Jonathan Edwards’ Treatise on Religious Affections, Part 1

Alright, tonight we are going to be looking at one of my all-time favorite, favorite books ever. Up there with Pilgrim’s Progress, greatly below the Bible, but still a great book. Treatise on Religious Affections. It shaped my understanding of the Christian life probably as much as any other book along with Pilgrim’s Progress. Pilgrim’s Progress gave me a sense of the journey of the Christian life, kind of a roadmap of Christianity, of making progress in the faith. When Religious Affections did for me, it helped me to understand what’s going on inside my own heart, to understand my will, to understand my own mind. And also, theologically to understand conversion, to begin to discern true from false, what’s real and what’s not.

It’s an amazing work, really. And it’s striking to me that Edwards is especially known for “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which is a very potent sermon on the nature of hell and of God’s sovereign grace. And of the great fear that sinners should have if they’re not saved. Because that’s not his greatest work at all. This I think is probably his greatest contribution, Treatise on Religious Affections. So we’re going to be looking at it this week. And not next week, I’ll be in the Czech Republic and I covet your prayers. Mike Waters and I will be over there and I’ll be gone for about 10 days, missing two Sundays. So just be praying for that time if you would. But, next week Steve Young is going to be leading you guys in terms of outreach, evangelism, how to reach out with the gospel and preparing us for our next outreach. I’m trusting God for the more than the 53 adults that were there at the last outreach, plus children. So I’m praying that we’ll have more, even more this time. As a staff we’re praying through and thinking very much to continuing these outreaches indefinitely. Its a great time to reach out with the gospel Sunday afternoons. So, just be praying with us about that. That’s next week. Then after that, God willing, we’ll have two more weeks on Religious Affections and then we’ll be done with the summer study. So that’s kind of exciting. Did you all read all the books? Get through it all? I’m so encouraged. I tell ya, you guys are great. I mean, I underestimated you and I think that’s great.

So, Treatise on Religious Affections was written in a specific historical context, and that is the Great Awakening. Great Awakening may be one of the greatest revivals in the history of the world. God used George Whitefield and Edwards and Tenant and a number of other great preachers and human instruments. More than anything, it was the sovereign moving of the Spirit of God. An outpouring such as the colonies had never seen and never did see again. An incredible revival. And God used Edwards and others in a mighty way to lead people to Christ.

Now, when he first preached the sermons that became Treatise on Religious Affections, the revival was in the process of occurring. But by the time he published it, edited it, published it, it was kind of in a different phase at that point, a different time. The sermons were originally preached in 1742, but by the time they published, this is published in 1746, a revival had passed its early opening stages. In the original text or manuscript of his sermons, he used the language like “this present revival,” but then when it was edited and published later, it’s “the late extraordinary season or the late and great revival,” that kind of thing. So, he’s changed his terminology, and that shows we’re just kind of beyond the initial thrill and excitement and all of that and into a different phase four years later. The comparison that Edwards makes is that of the difference between early spring blossoms and mature fruit.

This is what, Edwards writes, “It is with professors of religion.” Now understand that term professors- very important term for the Puritans as I’ve explained it before, professors in this case are people who claim to be Christians. That’s what it means, people who are making a claim. So, any of you here who would stand up and say, I’m a Christian, you are professors of Christ. Does that make you genuinely Christians? No, it doesn’t. Just because you profess to be a Christian does not make you a Christian. We get into trouble that way. We think anybody who says I’m a Christian, they really are a Christian. So, he’s talking about professors, those that claim to be Christians.

It is with professors of religion especially such as become so in a time of growing of the Spirit of God as it is with blossoms in the spring. There are vast numbers of them upon the trees, which all look fair and promising, but yet many of them never come to anything. It is the mature fruit which comes afterwards, and not the beautiful colors and smell of the blossoms that we must judge by.

So, what he’s talking about is in a time of revival, there’s all kinds of exciting things going on. And every week we at the staff, we get a card. And almost every week I would say get a card where somebody is requesting, anonymously, requesting and praying for revival. Well, revival brings a lot of good things, but it also brings a lot of challenges, too. And one of the things is just a lot of stuff is happening and not all of it is good. And so, he says that all this enthusiasm, this excitement, this emotional outpouring, you can’t judge by it. And he’s sifting through. He’s trying to discern what’s genuine and what’s not. And so therefore he’s asking a key question, how are we to judge genuine Christian experience? Or, “What is the nature of true religion and wherein lie, the distinguishing notes of that virtue which is acceptable in the sight of God?”

Now, that’s a vital question, isn’t it? What is true religion? What is true Christianity? What is the nature of a true saving work of God in our hearts? Now, we’ve already brushed up against this in some of the earlier studies. The marks of regeneration, this was a regular theme. And so, Treatise in Religious Affections is Edwards attempted answering that question, what does it mean to be truly saved? What does God do in a heart when they’re converted? What is the nature of true religion? Now he uses that word religion in a positive sense, namely a relationship with God. We’ve come to say it’s not a religion, it’s a relationship. Well, I don’t think he would’ve made that distinction. He uses the word positively, but all religion is not necessarily good religion. All religion is not necessarily true religion. So, when he links together the adjective true in religion, he’s talking about the genuine article.

True religion is a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That’s what he’s talking about, and he says, what is the nature of it? What’s going on when that happens? Now, the revival had some enemies, Charles Chauncey and the old lights, and they did not like what was going on. The Great Awakening was very disturbing to them. They spoke very negatively of the emotional outpourings that were going on. Of what they called enthusiasm, and that was a very negative thing, enthusiasm. These are outward displays of emotion. It just wasn’t fitting. We don’t do that. It wasn’t proper. And so, Chauncey went to print and started attacking the Awakening. I think he really thought it was of the devil. For them true religion consisted in right reason and judgment and in dutiful behavior. To them that’s what it meant to be a Christian, to think rightly, to have right doctrine and then to behave properly as a result. What’s missing out of all that?

Well, it’s the fire, the passion, the love, the emotion. You could have right thinking and dutiful behavior and be missing completely the passion and the love of Christ. And so, it’s in that context that Edwards is writing Treatise on Religious Affections. He’s arguing against Chauncey and against the old lights. But he’s got to deal with enemies of a different sort who teach that no matter what you do emotionally, it’s good. Wild supporters of the Awakening. That anything goes, the more emotional, the better. Including phenomenon like writhing on the ground and screaming and all kinds of bizarre things. The more emotion, the better. Well, he didn’t think that was right either. And the more emotion and the higher the emotions got, the more certain it was that God was doing a work in your life. That’s not true. And so, he’s got to deal on one side with these dead, cold, orthodox-type folks who just want to get only the doctrinal ducks in a row and have no passion and no love.

But on the other side with people who are all about passion and all about zeal and excitement but have no doctrinal moorings. He’s got to deal properly with that, and Treatise on Religious Affections is his attempt as he’s battling on two fronts. He submitted the Treatise on Religious Affections in three parts in 1746. Tonight, we’re going to look at the first part, Part 1, concerning the nature of the affections and their importance in religion. Part 2, showing what are no certain signs that religious affections are gracious (that is saving grace from God) or that they are not. In other words, he’s going to go through in Part 2 with a bunch of negative things, saying this thing when you see this, it is no sign either way, whether God’s working in you or not. It could go one way or the other. I mean if we see this thing, it doesn’t prove either way whether God’s working.

In other words, if we see this thing in you, it doesn’t mean definitely the devil’s got hold of you, but neither does it mean that God’s got hold of you either. It’s no sign either way. So, in the second part, he’s going to clear away all of these things that are no certain signs. Okay? Thirdly, he’s going to establish what are clear and certain signs that God is working in you. What are they? So that’s the three parts. And more or less, I think we’ll be following Part 1 this week and Part 2 the next time, and Part 3 the next one, but it depends how far we get tonight.

I have to be honest with you, of the three parts, the first part’s the most important. And that is to genuinely understand what are the religious affections? What is he getting at? To try to get a grip on that. Now he begins with this, “Concerning the nature of the affections and their importance in religion.” He starts with some introductory remarks concerning the affections, and his opening text is 1 Peter 1:8.  Why don’t you take your Bibles if you have ’em and look with me at 1 Peter 1. I know I’ve got the verse there, but I think it’s good to see it in context. This was basically a sermon that he preached on 1 Peter 1:8. And in its context, I think we’ll see just the beauty of what he’s doing here.

He’s a very affectionate, very passionate, passionate Savior. No one ever lived on earth with more passion and holy affection than Christ.

 And 1 Peter 1:3-7, it says,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

And here’s his text, verse 8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul.” So, verse 8 is his text, “though you have not seen Christ, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy.” Now what he’s going to do is he’s going to say there’s a threefold benefit of trials.

First of all, it proves whether your faith’s genuine or not. It proves whether it’s the real deal. When you go through these kinds of trials, if you’re not genuinely a Christian, you’re going to fall away. And so, when you go through it and you don’t fall away, but actually your love for Christ increases and your dependence on him increases, and you are yearning for heaven, you end up with great joy. It’s a beautiful thing. And it’s talked about also in Romans 5:3-5, “We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces… proven character, character hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint us.” And so, there’s this upward spiral in times of trial, in times of suffering, that ends up making you even stronger than you ever were before. The same thing’s going on in 1 Peter 1. So, number one, it proves the nature of your faith.

It tests it and shows it to be genuine. Secondly, it brings out, or lets go. Secondly, it purifies the faith and removes dross from it. It burns off what’s not genuine in there, and so your faith gets purified. You don’t lean anymore on earthly things. Your faith gets purified and strengthened. And then third, the faith is then displayed in its most beautiful, what Edwards says, it’s most amiable nature. When you look at it, it looks most attractive and most beautiful at that point having gone through the trials. Now, if those are three benefits of trials, why do we fear them so much? Why would we shrink back? Why would we not want to go through with it? Why would we not want to go door to door and share for the fear that someone might reject us? If you get this out of that, I think you’d go welcome it.

You’d want it. I think it’s a perversion to go seek suffering and all that. I think that’s wrong. But to say I’m not afraid of them because all that ever comes of it is that my faith gets tested and shown genuine. It gets purified of alloys, and then it looks beautiful and attractive to me. So those are three attractive things. And so, the trials were benefiting the people to whom Peter was writing in this very way. Now, what Edwards does though, is he says that there’s two great outcomes that come from these trials. Number one you see in the text, love for Christ, and number two, joy in Christ. And what he’s going to say is these two are affections, these are affections. Love for Christ is an affection, joy in Christ an affection. He says, and what kind of joy? Unspeakable and full of glory. Not just a little affection but lavish amounts of it, huge quantities.

And so therefore, Chauncey is out to lunch. Completely wrong in thinking that affections, emotions, and a great outpouring of affection is no true part of religion. Actually, he’s going to say it very much is true religion. He’s going to get to that, but that’s what he says comes out of it. And so, his central treatise, what he’s trying to prove is this– religion in great part consists in holy affections. You want to know what it is? It’s affection, it’s holy affection. And he’s going to help us by defining that.

Now, what are affections? He’s going to give us a definition. “Affections of the mind are sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul.” Wow, what is that? The thing about Edwards is that he’s probably one of the greatest philosophers that America ever produced. He’s a great thinker about the way we really are probing the depths of the soul so we’d understand. This is what I love about the Puritans. They didn’t stay on the surface. They dug down to try to find out what’s really going on in our hearts. And he says, the affections are sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul. Now what does he mean by that? First of all, sensible means you can feel them. It’s something you can feel. Are they feelings? Yes, more than that, but they are feelings. You can feel them. They move you in some way. What he talks about the animal passions and the animal, what he means by that is the physical body. You can feel these things in your body, but they would be there even if you didn’t have a body. Now that’s weird. Are there human beings that have no bodies? Well, you tell me. Yes, they’re in heaven. Absent from the body and present with the Lord, right?

So, do they have affections? Of course they do. So, you don’t have to have a body in order to have affections. But we happen to have a body now, and so they do actually relate. Our soul does relate to our body, and so the affections here are sensible. You can feel them, and they are connected to the exercise of the inclination and will of the soul. Now, the word inclination is a very, very important word for Edwards. Try to find out what he’s meaning here. The soul has two principal faculties as it’s endowed by God. First of all, perception or understanding. This is the intellectual side of you, the intelligence side that perceives things as they are and understands their nature. You look and see, and you can understand. You discern and you judge and you weigh. Part of your brain or your soul does that. You understand things.

It’s an understanding of the mind. The second faculty that he talks about is the inclination of the will or heart, by which it is either inclined or disinclined to every single thing. In other words, your mind understands that thing but doesn’t stop there. It goes beyond to either be inclined toward it or repelled away from it, and you do it without even knowing it. You do it to everything there is in your universe without even recognizing that your mind is doing it. You’re understanding things and then you either like them or you don’t like them. You’re attracted or repelled. And to a greater or less degree, that’s what he’s saying. You’re either going to be drawn into it and want more of it and find it alluring. Or you’re going to be repelled from it and push back away from it, and not interested in it or something like that.

And so, your mind, your heart, your soul is doing this kind of thing all the time. The exercises of this inclination come, therefore you’re either approving or you’re disapproving. Do you notice when you’re doing this? Well, no, but sometimes you do. I’m just saying you do it. You either approve or you disapprove. Your ear tests words like the tongue tests tastes, the Book of Proverbs says. And so you’re approving or disapproving of everything you hear. Everything you take in, you’re going to be inclined toward it or you’re going to be disinclined away from it. So, the approval or disapproval comes, as I’ve mentioned, in varying degrees, from absolute perfect indifference, I mean that’s right in the middle, zero, to a great inclination or a great disinclination. And so, what I’ve done is I’ve given you a kind of a line here. If you take the next page and just turn it. And I kind of charted this thing out.

I have a mathematical and engineering bent to me, and I like to chart things out. This is not in Religious Affections. What you see here is me. This is not Edwards, so therefore it’s at a lower level of authority than the text itself. This is my attempt at taking what he’s got. And I’ve got a number line here, do you see? And you guys like math, that means you do that. No, you don’t like math, but tonight we’re going to do a little of it, but math of the soul. Now, okay, you already reading it? Stop. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. We’re getting there. Okay, before you actually see where a person 1 assigned various things, what I want you to notice is that there is that center zero, what we call perfect indifference. On the left-hand side, we have the negative side.

This would be the disinclined side. This would be the repelled side. On the right-hand side, you have the positive side. This is the incline side. Your soul is inclined to these things. It’s attracted by them, you approve them. As a result, you have other things that come along with it. On the left-hand side, you might have sorrow. On the right-hand side, you would have joy. On the left-hand side, fear. On the right-hand side, hope. You see how it works. And so, all of these things. And your soul is doing this all the time. And that’s a fascinating thing, that God’s given us the ability to not just understand something as it is, but then to approve or disapprove of that thing. We make value judgements all the time. Now what I did was I tried to make it personal. And I gave somebody who works here at the church, not me, a list of things and asked them that person to put them somewhere on the line and this is the result.

This is person number one. Now, you may like what they put in here and approve it. You may dislike or disapprove of the way they did it. If I gave you this same list, you’d have a way to put each thing on there, right? Like broccoli. I mean it might be perfect indifference to you. It might be something you love. It might be something you don’t love, somewhere in there. And you’re doing it for everything, right? Look at the next one, for two has a different list. This is not mine. I want you to know I’m not going to get in trouble over this, okay? This is somebody else that did this. I’m not going to reveal mine. No way. I stand up in front of you guys every week revealing too much as it is. I’m not going to reveal this stuff. But anyway, in everything you’re going to be inclined or disinclined.

Yes. Well, I talked to the individual about that. I found it interesting too, but the person felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate to hate a person and so moved that individual a little further right, whereas the other one actually hyphenated Bill Clinton and sin and linked them together. So, I didn’t do it. I just asked that they do it, and this is what they did. And so, I can’t make any other comments about that. If you want to try to realize that we don’t have that big a staff. And if you want to try to go through and find out who these are, that’s up to you. The person who hyphenated sin and Clinton also put Duke and Carolina on the right-hand side of the line. And if you want to figure that one out, you can go ahead and do that. So, at any rate, now let’s get serious here.

From the way I’ve come to understand this chart is that you have the ability to do this. This is something that’s innate to you, and you do it all the time. You just don’t have the ability to change it. You know what I’m saying? You can’t take a bunch of stuff that you hate and then love it. And you can’t take a bunch of stuff that you love and then hate it. You don’t have power over yourself to do that. Now you could say, wait a minute, I do that kind of thing all the time. No, generally what happens is you haven’t understood it’s been ignorant, but once you find out, then things change. It’s always connected to your intellect, to your knowledge of something. But once you fully understand something and you greatly disapprove of it or you greatly approve of it, you don’t have power over yourself, over your own heart to switch everything on that line.

We don’t. People talk about free will. What I’m saying is you have the will to do what’s according to your nature and your loves and hates. That you do, but you don’t have the ability to change this line. And what happens at conversion is God takes a whole bunch of stuff that was on the negative side and moves it over the side. And what he does at conversion, he takes a whole bunch of stuff that used to be on the positive side, and he moves it over on the negative side. And what you used to love you now hate, and what you used to hate you now love. That’s a radical transformation. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creature, new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.” Things change when you become a Christian, you see that.

What would be an example of something that used to be on the disapproval side then becomes something on the approval side when you become a Christian. Give me an example of something like that. Bible study. Very strong disinclination toward Bible study before you’re a Christian. Right now, a very strong inclination. Now let me ask you another question. If this is true, if this is what happens, what then is sanctification? How would you use this number line, negative and positive, to describe sanctification? Yeah, they could switch places. And it could be that there’s something like both of them put long prayer meetings on the negative side. Do you see that? I appreciated their honesty, but sanctification says that really should be a positive thing. And woe to me that my heart is like, I don’t like long prayer meetings. Other people seem to like it. So, there’s that where they switch places. But then not only that, but they also move. They migrate on the line, don’t they?

Things that you only kind of like you grow to love more and more and more the more that you follow Christ. And things that you only kind of don’t like, evil things, I mean, you grow to hate them with a passion you never knew possible. That’s growth. Now in heaven, it says you are going to love what God loves with a perfect love, and you’re going to hate what God hates with a perfect hatred. You say perfect hatred. Is there such a thing? Oh yes. God hates things. He hates evil. Do you hate evil as much as God does? Do you hate evil as much as you will in heaven? No. And so to me, sanctification taking the things even if they’re on the correct side of the line and moving them even further based on what God’s nature is.

 Any questions about this? Yes, Mark? Yeah, I mean, first we have a greater understanding, and the Bible talks very much about that. That apart from Christ, we are darkened in our understanding and separated from the life of God. And then suddenly we have a new insight, and we can see thing. But not only can we see them, we test and approve of what God’s will is, his good pleasing and perfect will. We like it, we want it, we yearn for it, we’re hungry for it. As before we tested and disapproved it. So, I think it’s not only that we understand it better, but we want it more. We desire it. Any other questions about this? Yeah, yeah. It is emotional, but it’s more complicated than I can ever put just here on a line. You might say, I don’t like the flavor, but I do like what I know it’s doing to my body. And so therefore I’m actually eager to eat this broccoli or something like that.

Same thing with taking medicine or whatever. You might hate the flavor, but in your heart, you’re delighted to take it because you know that it’s fighting the disease in your body. Yeah, well that’s right. Let me give you a very, very great example of this huge, massive shift that occurs. In Philippians 3:7-8 Paul says, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider,” what? “Loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus for whose sake I have lost all things.” I count them dung, I count them refuse compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. I count them, well, what’s going on there? He used to cherish and treasure these things. The fact that he was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law a Pharisees. As for zeal persecuting the church, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. That was his treasure chest of joy. And he used to take those things out and fondle them and think about them and cherish them, and now they’re trash to him, just absolute trash.

What’s happened? He met Christ on the road to Damascus. He was converted. Everything changed for him. And those things weren’t just neutral, they weren’t just even kind of slightly positive. They became almost his enemies. They were in the way of him really knowing Christ. His self-righteousness was actually probably his greatest enemy, and he came to hate those things. Not because being circumcised in any day is evil. That’s not it. It’s what he attached. The significance he attached to it was evil, right? It’s not like, well, I used to be a teetotaler and reject any drink, but now I’m a drunkard now that I’m a Christian. He didn’t say that. Actually, his lifestyle probably looked about the same. But the way he thought about it, and the significance he had, good deeds, and all that, it all changed. It was totally different. And so, he looked on his own self-righteousness is something worthy of the dung heap.

It was trash to him. Now that’s a pretty big change. You really think you can do that to yourself? Can you suddenly on the road to Damascus say, wait a minute, all the stuff I used to treasure, I think I’ll now count them loss. No, this is something that God does. And I’m glad he does it because the inclination of my heart was to go to hell. I didn’t know that, but that’s what it was. I was approving things that God had rejected. And praise God, he changed me. Okay? Do you understand what Edwards is doing here with the inclination of the will? So, affections come when the will – I’m on page three now. (audience) He didn’t develop it much so I’d be guessing in order to answer you. But he does mention this idea of indifference, and it would be stuff that just doesn’t move you either way.

You don’t have any affections about them either way, usually about them. So, I think what’s going on there now, if you say, if somebody were to put Jesus Christ there. You just know they’re not a Christian because something has its appropriate place. And if Jesus is at the level of perfect indifference, then that’s wickedness and sin. But I think there are just amoral things like this rock. What do you think of it? Well, I haven’t given it much of a thought. It’s a rock. So, I think there are things that are just not very, and I think this is one of the genius of what he’s doing here. There are degrees of approval and disapproval, so that’s a good point. Now my question to you and the central question of your life is where’s Jesus Christ on your list? Where is he? Now I know you know where you should put him.

Okay, but where is he? And secondly, where is sin? And not only just where is sin but where are specific sins at specific times? The great tragedy of the Christian life in Romans 7 is that we do the things we disapprove. The thing we hate, we do. And that’s a hard thing to understand. It’s a great mystery really, and that’s something we wrestle with. But I could talk about this chart a long time, but we need to move on. Affections page three, comes when the will involves the body in sensible or noticeable responses to its inclination. You feel what your will inclines to or disinclines against. And Edwards puts it this way: “In everything we do wherein we act voluntarily, there is an exercise of the will and inclination. It is our inclination that governs us in our actions. But all the actings of the inclination and will in all our common actions of life are not ordinarily called affections.”

“Yet what our commonly called affections, they’re not essentially different from them, but only in the degree and manner of exercise. In every act of the will whatsoever the soul either likes or dislikes, is either inclined or disinclined to what is in view.” Do you see what he’s saying there? In everything you do, you’re going to either be doing it out of liking and yearning and attraction or the opposite, alright? “These are not essentially different from those affections of love and hatred. That liking or inclination of the soul to a thing if it’d be in a high degree and be vigorous and lively is the very same thing with the affection of love. And that disliking and disinclining, if in a greater degree is the very same thing with hatred.” Okay? You can read the rest of the quote later. The next subpoint, it says, “From this come all our emotions and our actions. Desire and passion on the one side or fear and revulsion on the other, joy and delight on the one side or grief and sorrow on the other. Motions of choosing or motions of rejection.”

All of this comes out of this inclination or disinclination of the soul. “As all the exercise of the inclination and will are either in improving and liking or disapproving and rejecting, so the affections two sorts. They are those by which the soul is carried out to what is in view cleaving to it or seeking it, or those by which it is a verse from it and opposes it. Of the former sort are love, desire, hope, joy, gratitude, complacence. Of the latter kind are hatred, fear, anger, grief and such like. Okay, so he’s given us a definition now, you see? He’s defined affections. (audience) That’s a good question. It seems to me that what he would say, and I am trying my best to understand his argument here. But he would say it could be that part of you is disinclined to the thing for other reasons, but the central part of you knows it’s the right thing to do and does it.

 And I think a lot of the Christian life is crying out against our hearts that they be like this, right? For example, you may know that you have the duty of prayer, but you just don’t want to. And what I think you ought to do is say, woe is me, that I’m this kind of person that I don’t want to pray. What’s wrong with me, that I have such a strong aversion or disinclination to pray when my heart and my mind tells me this is the right thing to do. And that other times I’ve actually enjoyed prayer very much. Why is sin so strong? So I think a lot of times you could say duty kind of carries you through when your sin nature rears its ugly head and contrary to what your mind and your experience in the scripture tells you are good and beautiful and wonderful things.

 Now at the very end of this thing on page 12, I won’t go there, but one of the applications he makes is this very point. Cry out against yourself that you have such low views of Christ. That the death and the suffering of Christ can move you so little. And that the plight of the lost and a vision, let’s say the glory of God or something out of the Psalms can leave you cold and lifeless. And it’s so sad that it’s true that that is our nature. And so, I think what we do is we say it’s sad that duty is the only thing that’s going to get me through here. And I’m not going to be satisfied with that. I’m going to keep working, but in the meantime, I’m going to do what’s right.

See the thing is the chart’s way too easy because the fact is we’re not pure people at all. We are absolutely not pure. We don’t ever have a pure affection or a pure inclination. We’re very mixed. And so this is what it says in Galatians, the flesh battles against the spirit, and the spirit battles against the flesh. They’re at enmity with each other so that as a result you do not do what you want. We could also say a good conclusion would be so that you do not want what you do. And that is true, no matter what you do as a Christian, you don’t really a hundred percent want to do it. If it’s sin, you don’t a hundred percent want to do it. And if it’s righteousness, you don’t a hundred percent want to do it. Do you? Have you ever a hundred percent wanted to pray? You could say there’s still part of you holding back.

Have you ever since you’ve been a Christian a hundred percent wanted to sin? Well, I think if you say yes, you’re not a Christian if it’s true, alright? My feeling is we don’t a hundred percent do anything because we’re mixed beings. One of the great joys of heaven is we won’t be mixed anymore, and we will a hundred percent worship God, I’m excited about that. Looking forward to that. So good questions.

Let’s go to section two. What he’s going to do in section two is he’s going to prove that true religion in great part consists of the affections. And I think he makes an overwhelming and a powerful and compelling case here. He’s got 10 subpoints and in these proofs, I think he carries the day. In other words, so much for Chauncey and the old lights and the cold-hearted orthodox type folks, okay? Yes, religion does consist greatly in the infections.

First, he obvious nature of religion itself said religion cannot be religion if it is lukewarm. He says, “Who will deny that true religion consists in great measure in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul or of the fervent exercises of the heart? That religion which God requires and will accept does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes raising us but a little above a state of indifference. God and his word greatly insists upon it that we be in good earnest, fervent in spirit and our hearts vigorously engaged in religion.” He’s not going to tolerate a cold-hearted walk with him. And so, it says in Romans 12:11, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord.” Lord, keep that fire stoked up inside you says Paul, in Romans 12:11. How in the world would you line up Romans 12:11 with Chauncey and his old lights saying that it’s got nothing to do with affections? It has everything to do with affections.

Why would zeal be important for Chauncey and his orthodox folks? It wouldn’t. And so, what is this burning fire called zeal? And why do we have to keep the fire stoked? Romans 12:11 says we do. Or how about Deuteronomy 10:12, “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy is a passionate book. It really is. It’s like Exodus has the same laws, but Deuteronomy is the laws on fire. I mean there’s just so many extra statements and extra words about the passion with which they should be obeying the law, a yearning and a hungering. Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. [You shall] love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Second subpoint, “The such true, vigorous exercise of the heart are possible only when God circumcises your heart by the Holy Spirit. Only when he gives you, takes out your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh can you obey this. Deuteronomy 30:6 says, “So the LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your soul and live.” That’s a good verse, isn’t it? He says he’s going to circumcise your hearts, he’s going to change you from within. Vigorous exercise in Christ is the essence of the power of true religion. He focuses on this word power. “If we be not in good earnest in religion, our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing. That’s what he’s saying. If you don’t have these strong inclinations, we’re nothing. The things of religion are so great that there can be no suitableness in the exercises of our hearts to their nature and importance unless they be lively and powerful. In nothing is vigor in the actings of our inclinations so requisite as in religion. And in nothing is lukewarmness so odious! True religion is evermore a powerful thing. And the power of it appears in the first place in the inward exercises of it in the heart where is the principle and original seed of it. And so, for true believers, we have 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” But for hypocrites he says 2 Timothy 3:5, “They have a form of godliness, but they deny its power.” What does that mean? They’re formalists. They look good on the outside, but there’s no transforming power on the inside. And what he’s saying is that power is affection. It moves you so that you’re not cold and distant from the things of God, but rather that you love them. And so, an internal burning of the heart is, says Edwards, “the power of godliness and of the Holy Spirit.” As on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24:32, they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?”

What were they saying there? They’re saying we were on fire when he was telling us about the prophecies in the Old Testament. Imagine having a private tutoring session with the risen Lord the morning he had risen from the dead. I mean these were two choice disciples. We don’t know who they were, but that they would have this kind of privilege. The morning Jesus was physically raised from the dead he’s going to tutor them in Old Testament prophecy. And he did a good job because their hearts were burning within them. Now what is that burning, if not affection? It is affection. It’s a passion, a yearning, strong efforts in following Christ. He says, “The business of religion, that is of following Christ, is sometimes likened to running or wrestling, agonizing for a great prize or crown, fighting an enemy that seeks our life, or taking a city by force.”

In other words, things in which every fiber of our being body and soul are fully engaged. How could this then be a cold dispassionate thing? Can’t be. And then varying degrees are based on maturity. I think this is so wise of him. In other words, not everybody has equally strong affections in this. We are different one from another. And we’re different now than we were five years ago. And different now than we will be five years from now.

And though true grace has various degrees, and there are some that are but babes in Christ, the exercise of the inclination of will towards divine and heavenly things is comparatively weak. Yet everyone that has the power of godliness in his heart has his inclinations and heart exercise toward God and divine things with such strength and vigor that these holy exercises do prevail in him above all carnal or natural affections and are effectual to overcome them.

That’s what God does in you when you’re converted. He makes affection after the pleasure of God stronger than yearning for sin. And it’s effective and powerful in putting sin to death. Does that mean we never sin? Of course it doesn’t. We know that the answer to that before we even ask it, alright? But he’s saying this principle of godliness, which is stronger affection than the sin is in us if you’re converted. “From hence it follows that wherever true religion is, there are vigorous exercises of the inclination and will towards divine objects. But by what was said before, the vigorous, lively and sensible exercises of the will are no other than the affections of the soul.” In other words, and this is a key little point here, the vigorous exercises are toward divine objects. They’re toward the word, they’re toward worship, toward prayer, toward the person of Christ, toward the thoughts of heaven and yearning for holiness.

 That’s what they’re focused on. And he’s going to use that to filter later in section two and section three. Just because you have great affections and emotions doesn’t mean that they are connected to the right thing. He’s saying here it’s connected to the spiritual things that God is presenting to us in the gospel. Okay, proof number two, affections are the spring of actions. Without affections of some sort we remain motionless, we don’t move. So, if you’re kind of that perfect indifference, you won’t move any muscle group. That’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that make a tree good, and its fruit will be good. You act out of this inclination or disinclination. Everything you do, the greater the affection, the stronger the motion. Affections are the roots of all worldly energy and pursuit. We see the world of mankind to be exceeding busy and active, and the affections of man are the springs of the motion.

Take away all love and hatred, all hope and fear, all anger, zeal and affectionate desire, and the world would be in great measure, motionless and dead. There would be no such thing as activity amongst mankind or any earnest pursuit whatsoever. The world continues from age to age in a continual commotion and agitation in a pursuit of those things, of these things. But take away all affection and the spring of all this motion would be gone, and the motion itself would cease. So affection drives a covetous man to pursue profits. Affection drives the voluptuous man to pursue sensual pleasures. Affection drives the ambitious man to pursue power, affection that drives a prideful man to pursue human praise. So, it’s the motivating force behind everything that people do. And it’s the motivating force behind what you do as well. Affection drives actions. So, it is also for true pursuit of Christ. Without it there would be only cold formalism. So, in religious matters, the spring of their actions is very much religious affection. He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.

Okay, third proof. True religion takes hold in the soul no further than they affect them. Many can hear fiery preaching of hell and be totally unmoved. I’ve seen it. Many can hear alluring descriptions of heaven and be totally unmoved. I’ve seen that too. Many can hear the clear exposition of the commands of God and be totally unmoved. No positive motion in religion occurs without the affections first being 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 anyone humbled and brought to the foot of God from anything that he ever 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. I mean, if your heart’s unaffected, you’re not going to do any of those things. But when your heart is affected, that’s when it starts to move. That’s when you start to do things. Nor for that matter 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. If your heart’s still cold, you’re going to still be doing the things of a cold nature. Think about what it says in the letter to the Ephesian church in the book of Revelation, they have forsaken their first love. What does he tell them to do? Repent and do the things you did it first. And so, what does that show you?

 They weren’t doing the things that they used to do, that connected to love. Do you see how insightful that is? If you love me, said Jesus, you’ll do these kinds of things. When you stop loving me, you won’t do them anymore. You’re not doing them anymore so you don’t love me the way you used to. Repent. Turn away from your coldness of heart and start doing the things you used to do. You see how it works? So, there’s a connection between the things you do and the affections. Alright, proof number four. Scripture places religion very much in the affections. And here I think it’s pretty much irrefutable. What he does is he goes through a variety of emotions and finds ample scripture evidence for how this is part of what it means to walk with God. I mean, think about it. Just trace out in your mind how much emotion is in the Bible.

Is it an emotional book? Is it an affection book? Yes, it’s filled with affections. Godly fear, for example, the scripture places much of religion and godly fear, in so much that it is often spoken of as the character of those that are truly religious persons. That they tremble at God’s word, like God says in the book of Isaiah, “This is the one I esteem. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). So that’s an affection if ever there was one. Their flesh trembles for fear of him, and they’re afraid of his judgments. That his excellency makes them afraid, and his dread falls upon them in the like. For example, Acts 9:31, “Then the churches or the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. It grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” Well, fear of the Lord is an affection. That’s what he’s saying. That’s all. It’s an affection. How about hope? Psalm 33:18, “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.” Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not yet have we wait for it patiently.” Love. I don’t even know why you mentioned it in the list there because he’s got a whole section on love. More later, skip it.

 How about hatred? Now this was interesting. There’s a lot in the Bible about hatred. And the fact is you cannot love the Lord and not hate the Lord’s enemies. You just can’t. Let me say that again. You cannot love the Lord and not hate his enemies. You will hate his enemies. Now you say, wait a minute, does that mean we hate non-Christians? I didn’t say that. I said, you’ve got to hate his enemies. Some of those may be, you may think they’re tares and they’re really wheat. Someday they’re going to come to faith in Christ. So, I’m not talking about that, although Psalm 139 does in a different way. But look what it says in Proverbs 8:13, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” Do you see that? You cannot fear the Lord and not hate evil. You just can’t. Alright, I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech, or this one I had up in my cubicle at work.

It’s one of my favorite verses, Psalm 97:10. “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.” I remember I had that up in big letters in my cubicle at my engineering job at Grind Master, and the people would come in. It wasn’t John 3:16 that people have seen 30,000 times. It was Psalm 97:10. Let those who love the Lord hate evil. And I could see them do double takes. They kind of come in and talk. And they caught reading it, but they couldn’t help themselves. And it was just sneaky that way. It just got in their brains, and there’s nothing they could do now. The word of God was in there and they were stuck with it. And they’re thinking about it, and it troubled them. You could see, and some would almost want to say something about it, but then thought better of it and then got back to whatever they came in for.

But that’s a strong verse. If you love the Lord, then hate evil. You can’t love the Lord and love evil too. Psalm 101:3, “I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate, they will not cling to me.” There’s a hatred there. Psalm 119:104, “I gain understanding from your precepts. Therefore, I hate every wrong path. Psalm 119:128, “And because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.” He says it twice there. And then this one, Psalm 139:21-22, very much I think focus on individuals. “Do I not hate those who hate you?” Those what? Well, they’re people. You say, well, wait a minute, this doesn’t seem very loving. It’s not very Christlike. Well, Psalm 139:21-22 says it plainly. Now, I think my understanding of this is that this is an imprecatory psalm. He says so, doesn’t he? “Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them: I count them my enemies.” There’s a perfection of the hatred here, and I think this is the way I look at it. In heaven, we will have a perfect hatred for the enemies of God. When everything’s been resolved and there’s no wheat and tares issue anymore. We know who the wheats are. We know who the tares are. Then we will look on them the way God does. And you could say, well, wait a minute, does God really hate the wicked? Well, all I’m saying is you tell me what Psalm 139 says, “Do I not hate those who hate you?” So, I think I look on this as an ultimate and perfect endtime kind of hatred, where we look back and we say, these were people who hated you Christ, and in the end would not submit to you.

Yes. (audience) Well, I’m looking at Psalm 139, 139. I’m trying to do the best that I can with it. Alright? All of us have to deal with Psalm 139:21-22. I didn’t write it. There it is. My understanding is that it’s a kind of a perfected thing in which everything’s been resolved. I hate those who finally in the end hate you Christ. In other words, if the shoe fits, wear it. If you say, I hate Christ, well then, you’re my enemy. That’s all he’s saying. But I think in the meantime, God loves his enemies. I mean he does. And he knows very well who they are. He sends rain on the righteous, the unrighteous. He cares for them every day. But I think on judgment day, it is all going to be clear. And so that’s all I’m saying.

 Now realize before we get sidetracked here, let’s realize what he’s saying. This is an emotion. It’s actually a very strong emotion. And it’s very much true and right walk with God, hatred of every wrong path. I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate all evil things. And in the end, I hate all evildoers. That’s what he’s getting at here, a passion and affection there. Also desire in Isaiah 26:8, it says, “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” Desire is a strong thing. Psalm 84:1-2 says, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns and even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart, my flesh, cry out for the living God.” That is passion, isn’t it? That’s a yearning desire.

That’s an affection. How about joy? Already in our text, though you have not seen him you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Or the command, “Be joyful always,” 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Or sorrow, blessed are those who mourn, for those who will be comforted. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you’ll not despise. This is what the high and lofty One says, he who lives forever and whose name is holy. I live in a high and holy place. But also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. And then in James 4:9, it says, “Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter into mourning and your joy to gloom.” I said, that’s one of the most under-applied verses in the New Testament. It’s like, I don’t like that one. What’s that in there for? But that is a strong negative emotional state, and there are times that it’s very appropriate for you. For example, when you’ve been convicted of a great sin, your response at that point isn’t to go quickly to celebration. Rather, but to obey James 4 and be very grieved over your own sin. And be sad about it and be broken over it like David was over his sin. And so, what I’m saying is that that is also a strong emotional state. True religion consists in the affections.

That’s what he’s getting at here. And how about gratitude? Overflowing with thankfulness, Colossians 2:7. Or mercy, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And zeal, Christ gave himself to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself of people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. Before you turn the page, the very thing lacking from the despised church at Laodicea is they had no zeal. They were lukewarm. And so therefore he spits them out of his mouth. He has no love for them because they are so cold and lifeless, lukewarm.

Proof number five, scripture presents love as the summation of all true religion. Love fulfills the whole law of God. The scriptures do represent true religion as being summarily comprehended in love, the chief of the affections and the fountain of all other affections. The entire law, says Galatians 5:14, “Is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself.” And the two great commands Jesus gave: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And this is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. And then let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another. For he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. And so, I think actually the two great commandments, I think they make his case. I mean he almost doesn’t need 10 points. When Jesus says all of the law are summed up in the command to me with love being in affection, that means that true religion consists very much in the affections. It means to have a strong inclination of the will and of the heart toward God above all other things.

He’s your treasure. He is your joy. He’s your reward. He’s what you want, you yearn for him. Love him at every moment with every fiber of your being. Number one. And secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. My feeling is that settles it. Absolutely then religion does consist in the affections. And if you don’t love, if you don’t love God and if you don’t love your neighbor, whatever else you do, you are nothing. 1 Corinthians 13 says that. You are nothing. Alright without love all other acts are worthless. The goal of biblical instruction is love. And I say this to my kids, 1 Timothy 1:5, the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. I say to my kids, I say, I mean it’s just endemic with pastor’s kids to have a head filled, stocked up with biblical knowledge and hearts that are cold and distant from him.

Oh, that that would never happen to my children. I have no control over that. I can’t get into their hearts; I can’t make them. But I say our goal is that you love God. That’s our desire, and that you love your neighbor. Everything else would mean nothing. The goal of our instruction, 1 Timothy 1:5, that you love because if you don’t love, it’s worthless. I mean, who cares if my kids could pass a theology exam when we’re done discipling them? If they don’t love God, it will mean nothing. It’s actually worse for them. As I preached, the more knowledge you have and yet don’t love God, the greater is your condemnation in the end. I don’t want to make them great sinners. I have no power over their hearts. Love is the fountain of all other affections. You can read this quote. I don’t have time for it now, but from love comes every other affection.

Proof number six, the religion of eminent saints in the Bible consisted of affections. Look at David. David was a man after God’s own heart. He was deeply passionate for the glory of God and his reputation. For example, in the case with Goliath and in building a temple, he was deeply passionate for God. He was a singer and a writer of psalms to God. He was a zealous dancer before the Lord. No Baptist, I’ll tell you, but he was a zealous dancer before the Lord. He was. He was broken-hearted over his sin, laid on the ground, fasting and mourning. He was a man of passionate prayer. Can you see affection in David’s life? Is David a cold, dispassionate theology expert? Not at all. He was on fire.

Or how about Paul? Do you see it in his life? He esteemed everything loss compared to knowing and loving Christ. He pursued Christ passionately though in his life, and it did cost him his life. He was zealous for the building up of Christ’s church and for its holiness. He was passionate in worship and in prayer. He was deeply moved with compassion for Christ’s people and their needs. Constantly rejoicing, yet constantly sorrowful. That was Paul. How about John? Same thing. Fervent in love toward Christ. Laying his head on Christ’s bosom, lived passionately for the building of the church. Was a son of thunder. He wrote constantly of love. So, these are three eminent saints who clearly display lives of affection, not lives of cold knowledge.

Proof number seven, the Lord Jesus himself displayed constant affections of the deepest sort. Was Christ a passionate person? Oh yes, he was. He lived a passionate life, and I think one of the most fruitful studies I’ve ever done is to study the emotional life of our Lord. I mean, how many times does he show emotion? Many times. He’s zealous for the cleansing of the temple. I think John 2:17 is just one of these mysterious verses. It’s very interesting because he makes that whip, and he cleans out that temple. And why? Well, the text tells us that he did it in fulfillment of the scripture, “Zeal for your house will,” what? “Consume me.” Well, that’s kind of interesting. What do you mean consume? It literally means eat me up. Did it? You better believe it did. Zeal for the house of God killed him. It literally killed him. At a human level it killed him. And at a spiritual level it killed him.

At the human level what do you think [motivated] Annis to get rid of him? Twice he interrupted his business. Huge. I mean, think of the mafia. I mean, and that’s about what Annis and his group were like. They had their hands are on the throat of the religious life through the sacrificial system and all that. They were making money on religion. They really were. I mean, hand over fist, and Jesus cleans it out twice. They can’t let that go on. That’s got to stop. So, zeal for the house of God at a human level, it killed him. Okay, but what about at a spiritual level? Did it kill him? Yes, because the house of God was messy with sin. You know why? Because we were in it. And in order to clean us up, he had to give his life. He had to die on the cross. And so, zeal, burning zeal for the house of God that it be holy and pure. And that he not accept any one of you or me in without cleaning us up first. Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. And so, he’s got to pay the price. Zeal for the house of God has eaten me up.

It says he was grieved over sin. He looked around when they wouldn’t give an answer. He said, is it lawful to do this or to do that on the Sabbath? They wouldn’t answer because they knew he was right. So, they wouldn’t give an answer. And Jesus was deeply grieved over their hardness of heart. He wept over them. He was filled with desire to eat the Passover with his disciples. He was moved with compassion for Martha and Mary over the death of Lazarus. He was filled with joy over the disciples’ successful mission. Look at Luke 10:21. “At that time, Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, ‘I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth.'” Isn’t that beautiful? A look at the joy of Jesus. The interesting thing is you never see Jesus laugh in the Bible. And people say, oh God must have a sense of humor. You can’t prove it. You cannot prove it from Jesus in the Bible. You can’t. But you can prove that he had joy, that you can do. Full of joy through the Holy Spirit.

He’s filled with tenderness and love for his disciples. Just read John 13-17 and you’ll see it. He’s a very affectionate, very passionate, passionate Savior. No one ever lived on earth with more passion and holy affection than Christ. From this, it is clear that cold indifference in religion is about as far from Christ as you can imagine. That’s not him. That’s not the way he was. It’s not the way we should be either. Proof number eight, the religion of heaven consists in much in holy affection. What are they doing in heaven? Is it a cold, boring place? You better believe it’s not. It’s an exciting place to be. And the people that are up there, do they want to be there? Oh, they want to be there. They are locked in, focused on that throne. And they’re worshiping, and they’re thrilled. And they’re passionate and there, there’s worship. And whenever this would happen, then they would get down and throw their crowns down one more time. I mean, it’s just a passionate, emotional place. It really is an exciting place. And he says, if you want to know true nature, don’t go to the ore that’s dug out of the earth. Go to the perfectly refined 24 karat gold, the pure stuff, and that’s what you’re going to find in heaven. And what is it? It’s affection. There’s no doubt about it.

Number nine, religious duties commanded by God focus much on affections. Prayer. Can you imagine praying with no affection? Say yes, I do it every day. The fact is we do. But is that what prayer was meant to be? The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Cold prayers, it says freeze before they reach heaven. They never get there. So, you’ve got to be passionate in your prayers. Worship, singing praises to God, sacraments, preaching, all these things are meant to be done with passion.

Proof number 10, sin of the heart is called hardness of heart. And what is hardness of heart if it’s not no affection? That’s what I think it means. It means there’s no love. It means there’s no yieldedness, there’s no softness, there’s no yearning, there’s nothing there. It’s just like a stone, and it doesn’t move. This is what grieved Christ the most. When he looked around with anger, he was grieved at their hardness of heart. It is what God will judge the most. “Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath” (Romans 2:5).  It’s what God warns against the most. “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). This is what sin is, the essence of rejecting Christ. Those in Acts 19:9 that became hardened and refused to believe. God’s leaving of the power of sin in men’s hearts is called a hardening. In Romans 9:18, “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” And therefore, repentance is a matter of soft yielded heart, full of affection. To Josiah 2 Kings 22:19, “Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and curse. You have torn your clothes and wept before me; therefore I have truly heard you.” I mean, that’s a passionate response. He said, now there’s the heart of a man who loves me because of his passionate response when he heard.

So, he sums up:

Upon the whole I think it clearly and abundantly evident that true religion lies very much in the affections. Not that I think these arguments prove that religion in the hearts of the truly godly is ever in exact proportion to the degree of affection and present emotion of the mind. For undoubtedly there’s much affection in the true saints, which is not spiritual, but yet it is evident that religion consists so much in affection as that without holy affection, there is no true religion. And no light in the understanding is good which does not produce holy affection in the heart. No habit or principle in the heart is good, which has no such exercise. And no external fruit is good, which does not proceed from affection.

That’s what he’s saying. Now what inference is, three applications then we’ll be done. It is great error to say that religion has nothing to do with affection. Now who’s he talking to there? He’s talking to Chauncey and his old lights group. It’s great error to say that affections are not what we seek. We are seeking them. False affections are a very great problem and a great attack of the devil. Why do you think the devil stirs up all kinds of false affections? Because these are important. And so, he wants to create a smokescreen so that we don’t know what’s really going on. Affections are important, therefore proper balance must be kept. Have you ever heard about the old head knowledge, heart knowledge thing? Okay, is head knowledge important? Absolutely. Remember, the soul has two capacities and faculties, understanding and then an inclination or disinclination. The understanding must come first. You must have head knowledge and lots of it. You should be constantly striving to increase in your head knowledge. But just don’t let it stop there.

He who has no spiritual or religious affection is in a state of death. That means you’re not a Christian

That’s what he’s saying. It must also be a passion and affection. He who has no religious affection is in a state of spiritual death. Can I read that again? He who has no spiritual or religious affection is in a state of death. That means you’re not a Christian if you have no religious affection. And is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influence of the Spirit of God upon his heart. As there is no true religion where there is nothing else but affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection. In other words, if you have nothing but affection and no head knowledge, that’s not right either. You’ve got to have a right balance. There has to be proper amounts of both.

Since affections, number two, are so vital, then all religious duties, (this is transforming for me. I’ve thought about this) since affections are so vital, then all religious duties should be done in such a way as to move the affections maximally. What do I mean by this? It means I should preach so as to move your affections, not just to fill your head with information. I should fill your head with information, but I should then seek under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to move you emotionally, affectionately, based on what you’ve learned. You see what I’m saying? Frankly, your fellowship should do that too. When you spend time with each other, move each other’s emotions and affections for Christ. That’s what you should do. Stimulate each other to love Christ more.

When you pray, you should pray your own affections are maximally stirred up. I mean work on it until they are. If you’re praying in a cold way for the lost, don’t pray like that. Pray until you’re moved. Work it over. Say, all right, Lord, it says that they’re without hope and without God in the world. What does that mean? You just keep working until you start to feel it. And you start saying, whoa, that’s a heavy thing. They’re under all of their sins. They have to stand before God and account for every careless word. They have no advocate, they have no blood, they have nothing. And you just work until you start to see it. And so basically, if affections are this important, strive maximally to grow in your affection for Christ. And then third, I wrote, “Away with passionless living!” and I did it with exclamation marks and captal letters. I was stirred as I was writing this. The fact is we can’t live a passionless life. We have to be on fire for Christ. Never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord.

Number three, and this gets back to what Jane and I were chatting about earlier. We have a great cause for shame that we are not more affected with Christ and with the things of God, don’t we? I mean, it’s great cause for shame that our hearts are like they are. But sensible and unmoved are most men about the great things of another world. How dull are their affections? How heavy and hard their hearts are on these matters here. Their love is cold, their desires are languid. Their zeal is low and their gratitude is small. How can they sit and hear of the infinite height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus? Of his giving his infinitely dear Son to be offered up a sacrifice for the sins of men, and the unparalleled love of the innocent and holy and tender Lamb of God? Manifested in his dying, agonies his bloody sweat, his loud and bitter cries and bleeding heart. And all this for enemies. To redeem them from deserved eternal burnings and to bring to unspeakable and everlasting joy and glory and yet be cold and heavy, insensible and regardless. Where are the exercises of our affections proper, if not here. And what I’m saying is if you are reacting that way when you hear the word of God, then something’s wrong with your heart. You say, okay, something’s wrong with my heart. Well, I knew that already. There’s something wrong with my heart too. But let’s not let it stay that way. Let’s grow in our affection, our love for Christ. I’m going to close in prayer. And then Steve, if you’re going to say something about outreach, we’ll be done for the evening. (prays)

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Historical Context

A.   The Great Awakening (1742)

1.   Revival past its early, opening stages

Was:  “the present revival”… Now:  “the late, extraordinary season” or “the late, great revival”

2.   Early spring blossoms vs. mature fruit

Edwards:  “It is with professors of religion, especially such as become so in a time of outpouring of the Spirit of God, as it is with blossoms in the spring; there are vast numbers of them upon the trees, which all look fair and promising; but yet many of them never come to anything…. It is the mature fruit which comes afterwards, and not the beautiful colors and smell of the blossoms, that we must judge by.”

3.   Key question:  “How are we to judge genuine Christian experience?” or “What is the nature of true religion? And wherein lie the distinguishing notes of that virtue which is acceptable in the sight of God?”

B.    Charles Chauncy and the “Old Lights”

1.   Totally disdained the Great Awakening as something evil and destructive

2.   For them:  true religion consisted in “reason and judgment” and in “dutiful behavior” C.  BUT Some Wild Supporters of the Awakening:

1.   The more passion the better

2.   Applauded public displays of enthusiasm uncritically

3.   Assumed that great displays of emotion were proof positive of conversion

4.   Greatly dismayed when later, those “converts” seemed to have little or no interest in Christ

D.  Thus Edwards Battling on Two Fronts… Submitted the Treatise on Religious Affections in Three Parts in 1746

Part I.  Concerning the Nature of The Affections, and Their Importance in Religion

Part II.  Showing What Are No Certain Signs That Religious Affections Are Gracious (i.e Saving Grace from God), Or That They Are Not

Part III.  Showing What Are the Distinguishing Signs of Truly Gracious and Holy Affections

I.  Concerning the Nature of The Affections, and Their Importance in Religion

A.  Section I:  Introductory Remarks Concerning the Affections

Opening Text:  1 Peter 1:8

1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen [Christ], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy

1.   Three-fold benefit of trials

2.   How the trials benefited the people to whom Peter was writing

3.   Two great outcomes of the trials:

I)      Love for Christ

II)    Joy in Christ

4.   Edwards Central Treatise:

True Religion, in Great Part, Consists in Holy Affections

5.   Definition of Affections of the Mind

Affections of the Mind = Sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul

a.  soul’s two principal faculties (endowed by God)

i)  perception (understanding) by which it discerns and judges all things ii)  inclination (will, heart) by which it is inclined or disinclined to every single thing

b.  exercises of the inclination comes in two sorts

i)  approving ii)  disapproving

c.  approval/disapproval comes in degrees

i)  from perfect indifference ii) to greater degrees, positive or negative

[from pure absolute hatred through dislike to like to pure absolute love]

d.   “affections” come when the will involves the body in sensible (i.e. noticeable) responses to its inclination… you “feel” what your will inclines to or disinclines against

“In everything we do, wherein we act voluntarily, there is an exercise of the will and inclination; it is our inclination that governs us in our actions; but all the actings of the inclination and will, in all our common actions of life, are not ordinarily called affections. Yet, what are commonly called affections are not essentially different from them, but only in the degree and manner of exercise. In every act of the will whatsoever, the soul either likes or dislikes, is either inclined or disinclined to what is in view: these are not essentially different from those affections of love and hatred: that liking or inclination of the soul to a thing, if it be in a high degree, and be vigorous and lively, is the very same thing with the affection of love; and that disliking and disinclining, if in a greater degree, is the very same with hatred. In every act of the will for, or towards something not present, the soul is in some degree inclined to that thing; and that inclination, if in a considerable degree, is the very same with the affection of desire. And in every degree of the act of the will, wherein the soul approves of something present, there is a degree of pleasedness; and that pleasedness, if it be in a considerable degree, is the very same with the affections of joy or delight. And if the will disapproves of what is present, the soul is in some degree displeased, and if that displeasedness be great, it is the very same with the affection of grief or sorrow.”

e.   from this come all our emotions and actions

i)  desire and passion OR  fear and revulsion  ii)  joy and delight OR grief and sorrow iii)  motions of choosing OR motions of rejection

“As all the exercises of the inclination and will, are either in approving and liking, or disapproving and rejecting; so the affections are of two sorts; they are those by which the soul is carried out to what is in view, cleaving to it, or seeking it; or those by which it is averse from it, and opposes it. Of the former sort are love, desire, hope, joy, gratitude, complacence. Of the latter kind are hatred, fear, anger, grief, and such like.”

B.  Section II:  Proofs That True Religion, in Great Part, Consists in the Affections

Proof #1:  Obvious Nature of Religion

a.  religion cannot be religion if it is lukewarm

“Who will deny that true religion consists in a great measure, in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart? That religion which God requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference: God, in his word, greatly insists upon it, that we be good in earnest, “fervent in spirit,” and our hearts vigorously engaged in religion.”

Romans 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul…?

Deuteronomy 6:4-5  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

b.   such true vigorous exercises of the heart are only possible when God circumcises the heart by His Spirit:

Deuteronomy 30:6   The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

c.   vigorous exercise in Christ is the essence of the power of true religion

“If we be not in good earnest in religion, and our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing. The things of religion are so great, that there can be no suitableness in the exercises of our hearts, to their nature and importance, unless they be lively and powerful. In nothing is vigor in the actings of our inclinations so requisite, as in religion; and in nothing is lukewarmness so odious. True religion is evermore a powerful thing; and the power of it appears, in the first place in the inward exercises of it in the heart, where is the principal and original seat of it.”

[for true believers] 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

[for hypocrites]  2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Internal “burning of the heart” is the power of godliness and of the Holy Spirit… as on the road to Emmaus:

Luke 24:32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

d.   strong efforts in following Christ

Thus the “business of religion” (i.e. of following Christ) is sometimes likened to running, wrestling, agonizing for a great prize or crown, fighting an enemy that seeks our life, or taking a city by force… in other words, things in which every fiber of our being (body and soul) are fully engaged

e.   varying degrees based on maturity:

“And though true grace has various degrees, and there are some that are but babes in Christ, in whom the exercise of the inclination and will, towards divine and heavenly things, is comparatively weak; yet everyone that has the power of godliness in his heart, has his inclinations and heart exercised towards God and divine things, with such strength and vigor that these holy exercises do prevail in him above all carnal or natural affections, and are effectual to overcome them.”

“From hence it follows, that wherever true religion is, there are vigorous exercises of the inclination and will towards divine objects: but by what was said before, the vigorous, lively, and sensible exercises of the will, are no other than the affections of the soul.”

Proof #2:  Affections are the spring of actions

a.   without affections of some sort, we remain motionless

b.   the greater the affection, the stronger the motion

c.   affections the root of all worldly energy and pursuit

“We see the world of mankind to be exceeding busy and active; and the affections of men are the springs of the motion: take away all love and hatred, all hope and fear, all anger, zeal, and affectionate desire, and the world would be, in a great measure motionless and dead; there would be no such thing as activity amongst mankind, or any earnest pursuit whatsoever. … the world continues, from age to age, in a continual commotion and agitation, in a pursuit of these things, but take away all affection, and the spring of all this motion would be gone, and the motion itself would cease.”

i)  affection drives the covetous man to pursue profits ii) affection drives the voluptuous man to pursue sensual pleasures iii) affection drives the ambitious man to pursue power

iv)  affection drives the prideful man to pursue human praise

d.   so it is also for true pursuit of Christ… without it, there’s only cold formalism

“So in religious matters, the spring of their actions is very much religious affection: he that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.”

Proof #3:  True religion takes hold in the soul no further than they affect them

a.   many can hear fiery preaching of hell and be totally unmoved

b.   many can hear alluring descriptions of heaven and be totally unmoved

c.   many can hear the clear exposition of the commands of God and be totally unmoved

d.   no positive motion in religious occurs without the affections first being 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.”

Proof #4:  Scripture places religion very much in the affections

a.  godly fear

“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.”

Acts 9:31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. b.  hope

Psalm 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love

Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

c.   love (more later)

d.   hatred

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Psalm 97:10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil

Psalm 101:3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.

Psalm 119:104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:128 and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 139:21-22  Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?  I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

e.   desire

Isaiah 26:8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 84:1-2  How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. f.  joy

1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen [Christ], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Be joyful always

g.  sorrow

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says– he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

James 4:9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. h.  gratitude

Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

i.   mercy

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

j.   zeal

Titus 2:14 [Christ] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

[the very lacking from the despised church at Laodicea]  Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm– neither hot nor cold– I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Proof #5:  Scripture presents LOVE as the summation of all true religion

a.   love fulfills the whole law of God

“The Scriptures do represent true religion, as being summarily comprehended in love, the chief of the affections, and fountain of all other affections.”

Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and

with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

Galatians 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

b.   the goal of all Biblical instruction is love

1 Timothy 1:5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

c.  without love, all other acts are worthless

1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

d.  love is the fountain of all other affections

“From hence it clearly and certainly appears, that great part of true religion consists in the affections. For love is not only one of the affections, but it is the first and chief of the affections, and the fountain of all the affections. From love arises hatred of those things which are contrary to what we love, or which oppose and thwart us in those things that we delight in: and from the various exercises of love and hatred, according to the circumstances of the objects of these affections, as present or absent, certain or uncertain, probable or improbable, arise all those other affections of desire, hope, fear, joy, grief, gratitude, anger, &c. From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God, will necessarily arise other religious affections; hence will arise an intense hatred and abhorrence of sin, fear of sin, and a dread of God’s displeasure, gratitude to God for his goodness, complacence and joy in God, when God is graciously and sensibly present, and grief when he is absent, and a joyful hope when a future enjoyment of God is expected, and fervent zeal for the glory of God. And in like manner, from a fervent love to men, will arise all other virtuous affections towards men.”

Proof #6:  The religion of eminent saints in the Bible consisted of affections a.  David

i)    a “man after God’s own heart”

ii)  deeply passionate for the glory of God and His reputation (Goliath, building a temple)

iii)singer and writer of psalms to God iv)  zealous dancer before the Lord

v)    brokenhearted over his sin

vi)  man of passionate prayer

b.  Paul

i)  esteemed everything in his life a LOSS compared to knowing and loving Christ ii)  pursued Christ passionately though it cost him his life iii) zealous for the building up of Christ’s church and for its holiness iv)  passionate in worship and in prayer

v)    deeply moved with compassion for Christ’s people and their needs

vi)   constantly rejoicing yet constantly sorrowful c.  John

i)  fervent in love toward Christ, laying his head on Christ’s bosom ii)  lived passionately for the building of the church

iii)  wrote constantly of love

Proof #7:  The Lord Jesus Christ displayed constant affections, of the deepest sort

“He was the greatest instance of ardency, vigor and strength of love, to both God and man, that ever was.”

a.  fiery zeal for the purity of God’s house

John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” b.  grieved at human sin

Mark 3:5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart

c.   filled with grief for Jerusalem

Luke 19:41-42  As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes.

Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

d.   filled with desire to eat the Passover with His disciples

Luke 22:15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

e.   moved with compassion for Martha and Mary over the death of Lazarus

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

f.    filled with joy over the disciples’ successful mission

Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…”

g.   filled with tenderness and love for His disciples the night before His death

John 13-17

No one ever lived on earth with more passion and holy affections than Christ.  From this it is clear that cold indifference in religion is as far from Christ as can be imagined.

Proof #8:  The religion of heaven consists much in holy affection

a.   to find true nature, go to the pure gold, not the mined ore

b.   heaven is filled with passionate affections, of constant praise for God

Proof #9:  Religious duties commanded by God focus much on affections

a.   prayer:  cold prayer is no prayer at all…prayer is meant to be fervent

b.   worship

c.   singing praises to God

d.   sacraments

e.   preaching

Proof #10:  Sin of the heart = “hardness of heart”… proof that affection is the core of true religion

If “hardening of the heart” means to be unyielded to Christ and to His Kingdom, to have a heart that resists and hates and opposes the word… then to be saved means to have a heart drawn in its affections to Christ, His Kingdom, His word

a.   what grieved Christ the most

Mark 3:5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart

b.   what God will judge the most

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

c.   what God warns most against

Hebrews 3:7-8  So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion

d.   what God says was the essence of the rejection of Christ

Acts 19:9 But some of them became hardened; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them.

e.   God’s leaving of the power of sin in men’s hearts = “hardening”

Romans 9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

f.    repentance a matter of a soft, yielded heart full of affection

[to Josiah] 2 Kings 22:19 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the LORD.

Summary:

Upon the whole, I think it clearly and abundantly evident, that true religion lies very much in the affections. Not that I think these arguments prove, that religion in the hearts of the truly godly, is ever in exact proportion to the degree of affection, and present emotion of the mind: for undoubtedly, there is much affection in the true saints which is not spiritual …But yet it is evident, that religion consists so much in affection, as that without holy affection there is no true religion; and no light in the understanding is good, which does not produce holy affection in the heart: no habit or principle in the heart is good, which has no such exercise; and no external fruit is good, which does not proceed from such exercises.

C.  Part III:  Some Inferences Deduced from this Doctrine

1.   It is great error to say religion has nothing to do with affection

a.   false affections are a very great problem, and a great attack of the devil, so as to confuse us in this vital matter

b.   proper balance must be kept:  “head knowledge & heart affections”

“He who has no religious affection, is in a state of spiritual death, and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influences of the Spirit of God upon his heart. As there is no true religion where there is nothing else but affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection. As on the one hand, there must be light in the understanding, as well as an affected fervent heart; where there is heat without light, there can be nothing divine or heavenly in that heart; so on the other hand, where there is a kind of light without heat, a head stored with notions and speculations, with a cold and unaffected heart, there can be nothing divine in that light, that knowledge is no true spiritual knowledge of divine things”

2.   Since affections are so vital, then all religious duties should be done in such a way as to move the affections maximally

We should preach, pray, read the Bible, go to church, have conversations with other Christians… etc. all in such a way that our affections for Christ will be maximally stirred and deepened.  AWAY WITH PASSIONLESS LIVING!!!

3.   We have a great cause for SHAME that we are not more affected with Christ and with the things of God

But how insensible and unmoved are most men, about the great things of another world! How dull are their affections! How heavy and hard their hearts in these matters! Here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small. How they can sit and hear of the infinite height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, of his giving his infinitely dear Son, to be offered up a sacrifice for the sins of men, and of the unparalleled love of the innocent, and holy, and tender Lamb of God, manifested in his dying agonies, his bloody sweat, his loud and bitter cries, and bleeding heart, and all this for enemies, to redeem them from deserved, eternal burnings, and to bring to unspeakable and everlasting joy and glory; and yet be cold, and heavy, insensible, and regardless! Where are the exercises of our affections proper, if not here?