will pretend to deny.* "Let us suppose (says Mr. Edwards) a person, who has been for some time in great exercise and terror, through fear of hell, and upon the brink of despair, and is all at once delivered, by being made firmly to believe, through some delusion of satan, that God has pardoned him, and accepts him as the object of his dear love, though there should be no preceding acceptance of Christ, or closing of the heart with him, what various passions would naturally crowd at once, or one after another, into such a person's mind! It is easy to be accounted for, from mere principles of nature, that a person's heart, on such an occasion, should be transported with joy, and be filled with fervent affection, to that imaginary God or Redeemer, who, he supposes, has rescued him from the jaws of such dreadful destruction, and received him with such endearment, as a peculiar favourite; and that now he should be filled with admiration and gratitude, and his mouth should be opened, and be full of talk about what he has experienced; and that, for a

"Should a lying fellow bring tidings to an impenitent prisoner, justly condemned to die for murder, assuring him of a pardon from his judge; the deluded murderer might be full of love to his judge, and greatly extol his justice as well as goodness, and pour out floods of tears: but on discovering his mistake, he would soon return to his former temper. God's nature and law are just the same before he forgives us as after; and as worthy to be loved. But it is easier for an impenitent sinner to commend God's law, in a firm belief he is delivered from the curse of it, than to love it as being in its own nature, holy, just, and good."

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while, he should think and speak of scarce any thing else, and should magnify that God, who has done so much for him, and call upon others to rejoice with him, and appear with a cheerful countenance, and talk with a loud voice. Nor is it to be wondered at, that now he should delight to be with them, who acknowledge and applaud his happy circumstances, and should love all such as esteem and admire him, and what he has experienced, and have violent zeal against all such as are not of his party; and while the warmth of his affections last, should be mighty forward to take pains, and deny himself, to promote the interest of the party, who, he imagines, favors such things, and seem anxious to increase the number of them. And so, I might go on, and mention many other things, which will naturally arise. in such circumstances. He must have but slightly considered human nature, who thinks such things as these cannot arise in this manner, without any supernatural interposition of divine power."*

* I would here remark, that I have made lengthy extracts from president Edwards and others, in order more fully to strengthen and enforce the subject matter of this work: for saith the scripture, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established." Concerning Mr. Edwards, Erastus Middleton, in his Evangelical Biography, has these words: President Edwards, was one of the wisest, best, and most useful preachers this age has produced; his writings exhibit a remarkable strength of intellect; the perspecuity of thought and depth of penetration discovered in his vindication of the great doctrines of christianity, prove him to be a great scholar, a bright genius, and a great di

It will be interesting in this place, to make a few extracts from a late discourse on Satan's transforming himself into an angel of light, by Mr. Williston. Speaking of the many ways and devices Satan makes use of, to ensnare and ruin the souls of men, and injure the cause of Christ in the world, he remarks,

"Satan has his conversions. They, who look upon all conversions as the work of God, have but a scanty conception of the force of the text; they have but a small idea of the delusions of the devil. It would be well, if half the apparent conversions, which take place under the light of the gospel, were to prove genuine. The five foolish virgins in the parable, seem to represent those professors, who think they have experienced a gracious change of heart. The stony ground, in the parable of the sower, represents those who appear to have a joyful conversion, yet they have no root in themselves. The dog disgorging his vomit, and then returning to it again; and the washed sow returning to her wallowing in the mire, represent apparent, but not genuine conversions.-Instances are frequent, even up to the present day, of delusive conversions, as is proved by the fruit which follows; for bad fruit is proof of a bad tree. To fill the world full of such conversions,

vine." He adds-" Few Christians have arrived to equal attainments in the divine life, particularly as to a settled ac quiescence in the divine will, and a devotedness of heart to the Redeemer."

and the church full of such converts, 'hell is stirred from beneath.' The wiles of the devil in this one thing are multiform.

"Satanic conversions are of many sorts: but they all agree in this, that they are false and worthless. They resemble a true conversion in this, that there is first an alarm sounded, the conscience is awakened, and fears of future punishment are excited; and then succeed peace, joy and hope. In these conversions there is no real change of nature. The devil well knows that it is the nature of every sinful creature to love himself supremely, and to be pleased with his own exaltation. He knows also that our hearts are deceitful above all things. He knows that a sinner, under the greatest alarm about the concerns of another world, has still a perfect aversion to disinterested religion, or a real change of heart; and yet that he would give all the wealth of the Indies, if they were his, to purchase a state of peace and safety. With great anxiety and distress of soul, the sinner cries out, 'What shall I do to be saved?' Satan hears his groans, and sees his tears, and is anxious to afford him speedy relief; not that he might be saved, but that by means of a false confidence of his salvation, he might make his damnation the more sure. This arch-deceiver knows that all which is necessary to allay the alarm of the sinner, and give ease to his troubled mind, is to make him believe that he is not to be miserable, but happy, in another world. To effect this he has

many very subtle devices. Could we have a true history of all his delusive conversions, there would no doubt be an almost endless variety in them. But the most of the spurious conversions are capable of being classed under a few general heads. The following may be some of them.

"1. Dreams. There is reason to conclude, that very many have been deceived with a dreaming conversion.* Dreams are either common, coming, as the wise man observes, through the multitude of business; or they are extraordinary, being impressed by other agents upon our senses while we are asleep. They may be produced immediately by the Supreme agent; or by the instrumentality of good, or of evil spirits. From the scripture we learn, that the Lord has frequently revealed himself to men by dreams. This manner of revealing himself, has not been confined to good men. Wicked men have had such communications, and remained wicked still. Pharoah, king of Egypt, and his chief butler and baker, had such communications made to them, without their hearts being thereby renewed. It is perfectly

* No one who believes the scripture will pretend to de ny, but dreams often proceed from a divine source, and are sent as admonitions and warnings to those who have them. But as our author remarks, they may be produced by the instrumentality of evil spirits-hence the folly of those who rest a thing of such importance as the salvation of their souls on any such foundation, instead of a new nature formed within, and in being made conformable to the divine image.