Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A43709
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The believers duty towards the Spirit, and the Spirits office towards believers, or, A discourse concerning believers not grieving the Spirit, and the Spirits sealing up believers to the day of redemption grounded on Ephes. 4. 30.
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Hickman, Henry, d. 1692.
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1665
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Wing H1906; ESTC R2810
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113,118
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243
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concerning particular remission of sin pag. 1158. he had given the adversary less advantage for my part I do not make it any Article of my Faith that my sins are pardoned 4. We argue the attainableness of Assurance from the weakness and rottenness of the grounds on which the Papists the greatest adversaries to this truth do proceed in the denying of it 1. 'T is not unlike that the covetousness of the Pope and his Clergy is one reason why the doctrine of Assurance is so denyed For this sect of men is somewhat a kin to Judas who was a Thief and carried the Bag. Were the Pope to pay as much for redeeming a Soul out of Purgatory as he commonly gets by it I dare say Purgatory before this had been reckoned amongst things that are not were they to loose as much gold and silver by keeping men in doubts and fears as commonly they get certainty had not been made so impossible as now it is 2. Their own Hypocrisie and formality makes them and that justly to question their own state present and to come and therefore they think that none how sincere and upright soever can be assured of these matters Very apt we be to measure other mens cloth by our own ells to make our own hearts and experiences a standard and pattern to our fellow Christians Many eminent Reformers who had perhaps the candle of the Lord mostly shining on them and lived perpetually under the beams of his countenance did place Faith in Assurance and so discouraged some weak Christians The Papists on the other hand being alway void of assurance would needs perswade us that no Faith did ever rise up to assurance being continually tormented with shivering fears they envy all others who have more serenity and calmness then themselves But doth it follow that if an house built on the sands cannot stand that it cannot stand neither though built on the rock A Papist as a Papist holdeth no one doctrine by faith for seeing as Papist he must needs take the Popes infallibility in causes of faith for his foundation which foundation being not onely untrue but also heretical cannot be apprehended by faith it follows that he neither doth nor can believe any point of saith unless perhaps the conclusion can be of faith when the premises or cause of assent to that conclusion is contrary to Faith Nor can they have any certainty of their salvation for that depends with them on their having the Sacrament of penance truly administred and this on his being a Priest that doth administer it now that any one is a Priest is that of which there can be no certainty for for ought any one knows to the contrary he that ordained him had not intent to ordain him or he that baptised him had no intent to baptise him or if both could be known to have directed their intentions aright yet twenty other things might happen that would nullifie his priesthood But no necessity is there that Protestants should be uncertain of their right to or meetness for heaven who reject all these errors and are taught to believe that no man shall ever fare the worse for what never was in his power to prevent 3. Papists much object the multitude of Professors who have much boasted and talked of assurance and yet neither had it nor could have it as by their manifold miscarriages inordinate walkings they have most manifestly discovered This no doubt they may have observed and it hath been of late years especially a great stumbling block to some to see and hear persons of very slight and frothy spirits tell so many and so high stories of their enjoyments and experiences But shall we say that a man may not be certain of that about which multitudes have been mistaken Who sees not then that we must bring Pirrhonisme into the World put our selves under a necessity of turning Scepticks Because some have phansied their chambers to be full of company when no person was nigh them cannot I be sure that sometimes I see people sitting in their seats to hear me Because some have imagined that they sat about richly furnished tables when no meat was nigh them cannot I therefore be sure that my meat is before me and give God thanks for it There is no such great likeness betwixt Assurance and Presumption that a man if he will be sincere need mistake the one for the other The rules given by Divines to distinguish them are such that a man cannot be mistaken about them unless he have a mind to be mistaken 1. Presumption is the daughter of Ignorance so is not Assurance 2. Presumption is got and maintained without any difficulty or pains so is not Assurance 3. Presumption unless in great extremities when usually it turns into despair is alway uniform and like unto it self so is not assurance which is higher or lower according to the influences of the Spirit growth and exercise of the habit of Faith 4. Presumption is unwilling to be examined so is not Assurance but most gladly joyns with the most lively and searching Ministry by these and many other characters which shall be after suggested Assurance may as easily be discerned from Presumption as may the true metal from that which doth but counterfeit it 4. It is much urged that Assurance would breed Pride security carelesness the bane of all our graces and pious endeavours but to this many answers may be returned 1. By concession it will not be denied but that if God should pour this wine into old bottles there might be danger of their breaking if he should give these apples to those who were never sick of love they might breed wind but God never gives the new name but where he gives the new nature He sets not his Seal on a flint but on the wax In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the Spirit of promise Ephes 1.13 As for unbelievers they are uncapable of it and could they have it they would turn it into wantonness as they do all Grace they receive nay nor doth God set his Seal on every vessel of Honour He doth not feed every child with hidden Manna but onely such as he findes to hunger after it and to be ready to faint and perish without it 2. I say our Assurance is not perfect or free from all doubts but hath alway mixed with it some either actual or habitual fear Perfect Assurance might such is the corruption remaining in us be abused to security and occasion Pride but our wine is mixed with water on purpose that it might not intoxicate us With such a measure of Assurance we are trusted as keeps under doubts and fears not with such as quite expels doubts and fears They go too far who say That the assurance we have of the pardon of our sins and right to Eternal Life is equal to the assurance we have of the common objects of Faith Christs Resurrection or Gods Omnipotence That Christ is
with his petitions such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there in his desires as the hypocrites conscience must needs tell him he was never acquainted with then if ever he was able to water his couch and to make his bed swim with tears Like ardent desires we find in the Spouse Cant. 5. upon the withdrawing of her well-beloved And cannot some of you tell me how when you have been in fears about your condition you have been all Prayer have you not even envied your selves the time you were forced to spend in eating and in drinking Have not your hearts been so full that you have been fain to creep into a corner and pour out your souls in complaints For my part I have scarce known any who for prayer have been able to keep company with those who have been at a loss about their eternal estate 4. God may hide for the tryal and exercise of his peoples Graces As there would be no use of Candles if there were no night no use of Cordials if no swooning so would there be either none at all or but very little use of some Graces were it not for hidings and withdrawings of Gods gracious presence Faith Patience Courage would not be much put to it if God should alway smile on those who fear him nor would their obedience in comparison be praise-worthy if when God looks more like an enemy then a friend we can then wait and depend on him then is our faith faith indeed our love love indeed Rev. 14.12 Here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus here Faith and Patience do shew themselves I reckon there is no surer sign of sincerity then to have firm resolutions of cleaving to God and following after him when he seems to have forsaken and cast us off I am cast out of thy sight yet will I look again towards thy holy temple saith Jonah 2.4 Though he kill me yet will I trust in him I will wait on the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him Isa 8.17 5. God may permit one to want Assurance that he may the more value it when he hath it What sticks a little and comes not till after much seeking and manifold prayers is usually most prized and valued when we have it Christians will not carelesly lose that which they were sain to give all diligence to attain to they will not prodigally waste and crumble away their hidden Manna the fruit of so many sollicitous thoughts and fears but should it drop into their mouths upon every gaping yawning desire they might then as much despise it as ever did the Israelites of old Should Assurance come with those weak wishes and velleities that are so frequent in the mouths of many we might then set no more by the light of Gods countenance then we do by corn wine and oyl as in temporals so in spirituals we learn to estimate our mercies more by wanting then by enjoying them 6. God may let some want comfort That they may be the more able to comfort others Should their mountain alway stand firm should God constantly smile on them and kiss them with the kisses of his mouth and make known unto them the most secret treasures of his goodness how little compassion would they shew to over-clouded deserted souls They would do by them as did the Watchmen by the Spouse smite and wound them instead of comforting them they might quench the smoaking flax break the bruised reed say as some have done that not the faith of adherence but assurance doth justifie I but being brought in their own apprehensions to the very brinks of Hell they will deal gently and speak comfortably to those who are in darkness and see no light and warn them of those rocks at which they themselves were in danger to suffer shipwrack when under the same tempestuous thoughts they will patiently hear all their complaints and answer all their objections how weak soever remembring that they themselves were once sometimes pestred with like scruples Christ was tempted like unto us in all things even in point of desertion for he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and wherefore was he so tempted but that he might be able to succour those that are tempted Heb. 2.18 He was touched with the sense of our infirmities that he might be a more merciful and faithful high Priest So good reason had Luther to say that temptation was one of the three things that made a Divine 7. God permits the want of assurance To make his Children the more long after Heaven where they shall see him face to face and be perfectly freed from all doubts and fears about Gods love to them and theirs to him Were our Assurance uninterrupted and were it such as to put us beyond all possibility of miscarrying what need we so earnestly to pray that we might be dissolved and be with Christ How little would the difference be betwixt Earth and Heaven We should walk rather by sight then by faith But because our Assurance is at best but imperfect sometimes none at all therefore do we groan earnestly that this earthly tabernacle may be dissolved that so we may attain the end of our faith and hope the salvation of our souls 8. God may permit some of his Servants to want Assurance with relation to others For if they be good they have hereby an example of patience and confidence in God unto which they may have recourse when God withdraws from them Job 17.8 9. Upright men shall be astonied at this and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite the righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger As for the wicked they usually take pleasure in their troubles and dejections but when they recover as mostly they do then are they filled with horrour and confusion Mic. 7.8 9 10. Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousnesse Then she that is mine enemy shall see it shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God 9. God may permit his Servants to be without the sense of his love with relation to himself that his glory may the more appear His power is more manifested in preserving his Saints without then with Assurance When Paul besought the Lord thrice that the messenger of Satan might depart from him his suit is not granted onely this answer is returned My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is perfected in thy weaknesse whence he resolves Most gladly therefore will I