happen if you remember in JD was in our original class on the mortification of sin that I was about to prepare I believe for chapters 10 and 11 which was really the reason why I wanted to get into the book of the mortification of sin because I thought that some of that was very very profitable and so I thought that if we're in a more a beginning level, novice level, that maybe I could teach Pilgrim's Progress again and illustrate it like I did when I taught it in 2017, 2018 at Grand Rapids, and there was a pretty large bibliography. The game became a part of that study, but I had no idea if anybody from the church would show up, and the turnout from people that have been in the church for a while just isn't there. And I thought about, well, what really would be more profitable, rather than me take a book and bring sources to that book. I'll go back to a series that I taught when we had a church plant in Jenison, Michigan. that coincides with the website that I have online called Thoughts on Christian Experience and Assurance and teach it topically and I would do the outline and determine what direction to go in and from feedback from you guys also know where to go in the future. And part of the reason for that is because there, if there's anything, and I was asked this, you know, I have people that write to me from basically all over the world. And there is this man who wrote to me from the Philippines, his name is Warren. last name is spelled C-H-U-A, and he was putting together some kind of a thing, I don't know if it's a blog or whatever, maybe just a basic writing on the Puritans, an introduction, and he asked for my input. But he asked me, what is it that you think you really need to communicate to the church if you had something that you really believe that we need to work on that really needs to be foundational? And I said, brother, it's one thing, and that is We really got to re-understand afresh the doctrine of the new birth, regeneration, and the things that flow out of regeneration, sanctification, and Christian experience. Because as I've often said when I have taught on other classes, in our day if there's an error in evangelicalism, It is that they have made justification, which is a forensic term. That term belongs to a court setting. God is the judge. We're the criminals. And because of a substitutionary curse bearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are righteous before God. But we have in our day, in modern evangelicalism, made that term synonymous with the new birth. And so man comes into this world with two basic problems because of the fall of Adam. He has a bad record. and he has a bad heart. And the bad record is remedied by justification. And it is only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that enables a person to be justified. He cannot add anything to that. But the thing that we don't properly understand is that man by nature has a bad heart, a corrupt heart. The heart, when we use that term, we're really basically referring to the mind, but we are referring to the capacity of the mind that show themselves in the intellect, the affections, and the will. The understanding is darkened, the will is disinclined to anything that is good until we're born again, and the affections are set against God, Romans 8 verse Seven. And so by making these two things synonymous, the problem that has arisen is that anytime that we talk about the fruits that flow out of the new birth or regeneration in the new birth are synonymous, and we're using them synonymously, you must be born again. and you are regenerated, Titus 3, 5, I believe it is. Anytime that we talk about what are the fruits of the new birth, people, because they have the two confounded, say that's legalism, because they got justification and regeneration as synonymous terms. And since we say, well, the fruits of the new birth flow out of a change in the governing disposition of the soul when that soul is made holy, that's the new birth and that's not legalism. If the tree does not bear good fruit, it is dead. So that was my basic answer. And I'll develop that if we have a class on Christian experience and assurance. But tonight, our Pilgrim's Progress study and Because there hasn't been a lot of people that are coming, I have decided that there are five or six things that are worthwhile discussing in Pilgrim's Progress that were helpful to people that heard these things online. Back in 2017, 2018, there was a man in California who was actually taking this audio and putting it on YouTube, and he had a huge audience, and he has a larger one now. He has over 300,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. I don't get that kind of an audience anymore. He went his way and I inevitably went mine. But because I do have an audience on the internet, and it's the people from the internet I mostly hear from, I want to share the things that I think are going to be helpful. Even if the church goes on and I'm off the stage, if people find these things, they'll realize that there were some things that were said here, this out of almost 40 years of reading the Puritan and Reformed authors. And so this week, one thing I discussed Tomei Kalin said to myself that is one of the five or six things is a battle with Apollyon. So tonight we'll discuss Christian's battle with Apollyon. So let me read the text and we're gonna have plenty of time for questions. So I'll try not to, you know, I have 16 pages of stuff here, but some of this stuff is pretty interesting. Then Christian headed out. But discretion, piety, charity, and prudence, who he met at the Palace Beautiful, decided that they would go with him to the foot of the hill. So they walked on together while reiterating their former discussions on their way to the bottom of the hill. Christian said, while it was difficult coming up the hill, so far as I can see, it is even more dangerous going down. Yes, prudence agrees, so it is. Now this is a more modern version of Pilgrim's Progress. For it is a hard matter for a man to go down into the valley of humiliation as you are doing now without slipping along the way. It is for this reason that we decided to accompany you down the hill. So they continued together down the hill and though Christian walked very carefully, he still slipped a time or two. Then I saw in my dream that when Christian and his good companions reached the bottom of the hill, his companions gave him a loaf of bread. a bottle of wine and a cluster of raisins and said farewell to him and he went on his way. While Christian was among his godly friends, her precious words offered plenty of amends for all his grief. And when they let him go, he was clad with northern steel from top to toe. But it didn't take long for Christian to be hard oppressed in this valley of humiliation. He had only gone a little way before he spotted a foul fin coming across a field to meet him. The fin's name was Apollyon, which means destroyer. Fear-filled Christian. His mind raced trying to figure out what to do, so should he go back or stand his ground? As he considered his options, he thought about retreating, but he had no armor for his back. If he ran away and turned his back to the Finn, it might give his foe a greater advantage, making it easier to pierce him with his darts. So Christian determined to stand his ground and risk confrontation with the enemy. He was out of time and it was the best thing to do, so he continued on and Apollyon met him. The monster was hideous and clothed with scales like a fish. day were his pride. He also had wings like a dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly spewed fire and smoke, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. When he came up to Christian, he eyed him with disdain and began to question him. The fin asked, Where did you come from and where are you going? Christian swallowed his fear and said, I come from the city of destruction, which is a place of all evil, and I am going to the city of Zion. So we'll talk tonight about the Christian warfare. A book that I've quoted in almost every lesson I've taught going back through the mortification of sin, and I mention it here for your reference if you ever want to get it called. Thoughts on religious experience by Archibald Alexander. It is to the great injury of many professors that they are not constantly on the watch against the wiles of the devil. If you wish to know where he will be likely to meet you, I would say in your own room. in the church, on your bed, and in your daily companion with others. A single thought which suddenly starts up in your mind will show that the enemy is near and is suggesting such thoughts as without his agency never could be accounted for. So our Lord says, watch therefore Matthew 24 verse 42, resist the devil and he will flee from you. No doubt it is true that there are certain states of the physical system which favor the effect of these temptations. Some people physiologically are more susceptible to certain kinds of temptations. But this does not prove that the thoughts do not proceed from Satan. This arch fiend is deeply versed in the makeup of a human nature, and wherever he discovers a weak point, there he makes his assault. The melancholic and people wasted and weakened with excessive grief are peculiarly susceptible of injury from such temptations, as is that class or group of doubting mourning Christians who are forever disposed to look on the dark side of the picture. and who are accustomed to write bitter things against themselves, Job 13, verse 26. On uninstructed minds, the effect often is to induce a belief, he puts into their mind, he injects into the mind a belief. Did they have sinned to sin unto death by blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Or did they have sinned beyond the reach of mercy and that God has abandoned them to be a prey to sin and Satan? But it is not upon ignorant, weak, and diseased people only that these furious assaults are made. Such a man as Martin Luther was in frequent conflicts of this kind, and he was so persuaded that these were the temptations of the devil that he speaks of his presence with as much confidence as if he had seen him by his side." Back to Pilgrim's Progress. From destruction, you say, This is Apollyon. Then that means you are one of my subjects, for all that country is mine. You see, I am its prince and god. Apollyon's eyes narrowed. So how is it then that you have run away from your king? If it wasn't for my plans for you to serve me more, I would strike you to the ground with one smashing blow right now for such an act. Christian stood his ground. I was indeed born in your dominion, but your service was hard and your wages such as a man cannot live on for the wages of sin is death. So when I reached adulthood, I did what thoughtful people do. I looked for a way that I might perhaps improve myself. A Pauline looked down on Christian with eyes hooded with pride. No prince worthy of his title releases his subjects easily. And I am no different. I am not ready to let you loose as yet. But since you have complained about your service and wages, let me encourage you to go back home. I personally promise that what our country can afford, I will give you." Christian shook his head. I can't do that. You see, I've already yielded myself to another, even to the king of princes. How can I in all fairness go back with you? The first Puritan book that I bought of any size, and I still have it in my library, was called The Christian in Complete Armor by William Gurnall. And it's a book that, it's about 1,200 pages, and it's just got so much wit in it, and wit with warning. And he says, quote, the Christian of all men needs courage, and resolution. Indeed, there is nothing that he does as a Christian or can do but is an act of valor. A cowardly spirit is beneath the lowest duty of a Christian. Be thou strong and very courageous. that thou mayest, what, stand and battle against those warlike nations? No, but that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you, Joshua 1.7. It requires more prowess and greatness of spirit to obey God faithfully than to command an army of men. To be a Christian and a captain, what seems less than for a Christian to pray? Yet this cannot be performed aright without a princely spirit, as Jacob is said to behave himself like a prince, when he did but pray, for which he came out of the field God's banneret. Indeed, if you call that prayer which a carnal person performs, nothing is more poor and dastardly. Such an one is as great a stranger to this enterprise as a craven soldier, to the exploits of a valiant chieftain." There's a book by an Irish, maybe Scottish, Hugh Martin, and it's called Simon Peter, and if you love biographical Sketches with a lot of application here martin on simon peter hugh martin on jonah hugh martin on the shadow of calvary in the garden to get somebody but you martin says quote. about the Christian warfare. The believing soul finds itself acted upon by forces more powerful and various than it once could have conceived. The trial, the fiery trial, which tries its faith plows deep into the inmost spirit. wakens up anxieties and fears of the most painful description, induces many times a laboring and a weariness such as were never expected to return after rest, had been once found in Jesus." Back to Pilgrim's Progress, the one side of a Polly on thin upper lip curled. You have done exactly as the Proverbs says, exchanged a bad for a worse. However, it is quite common for those who have professed themselves to be his servants, Jesus' servants, to give him the slip after a while and return to me. Do this and I promise all will be well. Christian stood his ground. I have given him my faith and sworn my allegiance to him. How can I possibly go back on my word and not be hanged as a traitor? Think about it, says Apollyon. You did the same to me, and yet I'm willing to forget about it if you will turn again and go back to the city of destruction. Christian raises his palm toward the fin. No, what I promised to you happened when I was but an immature youth. Besides that, I regard the prince under whose banner I now stand to be the one able to absolve me of your charges. He let his hand drop and he looked Apollyon directly in the eye. And yes, he is also able to pardon the things I did in service to you. Besides that, oh, destroying Apollyon. To tell you the truth, I like his service, his wages, his servants, his government, his company and country better than yours. So stop trying to change my mind. I am the Lord's servant and I've made up my mind to follow him. A wisp of smoke curled from Apollyon's nostrils. That's all well and good, but think of what it will be like when your spirits are low and you have so much to get done. He paused dramatically and raised a bony-looking ridge above his right eye. You are aware of that, for the most part. His servants, Jesus' servants, come to a wretched end because they are transgressors against me and my ways. How many of them have been shamefully put to death! And you consider his service better than mine, even though he was never come from that heavenly place where he is, to rescue any of his servants out of their enemies' hands? On the other hand, the world knows I am nothing like that. Look at how many times I have delivered those who faithfully served me, either by my power or by the use of fraudulent schemes. This is Apollyon speaking. Even when they were taken by him and his followers, and so will I rescue you in the same way, Christian. You don't understand," Christian said. His present restraint in delivering them is deliberate and with a purpose. It is to test their love and prove whether they will be loyal to him to the end. And as for the shameful end, you say, is their destiny. That isn't an end, for they are assured of receiving future glory. In fact, they don't expect deliverance now. Instead, they are content to wait for their future glory, and they will have it when their prince comes and his glory along with the angels. Apollyon jabbed his pointed finger in Christian's direction. You've already been unfaithful in your service to him. So how is it that you think you were going to receive wages from him? Tell me, Apollyon, said Christian, in what ways have I been unfaithful to him? Very soon, said Apollyon, after setting out from destruction, you were quickly discouraged, when you were almost choked in the slough of despond. He raised his bony finger to track just how unfaithful the pilgrim had been. He also made several wrong attempts to be rid of your burden, which you should have waited until your prince had taken it off. He ticked off his point on the second finger. You can see him going like this. First! Second, trying to accuse the accuser of the brethren. You also made several wrong attempts to be rid of your burden when you should have waited until your prince had taken it off. Plus, you sinfully overslept. You lost your precious possession, and you almost turned back at the sight of the lions." He ran out of fingers on which to count Christian's missteps and dramatically threw his hand in the air with a flair to make his point of just how unfaithful Christian had been. And when you talk about your journey and of what you have seen and heard inwardly, you desire personal praise for all you say and do. Christian glanced at the ground. He's mourning. Knows it's true. All this is true, he said. In fact, there is much more that you left out. He looked back at Apollyon. But the prince whom I serve and honor is merciful and ready to forgive. But besides these wrongdoings which I committed in your country where I was brought up and educated in them, I have grown under and repented of them. As a result, I received a full pardon from my prince regarding these crimes. Apollyon broke into a furious rage, saying, I am an enemy to this prince. I hate his person, his laws, and his people. He spit the words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. I have come out here to purposely oppose you. Christian did not back away. He said, Apollyon, be careful of what you are doing, for I am on the king's highway, the way of holiness, so watch yourself. Quoting William Gurnall and the Christian of Complete Armor again, He taught the Egyptians but some of his own craft when he taught them that bloody and cruel baptism which they exercised upon the Israelitish babes and throwing them into the river as soon as they were born. The first cry of the new creature gives all the legions of hell an alarm to hear the new spiritual babe cry. cry, and the legions of hell are alarmed. There is much trouble that it, as Herod and Jerusalem were when Christ was born, and now they sit in council to take away the life of this new-born king. The apostles met with opposition and persecution in their latter days when endued with larger portions of his spirit. But with temptations from Satan and their former, when young converts, as you may observe, and as several passages record of them, Satan knew grace within was but weak, and the supplies promised of the Spirit's coming had not landed yet. And when is an enemy more like to carry the town in such a low condition, and therefore he tries them all? end quote. Pilgrim's Progress. Apollyon defiantly straddled the entire width of the way, blocking Christian's way. I am not afraid in this, a fin hissed. Prepare to die, for I swear by my infernal den that you will go no further, for here will I spill your soul. Without warning, it hurled a flaming dart at Christian's breast. But Christian lifted the shield in his hand and deflected it, and so avoided the danger. Christian drew his sword, for he saw it was time to rouse himself to action. Apollyon quickly responded by throwing darts as thick as hail, and even with all the skill he could muster, Christian could not deflect them all. Apollyon inflicted wounds to his head, hand, and foot. Christian retreated a little and Apollyon pressed more forcefully, yet Christian took courage and resisted as fearlessly as he could. This agonizing combat lasted for more than half a day, until Christian was almost exhausted. For you should know that because of Christian's wounds, he inevitably grew weaker and weaker. When Apollyon spotted his opportunity, he began to press closer to Christian. wrestled with him and threw him hard to the ground. Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Apollyon's teeth showed in a sneer. I am sure of you now. The fin grew closer, intending to inflict a mortal wound. Christian began to despair for his life, but as God would have it. While Apollyon prepared to make his final blow to destroy this good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand and gripped his sword, and he cried out, Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy, though I fall, I will rise." Micah 7, 8. With that, Christian gave Apollyon a deadly thrust. Defend drew back like someone who had received a fatal wound. Christian recognized the opportunity and moved in on him again, saying, But in all these things we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us. Apollyon spread his dragon wings. and quickly took to the air and flew away until Christian no longer saw him. James 4, 7, Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Now, unless you had seen and heard the intensity of this combat, like I did, Bunyan in his dream, you can't imagine the yelling and hideous roaring of Polly Unmade throughout the fight. Along with that, he spoke like a dragon, and on the other side of the fight, sighs and groans burst from Christian's heart. I'd never seen him give so much as one pleasant look throughout the hellish fight until he knew he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword. Then a smile brightened his face, and he looked up. But it was the battle itself that was the most dreadful sight I ever saw. Does that happen in real life, you think? Maybe not exactly like that, but this is when the devil comes as a roaring lion. I want to talk in a minute about the devil coming as a subtle serpent. But Archibald Alexander says a quote, a friend of this writer was for months so harassed by the fiery darts of the wicked one. that I never saw any human being in a more pitiable condition of extreme suffering. And although there was no intermission during his waking hours, there were seasons when these blasphemous suggestions were injected with peculiar and terrifying violence. Knowing this person to be discreet as well as pious, I requested by letter, I wrote him a letter, to give some account of this dreadful state of mind, if there was a freedom to make the communication. An answer I received recently, a letter from which the following is an extract, quote, I feel a singular reluctance to speak of my religious experience. I have felt that my case was a very remarkable one. I have thought at times that no one could recount a similar experience. It has appeared to me so uncommon that I have refrained from disclosing the peculiar exercises of my mind, even to the most intimate friend. I know Not that I ever opened you my case. I never told you this story, with the exception of the distressing point to which you refer. And even then, when he wrote to him before, I think I was not very particular. That was a season far more distressing than any I ever experienced. I well remember my affliction and my misery, the Wormwood and the Gall, Lamentation 319. My deliverance from it was an unspeakable mercy. I have no doubt that the state of my health had some connection with the mental sufferings I then endured. My constitution, which had always been feeble, had given to my disposition a proneness to melancholy, and in my bereaved and desolate state I was peculiarly susceptible of gloomy impressions. I was peculiarly susceptible of gloomy impressions. My nervous system was deeply affected. Sleep at one time forsook my pillow for successive nights. It was under these circumstances that I sunk into the darkness and distress which you witnessed. In all this, there was nothing very remarkable. I think very many can record a similar experience. It was not the fact that in a feeble state of health I was dark and comfortless in spirit that has so much tried me, but the peculiarity of my case seemed to consist in the nature of my spiritual conflicts. You may perhaps recollect that I stated to you that my chief distress arose from blasphemous suggestions, unnatural, monstrous, and horrid, which seemed to fill my mind. and hurry away my thoughts with a force as irresistible as a whirlwind. I strove against them, I prayed against them, but it was all in vain. The more I strove, the more they prevailed. The very effort to banish them appeared to detain them. My soul, all this while, was wrapped in midnight darkness and tossed like the ocean in a storm. It seemed to me as if I was delivered over to the powers of darkness, and that to aggravate my wretchedness, some strange and awful impious association would be suggested by almost every object. that met my eye." Now when he says association would be suggested, the law of association is sometimes things enter into your mind that cause mental imageries that are so strong you almost think that you are seeing a vision. John Bunyan, and he's telling his own story in grace abounding to the chief of sinners. One morning as I did lie in my bed, I was at other times most fiercely assaulted with this temptation to sell and part with Christ. The wicked suggestions still running in my mind, sell them, sell them, sell them. Sell him as fast as a man could speak against which also in my mind is another time I answer no, no, not for thousands, thousands, at least 20 times together, but at last after much striving, even until I was almost out of breath, I felt this thought pass through my heart. Well, let him go if he will. And I thought also that I felt my heart freely consent there too. owe the diligence of Satan." Now, this is really an important case study because I have counseled people by letter, by phone, and the devil has oppressed them so fast and so thick, and it's so overwhelming that in their desperation they say things that they don't really mean. They're so overwhelmed. And then they ponder what they have said and they're under the delusion that they have committed the unpardonable sin. And Bunyan says, now is the battle won. And down fell I as a bird that is shot from the top of a tree into great guilt and fearful despair. And this went on for 18 months. Thus getting out of my bed I went moping into the field, but God knows with as heavy a heart this mortal man, I think, could bear. Where for the space of two hours I was like a man bereft of life, and is now past all recovery and bound over to eternal punishment, as he thought. And with this that scripture did seize upon my soul, or profane persons as Esau. I told you this is a verse that Bunyan misunderstood that the devil was using then to cast him down into despair. Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, for you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance. though he sought it carefully with tears." Hebrews 12, 16, and 17. Now, it's really important that I footnote this, and I've mentioned this before, but I don't think I've footnoted it as properly and with the conviction that I should. And that is that, because this is the same verse that in 1983 was tormenting me, And it wasn't until I looked at John Brown of Edinburgh's commentary on Hebrews, which is in the Geneva series, I may have mentioned this to you, brother, that if there's a commentary you want in your set, it's John Brown on Hebrews. For treating the warning passages and getting right to the point in a shorter manner and as expertisely as, I don't know anything that's quite like it, but the fact of the matter is, to make it short, Esau was rejected and found no place of repentance. He wasn't crying out to God for the blessing. He was crying out to his father Isaac. And remember, and if you don't know this, this is important to keep in mind, when Isaac or a patriarch would pronounce a blessing that came from God, it could not be retracted. It was impossible. That was just part of the covenant relation that God had with the patriarchs. So Esau wasn't crying out to God. for repentance, and God was saying, no, it's too late. I will not hear your prayers. And many a person has been cast down because they misinterpreted that verse, as Bunyan has here. So Bunyan says, now as I, as one bound, I felt myself shut up unto the judgment to come. Nothing now for two years together would abide with me but damnation and an expectation of damnation. I say, nothing now would abide with me but this, save some few moments for relief, as in the sequel you will see. These words were to my soul like fetters of brass to my legs, and the continual sound of which I went for several months together." Now, yes, the devil is a roaring lion, but the devil also comes as a subtle serpent. I would say that in our day, I haven't spoken to a lot of people where under the fierce attacks as the brother writing to Archibald Alexander or John Bunyan in this case, usually the devil comes as a serpent. transforming himself into an angel of light. And the way he does this is by, well, of course it's spiritual pride, but what he does is suggest to you, and usually people that are affected by this are very, very serious, pious people, but they get under the delusion that God will impress upon their mind, either with or without a text of scripture, of what will come to pass. And there was a person during the Great Awakening, and his name was James Davenport. And he started off so well. Whitefield thought very highly of him, as well as Gilbert Ennett. But he got under the delusion. And one of the worst things that happens with these young pastors is when people take them aside and say, man, brother, you have a gift. And it goes to your head. And this is something we really brethren, we really got to watch about. God could use you and you could have a gift. And that's when you're very susceptible to the devil as a subtle serpent. So his story is he was born in Stanford, Connecticut to an old Puritan family. His great-grandfather, the Reverend John Davenport, was a founder and first minister of New Haven in Connecticut. Davenport attended Yale College, where he was ranked at the top of the class in 1732. Davenport and his friends were determined to become preachers, even though most Yale graduates were pursuing law, politics, or business. They started clubs that would attest the changing character of the Yale student body, and frequently found themselves in adversary positions with the university. And this was the beginning of Davenport's mistrust with established institutions. So you see, something's wrong in one college, and then you label all the colleges in a sweeping condemnation as if there's no good in any of the colleges in those days. He was ordained as a minister by the Congregational Council of Southall in Long Island in October of 1738. It was around this time that he met the Presbyterian revivalist Gilbert Tennant and the English evangelical George Whitefield. The success of Whitefield's style of revival preaching convinced James Davenport that God was calling him. And in 1741, heaven by chance opened his Bible. He opens his Bible. This is how he's read. And Wesley did this too. It opened the Bible at a venture. Whatever his eyes landed on, he thought that God providentially had him open his Bible to that and that this is a prophecy for him. So he opens his Bible, the first Samuel 14, where Jonathan and his armor bearer attack the Philistine camp. And he took this as a sign. He left his congregation to become an itinerant preacher. That's somebody that's not under the authority of a local church. He goes out as a evangelist from here and there. Itinerant preachers, and this is what was such a problem in the Southern Baptist churches, is they really aren't accountable to people. They don't have the proper accountability. His actions during this time often caused him to run afoul of both ecclesiastical and civil authorities. So Davenport would denounce his fellow clergymen for their conduct, such as when he labeled a pastor named Joseph Noyes, the pastor of New Haven, a wolf in sheep's clothing. Throughout New England, he used this strategy of condemning his fellow clergymen to gain popularity I'm going to go into a detail, a little bit more detail, in Wikipedia for two paragraphs, so we really realize how deceived this guy was. He continued Joseph Tracey's book, 1740, on the Great Awakening. Tracey was a congregationalist, and it's one of the finest works, if you want to read about the revival. And during the Great Awakening, it's Joseph Tracey, and he's talking about James Davenport, and he says, quote, he continued his course to New Haven, Calling on pastors, by the way, demanding of each an account of his religious experience. He's under the delusion that by just hearing the testimony, of a pastor that he had the gift of discerning by their testimony whether they were converted or not, which is very, very much to be condemned. And he condemned all who refused to give their testimony or whose accounts were unsatisfactory. If he wasn't satisfied with their testimony, he pronounced them unconverted. or anybody who is in any way opposed to his movements is unconverted. He seems to have considered himself specially commissioned for this work, for he declared at Stonington that God had promised to call a number of unconverted ministers. By impressing on his mind the words, he will bless the house of Aaron. He arrived at New Haven in September, here a general revival had commenced the preceding winter, and its influence still remained. His descent from the famous John Davenport, the first pastor of that church, his consanguinity with several respectable families, and especially his reputation for uncommon sanctity and usefulness, procured him a favorable reception. So word got out, because he started out well. Whitfield spoke highly of him, Gilbert Tennant spoke highly of him, and his piety was commendable at first. and it went to his head, and the report getting into the ears of other people at other churches, he had a notable reputation, so they received him favorably. Mr. Noyes, the pastor of the church, admitted him to his pulpit, and there appears to have been no visible opposition. till he pronounced the pastor an unconverted man. On this, Mr. Noyce called a meeting of several friends, September 21st, among whom were the principal officers of Yale College, to whom Davenport gave some very frivolous reasons for believing that Mr. Noyce was unconverted. The result was that he was thenceforth secluded from the pulpits. In quote, Davenport is also noted for his bonfires of the vanities. So he gathered up him and his friends because he had a lot of friends and this kind of indiscreet zeal will get an audience and you will get followers. And this is how a lot of cults are started. And they were taking Puritan books like Flabel's works and they had a bonfire, a bonfire of the vanities. As with those of Gerolamo Savanarola, that was an Italian reformer, Davenport urged his followers to destroy immoral books and luxury items with fire. He often said that he could distinguish people who were saved versus people who were damned just by looking at them. In June 1742, Davenport and fellow preacher Benjamin Pomeroy were arraigned before the Colonial Assembly at Hartford, Connecticut, charged with disorderly conduct. Benjamin Pomeroy's case was dismissed, but Davenport was declared to be under enthusiastical impressions and impulses, and thereby disturbed and irrational faculties of his mind. No punishment was meted out, but Davenport was sent back to his former parish of It took six pastors from the Boston area to take this guy aside and say, you are under a delusion. And at first he would not listen. And because it took a while and then he retracted and he wrote a retraction and his repentance was really sincere. But what happens is when you have a following, even if you retract it and see that it was the devil that was leading you and not the Spirit of Christ, the followers don't necessarily repent. On March 7, 1743, Davenport exhibited perhaps his most bizarre behavior yet in an incident which garnished some lasting fame or infamy. The day before, he had led a crowd to burn a large pile of books. This day he called them to throw their expensive and fancy clothing onto the fire so this was before his retraction. This would prove their full commitment to God. Davenport, leading by example, removed his pants and cast them into the bonfire. One woman in the crowd quickly grabbed his pants out of the blaze and handed them back to Davenport, entreating him to get a hold of yourself. This act broke Davenport's spell, wrote historian Thomas Kidd. Davenport had gone too far. Charisma or not, the crowd quickly dispersed. After the bonfire ended, Davenport was charged with having the devil in him, and he replied he thought so too. I don't know that he was possessed, but he was certainly under the influence of the devil. And added that he was under the influence of an evil spirit and that God had left him in Quote, according to the Boston Weekly Post, the 28th of March, 1743, Davenport had exhibited signs of physical distress along with us on orthodox behavior symptoms that at the time would have been interpreted as evidence of demonic possession. So at that time they would have said that was demonic possession. And now we are a little bit more experimentally, theologically astute. We would not say that's demonic possession. possession, but he was certainly oppressed and under the delusion of the devil transformed into an angel of light. In 1744, after publicly acknowledging his missteps and apologizing to ministers around the colony, Davenport published a letter entitled, Confession and Retraction, appearing in pamphlets and in newspapers. And what's so interesting about that time Retractions and confessions like this, anything that was of a real interesting historic nature would make it into the largest newspapers of the area, including the Boston newspaper. The daughter claimed he had fallen into the snare of the devil, confessing to being led astray by impulses in the false spirit and spoke of a desire to distinguish the appendage from the substance or absence, that which is vile and odious from that which is precious, glorious, and divine. In the late 1740s and 50s, James Davenport struggled to reposition himself in the clerical mainstream. Nobody would receive him back as a pastor. You wrecked your reputation. It was hard for him to convince his fellow ministers that he could be taken seriously after being judged insane by two tribunals in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 1742, moving to Plainfield, Connecticut in 1744 as a supply minister proved difficult. As he departed in 1745, unable to find support from the old and the new lights of the area, receiving criticism from both sides. Well, the old lights and the new lights in the Presbyterian churches were those who were for the revival. Those were the old lights. The new lights and the old lights are those that are saying, ah, this doesn't seem to go according to our confession. And some of those people became the opponents of the revival. And one of them was Charles Chauncey. And what was interesting, some of these people that opposed the Great Awakening went on to become Unitarians and became heretics. And I'm not saying there's a one-to-one connection, but by not acknowledging what God was doing in the churches, That was a dangerous thing, too. Now, I want to close by quoting Jonathan Edwards' reflections on this, because he wrote a book called The Thoughts on the Present Revival of Religion in New England, and Edwards was under a lot of opposition by people like Charles Chauncey. And as a result of that, he wrote three books. distinguishing traits of a work of the Spirit of God, thoughts on the present revival of religion in New England, and a treatise on the religious affections, which I would say, and I've been studying this stuff 40 years, Edward's insights at this point are some of the most astute and brilliant things I've ever read in Christian experience. And so let me quote him here as we're closing. Though the devil will do his diligence to stir up the open enemies of religion, yet he knows what is for his interests so well that in a time of revival of religion, his main strength shall be tried with the friends of it, and he will chiefly exert himself in his attempts to mislead them. One truly zealous person in the time of such an event that seems to have a great hand in the affair and draws the eyes of many upon him. Devonport was getting people's attention. He may do more through Satan's being too subtle for him to hinder the work than a hundred great and strong and open opposers. In the time of the great work of Christ, his hands with which he works are often wounded in the house of his friends, and his work hindered chiefly by them. It is a mistake I have observed in some by which they have been greatly exposed to their wounding that they think they are in no danger of going astray or being misled by the devil because they are near. That's something that Edwards says that really, really is profound that has really affected me because I'm a very introspective person. And there are times when you know you're having really good communion with God. You're having really good fellowship with God. You feel His manifest presence. And it is interesting that Edwards would say that at that time, the devil comes in the most subtly. They are living near to God so they have no jealous eye upon themselves and neglect vigilance and circumspection as needless in their case. They say they do not think that God will leave them to dishonor him and ruin religion as long as they keep near to him. And I believe so too as long as they keep near to God so as to maintain a universal and diligent watch and care to their duty, avoid sentencers with diffidence in themselves and humble dependence and prayerfulness, but not merely because they are receiving blessed communications from God and refreshing views of Him, if at the same time they let down their watch and are not jealous over their own hearts by reason of its remaining blindness and corruption and a subtle adversary. It is a grand error for persons to think they are out of danger from the devil in a corrupt, deceitful heart, even in their highest flights in most raised frames of spiritual joy. For persons in such a confidence to cease to be jealous of themselves and to neglect watchfulness and care is a presumption by which I have known many woefully ensnared. However highly we may be favored with divine discoveries and comforts, yet as long as we are in the world, and it is interesting, it was when Paul was caught up to the third heavens, a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him so that he would learn that when I am weak, then I am strong. God was watching over his apostle. As long as we are in the world, we are in the enemy's country, and therefore that direction of Christ to his disciples is never out of date in this world. Luke 21, 36. Watch and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man." End quote. Now this is a paragraph, this is so profound and powerful in Jonathan Edwards. The devil has driven the pendulum far beyond its proper point of rest. So he gets people zealous this way and then they are in air and they get corrected and they overcorrect and the pendulum swings the other way and there's this extreme on the other side. And when he has carried it to the utmost length that he can and it begins by its own weight to swing back, he probably will sit in and drive it with the utmost fury the other way. And so give us no rest. And if possible, prevent our settling in a proper medium. Oh, what a poor, blind, weak, and miserable creatures, man, at his best estate. We are like poor, helpless sheep. The devil is too subtle for us. What is our strength? What is our wisdom? How ready are we to go astray? How easily are we drawn aside into innumerable snares, while in the meantime we are bold and confident and do not doubt but that we are right and safe. We are full of sheep in the midst of subtle serpents and cruel wolves and do not know it. Oh, how unfit are we to be left to ourselves And how much do we stand in need of the wisdom, the power, the condescension, patience, forgiveness, and gentleness of our good shepherd? And I had more notes, but I think that's enough for tonight. I just wanted to cover the two extremes. So we'll open this up to questions if anybody has anything that they would like to add to this. JD? I would ask, so in current terms, How could we, how can the church be better prepared to prevent this from happening like with what happened with Davenport early on rather than going to the extremes of when? Is there a way, kind of like a buffer or a check that could... Well, the very, very first thing is given in the qualifications for a pastor and that he be not novice. But what tends to happen, and I'm speaking from my own experience, I mean I remember when I wasn't under really good ministry and so on, is you don't have in these people a multitude of good counselors that they will subject themselves to. And anybody who is under a delusion that they are particularly gifted, and I try to warn young men about this who aspire to the ministry, that it really is important when you're Aspiring to the ministry, if God is calling you into the ministry, the church is going to recognize it and avoid, as much as you can, personal ambition. And any time this comes into myself, I always check it and say, if I'm not teaching in a more public manner, God has his reasons for it. And I'll give you an example, and I've given it to others who go to this church so they know this example, and that is that we have, for better or worse, I'm not sure I agree with that, we have a designation called the gifted brother. And these are people in our church that normally they are people who are in the seminary. and people will fill out this form, and the pastors will put people forth, and they will say, we want to put this person, this person, four people in this last case, who we think are gifted brothers, and we want you to vote. Is that what you see in them? But really, the designation and the pastors putting them forth, a lot of the people are not apt to go against the pastors. So that being said, and that's my qualifier, I look at it that if I have never been put forth as a, quote, gifted brother, and I'm given opportunities to teach as I have when I taught in Jeremiah and Lamentations, that if God means for me to teach in a more public manner, that door has to providentially open. Albert Martin talked about that in his five messages on the call to the ministry, and he says one of those is a providential door of opportunity opening. And I just caution people, and if I'm being careful of this at 64, when a person is 20, 30, 35 maybe, and they believe that the pastors aren't recognizing my giftedness, and they have a little bit too much personal ambition. I think it's always dangerous to press forward, to put yourself forward instead of other people bringing you along. And Davenport's delusion for sure is that he did not receive counsel the moment that it came. And for somebody to rise up against somebody because they didn't like to counsel and say, I believe you're unconverted, man, that is a dangerous, dangerous, And I would recommend anybody, anybody who you are concerned about this way and you're counseling them, go to thoughts on present revival of religion. And there is a section in there that's almost unequaled in the English language on this subject called Undiscerned Spiritual Pride by Jonathan Edwards. Man, that and volume one, I have I've read it so many times of the Two Banner Truth edition of his works. It starts on page 396. That's how many times I've looked at it. I've narrated it. I narrated part of it just a few weeks ago. The worst curse and the first open door to the devil is undiscerned spiritual pride. And that's why I think it's also good to have a plurality of elders. And I think even if there has been a fault in our past, it's that even in a plurality of elders, and we had this happen up north, where one of the pastors was more put forward and wasn't properly under the oversight of the other pastors to head this off. And I really believe that what tends to happen, and it can happen in this church too, is that you have one pastor that's more prominent, he's more of the leader, he gains the respect immediately of the other pastors, and the church goes in the direction of the that pastor. I know it happened in another case of Pastor Nichols that became somewhat of a Pastor Nichols type church. And believe me, I love Pastor Nichols. I really, really respect him. But when you have somebody with that kind of giftedness, and he's very much a prominent leader, you have other pastors who aren't that forward in their leadership, and they will tend to have somebody more the prominent pastor and They may not even see it's going on, but they are the ones that are subtly calling the shots. You know what I'm saying, Michael? Okay, so the Valley of Humility, when it said he was slipping and they were helping him, what does the slipping represent? I would have to say that it's not really clear because trials could just be tests of our faith and so on. But he was going down, and it's easier to go down, so it's more important that we watch our steps as we are going downhill than we are going up. And if you're going up a hill, as a Christian, we're speaking of an allegory, we're speaking of a metaphor. If we're going up a hill and we immediately feel its difficulty. We're going to tend to cry out to God more immediately, but a slip could be spiritual declension. It definitely could, that by subtle degrees a person, because he is now on a roll, and he was in the Palace Beautiful, and the spiritual winds fill his cells as he's going down. Maybe you could have a tendency to rely on past experiences to get you by instead of really appreciating your absolute need of God for every present thing. So, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's tripping up and some kind of sin. It could mean that it's affecting him even in his spiritual walk. We don't use the armor until Polyon hisses, you know. Blake? Yeah. Everything you've been saying is like a mirror into my own heart. It's been really good. I think out of all the questions I've written down, I think one question does stick out. is how do we get through spiritual depression when our own sin reminds us of our own failure? Yeah, so it's so interesting that you asked that because this morning I was narrating Cases of Conscience by Samuel Pike. and Samuel Hayward, and the question is so similar to what you are asking, and people who... See, the ironic thing is, Blake, and I say this for your encouragement, that sometimes when you're making the most progress, you actually feel more sinful, because as more light is being let in, you begin to become aware of things that you hadn't noticed before. So it's not necessarily that you're backsliding, but that is you receiving more light in your study of the word. But listen to this language and see if this doesn't scratch where you're reaching. And by the way, this is free. I had a brother republish this. Between the year 1755 and 1859, this book was never out of print because books like this were loved. And I narrated it this morning. Compared to other narrations, it just doesn't have the. enthusiasm I'd like to see, but he says, Sir, I'm a person who has for some years been a professed follower of Jesus. I have had a place in his house, enjoyed great privileges, and have advantages above many, sitting under a sound, faithful, and tender minister. But under these means of fruitfulness, alas, I seem barren and unprofitable. I'm afraid that I go backward in religion and make advances in sin. And what is worse, my heart is so hard that I don't mourn over these declensions as I should. Therefore, I fear that I am not properly affected by them. No sooner does a temptation offer itself than I fall in with it, so that I often think whether my refraining from gross immoralities is not more for a lack of temptations than from a real hatred of them and a real love for holiness. And yet I hope I sincerely strive and pray and resolve against sin in Christ's strength. being convinced that I have no strength sufficient of my own. But can I sincerely do this and fall so frequently? He goes on with that and the answer is really very helpful. Let's take a view of the particular circumstances or complaints which this case consists of. These we find are various. Here is barrenness and unfruitfulness under the abundant means mentioned. Here coldness and lifelessness are complained of. Here there is a fear of going backward and yet a mind that is not suitably affected by it. This person particularly complains of deadness at the Lord's Supper and of being carried away with temptations. These occasions of fear, lest his abstaining from gross immoralities, arises from a lack of temptations rather than from a hatred of sin and of holiness. And I'm just going to give you a little of the counsel if you Of course, you can download this, but I narrated it this morning, and I do this because I need it, because I have the same questions you do, of course. It is an unspeakable mercy when we have a deep and humbling sense of barbareness, deadness, and unprofitableness, and to be enabled to spread it before the Lord. Some persons are indeed mere cumberers of the ground, and we know you're not that bleak. They bring forth no real fruit, and yet they are entirely unconcerned about it. But you are concerned about it. They enjoy all the privileges of the gospel. They are favored with all the means of grace, and yet they are absolutely unaffected by the great concerns of eternity. This is a false convert. But notwithstanding all this, they think well of themselves and say, hypocrite-like, stand by yourself and don't come near us, for we are holier than you. How awful to be in such a condition. But is this your case, my dear friend? You find a coldness and indifference under these means and are afraid you're going backward rather than forward. You complain of hardness and insensibility, but remember, felt hardness, you feel it, is not real hardness of heart. It is a blessing rather than a judgment, and therefore it calls for thankfulness. It is stupidity, and when they say stupidity, they mean abduracy, hardness of heart. It is a stupidity that is felt and lamented over, but not like the absolute stupidity of the impenitent Sinner. Don't you carry your complaints to God and tell him of your coldness, your fears, your insensibility? Don't you appear humble in your own eyes on this account? Aren't you accusing yourself of your ingratitude and abhorring yourself for your vileness? This is no evidence of a hypocrite, but rather of a real Christian. A hypocrite who abstains from outward immorality thinks all is well with him, but the Christian appears violent, odious in his own eyes on account of the sinfulness of his heart. Though he has no public sins to charge himself with, yet when he looks within, he feels enough to make him appear vile and despicable. It is a peculiar mercy to be made sensible of the plague, the wickedness, the coldness of our heart, and to be deeply humbled under it. The Spirit of God always shows the Christian what he is, so that he may the more readily acquiesce in the method of salvation exhibited in the gospel. So here is a paradox that you are feeling. You are mourning. and acknowledge this and bringing it to God in this, you are comforted. The joy in the morning always go together. That self-loathing, how can I just keep slipping with my Oh, I went off with my mouth again, and you bring it to God and say, oh God, if I really loved you, why am I thus? Well, the hypocrite wouldn't be confessing that. He can do it without his conscience. His conscience may accuse him of it, but not with any real feeling of self-loathing for it. So, take comfort in this, that your very confession and groaning, and you brought it up before, is an encouragement to me that I can far more, and I've told people this, I can far more easily fellowship with somebody who is living in Romans 7, 14 to 25, that which I would, I do not. But the evil that I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, It is no longer I that dwells in me. And when people are drawn into me like that, and they say, a wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And I hear that from a brother, I say, man, your heart's like mine. I can fellowship with you. But people who I fellowship with that never seem to have any of this valley And I cannot judge their heart, and I can't say they're not a Christian, but I struggle to fellowship with them if they know nothing of this battle within, of this warfare without, of this groaning before God, of this hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Jeremiah? Yeah, and I don't have a question, but I like what you said, that groaning within, you know, Well, and I would just give an admonition to you guys. Be in prayer for him if you are married. And in the providence of God, you are separated from your wife. That is a very hard cross to bear. Because you've already been married, you've already been with her, and now she is taken apart from you. So the temptations there are enormous. Unless we just give in to them. Be in prayer for your brother. Always be in prayer for one another in this regard. Jason? The only thing that came to my mind when you were talking about the devil and attacking your mind is that when I get up in the morning and I have time to read and pray, some mornings I'm very focused and very attentive to what I'm reading and studying, praying about, and then other mornings I can't seem to keep two thoughts in my mind straight on what I'm doing. It was really helpful for me to really encourage you, and it may be difficult for some people to read this, but what was probably the most helpful in John Owen's treatise on indwelling sin Chapter 4 partly, but Chapter 5 in that, in dwelling sin, and you guys who have been in my class, you will remember that I said the power of sin reigning on us no longer remains, it no longer reigns, but sin is always of a sin nature. It has one goal, fight neither with small nor great, but with the King of Israel. In chapter 5 of the Treatise on Indwelling Sin, he talks about indwelling sin being rooted in the remaining enmity, hostility, aversion, and disinclination to God. In a Christian, it doesn't reign in him, but it remains in him. And when you wake up in the morning, and I wish, and this is why I'm praying God, someday give me a larger audience. These things need to be communicated that the moment that you wake up, you have to realize that this is what sin is aiming at. And so you don't cast yourself down, you see the remains of it and what it is aiming at. So any disinclination, and he talks about this, any aversion to our present duty of having real serious spiritual fellowship with God is has its root in the remains of what was enmity against him. It always has to keep being mortified because if you let it alone, its goal is to make your whole spiritual man disinclined to having serious devotions with God. And I'll get up in the morning, this morning, it was a quarter to five, by the time I get my coffee and pick out what I want to narrate, it's about 5.15. And I might start reading, and it could be five or 10 minutes before I say, this is ministering to me like I want it to. And I might switch two or three times what I'm reading, because if my narrations aren't doing me good. I don't think I can communicate them in such a way that the audience is going to be the better for hearing them. But I now have the realization reading Chapter 5, and I've narrated it more than once. And if you go to Sermon Audio, you look under the Narrated Puritan Treatise on Influence and John Owen. Chapter 5, that chapter, there are certain chapters in each book of Owen that I say, this is really, really helpful. One of them I did just this week was chapter 3 of Temptation. I said, this is absolutely profound. But that disinclination that you feel, you really have to understand what that is so that you don't unsaint yourself because you feel the remains of it in you. There are mornings where you see this war going on inside and you say, Lord, I just I cannot seem to incline myself to cry out to you, and your word just seems like bare words on a page. And sin has worked all night to try to gain as much ground as it can. King of the hill! But it can never be at the top of the hill, because Christ is at the top of the hill, but its nature is to still try. To do so, it still wants to gain the ascendancy. Are you feeling, Robert? You have a phone? Yeah, I've had a phone for a while, yeah. Oh, okay. There's somebody else with another question. I don't want to cut anybody short. Go ahead, Robert. So, in regards to that one question, about hell and how when we become Christians and we're spiritual babes, that really puts a target on our backs for the devil. I guess, what's the clearest scripture passage in regards to that? Like, what do you think it'd be, the parable of Sower? Like, what do you think it is? No, no, because the parable of Sower is four types of ground passage for that sort of notion? You know, I'm, first of all, I'm not sure I'm 100% in agreement that the devil's strongest attacks are against a new Christian because according to Archibald Alexander, And I can see where he's coming from, from that. But Archibald Alexander says that God in his mercy sometimes takes the spiritual baby Christ and dandles him on his knee, so to speak, and keeps him from being buffeted by the rugged storm because he knows that he would not be able to stand up under them until he has grown a little bit in grace and therefore He doesn't, but it just varies because God's trials of us are so very various, but in his kindness, he sometimes does that. But he says that for the strengthening of your faith, he'll hide his face from you for a while so that you'll learn not to depend upon your good brains. You won't say, well, I'm really in a good state because I'm really having good spiritual frames. I really feel close to God. And so, that you will learn to depend upon Him when you're in the valley, when you, in Isaiah, it says that a child of light is walking in darkness. And therefore, it's not that he's sinning, but that God hides his manifest presence so that he'll learn to depend upon God even when he seems so distant from him. I've never heard that theology. I would recommend you read A Child of Light Walking in Darkness by Thomas Goodwin. Well, you know why you haven't heard that theology? Because in our day we don't really study that there is a manifest presence of God that can be felt, and there is a time of spiritual darkness when God's presence is not so much experienced by us. Yeah, yeah. I agree with that, but I guess the thing of God intentionally separated himself from us to teach us a lesson. Hosea 5.15, therefore I will go and hide myself until they acknowledge their ways. And a sermon that went along with that by Jonathan Edwards, God makes men sensible of their misery before he reveals in love and mercy. You know, what happens is we get all of our Christian experimental theology from the New Testament. So we really haven't studied the Book of Songs, but I can assure you there are songs where David says that God did not feel near him. That's why he said, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He wasn't feeling the manifest presence of God. leaving you in your own strength. It's almost a matter of, like, God is going to allow you to go through an experience now where you don't feel his presence, so that you're not always depending on the feeling, but you learn to say, I'm going to trust God whether I feel it or not. Right. And God knows how to make you, you could say, make you feel that way by taking away that presence of comfort Why would you value it if it's there all the time? You don't value it as much, you don't pursue it as much, you don't have to depend on it. And again, Isaiah 50, who among you fears the Lord, but walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. You know, God sometimes will put you in those situations where you feel like, I have no clue what's going on, I don't know, I don't feel your comfort, I don't know anything, all I know is I'm gonna trust you. Because you see what I'm saying? Like, if you didn't have those situations, how would your faith grow? He has to put you through the fire. And there are different trials that God puts you through, but that's one of them, is just allowing you to go through a season where you don't feel his presence so that you will seek him more diligently, more earnestly. And I do agree, I think the Psalms are really clear in that way. It's clear that David was saying, my soul thirsts for you. But I don't think it was just a matter of sin all the time that he didn't feel that presence. I think sometimes God was allowing him to go through that so he would seek it earnestly. Yeah. Well, so much of Job is trying to lean on his own understanding of why God is bringing so much difficulty into his life. And then God really manifests himself in Job 40. onward, and then Job says, I've got to put my hand on my mouth. I thought I knew you, but now I understand. But also, you can be in a decent spiritual way, and still your prayer should still be as Paul. Read that prayer in Ephesians 3, strengthen me with might by your spirit in the inner man. What that means is he wants more of the Holy Spirit to enliven the affections, enlighten the mind, more incline my will, and more give life to my holy affections for you. Because the fact of the matter is, when we get to heaven, there's not going to be anything from hindering us. But right now, while we carry about us a body of death, According to John 15, we need the Spirit of Christ for every good fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. So, what you're experiencing is just the degrees to which the Holy Spirit is assisting you. If He always assisted us at the greatest amount, we would not pray to Him for daily grace for more strength to walk in his ways. That's why David says in Psalm 119 verse 32, enlarge my heart so that I will walk in the way of your commandments. Well, what is he saying there? May the Holy Spirit bring the power to my native disinclination, my native disaffection, and my innate darkness, enliven these things so that I can more follow you. And the whole purpose of Jonathan Edwards' work on a treatise on the religious affections is to show that true religion consists very much in the affections. You're not only to pray, but you are to be fervent in prayer and rejoicing. And none of us do these things as we ought nor can we without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. So, if God's Holy Spirit just, He hasn't leave you, He cannot abandon His own, but you can have manifest more power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to walk the Christian life. That's why we are to pray, Lord, strengthen me with my, or Lord, incline my will, you see it continually through Psalm 119. So, it's just the degree of the Holy Spirit enabling you to live the Christian life. Now, where people make the mistake is they think that under the Old Testament, people were inclined and did the will of God out of their own strength, but in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit assists them. They were as much needed that needed the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, to obey God as you do in the New, it's just our understanding is more enlightened by the Holy Scriptures of how the Holy Spirit does it in the New. And it became very obvious he does it only for his own. Anyway, I'm taxing people's patience with... Yeah, go ahead. So we were talking about Davenport and how he was a man of much prominence. He had a lot of reputation going for him. And yet he was misinterpreting and misreading scripture as he fell into this delusion and perhaps psychosis of some sort. And I was wondering, how do you reason with scripture, the truth, with a person who is in a delusional state and is misinterpreting everything they're reading? Like they open up the Bible, That's God telling me this verse. I mean, I went through that too. Right, right. It's so interesting you put it that way because I was reading Archibald Alexander and he's talking about the melancholy person and he says that when a person, he's quoting Timothy Rogers, discourse on melancholy and trouble of mind. And he says that Edwards knew people like this in the family that attended his congregation, the holy family that were really given to melancholy. And Edwards doesn't name them by name at that point, but he says when people are really under the most serious cases of melancholy, you can't even read the scriptures to them because in that state, everything that they hear, they will misimprove and turn it against themselves. He says, if they will hear them, good. But at that point, you have to pray above all things for them, because a person could get in that state of spiritual depression. You're reading the scriptures and they cannot apply it to themselves. And it's interesting, I did not go into this, but maybe I, there was one more paragraph in this that I think that because it answers your question, I should, I'm sorry, that's not my notes. when I still had that other book open. But let me read this by John Owen of Temptation, because it answers your question. The Devil's Wiles of Temptation. The devil, by fixing the imagination and the thoughts upon the object in which it tends, so that the mind shall be diverted from the consideration of the things that would relieve and succor it in the state in which it is. A man is tempted to apprehend that he is forsaken of God, that he is an object of his hatred, that he has no interest in Christ. By the craft of Satan, the mind shall be so fixed to the consideration of this state and condition, with the distress of it, that he shall not be able to manage any of the reliefs suggested and tendered to him against it. But following the fullness of his own thoughts shall walk on in darkness and have no light. I say, a temptation will so possess and fill the mind with thoughtfulness of itself and the manner of it, that it will take off from the clear consideration of things which otherwise it might and would have." And this is in The Power of Temptation in Chapter 3 of Temptation by John Owen. But Satan so fastens this upon the mind that the mind cannot divert from. But Owen also will say this, and I think this is important because if you read Psalm 88 about him and there's just no real rejoicing in that psalm at all, that it is not God's usual way to keep you in that state because it fights against faith and trust and so on. And so a person who is continually in that state is incapacitated to bring in fruit to God and to perfection. So, it is not God's normal method to allow a person to stay there for a continued length of time, or none of the thoughts that come from the mind could please God, because they're all an unbelief. And God says that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. And you cannot diligently seek God if you think that He is a lion standing in wait to pounce upon you. but a person can get to that state. That's why back in 1983, when I, 1984, when I came across Thoughts on Religious Experience, Chapter 4 on the melancholy, and he was quoting Timothy Rogers, and by the way, that book, has been put in PDF and Kindle format by Monarchism, I believe. Well, it's also on thewing.org, where this book, Case of the Consciousness, is. One word, on thewing.org. And the guy who runs that website, I'm good friends with, and he published Timothy Rogers' book. But Rogers was, for two years, under some of the most intense fears that he was under the wrath of God. That's why he wrote that book. And in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, they mentioned one other guy, Roger Glover, that was under this for five years. And when he was delivered from it, he was so delivered from it that the biographer said that he appeared as one already in heaven. He was just so full of joy for the rest of his life. But why? We just certainly do not know. Now, I know part of it is physiological. And it's interesting, the very word melancholy, as the Greeks used it, were two words that in the English are black bile. Bile is a secretion from the liver that they used to believe physiologically a lot of the problems of melancholy started with liver problems, liver disease. Now, whether that's true or not, the fact of the matter is we never want to discount the physiological or bodily, physical problems in how this adds to this spiritual depression.