and contributes unto it It is granted that the Radicall principle of thy doubts is originall sinne but then the immediate principle of it is remaining Infidelity Out of it immediately come all thy staggerings and reelings and questionings and doubtings That is it O weak beleever which disables thy apprehension of the Covenant of Christ of the Promises of thy Title That is it which perverts thy judgment and mis-perswades it with cunning reasonings so that either thou canst not discerne the full truth of Gods Promises or thou canst not see prevailing reasons to perswade thy selfe that they belong to thee Therefore let the main care and work of thee be to strike at unbeliefe Be humbled much for it beseech the Lord to cure thee more and more of it to remove the ignorance of the Covenant out of thee and to cast downe carnall and proud reasonings which give the lye to the way of Gods free and full Grace which would have thee to be first and of thy selfe that which thou canst never be without Christ and to doe and bring that which God never imposed on thee to doe or to bring but hath told thee plainly the working of it in thee belongs onely to himselfe and hee is also really and graciously willing to bestow upon thee 3. As for the third demand What way thou mayst take for the mortifying of all this sin I answer 1. Generally touching all of it Do but insist in the ways on which already thou art falne Did any vertue in the death of Christ laid hold on by faith did that heretofore help against sinne It will doe so still Did any love of God help thee the more to hate sin It will doe so still Did any assurance of a reconciled God in Christ freely and abundantly pardoning of thee weaken sin in thee It will doe so still Did solemne confessions of sin selfe-judgings speciall mournings sufficiently help thee with conquest of sinnes They will doe so still Did the humble application of thy self to the Ordinances of Jesus Christ through which he is pleased to reveale his arme confer any strength against thy sins It will help still Did any holy feare any tendernesse in conscience any declining of occasions Did vehement wrestlings with God in Prayer Did serious meditation and consideration Did close society with the Saints Did studies of farther holinesse Did frequent reviewings of thy condition and renewings of Covenant with thy God in his strength Did holy watchings Did resistings of the first births of sin Did these any of these all of these or any other spirituall course besides these cause thy sinfulnesse to be vile unto thee to be abhorred by thee to be cast downe in thy judgement to be cast out in thy affections to be cast off in thy life Goe on with these and sinne will then be more and more mortified and doubts will be more and more weakned the more that thy conscience is thus sprinkled from dead works the more shalt thou be able to draw neere unto God in assurance of faith 2. Particularly for the mortifying of remaining Infidelity doe three things 1. Study exactly the Covenant of Grace in the Author of it foundation of it matters contained in it and all the adjuncts and termes of graciousnesse sutablenesse fulnesse faithfulnesse c. appertaining to it 2. Study JESUS CHRIST throughly know him distinctly in the person of a Mediator and offices and effects and works Then 3. To much meditation in these abound in Prayer that God in particular would cause thee by faith to set thy seale unto them But more of this will follow in answering some other causes of doubtings 2. The second spring was weaknesse and imperfection in faith The cure and remedy of which is to perfect and strengthen faith put more strength more growth more ripenesse into faith and your doubtings will be lesse The Simile more purely the fire burnes the lesse smoke it hath and when the light and heat of the Sunne are greatest then the clouds and misty vapours are fewest Faith and Doubtings are like a paire of scales where the waight of the one beares away the other The Disciples I remember prayed Lord increase our faith and so did he of whom you heard in Mark 9. Mar. 9. 24. Lord help my unbeliefe You will say No man can Ob. deny that if his faith had more strength then his heart should have lesse doubting But how may that be done How may faith be strengthened I answer Sol. 1. God who gave faith can strengthen it for every grace depends upon him not onely for birth but also for complement his strength must lead us on frō strength to strength from faith to faith he who is the Author is also the finisher of it And therefore if thou wouldst have a strong faith thou shouldst goe to a strong God and beg of him Lord increase my faith My knowledge is dim lighten that candle open mine eyes yet more that I may see thy truths My assents many times shaking but do thou establish and comfirm my heart in thy truths My embracings applications very trembling and broken and interrupted but doe thou guide mine eye to look upon my Saviour do thou guide my hand to lay hold on him doe thou Doe thou perswade me and I shall be perswaded enable my will and affections to embrace all the goodnesse of thy selfe of thy Christ of thy Word It is Gods method to lay in at the first weak faith that we might beg for more faith and give him the honour of all Had we it strong at first he should not heare of us but he dispenseth it by degrees that in all our gettings and in all our victories over doubtings c. his strength may-have the glory Therefore goe to God and say Lord I would have more faith thou wouldst have me to perfect it but all perfection is in thee and I cannot by my meere strength ripen what thou givest but thou canst water what thou plantest though it be sowne a weak body yet thou canst make it rise a strong body though faith at first be but as a graine of mustard-seed yet thoucanst cause it to blossome and to spread it selfe into a high measure Therefore thou who alone canst doe it doe it for thy weak servant Thou must take charge of thine own graces and if thou givest my faith more strength my beleeving will bring thee in the more glory c. 2. The studying of Christ and the Promises more will bring more strength and perfection to faith It is with the Christian as it is with the Scholar let the Scholar study Simile more the objects of knowledge and then his knowledge will grow to be more large So let the Christian study more the matters of faith and his faith will rise to be more full Hence the Apostle prayes that the Ephesians Chap. 3. 19. Eph. 3. 19. might know the love of Christ that they might be filled
his old age that by faith he gave Rom 4. 20 glory to God But how came he so to doe The Text saith that He considered not his owne body now dead when he was about an hundred yeares old nor the ver 19. deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but he considered him who had promised and was perswaded that what he had promised hee ver 21. was able also to performe Why This is the right course to elicite or draw out our beleeving We must not consider our selves but we must consider him who promiseth Our reasons of beleeving must be found in him alone on whom we are to beleeve Therefore I beseech you to remember that the Promises of God are not onely objects of faith but they are also grounds of beleeving They doe not onely containe excellent good for us but likewise the motives to beleeve that good Besides the goodnesse in them which respectively answers our conditions and the presenting of that goodnesse unto us by way of gift there is all reason conjoyned with these to affect our hearts to lay hold on them namely 1. A graciousnesse that the Lord will freely and for his owne sake doe us all that good 2. A fidelity that the Lord who hath graciously promised will also faithfully performe And 3. sufficiencie of power in God to make good unto us whatsoever word of goodnesse is gone out of his lips So that from all these a Christian against all his doubtings may yet see ground to beleeve the Promises of God because 1. The Promises are the Declarations of God for good unto us 2. They are willing Declarations arising onely from the good will of our God 3. He dispenseth the good in them to sinners freely without any worthinesse or desert on their parts 4. There is not any good promised which God is not willing or able to make good Lastly let any person beleeve on them and he shall confesse that faithfull is that God who promised and that that God who hath promised cannot lye But now on the contrary If you look for grounds of beleeving in and from your selves it cannot be that ever your hearts should be free from doubtings If either you make your owne worthinesse the cause of beleeving you shall never come to beleeve This were not to receive good from God but to buy and purchase it and is absolutely against the nature of free promises as also against the disposition of true faith which empties us of our selves and seeth the cause of all our good to be only in him who is All-goodnesse Or if you think that you must first finde the good in your selves which ye are to fetch from the Promises you cannot then beleeve you must unavoidably doubt still because it is impossible for a sinner or a needy Christian ever to draw his helps out of himselfe or to prevent the promises of God As he cannot deserve any good from God promising so he cannot bring any good to Gods promises Ho Esa 55. 1. every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters saith the Prophet and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price If thou be a thirsty person here is all provision freely for thee 4. Another thing which I would commend also to doubting Christians in this case shall be this Take some solid paines to cleare your entrance into Covenant with God thereby you shall cleare your interest in all particular promises upon your occasions There is a gracious Covenant Jer. 31. 33 32. 38 Eze. 36. 28 Hos 2. 23. Heb. 8. 10. spoken of in the Scripture twixt God and his people He makes us to be his people and we take him to be our God And when that Covenant is passed twixt God and a person that there is a mutuall acceptation then the Lord estates this person into all the particular promises As when the woman and man enter into the covenant of mariage now all is setled on her and she hath title sufficient So when the Lord God and a sinner are married to each other when they are entred into a Covenant Thou art my God and none else my heart is thine my life shall be thine c. The Lord saith unto such a one And I am thine all my mercy is thine my Christ is thine my Promises thine If thou needest any good for soul or body all good is thine I assure thee O Christian if If this door were unlocked all the roomes would easily be seene this were once out of doubt that thou and God were entred into Covenant thou wouldst not so much doubt thy title or question thy right to apply any particular promise to any condition of exigence wherein thou lyest All are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. 5. Lastly consider well whether there be nothing in a Christ which may not be able to over-argue thy disputes against thy applying of the Promises I remember that Luther in his Commentary on Genesis prescribes unto tempted persons one very compendious way to withstand all temptations whatsoever Let Satan Luthers speech come any way or the world any way or sinne move any way doe thou answer all with this onely Christianus sum I am a Christian I may not yeeld to any sin for I am a Christian And surely me thinks this also might be a compendious way to resolve the doubtings of a Christian Christum habeo I have a Christ O Christian if thou didst look more on thy Christ thou mightst look more on the Promises When wilt thou remember No looking on the Promises without a Christ that as there is no comfortable looking on God without a Christ so there will be no confident looking on the Promises of God without a Christ Christ Jesus is thy Jacobs ladder thy prayers get up by him and Gods Promises come down by him All the promises of God are Yea and Amen in him 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 20. There was a Book in the Revelation which none of the Elders and Worthies could open but yet the Lambe could open it The Promises are a precious Book every leafe drops myrrhe and mercy yet the weak Christian cannot open it nay he is afraid to open it and to reade his portion there Neverthelesse thy Christ can open the Promises for thee and by thy Christ as thou mayst find a way for heaven hereafter so mayst thou espie a way for thy comfort now And why may Christ reply to the doubting Christian art thou afraid to beleeve to beleeve my Fathers word and thy Fathers word Did he ever faile any who trusted on him Is hee not willing to give who was willing to promise Should he lose of his glory if thou receivedst of his grace Or shouldst thou lose of thy comfort if thou shouldst beleeve in his promise Dost thou not care for his good Why then art thou troubled Or in good earnest
Jesus Christ Whence two things arise to keep doubtings and feares off viz. 1. That though our holinesse be weak yet Christs is strong that righteousnesse which justifies is full When And so it must be or else wee could not truly be reputed just we look upon our selves Ah Lord think we How shall we appeare before God! How will he accept of us Such poor such weak such sinfull hollow people I answer Christs righteousnesse is full his coat was seamlesse ours is made up and strangely cut but his righteousnesse is compleat and He is made unto us righteousnesse yea and that of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. God hath set him out to be our righteousnesse and he justifies us by it 2. Though our services be weak yet we are justified by Christs righteousnesse Aaron was to beare the iniquity of the holy offerings Exo. 28. 38. Their holy offerings had some unholy mixtures but Aaron was to beare them i. he was to take the iniquities away from them and to make the offerings accepted Christ is this Aaron who by his righteousnesse covers all the blemishes makes up all the weaknesses in holy duties Therefore my brethren in all our approaches to God wee should not doubt It is the Apostles own argument Heb. 10. 21. Having such an High-priest over the house of God 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith And ver 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering c. It is as if the Apostle had said If men did know what a Christ they have what a full righteousnesse there is in him what he doth with it how he justifies their persons and justifies their services pleads for them beautifies them ingratiates them with the Father they would not doubt so much as they doe they would be better perswaded of God when they come and pray unto him I remember the Apostle hath an excellent phrase in Heb. 9. 24. that Christ doth appeare for us It is a Metaphor from a Lawyer If a man hath a case he goes to his Lawyer and reports all to him desires him to undertake the whole businesse and upon the committing of the Case to him he appeares for his Plaintiffe opens the Case pleads for him before the Judge and the Cause is carryed So is it with Christ he appears for us i. When a poore sinner a weak beleever comes to him and opens his condition his wants his infirmities Christ undertakes for him he pleads for him he ever lives to make intercession he moves his Father in his behalfe brings out his righteousnesse his bloud and merits and what he did and suffered for him c. And thus doth Christ for every particular service duty and prayer for him who beleeves on him The tenth cause of doubtings was disputation against the Promises O saith the troubled and fearfull soule all these promises which you produce and apply to my condition they are nothing to me they belong not to me There is indeed goodnesse and truth a wonderfull worth in them and they suit with my condition exactly but I may not lay hold on them I should but presume to take the bread which belongs to children but not to dogs not to such a sinner as I am Good Christian doe but track thine owne spirit or the spirit of any distressed in conscience thou shalt find this to be the last hold usually of unbeliefe namely a reasoning against Gods Promises the which reasoning is sometimes through meere tendernesse of spirit as when the soule hath arguments to it selfe of that force to represent a present incapacity of any good which God hath promised and till they be removed it dares not lay hold on the Promises but if they could be satisfied then it is drawne in to beleeve But sometimes there is a reasoning against the Promises through wilfulnesse of spirit as when all the arguments of a doubting sinner are so clearly resolved and answered by the expresse words of God that the person cannot gainsay it yet the person rather bends still against the Promises then labours to honour God in them by beleeving This later reasoning is an irrationall way and unworthy of our abetting I should think such a Christians doubtings to arise rather from a fixed and heavy melancholy then any other speciall cause Neverthelesse somewhat to help the other Christian who argues reasoneth against the Promises meerly out of tendernesse and feare of his right and title I would commend a few things to his consideration 1. No spirituall good is furthered nor evill weakned by keeping the soule and Gods Promises asunder Tell me seriously Is not all our help for sould and body in the full and whole latitude of it couched in Gods Promises Are they not our wells of salvation and breasts of consolation our sun and shield and what vessell hath a poore sinner to draw with out of those wells what mouth hath he to milk out those breasts but faith It is faith which knits the Promises and our conditions together it is faith which makes them to meet each other And till the Promises meet in their vertue and influence with this condition of thy soule thou shalt never be helped or bettered by them Till the plaister and the wound doe meet it will never be an helping nor healing plaister Thou shalt be utieras as thou wast and the Promise shall be ubi erat where it was it shall never do thee good till thou dost apply it 2. It is beleeving which must cleare our title O saith the Christian if I knew that the Promises belonged unto me I would then beleeve I answer First this is a preposterous course and utterly impossible as if there could be any well-grounded perswasion of our interest before we have any such interest No but personall perswasion is a consequent worke it cannot be the antecedent or leading work You must buy the lands before you can be perswaded that they are yours But secondly if ever you would cleare your title to the Promises you must then beleeve for it is faith which doth intitle you and gives you interest and propriety As the Apostle spake of a great good After ye beleeved ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Ephes 1. 13. that I say in this case I fever you would be perswaded that God seales his Promises unto you then doe you first put your seal unto the Promises Beleeve and then thou shalt see the good of them to be thy good 3. The ground of a Christians beleeving Gods Promises must not be in him who is to apply them but onely in him who makes them O! this is it which gravels and labyrinths and still distresseth us that we set up the grounds of faith in our selves and not in God We are loth to acknowledg that the sole ground of beleeving is to be found only in that God who promiseth It is said of Abraham when God promised him a child in
be disclosed and Gods righteous judgement shall be evident to the hearts of all the world Whence it is that in this day of meeting they shall cry unto the mountaines to fall on them and the rocks to hide them but in vaine from the wrath of him who sits upon the throne 2. There are severall causes of the rising of sin Some are Divers causes of sins rising afresh on Gods part some on our part some on Satans 1. For Gods part God doth many times cause our former sins to rise by the power of his mighty spirit in the ministery of his Word For whereas the sinner would hush his fears and griefs and conscience asleep yet the Lord will not have it so He doth rub the sore and gall the conscience makes it sensible of the guilt and wounds Hee doth pierce by the two-edged sword of his Word even to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and discernes the very thoughts and intents of the heart He meets the person oft times many years after the commission of the sinnes and most expresly revives and remembers them in all the acting circumstances which the sinning person either had or would have buried in silence and forgetfulnesse 2. For our part Thus there is double cause of new rising of old sins One whereof is good and the other is bad 1. A new commission of the old sins which brings back upon us the sting of the old guilt for relapses into the disease occasion a relapse of the burden and ache Cut thy finger againe and it will smart againe fall into thy ague againe it will make thee shake againe Relapses have ever this judgement with them that they make a fresh wound and the old also to bleed againe You know in some Wells there are two buckets put downe the one and you bring up the other so the falling into the same sin againe brings up the old burden againe Though we may not revive sinne to practise it yet we may to mourn for it 2. Renewed humiliations for then we doe voluntarily look back upon our former accounts that thereby we may more humbly sue out a totall discharge Though wee may sin the sin over no more yet we may weep it over and over and though the acting of it may be no more yet the bewailing of it should last us ever 3. On Satans part who like an envious and malicious wretch never gives over to throw unto us our errors and failings though corrected with truest reformation So Satan who is the great cause and incentive to sin will not cease after our truest repentance to vexe and sad and if he could to despaire our hearts with the fresh memory of former and forsaken sins so that we seldome or never lay hand on a blessed promise or gaine our selves into the comfortable favour of God or delight our selves in the sweet peace of conscience but he falls in and checks and troubles us with the representations of former sins and perchance makes us let goe our gracious hold with the feares and suspicions and chargements of former guilts 3. Now according to the variety of the causes fetching up upon us our former guilts must we deliver unto you severall helps and remedies Consider therefore on Gods The ends of reviving of sin part there are severall ends in respect of severall persons why he brings on the sinnes againe 1. To make the ground-work more deep and sure We make our tents too short for our wounds Wee sinne much and defile our selves much and we think that a little washing will serve the turne O! this businesse of self-tryall of laying the axe to the root of the tree of diving into the secrets of sin of applying the corrasives unto the core heart of our natures this goes against us wee are quickly weary of it Indeed some trouble and some bitternesse we grant to be convenient but to be still accusing our selves before God still to be lashing and wounding our hearts for wounding of God Ah this this goes against us You shall see people sometimes very sensible of their diseased bodies O now some physick were good they find such aches such distempers surely some physick were good and some they take which makes them excessively sick but then away with it no more physick yet at length the disease comes upon them againe and the Physitian prescribes more physick even that which must goe to the root of the disease which though it makes them more sick yet it procures their safety and better health Beloved God would have men perhaps a longer space to sit upon their sinnes they stint themselves after great sins and make themselves friends with God prefently Now the Lord knowes that this skinning of the sore will spoile all and therefore after a short time he returnes them their sins againe makes Conscience to startle at the guilt againe and deales with us as the skilfull Chirurgion with a man whose leg is broken and ill set he breaks it againe that it may be well set So doth the Lord he breaks our soules againe with the guilt of sins He will make us know that wee must bring him more broken hearts we shall know what it is to sinne against him and shall not make a reall and lasting peace without a sound and solid humiliation And truly this is the great mercy of his wisdome to work thus for hereby he makes our foundation low and sure and hereby he prevents subsequent stirs and makes way for our surer and more comfortable apprehensions and applications of his love in Christ You know that a wise Schoolmaster when a boy skips from a hard lesson to that which is more easie he puts him back againe and makes him say it over and over ere he takes it forth Men think to be catching at Christ however they love to lay load on him and throw their vile burdens upon him though perhaps they never yet weighed their vile sinings and dishonourings of God But the Lord will turne them back againe he will take off these pragmaticall presumers and set them to learne their first lesson better He will make them more sensible of their vile hearts and waies and actions they shall not so easily come off from their accursed transgressions the Lord will hold up the comfortable answers of his favours and the sweet tasts of the Lord Jesus Christ and make them againe to sit downe in bitter sorrow for piercing the Lord Christ and shedding his bloud and grieving of his Spirit and all that men might be more humbled and more really fitted for Christ 2. To make us more humble I assure you oft times our very victories make us proud and that very grace which should be a cause to abase us occasionally and accidentally is a means to puffe us we rise too often above our selves beyond measure And therefore as to Paul there was given a sting to abase him