N05520:39
True grace, distinguished from the experience of devils; in a sermon, preached before the…
True grace, distinguished from the experience of devils; in a sermon, preached before the Synod of New-York, convened at New-Ark, in New-Jersey, on September 28. N.S. 1752. / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Stockbridge in New-England. ; (Printed by the desire of the synod.) : [Four lines from II. Corinthians]
New-York: printed by James Parker, 1753
Title page typeset from the transcription.
TRUE GRACE, Distinguished from the EXPERIENCE OF DEVILS. › IMPROVEMENT.
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 as the Devil has a Faculty of Understanding of large Capacity, so he is capable of a great speculative Knowledge, of the Things of GOD, and the invisible and eternal World, as well as other Things; and must needs, actually, have a great Understanding of these Things; as these are the Things which have always been chiefly in his View; and as his Circumstances, from his first Existence, have been such as have tended chiefly to engage Him to attend to these Things. Before his Fall, he was one of those Angels, who continually beheld the Face of the Father, which is in Heaven. And Sin has no Tendency to destroy the Memory: And therefore, has no Tendency to blot out of it, any speculative Knowledge that was formerly there.
As the Devil's Subtlety, shows his great Capacity; so the Way in which his Subtlety is exercised and manifested; which is principally in his artful Management, with Respect to Things of Religion; his exceeding subtle Representations, Insinuations, Reasonings, and Temptations, concerning these Things, demonstrates his great actual Understanding of them. As in order to the being a very artful Disputant in any Science, tho' it be only to confound and deceive such as are conversant in the Science; a Person had need to have a great and extensive Acquaintance with the Things, which pertain to that Science.
As the Devil's Subtilty, shews his great Capacity; so the Way in which his Subtilty is exercised and manifested; which is principally in his artful Management, with Respect to Things of Religion; his exceeding subtil Representations, Insinuations, Reasonings, and Temptations, concerning these Things, demonstrates his great actual Understanding of them. As in order to the being a very artful Disputant in any Science, tho' it be only to confound and deceive such as are conversant in the Science; a Person had need to have a great and extensive Acquaintance with the Things, which pertain to that Science.