Answ. To this I Answer; It is true, it may indeed so happen that those Saints, whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdant, at another time wither and drop off, so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees, destinated to make Fuel for Hell. Whence proceeds this? It is not from the Spirit of God; but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation, so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes. When the Children of God, after full assurance, come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition, but also to despair of themselves, looking on themselves as Persons ⟨p. 278⟩that God hath singled out to Destruction; this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost, but from Melancholy or Temptation. Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs the sense of divine Comfort: As it is in clear Water, when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom, but if you stir the Mud, presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it: So is it with the Children of God, though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in, in Heaven, yet if once the muddy Humour of Melancholy stirs, they become dark, so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul. And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations, that so, if it were possible, he might drive them to Despair; he hated their Graces, he envies their Comforts, and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions, proud Dreams and presumptuous Fancies, and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness, and in the Bond of Iniquity; and by such Suggestions as these are, when he cannot hinder the Work ⟨p. 279⟩of Grace, he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort. When, therefore, those that have once rejoiced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them, the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption, by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification; if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections, looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God, and as Persons devoted to Destruction;
Answ. To this I Answer; It is true, it may indeed so happen that those Saints, whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdent, at another time wither and drop off, so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees, destinated to make Fuel for Hell. Whence proceeds this? It is not from the Spirit of God; but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation, so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes. When the Children of God, after full assurance, come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition, but also to despair of themselves, looking on themselves as Persons ⟨p. 278⟩that God hath singled out to Destruction; this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost, but from Melancholy or Temptation. Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs the sense of divine Comfort: As it is in clear Water, when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom, but if you stir the Mud, presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it: So is it with the Children of God, though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in, in Heaven, yet if once the muddy Humor of Melancholy stirs, they become dark, so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul. And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations, that so, if it were possible, he might drive them to Dispair; he hated their Graces, he envies their Comforts, and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions, proud Dreams and presumptuous Fansies, and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness, and in the Bond of Iniquity; and by such Suggestions as these are, when he cannot hinder the Work ⟨p. 279⟩of Grace, he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort. When, therefore, those that have once rejoyced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them, the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption, by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification; if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections, looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God, and as Persons devoted to Destruction;
