
, intluence of custom on,
340
-, external effects of, 340
External fruits of the revival, 1 54
order should be regarded, 319
religion of little worth, 404
Extraordinary nature of revivals, 149
Extravagant pretensions expose to de-
generacy, 337
Extremes, tendency to, in revivals, 146
, the work of the devil, 367
, danger and evils of, 367
F.
Faith in prayer, 301
, reasonableness of, 302
, to be shown by works, 403
Falsehood may excite gracious feel-
ings to action, 318
Family worsliip shonlrl not be cus-
tomarily neglected, 321
Fasting and prayer, for a revival, 394
, private, recommended, 401
Faults occasioned by the novelty of
the work, 144
Fear of God, how exhibited, 286
Fears of self-deception, 68
Fitness to come to Christ, 55
Flavel, his experience, 137
Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture,
quoted, 135
Forbearance, a means of revival, 374
, calls for, in a revival, 375
Forgiveness of sins, sense of, 64
Frequency of communion proper in
revivals, 401
Frequent meetings, Mppriety of, in
revivals, £13
, not an objection, 243
Gospel should be fully prcaclied, 238
Grace manifested in submission, 61
Great men ought to promote the revi-
val, 391
Guilt of passing a revival, 380
H.
Hampshire ministers, their attesta-
tion, XXX
towns where there were
revivals, 41
Hardness of heart, sense of it under
awakenings, 51
Harshness and severity the fruit of
pride, 275
, a device of the devil, 276
, its odioiisness, 277
tends to harden sinners, 281
Harvest, revival compared to, 380
Haste, danger of, 314
Health may be impaired by religious
exercises, 127
Heaven, order in, 320
Hindrances to be removed, 371
History not a rule for revivals, 133
of revivals useful, 410
good effects of, 410
Holy Spirit, how he enlightens, 296
, Kie lonrfing', 298
, his promptings, 305
, his teacliino^s needed, 381
Human nature easily overcome bv the
things of God, 128
Humility after conversion, 76
produces Ihe highest jovs, 77
to be learned from errors in
revivals, 153
leads to self-distrust, 274
becomino^ in Christians, 277
, beauty of it, 280
needful in revivals, 2S0
wives force to divine truth.
Galleries, fall of at Northampton, xxii
Gentleness, a Christian duty, 277
• exemplified by Ciirist, 278
Genuineness of the revival proved by
its pffects, 161
Glorj'ing in irregularities, 286
God to be submitted to in the work,
221
281
makes good use of opposi-
tion, 284
, needful for young ministers,
290
Hutchinson, Abiifail, case of, 87
, character of, 87
, awakened, 87
-, sense of sin against God,
88
ry, 91
jccls, 92
- obtains peace of mind, 89
-, compassioTi fot sinners, 90
-, discoveries of God's glo-
-, enjoyment of natural ob-
ii^ifnF.x.
417
Hutcliinson, Abii)ail, Ionian £>■ to die; 93
^- — , distrossinfi^ sickness, 94
anxiety I'or tlie uncon-
verted, 95
-, peaceful death, 9G
Idleness should be driven from col-
leges, 389
Imagination, impressions on, 83
Impatience and haste, cVils of, 376
Impenitent, not to be needlessly of-
fended, 309
Imperfection, allowance for, 140
Impressions of the imagination, what
they are, 83.
produced by a strong
sense of divine things, 83 •
greatly misrepresented, 84
somewhat mysterious, 85
— of scripture texts, 295
, danger of trusting to, 300
, mixed with experiences
327
Impmdenccs should be freely confess-
ed, 373
Impulses, not a guide, 295
Inclinations, good, not a guide, 305
Indiscreet zeal leads to haste, 314
Inferiority of ministers and corivcrts
made use of, 120
Information of revivals should be
spread, 410
Ingratitude, cause of doubts, 81
Innovations, moderation in, 313
, Christ's manner in, 313
, how to h6 introduced, 363
should be by common
consent, 366
with approbation of pas-
tors, 367
Injuries confessed and repaired, 78
Inquirers should receive hxstruction,
238
Instruction, eagerness to receive, 76
Instruments of revival chosen by God,
119 ^
, their imperfection, 120
Insufficiency of human ellbrts, 55
Irregularity, too much clamor about
it, 264
J.
Jealousy of ourselves recommended,
337
Judgments to be expected by minis-
ters who oppose, 219
53
Judging the whole by a part, 142
others, forbidden, 349
ought to be avoided, 350
will bring down judgments if
persisted in, 350
Justice of God, convictions of, 58
, submission to, 60
K.
Kindness to sinners, 32T
Knowledge, speculative, rfbt what is
most needed, 233
not to be itndervalued,- 23S
L.
Late meetings not to be common, 321
Laymen, exliorting by, 354
' , not unlawful, 354
, may speak in public, 356
, allowance for strong feel-
ings, 357
not set up for public teachers.
358
— not to assume authority, 358
not to follow teacliin" as a
' business, 359
■ should govern their strong'
feelings, 360
Leadings of the Spirit, what they arc,
298
Legal terrors, not always followed by
the greatest comfort, 71
Life may be destroyed by religious
discoveries, 130
Light, not so much needed as heat, 234
, terrible to the impenitent, 237
Lightness in religion, sign of defect-
iveness, 332
Longings of the soul after God, 63
Love to God and Christ, in great de-
grees, 75
M.
Marks of spiritual pride, 271
Means should be used .to the utmost,
229
, skill required in, 229
for promoting the work, 371
Measures not wholly judged by their
success, 315
Meekness, the severest reftukc of op-
posers, 283
gives force to arguments, 284
especially called for in revi-
vals, 373
418
INDEX.
Melancholy, cliiHcult to deal vvitli, 51
, effects of, 105
caution to be used in, 240
— , perverseness of, 240
Meroz, the curse of, 203
, argued a priori, 203'
Millenium, to commence in America,
189
Ministers, their responsibility, 216
, officers in Christ's king-
dom, 216
-^, peculiar guilt of neglect.
217
tion, 218
should not show disaffec-
disaffected are worse than
none, 219
— may expect judgments, 219
, danger of unbelief, 220
should guard against envy,
221
should endeavor to excite
the affections, 231
should preach terror to the
impenitent, 237
should instruct inquirers,
238
should be faithful to chil-
dren, 242
. should aim at crrcat ^.-iToote,
249
need great humility in revi-
vals, 280
288
their dangers from success,
-, young, their dangers,, 289
- should be trained for thei
work, 294
, education of, 321
, not to be denounced on
shirht grounds, 344
-, cold and fonnal, to be treat-
ed gently, 348
■ , opposing the work, a great
scandal, 349
-, their office and authority.
355
should partake much of the
revival, 383
unconverted, hypocrisy of,
383
-, wretched condition, 383
, guilt in God's sight, 383
>-, their great need of spiritu-
ality, 384
, need of divine aid, 384
should pray together, 384
Ministers should be zealous, 385
ihould strengthen each
other's hands, 385
should be resolute, 386
should be prayed for, 39S
Misimprovement of revival, 379
Misrepresentations of the revival, 109
Mixtures, in experiences, 324
occasioned by corruption.
325
— ■ of natural feelings, 325
of impressions on the ima-
gination, 327
— of self-righteousness, 327
give advantage to Satan,
528
Modesty, an ornament to religion, 285
Morals, wonderful reformation of, 154
Moral duties promote revivals, 402
, better evidence than religious
observances, 403
Mrs. Edwards, her experience, 162
)
N.
Natural objects, enjoyment of, 76
Natural feehngs mixed with experi*
ences, 325
Natural affections not to be sup-
pressed, 338
Nearness to God docs not preclude
error, 267
Neuters, not tolerated in revivals, 184
New Jersey, revival there, 44
New measures not to be introduced
suddenly, 363
' , should not provoke prejudice
rasWy, 363
New things always accompany great
events,! 93
News of conversion promotes the re-
vival, 67
Noise inseparable from powerful ex-
citement, 251
Northampton, character of, 30
, population, 32
, ministers in, 32
^, revivals in, 32
— '■ , degeneracy, 33
Novelty in revivals not an objection,
134
, not so common as is sup-
posed, 134
Novelties, falsely so called, 135
■, should be used with cau-
. tion, 312
Numbers converted in the revival, 45
INDEX.
410
o.
Objections examined, 229
Obligations of all to promote the
work, 211 ,
Occasion of sin, from good influences,
142
Offense not to be given needlessly, 309
Office of ministers, 355, 359
Opportunities to be improved for re-
vivals, 411
Opposers aided by errors in the work,
266
should look' to their own
state, 379
should not be treated with
bitterness, 374
— and Arminians invited to
join the work, 379
Opposition, ways of manifesting, 225
by appearing discontented,
225
Power of revival desirable, 249
Prayer of faith described, 301
— ', wrong inferences from,
301
different from imaei- *'
nations, 303
— '—, censuring in, 351
, conditional imprecations in,
351
by insisting much on the
blemishes, 226
, unrighteousness of, 227
too much thought of, 2S2
not to be met with noise.
, that God would convert or re-
move, 352
, teachings of the Spirit in, 353
, a remedy for impatience, 376
, efficiency of, 394
, importunate, 395
, God waits for it, 396
, the weakest may aid, 397
, better than disputings, 397
, for ministers, 398
, method in, 39S
, concert in, 399
-, general arrangement for, 400
Preaching should be instructive, 231
impressive, 232
282
best put down by meek-
ness, 283
should be publicly retract-
ed, 372
Order, its importance, 319
, means to an end, 320
prevails in heaven, 320
in families, 321
Outcries and faintings considered, 248
, not the work of God's
Spirit, 248
, may show the power of the
work, 249
Outward reformation under awaken-
ings, 54
P.
Parents should feel most for their
children, 339
Passions mixed with religion, 320
Pastors, their authority, 367
People may all help in revivals, 222
Persecution should be met with meek-
ness, 283
, how to be expected, 310
, how misimproved, 310
Personal preparation for a revival, 378
Perversion of Spirit's influences, 142
Philosophy, no standard of revivals, 121
of opposers, false, 122
, scripture account of, 234
should be correct, 235
, terror to the awakened, 236
, instructive to inquirers, 238
— — , frequent, justified, 245
Preface by Drs. AVatts and Guyse, xviii
by the Boston ministers, xxvi
to the " Thoughts," &c., 115
for
Prejudices against the work, 109
Preservation, remarkable, xxii
Press should promote revivals, 223
Pride, spiritual, its effects, 270
-■ , a great source of sin, 271
remains in Christians, 271
Principles, M^rong, efl^ects of, 292
Private fasting recommended, 401
Property should be emploved
Christ, 392
Prophecy of the millenium, 190
inferior to grace, 297
Proportion in experiences, 330
Providence, not an attestation, 315
, not understood by us, 316
, how interpreted, 317
Provoking of opposition, 312
Prudence, -excessive, rebuked, 187
required in revivals, 308
Public speaking, how lawful, 357
a.
GLuakers, had no success among the
converts, 85
Quickness of the work, glorious, 179
420
INDEX.
R.
Rashness and censorionsness made
useful, 120
Reality of relij^ion greatly fell, 71 •
Reason sometimes made use of in con-
version, 73
Reformation by the revival, 154
must take time, 314
Rejoicing in revivals, duty of, 187
Religion consists in affections, 124
— , worthy of strong affections,
233
, its social nature, 259
, a warfare, 268
Renewing covenant, importance of,
409
Resolution, effects of, upon others, 386
, needful in revivals, 387
Responsibility, connected with revi-
vals, 212
Rest of the soul in God, 65
Restraint, needful for strong emotions,
361
Revelations not now enjoyed, 292
, supposed, a support for
all errors, 293
perpetually fail, 293
, scripture does not coun-
tenance, 293
, not iin evidence of grace,
296
Reverence in approaching God, 285
Reviling to be received meekly, 375
Revival in 1735, narrative of, xvii
. , signs of its approach, 34
, , commencement of, 37
^ , rapid progress of, 38, 47
. , joyful effects of, 39
, influence upon singing, 39
, influence upon conversation,
40
extending to other towns, 41
reaches Connecticut, 42
, unusual character of, 45
-, extraordinary for numbers, 45
promoted by the circulation of
intelligence, 69
, misrepresentations of, 83
-, similar to other revivals, 85
-, illustrated by instances, 87
, defects and decline, 104
hindered by controversies, 107
, good effects permanent, 107
, jealousies and misrepresenta-
Revivals under Mr. Stoddard, 33
, to be judged by their fruits,
— , instruments employed by
God, 119
, subjects selected by liim, 120
to be judged by the rule of
lions of it, 109
Revival, time for personal piety, 378
Revival spirit, beauties of it, 409
scripture, 121
, not to be judged by philoso-
phy, 121
not to be judged by bodily
effects, 126
not to be judged by their no-
velty, 133
, effects of,in former times, 135
effects of, in Scotland and
France, 135
-, effects of, in America, 133
not to be compared with en-
thusiasts, 139
not to be judged by experi-
ence, 139
not to be judged by parts, 140
, faults in, explained, 143
tendency to extremes, 146
, extraordinariness of, 149 ^
, Satan alarmed by, 153
, their general nature, 154
, visible effects, 154
--, spiritual conversation, 156
, durability of thu chanore, 160
show the work of God, 160
have always been prayed for,
161
16-^
— illustrated by an instance,
— , a glorious work of God; 174
— , fruits shoidd be recoirnized.
175
, a work of God, or of the de-
vil, 177
,most glorious of God's works.
177
211
-, all bound to acknowledge, 183
-, no neutrals in, 184
-, Christ glorified in, 186
-, beginning of inillenium, 189
-, danger in neglecting, 197
-, danger m opposing, 200
-, danger in deriding", 206
-, blessedness in joining, 209
-, obligations of all to promote,
-,' rulers should promote, 213
should be acknowledged pub-
licly, 214
,dutv of ministers in, 216
, all may help in, 222
INDEX.
421
Revivals, the prcf?s should be employ-
ed, 223
, how opposed, 225
are the work of God, not of
man, 229
require the most earnest use
of means, 229
should be managed withskill,
229
, objections answered, 231
, frequent meetings in, 243
not injurious to temporal af-
fairs, 245
, much preaching, in, 246
^-, bodily effects in, 248
, excitement desirable in, 249
^ , earnest speaking in, 252
, disgust at them, 255
, singing useful in, 257
■ , children's meetings in, 259
, errors should be corrected.
263
334
— , watchfulness needed in, 267
— , causes of error in, 270
— , spiritual pride in, 270
— , humility needed in, 280
— , opposition how met, 282
— , young ministers employed
290
, wrong principles in, 292
, consequences regarded, 307
— , external order in, 319
advantages of the devil in,
, experiences in, 334
, custom in, 341
, particular errors in, 343
, judging in, 343
, laymen useful in, 354
, extremes injurious to, 367
, confessing of faults in, 372
, mutual forbearance, means
of, 373
, time to renounce errors, 379
, danger of neglecting, 380
, duties of ministers in, 383
, zeal needful in, 386
, colleges should promote, 388
, fasting and prayer for, 394
-, charity a means of, 402
Rich men mav do much to promote
the work, 391
Righteous, over much, 340
Rulers bound to promote revivals, 213
Rules, scripture, sufficient, 126
S.
Satan alarmed at revivals, 153
relies more on skill than
strength, 230
pushes things to extremes, 264
delights in excesses, 265
, his advantages in regard to
revivals, 324
Schools a means of revival, 393
Scotland, revivals in, 135
Scripture the only standard, 121
not superseded by revela-
tions, 294
Self-confidence in prayer, 284
Self-examination, duty of, 374
Self-ignorance, imder awakenings, 56
Self-nghteousness ineffectual, 54
mixed with expe-
rience, 327
Separation springs from spiritual
pride, 279
Sermons, frequent, useful, 246
Singing enjoyed in the revival, 39
much used in revivals, 257
abounds in heaven, 257
will increase in the milleni-
um, 258
; errors connected with, 361
should be with reverence and
solemnity, 362
should abound in revivals,
362
in the streets, 362
, not to be in-
troduced suddenly, 363
, not wholly ob-
jectionable, 364
— , honorable to God, 364
Singularity the fruit of pride, 278
Sinners, aged, their danger, 381
Sins of the hfe, conviction of, 59
Skill and prudence in the use of means,
229
Smoking by ministers, 384
Social nature of religion, 259
Solemnity of a revival, 212
Sovereignty of God inculcated in the
revival, 57
, in the instruments he uses, 1 18
, in the snbjocts he selects, 120
, not to be limited, 131
, in permitting errors and dis-
orders, 152
Special comforts not a defense from
blame, 317
Spirit's influences niny injure tiio
health, 127 ' "
422
INDEX,
Spiritual blessings easily exceed our
capacity, 129
Spiritual pride, a source of error in re-
vivals, 270
lays the mind open to tempta-
tion, 271
, often falsely charged, 271
-, zealous Christians liable to.
271
-, hatefulness of^ 272
, difficult to detect, 272
should be watched agaiiist, 273
may grow out of high religious
experiences, 273
, its effects, 274
produces suspicion of others,
274
produces harsh language, 275
disposes to singularity, 277
takes great notice of opposi-
tion, 282
produces unsuitable boldness,
284
shows an assuming temper,
286
, successful ministers exposed
to, 288
Stoddard, Mr., his harvests, 33
Stranofers, how affected by the re\a-
val,41
Stumbling blocks, removal of, 371
Submission to God's justice in con-
version, 60
. to the will of God in the
work, 221
Success in revivals, temptations of, 288
, not a criterion of propriety,
315
, no evidence of God's appro-
val, 315
Sudden death, influence of, 36
Suicide, cases of, 105
Suspicion, how created, 218
, caused by spiritual pride,
274
T.
Teachbg, the business of ministers,
359
of the Holy Spirit, needful
for ministers, 384
Tenderness of the Savior. 278
Tennents, Messrs. W. & G., their
ministry, 45
Terror, the necessarj' effect of light,
237
, not an objection to revivals, 239
Testimony of Hampshire ministers,
XXX
Texts impressed on the mind, 295
ThouiJ^lits on the revival, &c. 113
Time of conversion not alwaysknown,
69
reasonably spent in rehgion,243
needful in reformation, 376
Travail for souls not unreasonable,131
Truth, of the scriptures, sense of, 72
should not be kept back, 237
U.
Unbelief, conviction of, 59
in revivals, the fruit of pride.
203
danger of, in ministers, 220
Unconverted ministers, 343
Union among ministers, 385
Varieties in experience, 79
Vaunting, an effect of pride, 287
Violent affections not always the best,
333
W.
Wairing for a decline to judge the
work, 175
Waiting on God, duty of, 375
, how intended, 375
, happy effects of, 377
Watchfulness needed in revivals, 267
against spiritual pride.
273, 237
Watts and Guyse, their preface, xviii
Weakness, human, under vicM's of
eternity, 128
of Christians, 368
Whitefield's frankness in confession.
373
-, his resolution, 386
Wildness, how controlled, 384
Willinofness to be damned, not re-
quired in the Bible, 61
Wisdom of submittin or to God, 221
Women, their speaking, 357
Y.
Young people, their lightness, 31
, tenderness among, 35
Young ministors employed in revival,
120
, their dangers, 289
Z.
Zeal and resolution, duty of ministers,
386
necessary to great results, 386
Zealous persons do hurt by excess, 265
A TABLE, OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS,
CITED OR ILLUSTRATED IN THIS VOLUME.
Genesis.
V. 6. page
.296
xxi. 8. 9.
2ii6
xxxii. 24.
127
xlv. 22.
191
xlix. 22.
191
Exodus.
xvi. 20.
335
xvii. 14—16.
201
XXXV. 20, 29.
223
Leviticus.
xix. 32.
290
Numbers.
vii.
214
x. 29.
379
xiii. 3.
282
Deuteronomy.
ii. 16.
381
iv. 2.
316
xvii. 16, 17.
317
xxiii. 3, 4.
201
xxxiii. 13.
191
xxxiii. 20-23
2U1
Joshua.
xviii. 1.
223
Judges.
V.9.
214
— 14.
224
-19. '
203
- 20, 21.
202
- 23. 203
, 209
vii. 23, 24.
204
viii. 17.
205
1 Samuel.
XV. 3.
201
2 Samuel.
vi. 6.
289
vL 18, 19. 205
,206
-22.
391
1 Kings.
vi. 29.
146
viii. 1-3.
213
— 3—8.
217
2 Kings.
vi. 20.
208
XX. 5.
195
1 Chronicles.
xiii. 12, 5.
206
xiv. 19—32.
210
xiv. 28.
206
XV. 2.
360
— 2.
205
— 35.
213
2 Chronicles.
V. 2-4.
213
XX. 25, 26.
130
Nehemiah.
ii. 20.
208
iii. 214, 218
, 223
— 32.
392
vi. 5.
208
viii. 9—12.
227
— 16, 17.
208
Esther.
iv. 1. 133
Job.
V. 2-4. 151
vi. 14. 339
xvi. 9-11. 151
Psalms,
ii. 6—12. 212
vii. 6. 337
xii. 6. 89
XXV. 9. 270
xxxvii. 9. 376
— 11. 374
xiii. 4. 365
xliv. 23. 377
xlv. 3, 4. 283, 374
lix. 4. 377
Ixvi. 9. 374
Ixviii. 1, 8, 13, 18, 24. 205
— 27. 214
Ixxiii. 20. 377
Ixxvi. 8, 9. 283
Ixxviii. 34, 36. xxvii
xcii. 12. 146
xcix. 9. 381
cvi. 32, 33. 143, 288
ex. 6. 213
cxii. 4. 406
cxvi. 4. 106
cxix. 5. 129
— 53. 133
- 136. 133
cxxxi. 2. 207
cxxxvii. 9. 210
cxlvii. 6. 283
Proverbs,
i. 20. 235
V. 19. 377
viii. 1-4. 235
ix. 3. 235
XXX. 6. 316
XXX. 25. , 285
Ecclesiastes.
vii. 8. 375
Solomon's Song,
ii. 7. • 377
iii. 5. 377
viii. 4. 377
Isaiah.
i. 12—18. 403
ii. 12—15. 222
ii. 17. 119, 222
vi. 10. 241
viii. 14, 15. 186
xi. 4. 283
xviii. 19. 193
xxii. 4. 133
xvi. 10, 11. 188
xxvii. 13. 235
xxviii. 9. 207
— 24-26. 308
— 13, 16. 186
xxix. 20, 21. 261
xxix 24.
XXX. 18-
XXX. 29.
xxxi. 15.
xxxviii. 6.
xl. 2, 3, 7.
— 19.
13, 14.
— 31.
xUii. 14.
— 20.
xliv. 3.
xlix. 23.
Hi. 7.
liii. 11.
Iv. 1.
Ivi. 1.
-7-9.
Iviii. 1.
346
376
365
193
195
234
235
118
376
236
193
20
376
235
132
378
404
220
234
Ix. 1—4. 403, 404
— 5—7. 403
— 8. 42
— 9. 189
— 11. 378
— 12. 200
Ixi. 1, 2. 235, 380
— 11. 146
ixii. 1. 247
— 3, 22. 251
— 6, 7. 395
— 11. 235
Ixiv. 4. 134
Ixv. 17. 196
— 20. 260
Ixvi. 12. 196
— 14. 380
Jeremiah,
ii. 2. 235, 381
— 1—7. 403
iv. 19. 133
vi. 10, 11. 253, 382
— 13. 403
vii. 2. 235
ix. 1. 133
xi. 6. 235
xiii. 17. 133
xiv. 17. 133
xix. 2. 235
xxix. 26, 27. 221
xxxi. 27. 252
Ezekiel.
vi. 11. . 234
xxiv. 220
xxxvi. 37. 395
xlvii. 5. 137, 195
Daniel.
x. 6, 7, 8. 28
Hosca.
i. 10. 193
ii. 23. 252
Amos,
v. 21. 403
424
SCRIPTURE TEXTS.
Habakfcuk.
i xvi. 12, 13.
313
iii. 16,
129
xvii. 22, 23.
400
Micah.
xxi. 3, 6.
130
vi. 7, 8.
408
Acts.
Zechariah.
i. 13, 14. ,
ii. 13.
395
vii. 1-10.
303
207
ix. 9— IL
187
-42.
246
- 15, 16
251
— 46.
243
— 15-17,
254
vi. 7.
346
X. 3.
220
X. 4;.
408
-8,9.
252
xi. 2..
144
xii. 7,
119
xiii. 31.
187
-8.
215
— 45.
207
- 10. 395, 401
xvi. 3.
313
xiii. 5.
294
xviii. 6.
207
-6.
265
xix. 8—10. 244, 246
xiv. 16-19.
197
xxvii. 9.
199
— 17.
200
Romans.
Malachl
i. 31.
338
ii. 7.
355
iii. 9.
58
iii. 10.
129
viii. 14..
296
iv. 1-3.
380
ix. 33.
186
Matthew.
X. 15.
320
iii. 9, 10.
380
xii. 3—8.
359
V. 19.
374
-4-8.
320
V. 14.
110
-18.
309
vi. 5, 6. 16-13.
401
xiii. 7.
285
ix. 13.
402
xiv. 4.
350
X. 16.
308
-6.
144
xii. 7.
403
-19,
309
xiii. 14.
241
-16.
310
XV. 3.
403
XV. 1, 2.
309
xvi. 23,
279
1 Corinthians.
xviii. 19.
400
i. 16, 17.
355
xxi. 5.
91
ii.4.
125
— 15, 16.
261
— 9.
134
xxii.
323
iii. 1, 2.
313
xxiii. 13.
219
vii. 20.
359
— 14, 25, 34,
403
ix. 19-23.
309
XXV. 31—46.
404
X. 32, 33.
309
xxvi. 38, 41.
278
xii. 29.
359
xxviii. 9.
407
-31.
299
Mark.
-51.
299
iv. 33.
313
xiii. 8.
297
X. 46-48.
255
xiv. 14, 26.
299
xiv. 3-5.
245
— 31—33. 306, 318
Lufcc
- 37, 38.
269
i. 35. .
125
2 Corinthians.
iii. 4, 10-14.
405
ii. 6—11.
144
V. 5, 6, 7.
130
V. 17.
70
xii. 56.
211
— 18-20.
355
-57.
298
vi. 2.
380
xviii. 18.
395
vii. 11.
144
• 38, 39.
255
xii. 15, 16.
310
xix. 39, 40.
188
Galatians.
xxi. 22.
380
iii. 3.
336
xxi. 36.
267
iv. 22.
206
John.
v. 18.
296
iii. 8.
xxvii
Ephesians.
Vii. 37.
235
i. 19.
125
-38.
378
iii. 7.
125
ix. 39.
241
iv. 4.
310
xii. 4, 5.
245
-7.
40
xvi. 7.
xxvi
-31.
280/
V. 8. 254
— 20. 125
Philippians.
iii. 15. 374
Colossians.
i. 11. 125
iii. 12. 230
1 Thessalonians.
iv.ll. 359
2 Thessalonians.
i. 11. 125
1 Timothy.
1. 4. 146
ii. 9, 11, 12. 285
— 12. 355, 358
iii. 2. 392
iv. 7. 146
V. 22. 388
2 Timothy.
i.7. 125
ii. 16. 146
— 24,25. 292,311
V. 23. 146
vi.4. 147
Titus,
i. 14. 146
ii. 8. 266
— 15. 355
iii. 9. 146
Hebrews,
v.ll. 313
James,
i. 19. 287
ii. 8— 2G. 404
iii. 13. 312
iv. 12. 350
1 Peter,
ii, 6—8, 186
- 17. 290
iii. 2, 15. 285
— 15. 291
iv. 7, 8. 266
V. 5. 280, 290
1 John,
ii, 3, 7—11, 404
iii. 18, 19. 406
Revelation.
i. 17. 128
iii. 10. 283
— 20. ■ 102
xi. 8. 201
xii. 2. 132, 199, 236
xiv. 14—10. 196
— 20. 380
XV. 3. 201
xvi. 16, 202
xix. 4. 210
— 11. 203
xxi. 1. 196
— 3. 198
— 6. 199, 378
xxii. 17. 199, 378
— 18. 3u;
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