David Brainerd, Life and Diary:
Some signs of godliness.
The distinguishing marks of a true Christian, taken from one of my old manuscripts; where I wrote as I felt and experienced, and not from any considerable degree of doctrinal knowledge, or acquaintance with the sentiments of others in this point.
- He has a true knowledge of the glory and excellency of God, that he is most worthy to be loved and praised for his own divine perfections. Psalm. cxlv..3.
- God is his portion, Psal. lxxiii. 25. And God’s glory his great concern, Matt. vi. 22.
- Holiness is his delight; nothing he so much longs for, as to be holy as God is holy. Phil. iii. 9-12.
- Sin is his greatest enemy. This he hates, for its own nature, for what it is in itself, being contrary to a holy God, Jer. ii. 1. And consequently he hates all sin, Rom. vii. 24. 1 John iii. 9.
- The laws of God also are his delight, Psal. cxix. 97. Rom. vii. 22. These he observes, not out of constraint, from a servile fear of hell; but they are his choice, Psal. cxix. 30. The strict observance of them is not his bondage, but his greatest liberty, ver. 45.
Words of Grace 