N03831:65
The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God
The distinguishing marks of a work of the spirit of God. Applied to that uncommon operation that has lately appeared on the minds of many of the people of this land: : with a particular consideration of the extraordinary circumstances with which this work is attended. : A discourse delivered at New-Haven, September 10th 1741. Being the day after the commencement; : and now published at the earnest desire of many ministers and other gentlemen that heard it; : with great enlargements. / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ at Northampton. ; With a preface by the Rev. Mr. Cooper of Boston. ; [Three lines from John]
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1741
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And we find that when Christ's Kingdom came, by that remarkable pouring out of the Spirit in the Apostles Days, it occasioned a great Stir and Ado every where. What a mighty Opposition was there in Jerusalem, on Occasion of that great Effusion of the Spirit that was there? And so what a great Ado in Samaria, Antioch, Ephesus, and Corinth, and other Places? The Affair filled the World with Noise, and gave Occasion to some to say of the Apostles, that they had turned the World upside down, Act. 17. 6.
4. 'Tis no Argument that an Operation that appears on the Minds of a People, is not the Work of the Spirit of God, That many that are the Subjects of it, have great Impressions on their Imaginations. That Persons have many Impressions on their Imaginations, don't prove that they have nothing else. It is easy to be accounted for, that there should be much of this Nature amongst a People, where a great Multitude, of all ⟨p. 19⟩Kinds of Constitutions, have their Minds engaged with intense Thought and strong Affection about those Things that are invisible; yea, it would be Strange if there should not. Such is our Nature that we can't think of Things invisible, without a Degree of Imagination. I dare appeal to any Man, of the greatest Powers of Mind, Whether or no he is able to fix his Thoughts on God or Christ, or the Things of another World, without imaginary Ideas, attending his Meditations? And the more engaged the Mind is, and the more intense the Contemplation and Affection, still the more lively and strong will the imaginary Idea ordinarily be; especially when the Contemplation and Affection of the Mind is attended with any Thing of Surprise; as when the View a Person has is very new, and takes strong hold of the Passions, either Fear or Joy; and when the Change of the State and Views of the Mind is sudden, from a contrary Extreme, as from that which was extremely dreadful, to that which is extremely ravishing and delightful: And it is no Wonder that many Persons don't […] distinguish between that which is imaginary, and that which is intellectual and spiritual; and that they are apt to lay too much Weight on the imaginary Part, and are most ready to speak of that in the Account they give of their Experiences, especially Persons of less Understanding and Capacity of Distinction.