at some times he had been the great oracle or representative of God the Father to the Samaritans, and at other times of the Son to the Jews, and again of the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles. So industrious was he to magnify himself under fair pretences, thereby hoping to draw the world after him; as he did some part of it, gaining proselytes among the ignorant, credulous, and undiscerning. This kind of traffic for fame was constantly carried on by some or other, under some shape or other, during the first ages of the Church; and it has been continued in various ways and in different forms, through all succeeding ages, down to this day. It is one of the most refined artifices of Satan's policy and God has permitted it for the trial of his faithful servants; that they may be proved and exercised every way, and may learn to be as much upon their guard against any surprise of their understandings, as against any seduction of their wills. It is sufficient, that both the New Testament and Old have given strong, repeated warnings against every temptation of that kind; and have not only commanded us to stand upon our guard, in such cases, but have also laid down marks and rules, whereby to discover, and whereby to repel every wile of Satan, and every the subtilest engine amongst all his devices, As to this particular, there are many cautions against it inserted up and down in the sacred writings: and I have here made choice of one which appears to be as expressive and affecting as any, delivered by St. John, the latest Apostle: "Be"loved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they "are of God;" and so on. Which words very plainly pointed at the false pretenders to the Spirit, appearing in those early days: men that vainly boasted of their being filled with the Holy Ghost, instructed extraordinarily from above, illuminated from on high, and commissioned to teach and gather converts, in opposition to the truly authorized and regular ministers. The Apostle does not exhort us altogether to neglect or pass by every vain pretender, (for then how shall we know whether they are vain or not?) but he bids us suspend our faith, and withhold our assent from them; and, in the mean while, to try and examine what their boasted pretences amount to. In discoursing further, my design is, I. To inquire somewhat particularly into the springs or motives from which those false pretences to the Spirit generally proceed. II. To consider by what rules or marks any pretences of that kind may be tried, and discovered to be false and vain. III. To observe, how much it concerns every pious and considerate Christian to make the trial, and to be upon his guard in such cases. I. I am first to inquire, from what springs or motives the false pretences to the Spirit generally proceed. I have before hinted that vainglory, or a thirst after fame, is often the moving spring, the most prevailing motive. But to go a little deeper; self-love, of some kind or other, is the general foundation, the root of all. Many and various are the illusions of self-love; and they often prevail, not only with hypocrites, and men of double hearts, but even with well-meaning persons of honest minds, but of weak or distempered heads. Were none but ill designing men to make false pretences to the Spirit, the temptation would be but coarsely laid, and would be less apt to deceive. The fineness of Satan's policy chiefly lies in making use even of pious, honest, well-meaning, but unwary persons to work with. God may pity and pardon the men so made use of for the trial of others, if their ignorance was unconquerable, or their infirmities unavoidable if they were naturally half witted, or half distracted, God may make them merciful allowances: but he will make no allowances for persons of better sense or stronger faculties, if they suffer themselves to be misled by such infatuated instruments. A warm zeal for religion may often go along with want of knowledge or sound discretion: and nothing is more common, than for unthinking men to misreckon their own talents, and to take false measures very ignorantly of themselves. Self-love is natural to all men, and is the abiding pulse of every one's heart; which, if it be not carefully watched and guarded, will sometimes grievously impose even upon wise and shrewd men; but much more upon the careless and undiscerning. Who does not wish to be one of the favourites of heaven, and to be extraordinarily illuminated or conducted by God's Holy Spirit? Let but a fond selflover dwell often and long upon this deluding thought, and he will be apt by degrees, especially if otherwise full of conceit, to fancy himself so illuminated, and so conducted, as he desires to be: and then every warm sally of imagination, or every unusual emotion in his breast, (coming perhaps from the tempter, or from his own fond dreams,) will immediately be construed as a godly feeling, and an infallible mark of some Divine impulse, some secret contact of God's Holy Spirit. When the pleasing delusion is once indulged thus far, the man begins presently to fancy himself a kind of saint upon earth, or perhaps an apostle: or, if the distemper runs higher, (as we have known several instances,) he may conceive himself greater than any prophet of the Old Testament, or apostle of the New: all self-illusion, and little short of downright phrensy! It is not to be doubted but that persons of this unhappy complexion must have some colours, some appearances, whereby to deceive their own hearts. The colours commonly are some great corporal mortifications and austerities, long watchings, long fastings, and perhaps immense pains taken in uncommanded services, such as God has not required at their hands. Their submitting to such painful services they look upon as infallible proofs of their own sincerity, and of some marvellous grace of God: wherein again they often deceive their own hearts, and are not aware of the secret workings and fond delusions of their own self-love: for, after all, there is not half so much self-denial shewn in those voluntary austerities, accompanied with pride and ostentation, as there is in a less pretending conduct, squared by the rule of God's commandments. If persons, suppose in a green age, by the practice of those austerities, can once come to think themselves wiser, and greater, and every way more considerable as teachers, than the oldest, and wisest, and best studied Divines; what a compendious method is thereby laid of arriving suddenly to deep learning without study, and to profound wisdom without the pain of thought! And who would not wish, at so cheap and easy a rate, and in so short a time, to come at the top of their profession? especially if neither their natural talents nor acquired furniture could afford them any reasonable prospect of ever becoming considerable at all in the common and ordinary methods. A forward ambition, joined with as much sloth and impatience, may easily prompt a man to flatter himself in such a way: and certainly the self-denial which he exercises in some religious austerities is not worth the mentioning, in comparison to the prodigious self-indulgence which, upon the whole, is manifestly seen in it. It is compounding for fame, reputation, and authority, by a few short voluntary penances, and by making very familiar with the Holy Spirit of God; at the same time saving all the weariness of the flesh felt in hard studies, all the irksome labour of languages, history, and critical inquiries, which are ordinarily requisite to form a judicious interpreter of God's word, and a faithful guide of souls. While others are content to wait for wisdom till an advanced age, and to go on, the mean while, in the slow methods of labour and industry which God has appointed; these pretenders to the Spirit affect to be wise at once, and wise in a most eminent degree, wise by inspiration. Who sees not that laziness, and love of ease, and self-flattery, and eagerness for an early preeminence, may naturally tempt weak men to such self-delusions? I do not say that they themselves are com only aware of the secret springs by which they are so moved, not being used to cool reflection or sober thought. There are no charms more delusive than the charms of self-love; and the simpler men are, the less do they perceive them, and the more liable are they to be misled by them. Even children often discover a great deal of cunning which their selflove teaches them, and which they never reflect upon; neither do they so much as perceive by what springs they are actuated; though a judicious stander-by will easily look through it, and as easily account for it: such may be, such probably is the case with every well-meaning false pretender to the Spirit. As to subtle and designing hypocrites, I meddle not with their case: the finest hypocrisy may soon be discovered, and so is the less apt to deceive much or long: but the well-meaning pretenders to the Spirit, who through a secret self-flattery, and a cast of melancholy, first deceive themselves, are, of all men, the best fitted to deceive other persons. Their artless simplicity, together with their hearty and affectionate professions, are very apt to win upon the best natured and best disposed Christians, which the tempter knows full well; and he never exercises a deeper policy, or gains a greater triumph, than when he can thus decoy some of the most religious of God's servants, deluding them in a pious way, and, as it were, foiling them with their own weapons. But let every considerate Christian, in such cases, call to mind the good advice of the text; first, to try and examine the spirits pretended, whether they are of God. We are not commanded to examine, whether the pretenders are sincere men or hypocrites: that may often be doubtful, and it may be hard to pass any certain judgment upon the case besides that it does not so much concern us. For our fault will not be the less, whether we are misled by a designing hypocrite, or a blind zealot, or a raving enthusiast. Care must be taken not to be misled by any; neither by the cunning craftiness of one, nor by the simpleness of another, nor by the madness of a third. But we must try and examine the pretences of each, and guard equally against all. I proceed therefore to my second head of discourse, namely, II. To consider by what rules or marks any pretences of that kind may be tried, and detected to be false and vain. 1. Boasting and ostentation are a flat contradiction to the very supposal of the ordinary graces boasted of; because humility and modesty are the very chief graces upon which all the rest hang. If a man thinks himself endowed with the graces of the Spirit, let him shew it in his meek deportment and by his good works: but let him not trumpet the fame of it through the world, lest his very doing it should be taken for a demonstration that he has not the Spirit of God; but that some spirit of delusion has crept in, in his stead. For as a man, by boasting of his good breeding, does, in that very act or instance, prove himself ill bred; and, in boasting of his wisdom, shews his want of it; so a man, who presumes to boast of the grace of the Spirit, betrays his want of grace in that very instance. Our blessed Lord rebuked the Pharisees for sounding a trumpet before them in the synagogues and in the streets, that they might have "glory of men," when they did their alms but what would he have said to men, who should be noising it abroad, how full they are, not of one virtue only, but of all virtues and of all graces? For that must be meant by being full of the Spirit, if it means any thing. This way of sounding the trumpet before them, to draw the eyes and attention of the world after them, (without miracles to prove their mission,) is much more indecent and immodest, than what the Pharisees did; besides the additional profaneness of making a very irreverent use of the tremendous name of God's Holy Spirit. To be short, you may depend upon it, that a religion so noisy, so pompous, so theatrical, as what I have mentioned, is very little akin to the humble, and modest, and unpretending religion of Christ. : 2. Another sure mark of a false spirit is disobedience to rule and order, contempt of lawful authority, and especially any intruding into what does not belong to them, or the attempting to draw off a Matth. vi. 2. |