Religious Affections, Edwards 2

Second installment of notes from this all time classic.

-The Devil can counterfeit all emotions.

-“Emotional reactions to the Scriptures, whether of fear, hope, joy, sorrow, or any other may not themselves be evidence of a genuine experience. There are some who think that their emotions have saving value, especially if these emotions move them to have hope or joy or to enjoy anything else that is pleasurable or delightful. They will cite this as evidence that all is well, and that their experience must have come from the Word.” -44

-“On the other hand, their affections are not necessarily true just because they have boundless confidence that they are all right and that their affections are divinely inspired. Nothing certain can be argued from their confidence, however great and strong it appears to be. Just because a man fearlessly calls God His Father, and prays often in the most intimate, bold, and appropriate language, it does not necessarily follow that his confidence rings true.
Indeed, such an overbearing, highhanded, and violent sort of confidence as this may not be evidence of true Christian assurance. For this may savor more of the spirit of the Pharisees who never doubted that they were saints.” -62

-Many non-Christians have false hope, and are under the dominance of self-exaltation and self-confidence. They lie in a sess-pool, relaxing in the massaging waters of self-deception. The true saint may doubt their salvation.

-“First of all, the hypocrite does not have that cautious spirit, that great sense of the vast importance of a sure foundation, not the dread of being deceived. The comforts of true saints will increase caution and a lively sense of how great and awful it must be to appear before the infinitely holy, just, and omniscient Judge. False comforts put an end to those things and dreadfully stupefy the mind.” -63

-“Second, the hypocrite has no knowledge of his own blindness, nor of the deceitfulness of his heart, nor the mean opinion of his own understanding such as the true saint has. Those that are deluded with false discoveries and affections are always highly conceited of their own light and understanding.” -63

-“Third, the devil does not assault the hope of the hypocrite, as he does the hope of a true Christian. The devil is a great enemy to the true Christian hope, not only because hope tends greatly to comfort, but also because hope is of a holy, heavenly nature. It greatly tends to promote and to cherish grace in the heart; it is a great incentive to strictness and diligence in the Christian life. But the devil is no enemy to the hope of the hypocrite, which above all things establishes his self-interest.” -63

-“Fourth, he who has a false hope is not aware of his own corruptions. A saint is. A true Christian is ten times more aware of his heart and his corruptions than is a hypocrite. Therefore his sins and practice will look dreadful to him. But it is a false hope that hides corruption, covering it up so that the hypocrite looks clean and bright in his own eyes.”

-“True saints do not have the discernment to determine who are godly and who are not. For although they may know experientially what true religion is in the internal exercises of it, they cannot feel or see into the heart of another person. They can only see outward appearances. But the Scripture plainly intimates that this way of judging by outward appearances is at best uncertain and is liable to deceive.” -67

-We can never know how defective we can afford to be as Christians.

-“When Christians are in a poor condition, guilt lies on the conscience, and this brings fear and so prevents the peace and joy of an assured hope.” -74

-Being spiritual is having a wholly new life.

-“Love which arises from self-interest is worthless in the sight of God.” -91

-We love God because:
1)We escape from Hell
2)Purely because of how he benefits us.
3)Because of what he does for us.
4)We love solely because of what is in it for us, how God benefits us. We are in it for our own self-interests.