But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
— Isaiah 28:13
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
— 2 Peter 3:16
Drawing False Conclusions from True Premises, by Jonathan Edwards. The following contains an excerpt from Part Two of his work, “Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England.”
Again, another way that many have been deceived, is by drawing false conclusions from true premises. Many true and eminent saints have been led into mistakes and snares by arguing too much from what they have prayed in faith. This is oftentimes when the premises are true. They have indeed been greatly assisted in prayer for some particular mercy, and have had the true spirit of prayer exercised in their asking for it from God. But they have concluded more from these premises than is a just consequence from them. What they have thus prayed is a “sure sign” that their prayer is accepted and heard, and that God will give a gracious answer according to His own wisdom. They conclude that the particular thing that was asked for will be given, or some equivalent thing. This is a just consequence from praying. But it is not inferred by any new revelation now made. It is by the revelation that is made in God’s word, the promises made in the holy Scriptures to the prayer of faith. But to think that God will answer them in that individual thing which they asked for, is more than can be justly concluded from it — if it is not something promised in God’s word, or they don’t certainly know it will be most for the good of God’s church and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom and glory, nor whether it will be best for themselves. If God remarkably meets with one of His children while he is praying for a particular mercy of great importance for himself, or some other person, or any society of men — and by the influences of His Spirit, God greatly humbles him, and empties him of himself in his prayer; and He manifests Himself remarkably in his excellency, sovereignty, and his all-sufficient power and grace in Jesus Christ; and in a remarkable way, He enables the person to come to Him for that mercy, poor in spirit, and with humble resignation to God, and with a great degree of faith in the divine sufficiency, and the sufficiency of Christ’s mediation — then that person has indeed a great deal more reason to hope that God will grant that mercy, than he might otherwise have. The greater probability is justly inferred from that, according to the promises of the holy Scripture, that the prayer is accepted and heard. And it is much more probable that a prayer that is heard, will be answered with the particular mercy that is asked for, than a prayer that is not heard. There is no reason at all to doubt that God sometimes especially enables us to exercise faith, when the minds of his saints are engaged in thoughts of, and prayer for, some particular blessing they greatly desire. That is, God is especially pleased to give them a believing frame, a sense of His fulness, and a spirit of humble dependence on Him, at those times when they are thinking of, and praying for that mercy, more than for other mercies. He gives them a particular sense of His ability to do that thing; a sense of the sufficiency of His power to overcome particular obstacles; and of the sufficiency of His mercy, and of the blood of Christ, to remove the guilt that is in the way of bestowing such a mercy in particular. When this is the case, it makes the probability still much greater, that God intends to bestow the particular mercy sought, in His own time, and in His own way.
There is nothing here of the nature of a revelation in the case, but only drawing rational conclusions from the particular manner and circumstances of the ordinary gracious influences of God’s Spirit. God is sometimes pleased to give his saints particular exercises of faith in His sufficiency with regard to particular mercies they seek. So too, He is sometimes pleased to make use of his word to do that. He helps their actings of faith with respect to such a mercy, by using texts of Scripture that especially exhibit the sufficiency of God’s power or mercy in a similar case; or texts which speak of the manner of the exercise of God’s strength and grace. The strengthening of their faith in God’s sufficiency in this case, is therefore a just use of such Scriptures. It is no more than what those Scriptures, as they stand in the Bible, hold out just cause for. But to take them as new whispers or revelations from heaven, is not making a just use of them. If people from time to time have a spirit of prayer remarkably given to them concerning a particular mercy, so as to be evidently assisted to exercise faith in God in that particular thing, in a very distinguishing manner, the argument in some cases may be very strong that God designs to grant that mercy — not from any revelation now made of it, but from that kind and manner of his Spirit’s ordinary influence, with respect to that thing.
But here a great deal of caution and circumspection must be used in drawing inferences of this nature. There are many ways in which people may be misled and deluded. The ground on which some expect to receive the thing they asked for, is a strong imagination rather than any true and humble faith in the divine sufficiency. They have a strong persuasion that the thing asked for will be granted (which they can give no reason for), without any remarkable revelation of that glory and fulness of God and Christ that is the ground of faith. The confidence people sometimes have that their prayers will be answered, is only a self-righteous confidence, and not true faith. They have a high conceit of themselves as eminent saints, and special favorites of God. They also have a high conceit of the prayers they have made, because they were greatly enlarged and affected in them. Hence they are positive that the thing will come to pass. Sometimes, once they have conceived such a notion in their minds, they grow stronger and stronger in it. They think it’s from an immediate divine hand upon their minds to strengthen their confidence — whereas it is only from dwelling on their own excellency, and high experiences, and great assistances, by which they look brighter and brighter in their own eyes. Hence, sound observation and experience show that nothing in the world exposes so much to enthusiasm, as spiritual pride and self-righteousness.
In order to draw a just inference from the supposed assistance that we have in prayer for a particular mercy, and judging the probability of God’s bestowing that individual mercy, many things must be considered. We must consider the importance of the mercy sought, and the principle from which we so earnestly desire it — how far it is good and agreeable to the mind and will of God; the degree of love to God that we exercise in our prayer; the degree of revelation that is made about the divine sufficiency; and the degree in which our assistance is manifestly discerning with respect to that mercy. There is nothing of greater importance in the argument, than the degree of humility and poverty of spirit, self-emptiness, and resignation to the holy will of God which God gives us to exercise in seeking that mercy. Praying for a particular mercy with much of these things, I have often seen blessed with a remarkable bestowment of the particular thing asked for.
From what has been said, we may see which way God may, by the ordinary gracious influences of his Spirit, sometimes give his saints special reason to hope for the bestowment of a particular mercy they desire and have prayed for. And we may suppose He oftentimes gives this to eminent saints, who have great degrees of humility and much communion with God. Here, I humbly conceive, some eminent servants of Jesus Christ, who have appeared in the church of God, and whom we read about in ecclesiastical story, have been led into a mistake. Through a lack of distinguishing things like these from immediate revelations, they thought God favored them in some instances, with the same kind of divine influences that the apostles and prophets had of old.
Another erroneous principle that some have embraced, which has been a source of many errors in their conduct, is that people should always do whatever the Spirit of God inclines them to do (even if only indirectly). Indeed, the Spirit of God is infinitely perfect; and all His immediate actings, simply considered, are perfect; there can be nothing wrong in them. Therefore, all that the Spirit of God inclines us to do, directly and immediately, should be done — assuming there is no intervention of any other cause that perverts and misuses what is from the Spirit of God. But there may be many things we are disposed to do, that we should not do, even if this disposition is indirectly from the Spirit of God. The disposition in general may be good, and indeed it may be from the Spirit of God. But the particular determination of that disposition as to particular actions, objects, and circumstances, may be bad, and not from the Spirit of God. It may instead be from the intervention or interposition of some infirmity, blindness, inadvertence, deceit, or corruption of ours. So that, although the disposition in general should be allowed and promoted, and also all those acts which are simply from God’s Spirit, the particular ill direction or determination of that disposition which is from some other cause, should not be followed.
For instance, the Spirit of God may cause a person to have a dear love for another, and so a great desire for and delight in his comfort, ease, and pleasure. This disposition in general is good, and ought to be followed. Yet, through the intervention of indiscretion, or some other bad cause, it may be ill-directed, and have a bad determination as to particular acts. The person indirectly — through that real love that he has for his neighbor — may kill him with kindness. Out of sincere good will to a neighbor, he may do what may tend to ruin him. A good disposition may, through some inadvertence or delusion, strongly incline a person to do that which, if he saw all things as they are, would be most contrary to that disposition. The true loyalty of a general, and his zeal for the honor of his prince, may exceedingly animate him in war. Yet this same good disposition, through indiscretion and mistake, may push him into those things that give the enemy a great advantage, and may expose him and his army to ruin, and may tend to the ruin of his master’s interest.
The apostle evidently supposes that the Spirit of God in his extraordinary, immediate and miraculous influences on men’s minds, may in some respect excite inclinations in men, that if gratified, would tend toward confusion. And therefore these must sometimes be restrained, and in their exercise, must be under the government of discretion. 1Cor 14.31-33, “For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Here, the spirits of the prophets, according to the known phraseology of the apostle, means the Spirit of God acting in the prophets, according to those special gifts with which each one was endowed. It is plainly implied that the Spirit of God thus operating in them, may be an occasion sometimes, for having an inclination to do that which, in the exercise of those gifts, it was not proper, decent, or profitable to do. And therefore, the inclination, though indirectly from the Spirit of God, should be restrained, and be subject to the discretion of the prophets as to the particular time and circumstance of its exercise.
I have no doubt that it is possible for a minister to have the Spirit of God give to him such a sense of the importance of eternal things, and of the misery of mankind (that so many are exposed to eternal destruction), together with such a love for souls, that he might find a disposition to spend all his time, day and night, in warning, exhorting, and calling upon men. So that, he must be obliged, as it were, to force himself to refrain, so as to give himself an opportunity to eat, drink, or sleep. So too, I believe there may be a disposition in like manner, indirectly excited in lay people, through the intervention of their infirmity, to do what belongs to ministers only; even to do those things that would not become either ministers or people. Through the influence of the Spirit of God, together with a lack of discretion, and some remaining corruption, women and children might feel themselves inclined to break out and scream aloud to great congregations, warning and exhorting the whole multitude; or to go out and halloo and scream in the streets; or to leave the families they belong to, and go from house to house, earnestly exhorting others. Yet it would by no means follow from this, that it was their duty to do these things, or that they would not have a tendency to do ten times as much hurt as good.
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