 The saints alone are in an epistemic position to discern truths of religion that are dependent on the “excellency of divine things”. For example, a conviction of Christ's sufficiency as a mediator depends on an apprehension of his beauty and excellency. Or, again, one must see the beauty of holiness to appreciate the “hatefulness of sin,” and thus be convinced of the justice of divine punishment and our inability to make restitution. The new sense also helps us grasp the truth of the gospel scheme as a whole. A conviction of its truth is an immediate inference from a perception of the beauty or splendor of what it depicts, namely, “God and Jesus Christ…the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God” (A Divine and Supernatural Light, 1734; Edwards 1957–, vol. 17, 413).