and of the great things that Christ has done and suffered, and of the great things of another
world, of eternal misery in bearing the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and of endless
blessedness and glory in the presence of God, and the enjoyment of his dear love; they also
hear the peremptory commands of God, and his gracious counsels and warnings, and the
sweet invitations of the gospel; I say, they often hear these things and yet remain as they
were before, with no sensible alteration in them, either in heart or practice, because they
are not affected with what they hear; and ever will be so till they are affected.—I am bold to
assert, that there never was any considerable change wrought in the mind or conversation
of any person, by anything of a religious nature, that ever he read, heard or saw, that had
not his affections moved. Never was a natural man engaged earnestly to seek his salvation;
never were any such brought to cry after wisdom, and lift up their voice for understanding,
and to wrestle with God in prayer for mercy; and never was one humbled, and brought to
the foot of God, from anything that ever he heard or imagined of his own unworthiness and
deserving of God's displeasure; nor was ever one induced to fly for refuge unto Christ, while
his heart remained unaffected. Nor was there ever a saint awakened out of a cold, lifeless
flame, or recovered from a declining state in religion, and brought back from a lamentable
departure from God, without having his heart affected. And in a word, there never was
anything considerable brought to pass in the heart or life of any man living, by the things
of religion, that had not his heart deeply affected by those things.
4. The holy Scriptures do everywhere place religion very much in the affection; such as
fear, hope, love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion, and zeal.
The Scriptures place much of religion in godly fear; insomuch, that it is often spoken
of as the character of those that are truly religious persons, that they tremble at God's word,
that they fear before him, that their flesh trembles for fear of him, and that they are afraid
of his judgments, that his excellency makes them afraid, and his dread falls upon them, and
the like: and a compellation commonly given the saints in Scripture, is “fearers of God," or,
"they that fear the Lord.” And because the fear of God is a great part of true godliness, hence
true godliness in general, is very commonly called by the name of the fear of God; as everyone
knows, that knows anything of the Bible.
So hope in God and in the promises of his word, is often spoken of in the Scripture, as
a very considerable part of true religion. It is mentioned as one of the three great things of
which religion consists, 1 Cor. 13:13. Hope in the Lord is also frequently mentioned as the
character of the saints: Psal. 146:5, “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the Lord his God." Jer. 17:7, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord,
and whose hope the Lord is." Psal. 31:24, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your
heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." And the like in many other places. Religious fear and
hope are, once and again, joined together, as jointly constituting the character of the true
saints; Psal. 33:18, "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that
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Part I. Concerning the nature of the affections and their importance in…