I answer, you may have something besides the experiences of devils, and yet nothing beyond them. Though the experience be different, yet it may not be owing to any different principle, but only the different circumstances, under which these principles are exercised. The principles, from whence the forementioned things in devils and damned men do arise, are these two; natural understanding and selflove. It is from natural understanding or reason that they have such a degree of knowledge in divine things and such a belief of them. It is from these principles of natural understanding and selflove, as exercised about their own dispositions and actions, and God as their judge,that they have natural conscience,and have such convictions of conscience as have been spoken of. It is from these principles that they have such a sense of the importance of the things of religion and the eternal world, and such longings after salvation. It is from the joint exercise of these two principles that they are so sensible of the awful majesty of God, and of all the attributes of the divine nature, and so greatly affected with them: And it is from these principles, joined with external sense, the wicked, at the day of judgment, will have so great an apprehension of, and will be so greatly affected by, the external glory of Christ and his saints. And that you have a kind of love, or gratitude and joy, which devils and damned men have not, may possibly not arise from any other principles in your heart different from these two, but only from these principles, as exercised in different circum

stances.

As for instance, your being a subject of the restraining grace of God and being under circumstances of hope, and the receipt of mercy. The natural understanding and selflove of devils possibly might affect them in the same manner, if they were in the same circumstances. If your love to God, has its first source from nothing else than a supposed immediate divine witness, or any other supposed evidence, that Christ died for you in particular, and that God loves you, it springs from no higher principle than selflove, which is a principle that reigns in the hearts of devils. Selflove is sufficient, without grace, to cause men to love those that love them, or that they

imagine love them, and make much of them; Luke vi 32. "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have you? For sinners also love those that love them." And would not the hearts of devils be filled with great joy, if they, by any means should take up a confident persuasion that God had pardoned them, and was become their friend, and that they should be delivered from that wrath which they now are in trembling expectation of? If the devils go so far as you have heard, even in their circumstances, being totally cast off, and given up to unrestrained wickedness,being without hope,knowing that God is and ever will be their enemy, they suffering his wrath without mercy; how far may we reasonably suppose they might go, in imitation of grace and pious experience, if they had the same degree of knowledge, as clear views, and as strong conviction, under circumstances of hope, and offers of mercy; and being the subjects of common grace, restraining their corruptions, and assisting and exciting the natural principles of reason, conscience, &c. Such things as devils are the subjects of; such great conviction of conscience; such a sense of the importance of eternal things; such affecting views of the awful majesty, greatness, power, holiness, justice, and truth of God, and such a sense of his great grace to the saints, if they, or any thing like them, should be in the heart of a sinner, in this world, at the same time that he, from some strong impression on his imagination of Christ appearing to him, or sweet words spoken to him, or by some other means, has suddenly, after great terrors, imbibed a strong confidence, that now this great God is his friend and father, has released him from all the misery he feared, and has promised him eternal happiness; I say, such things would, doubtless, vastly heighten his ecstasy of joy, and raise the exercise of natural gratitude, (that principle from whence sinners love those that love them) and would occasion a great imitation of many gra ces in strong exercises. Is it any wonder then, that multitudes under such a sort of affection are deceived? Especially when they have devils to help forward the delusion, whose great subtilty has chiefly been exercised in deceiving mankind, through all past generations.

Enquiry. Here possibly some may be ready to enquire, if there may be so many things which men may experience from no higher principles than are in the minds and hearts of deyils; what are those exercises and affections, that are of a higher nature, which I must find in my heart, and which I may justly look upon as

Spirit.

sure signs of the saving grace of God's

Ans. I answer; those exercises and affections which are good evidences of grace, differ from all that the devils are the subjects of, and all that can arise from such principles as are in their hearts, in two things, viz. their foundation and their tendency.

1. They differ in their foundation, or in that belonging to them, which is most fundamental in them, and the foundation of all the rest which pertains to them, viz. an apprehension or sense of the supreme holy beauty and comeliness of divine things, as they are in themselves, or in their own nature.

This the devils and damned in hell are, and forever will be entirely destitute of; this the devils once had, while they stood in their integrity; but this they wholly lost when they fell: And this is the only thing that can be mentioned, pertaining to the devil's apprehension and sense of the Divine Being, that he did lose. Nothing else belonging to the knowledge of God, can be devised, that he is destitute of. It has been observed, that there is no one attribute of the divine nature, but what he is sensible of, and knows, and has a strong and very affecting conviction of; and this, I think is evident and undeniable. But the supreme beauty of the divine nature he is altogether blind to: He sees no more of it than a man born perfectly blind does of colors. The great sight he has of the attributes of God gives him an idea and strong sense of his awful majesty, but no idea of his beauty and comeliness. Though he has seen so much of God's worderful works of power, wisdom, holiness, justice, and truth, and his wonderful works of grace to mankind, this so many thousand years, and has had occasion to observe them with the strongest attention; yet all serves not to give him the least sense of his divine beauty. And though the devils should continue to exercise their mighty powers of mind

with the strongest intention; and should take things in all possible views, in every order and arrangement, yet they neve er will see this. So little akin is the knowledge they have to this, that the great degrees of that knowledge bring them no nearer to it. Yet the more knowledge they have of God, of that kind, the more do they hate God, That wherein the beauty of the divine nature does most essentially consist, viz. his holiness or moral excellency appears, in their eyes, furtherest from beauty: It is on that very account, chiefly, that he appears hateful to them. The more holiness they see in him, the more hateful he appears : The greater their sight is of his holiness, the higher is their hatred of him raised. And because of their hatred of his holiness, they hate him the more, the more they see of his other attributes. They would hate a holy being whatever his other attributes were, but they hate such a holy being the worse for his being infinitely wise, and infinitely powerful, &c. more than they would do, if they saw in him less power and less wisdom.

The wicked at the day of judgment, will see every thing else in Christ but his beauty and amiableness, There is no one quality or property of his person that can be thought of, but what will be set before them in the strongest light at that day, but only such as consist in this. They will see him coming in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory; in the glory of his Father. They will have that view of his external glory which is vastly beyond what we can have any imagination of: And they will have the strongest and most convincing demonstrations of all his attributes and perfections. They will have a sense of his great majesty, that will be, as it were, infinitely affecting to them. They shall be made to know effectually that he is the Lord. They shall see what he is, and what he does; his nature and works shall appear in the strongest view. But his holy and infinite beauty and amiableness, which is all in all, and without which every other quality and property is nothing, and worse than nothing, they will see nothing of.

Therefore, it is a sight or sense of this that is the thing wherein does fundamentally consist the difference between those things in which the saving grace of God's Spirit consists

and the experiences of devils and damned souls. This is the foundation of every thing else that is distinguishing in true Christian experience. This is the foundation of the faith of excellency of the things exhibited in the gospel, or sense of the divine beauty and amiableness of the scheme of doctrine there exhibited, that savingly convinces the mind that it is indeed divine, or of God. This account of the matter is plainly

implied; 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." And v. 6. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." It is very evident that a saving belief of the gospel is here spoken of by the apostle, as arising from a view of the divine glory or beauty of the things it exhibits. It is by this view that the soul of a true convert is enabled, savingly, to see the sufficiency of Christ for his salvation. He that has his eyes open to behold the divine superlative beauty and loveliness of Jesus Christ, is convinced of his sufficiency to stand as a mediator between him, a guilty, hell deserving wretch, and an infinitely holy God, in an exceeding different manner than ever he can be convinced by all the arguments that are made use of by the most excellent au thors or preachers.

When he once comes to see Christ's divine loveliness, he wonders no more that he is thought worthy by God the Father to be accepted for the vilest sinner. Now it is not difficult for him to conceive how the blood of Christ should be esteemed, by God, so precious, as to be worthy to be accepted as a compensation for the greatest sins. The soul now properly sees the preciousness of Christ, and so does properly see and understand the very ground and reason of his acceptableness to God, and the value God sets on his blood, obedience, and intercession. This satisfies the poor guilty soul, and gives it rest; when the finest and most elaborate discourses about the sufficiency of Christ, and suitableness of the way of salvation,