are thy waies thou King of Saints It will I suppose seeme strange unto many That I have not according to the most general practise dedicated these endeavours unto some man in authoritie for Patronage and protection The matters contained herein as wel as in the ensuing Treatise wil appear truth when weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary stumble not then at the weakness of the instrument what is more usual then for the Lord through weak and contemptible means to perfect his owne praise How doe men prize the dust of Gold what a deal of worth is in a little diamond despise not the day of smal things a little starre may light to Christ The Doctrines and traditions of men indeed call for an arme of the Secular power to prop them up withall But the true doctrine of the word of the Kingdome hath a standing licence from Christ Jesus and comes upon the world as the rain and dew without asking leave of man or the sonnes of men what is stronger then truth whose going forth is as the morning and riseth up to a glorious day To protect truth and bring forth truth are the worke and prerogative royal of that King whom God hath set upon his holy hill of Sion And therefore also I commend you unto his protection and guidance and to the word of his grace who is able and willing abundantly to support and strengthen us in the inward man as well during the houre of temptation which is breaking forth as at any other time whatsoever and remaine Your and the truths unfeigned Friend and Servant JOHN SMITH THE CONTENTS A Man may be confident of his Salvation and yet deluded and whence such vaine confidence is derived 1 What it is to be fatherlesse and lost 4 121 50 The difference betweene faith and presumption 5 Who are weake Members of Christ 6 Three properties of true grace 7 The difference between a weak Member of Christ and an Hypocrite 10 to 14 Foure differences between the repentance of an hypocrite and that of a childe of God from 14 to 19 16 Precious and soule-establishing considerations deduced from the Covenant of grace from 20 to 37 Diverse inviting Characters and soule-winning incouragements of faith 37 to 40 Eleaven motives and incouragementâ— to believe 40 There is but looke up unto Christ Jesus and salvation is in thy soule and believing with thy heart and thou art saved thou wert saved by Christ before but now in thy selfe 43 Five grounds why Salvation is so soone done 46 How God begets faith in an unbeliever 47 When the soule is come to believe that Christ was made sinne for it its doubts are vanquished and the soul sweetly quieted and setled 48. A Collection of sixteen things from whence it is that many weake Believers are incompassed with so many doubts feares and discouragements together with 21 severall wayes and meanes to be used by them for their settlement in the Assurance of the love of God when they are tossed with tempests and incompassed with discouragements From 50 to 77 Meanes alone cannot settle a soule 77 Faith in Christ sweetly quiets and settles a soule 41 42 49 190. 191. 192 193 194 195 196 197. The poore believers doubts fears and discouragements proceed neither from God Christ nor the Spirit of Truth 50 to 53 Nine Reasons against feares and discouragements in a Believer raised from 41 Isa 10. 57 The feares of Believers are usually of some of these seaven kindes 79 With their Remedies 1. They are and they are not perswaded their sinnes are pardoned c. Ibid. 2. Some are perswaded that many of their sinnes are pardoned but not some others which they have most sinned in c. 80 3. Diverse feare still God doth not intend them such grace as he proffens and speaks of in his word but suspect the Gospel and are jealous that God hath some reckoning still behind because they see themselves sinfull c. Ibid. 4. They think though God may bee reconciled to them love them at sometimes and pardon their sinnes yet God may be provoked againe 81 5. They suppose they cannot sin as they doe daily and not be accountable and that they cannot but be sinners in Gods sight as well as in their owne c. 83 6. They think every affliction or trouble that befalls them is a messenger of wrath from God and so help the affliction to afflict themselves ib. 7. They enterpret every curse in the law and new Testament for sin their own if it be against their sin 85 64. 181 A Collection of 30 several fears doubts and discouragements that poor weak believers either in or about conversion or desertion take up against themselves with several remedies resolutions and answers thereunto from 86 to 175. Several degrees of the Saints growth in grace 88 89 90 91. The time of doubting is a barren time 89 90 The way for assurance 68 98 109 101 102 Faith evidenceth to us our justification 67 68 181. 182 Believers may think they believe not when they doe believe 142 Such as desire to believe have faith 153 Faith is where spiritual desires are 131 153 154. It is one thing to know and another thing to know that we know 145 146 No effect of Sanctification can evidence Justification 67 68 180 A Saints comfort not to depend upon his owne personal Sanctification and why 67 68 5. It is one thing to be justified and another thing to be sanctified 67 68 179 181 182 Faith looks beyond sight and feeling 123 124 125 126 127 131. 60 61. Several reasons wherefore God leaves sin in and many times permits corruptions to be strong in his deare children 122. 123 108 187 188. God turnes the sins of his children to the good of their soules 189 Great faith may be where there is feare and trembling 148 God is never an enemy to his though they greatly sinne against him 31 32 110 Heart what and where seated 153 What it is to give God the heart 153 154 The sins of the Elect are forgiven them before they know it 163 Faith is so smal and weak in many that they cannot discern it 145 147 148 155 God oft hides himselfe from his 104 105 The sins of believers are laid upon Christ and now they are Christs and not their own 66 179 183 184 190 191 A believers unbeliefe cannot frustrate Gods faithfulnesse 144 A believers happiness depends not upon his own doings 116 117 113 114 115 172 173 174 It is not any thing man can doe that makes him more or lesse beloved of God 107 108 160 178 179 180 Christs righteousnesse the Saints comfort 116 117 179 180 181 182 183 190 to 196. Believers are not to apply the threatnings in the Scriptures against their sins unto themselves they being laid upon Christ 64 85 The weakest Saint in Christ hath satisfied the Law 115 182 True believers put a difference between the
rids the soule of all its distempers doubts feares and discouragements we may not separate the Spirit from faith nor faith from the Spirit nor Christ from both 5. By faith in Christ thou shalt be kept in perfect peace it will sweetly and transcendently refresh the soule thou shalt keep him in perfect peace because he trusts in thee Being justified by faith we have peace with God by faith we apprehend Christ our Justification the fruit of which is joy and peace 6. By unbelief we adde sinne unto sinne in the highest nature if we believe not what God saith we accuse God of speaking falsely he that believeth not hath made God a lyer It is impossible for God to lye the strength of Israel cannot lye nor can it be any dishonour to God or danger to thy selfe to hope in his mercy and believe in him The eye of the Lord is upon them that hope in his mercy 7. As bad as thou canst be have been received unto mercy Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation When thou layest in thy blood it was a time of love He justifies the ungodly While we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us have hope therefore feare not but believe the Lord will command his loving kindnesse in the day time and in the night his song shall be with thee hope thou in God 8. Unbeliefe streightens thy heart stops thy mouth and hinders thy thankfulnesse and praysing of God thou shalt be dumb because thou believest not 9. Unlesse we believe we can never glorifie God Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbeliefe but was strong in faith giving glory to God 10. Our naked cleaving to God in his free promise shall carry down all our distempers at once and drowne them in it as in a Sea the promises will answer all thy doubts and feares whatsoever and fill our soules with peace in believing 11. By our unbeliefe wee oppose riches of grace and love yea that love that could love enmity it selfe and reconcile those unto God that are enmity against him There is but looking up to Christ Jesus and salvation is in thy soule and believing with thy heart and thou art saved thou wert saved by Christ before but now in thy selfe Jesus Christ and forgivenesse of sins in his name and redemption through his blood is the first and only thing held forth in the Gospel to sinners the other mysterie of Righteousnesse is revealed to believers forgivenesse of sins is first taught that they may believe and the other glorious mysteries are taught that they may know what they believe they are first to see Gods love and afterwards his glory Jesus Christ crucified is the best story for sinners and Jesus Christ exalted for Saints and therefore it is that in all the Apostles Sermons the story of blood and redemtion was first preached and when they did believe that then they wrote Epistles and Revelations of greater things unto them so as they spake of Christ only to make them beleeve and wrote to them of him when they did beleeve Salvation is not made any puzzling work in the Gospel it is plainly easily and simply revealed Jesus Christ was crucified for sinners this is salvation and this work of salvation is past and finished sins are blotted out sinners are justified by him that rose for their justification now that which we must do to be saved is to believe in the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ and the promise is annexed thou shalt be saved All that is to be done in the work of salvation is to believe that there is such a worke and that Christ dyed for thee among all those other sinners he dyed for This is the commandment that ye believe on his Son Jesus Christ that is that ye be perswaded of such a thing that Christ was crucified for sins and for your sins and we are called on to believe because they only that can believe are justified by him all that believe are justified so that salvation is not a business of our working and doing it was done by Christ with the Father Sin Satan and hel were all triumphed over by Christ himself openly for us and all our worke is no worke of salvation but in salvation in the salvation we have by Christ We receive all not doing any thing that we may receive more but doing because we receive so much and because we are saved therefore we work not that we may be saved and yet we are to worke as much as if we were to be saved by what we doe because so much is done already for us and to our hands as if we were to receive it for what we did our selves this is short work believe and be saved and yet this is the only gospel work and way Christ tels ye in few words and his Apostles in as few As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes on him should have eternal life Saith Saint Paul say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ from above or who shall descend into into the deepe that is to bring Christ from the dead but what saith it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart the word of faith which we preach if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The work is already done but then thou shalt see that it is done There are five grounds why salvation is so soone done 1. Because it was done before by Christ but not believed on before by thee til now 2. Because it is the Gospel way of dispensation to assure and passe over salvation in Christ to any that will believe it 3. There needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Christ Jesus died for us because Christ hath suffered and God is satisfied now suffering and satisfaction is that great worke of salvation 4. Because they and they only are justified who can believe Righteousnesse is revealed from faith to faith all that believe are justified 5. That it may be by grace and not of works being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus How God begets faith in an unbeliever We are commanded to believe and faith is the gift of God and the Spirit of Christ without which we can do nothing enlightens our understandings and worketh faith in us and hereupon our believing is said to be the work of God and the Spirit having set up a divine light in our understandings we being before altogether darknesse bowes our hearts to believe and indeede without
every poor believer Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem thine habitation and thy kindred is of the Land of Canaan thy father was an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite and in thy nativity when thou wast born thy navel was not cut thou wast not washed inwater to soften thee thou wast not salted with salt nor swadled in clouts none eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee for to have compassion upon thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast borne And when I passed by thee I saw thee polluted in thine owne blood and I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live even when thou wast in thy blood live Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was as the time of love and I spread my skirts over thee and covered thy filthinesse yea I sware unto thee and entred into a covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine then washed I thee with water yea I washed away thy blood from thee and I annointed thee with oyle I cloathed thee also with broidered work and shod thee with Badgers skin and I girded thee about with fine linnen and I covered thee with silke I decked thee also with ornaments and I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chaine on thy neck It is an apparent truth unto all experienced Christians that vvhen God first enters into covenant vvith men he finds them in their blood in their infidelity he finds them unholy but as soone as this covenant is struck vvith them thou becamest mine saith the Lord in the last mentioned Scripture then I washed thee with water c. yea I washed away thy blood â—rom thee The Lord puts his holy Spirit in them and his holinesse and so they immediately become the people of his holiness God becomes our God and then makes us his people and afterwards washes us and sanctifies us from our sins And although poor believers have injuriously and unkindly offended this gracious God by their manifold provocations yea though they have despised the oath in breaking this covenant and played the harlot in the face of the Lord yet the Lord wil have such to know that his wayes are not as their wayes but as farre above them as the heavens are above the earth For thus saith the Lord God I might even deale with thee as thou hast done which hast despised the oath in breaking the Covenant Neverthelesse I will remember my covenant with thee in the dayes of thy youth and I wil establish unto thee an everlasting covenant and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord God And as this covenant is free so likewise it is unconditional on mans part God is pleased indeed to take us into covenant not upon any condition in us before he brings with him Christ and in him all the conditions and make us as he would have us not for the covenant but in it or under it we are not his people before he be our God first you have not chosen me but I have chosen you And it evidently appears that there is nothing required of a man to make him partaker of this covenant no not faith though divers affirm that it is requisite that God gives faith unto men before he enters into covenant with them that so they may have it as a hand to take hold upon the covenant but of such I would be satisfied if the new covenant of grace be not unconditinal on mans part how it differs from a covenant of works is it not a hard and as impossible a thing for man of himself to believe in Christ as it is to keepe the whole Law to believe in Christ is a fruit of his spirit and must we not be in Christ before we beare fruit we cannot rationally expect the effect before the cause the light before the sun or heat before we have fire therefore we must be in Christ before we can beleive we cannot from Scripture ground expect faith in the soul before Christs spiritual presence be there he that hath the spirit of Christ hath Christ we have the spirit of Christ before we believe therefore we have Christ before we can believe so â—at it is Christ in us that brings us to Christ out of us it is the spirit of Christ that leads a sinful soul to the person and righteousnes of Christ faith is no condition but one of the graces of the covenant on Gods part to be given to those who are given unto Christ and is not given before the covenant but in with and through the covenant and there must â—e the spiritual presence of Christ who is the Author of â—aith in the soul â—ither before or at the very first instant of believing for that the cause must necessarily anteceede the effect Thus it manifestly appeares that at Gods first entring into Covenant with a man the poore Creature is meerely passive having no condition at all in him yet when God hath taken a man into Covenant with himselfe and sowne the immortall seed of grace in the field of his heart and so sprung up light life and faith in the soule then the soule is to say as Christ said my Father worketh hitherto and I workâ— or as the Apostle said we are co-workers with him yet herein wee must also know it is not enough for God to tune the instrument of the soule unlesse he himself also play thereon without this the Musick cannot be melodious it is not enough for God to worke grace in mens hearts but hee must also quicken put forth and act those graces he hath been pleased to infuse into and worke in the Saints And it is Gods part not only to propound and to offer but it is his part also and his promise to bring men into the bonds of the Covenant and to worke a willingnesse and abilitie in men to receive what he offers and gives to believe what he promises and to obey what he commandâ— The new Covenant is indeed meerely a Promise for the Covenant that God makes with his now under the gospel is all on his owne part without any thing on mans he makes himselfe ours and makes us his all is of his owne doing though a Covenant in the strict legall and common sense is upon certaine Articleâ— of agreement and conditions on both sides to be performed Thus stood the old Covenant there was life promised on condition of obedience and so in Covenants and Contracts between man and man but now there is a Covenant or rather promise in Jesus Christ who is called the Mediatour or Manager of the Covenant in which God gives
faith which is often greatest when feeling is least and â—aith being more spirituall and heavenly hath her worke about another object without and above the Creature and the reason wherefore many poore soules plod so much about their owne Qualifications and feele after the brests of their consolation is because our selfe love renders us most prone to catch at these being plants in natures garden whereas the desire of a spiritual Paul is to be found in Christ not having his owne righteousnesse and a spiritual believer if he had the greatest measure of inherent righteousnesse attainable would not behold himself in it I live yet not I but Christ in me Gods thoughts of love and mercy unto thee can possibly be no otherwise then through Christ and he doth not sell his Christ he was given freely Come buy without mony c. Whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely The Lord is a great King he doth great things past finding out and wonders without number oh therefore measure not the Lord by thy selfe For my thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my waies as your waies saith the Lord. The wise wil not fix their eyes so much upon their owne basenesse as upon his greatnesse rich goodnesse and faithfulnesse And certainly while we walk after the flesh after the law we continue weake creatures for flesh is here put for weaknesse we shall tug yea and tire our selves and when we have done our all which is just nothing we shall remaine not one jot the neerer heaven yea if such should continue here a thousand yeers they would be no better then wishers and woulders whereas one poor believer that is truly implanted into Christ and in whose heart the Gospel hath really taken place hath more strength then five hundred of the others because the Spirit of Christ dwels in him works in him and teaches him to say with Paul I can want and I can abound through Christ who strengthens mee Let the poore souls lying under this discouragement consider six things 1. It is but a delusion to think that qualifications can â—it a soule for mercy Poore heart while thou lookest for or restest upon such things as these thou seekest the living among the dead and if thou hadst them in the greatest measure that ever any had they could neither procure thy happinesse nor stand thy soule in any stead as to salvation nothing but Christ Jesus can do that nor any thing but he and his righteousnesse truly comfort thee 2. That righteousnesse which justifies us in the sight of God as it is not our owne so it is not in us but it is Christs righteousnesse and in him Surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousnesse and strength c. in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory The state of a believer in Christ as considered in him be the poore creature never so weake is a state of perfection Wee are complete in him The poore soule indeed hath no righteousness in it self yet being united to its head and married to its husband the Lord Jesus it is perfectly righteous As Christ is so is a believer in him and the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in him and he is dead to or free from the law What is Christs is the believers and what is his is Christs The poore believer is as righteous and acceptable unto God through Christ as Christs righteousnesse can make him God seeth no sin in his poore children for saith Christ to the Spouse Thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee saith the Prophet Isaiah I wil greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soule shall be joyfull in my God for he hath clothed mee with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousnesse c. The weakest and the strongest Saints are alike cloathed with this robe and are equally acceptable yea perfectly righteous and glorious in the sight of God as they are in him with whom is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning see all that is in thy selfe as nothing and every thing thou standst in need of to be in him for that he is thine and thou art his I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine c. 3. What qualifications except sinful ones had they in Ezekiel and what Qualifications had they for whom Christ died who were yet enemies yea enmity against him 4. What need hast thou of Christ if thou hast what thou needest without him 5. As in nature before they have life so in grace none can work before he live spiritually Christ must be in the soul before it can believe and the soul must believe before it can find any work of sanctification Consider also that there is nothing to be done by the creature in way of preparation to sanctification See Rom. 4. 5. 5. 8 10 6. Thou goest the wrong way to worke thou goest about to establish a righteousnesse of thine owne and hence thou thirstest so much after qualifications but it must be utterly renounced it is a hard thing for a soule to be taken off its owne works and selfe concurrence here strip a man of his owne and ye take away his life he must and wil have somthing some humblenesse some concontrition some tears or otherwise he thinks he cannot be accepted pardoned and saved But every poore creature unto whom and in whom the mysterie of Gods rich love and free grace is revealed these cry Grace grace Christ is all in all unto them their prayers tears humblenesse brokennesse of heart and every thing of their owne is but drosse and dung unto them in point of acceptance and salvation these have seene an end of all perfection and all their owne works in reference to attaining any happinesse by or from them are vanished yea drowned in the infinite ocean of Gods free and heart-astonishing love that God may have all the glory and that man might not boast but obey and serve him freely our works can be no sure ground of our owne faith seeing it is proper to faith to vilifie our best performances Therfore the best preparation for Christ is to see in our selves no preparation for him at all for believers are most made and built up when they apprehend themselves in themselves most cast down and undone I cannot be perswaded that God hath wrought any supernatural worke in me because I have not so great a measure of sorrow for sinne as some of the Lords children have Consider Eight things 1. It is Gods method in his gospel to make the pardon of sinne apprehended by faith a ground of the deepest humiliation that can bee expressed I will save you
saith the Lord from all your uncleannes what is the effect of this then shall ye remember your own waies and doings that were not good and loath your selves in your one eyes for all your abominations thus the Lord brings his people to repentance And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and mourne c. That is I will give them such a spirit as shall abundantly manifest unto them my rich love and sinne-pardoning grace and this produces mourning yea bitter and solitary mourning such as of Hadad rimmon in the vally of Megiddon where the nobles of Israel cast away their musicall Instruments and clad themselves in sable or sacke-cloath and breathing forth their mournful elegies cryed out our Growne is fallen from our heads woe woe unto us wee have sinned Sorrow for sinne in the glory of the gospel proceeds from Christs peircing wounding melting the heart from Christ discovering sin pouring water upon the dry grounds and dropping the dewes of Hermon hill upon the thirsty lands 2. Consider that God deales not with all his alike hee knowes best what is meet for us Physicians know that such a physicall potion is necessary for one as will kill another All that believe have not the same measure of sorrow for â—inne Lydia received the word with joy but the Jaylor trembled being in feare 3. The greatest measure of sorrow for sinne that ever any had was not the least cause of their being loved or saved it is a great mistake to thinke that God delights in feares or tears 4. A deepe sensibleness of sinne proceeding from feare and terrors hinders the soules believing and drives it from Christ and makes it say with Peter Lord depart from mee for I am a sinfull man 5. If God deales with thee as with Lydia more gently then with divers others thou hast no ground for complaint against it 6. That sensibleness of sinne that flowes not from the apprehension of pardon and love is of no value And remember wee to looke to Christ and not unto our sensibleness of sin 7. Our best and greatest sorrow for sinne is not free from sinne yea and deserves nothing but death 8. If thou hast seene thy selfe lost and fatherless so as nothing could satisfie thee but Christ this is a sweet supernaturall and glorious work of the gospel and such as is wrought upon none but such as shall be â—aved by thy renouncing thy owne sufficiency it appeareth that there is a greater a better come in places I feare I have no worke of grace wrought upon me because I feel not its power and am not able to subdue my passions and corruptions Thy complaint of the want of a sense and feeling of the power of the work of grace upon thee and of thine inability to subdue thy passion and corruption declares a weaknesse of grace and not a defect of the truth grace in the soule If thou dost what thou wouldst not mind what Paul saith that which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that doe I c. The strongest and most spiritual Christian is in himself very weake imperfect falls often and is not able to stand alone Among Christians some partake more of natural choller then others and they accordingly are more or lesse hastie and passionate a wicked man may naturally be patient and a child of God sinfully passionate Elias was a man subject to the like passions we are 2. Thou must not measure Gods love to thee nor the truth of his worke in thee by thy mortification of sinne 3. God may for ends best known unto himselfe leave thy passions and corruptions unsubdued yea suffer them to be too strong for thee it may be that thou mayst be abased more in thine own eyes and that thou mightest see thine own weaknesse and bee thereby the more sensible of thy necassity of Christs strength and depend daily upon him for it and that thereupon we might love and prize him the more in that we have such necessity of him to pardon and heale us and that he might hold forth the glory of his power in keeping alive a â—mal sparke of grace in us in the midst of the vast ocean of our corruptions God may leave thy personal sanctification the more imperfect that thou mayest the more mind and behold Jesus Christ and our righteousnesse in him and live the more upon him and his fulnesse and joy the more in our free justification by him 4. It is one thing to have thy sinne forgiven or not imputed unto thee and another thing to have thy sin subduâ—d in thee the first may be where the later is wanting 5. The reason why sinne so much prevailes is because we live so much in discouragements Live in the apprehension of the love of God and down goes sinne and discouragements but while we lie in our discouragements sinne prevailes as appeares by 77. Psal 2. 7 8 9 10. verses 6. Thy comfort and happinesse depends not upon thy feeling but upon Gods never-failing covenant and promise confirmed by his oath and we are not to live by sense and feeling but by faith in the Sonne of God we are not to fetch our comfort from our subduing of sinne but from Christ who is made unto us both righteousnesse and sanctification Thankes bee unto God who hath given us victory by Jesus Christ when we are at the best we may not live in our selves nor by sight but by faith and when we are at the worst we are to remember that wee are not our owne but Christs and that wee ought to live upon him by faith and derive strong consolation from him and his leading of Captivity Captive I finde within my selfe no relish of spirituall things nor willingnesse to duties and I often omit them God may have begun his worke in thee although it be thus with thee though this be an argument of much corruption in the soule This distemper may arise from diverse causes as 1. From unbeliefe 2. From doubting of the acceptance of thy person and duties 3. From want of love to Christ 4. From loving of temporall things which deadens the heart and makes it carnall 5. From weaknesse of grace 6. From sloath and ease which slay the soule 7. From ignorance of the sweetnesse in spirituall duties 8. From the soules sicknesse and distemper for as the body when sick oft cannot relish its food so this soule-distemper hinders its relish of spirituall things and thereby brings weaknesse a knowne enemy to action My flesh and my heart faile but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever He never failes I feare that that worke of grace which I once felt is
of righteousnesse it is none other then the worke of the Spirit to convince the world of sin and of righteousnesse to be convinced of sin is for the soule to see it self utterly lost and undone by reason of its sins They confesse they are vile and abhorre themselves they loath themselves for their deeds And to be convinced of righteousnesse is to see that our owne best performances and righteousnesses are but dung and dross and as menstrous cloathes for a man cannot come to expect life and salvation from Christ alone until his own righteousnesse be as vilenesse to him in reference to the attaining of any happinesse therefrom this vision of God brings the soule to see it self and to cry out There remaineth no strength in me My comelinesse is turned in me into corruption Certainly it is a principle of grace that takes us off from nature and an effect of our being born of God to be unbottomed from our carnal principles and when the soul is taken off its owne bottome it must have another to rest upon or it sinks Therfore whensoever God takes away the poore soules sandie foundation which is its false and groundless hopes of the mercy of God he then gives it a better in himselfe As to the last branch viz. That thou hast many suggestions that thou hast no worke of grace wrought upon thee It is Satan that tempts Christs babes to cast away their confidence which to doe is directly repugnant to the mind of Christ therefore if Satan suggest unto thee that thou hast no faith thou mayest answer If I have it not in the act to my own knowledg yet I may have it in the grace it selfe and if he reply that both he and your selfe know that you have no grace at all make this defence to his replication that he knowes not And if I should entertaine such a thought against my selfe I may be deceived for as fire raked up in the ashes appeares not either by light or heate so grace raked up in the ashes of corruption may not for the present appear to others or thy selfe though it may be there all the time 2. Evade the divels suggestions further as thus If I have no grace why lettest thou me not alone as thou dost others and as thou didst mee when I tooke my fill of sinne Then thou toldest mee I had faith when I had none I have found you a lyer therfore I wil not hearken unto you I am the more confident that I have grace for that thou tellest me I have none he is a lyer and the father of lies 3. And suppose I have no grace there is no reason why I should despaire because every one of the Lords dear ones were once without grace and in the state of nature At that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers having no hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus yee who sometimes were afarre off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Which in times past were not a people but are now the people of God Which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy Many are ordained unto eternall life which doe not yet actually believe put the case at the worst there can be no ground for despaire But I will use the meanes wait upon God and trust him with my soule if mercy come I shall magnifie his name there is nothing too hard for God Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee cleane My soule is filled with terrours I have an Hell within mee I feele the wrath of God in my soule and have for a long time remained in this condition 1. Consider That though this be a very sad condition yet it is no other then such as hath attended the deare and precious Saints of God and it should not be a strange thing unto us but expected and prepared for by us Looke back upon David a precious and dear child of God who reckoning upon such a time when by dismall desertions he should take a turne in the darke and dampe vallies of the shadow of death and be encompassed with dreadfull terrours and sore trialls treasures up a word of comfort in readinesse Though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare none evill for thou art with mee thy rod and thy staffe comfort me and the blessed Spirit of Christ invites thee to stay thy selfe upon thy God and wee may indeed feele his almighty arme sustaining us when we behold not his face shining upon us And though Christ the Sunne of Righteousnesse do set in thy soul at night yet Hee shall arise in the morning and this Sun cannot suffer a totall eclipse as the worlds comforts often do or as the Moon because the Moone of our sins and corruptions which interposes between us and Christ is far lesser then Christ 2. Consider if Hemans Jobs Davids and Jeremiahs condition did not runne Parallel with thine saith Heman Lord why castest thou off my soule Why hidest thou thy face from mee I am ready to die whilst I suffer thy terrours I am distracted thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cut me off Job cryed saying he hath kindled his wrath against me and counts me to him as one of his enemies And David in temptation judging himself according to the law sense and feeling said I am cast out of his sight horror hoth overwhelmed me And Jeremiah said * He hath lead me into darknesse and not into light he hath broken my bones and compassed me with gall Hee hath made my chaines heavie he hath filled me with bitternesse thou hast removed my soule farre off from peace and I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Some conceive that if God loved them there should not be any tempests in their soules but in stead of wrath and terrors a sweet calme of peace and joy not remembring that the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feete Some of Gods people enjoy peace and comfort and yet his righteous servant Job wants them saith he unto God Why dost not thou pardon my transgressions c. Thou hast set mee as a mark against thee so that I am a burden unto my selfe Our comfort and firme consolation consists not in our freedome from terrours but in the spirits revelation of truth unto the soule 3. The Angel of the Lord said to Gideon The Lord is with thee But Gideon said Oh my Lord if the Lord bee with us why then is all this fallen upon us c. The poore soule is ready to say if the Lord bee with us why then is all this befalne us why then are wee so full of terrors The Lord may now bee with thee