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THE
FIRST FRUITS
OF
THE
SPIRIT;
oR
DISC.
X.
daemons
or devils
which were deified
by
the
folly
And
madness
of
sinful men
?
What
new
hallelujahs must
it
put
in the
mouths of the saints and angels
on
high,
to
see
the true and
living
God
worshipped
by
thousands
that
,had
never
before known
him,
and
to see
Jesus
the Me-
diator
in
all the glories
of
'his divine
offices
admired and
adored
by
those
who
lately had
either
known
nothing
of
him,.
or
been
shameful revilers and blasphemers
of
his
majesty
?
.
And what an unknown delight
is
diffused
through
-many
of
the saints
of
God
now
here
on
earth
upon
such
tidings,
not
only from
the foreign and heathen countries,
but
even some
who
have professed christianity,
but under
gross rnistakes,and miserable
fogs
of
darkness
and
super-
stition
?
What
an inconceivable and overwhelming plea-
sure has surprised a
Christian
sometimes
in
the midst
of
his
zealous worship
of
God and
his
Saviour,
to
hear of
such
(tidings
of
new subjects in
multitudes submitting them-
selves to
their
divine dominion
?
-
And
even in
our
day,whensoever
we
hear of
the work
of
grace
begun
by
the ministry
of
the
word,
awakening
a
drowsy and lethargic soul
from its
dangerous sleep
on
the
brink
Of
hell;
rousing
a
negligent and
slothful
creature
from
his
indolence and carelessness
about
the things
of
eternity
;
or
again, in making
a
heart
soft
and
.
impres-
sive
to the powers
of
divine grace, which
was
before
hard
as
the
nether
mill
-
stone;
and
especially.when mul-
titudes of
these tidings come
together
from
distant
places;
as
of
late
we
have heard from
New-England, and
several
of
those
plantations
;
from Scotland and several
of
her
assemblies, what
additional
scenes
of
heavenly
joy
and
pleasure
have been raised `amongst
the pious
souls,
both
those
who
relate,' and
those who
hear
them.
SECTION
VI.
"
Foretastes
of
heaven are sometimes derived
from
the,
sense
of
the
love
of
God
let
in
upon
the
soul:'
The
spirits above
who
are surrounded
with
this
blessedness
and
this
love,
and
rejoice in the
everlasting
assurance
of
it,
cannot but
be filled with
intense joy.
What
can
be
a
greater
foundation
of
complete
blessed-
ness
and
delight
than
the immediate
"
sensation and
assurance
of
being beloved
by
the glorious,
and
supreme,
and
the all-
sufficient being," who
will
never
suffer his
favourites
to
want any
thing.
he can bestow
upon
them
to