James
2:19
Thou believest that there is one God;
thou dost well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Observe
in these words, — 1. Something that some depended on, as an evidence of their
good estate and acceptance, as the objects of God’s favor, viz. a
speculative faith, or belief of the doctrines of religion. The great doctrine of
the existence of one only God is particularly mentioned probably because this
was a doctrine wherein, especially, there was a visible and noted distinction
between professing Christians and the heathens, amongst whom the Christians in
those days were dispersed. And therefore, this was what many trusted in, as what
recommended them to, or at least was an evidence of their interest in, the great
spiritual and eternal privileges, in which real Christians were distinguished
from the rest of the world.
2.
How much is allowed concerning this faith, viz. that it is a good
attainment. “Thou dost well.” It was good, as it was necessary. This
doctrine was one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and, in some
respects, above all others fundamental. It was necessary to be believed, in
order to salvation. To be without the belief of this doctrine, specially in
those that had such advantage to know as they had to whom the apostle wrote,
would be a great sin, and what would vastly aggravate their damnation. This
belief was also good, as it had a good tendency in many respects.
3.
What is implicitly denied concerning it, viz. that is any evidence of a
person’s being in a state of salvation. The whole context shows this to be the
design of the apostle in the words. And it is particularly manifest by the
conclusion of the verse, which is,
4.
The thing observable in the words, viz. the argument by which the apostle
proves that this is no sign of a state of grace, viz. that it is found in
the devils. They believe that there is one God, and that he is a holy,
sin-hating God and that he is a God of truth, and will fulfill his threatenings
by which he has denounced future judgments, and a great increase of misery on
them, and that he is an almighty God, and able to execute his threatened
vengeance upon them.
Therefore,
the doctrine I infer from the words to make the subject of my present discourse
is this, viz. nothing in the mind of man that is of the same nature with
what the devils experience, or are the subjects of, is any sure sign of saving
grace.
If
there be anything that the devils have, or find in themselves, which is an
evidence of the saving grace of the Spirit of God, then the apostle’s argument
is not good; which is plainly this: “That which is in the devils, or which
they do, is no certain evidence of grace. But the devils believe that there is
one God. Therefore, thy believing that there is one God is no sure evidence that
thou art gracious.” So that the whole foundation of the apostle’s argument
lies in that proposition: “That which is in the devils, is no certain sign of
grace.” — Nevertheless, I shall mention two or three further reasons, or
arguments of the truth of this doctrine.
I.
The devils have no degree of holiness. And therefore those things which are
nothing beyond what they are the subjects of cannot be holy experiences.
The
devil once was holy. But when he fell, he lost all his holiness and became
perfectly wicked. He is the greatest sinner, and in some sense the father of all
sin. John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there was no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” 1 John 3:8, “He that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.” He
is often spoken of, by way of eminence, as “the wicked one.” So, Mat. 13:19,
“Then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his
heart.” Verse 38, “The tares are the children of the wicked one.” 1 John
2:13, “I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked
one.” Chap. 3:12, “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one.” Chap. 5:18,
“Whosoever is born of God — keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth
him not.” So the devils are called evil spirits, unclean spirits, powers of
darkness, rulers of the darkness of this world, and wickedness itself. Eph.
6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Therefore,
surely those things which the minds of devils are the subjects of can have
nothing of the nature of true holiness in them. The knowledge and understanding
which they have of the things of God and religion cannot be of the nature of
divine and holy light, nor any knowledge that is merely of the same kind. No
impressions made on their hearts can be of a spiritual nature. That kind of
sense which they have of divine things, however great, cannot be a holy sense.
Such affections as move their hearts, however powerful, cannot be holy
affections. If there be no holiness in them as they are in the devil, there can
be no holiness in them as they are in man, unless something be added to them
beyond what is in the devil. And if anything be added to them, then they are not
the same things. But [they] are something beyond what devils are the subjects
of, which is contrary to the supposition, for the proposition which I am upon
is, that those things which are of the same nature, and nothing beyond what
devils are the subjects of, cannot be holy experiences. It is not the subject
that makes the affection, or experience, or quality holy. But it is the quality
that makes the subject holy.
And
if those qualities and experiences which the devils are the subjects of have
nothing of the nature of holiness in them, then they can be no certain signs
that persons which have them are holy or gracious. There is no certain sign of
true grace, but those things which are spiritual and gracious. It is God’s
image that is his seal and mark, the stamp by which those that are his are
known. But that which has nothing of the nature of holiness, has nothing of this
image. That which is a sure sing of grace, must either be something which has
the nature and essence of grace, or flows from, or some way belongs to, its
essence. For that which distinguishes things one from another is the essence, or
something appertaining to their essence. And therefore, that which is sometimes
found wholly without the essence of holiness or grace, can be no essential,
sure, or distinguishing mark of grace.
II.
The devils are not only absolutely without all true holiness, but they are not
so much as the subjects of any common grace.
If
any should imagine, that some things may be signs of grace which are not grace
itself, or which have nothing of the nature and essence of grace and holiness in
them; yet, certainly they will allow, that the qualifications which are sure
evidences of grace, must be things that are near akin to grace, or having some
remarkable affinity with it. But the devils are not only wholly destitute of any
true holiness, but they are at the greatest distance from it, and have nothing
in them in any wise akin to it.
There
are many in this world who are wholly destitute of saving grace who yet have
common grace. They have no true holiness, but nevertheless have something of
that which is called moral virtue. And [they] are the subjects of some degree of
the common influences of the Spirit of God. It is so with those in general that
live under the light of the gospel and are not given up to judicial blindness
and hardness. Yea, those that are thus given up, yet have some degree of
restraining grace while they live in this world, without which the earth could
not bear them, and they would in no measure be tolerable members of human
society. But when any are damned, or cast into hell, as the devils are, God
wholly withdraws his restraining grace and all merciful influences of his Spirit
whatsoever. They have neither saving grace nor common grace; neither the grace
of the Spirit, nor any of the common gifts of the Spirit; neither true
holiness, nor moral virtue of any kind. Hence arises the vast increase of the
exercise of wickedness in the hearts of men when they are damned. And herein is
the chief difference between the damned in hell and unregenerate and graceless
men in this world. Not that wicked men in this world have any more holiness or
true virtue than the damned, or have wicked men, when they leave this world, any
principles of wickedness infused into them. But when men are cast into hell, God
perfectly takes away his Spirit from them, as to all its merciful common
influences, and entirely withdraws from them all restraints of his Spirit and
good providence.
III.
It is unreasonable to suppose that a person’s being in any respect as the
devil is, should be a certain sign that he is very unlike and opposite to him,
and hereafter shall not have his part with him. True saints are extremely unlike
and contrary to the devil, both relatively and really. They are so relatively.
The devil is the grand rebel, the chief enemy of God and Christ, the object of
God’s greatest wrath, a condemned malefactor, utterly rejected and cast off by
him, forever shut out of his presence, the prisoner of his justice, an
everlasting inhabitant of the infernal world. The saints, on the contrary, are
the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, members of the family of the glorious
King of heaven, the children of God, the brethren and spouse of his dear Son,
heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, kings and priests unto God. And they are
extremely different really. The devil, on account of his hateful nature,
and those accursed dispositions which reign in him, is called Satan, the
adversary, Abaddon and Apollyon, the great destroyer, the wolf, the roaring
lion, the great dragon, the old serpent. The saints are represented as God’s
holy ones, his anointed ones, the excellent of the earth, the meek of the earth,
lambs and doves, Christ’s little children, having the image of God, pure in
heart, God’s jewels, lilies in Christ’s garden, plants of paradise, stars of
heaven, temples of the living God. The saints, so far as they are saints, are as
diverse from the devil, as heaven is from hell. And much more contrary than
light is to darkness. And the eternal state that they are appointed to is
answerably diverse and contrary.
Now
it is not reasonable to suppose that being in any respect as Satan is, or being
the subject of any of the same properties, qualifications, affections, or
actions, that are in him, is any certain evidence that persons are thus
exceeding different from him, and in circumstances so diverse, and appointed to
an eternal state so extremely contrary in all respects. Wicked men are in
Scripture called the children of the devil. Now is it reasonable to suppose,
that men’s being in any respect as the devil is can be a certain sign that
they are not his children, but the children of the infinitely holy and blessed
God? We are informed, that wicked men shall hereafter have their part with
devils, shall be sentenced to the same everlasting fire which is prepared for
the devil and his angels. Now, can a man’s being like the devil in any respect
be a sure token that he shall not have his part with him, but with glorious
angels, and with Jesus Christ, dwelling with him, where he is, that he may
behold and partake of his glory?
IMPROVEMENT
The
first use may lie in several inferences, for our instruction.
I.
From what has been said, it may be inferred, by parity of reason, that nothing
that damned men do, or ever will experience, can be any sure sign
of grace.
Damned
men are like the devils, are conformed to them in nature and state. They have
nothing better in them than the devils, have no higher principles in their
hearts, experience nothing and do nothing of a more excellent kind, as they are
the children and servants of the devil, and as such, shall dwell with him, and
be partakers with him of the same misery. As Christ says, concerning the saints
in their future state, Mat. 22:30, “That they shall be as the angels of God in
heaven.” So it may be said concerning ungodly men in their future state, that
they shall be as the fallen wicked angels in hell.
Each
of the aforementioned reasons, given to show the truth of the doctrine with
respect to devils, holds good with respect to damned men. Damned men have no
degree of holiness. And therefore those things which are nothing beyond what
they have, cannot be holy experiences. Damned men are not only absolutely
destitute of all true holiness, but they have not so much as any common grace.
And lastly, it is unreasonable to suppose that a person’s being in any respect
as the damned in hell are, should be a certain sign that they are very unlike
and opposite to them, and hereafter shall not have their portion with them.
II.
We may hence infer, that no degree of speculative knowledge of things of
religion is any certain sign of saving grace. The devil, before his fall, was
among those bright and glorious angels of heaven, which are represented as
morning-stars and flames of fire that excel in strength and wisdom. And though
he be now become sinful, yet his sin has not abolished the faculties of the
angelic nature. As when man fell, he did not lose the faculties of the human
nature. — Sin destroys spiritual principles, but not the natural faculties. It
is true, sin, when in full dominion, entirely prevents the exercise of the
natural faculties in holy and spiritual understanding, and lays many impediments
in the way of their proper exercise in other respects. It lays the natural
faculty of reason under great disadvantages by many and strong prejudices, and
in fallen men the faculties of the soul are, doubtless, greatly impeded in their
exercise, through that great weakness and disorder of the corporeal organ to
which it is strictly united, and which is the consequence of sin. — But there
seems to be nothing in the nature of sin, or moral corruption, that has any
tendency to destroy the natural capacity, or even to diminish it, properly
speaking. If sin were of such a nature as necessarily to have that tendency and
effect, then it might be expected that wicked men, in a future state, where they
are given up entirely to the unrestrained exercise of their corruptions and
lusts, and sin is in all respects brought to its greatest perfection in them,
would have the capacity of their souls greatly diminished. This we have no
reason to suppose, but rather on the contrary, that their capacities are greatly
enlarged and that their actual knowledge is vastly increased. And that even with
respect to the Divine Being, and the things of religion, and the great concerns
of the immortal souls of men, the eyes of wicked men are opened, when they go
into another world.
The
greatness of the abilities of devils may be argued from the representation in
Eph. 6:12. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers,” etc. The same may also be argued from what
the Scripture says of Satan’s subtlety. Gen. 3:1; 2 Cor. 11:3; Acts 13:10. And
as the devil has a faculty of understanding of large capacity, so he is capable
of a great speculative knowledge of the things of God, and the invisible and
eternal world, as well as other things. And must needs actually have a great
understanding of these things, as these have always been chiefly in his view,
and as his circumstances, from his first existence, have been such as have
tended chiefly to engage him to attend to these things. Before his fall, he was
one of those angels who continually beheld the face of the Father in heaven. And
sin has no tendency to destroy the memory, and therefore has no tendency to blot
out of it any speculative knowledge that was formerly there.
As
the devil’s subtlety shows his great capacity, so the way in which his
subtlety is exercised and manifested — which is principally in his artful
management with respect to things of religion, his exceeding subtle
representations, insinuations, reasonings, and temptations, concerning these
things — demonstrates his great actual understanding of them. As, in order to
be a very artful disputant in any science, though it be only to confound and
deceive such as are conversant in it, a person had need to have a great and
extensive acquaintance with the things which pertain to that science.
Thus
the devil has undoubtedly a great degree of speculative knowledge in divinity,
having been, as it were, educated in the best divinity school in the universe, viz.
the heaven of heavens. He must needs have such an extensive and accurate
knowledge concerning the nature and attributes of God, as we, worms of the dust,
in our present state, are not capable of. And he must have a far more extensive
knowledge of the works of God, as of the work of creation in particular. For he
was a spectator of the creation of this visible world. He was one of those
morning-stars (Job 38:4-7), “who sang together, and of those sons of God, that
shouted for joy, when God laid the foundations of the earth, and laid the
measures thereof, and stretched the line upon it.” And so he must have a very
great knowledge of God’s works of providence. He has been a spectator of the
series of these works from the beginning. He has seen how God has governed the
world in all ages. And he has seen the whole train of God’s wonderful
successive dispensations of providence towards his church, from generation to
generation. And he has not been an indifferent spectator. But the great
opposition between God and him, in the whole course of those dispensations, has
necessarily engaged his attention in the strictest observation of them. He must
have a great degree of knowledge concerning Jesus Christ as the Savior of men,
and the nature and method of the work of redemption, and the wonderful wisdom of
God in this contrivance. It is that work of God wherein, above all others, God
has acted in opposition to him, and in which he has chiefly set himself in
opposition to God. It is with relation to this affair, that the mighty warfare
has been maintained, which has been carried on between Michael and his angels,
and the devil and his angels, through all ages from the beginning of the world,
and especially since Christ appeared. The devil has had enough to engage his
attention to the steps of divine wisdom in this work. For it is to that wisdom
he has opposed his subtlety. And he has seen and found, to his great
disappointment and unspeakable torment, how divine wisdom, as exercised in that
work, has baffled and confounded his devices. He has a great knowledge of the
things of another world. For the things of that world are in his immediate view.
He has a great knowledge of heaven, for he has been an inhabitant of that world
of glory. And he has a great knowledge of hell, and the nature of its misery.
For he is the first inhabitant of hell. And above all the other inhabitants, has
experience of its torments and has felt them constantly for more than
fifty-seven hundred years. He must have a great knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures, for it is evident he is not hindered from knowing what is written
there, by the use he made of the words of Scripture in his temptation of our
Savior. And if he can know, he has much opportunity to know, and must needs have
a disposition to know, with the greatest exactness; that he may, to greater
effect, pervert and wrest the Scripture, and prevent such an effect of the Word
of God on the hearts of men, as shall tend to overthrow his kingdom. He must
have a great knowledge of the nature of mankind, their capacity, their
dispositions, and the corruption’s of their hearts. For he has had long and
great observation and experience. The heart of man is what he had chiefly to do
with, in his subtle devices, mighty efforts, restless and indefatigable
operations and exertions of himself, from the beginning of the world. And it is
evident that he has a great speculative knowledge of the nature of experimental
religion, by his being able to imitate it so artfully, and in such a manner as
to transform himself into an angel of light.
Therefore
it is manifest from my text and doctrine that no degree of speculative knowledge
of religion is any certain sign of true piety. Whatever clear notions a man may
have of the attributes of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, the nature of the
two covenants, the economy of the persons of the Trinity, and the part which
each person has in the affair of man’s redemption, if he can discourse never
so excellently of the offices of Christ, and the way of salvation by him, and
the admirable methods of divine wisdom, and the harmony of the various
attributes of God in that way; if he can talk never so clearly and exactly of
the method of the justification of a sinner, and of the nature of conversion,
and the operations of the Spirit of God, in applying the redemption of Christ,
giving good distinctions, happily solving difficulties, and answering
objections, in a manner tending greatly to enlighten the ignorant, to the
edification of the church of God, and the conviction of gainsayers, and the
great increase of light in the world. If he has more knowledge of this sort than
hundreds of true saints of an ordinary education, and most divines; yet all is
no certain evidence of any degree of saving grace in the heart.
It
is true, the Scripture often speaks of knowledge of divine things as what is
peculiar to true saints. As in John 17:3, “This is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent.” Mat.
11:27, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Psa.
9:10, “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.” Phil. 3:8,
“I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord.” But then, we must understand it of a different kind of
knowledge from that speculative understanding which the devil has to so great a
degree. It will also be allowed, that the spiritual saving knowledge of God and
divine things, greatly promotes speculative knowledge, as it engages the mind in
its search into things of this kind, and much assists to a distinct
understanding of them. So that, other things being equal, they who have
spiritual knowledge are much more likely than others to have a good doctrinal
acquaintance with things of religion. But yet such acquaintance may be no
distinguishing characteristic of true saints.
III.
It may also be inferred from what has been observed, that for persons merely to
yield a speculative assent to the doctrines of religion as true is no
certain evidence of a state of grace. My text tells us that the devils believe.
And as they believe that there is one God, so they believe the truth of the
doctrines of religion in general. The devil is orthodox in his faith. He
believes the true scheme of doctrine. He is no Deist, Socinian, Arian, Pelagian,
or antinomian. The articles of his faith are all sound, and in them he is
thoroughly established.
Therefore,
for a person to believe the doctrines of Christianity merely from the force of
arguments, as discerned only by speculation, is no evidence of grace.
It
is probably a very rare thing for unregenerate men to have a strong persuasion
of the truth of the doctrines of religion, specially such of them as are very
mysterious, and much above the comprehension of reason. Yet if he be very
confident of the truth of Christianity and its doctrines, and is able to argue
most strongly for the proof of them, in this he goes nothing beyond the devil,
who doubtless has a great knowledge of the rational arguments by which the truth
of the Christian religion and its several principles are evinced.
And
therefore when the Scripture speaks of believing that Jesus is the Son of
God, as a sure evidence of grace, as in 1 John 5:1, and other places, it
must be understood, not of a mere speculative assent, but of another kind and
manner of believing, which is called the faith of God’s elect, Tit. 1:1.
There is a spiritual conviction of the truth, which is a believing with
the whole heart, peculiar to true saints, of which I shall speak more
particularly.
IV.
It may be inferred from the doctrine which has been insisted on that it is no
certain sign of persons being savingly converted that they have been subjects of
very great distress and terrors of mind, through apprehensions of God’s
wrath, and fears of damnation.
That
the devils are the subjects of great terrors, through apprehensions of God’s
wrath, and fears of its future effects is implied in my text, which speaks not
only of their believing, but trembling. It must be no small degree of
terror which should make those principalities and powers, those mighty, proud,
and sturdy beings, to tremble.
There
are many terrors that some persons who are concerned for their salvation are the
subjects of, which are not from any proper awakenings of conscience, or
apprehensions of truth, but from melancholy or frightful impressions on their
imagination, or some groundless apprehensions, and the delusions and false
suggestions of Satan. But if they have had never so great and long continued
terrors from real awakenings, and convictions of truth, and views of things as
they are, this is no more than what is in the devils, and will be in all wicked
men in another world. However stupid and senseless most ungodly men are now, all
will be effectually awakened at last. There will be no such thing as slumbering
in hell. There are many that cannot be awakened by the most solemn warnings and
awful threatenings of the Word of God — the most alarming discourses from the
pulpit, and the most awakening and awful providences — but all will be
thoroughly awakened by the sound of the last trumpet and the appearance of
Christ to judgment. All sorts will then be filled with most amazing terrors,
from apprehensions of truth, and seeing things as they are, when “the kings of
the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the
mighty men (such as were the most ofty and stout-hearted, most ready to treat
the things of religion with contempt) shall hide themselves in the dens, and in
the rocks of the mountains, and say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and
hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to
stand?” Rev. 6:15-17. — Therefore if persons have been first awakened, and
afterwards have had comfort and joy, it is no certain sign that their comforts
are of the right hand, because they were preceded by very great terrors.
V.
It may be further inferred from the doctrine, that no work of the law on
men’s hearts, in conviction of guilt, and just desert of punishment, is a sure
argument that a person has been savingly converted.
Not
only are no awakenings and terrors any certain evidence of this, but no mere
real work whatsoever, though carried to the utmost extent. Nothing wherein there
is no grace or spiritual light, but only the mere conviction of natural
conscience, and those acts and operations of the mind which are the result of
this — and so are, as it were, merely forced by the clear light of conscience,
without the concurrence of the heart and inclination with that light — is any
certain sign of the saving grace of God, or that a person was ever savingly
converted.
The
evidence of this, from my text and doctrine, is demonstrative because the devils
are the subjects of these thing. And all wicked men that shall finally perish,
will be the subjects of the same. Natural conscience is not extinguished in the
damned in hell, but, on the contrary, remains there in its greatest strength,
and is brought to its most perfect exercise, most fully to do its proper office
as God’s vicegerent in the soul, to condemn those rebels against the King of
heaven and earth, and manifest God’s just wrath and vengeance, and by that
means to torment them, and be as a never-dying worm within them. Wretched men
find means in this world to blind the eyes and stop the mouth of this vicegerent
of a sin-revenging God. But they shall not be able to do it always. In another
world, the eyes and mouth of conscience will be fully opened. God will hereafter
make wicked men to see and know these things from which now they industriously
hide their eyes. Isa. 26:10, 11, “Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will
he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly,
and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up,
they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the
people, yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.” We have this
expression often annexed to God’s threatenings of wrath to his enemies; “And
they shall know that I am the Lord.” This shall be accomplished by their
woeful experience and clear light in their consciences, whereby they shall be
made to know, whether they will or not, how great and terrible, holy and
righteous, a God Jehovah is, whose authority they have despised. And they shall
know that he is righteous and holy in their destruction. This all the ungodly
will be convinced of at the day of judgment, by the bringing to light of all
their wickedness of heart and practice, and setting all their sins, with all
their aggravations, in order, not only in the view of others, even of the whole
world, but in the view of their own consciences. This is threatened, Psa. 50:21,
“These things thou hast done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was
altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order
before thine eyes.” Compare this with the four first verses of the Psalm. —
The design of the day of judgment is not to find out what is just, as it is with
human judgments. But it is to manifest what is just; to make known
God’s justice in the judgment which he will execute to men’s own
consciences, and to the world. And therefore that day is called “the day of
wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” Rom. 2:5. Now sinners
often cavil against the justice of God’s dispensations, and particularly the
punishment which he threatens for their sins, excusing themselves, and
condemning him. But when God comes to manifest their wickedness in the light of
that day and to call them to an account, they will be speechless. Mat. 22:11,
12, “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had
not on a wedding-garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in
hither, not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless.” When the King of
heaven and earth comes to judgment, their consciences will be so perfectly
enlightened and convinced by the all-searching Light they shall then stand in,
that their mouths will be effectually stopped, as to all excuses for themselves,
all pleading of their own righteousness to excuse or justify them, and all
objections against the justice of their Judge, that their conscience will
condemn them only, and not God.
Therefore
it follows from the doctrine, That it can be no certain sign of grace, that
persons have had great convictions of sin. Suppose they have had their sins of
life, with their aggravations, remarkably set before them, so as greatly to
affect and terrify them. And withal, have had a great sight of the wickedness of
their hearts, the greatness of the sin of unbelief, and of the unexcusableness
and heinousness of their most secret spiritual iniquities. Perhaps they have
been convinced of the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness, and they
despair of being recommended to God by it. [They] have been convinced that they
are wholly without excuse before God, and deserve damnation. And that God would
be just in executing the threatened punishment upon them, though it be so
dreadful. All these things will be in the ungodly at the day of judgment, when
they shall stand with devils, at the left hand, and shall be doomed as accursed
to everlasting fire with them.
Indeed
there will be no submission in them. Their conscience will be convinced that God
is just in their condemnation. But yet their wills will not be bowed to God’s
justice. There will be no acquiescence of mind in that divine attribute, no
yielding of the soul to God’s sovereignty, but the highest degree of enmity
and opposition. A true submission of the heart and will to the justice and
sovereignty of God is therefore allowed to be something peculiar to true
converts, being something which the devils and damned souls are and ever will be
far from. And to which a mere work of the law, and convictions of conscience,
however great and clear, will never bring men.
When
sinners are the subjects of great convictions of conscience, and a remarkable
work of the law, it is only transacting the business of the day of judgment in
the conscience before-hand. God sits enthroned in the conscience, as at the last
day he will sit enthroned in the clouds of heaven. The sinner is arraigned as it
were at God’s bar. And God appears in his awful greatness as a just and holy,
sin-hating and sin-revenging God, as he will then. The sinner’s iniquities are
brought to light. His sins set in order before him. The hidden things of
darkness, and the counsels of the heart are made manifest, as it will be then.
Many witnesses do as it were rise up against the sinner under convictions of
conscience, as they will against the wicked at the day of judgment; and the
books are opened particularly the book of God’s strict and holy law is opened
in the conscience, and its rules applied for the condemnation of the sinner,
which is the book that will be opened at the day of judgment, as the grand rule
to all such wicked men as have lived under it. And the sentence of the law is
pronounced against the sinner, and the justice of the sentence made manifest, as
it will be at the day of judgment. The conviction of a sinner at the day of
judgment will be a work of the law, as well as the conviction of conscience in
this world. And the work of the law (if the work be merely legal) is never
carried further in the consciences of sinners now than it will be at that day,
when its work will be perfect in thoroughly stopping the sinner’s mouth. Rom.
3:19, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God.” Every mouth shall be stopped by the law, either now or
hereafter; and all the world shall become sensibly guilty before God, guilty of
death, deserving of damnation. And therefore, if sinners have been the subjects
of a great work of the law, and have thus become guilty, and their mouths have
been stopped, it is no certain sign that ever they have been converted.
Indeed
the want of a thorough sense of guilt, and desert of punishment, and conviction
of the justice of God in threatening damnation is a sign that a person never was
converted, and truly brought with the whole soul to embrace Christ as a Savior
from this punishment. For it is easily demonstrable, that there is no such thing
as entirely and cordially accepting an offer of a Savior from a punishment which
we think we do not deserve. But having such a conviction is no certain sign that
persons have true faith, or have ever truly received Christ as their Savior. And
if persons have great comfort, joy, and confidence suddenly let into their
minds, after great convictions, it is no infallible evidence that their comforts
are built on a good foundation.
It
is manifest, therefore, that too much stress has been laid by many persons on a
great work of the law preceding their comforts, who seem not only to have looked
on such a work of the law as necessary to precede faith, but also to have
esteemed it as the chief evidence of the truth and genuineness of succeeding
faith and comforts. By this means it is to be feared very many have been
deceived and established in a false hope. And what is to be seen in the event of
things, in multitudes of instances, confirms this. It may be safely allowed that
it is not so usual for great convictions of conscience to prove abortive, and
fail of a good issue, as for lesser convictions. And that more generally when
the Spirit of God proceeds so far with sinners, in the work of the law, as to
give them a great sight of their hearts, and of the heinousness of their
spiritual iniquities, and to convince them that they are without excuse, and
that all their righteousness can do nothing to merit God’s favor. But they lie
justly exposed to God’s eternal vengeance with mercy — a work of saving
conversion follows. But we can have no warrant to say, it is universally so, or
to lay it down as an infallible rule, that when convictions of conscience have
gone thus far, saving faith and repentance will surely follow. If any should
think they have ground for such a determination, because they cannot conceive
what end God should have, in carrying a work of conviction to such a length, and
so preparing the heart for faith, and after all, never giving saving faith to
the soul, I desire it may be considered, where will be the end of our doubts and
difficulties, if we think ourselves sufficient to determine so positively and
particularly concerning God’s ends and designs in what he does. It may be
asked such an objector, what is God’s end in giving a sinner any degree of the
strivings of his Spirit and conviction of conscience, when he afterwards suffers
it to come to nothing?
If
he may give some degree that may finally be in vain, who shall set the bounds,
and say how great the degree shall be? Who can, on sure grounds, determine that
when a sinner has so much of that conviction which the devils and damned in hell
have, true faith and eternal salvation will be the certain consequence? This we
may certainly determine, that, if the apostle’s argument in the text be good,
not anything whatsoever that the devils have is certainly connected with such a
consequence. Seeing sinners, while such, are capable of the most perfect
convictions, and will have them at the day of judgment, and in hell, who shall
say, that God never shall cause reprobates to anticipate the future judgment and
damnation in that respect? And if he does so, who shall say to him, What dost
thou? Or call him to account concerning his ends in so doing? Not but that many
possible wise ends might be thought of, and mentioned, if it were needful, or I
had now room for it. — The Spirit of God is often quenched by the exercise of
the wickedness of men’s hearts, after he has gone far in a work of conviction,
so that their convictions never have a good issue. And who can say that sinners,
by the exercise of their opposition and enmity against God, which is not at all
mortified by the greatest legal convictions, neither in the damned in hell nor
sinners on earth, may not provoke God to take his Spirit from them, even after
he has proceeded the greatest length in a work of conviction? Who can say, that
God never is provoked to destroy some, after he has brought them, as it were,
through the wilderness, even to the edge of the land of rest? As he slew some of
the Israelites, even in the plains of Moab.
And
let it be considered, where is our warrant in Scripture, to make use of any
legal convictions, or any method or order of successive events in a work of the
law, and consequent comforts, as a sure sign of regeneration. The Scripture is
abundant, in expressly mentioning evidences of grace, and of a state of favor
with God, as characteristics of true saints. But where do we ever find such
things as these amongst those evidences? Or where do we find any other signs
insisted on, besides grace itself, its nature, exercises, and fruits? These were
the evidences that Job relied upon. These were the things that the Psalmist
everywhere insists upon as evidences of his sincerity, and particularly in the
119th Psalm, from the beginning to the end: these were the signs that Hezekiah
trusted to in his sickness.
These
were the characteristics of those that are truly happy given by our Savior in
the beginning of his sermon on the mount. These are the things that Christ
mentions, as the true evidences of being his real disciples, in his last and
dying discourse to his disciples, in the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John,
and in his intercessory prayer, chap. 17. These are the things which the apostle
Paul often speaks of as evidences of his sincerity, and sure title to a crown of
glory. And these are the things he often mentions to others, in his epistles, as
the proper evidences of real Christianity, a justified state, and a title to
glory. He insists on the fruits of the spirit; love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance as the proper evidences of
being Christ’s, and living in the Spirit: Gal. 5:22-25. It is that charity, or
divine love, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of
mercy, etc. that he insists on, as the most essential evidence of true
godliness. Without which, all other things are nothing. Such are the signs which
the apostle James insists on, as the proper evidence of a truly wise and good
man. Jam. 3:17, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality, and without hypocrisy.” And such are the signs of true
Christianity, which the apostle John insists on throughout his epistles. And we
never have anywhere in the Bible, from the beginning to the end of it, any other
signs of godliness given, than such as these. If persons have such things as
these apparently in them, it ought to be determined that they are truly
converted, without its being first known what method the Spirit of God took to
introduce these things into the soul, which oftentimes is altogether
untraceable. All the works of God are in some respects unsearchable. But the
Scripture often represents the works of the Spirit of God as peculiarly so. Isa.
40:13, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath
taught him?” Ecc. 11:5, “As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit,
nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: so thou knowest
not the works of God, who maketh all.” John 3:8, “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.”
VI.
It follows from my text and doctrine, that it is no certain sign of grace that
persons have earnest desires and longings after salvation.
The
devils, doubtless, long for deliverance from the misery they suffer and from
that greater misery which they expect. If they tremble through fear of it, they
must necessarily, earnestly desire to be delivered from it. Wicked men are, in
Scripture, represented as longing for the privileges of the righteous, when the
door is shut, and they are shut out from among them. They come to the door, and
cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. Therefore, we are not to look on all desires that
are very earnest and vehement, as certain evidences of a pious heart. There are
earnest desires of a religious nature, which the saints have, that are the
proper breathings of a new nature, and distinguishing qualities of true saints.
But there are also longings which unregenerate men may have, which are often
mistaken for marks of godliness. They think they hunger and thirst after
righteousness, and have earnest desires after God and Christ, and long for
heaven. When, indeed, all is to be resolved into self-love. And so [it] is a
longing which arises from no higher principles than the earnest desires of
devils.
VII.
It may be inferred from what has been observed, that persons who have no grace
may have a great apprehension of an external glory in things heavenly and
divine, and of whatsoever is external pertaining to religion.
If
persons have impressed strongly on their minds ideas obtained by the external
senses, whether by the ear, as any kind of sound, pleasant music, or words
spoken of excellent signification, words of Scripture, suitable to their case,
or adapted to the subject of their meditations, or ideas obtained by the eye, as
of a visible beauty and glory, a shining light, golden streets, gates of
precious stone, a most magnificent throne surrounded by angels and saints in
shining ranks, or anything external belonging to Jesus Christ, either in his
humbled state, as hanging on the cross with his crown of thorns, his wounds
open, and blood trickling down, or in his glorified state, with awful majesty,
or ravishing beauty and sweetness in his countenance, his face shining above the
brightness of the sun, and the like. These things are no certain signs of grace.
Multitudes
that are now in hell will have ideas of the external glory that pertains to
things heavenly, far beyond whatever any have in this world. They will see all
that external glory and beauty, in which Christ will appear at the day of
judgment, when the sun shall be turned into darkness before him, which,
doubtless, will be ten thousand times greater than ever was impressed on the
imagination of either saints or sinners in this present state, or ever was
conceived by any mortal man.
VIII.
It may be inferred from the doctrine that persons who have no grace may have a
very great and affecting sense of many divine things on their hearts.
The
devil has not only great speculative knowledge, but he has a sense of many
divine things, which deeply affects him, and is most strongly impressed on his
heart. As,
First,
the devils and damned souls have a great sense of the vast importance of the
things of another world. They are in the invisible world, and they see and know
how great the things of that world are. Their experience teaches them in the
most affecting manner. They have a great sense of the worth of salvation, and
the worth of immortal souls, and the vast importance of those things that
concern men’s eternal welfare. The parable in the latter end of the 16th
chapter of Luke teaches this, in representing the rich man in hell, as
entreating that Lazarus might be sent to his five brothers to testify unto them,
lest they should come to that place of torment. They who endure the torments of
hell have doubtless a most lively and affecting sense of the vastness of an
endless eternity, and of the comparative momentariness of this life, and the
vanity of the concerns and enjoyments of time. They are convinced effectually,
that all the things of this world, even those that appear greatest and most
important to the inhabitants of the earth, are despicable trifles, in comparison
of the things of the eternal world. They have a great sense of the preciousness
of time, and of the means of grace, and the inestimable value of the privileges
which they enjoy which live under the gospel. They are fully sensible of the
folly of those that go on in sin, neglect their opportunities, make light of the
counsels and warnings of God, and bitterly lament their exceeding folly in their
own sins, by which they have brought on themselves so great and remediless
misery. When sinners, by woeful experience, know the dreadful issue of their
evil way, they will mourn at the last, saying, How have I hated instruction, and
my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor
inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! Pro. 4:11, 12, 13.
Therefore,
however true godliness is attended with a great sense of the importance of
divine things — and it is rare that men who have no grace maintain such a
sense in any steady and persevering manner — yet it is manifest those things
are no certain evidences of grace. Unregenerate men may have a sense of the
importance of eternity, and the vanity of time, the worth of immortal souls, the
preciousness of time and the means of grace, and the folly of the way of allowed
sin. They may have such a sense of those things, as may deeply affect them, and
cause them to mourn for their own sins, and be much concerned for others. Though
it be true, they have not these things in the same manner, and in all respects
from the same principles and views, as godly men have them.
Second,
devils and damned men have a strong and most affecting sense of the awful
greatness and majesty of God. This is greatly made manifest in the execution of
divine vengeance on his enemies. Rom. 9:22, “What if God, willing to show his
wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction?” The devils tremble before this great and
terrible God and under a strong sense of his awful majesty. It is greatly
manifested to them and damned souls now. But shall he manifested in a further
degree, in that day when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming
fire, to take vengeance upon them. And when they shall earnestly desire to fly,
and be hid from the face of him that sits on the throne (which shall be,
“because of the glory of his majesty,” Isa. 2:10) and when they shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his power. When Christ comes at the last day, in the glory of his
Father, every eye shall see him in that glory (in this respect, that they shall
see his terrible majesty), and they also that pierced him, Rev. 1:7. Both those
devils, and wicked men, which tormented and insulted him when he appeared in
meanness and ignominy, shall then see him in the glory of his Father.
It
is evident, therefore, that a sense of God’s terrible majesty is no certain
evidence of saving grace. For we see that wicked men and devils are capable of
it. Yea, many wicked men in this world have actually had it. This is a
manifestation which God made of himself in the sight of that wicked congregation
at mount Sinai, which they saw, and with which they were deeply affected, so
that all the people in the camp trembled.
Third,
devils and damned men have some kind of conviction and sense of all attributes
of God, both natural and moral, that is strong and very affecting.
The
devils know God’s almighty power. They saw a great manifestation of it
when they saw God lay the foundation of the earth, etc. and were much affected
with it. They have seen innumerable other great demonstrations of his power, as
in the universal deluge, the destruction of Sodom, the wonders in Egypt, at the
Red sea, and in the wilderness, causing the sun to stand still in Joshua’s
time, and many others. — And they had a very affecting manifestation of
God’s mighty power on themselves in casting all their hosts down from heaven
into hell. And have continual affecting experience of it, in God’s reserving
them in strong chains of darkness, and in the strong pains they feel. They will
hereafter have far more affecting experience of it, when they shall be punished
from the glory of God’s power, with that mighty destruction in expectation of
which they now tremble. So the devils have a great knowledge of the wisdom of
God. They have had unspeakably more opportunity and occasion to observe it in
the work of creation, and also in the works of providence, than any mortal man
has ever had. And have been themselves the subjects of innumerable affecting
manifestations of it, in God’s disappointing and confounding them in their
most subtle devices, in so wonderful and amazing a manner. So they see and find
the infinite purity and holiness of the divine nature, in the most
affecting manner, as this appears in his infinite hatred of sin, in what they
feel of the dreadful effects of that hatred. They know already by what they
suffer, and will know hereafter to a greater degree, and far more affecting
manner, that such is the opposition of God’s nature to sin, that is like a
consuming fire, which burns with infinite vehemence against it. They also will
see the holiness of God, as exercised in his love to righteousness and holiness,
in the glory of Christ and his church, which also will be very affecting to
devils and wicked men. And the exact justice of God will be manifested to
them in the clearest and strongest, most convincing and most affecting, light,
at the day of judgment; when they will also see great and affecting
demonstrations of the riches of his grace, in the marvelous fruits of his
love to the vessels of mercy, when they shall see them at the right hand
of Christ, shining as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and shall hear the
blessed sentence pronounced upon them, and will be deeply affected with it, as
seems naturally implied in Luke 13:28, 29. The devils know God’s truth,
and therefore they believe his threatenings, and tremble in expectation of their
accomplishment. And wicked men that now doubt his truth, and dare not trust his
word, will hereafter, in the most convincing, affecting manner, find his word to
be true in all that he has threatened, and will see that he is faithful to his
promises in the rewards of his saints. Devils and damned men know that God is
eternal and unchangeable. And therefore they despair of there ever being an end
to their misery. Therefore it is manifest, that merely persons having an
affecting sense of some, or even of all God’s attributes, is no certain sign
that they have the true grace of God in their hearts.
Object.
Here possibly some may object against the force of the foregoing reasoning, that
ungodly men in this world are in exceeding different circumstances from those in
which the devils are, and from those which wicked men will be in at the day of
judgment. Those things which are visible and present to these, are now future
and invisible to the other. And wicked men in this world are in the body, that
clogs and hinders the soul, and are encompassed with objects that blind and
stupefy them. Therefore it does not follow, that because the wicked in another
world have a great apprehension and lively sense of such things without grace,
ungodly men in their present state may have the same.
Ans.
To this I answer: It is not supposed that ever men in this life have all those
things which have been mentioned to the same degree that the devils and
damned have them. — None supposes that ever any in this life have terrors of
conscience to an equal degree with them. It is not to be supposed that any
mortal man, whether godly or ungodly, has an equal degree of speculative
knowledge with the devil. And, as was just now observed, the wicked at the day
of judgment, will have a vastly greater idea of the external glory of Christ
than ever any have in the present state. So, doubtless, they will have a far
greater sense of God’s awful greatness and terrible majesty, than any could
subsist under in this frail state. So we may well conclude, that the devils and
wicked men in hell have a greater and more affecting sense of the vastness of
eternity, and (in some respects) a greater sense of the importance of the things
of another world than any here have. And they have also longings after salvation
to a higher degree than any wicked men in this world.
But
yet it is evident that men in this world may have things of the same kind
with devils and damned men, the same sort of light in the understanding, the
same views and affections, the same sense of things, the same kind of
impressions on the mind and on the heart. The objection is against the
conclusiveness of that reasoning which is the apostle’s more properly than
mine. The apostle judged it a conclusive argument against such as thought their
believing there was one God an evidence of their being gracious, that the devils
believed the same. So the argument is exactly the same against such as think
they have grace, because they believe God is a holy God, or because they have a
sense of the awful majesty of God. — The same may be observed of other things
that have been mentioned. My text has reference, not only to the act of the
understandings of devils in believing, but to that affection of their hearts
which accompanies the views they have, as trembling is an effect of the
affection of the heart. Which shows, that if men have both the same views of
understanding and also the same affections of heart that the devils have, it is
no sign of grace.
And as to the particular degree to which these things may be carried in men in this world without grace, it appears not safe to make use of it as an infallible rule to determine men’s state. I know not where we have any rule to go by, to fix the precise degree in which God by his providence, or his common influences on the mind, will excite in wicked men in this world, the same views and affections which the wicked have in another world. Which it is manifest, the former are capable of as well as the latter, having the same faculties and principles of soul, and which views and affections, it is evident, they often are actually the subjects of in some degree, some in a greater and some in a less degree. The infallible evidences of grace which are laid down in Scripture are of another kind. They are all of a holy and spiritual nature. And therefore things of that kind which a heart that is wholly carnal and corrupt cannot receive or experience, 1 Cor. 2:14. I might also here add that observation and experience, in very many instances, seem to confirm what Scripture and reason teaches in these things.