be made against this Doctrine of assurance they will either be obviated or best answered when I have handled my second proposition For if a certain Rule may be laid down whereby a man may judge infallibly of his Spiritual state few will be troubled with the Objections For their greatest force lies in the want of a clear Rule to guide us in our judgment And therefore I hasten to the giving the Rule by which a holy man may certainly judge of his Spiritual good estate or the ill man may put himself into a good one II. The Rule consists of these three parts First The committing of no sin though in violence of passion that is heinous in its Object such as Blasphemy Rash Swearing Perjury Idolatry Murther Cursing Adultery Fornication and the like Or Secondly let the Object be never so small the committing no sin that is heinous in its Cause such as are all sins that are committed wilfully and deliberately that is when we both know they are against the Commands of God and consider they are so at the time of committing them or we might have both known and considered this if we had not been highly wanting to our selves so that our Ignorance and our Inconsideration was voluntary and so is the sin by consequence that proceeds from these which in the Phrase of the Schools is being voluntary or deliberate in its cause Thirdly If we have been guilty of the fore-mentioned sins the repenting of them in such a measure as we are sure will be accepted by our good and gracious God in and through the merits of our Blessed Saviour How and when we may be sure that our Repentance is accepted I shall shew afterwards This being the Rule by which men may judge of their Spiritual state that they may have a serious regard to it and depend on it with safety I account my self obliged to do these three things First To prove that nothing less than the observing of the three parts of this my Rule can give us any just assurance of Salvation Secondly That the parts of this Rule if observed are sufficient to put any man into a state of Salvation Thirdly That it is plain and easie such as all Rules ought to be such as any man of common sense may easily and securely apply to himself I. First then That nothing less than the observing of the three parts of my Rule can give us any just assurance of Salvation 1. As for those sins that are heinous in their Object they are so contrary to the first dictates of the light of Nature or are so repugnant to the express Commands of God that no man could possibly fall into them who for any time immediately before had conscientiously discharged his duty and had had a serious regard to the Laws of God and he that has not had this regard he was in such a wretched and hardened state that his ease had been desperate without the addition of any of these grievous Crimes Let the provocation be never so great and the passion never so strong where there is any tolerable degree of tenderness in the Conscience it could not but with-hold the person from villanies so opposite to his plain duty to God and Man and that in the highest instances of it I know that there have been and there are many men of fair Characters in the world that have committed one or other of these Crimes but assuredly they ow'd their Religion as their Cloaths to the fashion It was that which put it on them their Justice their Loyalty and all their Morality in their other actions was nothing but the Gallantry of the Age or Self-interest the fear of God if ever they knew it was dead and rotten in them or else such stench and filthiness could never have come out of them But to pass from these heinous Indeliberate Crimes if they are capable of being Indeliberate for I much doubt whether any Christians Conscience is so slow and stupid as at the time of doing them not immediately to admonish him not to stare in his face and tell him that he is a dashing himself against the Natural or the Revealed will of God And if his Conscience told him so much then certainly they were done with consideration and deliberation And had he staid a month or a year before the perpetration of them his Conscience might have suggested other Arguments but not greater nor more proper to dissuade him 'T is true Time 't is probable would have abated the strength of his passion But no man is virtuous for not having a temptation but for resisting it nor is he a true Christian that does not resist the greatest But enough has been said to shew such heinous Crimes however committed to be inconsistent with Salvation especially with a Security of it 2. And so I pass as I said to wilful and deliberate sins such as we know to be sins and at the time of committing them recollect that they are so And these also nay one act of these let them be never so small very much endanger a mans Salvation for the Popish Casuists by their distinction of sins Venial into sins Light in their Nature though acted willingly such as Foolish Jesting Officious Lying small Excesses and the like and Light in their Object such as stealing a Pin a Farthing or any Trisle By these distinctions I say they make the Salvation of their followers very doubtful if they do not utterly destroy it And it is Security and Assurance that I contend for Now can the allowing ones self in disobedience to any of the commands of God consist with an Obedience to him with all our heart and with all our soul Can he that deliberately breaks the least of the Commands assure himself that he shall not be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is not be at all admitted into it Can that Soul that sinneth presumptuously though in never so small a matter be certain that he reproacheth not the Lord and that he shall not be cut off contrary to Numb 15.30 v. He that will not part with these â—andfuls of barley and morsels of bread for his duty to God seems to have but little desire of Heaven and I am affraid will have less of it for his Portion But to leave these miserable Guides of Souls that thus unwarily endeavour to widen the narrow way that leads to life till they fall into the broad road that leadeth to destruction For the indulging ones self in the smaller sins lessens the fear of God and the habit of doing well and so draws us into more and greater sins But leaving these miserable Guides I shall betake my self more closely to the proof of the second part of my Rule viz. That one deliberate sin will endanger our eternal happiness I might say will certainly destroy it but that is more than I am engaged to prove at present Does not St. Paul in his 1 Ep. to the
sometimes born down by the Violence of Temptations the Grace of the Gospel accepts of this Imperfect but Sincere Obedience But 1. What Assurance does he give that this will be sufficient to any mans Salvation He says that an Unsinning Obedience is impossible and that therefore somewhat less than a perfect Obedience is necessary if any man is saved But is there no Medium betwixt a Perfect Obedience and that in the General course of our lives Does not That Obedience which is spotted only with sins of Infirmity and which keeps the good Christian from all Wilful and Deliberate Sins come nearer to an Unsinning Obedience than that which is sometimes born down by the Violence of Temptations 2dly This Rule is not clear enough to direct any man in so weighty a matter For what one man calls Obedience as to the General course of our Actions another will not call so And he that is but sometimes Drunk and Cheats but now and then and is but seldom guily of Fornication or any other sin may comfortably commit them so that he does not turn them into an Habitual Practice And I verily believe should I appeal to most mens Consciences that are not extremely Vicious they would confess that they slacken the reins now and then to a Delightful Lust or a Profitable Sin because they are of Opinion that if in the Generality of their Actions they observe their Duty these not common Intermissions will not endanger their Salvation I think I need not oppose Authority against Authority since the Uncertainty and Looseness of the Rule is sufficient to confute it And if the Arguments by which I have proved the danger that is in every Wilful Sin be Good This Rule must needs be Deceitful and Erroneous As for the other Species of Wilful Sins that are Wilful in their Cause when we have neglected such means of Knowledge as were consistent with our Circumstances and so chosen our Ignorance or when we had time and leisure to have consider'd our actions before we did them but we would run rashly and inconsiderately upon them Such Ignorance and Inconsideration are so far from excusing an Action that they highly aggravate it They are marks that our Spirit is strangely alienated from God They shew that we love Darkness more than Light and that we regard not the conforming our Actions to the Commands of God That we would not consider our ways lest we should turn our feet unto his Testimonies And what will be the effect of such gross Heedlesness and affected Ignorance I leave every mans own Conscience to tell him Give me leave to back what I have delivered on this Head with the Authority of the Whole Duty of Man a Book deservedly in most peoples hands Chap. 6. Sect. 21. we are told That whosoever continues in any one Wilful Sin is not in Gods favour nor can he if he so die hope for any mercy at his hand But now the man that is conscious to himself of any Wilful Sin is ready to say in his heart Though every Wilful Sin is Damnable yet is it not so to them that have forsaken it 't is not so upon Repentance and That I have performed and therefore this terrible Discourse does not affect me And blessed for evermore be the Infinite Mercy of our Gracious God that has declared his readiness to receive the Returning Prodigal to receive us to Pardon though we have sinn'd with an high hand and Presumptuously rebelled against Him That has extended his Expiatory Sacrifice not only to our Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity as under the Old Law but to our Sins against our Knowledge to our Voluntary and Presumptuous Sins 3dly But this confident person that has lately been guilty of one Wilful Sin must be told That before he can give Peace and Quiet to his Soul he ought to be certain that his Repentance has been of such a nature and in such measure as will be accepted with God which is the Third part of my Rule by which a man may judge of his Spiritual State But he that has lately been guilty of One Wilful Sin cannot be sure that his Repentance is accepted by God For though he may be sensible of his fault and the danger it has brought him into though he has several times begg'd Gods pardon and if he be of a soft and tender temper with groans and tears too though he has made satisfaction and restitution for whatever injury he has done by his sin all which particulars are absolutely required of every True Penitent His sin being lately committed he cannot have had sufficient experience of the Firmness and Soundness of his Repentance 'T is a strict Obedience in all our Voluntary actions to all the Commands of God and that when our Interest and our Pleasure run counter to them 'T is such a strict and Universal Obedience that is the only Touch-stone to distinguish between the True and the False Repentance For how often have we found our Resolutions of amendment prove ineffectual And how can we be sure unless by experience that our present Resolutions shall not be as unsuccesful as our Former We may truly and sincerely resolve to please God for the future as the Child while the delicious Bait is absent may heartily promise his Father that he will never offend him again But how know we that this our resolution is not built on a Sandy Foundation too weak to support it when the Rains the Floods and the Winds the violence of Temptations shall assault it I doubt not but St. Peter did not dissemble with his Master when he told him so briskly Though all men should forsake him yet would not he and yet 't is upon Record how shamefully he flew off upon Tryal Therefore the strength and goodness of our Desires and Resolutions are best known by our Actions Virtuous Habits in the Soul are to be discern'd certainly only by the Acts they produce This makes Divines commonly say that no man can be sure that a Death-bed-repentance is valid This made St. Austin say Lib. 50. Hom. 41. That a Christian living well goes hence securely He that repents and afterwards lives well goes hence securely He that repents at last and is absolved whether he goes hence securely I am not secure Accordingly Salvian says Sera cautione spondere aliquid temerarium est It would be a piece of Rashness and Presumption to give any assurance to a Death-bed-Penitent This made the ancient Church as we learn from St. Cyprian refuse the Viaticum the Sacrament to persons that deferred their Repentance till death for these had given no proof of their amendment And when after the decay of Ecclesiastical Discipline they gave it to such it was de bene esse that it might do as much good as it could but what that would be God only knew to man it was wholly doubtful as we are informed in this famous expression Poenitentiam dare possumus securitatem non
of Ignorance and Inconsideration if we have been honestly industrious to learn our duty and watchful to prevent a surprise where we discern'd danger of it the effects of these are unavoidable and though in themselves they are deviations from the Laws of God they shall never be imputed as such to us No good man will punish another for that which was inevitable Then for our ill Thoughts when by the looseness of our lives we do not give occasion to them they have their Natural causes as well as the former If we do not indulge our selves in them if we do not take pleasure in them but dismiss them with a Get ye behind me Satan you savour not the things of God they are the Objects of our Virtues and not our Vices they are proofs of a resolute and steady Obedience Wherefore 't is plain that the Apostle in these words He that sinneth is of the Devil meaneth not such Actions as are owing to the weakness of our Nature but to the Vitiosity of our Wills Such as the Gnosticks allow'd themselves in against whom the Apostle directs these words and the rest of this Epistle All that the best of Christians can do as to these sins of Infirmity is to humbly acknowledge them to strive against them and to beg Gods pardon for them in general More than this is impossible and that this is enough all Divines agree The doubting Christian will reply I have indeed used some endeavours to correct the coldness of my Prayers to restrain all evil thoughts to better inform my Judgment and to prevent all Inconsiderateness but I am sensible I have not used my utmost endeavours and this if I loved God as I ought with all my heart with all my soul and with all my might I should have done so still I stand condemn'd by my own Conscience But certainly loving God with all our Heart and with all our Might is not with all our Power strain'd to the utmost possibility for this would not be to prescribe a Law to Mankind but immediately to put them All how Innocent soever on the Rack and that the severest For the stretching the faculties of the Soul to their utmost possibility is much more grievous than the distention of the Members of the Body Besides there is no way of judging when we have done all that is possible if we take it in this strict sense Neither David who is said to have followed God with all his heart 1 Kings 14.8 Nor Zeehariâ—â— and Elizabeth and others who are said to have walked in all the Commands of God in this of loving God with all the heart as well as the rest ever performed it in this sense We are told indeed that Jehu took no heed to walk in the Laws of God with all his heart because he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam 2 Kings 10.31 We are told that they that worshipped strange Gods did not return to the Lord with all their heart 1 Sam. 3.7 But we are no where told that he who is careful to avoid all Wilful sins that will forsake his Father or his Mother his Brother or Sister nay his own Life for the sake of God that is rather than sin against him Knowingly Willingly We are no where told that This man does not love God with all his heart Nay 't is probable this way and degree of expressing our Love to the Second Person of the Trinity now is but a more clear and distinct expression of the Love that was owing to the First Person in the Trinity under the Old Law David who best knew what it was to love God with all ones heart because himself was an Example of it has taught us That they seek the Lord with their whole Heart who do no Iniquity Psal 119.2 3. that is Heinous and Deliberate sins For David knew that himself and all Mankind would always have their secret sins their sins of Ignorance and Inadvertency But the Objector will rejoyn in the third place Tho' I am conscious to my self of no wilful Damning sin yet for ought I know I am extremely guilty before the great Searcher of Hearts And St. Paul in this is my Precedent in 1 Cor. 4.4 Though he knew nothing of himself yet he says thereby he was not justified Wherefore I must go down with sorrow to my Grave If I am saved at last it must be by working out my Salvation with fear and trembling And so great a man as the forementioned Apostle says He counted not himself to have apprehended but forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth to those things that are before he pressed towards the Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 But you have read the words of St. John If your hearts condemn you not then have you confidence towards God You have seen St. Paul's great confidence assurance Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Glory Wherefore unless we will make St. Paul contradict himself and one Apostle to disagree with the other there is but little force in the Objection from the 1st to the Cor. If you consult the place you will find him to speak to some that were very apt to censure him as to the discharge of his Apostolical Function And to reprove them for the rashness of their censures he tells them how difficult it was to pass a true Judgment For says he I know my own Intentions my secret Thoughts and all my Carriage and Behahaviour in this matter and am not conscious to my self of any failing in it yet I am not hereby justified for some slip omission may be undiscovered by me and so I may not be wholly Innocent And if I may be thus deceived in my own Affairs how much more likely is it that you should and therefore judge not The whole Context runs thus But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of You or mans judgment yea I judge not my own self For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified But He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come But does he say Tho I know nothing by my self yet I may be so far Criminal as to have brought my self into a state of Damnation This would come up to the point but nothing less will To go on then to the other parts of the Objection 'T is true St. Paul advises the Philippians to work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling but this imports only that they should be careful and diligent in the discharge of their Duty just as the same Apostle bids Servants to obey their Masters with Fear and Trembling that is to be careful to please them Surely he does not mean they could not know when they do so As for that other passage that St. Paul counted not himself to have apprehended but look'd towards the things