shall have too much ground to suspect that our Faith is not an unfeign'd Faith 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1 5. Tit. 1.1 or the Faith of Gods elect if it do not work by love It is further evident That Assurance must be maintained by Reflection or Self-Examination because the Apostle makes that to be the scope of his Epistle That those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life 1 John 5.13 and may still believe or be confirmed in their Faith If any doubt what those things are that he refers to doubtless they are not the things immediately going before but the Epistle in general In several places of which he shews what doth evidence a state of Salvation and what is inconsistent therewith as Ch. 1.6 7. Ch. 2.3 15. Ch. 3.14 Ch. 5.1 4. Now after all this some are unsatisfied with this way of attaining Assurance or rather maintaining it as being neither satisfactory nor necessary and it seems to found our Assurance and Comfort on something in our selves For this last Objection to dispatch it in few words As fruit tho it grow from the Root yet grows upon the Branches so tho all our Hope and Comfort be originally from the Grace of God yet this manifesting it self in its effects we may comfort our selves in what God hath wrought in our selves as well as rejoice in behalf of others when we see them walking in truth 2 John 4. or see in them those things that accompany Salvation Heb. 6.9 or have Salvation following on them And if any say this may suffice for a Judgment of Charity which is all that is required of us in reference to others but it is not sufficient to that judgment of certainty which we should have concerning our selves This will receive an answer from what I have to say upon the two other exceptions Now whereas it is said that this way of self-examination leaves Christians at great uncertainty about their Spiritual Estate and the evidences that are usually given for satisfying them are not so convincing but Christians are perplexed still with fears and doubts I answer That we should not go to Ministers either in hearing or reading or conferring as Naaman went to the Prophet to be cured of his Leprosie expecting that he should do it with a word of his mouth and a stroke of his hand 2 King 5.11 We cannot expect that they should presently resolve us about our Spiritual condition but there is much diligence to be used by our selves as there is in all things of any worth which are difficult As this deserves our diligence so it requires our diligence not only for the tryal of our Grace but for the exercise of it It is observed by some that Christians in our days have not ordinarily that Assurance which others have had in former times and I doubt the observation may be true but I think it proceeds not so much from any error about the nature of Faith as from decay in Grace and that manifest declining that there is in the practice of Religion and it is no wonder that professors of Religion are such strangers to Assurance and Spiritual Comfort while there is such a manifest difference betwixt the Christians of these days and of former times and I desire that the words of one suspected by none to derogate from the Grace of God or the operations of his Spirit in reference to man's Salvation may be diligently heeded It is saith he impossible that many professors whom we see and converse withal should have any solid peace with God It is a fruit that will not grow on an earthly selfish frame of mind and conversation God forbid but that our utmost diligence and continued endeavours to thrive in every Grace should be required thereunto Now in this case I neither think it so easy a matter as some do to attain Assurance nor such an impossibility as others do Some Learned Men think that Assurance doth generally accompany saving Faith because they suppose the Soul must needs know its own acts and so must necessarily know when it believes and when it repents and consequently infer its own Justification But tho it be easy to know our own acts considered Physically or Naturally that is when we put forth such an act in general as when we believe or repent or know God yet it is another thing to know our own acts morally considered or as they ought to be qualified in order to such ends as they are appointed to There may be a Faith which is but temporary Mat. 13.21 or for a season there may be a repentance like that of Nineveh which may avail to the preventing of temporal Judgments but not to Salvation There may be such a knowledge whereby we do not know things as we ought to know them 1 Cor. 8.2 Tit. 1.16 so we may only profess that we know God But we must know that we know him 1 Jo. 2.3 Jer. 22.16 by our Obedience as the fruit or effect thereof so it requires search and self-examination 2 Cor. 13.5 to know whether we are in the Faith or in the state of true believers But on the other hand some suppose it impossible to attain Assurance by reflecting upon any thing in our selves as an evidence of God's special Grace or favour towards us and that they may wholly disable Christians for inferring any Assurance from any thing in themselves they deny both propositions from whence they should draw their conclusion For example we say that those who love the brethren are passed from Death to Life 1 Jo. 3.14 By reflecting upon our selves we add further that we love the brethren thence we conclude that we are passed from death to life Now these men with whom we have now to do deny both the Propositions that is they deny we know that we our selves are passed from death to life by our love to the brethren making this to be rather a ground of a judgment of Charity concerning others than a judgment of certainty concerning our selves for we may surely make a better judgment of our own love to the brethren than of the love of others only they think a judgment of Charity may suffice towards others but we are now speaking of Assurance of our own love but in this argument they insist on the second Proposition denying absolutely that we can know our own love to the brethren or at least that Christians can ordinarily know it there being so many properties of it which it is hardly possible for any Christian to find in himself 1 Cor. 13.4 c. but further we must know them to be brethren they say otherwise Papists or any sort of persons love those of their own way looking upon them as brethren Yea we see such Divisions and Animosities and mutual Exacerbations among Christians as it seems impossible either to attain to a judgment of Charity
working of fancy but it must be imputed to God's immediate support putting Gladness into their hearts Ps 4.7 shedding abroad his love in their hearts by the Holy Ghost given to them Rom. 5 5. But to suppose this to be God's ordinay way of dealing with his People and to allow them no Assurance but what God gives them in such an immediate way would leave many humble serious Christians that dare not boast of what God hath not wrought in them under perpetual doubts and fears And because many are ready to think that what the Scripture speaks about the witness of the Spirit the seal of the Spirit and the earnest of the Spirit do imply some immediate way of the Spirit communicating himself to Christians I will endeavour to shew you what may be the true and proper import of such Expressions As for that the Spirit 's witnessing with our spirits or to our spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 supposing what I before said about his immediate Comforts in extraordinary Tryals and Temptations which seems to be the state of Christians at that time the Spirit may ordinarily be said to witness with our spirit or to our spirit 1st With our spirit and for the clearing of this we must consider that whatever is written in Scripture is the Testimony of the Spirit he doth therein testify 1 Pet. 1.11 and it is said particularly that the Holy Ghost is a witness to us of the perfection of Christ's Sacrafice and this he is in the Scripture Heb. 10.15 or what he hath there testified as is evident from the words following Now it no where saith in Scripture that this or that person is the Son of God our Names may be written in Heaven but not in the Scripture so it is said to testify of Christ but not by Name but describing him by his works which verse 36. are said to testify of him or to bear witness that his Father had sent him Joh. 3.39 these put together the testimony of the Scripture and his own works did witness that he was the Messiah Thus the Spirit of God witnesses in general who are the Sons of God giving Characters whereby they may be known as walking after the Spirit loving the Brethren c. This we know by the Spirit of God speaking in the word but that we do these things we know by our own spirits which we must appeal to and examine about it this being the Candle of the Lord which searches the hidden parts of the belly Prov. 20.27 2 Cor. 1.12 that is our most secret thoughts and the witness thereof is the testimony of our Consciences therefore if we would have the witness of the Spirit we must see in the Scripture what that witnesses about those that shall be saved and then consult our own spirits and if we find those things in our selves that do accompany Salvation the Conclusion follows that we shall be saved But further it may be said to witness to or with our spirits as it witnesses in its effects which the Spirit it self may be properly said to do things are said to witness in Scripture when they are a real proof of any thing as the rust of Silver and Gold witnesseth against the owners So mens wickedness saith or testifies Jam. 5.3 Psal 36.1 that they have no fear of God before their Eyes So persons are said to testify or bear witness by their Works as the Holy Ghost is a witness of Christ's Exaltation by the Miracles which he wrought Act. 5.32 and God did bear the Apostles witness both with signs and wonders and divers gifts of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2.4 and thus the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God Ezek. 36.27 by that filial frame or Spirit of Adoption which he puts in us And by bringing forth in us the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 1.16 she reveals his Son in us We knowing that he abides in us 1 Jo. 3.24 by the Spirit which he hath given us I will now proceed to speak of the sealing of the Spirit and I desire this may be observed that whenever the Scripture speaks thereof it doth not speak of the Covenant or of our Salvation being sealed to us but of our being sealed 2 Cor. 1.22 Eph. 1.13.4.30 Now we must know that a Seal is not a Natural but an Instituted Sign and it being a particular mark belonging to some person it signifies his ratifying or confirming any thing that it is applied to And Seals were used in three Cases 1st For the confirming of Writings being an Evidence of a man's consent to what he hath set his Seal to Esth 3 12. Jer. 32.10 Dan. 6.17 2dly It is for keeping a thing sure as the Lyons Den and Christ's Sepulchre not by force Wax is not proper for that but for securing it so as none can meddle with it but it will be known 3dly It was used for marking things that they might be known to whom they did belong and to distinguish them from other mens and they did not only mark things or Goods but Persons We read in Heathen Authors as Plutarch in Nicias that they did sometimes mark their Captives or Servants in the Forehead And hence probably the Scripture speaks so oft of Marking and Sealing the Servants of God Ezek. 9.4 Rev. 7.3 4.9.4 Rev. 13.16 Ps 4.3 so the Beast is said to mark those that did enjoy any privileges under him Thus when God doth set apart any for himself as David expresses it he seals them or marks them for his own And as the Emperors had not only their Superscription but their Image impressed on their Coin Matth. 22.20 Col. 3.10 so God impresses his own Image on his People or renews them after his own Image And if it be said That they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise after they believed as if it were not the Impression of the Image of God upon us at our first Conversion but some work of the Spirit afterwards I answer Those that make this sealing to be the confirming or assuring our Justification and Salvation to us suppose it is done at our first believing in the direct Act of Faith So if they make this Objection let them Answer it themselves I add that this is not an Act finished in a moment as a Seal may be set upon Wax but a Progressive Work and the Impression is made clear and deeper by degrees We being changed into his image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 And lastly The Greeks take much liberty in the change of their Tenses and there is the same Tense used here which is used where it is said Mark 16.16 he that believes shall be saved I will now add something briefly about the earnest of the Spirit which the Scripture speaks sometimes of 2 Cor. 1.22 Chap. 5.5 Eph. 1.14 By the
hands of Christians by teaching that perfection is not necessary to Salvation nor attainable in this Life because Chistians generally concern themselves more to endeavour after Assurance than after Perfection both as it is more attainable and more necessary to the comfort of their Lives As for the profession of the People of God in Scripture it is not universally true of them for as we meet with instances of many triumphing in the assurance of the love of God and the hope of future glory so we do of some under doubts and terrors and as Moses wished in another case that all the Lord's People were Prophets so I wish that all the Lord's People had Assurance yea I hope that if he call them to like sufferings he will give them like Assurance as his People had under theirs formerly it being his ordinary way to proportion their Consolations to their Sufferings 2 Cor. 1.5 Yea we ordinarliy teach not only that Assurance is attainable without extraordinary Revelation but that it is the Duty as well as the Interest of Christians to endeavour after it Having premised thus much briefly I will now proceed to enquire how far Faith is attended with Assurance and how it may be sometimes without it I will not say there is a direct Act of Faith and a reflex Act I think not the terms so proper but I own what they call the direct Act of Faith is the most proper Act of it and that when a man hath believed or doth believe he may reflect upon it and say with him Mark 6.24 I believe and thence he may infer his Interest in the promise of Salvation and so have Assurance which some call Assurance of Faith and we may call it so as it is inferr'd from our Faith rather than as it is an act of Faith The Scripture speaks of a full assurance of understanding Col. 2.2 which is a clear and certain knowledge of Truths Of a full assurance of hope Heb. 6.11 Heb. 10.22 that is a certain expectation of Salvation Of a full assurance of faith Now. the Assurance which we are now speaking of is indeed rather the Assurance of Hope than the Assurance of Faith tho it is indeed grounded on the Assurance of Faith wherewith we should draw nigh to God not only in particular Acts of Worship but in our first access to him in Conversion as the Prodigal first returned to his Father's House and when he was received into it made his particular Addresses to his Father as he had occasion And this full Assurance is not only such as that of Abraham That what God had promised Rom. 4.21 he was able also to perform Nor as that of Sarah That judged him faithful that had promised Heb. 11.11 So as he will certainly make good his promise according to the true Tenor thereof whether we believe or no he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2.12 Rom. 3.3 And if some do not believe their unbelief shall not make the faith of God without effect It shall be fulfilled to others that do believe But there is a further Assurance of Faith even in the first direct Act thereof whereby we do apply the Grace of God to our selves in particular which is not a believing that our Sins are already pardoned or that they shall be pardoned upon our believing that they are so but that they shall be pardoned upon our believing that is upon our addressing our selves to God by Jesus Christ upon our coming to him or casting our selves upon God's free Grace in Christ This is that boldness and access with confidence which we have by the faith of him Ephes 3.12 Heb. 10.19 that boldness which we have to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Boldly adventuring our selves on God's free Grace in Jesus Christ for Salvation fleeing for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before us Heb. 6.18 in the encouragement of the gracious invitation of the Gospel to all those that are weary and heavy laden Matth. 11.28 Rev. 22.18 John 6.37 to those that shall desire really the Water of Life and the promise made to such And in confidence of the gracious promise made to all that come to Jesus Christ that he will in no wise cast them out And tho it is true Ministers in their preaching do often make use of the example of the Lepers that sate at the gate of Samaria 2 Kings 7.3 4. who resolved to go into the Host of the Syrians as the most likely way to save their lives because there was no other course that they could take wherein there was any hopes of it for if they went into the City they should dye there if they continued where they were they should dye So that if there were the least probability of saving their Lives by going to the Syrians this being the only way which did afford them any hopes it was the wisest course they could take So in this case there being Salvation in no other Acts 4.12 Mark 16.16 John 3.18 and Unbelievers being under Condemnation If there were but the least probability of finding mercy through him it would be the safest course that Sinners could take They would certainly perish if they should not believe in Christ and they can but perish if they betake themselves to him But all this is spoken not to discourage the hopes or weaken the confidence of such as flee to Christ for refuge as if it were doubtful whether Christ would shew them mercy or receive them to favour but to meet with the Scruples of Doubting Christians that fear that Christ may reject them tho we do not grant that it may be so while we have his promise that he will not do it Yet suppose such a thing possible it is acknowledged by all that we should take the safest way so that if there were only a possibility much more if there be a probability of Salvation by Christ and no possibility thereof any other way it is certainly the best way for us to betake our selves to him It is in this case as if a Physician should come to a sick Person and tell him his Condition is very dangerous and there is but one Remedy that will save his Life but if he will make use of that he doth not doubt of his recovery The sick Person is apprehensive enough of his danger but he hath not much confidence in this Remedy but doubts whether it will cure him or no. His fears may be such and his Melancholly prevail so far that the Physician can hardly hope to free him from his fears at present but may think it an unanswerable Argument to perswade him to use such a Remedy that if he do not use it there is no way but Death but if he do use it he may live So when Christians are under Temptation and the Power of Melancholly we may more easily prevail with them to venture
their Souls on Christ for Salvation tho it should be as they imagine that Christ may cast them out than convince them that he will not cast them out Yet we stand by it as a certain truth that those that come to him weary and heavy laden shall find rest to their Souls Acts 10.43 and that whoever believes on him shall receive remission of sins And that in confidence of this promise of God that cannot lie Tit. 1.2 a Sinner may draw nigh to him with full assurance of Faith And in this confidence many are filled with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 even in this first direct act of Faith But it is observed That as we have sometimes seen a clear Morning without any Cloud overcast and grow Dark and Gloomy so we have seen Clouds to darken the clearest and brightest Comforts of Christians And we make various Conjectures at the reason of it Sometimes thinking that as God under the Law did so far indulge new-married persons as to exempt them from any business for the first year which might occasion their absence from each other till their Affections were firmly setled and till they were well cemented together Deut. 24.5 so God is pleased to indulge such as are newly betrothed to him till their Affections be fixed or knit but afterwards tho he may retain the same kindness to them yet he doth not make them fare deliciously every day Sometimes we are ready to think that they have left their first love and so God hath withdrawn the sense of his Love from them and several other reasons may be supposed thereof but I question not but the chief reason is because they do as I said at first flee to Christ for refuge in confidence of the Invitation and Promise of the Gospel and this confidence doth for some time abide with them but as those that fled from the wrath to come were to bring forth fruits meet for repentance Matth. 3.8 so those that have by Faith fled to Christ for refuge are to bring forth fruits meet for Faith or such as may be suitable to Faith in Jesus Christ And having a fresh and lively sense of the Love of Christ 2 Cor. 5.14 they think this should constrain them so as they should for the future not live to themselves but to him that died for them And that they should be such manner of Persons in all Holy Conversation and Godliness 2 Pet. 3.11 as that for the future they think they shall live more like Angels than Men and that their conversation shall be in heaven Phil. 3.20 But we find our selves to fall far short of what we propounded to our selves and that there is a law in our members warring and rebelling Rom. 7.23 against the law of our minds so that we cannot do what we would and we now begin to reflect on our Faith and to consider that there is a dead faith that profits not James 2.18 c. that there is a temporary Faith through which a man may for a time receive the word with joy Matth. 13.21 Luke 8.13 Gal. 5.6 but afterwards fall away in time of Temptation And it is a faith which works by love which avails in Christ And now Doubts and Fears begin to arise in our hearts lest we should deceive our selves And those that require Assurance in the direct Act of Faith and that we should renew such Acts of Faith tho we are sollicited by Doubts yet acknowledg that Assurance will not continue without the tryal of our Faith by the inseparable Properties of a true Saving Faith and that we must examine the fruits of our Faith and try whether we can shew our Faith by our Works that we may be sure not to be deceived in our Judgment concerning it Now this doth well agree with what the Scripture teaches concerning Assurance where the Apostle speaks of giving all diligence that is the greatest diligence to make our calling and election sure He doth not mean 2 Peter 1.10 that this should be the immediate matter of our Care and Diligence but having exhorted them in the first Verse to give all diligence to add one Grace to another and one degree of Grace to another that they might not be barren or unfruitful in the Knowledge of Jesus Christ in this Verse he enforces the same Exhortation they should the rather give diligence to make their calling and election sure that is to the end that they might hereby make them sure our calling first and thereby our Election Tho the Thunder be before the Lightning yet the Lightning gives notice of the Thunder So tho our Election be from before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.4 yet we have first notice of it by our Calling I know some do interpret that place otherwise than Protestants do ordinarily interpret it because supposing the word which is rendred to make sure is rather to make firm than to make evident And looking upon Election as conditional or suspended on something to be performed by us they reckon that it becomes absolute and so sure to us upon our diligence But as we are not chosen if we be holy Eph 1.4 but that we may be holy so the word here used doth not only signify making a thing firm Heb. 9.17 Mark 16.20 Heb. 2.3 4. but evident or giving evidence of the truth of it And whereas they say our calling is a thing so evident there needs no such diligence for the making of that sure I answer If our Calling were nothing but making us Christians by outward Profession it might be easily known but this is not the Calling that will prove our Election Matth. 20.16 For there are but few chosen of those that are thus called But there is another Calling spoken of in Scripture which is termed Effectual Calling because men hearken to that Calling and come in at it and this is inseparable from Predestination Justification Rom. 8.20 and Glorification And it requires much diligence to know this So if we would have full assurance of Hope or a confidence of future Glory it must be by diligence and following those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises Heb. 6.11 12. For those words in the close of the Verse may either be referred to our shewing the same diligence or to the words the full assurance of Hope we must persevere in our diligence if we would maintain the assurance of our Hope We do not say as the Papists at least in their sense that Faith is necessary to the beginning of our Justification but Works to the continuance of it for they suppose that they that are once justified may cease so to be and fall again under Condemnation But we may justly say That tho the beginning of our Assurance be from Faith in the direct act of it yet the continuance of it must be from Works for we
in order to our believing which may commend us to Christ for his acceptance It is said a mans gift makes room for him Prov. 18.16 and brings him before great Men by means thereof he hath free access to great Men and finds favour with them But we can bring neither price nor present to Christ Isaiah 61.10 Cant. 8.10 nor come to him as a Bride adorned with Jewels that we may be in his eyes as one that finds favour we must rather come to Christ that we may buy of him Gold tried in the fire Rev. 3.18 Isaiah 55.1 that we may be rich and white raiment to cover our nakedness and eye-salve to anoint our eyes and we must buy this without money and without price It is as they speak the antecedent put for the consequent Judg. 2.14 Psalm 44.12 as God is said to sell his people when he delivers them into the hands of their Enemies tho he sell them for nought because in selling there is a delivering of what is sold into the hands of the Buyer So we are said to buy when we make a thing our own or get it into our own hands Ezek. 16. Tho the Prophet speaks chiefly of the mean Condition of the Jews when God took them to be his peculiar people and advanced them to such greatness yet that was a Representation of the State and Condition wherein God finds Sinners when he chuses them out of the World and sets than apart for himself Our righteousness is but as filthy rags Isaiah 64.6 These do not reach to cover a man's Nakedness but it is seen through them and if they be filthy rags they rather make a person more loathsome than become an Ornament to him so far as they do reach So our best Works or Duties reach but a little way they extend but to a small part of our lives and so far as they do reach they are polluted and defiled with sin We must not come with our own righteousness to Christ but we must be married to Christ that we may bring forth fruit to God Rom. 7.4 And if any say we are married to Christ by faith and so must receive that Grace whereby we believe before we are married to him I answer It is in this case as it happens in some Marriages If a mean person marry one that is much above her tho she be entitled by Marriage to what is her Husband 's if she hath not wherewithal to bear the Charge of the Marriage or to come to him as Rebecca did to Isaac she must take on trust what will defray this Charge on the Credit she hath by such a designed Marriage or be furnished with what is necessary from him So tho we are entitled to the benefits of Christ by our believing on him yet it is given to us to believe on him for his sake Phil 1.29 through whom we receive the first Grace as well as all the rest 2. There is nothing required in us to make the Grace of God to become effectual He doth not as those that make choice of such as nature hath qualified or fitted for improvement to great employments or take the advantage of any good humour which he finds men in that may dispose them to Eternal Life as some interpret the words of the Evangelist which in our Translation were ordained to eternal life Acts 13.48 Nebuchadnezzar when he would take some of the Children of the Captivity to train up for his Service chose such as were well-favoured or fightly and such as were skilful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science and such as had ability Daniel 1.4 But God doth not seek out such for his Service He makes the heart of the rash to understand knowledg and the tongue of the stammerers to speak plainly Isaiah 32.4 The Carpenter indeed must look out such Wood as is naturally fitted for his use he cannot make a crooked piece straight by bending or make a knotty piece cleave But a Founder can take any piece of Metal of what size or form soever or however rusty or batter'd and cast it into what Mold or Form he pleases So God can of stones raise up children to Abraham Matth. 3.9 And as he shews the freeness and riches of his Mercy in chusing the worst of Sinners so he shews the power of his Grace in making a thorough change in those in whom he finds the most deep-rooted Prejudices against the Gospel He turned Paul when he was in his full Carreer towards Hell while he was breathing out threatnings and slaughter against the Church Acts 9.1 and verily thought he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth and 26.9 Gal. 1.23 24. so that they glorified God in him when they saw such a wonderful change wrought in him But tho there be nothing in us which may oblige God to bestow his Grace on us or facilitate his Work in our Conversion or drawing us to Christ yet as Faith is our Act there is something required in order thereto that we may believe with all our heart Acts 8.37 or freely and willingly take hold on God's Covenant Prov. 27.7 Matth. 7.6 Matth. 11.28 Revel 22.17 The full stomach loathes the hony comb and swine will tread pearls under their feet Therefore only those that are weary and heavy laden and those that thirst are invited to come to Christ because none but such will come John asks the Pharisees and Sadduces Matth. 3.7 Who had warned them to flee from the wrath to come whereby he doth not I suppose mean the wrath that was to come upon that nation by the Romans but the damnation of Hell Luke 21.23 Matth. 23.33 1 Thes 1.10 as our Saviour elsewhere calls it Tâ—â—s is the wrath to come which Jesus deliverâ—â—â— from The Sadduces did not believe that there was any Future state and consequently any wrath to come The Pharisees trusted in themselves that they were righteous and so could not apprehend any danger of the wrath to come Therefore he seems to question their sincerity in the profession which they made and requires them to bring forth fruit meet for repentance and not to ground their hopes upon their Descent from Abraham As men are to give a reason of the hope that is in them 1 Peter 3.15 so they should have some reason for their believing or coming to God by Jesus Christ I shall take the liberty here to refer to what hath been said by a Grave Sober man on this Subject he being a person that none will suspect of going too far on this hand Mr. Walter Marshal in the Gospel Mystery of Sanctification p. 207 c. In the Instructions that he gives to prevent the defects that we are most liable to in the first Act of Faith he tells us 1. We must believe with a full perswasion that we are Children
of Wrath by Nature subject to the Curse of the Law the Power of Satan and insupportable misery to all Eternity 2. We must believe assuredly that there is no way to be saved without receiving all the saving benefits of Christ his Spirit as well as his Merits Sanctification as well as Remission of Sins by Faith It being as he saith the ruin of many souls that they trust on Christ for the remission of Sins without any regard to Holiness when as these two benefits are inseparably joined in Christ He herein grants more than many will desire of him that men should assuredly believe this in the first Act of Faith 3. We must be fully perswaded of the all-sufficiency of Christ for the Salvation of our selves and all that believe on him 4. We are to be fully perswaded of the truth of the general Free-promise in our own particular case 5. We are to believe assuredly that it is the Will of God that we should believe in Christ and have Eternal Life by him as well as any other Now without the two former of these we shall not mind coming to Christ but shall make light of him without the others we shall have little encouragement to come to him Now if any shall enquire whether these things which are perpatory to our believing or coming to Christ be in our own power or are the effects of God's Grace in us and whether conversion do always follow thereupon I Answer There are some things as much in our own power as any of our natural or moral actions are that may have a tendency to our conversion and therefore the Prophet complains of Israel Hos 5.4 that they did not frame their doings to turn to the Lord. And there is a Sermon in the Morning Exercise Published in the Year 1661. ☜ reputed to be Mr. Greenhills who was a person far from the suspicion of ascribing too much to the power of Nature which resolves the question what persons must and can do towards their own conversion Now it is certain that men may as well go by their Natural power where the word is preached as to places of temptation And there they are within the call of the Gospel and so are as the impotent persons at the Pool of Bethesda Jo. 5.1 c. 1 Cor. 3.5 c. Rom. 10 17 Luk. 8.12 in a nearer capacity of cure if it please God by his Spirit to give increase to what is planted and watered for faith comes by hearing and therefore the Devil endeavours to divert our minds from what we hear lest we should believe and be saved We see further how much it is in man's power to bend his mind to the study of any particular subject we see it plainly not only in mens chusing in general the study of Law Physick or Divinity but those that addict themselves to the study of Divinity chuse any particular point thereof to treat on And they who give not the least ground of hope that there is any saving work upon their own souls will press upon others such things as the consideration of may incline and dispose them to believing Ezek. 18.14 28. Psal 119.59 Rom. 2 23. and men have the same natural power to teach themselves which they have to teach others But all this will not reach to conversion any farther than God is pleased to give to every one I will now shew you what God doth towards the conversion of sinners or which may have a tendency thereto Some things he doth by his Providence which he makes many times subservient to his Grace Acts 17.26 He that determines the bounds of mens habitation casts them into such places where they may hear the Gospel preached plainly seriously by such as persuade men 2 Cor. 5.11 as knowing the terror of the Lord. And he may exercise them under some affliction which may be as a ground-rain soaking to the roots and softning the clods and turning them to mold that the seed that hath been long buried may spring up of that which persons have a long time before heard and never thought of after when some humbling affliction befalls them they bethink themselves 1 Kings 8.47 and repent But such works fall short many times of true Conversion Hos 6.4 Gen. 20.6 Jo. 16.8 and this goodness proves but as the morning cloud or early dew which passes away God doth something further by his common grace restraining men from much evil I confess I think our Saviour where he speaks of the Spirit 's reproving or convincing the World understands the World of such whom he chose his Disciples out of and distinguishes them from but I think it is not intended of any inward working of the Spirit upon their hearts but of those Miracles which he wrought which confirmed the truth of Christ's Resurrection and of his Doctrine By such means as I have now mentioned men may be brought near the Kingdom of Heaven but never enter into it Mark 12.34 See Cassander's consultation p. 45. But those preparations which Salvation doth follow upon are as the soberer Papists acknowledge wrought by Gods Grace and Spirit He enlightens the mind so as we have a more clear sight of Heavenly things and other apprehensions of them than before we had when it pleases God to reveal his Son in us Gal. 1.16 Isa 53.2 Cant 5.10 Jo. 6.44 45. he that before had no form nor comeliness in our eyes nor any beauty that we should desire him is now the chief of Ten thousands in our account and altogether lovely God draws us to Christ by teaching tho I do not think that all the efficacy of God's Grace consists in propounding things to the understanding or in enlightening the understanding to conceive aright of them But by a secret touch of his Spirit he so effectually inclines our hearts to him 1 Kings 8.57 Phil. 2.20 that we do in a sort naturally mind spiritual things that is freely without constraint This of the Spirit 's enlightning the mind is not a peculiar notion of Enthusiasts but the commonly received Doctrine of sober Protestants So Bishop Pierson on the Article of the Holy Ghost in his Exposition of the Creed tells us The work of the Spirit is double external and general or internal and particular By the former he reveals the will of God to the whole Church by the latter he illuminates the understanding of particular believers that they may receive the truth the Holy Ghost working in us an assent to that which is by the word propounded Again God doth by his Spirit convince us spiritually of our state and condition and the word Eph. 6.17 Heb. 4.12 Acts 2.37 which is the sword of the Spirit and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing to the dividing asunder betwixt the Soul and the Spirit the joynts and the marrow pricking sinners at the heart so as it shall be as a Sword in their bones
that we must find out the certainty and sincerity of our Faith and Obedience by Self-examination before we can have a well-grounded Assurance that we are in a state of Grace and Salvation already and that such an Assurance belongs to the reflect Act of Faith and is not of the Essence of that Faith whereby we are justified and saved But if by believing we mean coming to God by Jesus Christ Psal 119.60 1 John 3.23 Esther 2.12 we should make haste and not delay to keep this command as well as others We are not to think that as the Queens of Persia were to be prepared Six months with oyl of myrrh and six months with sweet odours and other things before they might be admitted to the King so we must continue such a time under Humiliation and so long under Contrition before we may presume to come to Christ For tho it is true we should count the cost of being his Disciples Luke 14.28 Matth. 13.21 for want of which many as it is in the Parable of the Sower are forward to hear the word with joy and believe for a time but afterwards fall away yet it is not necessary that we suspend our believing till we have throughly weighed every thing It is not in this case as in ordinary Marriages where Persons should inform themselves well of every particular before they engage because when once engaged it will be too late to repent or to make a better choice But it is herein as if a Person had one propounded to her that she must Marry or be undone and one who they know will put her upon nothing or require nothing of her which she can justly except against in whom there is nothing that she can dislike there can be no danger or inconvenience in finishing such a Match without further delay So if there were any other Name whereby we could be saved if Christ did put us upon any thing or require any thing of us which Heaven will not countervail or if he would not have us yet come to him we might defer our believing And tho something is to be done as I have said to make us willing to come to Christ yet there is no long time required for the Soul to continue in a State of Preparation the whole Work hath been done at once Acts 2. Acts 9. Acts 16. Vol. 2. 148. as we see in those that were converted at Peter's Sermons in Paul in the Jaylor As Mr. Charnock doth ingeniously illustrate it The preparation of the Subject is necessary but this preparation may be at the same time with the conveyance of the Divine Nature As a warm Seal may both prepare the hard Wax and convey the Image to it by one and the same touch CHAP. XI I Will finish all with a few words about the Necessity of Holiness both for the allaying of those heats that are amongst some about it and for preventing or removing the Prejudices of Men against it There is no need of distinguishing betwixt the Necessity of Holiness or Obedience to the beginning of our Justification and to the Continuation of it among those that according to the Doctrine of the Church of England believe the Perseverance of the Saints and that there is no Intercision of Justification But there is a Necessity of Holiness in those that are justified for tho we may be justified at first by such a Faith as is only in tendency to obedience but wants time and opportunity to put it self forth yet where Faith is unfeigned and only such Faith justifies it will as there is occasion and opportunity work by love so Gal. 5.6 1 Cor. 6.11 Heb. 12.14 that whom God doth justify in the name of Christ he doth also sanctify by his spirit therefore without holiness none shall see God Yet we are not to think that Holiness is required on the same account with Faith much less in co-ordination with the righteousness of Christ I doubt it is a piece of ordinary Christian's Divinity that the righteousness of Christ serves only as grains of allowance to make our righteousness currant where it is too light But as Christ hath no sharers in his Mediation so neither is there any thing needful to be added to his satisfaction but we are acquitted only upon the account thereof and whatever we do serves not for so much as grains of allowance to make his satisfaction currant with God for us But yet it is necessary upon other accounts not only because God will insist on it as a thing condecent to his Holiness who is of purer eyes than to behold evil Heb. 1.13 but there is a natural necessity of it as a means to our chief end which is to glorify God and enjoy him As when Nebuchadnezzar chose some of the Captivity to serve under him Dan. 1.3 c. he would not only have them well-favoured and fed with the King's Meat and Wine that they might appear sightly before the King but had such chosen as had good Natural Abilities and had them taught the Learning and Language of the Caldeans that they might be fit to do him Service So God doth not only delight in Holiness but indeed without that we are not fit to serve him we are naturally reprobate to every good work Tit. 1.16 and we must be God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to those good Works which he hath before ordained that we should walk in them But it is likewise necessary that we may enjoy that happiness which he hath prepared for us He brings in the Highways and Hedges Luke 14.23 the meanest and most unworthy to partake of his Glory But if a King should invite those that are Sick and that of some loathsome Disease to eat at his Table if he would of his Bounty and Goodness dispense with the smell and loathsomeness of their Disease it would be no favour to them in the Condition wherein they are to sit at the King's Table while their Sickness makes them nauseate every thing there and the smell of Meat to be offensive to them But it would be a favour indeed to be first recovered from their Disease that they might not be ashamed to appear in such a place and that they might be able to relish their Meat and Drink This is our case as we are unfit to appear before God in the state wherein we are to whom our inner-man is as naked and open as our outward-man is to men like our selves So we are alogether uncapable of that Comfort and Happiness which is to be found in the Presence of God or of the foretasts of it which he gives his People in this Life Whatever Excellency there is in any thing we must have a Sense or Faculty correspondent therewith or else we cannot understand or enjoy any thing of it There is a Beauty in a Rose and in other Flowers which those that have their sight may enjoy the
that is ready to faint and may have a Cordial in his Closet yet if it be not at hand when he should use it he may fall into a swoon if he do not take it I will now shew more particularly how Faith is such an effectual remedy against trouble of mind and the chief reason thereof is Because thereby we have our sins pardoned As sin is the Sting of Death so it is also of every affliction therefore he is a Blessed man whose iniquities are forgiven Psalm 32.1 CHAP. III. NOw for the more full clearing of this Point I will first shew you what pardon of sin is 2. How this is obtained by Faith 3. How great a privilege and happiness it is Remission or forgiveness of sin is in its most ordinary sense freeing or exempting the sinner from the punishment of it and sometimes it hath respect only to the temporal punishment so God forgave the Israelites in the wilderness when he did not punish them Num. 14.19 So it is said God would not pardon the Innocent Blood which Manasses shed tho it is supposed the Eternal punishment of it was remitted 2 Kings 24.4 Matth. 6.14 Ephes 4.32 1 Kings 8.34 and 39.50 Amos 7.2 In this respect we must forgive each other in this sense we pray for the forgiveness of the sins of a Nation and no doubt in this sense those that are in a state of Grace may pray dayly for Pardon of sin Tho' I doubt not but men that are already justified may pray for the pardon of sin in the most proper sense as Christ by one Sacrifice perfecting for ever those that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 doth not prevent his intercession or make that unnecessary So neither doth our full discharge from the guilt of all our sins discharge us from praying daily for the forgiveness of them When we are in the fullest possession of the greatest abundance of the things of this Life we are to pray for our daily bread that is not only for the blessing and comfort but for the continuance of them So tho' our sins be pardoned when we first believe we may pray daily for the continuance of the vertue and efficacy of the Blood of Christ upon our consciences for the continuance of our peace with God But that remission of sins which we have by Jesus Christ is the discharging us from the eternal punishment and is the same thing in effect with justification Acts 13.38 39. In the former verse the Apostle saith Through Christ is preached forgiveness of sins in the latter that whoever believes on him is justified Not that justification and forgiveness of sins are the same thing in the precise notion of them but where many say that they are the same thing they only intend thereby to exclude that sense of the Word justifying in which the Papists sometimes take it viz. for making righteous by Renovation Sanctification or infusion of new habits But there may be justification where there is not Pardon of sin when a person is acquitted or declared free from that which he was suspected of or charged with So not only a righteous man may be justified but God himself Deut. 25.1 Luke 7.29 Rom 3.4 And as there may be justification without Pardon so Pardon without justification I do not mean that actually or de facto there is Pardon or a remission of the Eternal punishment of sin where there is not justification But we may conceive of a Pardon without justification as there are some that acknowledge a Pardon of sin merely out of mercy without respect to any satisfaction made to Divine Justice and tho the Scripture speaks more frequently of the justification of sinners than to have it denied yet they say that justification is only by a Metonomy taken for pronouncing a sinner just and dealing with him as if he were righteous freeing him from the guilt and punishment of sin and bestowing eternal life on him Whereas in the sense of the Scripture to justify is to acquit or discharge a sinner from the guilt and punishment of sin upon the Imputation of righteousness to him Rom. 4.6 But as we must not suppose that God only deals with us as if we were righteous which some suppose he might tho Christ should not be supposed to have died in our stead or have born our sin yea tho he had not died at all So on the other hand we must not imagine that God in imputing righteousness to sinners doth think or suppose that they have not sinned or have satisfied the Law for their sin Imputation doth not imply any such thing When Shimei desires that David would not impute iniquity to him 2 Sam. 19 19. we cannot suppose that he desires that he would think or make account that he had not done iniquity but that he would not charge it upon him or deal with him according to it and where it is said the Sacrifice of him that should be eaten on the third day should not be imputed to him Lev. 7.18 the meaning of it is that he should not have the benefit of it or be dealt with according thereto But to keep the true mean between these we must suppose that God deals thus with us not imputing our sins to us in consideration of what Christ hath done for us or in our stead Philem. 18. As where Paul allows Philemon to put Onesimus his wrong or debt for which it is like he might be put into the same Prison where Paul was on his account as he would not have him think that it was Paul and not Onesimus that had wronged him neither would he have him to punish it no more in Onesimus than if he had not done it but Paul But he tells him and gives it under his hand that he would repay it or satisfy him for it So God doth not only deal with us as if we were righteous in remitting our eternal punishment But he doth this in consideration of what Christ hath done and suffered for us He having laid upon him the iniquities of us all Isaiah 53.6 Gal. 3.13 And God having by his Soveraignty so far dispensed with his Law as to make Christ a curse for us he is now not only merciful and gracious 1 John 1.9 but faithful and just to forgive us our sins he having set him forth to be a propitiation for our sins to declare his righteousness that he might be just and a justifier of him that believes in Jesus Rom. 3.25 26. It is not only that he may be just tho' he justify sinners or that he may justify them saving his justice But it is just with God to justify or acquit sinners Christ having born our sins on the Cross 1 Pet 2.24 that we through his stripes might be healed I come now to shew how we are justified by Faith and that we are justified by Faith is evident beyond all contradiction
Gal. 2.16 from that of the Apostle Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified So that Faith is in order to justification and the decree of justification doth no more infer our justification from Eternity than our glorification and tho there were a foundation laid for our justification in the Death of Christ so as it is certainly future Yet we are not actually justified till we believe but lie under the sentence of condemnation John 3.18 And whatever the value of Christ's Blood might he in respect of the dignity of his person who was God as well as Man yet his merit was not absolute but grounded upon an Act of Sovereignty transferring our guilt to Christ and his righteousness to us And upon the Covenant of Redemption as many call it betwixt the Father and Jesus Christ about the Salvation of sinners the sum of which we have Isa 53.10 God might appoint both terms and time of our participation of the benefits of Christ's Death and it is evident that our Salvation is for a long time deferred and the redemption of our bodies longer Why then should it seem strange to any that our justification should be deferred till we believe And for that of justifying the ungodly Rom. 4.5 it is true of those whom God doth justify in a strict sense for they cannot plead perfect Obedience But if we take ungodly in the ordinary sense wherein it is taken for an impenitent sinner it shews what those have been whom he justifies such they were in this sense it is said 1 Cor. 6.11 Matth. 11.5 Matth. 15.31 Matth. 21.31 the deaf hear and the lame walk the dumb speak the blind see Publicans and Harlots go into the kingdom of God and in that very place it is said their Faith is imputed to them for righteousness Which words we need not understand with the Papists as if Faith being a work John 6.29 That with other works were imputed for righteousness Nor with some Protestants by a Metonimy for Christ or his righteousness the object of our Faith nor with the Socinians that by Acceptilation as in the Civil Law it is called when some small thing is accepted instead of a Debt Faith is reckoned instead of perfect righteousness As for those Protestants that call Faith our Evangelical Righteousness as being that which the Gospel requires as the Law did perfect obedience they do not at all symbolize with the Socinians who do by their Acceptilation exclude the satisfaction of Christ for they hold a legal righteousness to be still necessary but lying wholly without us as being performed by Christ for us and so do not reckon Evangelical righteousness to be instead of that righteousness by or for which we are justified or any part of it but only a means of our being invested therewith But tho I would not as some do exagitate the Phrase or those that use it while they thus explain themselves for not to say with Jerome Sceteratum est minus Christianum est cum nonis sensum sanum esse alicujus ex verbis incommodè dictis statuere errorem yet it is not necessary to make use of it for the interpretation of this place there being another plain sense of it a thing is imputed to us when we are dealt with according thereto as I have already said So Faith is imputed to us when we are dealt with or treated as believers and it is imputed to us for righteousness though not instead of it or as the matter of it but as it is a means of it in any way whatever as it was said before we have believed that we might be justified As it is said John Preached the baptism of repentance for remission of sins Mark 1.4 or as Christ is said te be given for a Covenant of the People not that he might be a Covenant as some have rashly expounded it as if Christ in a strict literal sense must be all in all Isa 42 6. Whereas it was only that there might be a Covenant with the People he being the Surety or Mediatour of it So Faith is reckoned to us Heb. 7.22.9 15. that so we might be righteous or might be justified God having suspended our justification upon that And it doth result from thence by vertue of the Gospel Grant as our guilt doth result from our sin by vertue of the Law tho I would not be thought to ascribe the same causality to our Faith in justification that I do to sin in our Condemnation Now God is pleased to suspend our Justification and Salvation particularly upon our believing 1st That we may return to him by the same way whereby we departed from him Gen. 3.6 We fell from God by believing the Devil rather than God and we are recovered again by believing God rather than the Devil and setting to our seal that God is true Jo. 3.33 2dly God deals with us as with rational Creatures and will not force his favour upon us but will have us accept of it Jo. 1.12 Act. 8 37. and by Faith we receive Christ and his benefits and this is that believing with all the heart which is required when we do freely and heartily embrace that offer which is made to us in the Gospel 1 Tim. 1.15 Rom 4.16 accounting the Gospel worthy of all acceptation 3dly It is of Faith that it might be of Grace Faith receiving all from God as Love gives all to him so that thereby we give the whole glory of our Salvation to him Now I come to shew you what matter of comfort it is to have our Sins pardoned Our Saviour bids the sick of the Palsie be of good chear Matth. 9 2. because his sins were forgiven It is true as Diseases are not always cured when sins are pardoned For that saying that where sin is pardoned the punishment is remitted it doth not imply that all suffering is removed where sin is taken away but that what persons suffer after pardon of sin is not properly Penal in the sense of the Papists so as to make up what is behind of the sufferings of Christ to satisfy for our sin So neither is the removal of Diseases or other Afflictions an evidence of the pardon of sin but it is likely Christ speaks not here of Pardon of sin improperly so called or the removal only of Temporal punishment but of pardon in a strict sense and as when the King asked life God gave it him even length of days for ever and ever So Christ Psal 21.4 who doth exceeding abundantly above what we ask or think Eph. 3.20 when he desired cure for the disease of his body cured his Soul likewise which is a singular favour and matter of great comfort 1. It is a comfort in all our Afflictions It is true afflictions are in
and those sins which they went lightly under before as David did under his are now a heavy burden 2 Sam. 11. Psal 38.4 too heavy for them And these convictions he makes as a bearded arrow which while men endeavour to shake off torment them more and they shall not be able to put off the thoughts of their sins but as David's they shall be continually before them Psal 51.3 so that they shall have no rest in their spirits till they come to Christ But now doubts do ordinarily arise in the minds of Christians whether they be rightly humbled whether they be sufficiently humbled whether they have been long enough under these preparations 1. They are ready to suspect that their trouble for sin is not kindly that it is rather from self-love and fear of punishments than from love to God and sense of the nature of sin as it is against God and displeasing to him Now to this I answer That God hath placed our affections in the Soul as handles to take hold on it and particularly Jer. 32.40 Prov. 16.6 Fear and he doth not only after conversion put his fear into our hearts or at least continue it there that we may not depart from him but may thereby depart from evil Gen. 2.17 but he gave an intimidating threatning to man in the state of innocency to be a means to keep him from sin And at first conversion we ordinarily flee from the wrath to come Matt. 3.7 Heb. 6.18 or to avoid that flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before us But there is a frequent exercise of Evancal repentance after Conversion Men espy a Tree in a storm or in the heat and betake themselves to it for shelter or shade but when they come at it they find fruit which they did not at such a distance see or in such a fright or trouble consider but having found it they are at last as much pleased with it as with the covert or umbrage of it So we sit under the shadow of Christ with great delight and his fruit is sweet to our taste Cant. 2.3 In Marriage Estate and Conveniences of Life are first treated of and conjugal love increases by society or converse you have first betaken your selves to Christ or desire to come to him to save you from Hell but doth this upon second thoughts satisfy you Can you content your selves herewith or rather do you not desire that he would bless you in turning you from your iniquities and say with Paul Lord Acts 3.26 Acts 9.6 what wouldest thou have me to do It matters not so much what is our first motive to bring us to Christ if it do not terminate our desires when we have occasion and opportunity more fully to consider things A man may address himself to a person at first on the account of her Portion to pay his debts and keep him out of Prison and answer some other occasions but upon further knowledge of her when he is freed from his debts and extricated out of his troubles he finds those accomplishments and qualifications in her which are a more abundant satisfaction to him than all her Estate For the fear of Christians that they have not been sufficiently humbled and so that they should have the wounds of their consciences healed slightly before they be sufficiently searched or drawn I answer It is true when persons have been throughly humbled for their sin it may work in them a greater aversion from it and a more fixed resolution against it As when Ephraim had suffered much for their sin of Idolatry Hos 14.3 8. they would not say any more to the work of their hands ye are my Gods but would rather say what have I to do any more with Idols and tho the Jews were much addicted to Idolatry yet the destruction of their Temple and City by the Caldeans and their Captivity in Babylon did much reclaim them from it Yea God is pleased to deal variously with persons either according as their former conversations have been where mens sins have been notorious God doth many times make their Repentance as notorious or as the frame and temper of their hearts is Isa 28.26 he that instructs the husbandman to use several means for getting out his Corn as the nature of it requires or as it is threshed with more ease or difficulty doth himself exercise persons under affliction as need requires till he hath brought their uncircumcised hearts to be humbled to accept of the punishment of their iniquity Levit 16.41 And so in bringing Souls to Jesus Christ he exercises them under different degrees of humiliation as he sees their state to require or as he intends for the future to deal with them But those that have to do with troubled Souls or such as are humbled under a sense of their sin should take heed of tampering too much in keeping them down lest they do as Physicians who that they may throughly subdue a disease bring their Patients so low that they cannot recover their strength and raise them up again and let Christians themselves take heed lest out of a mistaken modesty or humility they think they can never be sufficiently humbled and so refuse to be comforted It is not for us to teach our Physicians Psalm 77.2 or to prescribe to God how he should deal with us I have heard of an Eminent Man who in a deep humility desired that God would shew him his sin in its own colours or let him see the deformity of it that he might be yet more humbled for it and God did shew it to him so as to make him go mourning to his grave And I have likewise heard of a wowan that made the like request to God thinking she could never be sufficiently humbled for her sin But it pleased God to give her such a sight of her Sin that like Heman while she suffer'd his terrors Psalm 88.15 she was distracted and in that Condition killed her own Child It is the end that determines the manner and measure of the means leading thereto And that Humiliation and Conviction is sufficient that makes us willing to forsake our Sin and come to Christ A kindly Sorrow and Trouble for Sin Jer. 31.19 Ezek. 16.63 may grow upon us as I lately said after Conversion and Sense of Pardon For the other doubt of Christians that they have not been long enough under the pangs of the New Birth as they speak and know not whether they may not be too forward to believe I answer That if by believing we mean a perswasion or confidence that our sins are pardoned we may believe too soon P. 172. And Mr. Marshall in the forementioned Treatise notwithstanding all that he hath said of Assurance being Essential to Faith acknowledges That many must be taught to doubt whether their present State be good and that it is Humility so to do