quence that our apprehensions of these diverse perfections of his nature should be duly proportioned one to another. A defect on the one hand, namely, having a discovery of his love and grace, without a proportionable discovery of his awful majesty, his holy and searching purity, would tend to spiritual pride, carnal confidence, and presumption; and a defect on the other hand, namely, having a discovery of his holy majesty, without a proportionable discovery of his grace, tends to unbelief, a sinful fearfulness, and spirit of bondage. And, therefore, herein chiefly consists that deficiency of experiences that I am now speaking of. The revelation God has made of himself in his word, and the provision made for our spiritual welfare in the gospel, is perfect; but the actual light and communications we have, are many ways exceedingly imperfect and maimed. And experience plainly shows, that Christians may have high manifestations in some respects, and yet their circumstances may be unhappy in this regard, that their discoveries are no more general. There is a great difference among Christians in this respect ; some have much more general discoveries than others, who are, upon many accounts, the most amiable Christians. Christians may have experiences that are very high, and yet there may be very much of this deficiency and disproportion. Their high experiences are truly from the Spirit of God, but sin comes in by the defect, (as indeed all sin is originally from a defective privative cause,) and, in such a case, high discoveries, at the same time that they are enjoyed, may be, and sometimes are, the occasion, or causa sine qua non, of sin. Sin may come in at that back door, the gap that is left open; as spiritual pride often does. And many times the Spirit of God is quenched by this means, and God punishes the pride and presumption that rises, by bringing such darkness, and suffering such awful consequences and horrid temptations, as are enough to make one's hair stand on end to hear them. Christians, therefore, should diligently observe their own hearts as to this matter, and should pray to God that he would give them experiences in which one thing may bear a proportion to another, that God may be honoured and their souls edified thereby; and ministers should have an eye to this, in their private dealings with the souls of their people. It is chiefly from such a defect of experiences that some things have arisen, which have been pretty common among true Christians of late, though supposed by many to have risen from a good cause; as, particularly, talking of divine and heavenly things, and expressing divine joys, with laughter or a light behaviour. I believe, in many instances, such things have arisen from a good cause, as their causa sine qua non. High discoveries and gracious joyful affections have been the occasion of them; but the proper cause has been sin, even that odious defect in their experience; whereby there has been wanting a sense of the awful and holy majesty of God as present with them, and their nothingness and vileness before him, proportionable to the sense they have had of God's grace and the love of Christ. And the same is true, in many cases, of unsuitable boldness; a disposition to speak with authority, intemperate zeal, and many other things, that sometimes appear under great religious affections. And sometimes the vehemence of the motion of the animal spirits, under great affections, is owing, in a considerable measure, to experiences being thus partial. I have known it, in several instances, that persons have been greatly affected with the dying love of Christ, and the consideration of the happiness of the enjoyment of him in heaven, and other things of that nature, and their animal spirits at the same time have been in a great emotion; but, in the midst of it, they have had such a deep sense of the awful, holy majesty of God, as at once composed them, and quieted animal nature, without diminishing their comfort, but only has made it of a better and more solid nature. When they have had a sense both of the majesty and grace of God, one thing has, as it were, balanced another, and caused a more happy sedateness and composure of body and mind. From these things we may learn how to judge of experiences, and to estimate their goodness. Those are not always the best which are attended with the most violent affections, and most vehement motions of the animal spirits, or have the greatest effects on the body. Nor are they always the best that most dispose persons to abound in talk to others, and to speak in the most vehement manner, though these things often arise from the greatness of spiritual experiences. But those are the most excellent experiences that are qualified as follows:-1. That have the least mixture, or are the most purely spiritual. 2. That are the least deficient and partial, in which the diverse things that appertain to Christian expe rience are proportionable one to another. And, 3. That are raised to the highest degree. It is no matter how high they are raised, if they are qualified as before mentioned; the higher the better. Experiences, thus qualified, will be attended with the most amiable behaviour, will bring forth the most solid and sweet fruits, will be the most durable, and will have the greatest effect on the abiding temper of the soul. If God is pleased to carry on this work, and it should prove to be the dawning of a general revival of the Christian church, it may be expected that the time will come, before long, when the experiences of Christians shall be much more generally thus qualified. We must expect green fruits before we have ripe ones. It is probable that, hereafter, the discoveries which the saints shall have of divine things, will be in a much higher degree than yet have been; but yet shall be so ordered of an infinitely wise and all-sufficient God, that they shall not have so great an effect, in proportion, on the body, and will be less ⚫ oppressive to nature. The outward manifestations will rather be like those that were in Stephen, when he was full of the Holy Ghost, when "all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." Their inward fulness of the Spirit of God, in his divine, amiable, and sweet influences, shall, as it were, shine forth in a heavenly aspect, and the manner of speech and behaviour. But, 3. There is another thing concerning the experiences of Christians, of which it is of yet greater importance that we should be aware, than of the preceding, and that is the degenerating of experiences. What I mean is, something diverse from the mere decay of experiences, or their gradually vanishing, by persons losing their sense of things; namely, experiences growing by degrees worse and worse in their kind, more and more partial and deficient; in which, things are more out of due proportion, and also, have more and more of a corrupt mixture: the spiritual part decreases, and the other useless and hurtful parts greatly increase. This I have seen in very many instances; and great are the mischiefs that have risen through want of being more aware of it. There is commonly, as I observed before, in high experiences, besides that which is spiritual, a mixture of three things; namely, natural or common affections, workings of the imagination, and a degree of self-righteousness, or spiritual pride. Now it often comes, to pass, that through persons not distinguishing the wheat from the chaff, and for want of watchfulness and humble jealousy of themselves and by laying great weight on the natural and imaginary part, yielding to it, and indulging it, whereby that part grows and increases, and the spiritual part decreases the devil sets in, and works in the corrupt part, and cherishes it to his utmost. At length the experiences of some persons who began well, come to little else but violent motions of carnal affections, with great heats of the imagination, a great degree of enthusiasm, and swelling of spiritual pride: very much like some fruits which bud, blossom, and kernel well, but afterwards are blasted with an excess of moisture; so that though |