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indeed. The work of God has been glorious in its variety; it has the
more displayed the manifold and unsearchable wisdom of God, and wrought
more charity among His people.
There is a great difference among those who are converted, as to the
degree of hope and satisfaction they have concerning their own state.
Some have a high degree of satisfaction in this matter almost
constantly; and yet it is rare that any 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 great discovery God gives of His glory and rich grace in Christ,
to the drawing forth of extraordinary acts of grace. But the greater
part, as they sometimes fall into dead frames of spirit, are frequently
exercised with scruples and fears concerning their condition.
They generally have an awful apprehension of the dreadful nature of a
false hope; and there 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. Many, after they have 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 yet could not find how they could correct themselves.
I think the main ground of the doubts and fears that persons after their
conversion have been exercised with about their own state, has been,
that they have found so much corruption remaining in their hearts. At
first, their souls seem to be all alive, their hearts are fixed, and
their affections flowing; they seem to live quite above the world, and
meet with but little difficulty in religious exercises; and they are
ready to think it will alwa
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when the glory of Christian truths has 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 their truth as they are
from doubting whether there be a sun, when their eyes are open in the
midst of a clear hemisphere, and the strong blaze of His light overcomes
all objections. And yet, many of them, if we 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 Him to be true. But a
person might soon be satisfied, by a particular conversation with them,
that what they mean by such an answer is, that they have intuitively
beheld, and immediately felt, most illustrious 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 th
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And in continuing not to recognise Him, they made themselves irreproachable
witnesses. Both in slaying Him and in continuing to deny Him, they have
fulfilled the prophecies (Is. 60; Ps. 71).
762. What could the Jews, His enemies, do? If they receive Him, they give
proof of Him by their reception; for then the guardians of the expectation
of the Messiah receive Him. If they reject Him, they give proof of Him by
their rejection.
763. The Jews, in testing if He were God, have shown that He was man.
764. The Church has had as much difficulty in showing that Jesus Christ was
man, against those who denied it, as in showing that He was God; and the
probabilities were equally great.
765. Source of contradictions.--A God humiliated, even to the death on the
cross; a Messiah triumphing over death by his own death. Two natures in
Jesus Christ, two advents, two states of man's nature.
766. Types.--Saviour, father, sacrificer, offering, food, king, wise,
law-giver, afflicted, poor, having to create a people whom He must lead and
nourish and bring into His land...
Jesus Christ. Offices.--He alone had to create a great people, elect, holy,
and chosen; to lead, nourish, and bring it into the place of rest and
holiness; to make it holy to God; to make it the temple of God; to reconcile
it to, and, save it from, the wrath of God; to free it from the slavery of
sin, which visibly reigns in man; to give laws to this people, and engrave
these laws on their heart; to offer Himself to God for them, and sacrifi
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but in the hope, which one always has, and the other never.
540. The hope which Christians have of possessing an infinite good is
mingled with real enjoyment as well as with fear; for it is not as with
those who should hope for a kingdom, of which they, being subjects, would
have nothing; but they hope for holiness, for freedom from injustice, and
they have something of this.
541. None is so happy as a true Christian, nor so reasonable, virtuous, or
amiable.
542. The Christian religion alone makes man altogether lovable and happy. In
honesty, we cannot perhaps be altogether lovable and happy.
543. Preface.--The metaphysical proofs of God are so remote from the
reasoning of men, and so complicated, that they make little impression; and
if they should be of service to some, it would be only during the moment
that they see such demonstration; but an hour afterwards they fear they have
been mistaken.
Quod curiositate cognoverunt superbia amiserunt.91
This is the result of the knowledge of God obtained without Jesus Christ; it
is communion without a mediator with the God whom they have known without a
mediator. Whereas those who have known God by a mediator know their own
wretchedness.
544. The God of the Christians is a God who makes the soul feel that He is
her only good, that her only rest is in Him, that her only delight is in
loving Him; and who makes her at the same time abhor the obstacles which
keep her back and prevent her from loving God with all her strength.
Self-love and lust, which hinder us, are unbearable to her. Thus God makes
her feel that she has this root of self-love which destroys her, and which
He alone can cure.
545. J
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Now, if the passions had no hold on us, a week and a hundred years would
amount to the same thing.
695. Prophecies.--Great Pan is dead.
696. Susceperunt verbum cum omni aviditate, scrutantes Scripturas, si ita se
haberent.[138]
697. Prodita lege. Impleta cerne. Implenda collige.[139]
698. We understand the prophecies only when we see the events happen. Thus
the proofs of retreat, discretion, silence, etc., are proofs only to those
who know and believe them.
Joseph so internal in a law so external.
Outward penances dispose to inward, as humiliations to humility. Thus the...
699. The synagogue has preceded the church; the Jews, the Christians. The
prophets have foretold the Christians; Saint John, Jesus Christ.
700. It is glorious to see with the eyes of faith the history of Herod and
of Caesar.
701. The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple (Josephus, and
Philo the Jew, Ad Caium). What other people had such a zeal? It was
necessary they should have it.
Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. The ruler
taken from the thigh, and the fourth monarchy. How lucky we are to see this
light amidst this darkness!
How fine it is to see, with the eyes of faith, Darius and Cyrus, Alexander,
the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, without knowing it, for the glory of
the Gospel!
702. Zeal of the Jewish people for the law, especially after there were no
more prophets.
703. While the prophets were for maintaining the law, the people were
indifferent. But, since there have been no more prophets, zeal has succeeded
them.
704. The devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ, because he
would have been their salvation, but not since.
The Jewish people scorned by the Gentiles; the Christian people persecuted.
705. Proof.--Prophecies with their fulfilment; what has preceded and what
has followed Jesus Christ.
706. The prophecies are th
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And on Psalm 78:39: "The spirit passeth away, and cometh not again"; whence
some have erroneously argued against the immortality of the soul. But the
sense is that this spirit is the evil leaven, which accompanies man till
death and will not return at the resurrection.
And on Psalm 103 the same thing.
And on Psalm 16.
Principles of Rabbinism: two Messiahs.
447. Will it be said that, as men have declared that righteousness has
departed the earth, they therefore knew of original sin?--Nemo ante obitum
beatus est[72]--that is to say, they knew death to be the beginning of
eternal and essential happiness?
448. Milton sees well that nature is corrupt and that men are averse to
virtue; he does not know why they cannot fly higher.
449. Order.--After Corruption to say: "It is right that all those who are in
that state should know it, both those who are content with it, and those who
are not content with it; but it is not right that all should see
Redemption."
450. If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust,
weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing this,
we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...?
What then, can we have but esteem for a religion which knows so well the
defects of man, and desire for the truth of a religion which promises
remedies so desirable?
451. All men naturally hate one another. They employ lust as far as possible
in the service of the public weal. But this is only a pretnece and a false
image of love; for at bottom it is only hate.
452. To pity the unfortunate is not contrary to lust. On the contrary, we
can quite well give such evidence of friendship, and acquire the reputation
of kindly feeling, without giving anything.
453. From lust men have found and extracted excellent rules of policy,
morality, and justice; but in reality this vile root of man, this figmentum
malum, is only covered, it is not taken away.
454. Injustice.--T
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crucified Jesus Christ, who has been to them an offence, are those who have
charge of the books which testify of Him, and state that He will be an
offence and rejected. Therefore they have shown it was He by rejecting Him,
and He has been alike proved both by the righteous Jews who received Him and
by the unrighteous who rejected Him, both facts having been foretold.
Wherefore the prophecies have a hidden and spiritual meaning to which this
people were hostile, under the carnal meaning which they loved. If the
spiritual meaning had been revealed, they would not have loved it, and,
unable to bear it, they would not have been zealous of the preservation of
their books and their ceremonies; and if they had loved these spiritual
promises, and had preserved them incorrupt till the time of the Messiah,
their testimony would have had no force, because they had been his friends.
Therefore it was well that the spiritual meaning should be concealed; but,
on the other hand, if this meaning had been so hidden as not to appear at
all, it could not have served as a proof of the Messiah. What then was done?
In a crowd of passages it has been hidden under the temporal meaning, and in
a few been clearly revealed; besides that, the time and the state of the
world have been so clearly foretold that it is clearer than the sun. And in
some places this spiritual meaning is so clearly expressed that it would
require a blindness, like that which the flesh imposes on the spirit when it
is subdued by it, not to recognise it.
See, then, what has been the prudence of God. This meaning is concealed
under another in an infinite number of passages, and in some, though rarely,
it is revealed; but yet so that the passages in which it is concealed are
equivocal and can suit both meanings; whereas the passages where it is
disclosed are unequivocal and can only suit the spi
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shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."
205Deut. 13:3. "for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love
the Lord."
206Matt. 24:25-26. "Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall
say unto you, Behold."
207Is. 5:4. Quis est quod debui ultra facere vineae meae, et non faci ei?
"What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?"
[208]Gal. 1:8. "But though an angel."
209Ps. 41:4. "Where is thy God?"
[210]Ps. 111:4. "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness."
211"The yes and the no."
212Is. 10:1. "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees."
213John 15:24. "If he had not done."
214John 15:24. "If he had not done among them the works which none other man
did."
215Prov. 26. 4-5. "Answer... Answer not."
[216]Epistle 63. "Priest of the Lord."
[217]Luke 22:26. "But ye shall not be so."
[218]John 10:30. "I and my father are one."
219John 5:7. "And these three agree in one."
220"The strictest law is the greatest injustice." Terrence, Heauton
Timorumenus, iv. 5. 47; and Cicero, De officiis, i. 10.
221John 21:17. "Feed my sheep." Not "yours."
222"The Church will never be reformed."
223Jas. 4:6. "God giveth grace unto the humble."
224"But did he not give them humility?"
225John 1:11-12. "The world knew him not; and his own received him not."
226"And were they not his?"
227Rom. 12:2 "But overcome evil with good."
2282 Tim. 4:3. "Shall they heap to themselves teachers."
229Ps. 81:6. "Ye are gods."
[230]"To your tribunal, Lord Jesus, I call."
231Wisd. of Sol. 19:4. "Doom which they deserved."
232"Most impudent Liars." See Provincial Letter xvi.
[233]Prov. 12:8. "A man shall be commended according to his wisdom."
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A Faithful Narrative of th
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embroiderer.
People of education are not called poets or mathematicians, etc.; but they
are all these and judges of all these. No one guesses what they are. When
they come into society, they talk on matters about which the rest are
talking. We do not observe in them one quality rather than another, save
when they have to make use of it. But then we remember it, for it is
characteristic of such persons that we do not say of them that they are fine
speakers, when it is not a question of oratory, and that we say of them that
they are fine speakers, when it is such a question.
It is therefore false praise to give a man when we say of him, on his entry,
that he is a very clever poet; and it is a bad sign when a man is not asked
to give his judgement on some verses.
35. We should not be able to say of a man, "He is a mathematician," or "a
preacher," or "eloquent"; but that he is "a gentleman." That universal
quality alone pleases me. It is a bad sign when, on seeing a person, you
remember his book. I would prefer you to see no quality till you meet it and
have occasion to use it (Ne quid minis),[3] for fear some one qual
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there were some turns, wherein God's work seemed 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. Several things have happened since, which have
diverted people's minds, and turned their conversation more to other
affairs; particularly his Excellency the Governor's coming up, and the
Committee of general court, on the treaty with the Indians. -Afterwards,
the Springfield controversy; and since that, our people in this town
have been engaged in the building of a new meeting-house. Some other
occurrences might be mentioned, that have seemed to have this effect.
But as to those who have been thought converted at this time, they
generally seem to have had an abiding change wrought on them. I have had
particular acquaintance with many of them since; and they generally
appear to be persons who have a new sense of things, new apprehensions
and views of God, of the divine attributes of Jesus Christ, and the
great things of the gospel. They have a new sense of their truth, and
they affect them in a new manner; though it is very far from being
always alike with them, neither 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 express an inward ardor and
burning of heart, 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 appetites, 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 sou
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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 evidently attended with a very remarkable blessing of heaven to the
souls of the people in this town. They received thence a general
satisfaction, with respect to the main thing in question, which they had
been in trembling doubts 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 been 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 extraordinarily to set in, and
wonderfully to work amongst us; and there were very suddenly, one after
another, five or six persons, who were to all appearances savingly
converted, and some of them wrought upon in a very remarkable manner.
Particularly, I was surprised with relation of a young woman, who had
been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town. When sh
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[218]John 10:30. "I and my father are one."
219John 5:7. "And these three agree in one."
220"The strictest law is the greatest injustice." Terrence, Heauton
Timorumenus, iv. 5. 47; and Cicero, De officiis, i. 10.
221John 21:17. "Feed my sheep." Not "yours."
222"The Church will never be reformed."
223Jas. 4:6. "God giveth grace unto the humble."
224"But did he not give them humility?"
225John 1:11-12. "The world knew him not; and his own received him not."
226"And were they not his?"
227Rom. 12:2 "But overcome evil with good."
2282 Tim. 4:3. "Shall they heap to themselves teachers."
229Ps. 81:6. "Ye are gods."
[230]"To your tribunal, Lord Jesus, I call."
231Wisd. of Sol. 19:4. "Doom which they deserved."
232"Most impudent Liars." See Provincial Letter xvi.
[233]Prov. 12:8. "A man shall be commended according to his wisdom."
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A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God
by Jonathan Edwards
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A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God is Jonathan Edwards'
own account of the mighty way in which God moved among the people of
Northampton, Massachusetts and other nearby communities in the early
sta
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Therefore it was well that the spiritual meaning should be concealed; but,
on the other hand, if this meaning had been so hidden as not to appear at
all, it could not have served as a proof of the Messiah. What then was done?
In a crowd of passages it has been hidden under the temporal meaning, and in
a few been clearly revealed; besides that, the time and the state of the
world have been so clearly foretold that it is clearer than the sun. And in
some places this spiritual meaning is so clearly expressed that it would
require a blindness, like that which the flesh imposes on the spirit when it
is subdued by it, not to recognise it.
See, then, what has been the prudence of God. This meaning is concealed
under another in an infinite number of passages, and in some, though rarely,
it is revealed; but yet so that the passages in which it is concealed are
equivocal and can suit both meanings; whereas the passages where it is
disclosed are unequivocal and can only suit the spiritual meaning.
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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, whether she was
afraid of going to hell, and if that had made her cry? She answered,
Yes, 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, Today. She appeared all that afternoon
exceeding cheerful and joyful. One of the neighbors asked her, how she
felt herself. She answered, I feel better than I did. The neighbor asked
her, what made her feel better. She answered, God makes me. That
evening, as she lay a-bed, she called one of her little cousins to her,
who 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,
her mother asked her what God made her for? She answered, To serve him;
and added, Every 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 Nabby! Her mother
told her, she would not have to cry; she hoped that Go
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upon him, till he was wholly overpowered by it, and was in a 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 at nights, meditating terror, so that he had
scarce any sleep at all for a long time together; and it was observed at
last, that he was scarcely well capable of managing his ordinary
business, and was judged delirious by the coroner's inquest. The news of
this extraordinarily affected the minds of 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 had done. And many who seemed to be under no
melancholy, some pious persons who had no special darkness or doubts
about the goodness of their state-nor were under any special trouble or
concern of mind about any thing spiritual or temporal-had it urged upon
them as if somebody had spoke to them, Cut your throat, now is a good
opportunity. Now! 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,
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207. How many kingdoms know us not!
208. Why is my knowledge limited? Why my stature? Why my life to one hundred
years rather than to a thousand? What reason has nature had for giving me
such, and for choosing this number rather than another in the infinity of
those from which there is no more reason to choose one than another, trying
nothing else?
209. Art thou less a slave by being loved and favoured by thy master? Thou
art indeed well off, slave. Thy master favours thee; he will soon beat thee.
210. The last act is tragic, however happy all the rest of the play is; at
the last a little earth is thrown upon our head, and that is the end for
ever.
211. We are fools to depend upon the society of our fellow-men. Wretched as
we are, powerless as we are, they will not aid us; we shall die alone. We
should therefore act as if we were alone, and in that case should we build
fine houses, etc. We should seek the truth without hesitation; and, if we
refuse it, we show that we value the esteem of men more than the search for
truth.
212. Instability.--It is a horrible thing to feel all that we possess
slipping away.
213. Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest
thing in the world.
214. Injustice.--That presumption should be joined to meanness is extreme
injustice.
215. To fear death without danger, and not in danger, for one must be a man.
216. Sudden death alone is feared; hence confessors stay with lords.
217. An heir finds the title-deeds of his house. Will he say, "Perhaps they
are forged" and neglect to examine them?
218. Dungeon.--I approve of not examining the opinion of Copernicus; but
this...! It concerns all our life to know whether the soul be mortal or
immortal.
219. It is certain that the mortality or immortality of the soul must make
an entire difference to morality. And yet philosophers have constructed
their ethics independently of this: they discuss to pass an hour.
Pl
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101. I set it down as a fact that if all men knew what each said of the
other, there would not be four friends in the world. This is apparent from
the quarrels which arise from the indiscreet tales told from time to time. I
say, further, all men would be...
102. Some vices only lay hold of us by means of others, and these, like
branches, fall on removal of the trunk.
103. The example of Alexander's chastity has not made so many continent as
that of his drunkenness has made intemperate. It is not shameful not to be
as virtuous as he, and it seems excusable to be no more vicious. We do not
believe ourselves to be exactly sharing in the vices of the vulgar when we
see that we are sharing in those of great men; and yet we do not observe
that in these matters they are ordinary men. We hold on to them by the same
end by which they hold on to the rabble; for, however exalted they are, they
are still united at some point to the lowest of men. They are not suspended
in the air, quite removed from our society. No, no; if they are greater than
we, it is because their heads are higher; but their feet are as low as ours.
They are all on the same level, and rest on the same earth; and by that
extremity they are
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863. All err the more dangerously, as they each follow a truth. Their fault
is not in following a falsehood, but in not following another truth.
864. Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that,
unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
865. If there is ever a time in which we must make profession of two
opposite truths, it is when we are reproached for omitting one. Therefore
the Jesuits and Jansenists are wrong in concealing them, but the Jansenists
more so, for the Jesuits have better made profession of the two.
866. Two kinds of people make things equal to one another, as feasts to
working days, Christians to priests, all things among them, etc. And hence
the one party conclude that what is then bad for priests is also so for
Christians, and the other that what is not bad for Christians is lawful for
priests.
867. If the ancient Church was in error, the Church is fallen. If she should
be in error to-day, it is not the same thing; for she has always the
superior maxim of
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165Ps. 167:20. "He hath not dealt so with any nation."
166Matt. 26:27. "Drink ye all of it."
167Rom. 5:12. "for that all have sinned."
168Luke 12:32. "Fear not little flock."
169Phil. 2:12. "With fear and trembling."
170Mark 9:37. "Whosoever receiveth me, receiveth not me, but him that sent
me."
171Mark 13:32. "No one knows, neither the Son, but the Father."
172"Clouds shadowed over the light."
173Mark 1:5. "All the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him."
174Mark 4:12. "Lest they should be converted, and their sins should be
forgiven them."
[175]Matt. 26:50. "Friend, wherefore art thou come?"
[176]Ps. 2:1, 2. "Why do the heathen rage... and the rulers of the earth...
against the Lord."
177Is. 8:14. "For a sanctuary and for a rock of offence."
178John 3:2. "We know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."
[179]John. 15:24 "If I had not done... they had not had sin."
[180]Matt. 12:25; Luke 11:17. "Every kingdom divided against itself."
181Luke 11:20. "If with the finger of God... the kingdom of God is come upon
you."
[182]St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica.
183"But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled... He
hath blinded their eyes."
184John 12:41. "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake
of him."
1851 Cor. 1:22, 23. "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified."
[18
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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 opportunities to
talk to the other children about the great concern of their souls, so as
much to affect them. She was once exceeding 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
by 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 lives 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
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by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear
about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear
one and another reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid
out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for
myself -- I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care;
but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and
in that manner; it came as a thief -- Death outwitted me: God's wrath
was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering
myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do
hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden
destruction came upon me."
God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any
natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises
either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from
eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the
promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and
amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant
of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in
any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the
covenant. So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about
promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain
and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion,
whatever prayers he make
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proceedings with sinners under legal convictions. In some instances, it
seems easy for our reasoning powers to discern 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. Some who
are less distinctly wrought upon, in what is preparatory to grace,
appear no less eminent in gracious experiences afterwards. There is in
nothing a greater difference, in different persons, 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, who had been, before
this effusion of the Spirit upon us, for years, and some for many years,
concerned about their salvation. Though probably they were not
thoroughly awakened, yet they were concerned to such a degree as to be
very uneasy, so as to live an uncomfortable disquieted life. They
continued in a way of taking considerable pains about their salvation;
but had never obtained any comfortable evidence of a good state. Several
such persons, in this extraordinary time, have received light; but many
of them were some of the last. They first saw m
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that he has made himself wise, and that he is wrong to be proud; for that is
right. Now God alone gives wisdom, and that is why Qui gloriatur, in Domino
glorietur.74
461. The three lusts have made three sects; and the philosophers have done
no other thing than follow one of the three lusts.
462. Search for the true good.--Ordinary men place the good in fortune and
external goods, or at least in amusement. Philosophers have shown the vanity
of all this and have placed it where they could.
463. Philosophers.--They believe that God alone is worthy to be loved and
admired; and they have desired to be loved and admired of men and do not
know their own corruption. If they feel full of feelings of love and
admiration and find therein their chief delight, very well, let them think
themselves good. But if they find themselves averse to Him, if they have no
inclination but the desire to establish themselves in the esteem of men, and
if their whole perfection consists only in making men--but without
constraint--find their happiness in loving them, I declare that this
perfection is horrible. What! they have known God and have not desired
solely that men should love Him, but that men should stop short at t
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things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can
only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by
God Himself. He only is our true good, and since we have forsaken him, it is
a strange thing that there is nothing in nature which has not been
serviceable in taking His place; the stars, the heavens, earth, the
elements, plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects, calves, serpents,
fever, pestilence, war, famine, vices, adultery, incest. And since man has
lost the true good, everything can appear equally good to him, even his own
destruction, though so opposed to God, to reason, and to the whole course of
nature.
Some seek good in authority, others in scientific research, others in
pleasure. Others, who are in fact nearer the truth, have considered it
necessary that the universal good, which all men desire, should not consist
in any of the particular things which can only be possessed by one man, and
which, when shared, afflict their possessors more by the want of the part he
has not than they please him by the possession of what he has. They have
learned that the true good should be such as all can possess at once,
without diminution and without envy, and which no one can lose against his
will. And their reason is that this desire, being natural to man, since it
is necessarily in all, and that it is impossible not to have it, they infer
from it...
426. True nature being lost, everything becomes its own nature; as the true
good being lost, everything becomes its own true good.
427. Man does not know in what rank to place
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was only a type, it fell into servitude. The type existed till the truth
came, in order that the Church should be always visible, either in the sign
which promised it, or in substance.
647. That the law was figurative.
648. Two errors: 1. To take everything literally. 2. To take everything
spiritually.
649. To speak against too greatly figurative language.
650. There are some types clear and demonstrative, but others which seem
somewhat far-fetched, and which convince only those who are already
persuaded. These are like the Apocalyptics. But the difference is that they
have none which are certain, so that nothing is so unjust as to claim that
theirs are as well founded as some of ours; for they have none so
demonstrative as some of ours. The comparison is unfair. We must not put on
the same level and confound things, because they seem to agree in one point,
while they are so different in another. The clearness in divine things
requires us to revere the obscurities in them.
It is like men, who employ a cer
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judge themselves so little worthy of their own care, that they are not
worthy of the care of others; and it needs all the charity of the religion
which they despise, not to despise them even to the point of leaving them to
their folly. But because this religion obliges us always to regard them, so
long as they are in this life, as capable of the grace which can enlighten
them, and to believe that they may, in a little time, be more replenished
with faith than we are, and that, on the other hand, we may fall into the
blindness wherein they are, we must do for them what we would they should do
for us if we were in their place, and call upon them to have pity upon
themselves, and to take at least some steps in the endeavour to find light.
Let them give to reading this some of the hours which they otherwise employ
so uselessly; whatever aversion they may bring to the task, they will
perhaps gain something, and at least will not lose much. But as for those
who bring to the task perfect sincerity and a real desire
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wisdom will make you equal to Him, if you will follow it." "Raise your
heads, free men," says Epictetus. And others say, "Bend your eyes to the
earth, wretched worm that you are, and consider the brutes whose companion
you are."
What, then, will man become? Will he be equal to God or the brutes? What a
frightful difference! What, then, shall we be? Who does not see from all
this that man has gone astray, that he has fallen from his place, that he
anxiously seeks it, that he cannot find it again? And who shall then direct
him to it? The greatest men have failed.
432. Scepticism is true; for, after all, men before Jesus Christ did not
know where they were, nor whether they were great or small. And those who
have said the one or the other knew nothing about it and guessed without
reason and by chance. They also erred always in excluding the one or the
other.
Quod ergo ignorantes, quaeritis, religio annuntiat vobis.64
433. After having understood the whole nature of man.--That a religion may
be true, it must have knowledge of our nature. It ought to know its
greatness and littleness, and the reason of both. What religion but the
Christian has known this?
434. The chief arguments of the sceptics--I pass over the lesser ones--are
that we have no certainty of the truth of these principles apart from faith
and revelation, except in so far as we naturally perceive them in ourselves.
Now this natural intuition is not a convincing proof of their truth; since,
having no certainty, apart from faith, whether man was created by a good
God, or by a wicked demon, or by chance, it is doubtful whether these
principles given to us are true, or false, or uncertain, according to our
origin. Again, no person is certain, apart from faith, whether he is awake
or sleeps, seeing that during sleep we believe that we are awake as firmly
as we do when we are awake; we believe that we see space, figure, and
motion; we are aware of th
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150"It is written: 'You are Gods' (Ps. 80:6), and the Scripture cannot be
made naught of."
151"This weakness is not for life; it is for death."
152"John 11:11 and 14. "'Lazarus sleeps,' and later it says: 'Lazarus is
dead.'"
[153]Ps. 44:4. Gladio tuo- "Thy sword, O most mighty."
[154]Heb. 10:5. "When he cometh into the world."
[155]Joel. 2:28. "I will pour out my spirit."
156Ps. 21:28. "All peoples shall come and worship him."
157Is. 49:6. "It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant," etc.
158Ps. 2:8. "Ask of me."
159Ps. 71:11. "All kings shall fall down before him."
160Ps. 34:11. "Witnesses rise up."
161Lam. 3:30. "He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him."
162Ps. 68:22. Dederunt in escam meam fel. "They gave me also gall for my
meat."
163Is. 49:6. "It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant," etc.
164Luke 2:32. "A light to lighten the Gentiles."