unhallow them If after all this I chance to Err I do not doubt but that the purity of my intention the diligence of my inquiry the meekness and intireness of my Resignation will through the mercies and goodness of a gracious God secure my Heaven and render my error innocent and harmless All that is behind now is in the 3. Third place to preserve my Charity for my Neighbour least that Faith which should be the strong engagement to union become the unhappy Instrument of Divisions To this end I consider 1. That the Controversies now on foot in Christendome are not about the Truth but sense of Divine Revelation none at all calling into question the veracity but the meaning of God and therefore I cannot conceive the glory of God any more lessen'd or injur'd by variety of Opinions than by variety of Capacities unless in their consequence 2. As the bare assent to a Truth doth not save so I see no reason why the holding of an Error should damn unless it be such as hath a sinful Original or Issue or such as is not consistent with the Honour and Glory of the Most High God and indeed no Opinion which lessens the Majesty of the Most High God can be taken up by any one professing Christianity but that it must begin or end in Sin But yet the aggravation or extenuation of the guilt of a Man thus erring may depend upon so many circumstances as Capacity Education Means and Opportunity of better information the strength of prejudices c. That he must be left to the judgment of God alone and my duty as a private Christian is to love and pray for him and to endeavour his reducement by all the pious Subtleties I can This is the general Rule of the Apostle Let not the Weak judge the Strong nor the Strong despise the Weak I will live in the peaceful temper of these perswasions happy in the enjoyment of a smooth and settled Calm resign'd up to God stanch and consistent in my self and possess'd by charitable hopes of my Neighbour I 'le endeavour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man and then I hope I may at last resign my Spirit into the hands of a faithful Creator in the Joyes and Transports of this Precious Christian Faith The Prayer GLorious and incomprehensible God suppress in me all proud thoughts all wild and wanton Curiosities and keep my Soul in the humble frame of new born Babes Thou dwellest in Light inaccessible my Soul in a cloud of Flesh and Bloud my Faculties are weak and tainted and thy Light dazling and therefore it is not for me Lord it is not for me saucily to discuss or pragmatically to determine of but humbly to receive and heartily to embrace those Mysteries which thou a God of Truth of Goodness and of Power hast vouchsaf'd to reveal to us by the Son of thy Bosome Lord I confess that tho these Mysteries have a dark they have a bright side too for tho I cannot see thorow them yet I see enough to oblige me to worship Thee in Humility and Love and these these I hope will secure me in thy Love through Christ Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief enlighten my blindness quicken and enliven my dulness support my frailties disperse my Passions free me from all the prejudices which clog my sinful nature and finally beget in me an earnest desire after those blissful Mansions where my Faith shall be swallowed up in Vision Amen blessed Jesus Thus I have consider'd the Christian Faith and secur'd my own Peace But there are multitudes of People of a lower Rank and Capacity who may not it may be reach the design of this Section who are distracted by the numerous Controversies every where on foot and frightned by the rash zeal of their Abetters For the satisfaction of such I consider That it is easie to deduce from the Gospel That the Almighty will judge men by their several measures and opportunities 2. That the great Fundamentals of Religion are clear as day light and therefore the Gospel is call'd Light and the Grace of God is said to appear unto all men which tho I suppose primarily meant in opposition to the darkness of Gentilism and in some measure of Judaism too and to that narrower limitation of this Grace under the Mosaical Oeconomy implies with all the clearness of the Gospel of which were there no other proof this one would suffice That the Gospel was design'd for the benefit of all Mankind and more immediately preach'd to the Poor and Silly and Refuse of the World The consequence of this is that it seems at least to me wholly improbable that any Body should be betray'd into a necessity of Erring in Fundamentals unless they be accessory to their own error and therefore this being once granted I may resolve all I can think of necessary for the Multitude in to two directions 1. That holding fast to manifest Fundamentals they for the rest submit themselves to the Government they are under which will be safe for them upon three Accounts 1. That the points controverted are such which they are not of necessity oblig'd to know 2. That they themselves are not capable of making any solid inquiry and therefore to resign themselves to those set over them is the utmost of their duty 3. That in this Case their submission to the publick Authority of the Church they are of is an act of Obedience and Humility and most conformable to the command of God and the peace and unity of the world 2. That they never prefer a doubtful opinion to the prejudice of a plain Precept or Duty a Man may go to Heaven tho he be not of this or that opinion but without Obedience and Charity he cannot but to do this is to stickle for a Sect in violation of Obedience and Charity and to prefer an humor before ones Duty which is a certain Symptom of a mind infatuated by pride or perverted by interest CHAP. III. Of Christianity with respect to Practice and that 1. In general and 2. In particular Sect. 1. OF Practice in general which contains Being and Doing Good We are born into a World full of Snares and Temptations and we our selves are Creatures blind and yet wilful weak and yet wanton too and upon these accounts we are vouchsaf'd the favour of Divine Revelation to conduct us thorow our Pilgrimage to enable us to fight the good fight of Faith and to prevent our miscarrying thorow the Deceitfulness of Sin and the frailty of humane nature and therefore whoever doth not improve this gift of God into all these Advantages and Benefits defeats the design of Heaven and receives the grace of God in vain Besides all this the great Author of all things hath declar'd himself a God jealous of his honour and delighted in the happiness of his Creatures from whence I naturally infer that that only can be a design
state of torments afterward And yet all this while I have taken no notice of those additional sufferings which Divine Vengeance will no doubt inflict upon the Soul nor of the nature of the Soul the exaltedness of whose Essence heightens and sharpens the pain for the more delicate the Being the more subtle its perception and the more exquisite the torment Sect. 3. There is a third State wherein misery swels to the highest marke it can possibly when the Body being rais'd again shall follow the Fate of the Soul and both shall be condemn'd to inextinguishable flames O Hell where only the Enemies of God and Goodness dwell where wretched men undergo all that sullying the Divine Glory and trampling on the blood of Christ can merit But I have reserv'd a place for a further survey of this state I am sufficiently convinc'd that the gaining of the whole World cannot recompence the loss of my Soul since its loss implies all this and more for what would I take to be miserable or rather what would I take to be eternally so is it a rational question if I lose my self what can be gain to me the world peradventure will continue amiable many ages after I am gone but what is that to me And if to gain the whole world at so dear a price be so ill a Bargain how fatal a purchase should I make who am like to gain so little being none of the worlds greatest Favourites My Soul is not so cheap yet that I can set it at so low a rate as a few hundreds a year I am as immortal as any Monarch in Christendome and my pretensions to the Almighties favour may grow equal to that of any of the Sons of men and I should be a Profligate and Reprobate a Brute indeed if I should abandon my poor Soul to Misery and renounce the interest I have in the God of Heaven and Earth for I know not what Let who will therefore sweat and toil for wealth and greatness I have but this one business to do to insure this dear dear Soul of mine in its voyage to eternity let who will gain the Reputation of a wise man by a clearer fore-sight and thriftier management of affairs by an unwearied Attendance and insinuating applications I shall think my self wise enough if I can but be sav'd and great enough if I enjoy but the Smiles of Heaven Let who will applaud themselves for the contempt of intrigue and sullen business whilst they thaw and dissolve in soft and delicate pleasures or waste and spend themselves in course and toilsome Lusts If I may enjoy the pleasure of a manly rational life spent in a constant course of Religion and virtue without Superstition or frowardness of a mind unharass'd by desires and fears of a peaceful assur'd conscience of the contemplation of glorious Truths and the hopes of a blessed immortality I shall envy none the happiness of the most luscious pleasure or kindest fortune the World affords A Prayer reflecting on the precedent Discourse BLessed God give me grace to prefer the interest of my Soul to the World and Flesh the things eternal to the things temporal that amidst the pleasures of Prosperity and Peace and the flatteries of Reputation I may not forget to think what will be the condition of my future State and that amidst the troubles which besiege this mortal Life I may be supported by the blessed hopes of a better world that the confident belief of the Souls immortality may render me industrious to lay up a good foundation for the time to come so that when I shall have put off this Tabernacle of clay I may be cloath'd with a building of God not made with hands eternal in the Heavens all this I beg through Jesus Christ our Lord. CHAP. II. Of the Nature of Christianity Sect. 1. CHristianity may be considered either in Relation to Faith or Practice I will first consider the Christian Faith and that in the most practical manner I can In my Creed I have regard to three things especially 1. To the use and end of Faith which is certainly to guide and influence our lives 2. To the peace of my own Breast And 3. To the preservation of Charity My Reason for the first is evident of it self for the two later is this Tho I may doubt whether I believe aright all that is necessary to my eternal salvation and yet that doubt not prove injurious to my happiness at the last day because I did both believe aright and live conformably to it and the scruple arose only from the Disputes and Contests of men and the weakness of my own understanding not from any iniquity of my will yet this doubt will disquiet and disturb my repose damp my cheerfulness and vigour and may peradventure unsettle my faith and end if not in Atheism in coldness and indifferency And tho 2. I may believe Another in a damnable Errour when he is not without prejudice to my own Soul because I may make this judgement in the Simplicity of my heart by the best light and Rule I have yet peradventure this opinion may improve it self insensibly upon my affections to a very ill consequence and invite me to an uncharitable and unfriendly deportment 1. If I consider the Christian Faith with regard to the great end of it Holyness I observe that the Gospel contains two great things the Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ This is Life eternal Joh. 17.3 To know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This knowledge contains in it all the Obligations imaginable to a Holy Life and secures the hopes and comforts of Christians upon an unmovable foundation and this knowledge agrees perfectly with the Nature and Ends of Religion 1. First With the Nature of Religion Religion is nothing else but the true and spiritual worship of the only true God who is a Spirit Now all the worship we are capable of paying him consists either in the Affections of the Soul or Actions of the Body so that that Belief or Knowledge which tends to render these proper and acceptable to God is directly conformable to the Nature of Religion The Gospel therefore hath discovered God to us 1. One infinite in Wisedom Power Holyness Goodness c. And secondly as he stands more particularly related to us in the Work of Creation Providence Redemption All this put together proves him to be God and to be Ours it evinces his Excellency and his Supremacy it represents him infinitely Lovely and Adorable in himself and entitles him to all the service and affection which Dominion Love and Munificence can lay a just claim to all which is enforcement enough which is the use of Faith to our Duty when we are acquainted with it Which that we might be and that we might have assistance to enable us to performe it and that there might be a Provision made for the pardon of our errors God in
his infinite wisedom thought it necessary to send his Son into the world and therefore it is necessary to eternal Life to believe in Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and about him we are inform'd in the Gospel that he is the Son of God that he was made Man and liv'd here upon Earth that he might teach us our Duty and leave us an Example of it that he was crucified for our sins that he rose again from the Dead and after forty dayes sojourning here he was received into glory and became the Head and Prince of his Church c. The Belief of all which illustrates the Justice and Mercy of the Most High God assures us of the truth of his promises i. e. The assistance of the Spirit of God and eternal Rewards and superadds most powerful Obligations to obedience and layes an unshaken foundation of Joy and Peace by shewing us on what account our sins are pardon'd and our services accepted So that now there will need but few words to prove 2. That this knowledge doth directly serve the End and Aims of Religion which must be Gods Glory and Mans Happiness the former is already prov'd for to Glorifie and to Worship God are equivalent terms the later easily appears thus in that this Belief doth 1. Rescue us from the power of sin by powerful motives and endearments to and by supernatural assistances of virtue and 2. From the guilt of it by the Blood of Christ and so it frees us from the misery of unruly passions and from the slavish Fears of Death and Hell 3. It composes our minds in all the various changes of the world by the firm perswasion of the wisedom power and goodness of the God who governs it And lastly it delights and satisfies our Souls by the discovery of Objects fit for their love and enjoyment which is no less essentially necessary to our present happiness than any of the former for Man being a weak and empty Creature cannot like God find his happiness in the fruition of himself but must seek it in something else which must be able to fill all his desires and appetites and satisfie all his Capacities of enjoyment O Happy Christian that conquers the World and himself that is freed from all fears and jealousies about a future State and enjoys the ravishing Objects of a glorious Faith well may the Holy Spirit make up the Description of this State of characters of Joy Peace and Hope 2. But now Secondly that this Happiness may be intire it is neessary to secure the peace of my own bosome as to the matters of Faith And this may be disturbed two wayes either by doubting of the Truth or else the Sence of Divine Revelation we are tempted to the former commonly by this Argument These things cannot be therefore the Book which contains the History of them is an imposture To the later by much the same Argument These things cannot be therefore since we cannot deny the authority of Scripture we must explain them in some other sense Both proceed upon this botome I cannot understand or conceive the possibility of this or that therefore it cannot be To secure my self from the first of these I consider the infinite Majesty of the God we worship and the trifling dwarfish Capacities of us Men and then I wonder not that some Articles should rather surprise and dazle my faculties than enlighten them To expect otherwise were to forget the nature of mysteries and of my self it is true to believe without a Reason for it is Credulity not Faith but then Revelation is the highest Reason for the belief of things supernatural there being no other mean left us to attain to their knowledge so that all that Reason can have to do here is not to discuss the probability of the Article revealed but the Authority of the revelation and this being once clear'd to surrender up our doubts and scruples which is weighing the shallowness of our understandings and the depths of mysteries no more than in a tedious long journey our eyes being dim and the way unknown and intricate to abandon our selves to the conduct of a kind skillful and faithful Guide The Sum of all is this Man is born like a wild Asses Colt and arrives into a rational Creature by painful institution and slow progressions the Soul being clouded by Passions imprison'd and limited by scanty Organs perverted by unhappy prejudices and therefore 't is a very wild and extravagant piece of folly to make ones own understanding the great standard and measure of all truth or to determine that the utmost of our Fancy is the utmost extent of Nature and of the Deity too for on the other hand God is a great and incomprehensible Being Great is the Lord and greatly to be prais'd and his greatness is unsearchable Psal 145.3 and therefore by a clear consequence our Faith is not the less reasonable because it is the more resign'd an awful distance and a modest Faith is as essential a part of Holiness as the conformity of our Wills to the Divine Law These very Considerations will serve to secure me 2. Against all doubts about the Sense of Revelation for the received and general sense appears to be the more natural and obvious and therefore no objection lies against it but what is already remov'd the seeming impossibility of it and if it be further consider'd that the Gospel was address'd to persons of very ordinary endowments and therefore to be understood in its most obvious sense that it is most conformable to that humble infant Spirit Christ requires in his Disciples to qualifie them for the reception of his Doctrine to Believe rather than Dispute That the receiv'd sense is the sense of the whole Catholick Church That an Errour of judgement which springs from Humility not Pride will be rather pitied than punish'd by a good God this all together will easily raise my Faith above all scruple and wavering Especially if I add to all this this one Observation That the Adversaries of any one Article of Faith have never made up one entire Body but several Sects divided by numerous and contradictory Tenents built up upon different Foundations that they have never been able to propagate any thing but wild and unaccountable fancies that they have set Scripture at a more irreconcileable distance from it self and instead of clearing its mysterious senses have made its plainest sense a Mystery From all this I am oblig'd to resolve not to gaze and stare upon Majesty lest I be blinded by the shine of it but worship and adore that I may be blest by it I 'le look upon my Creed like the Ark of God 2 Sam. 6. It must not be toucht by a bold hand though to support it all its Articles are like the Stones of the Altar Exod. 20. to lift up a tool of a Workman upon them tho with design to polish and adorn is nothing else but to profane and
my self only in proportion to what I share of thee for I know this is the Standard by which God now value me and will hereafter judge me If this be the end of Religion onely to implant goodness and charity amongst us to make us holy and like God and kind and beneficial one to another what is it that the World hates it for I may say concerning those who persecute Christianity as St. Peter did of those who Crucified its Author I wot that through ignorance ye did it Act. 3 17. Surely it is because you do not discern its beauty that you do not Love it If any retir'd life promote the end I have mention'd as well as an Active once I would not be thought to condemne it The Prayer O God the Heaven and Earth are full of thy goodness the faculties of our souls and the senses of our bodies are all imploy'd in the contemplation and enjoyment of it O make us who worship thee to imitate thee too that we may be thy children indeed make our souls delight to do goood and imprint in us such tender and compassionate Bowels towards one another as our dear Lord and Master had towards us Amen Amen blessed Jesus CHAP. IV. Of Chrictian practice in particular HAving consider'd the Nature of Christianity in respect to practice in the general I am now to speak of it more particularly but not pretending to give an account of every single virtue I will dwell upon Three Which contain the substance of the Christian duty i.e. Faith Love and Humility I will not apologize for the unphilosophical placing of Faith amongst practical duties the following discourse will clear the reason of it I place humility in the last place not because there is not an humility which is precedent to and disposes men for the reception of faith but because I look upon that humility which is consequent to and caus'd by it and which must always accompany it to render it acceptable in a more peculiar and proper sense an Evangelical grace 1. Of Faith When I read the glorious Achievements of a true Faith Heb. 11. That it subdued Kingdomes wrought Righteousness obtained promises c. and in one word supported men under the greatest miseries and arm'd them against the most taking pleasures of this World I cannot sufficiently wonder that a fuller and clearer discovery of a Heaven confirm'd to us by the strongest evidences i. e. the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power should have so weak an influence upon us Christians we take no more pains for Heaven than if we did not believe there were such a place and we have the same cares and fears in respect of the things present which Heathens and Infidels have so that tho' we talk much of Faith we make little or no use at all of it Therefore least any man delude and fool himself with a perswasion of being endowed with that Faith which he hath not I 'le give such an account of it as agrees with the Gospel of the Kingdom as suits with and serves the necessities of mankind and the end and Aims of God Faith saith the blessed Apostle is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen the substance or presence the evidence or Proof 't is not a slight transient glance drowsie imperfect assent a staggering wavering opinion but 't is a lively representation an affective vision a full perswasion of the glorious truths of the Gospel when the Objects are so fully and clearly evident that they not onely convince but take us too it is having the mind enlightn'd and so looking upon things with the eys of Angels and judging by the light of the blessed Spirit It is not only to see that the things invisible are but to see them in some measure such as they are Eternity as Eternity and Heaven as Heaven that is a state of truely great and glorious happiness on this account the things present may have a different face and aspect when regarded by the eyes of Faith and when of Sense for sense stops in the things themselves and regards their usefulness to the pleasure or profit of this present life but Faith carries its sight forward and compares the things which are seen with those hoped for the things temporal with those eternal and then all below appears but meer vanity This whole account of Faith we may find in the 13 verse of Heb. 11. These all died in Faith and what it is to dye or live in Faith the following words explain not having reciev'd the promises i.e. the accomplishment of them but having seen them a far off i. e. by divine Revelation were perswaded of them and embraced them and the natural consequence of this was and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth Now Faith is unalterable as to its essence but its objects may vary they may be more or fewer clearer or darker according to the Nature of divine revelation Heb. 1.1 its evidence may be fuller or weaker but still it must be such as may suffice to convince man of the Divine authority of the Revelation As to the Christian Faith 2. Its objects are the whole Gospeâ—â— of Christ God the Father such as he is reveal'd by the Son God the Son incarnate crucified c. The Rewards and punishments contain'd in it and all in order to engage us to an entire obedience to its holy and righteous Precepts By Faith I see that God who is invisible who tho he dwels in Heaven doth yet humble himself to behold all that is done upon Earth nor doth he only behold but govern all things too And whilst I contemplate his Wisedom Power Truth Goodness Holiness Justice c. manifested to me in the Gospel I adore and worship him I love and fear him I call on and relie upon him I endeavour to walk before him and be perfect I know nothing like him and therefore I desire nothing beside him or equal to him in Heaven or in Earth By Faith I see the Son of God abandoning the bosome and the Glory of his Father descending upon Earth and assuming the form of a Servant that by his doctrine and example he might propagate Righteousness and holiness in the world I trace him thorough all the Stages of his sufferings and travel till I behold him fasten'd to the Cross and bleeding out his meek and holy Soul at those painful wounds the nails had made and all this for my sins and the sins of the whole World and then with what a strange mixture of Passions that sight fills me with grief and shame and yet with love and hope too How I am amaz'd to see what indignation a holy God hath discover'd against Sin and how my heart bleeds to think that my sins have treated thus despitefully and cruelly my dear Lord and Master and with what a melting passion and vigorous resolutions of a fervent industrious service and an everlasting zeal
and devotion do I behold the amazing instances of my Saviours Love whilst with so much affection and sweetness he laid down his life for me whilst his enemy and his persecutor O how I long to do something for such a Saviour as this to execute my lusts to bring his and mine Enemies before his face and slay them and now tho a survey of my sins hath filled me with amazement and shame yet since Christ hath died I look up with comfort and an humble hope Since he hath died did I say yea rather since he is risen again for By Faith I see him breaking forth with Power and great Glory out of his Sepulchre I behold him ascending in Triumph up to Heaven I see with Stephen the Heavens open'd and my Prince and Saviour sitting at the right hand of Power with one hand despencing his Graces with the other holding never fadeing wreaths to crown the patience of his Saints And now how I am exalted above Nature transported above the world and flesh how this prospect hath disarm'd the Beauties and glories of this life of all their Killing charms and Temptations how my soul leaps for joy to see a way open'd into the holy of holies and to consider the mighty interest I have in Heaven As for Earth I am so far from admiring it I value it not I know I must sojourn here a while and therefore I must be fed and cloath'd but my heavenly Father knows I have need of these things and his is the Earth and the fulness thereof and therefore he cannot want means and ability to provide for me and he is a wise and a good God and he hath promis'd by his Son to take care of me and all this will invite him to design and accomplish what is best for me Upon these grounds I think I could hope like Abraham even against hope I could relie upon God without any flattering appearances of promises Friends nay or any visible probabilities I am to seek the righteousness of the Kingdome and permit the Government of the World to the God of it I am his child and he is my Heavenly Father to obey is my Duty and with Reverence be it said to provide for me is his By this time it is easie to be discern'd what kind of Faith it is must save or justifie us one that enlightens our understanding and ravisheth our Heart one that prayes and watches that contends and struggles and fights and conquers one that makes us too great for Earth and fit for Heaven one that fears and loves and worships and seeks and relies and hopes And then 3. When it hath done this when I find my Faith made perfect in Love when through this belief I find my self a conqueror over the World and Flesh and have crucified those lusts I did before serve and gratifie then I am full of Joy and peace Then I feel that pledge of his Love that spirit which he hath given me assuring me of the pardon of my sins thorough the blood of Christ Then I have a foretaste of the powers of the world to come and I do in some measure anticipate my Heaven And not till then For this perswasion of the pardon of my sins call it what you please Faith Peace Hope Assurance is always proportionable to the success I have in my fight of Faith if I have either falsly betrayed or weakly deserted a good cause i.e. my virtue under a temptation which is in Scripture call'd a Tryal if I have turn'd my back in the day of battel then my own conscience condemns me and because I know that God is greater than my Conscience and knoweth all things therefore I cannot expect to stand when I am judged unless I rally and repair my fault But if upon a serious reflection upon my life each evening my conscience acquit me as a Conqueror through Faith and Love then I rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory what a beautiful morning doth this Faith shed upon any soul How I long that thy Kingdome O God may come And how I disdain all that this vain World can flatter me with Then like Peter tho all men should be offended fall through temptation yet will not I. Give me a temptation equal to this Faith till the sense of my frailty as in Peter do lower my confidence and yet heighten my resolutions And yet all this doth not in the least imply any reliance or confidence in my own Righteousness or works phrases of the same sense in Scripture But that I know Repentance and Faith are propos'd as the sole conditions of Justification thorough the bloud of Christ And that these fruits or effects of Righteousness I mean a holy life are the onely evidence of these habits and therefore I can never perswade my self that I believe and repent till I live well nor ever flatter my self with Peace Peace through his bloud till I thus believe and Repent to do otherwise is presumption not Faith 't is the fond and groundless confidence of foolish Virgins which shall be for ever shut out from the Bridegrooms presence There is not in the book of God any one plainer Doctrine than this Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven which is not every one that professes me to be Lord and so far relies upon me as to knock at the gates of Heaven with presumption of admission shall enter c. If we walk in the light as he God is in the light we have fellowship one with another and truely our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ v. 3. and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Where walking in the light that is Holiness is suppos'd as a necessary condition to our purification by the blood of Christ and tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not asham'd c. These are the steps or stages by which the Christian maketh his progress into assurance Tribulation being conquer'd worketh patience and Patience experience i.e. a conviction or proof of our Love of God and this experience worketh hope which contains in it th' assurance of pardon and the expectance of a better world and by the same method doth he who is attack'd by the temptations of pleasures proceed to a particular assurance The Sum of all is this man may be consider'd in Three states 1. Of unregeneration and then he is to be convinc'd of the truth of the Gospel if that be suppos'd this belief will easily convince him of his unrighteousness and shew him the wrath of God reveal'd from Heaven against all ungodly and impenitent sinners and on the other hand the blood of Christ who became a propiation for the sins of the World will encourage him to hope for reconciliation and pardon if he repent and