precepts and the promises being the rule of asking We have a most free access to plead the promises both of this and the life to come Eph. 3.12 Heb. 4.16 1 Tim. 4 8. so that by holy degrees and steps we may arrive to further humble confidence of divine mercy 4. When we feel some gracious risings of love to God as pardoning our iniquities for Christs sake and tho we do not so fully and sweetly feel it as we would yet our hearts do pant and long after it This is a true sign of Love. But yet to clear it a little the humble soul will ask Quest How shall I know that I love God Ans I answer Of all the affections that spring and bubble out of the will this is most easily to bediscerned and known Do you know the Sun when you see him walk in brightness do you know that you live by the actings of the senses and the pulsation of your arteries or do you know that you walk when you move your feet and feel your motions from place to place you may as certainly know your affections and the workings of your Soul This distinguishes men from Bruits in the acting of their reason upon all they do and in managing ends and means The affections spiritually beating are the pulsations of the regenerate heart Observe then your Objects if you love the things above better than all below Col. 3.2 Isal 73.25 in your choice and preference tho sometimes under some ebbs and eclipses yet still you find an inward regard to God and his glory and that you perform every action in ordine ad Deum and love all as to the inward sincerity of your heart 1 Cor. 10.31 and enjoy every relation with some desire to work up your mercies towards God in thankfulness and usefulness These are good tokens that you are risen with Christ by Faith and that your life is hid with God in him and that by continued degrees of Sanctification you shall at last arrive to this even to appear with him in Glory 4. But that I may at length wind out of this delightful Labyrinth in discoursing about Assurance Let us hearken to the second Question wherein the Soul being somewhat revived does now start the fourth Particular at the beginning and that is Quest 2. How may I preserve and retain Assurance when it is gained Ans The reason of this Question arises not only from hence because the sweet sense of divine love is a most desirable frame of Spirit and fills the soul to the brim with joy and peace in the Holy Ghost and besides renders persons very serviceable and greatly honours Religion But also because 1. Many gracious persons that have true Faith yet labour under deep fears of Hypocrisie arising from their pious Education not answered by proportionable holiness It puts great jealousies in their hearts that all they have done is but a forced work and a habit of formality attracted from the precepts of godly Ministers and Parents instilling into an inlightned conscience the frightful form of an outward conversation consonant and therefore fear at a strange rate that their diamonds are but as it were from the soft Rock of St. Vincent their Gold but Alchymy their Faith but fained and temporary But be not discouraged For that Faith is true and unfeigned which proceeds from a pure heart 1 Tim. 1.5 19. and a good conscience that is without fraud and guile in setting it naked and open before God Act. 24.16 in labouring and exercising to keep a good conscience in sight of God and Men. You may then rejoyce in the testimony of such a conscience having been upright before him in the main bent of the soul Psal 18.23 and in keeping from your own iniquity What tho thou didst not come in with such remarkable pangs no more did Zacheus nor Lydia T is not the manner but the truth of our coming in to Christ is the great point if thou constantly adhere to the Lord with full purpose of heart Nay what if there were some errors at first Act. 11.23 this puts no bar if the root of the matter be in thee The Apostles followed our Lord at first in some hopes of preferment in the temporal Kingdom of the Messiah but at length understood the Doctrine of the Crosse better which God in great tenderness is pleased to vail from young converts at first or at least preserve them from suffering till they are strengthened and then like the Apostles they still cleave to and continue with the Lord under all trials by the exceeding power of his might And thus as I remember Dr. Crakenthorp in defending of Cyprian and Jerom against some pontificians imputing some errors to them Crakenthorp of the sixth Council P. the better to vindicate their Liberius answers that if they did erre they did it not willingly but were ready to reform upon the first approach of Scripture light and conviction T is so in our case they are ready with that holy man to pray what I see not teach thou me Job 34.32 The mind and will of God is the perfect square rule canon and compass of all their actions and tho they may fail threu ' weakness yet never thru ' wilfulness Wherefore be not out of heart O tender and trembling soul let not go your hope and confidence because you have not had so long and such bitter pangs in the new birth that makes the work the harder but not the truer A child may be born sometimes with greater ease and speed Great horrors may attend great sinners and yet after all their heavy convictions may stick in the birth and never be truly converted till they are truly and perseveringly reformed which indeed cuts the work short and makes the evidence clear If thou hast been under a gentler hand from God bless him with louder Songs of praise For the shorter and sweeter the method the greater is the mercy and as one said A young Saint may make as old Angel. 2. This question begs a full answer because though want of Assurance does not denote an unbeliever yet it keeps a true believer under the dark shades of fear and sorrow Assurance besides in the best of Saints is but an imperfect work because our Faith it self is but imperfect we see but in part because we do but trust in part If our Faith do at any time waver and stagger â—ol 2.2 assurance must needs qviver and shake It 's true there 's mention made of the riches of full Assurance but that 's comparative in respect to some Saints and mentioned as attainnable with full sweetness and may possibly for the main continue pretty constant especially in very active and suffering Saints yet 't is not without ebbs and buâ—â—etings in the best There are but few that walk in the mountain of Sun-shine all their lives as 't is said of Zabarel the Philosopher when one day
crucifie them to the world more and more You begin to grow up and some into years It s high time as the Apostle exhorts to put on the Lord Jesus and to make no provision more for the flesh and the lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 5. Fifthly The Doctrine of Faith infers it to be great wisdom and duty to keep your consciences undefiled For the mystery of Faith is held and preserved in a pure clean and serene conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 like a chrystal Venice-glass tipt with gold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that runs like a clear sweet stream not conscious of any sin wilfully committed 1 Tim. 1.19 It s sometime termed a good conscience whereof wilful sins make sorrowful ship-wracks A good conscience is a continual feast gave Paul a Banquet every night and composed him to a better rest 2 Cor. 1.12 than in a bed of Roses But why is a good conscience such a golden vial for Faith Because holiness of life feeds conscience with joy and thereby testifies and comforts about the truth of Faith. 6. Sixthly We may observe from the former tract that Faith is an excellent engine to discern and observe the wise Government of God in the World and in the Church It s a Telescope to discern afar off in the heavens and a Microscope to pry into minuter accidents in the earth Had we no other Argument Heb. 11.3 yet by Faith we may know it and that more fully and punctually how the worlds were framed and by Faith we understand the divine dominion and management of the world by Spirits He maketh his Angels Spirits Psal 104.4 his Ministers a flaming fire of some whereof le ts speak in order 1. First God manages many things by the ministration of Angels They are the seven eyes of God that joy to see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel for rebuilding the Temple Heb. 1.7 Zech. 4.10 Dan. 9.21.10 13 20. Gen. 19.1 2 Kin. 1.9 15. Deut. 32.8 We read in Scripture of the Prince of Persia and Graecia of Michael and Gabriel tho the third is judged to be meant of Christ the other of created Angels which were imployed in divine works and messages and what were the Chariots of Mahanaim and near Samaria and at Elijah's rapture and other times but the holy Angels of God. There is also a place in Deuteronomy which the Septuagint read thus When the most High divided the inheritance to the Nations when he separated the Sons of Adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Angels of God. Tho I do not justifie the Translation yet it shews that this notion was current among the antient Jews And altho the Pseudodionysius in his Hierarchy of Angels sets down many frivolous fancies and curiosities about their orders yet that God is pleased to execute his pleasure by the administration of good and sometimes evil Angels is consonant to holy Scripture As in the Psalmist Psal 78.49 he sent evil Angels among the Egyptians and so made a way to his anger whom some interpreters judg to be good Angels but called so from the evil of punishment which as instruments they inflicted However that be yet t is a Scripture truth and an object of Faith and known by experience in several ages And altho the methods be unknown yet the matter is certain and indeed may be joy and comfort to Saints to know that they encamp about them that fear him and are the valiant ones about their beds by night Psal 34 7 they are the holy Watchers in Daniel and the comforters and aiders of Saints by day and why may not they suggest some heavenly ill apses as well as evil Spirits tempt when God permits It s ground of sweet joy and praise for the Saints to have such society and communion with these holy Sons of God these Morning Stars that sang before him Ioh 38 7 Zech 6 8 It s said of them that they quieted the Spirit of God in the North Countrey that is Gods wrath was satiated by the execution of justice upon Babylon in the ministry of these holy Angels They fought against the Assyrian in Sennacharibs Camp 2 King 19 35 Zech 1 8 2 Chro. 35.21 they were in Battel aray against Babylon among the Myrtle Trees What may we divine of the visions to Pharaoh Necho when commanded to go up against Carckemish the Cercusium in Ammiano or of that to Alexander in Josephus or of that voice to Totilas commanding him to go against Italy and making him the flagellum Dei Gods Scourge to the Nations were not they secret impulses and instigations of Angels upon their Spirits to do the work of God 2. Sometimes by the spirits of men God turned the Egyptians hearts to hate his people and deal subtilly with his Servants after a while Ps 105.29.37 Eâ—od 12.36 he gives them favour in the sight of the same nation so that they lent them what they required both Jewels of gold silver and raiment sometimes a Pharaoh that dealt kindly with them all the days of Joseph and then other Pharaohs that were very harsh and cruel to them Sometimes a Grecian Alexander shall favour them and after him Antiochus one of his Successors deal barbarously with them When Israel was come into their own land God promised to restrain the Spirits of the Neighbouring Heathens at the three times a year when they went up to worship yea to bridle the inward desires of the adjacent nations Exod. 34.24 that not a man of them should so much as desire their Land. In after-ages the Prophet Daniel treating of the times of the silver breast Dan. 11.27 Prophesies there should arise two Princes scil Antiochus Epiphanes and Ptolomaeus Philometor who should speak lies at one table but it should not prosper that is make feigned shews of amity when they feasted together but it should not avail them To name no more there is a wonderful Praediction in Ezekiel that in the latter days not yet fulfilled things shall then come into the mind of Gogâ— that is the Turk or Tartars as the learned judg He shall think an evil thought Ezek. 38.10 even to come into the Land of Israel ver 18. ver 22. after the Jews are re-entred into it But the Lord will plead against him to his utter destruction and he shall be finally ruined when the Lord will raise up the Sons of Zion against the Sons of Greece Zech. 14.3.9.13 that is against the Turk or Tartarian in that day having fixed his seat at Constantinople in the old Imperial Pallace of the Graecian or Eastern Empire and being the Successor of the Graecian Alexander in his East Dominions 3. Sometimes by the heavenly bodies and their influences by the spirits of meteors and many other natural exhalations out of the sea and bowels of the earth as from Vesuvius Aetna Hecla and the Vulcanian Islands How did the Stars in their courses fight against Sisera Judg. 5.20 causing great inundations in the
then to it again Dare men thus impose upon God and even wrest and force mercy against the Promises which are alway connext with obedience to precepts or do they think to lay the load upon Gods Soveraignty and with a bold face lay the cause of their wickedness at his door who is bound to none 't is mercy and free grace to any They know full well in their Consciences that they have a natural power to perform external duty to external commands as to hearing reading praying c. nay somewhat of internal as in meditating examining resolving and watching to perform their souls convictions They can do these things as well as go to Taverns Gaming 's Suffrage of Brit. Divines at Dort. p. 68. Lotteries and 't is justly to be feared to worse Cannot they as well repair to the assemblies hear reverently resolve humbly perform uniformly to the unspeakable comfort of their own Consciences under whose Discipline they so often tremble and after that to the joy of their godly Relations resolutely bid an eternal Farewel to all their foolish vain and treacherous Companions they would be loth to meet them in Hell the next bout and to dwell with them in everlasting burnings O then while the golden sands of time are yet running take hold of good Advice to cast off such reprobate Sons of Belial and abjects of the earth and hope by this method to arrive at divine mercy in Christ by trusting in Gods Covenant upon reformation and after some time well spent in Holiness may obtain the Joy of Faith which will end in the Salvation of their Souls T is but a little courage and the work is done O venture not the damnation of thy soul on the punctilio's of Dastardy as afraid to displease such brain-sick fools who after the thread is snapt by death will curse one another for ever as being mutual promoters of each others eternal ruine But I shall transmit this useful Satyr to the sixth Chapter and close the present with a question or two and so end it Quest 1. How to discern the first beginnings of Grace Ans As it was with Thomas he had at first but a confused knowledg whether Christ was going when told of his departure and as the blind man being under Christs cure saw imperfectly at first men walking like Trees but at length came to more perfect sight so t is here good souls at first see but darkly and feel but grosly yet thus much they may surely know and therefore infer a work of Grace surely begun within them by serious enquiry into their own hearts what their inmost thoughts when in a good frame do principally run upon what their earnest desires do most constantly thirst after and pitch upon what the secret wishes of their Souls are bent upon and herein Conscience will be a faithful witness whether it be for Salvation in the true way of Faith and Holiness which is accepting of Christ on the terms of grace and Gospel tenders as I have often mentioned to be the matter of our most close and secret enquiry and impartial resolution from an honest and unbribed Conscience Prov 23.7 On which account I may remember what ouce Mr. Rogers of Hassam being desired by Mr. Knightly a worthy Gentleman in Northamptonshire when one time he could not sleep in the night to help him to a Scripture to meditate on told that of Solomon As the man thinketh so is he which is so in truth For at what stairs the heart and its continued thoughts are plying there lies the true index of the souls state and its future happiness Quest 2. Whether desires of Grace are Grace Ans The former hint at this le ts a little enlarge and determine for a Scripture-truth if those desires be true and sincere of which take two or three tokens 1. If such desires are followed with faithful and speedy endeavours to promote and accomplish in the use of proper means Eccl. 9.10 Psal 27.8 Prov. 1.3 4.18.1.21.21.22.1 One thing have I desired sayes David and that will I seek after the soul of a sluggard desires and has nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat Again the desire of the slothful killeth him for â—is hands refuse to labour he 's alwayes roaring within that there 's a Lion roaring without Ruine is the end of lazy wishes but he that is diligent in this business shall stand before the Prince of Princes 2. If thy desires grow and encrease having been attended with success He that gathereth by Labour shall increase Holy desires will grow by knowledg and the teachable grace of humility Prov. 18.11 2 Pet. 3.18 Grow in grace sayes Peter but how he Answers by the knowlâ—dg of our Lord and Saviour Yet there is a stated measure to which we are appointed and can proceed no further tho we know it not and to whatever point our study is bent we can know but in part in this life and therefore Faith of the choicest Believers is but in part on this side glory 3. If thy desires prove uncessant and impatient till accomplishment and enjoyment then will they prove a tree of life Thruâ— desire sayes Solomon a man having separated himself Prov. 13.12 Prov. 18.1 seeketh and intermedleth with all wisdom He must alienate from all impertinencies and dedicate himself to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work in hand the matter and end proposed which is a fair token that a man 's in earnest and will never cease till he arrives at his Haven by the fair wind of Providence Desire is a restless affection and pursues its end against all opposition round the whole Globe Like a Spring that breaks out at the foot of the high Mountain of Resolution and quickly spreads to a well a brook a river till at last it unbosome in the vast Ocean Orlike the Morning Star that ushers in the dawning twilight which gradually ascending swells over the Eastern Mountains and prophecies the bright Suns appearance who never leaves climbing the horizontal hills till he shines in his lustre and at last sits down in his Throne in the mid-heaven Prov. 4.18 guarded with Lions Such is the path of the just which shineth more and more to the perfect noon day of eternal glory But to end after all considerations of the nature of desires and the meanest state in grace be but sure and clear that thy Faith is of the right stamp and your enquiry about the lowest degree of Grace will be rather superfluous and too full of critical ambiguities and niceties CHAP IV V. THe Title of the fourth Chapter concerns the Doctrine of Justification by Faith as before related Page 54 and was fitted for Publication but because of necessary avocations calling me from the Press which the sharpness of the Winter and other delayes had too much congealed from Motion I found it expedient at present to lay it aside till another season if