true as the light or visnal-faculty is planted in the eye or else he cannot comprehend that light that shines unto him The evidence then which a true believer hath of any truth of God which he embraceth is the manifesting of that truth unto the Spirit not only by a form of words to the natural understanding but beyond that by a kind of demonstration unto the spiritual mind as the evidence of any object to the eye is by the shining of the light upon it which makes it to appear to be such as it is This kind of testifying or evidencing things Rom 8 16 in a spiritual way the Apostle calls The witnessing of Gods Spirit with our Spirit mentioning expresly two Spirits whereof if either be wanting there can be no Divine testimony But is not our belief grounded upon the testimony of Reason upon the consonancy of Scripture-revelations to right Reason And is not the testimony of reason an humane testimony Yea Do not we believe upon an humane testimony when we believe any thing written in the Scriptures for the testimony of the Scriptures If that we believe the Scriptures themselves upon the general consent of the Church or upon the probability and reasonableness of the things therein delivered or upon the observation of the truth of those writings in most things which all make up but an humane testimony This the same learned and judicious Divine proves thus White c p 98 99 The assent unto one thing for another is built upon that to which we first give our assent as a stone in a wall though it lyes immediately upon that stone that is next under it yet it is indeed supported by the foundation which bears up all the building We say we do believe but is not our Assent without sutable impressions upon our hearts and without a sutable carriage in our lives Doth the reality of Gods being believed Baxter's Divine Lise on John 17 3 make us look upon our selves and all things as nothing without God as nothing in comparison of God and to let the beeing and reality of our love desire and endeavours be let out upon the most real and transcendent Beeing Doth the belief of Gods Vnity contract and unite our stragling affections and call them home from multifarious Vanity Doth the belief of Gods Immensity and Incomprehensibility fill our Souls with admiration Doth the belief of Gods Eternity draw our Souls from transitory to eternal things Doth the belief of Gods Simplicity make us in love with holy simplicity Doth the belief of Gods Invisibility make us mostly esteem and value things invisible Doth the belief of Gods Immutability beget in us unchangeable resolutions for God Doth the belief of Gods Almightiness sill us continually with holy fear and promote trusting in him Doth the belief of Gods Wisdome make us delight in the wisdome which is from above and to choose God for our Teacher and Counsellour Doth the belief of Gods Goodness fill our Souls with a superlative love unto God and industrious desires to be conformâ—d to his goodness in our measure Doth the belief of Gods Holiness cause us to have most high and honourable esteems of holiness in the creature and to fall in love with it and wholly conform our selves to Gods holiness in Christ Doth the belief of Gods Truth and Faithfulness make us resolved for duty and an holy life seeing the commands of God are serious and the promises and threats true The true and sound assent to any Divine Revelation as an holy truth includeth a correspondency in the believer to the thing believed Such an assent descends from the understanding to the affections and so to the conversation True Faith and right Obedience cannot be separated for he that believes the truth of Gods promises fill'd with such things as he doth most want must needs desire the good contained in them and seeing God hath declared the effect of his promises attainable only in wayes of obedience if he neglect that means it is manifest he doth not desire the end Certainly if our assent doth not cannot act no more than a dead body can rise and walk it is but a dead faith The Apostle doth not say as one well observes Faith is dead without works Manton on Jam 2 20. but Faith without works is dead I here is a difference between these predications as there is between those A man without motion is dead and a man is dead without motion Works are not the cause that give life to Faith but yet they are the effects that argue life in Faith Faith is not alwayes alike lively but yet it is alwayes living and operation is the necessary effect of life O! What cause have we to repent of our dead Faith And what Shall it alwayes remain dead Take heed I beseech you not only of setting no your rest in a Knowledge but in a Faith falsely so called Take heed of pleasing your selves any longer with the name of Faith and remaining destitute of the vertue of Faith for the crucifying your lusts and corruptions and conforming your hearts and lives to the Commandements of God To assent to truth with the neglect of goodness or with lazy desires after goodness is but a vain Faith That assent that doth not now subdue sin Gen. 23.4 will not suppress fear when you come to dye What! will ye not yet bury your dead out of your sight Chap. III. The Miscarriages opposite to Consenting to have God to be your God the third Act of Faith 1. Against resusing God REfusing God Beware of still refusing to have the true God to be a God unto you and a God over you to have him to be your Portion and Soveraign To be God Gen. 17.1 7. Rom. 9.5 implies to be enough unto all to be an all-sufficient and self-sufficient good and to be over all and above all to be an all-commanding good Ephes 4.6 To refuse God is to refuse to place our happiness in him and to come under his government Hath not this been your sin God hath offered himself to be your chief good and absolute Soveraign but have not you refused such offers Yea do not you still refuse them There are many degrees of refusing as one well observes Although we may be free of some of them Ob. Sedgwick's Fountain opened c. chap. 6. yet are not we comprized in some one or other of them Are not some guilty of refusing by way of presumptuous persecution Are not others by way of malicious opposition Are not others by way of scornful derision Are not others by way of open though not malicious resistance And if we be not guilty of any of these refusings yet are not we guilty of refusing by way of dissent or unperswasion Are not we yet unperswaded to accept of God upon his own tearms Certainly there is no medium 'twixt Faith and Infidelity 'twixt receiving of God and refusing of God
they do not necessarily and infallibly conclude that a Man hath faith Conclude not for your selves by finding the antecedents of Faith 2 There are some things which faith only doth produce yet because it d th not produce them always a Man must not therefore negatively conclude from the absence of them the absence of faith 3 There are some things which faith only doth produce not as essential properties but as magnificent Testimonies Conclude not against your selves for the want of such effects of faith Be sure that you do not any longer try your selves by uncertain qualifications that belong not to every Believer at all times and none but believers but try your selves by sine infallible marks by the essential properties and effects of Faith in God Set not about this work without hearty cries to God for his spirit to irradiate the grace you are searching after and by witnessing with your spirit to put you out of doubt It is a vain thing for you to go about this work much more to think to go through with it by any strength of your own And be sure that you take heed of provoking God to withdraw from you in this work Cantâ— 4.4 5 6 7. Do not refuse the Light of Assurance when offered Hereupon Christ withdrew from the Spouse but put your selves in a disposed an I prepared way to receive the evidencing Light of the Spirit who will not affine you whether you will or no. Do not make use of Signs in a prejudicial way to those direct and immediate Acts of Faith Burges c. page 56 57. whereby you close with God While you are poring and digging into your own heart to finde faith there forget not to exercise applicative Acts of Faith When ever you would go down into your own hearts and take a view of your own graces first close with God himself in Christ and afterwards begin afresh upon the encouragement you have from the fight of grace within you to act Faith upon God with a redoubled strength 2 Pet 1 9 Mat 25 29 He that lacketh these things i. e. that doth not use them so not to use Talents is not to have them is blinde and soon forgetteth all the grace he hath If God do not appear presently do not murmur and repine against him While Job thought that God wronged him God ceased not to scare him with dreams and terrify him with visions but when he justified God God appeared for him But for a more full handling of the miscarriages about self-examination which you should mourn for and take heed of I shall refer you to the twentieth chapter of the Gospel-glass 4 Resting in an imaginary Assurance Against an imaginary assurance Presumption is mainly the work of a strong fancy What the â—ich Believer hath by propriety and in possession the same hath the presumptuous Professor in a dreaming fancy and imagination He pretends to be as knowing as bel eving as confident as the true Believer he never doubted of his Interest in God none more â—ocond and merry then he is thereupon Hath not this been your sin And is not God therefore contending with you Because we have built our house upon the Sands is not God razing all our sandy Foundations Psal 66.10 Psal 25.8 Because we have been careless of trying our selves is not God trying us as silver is tryed May not we even say God and upright is the Lord that will teach sinners his way that by the Thunder-claps of his Righteous Judgements is resolved to awaken us out of those foolish dreams in which if we should die we were undone for ever O that we may be dreamers no longer O take heed of presuming once more that God is your God either because he made you so he did the Devils Gods making you puts you into the relation of creatures unto God and God of a Creatour unto you but not of a chief-good and supream Lord. He is your Creatour Psal 17.14 whether you will or no but so he is not your God Or because you prosper in every thing and are not in trouble and distress as other men The more you have of a portion in this life the more cause you have to sear that God is not your portion Or because Christ hath died for you to purchase an interest in God So he hath if you will consent to have him for your chief good and Sovereign Lord other wise not O! how great will your confusion be when your Gold shall be found Dress your Wine to be Water your Graces to be Corruptions And you your selves appear no better then the mad Athenian Burges Resining paâ—t 1. Serm. 6. Serm. 30. and 118. who thought all the Ships on the Sea were his Take heed of such a confidence of an interest in God as hath ignorance and self-love for its procreant causes as is grounded on a meer natural light or some false reasonings as is wrought without any serious deep humiliation for being without God preceding it and easily without any opposition as leaves the soul idle in the Work of God without love to and encouragement in God as is not attended with an holy fear and humility and as is not destroyed by sin but crosses Such a confidence is a presumptuous confidence and not assurance Even hypocrites may have some experimental knowledge Sern â—â— 3. and yet not assurance of Faith they may know that they are enlightned and have other common gifts of the Holy-Ghost that sin is imbittered to their souls that they do assent to scripture Truths that they have some desires after God and Christ that they do at sometimes and in some things trust in God and yet they want saving Faith and therefore cannot know they have it O! take heed of thievishly fingering the Kings Coin without a Warrant Christ told the Jews that they were of their father the Devil John 8.54 though of his Father they said he is our God they made their boasts and brags that God was their God but God and Christ disowned them Chap. VI. The miscarriages opposite to confession the external Act of Faith in God Against positive confession without a call 1. RAsh adventuring upon positive confession without a Call from Heaven Hath not this been the sin of some and have not all Professors smarted for it The Acute Author of Christ Confessed who as the Publisher observes hath cut by a thread in clearly and judiciously determing the present grand Cases of the times gives a three-fold Answer to this Question At what times are we priviledged from and by consequence not called unto positive confession of Christ Christ confessed p. 65 66. 1 When the engagements for self-safety are not preponderated by or in an equal poize with those for our Saviours glory 2. When the interest both of the confession and Confessor will be visibly prejudiced 3. When the ends of confessing Christ cannot manifestly be promoted
to inslave our consciences to Men be given up to so soar a bondage They shall be his servants that they may know my service and the service of the Kingdomes of the Country i.e. That they may know the difference between them the bondage of the one and the liberty of the other O that this may be your sin no more why should ye be any longer willing to be the servants of Men seeing one is your Master which is Christ 2. Sinful Incredulity Against Incredulity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere fidem habere testimonium accipere The assenting act of faith is a full perswasion of any truth upon a divine testimony The Hebrews the Greeks the Latines express it by such words as import believing or giving credit to Many think all Infidels are without the pale among Turks and Heathens But alas are not too many found in the bosomes of Churches The Israelites were Gods people and yet destroyed in the Wilderness because they believed not And may not we fear destruction for our unbelief Capel of temprations page 153 154. Are not we still guilty of not believing that God is what God is and what God saith One well observes that all sin comes from Atheisme for who would sin did he then verily believe that there were a God that saw all and would punish all And such a God God must be or no God And all sin tends to Atheisme for sin wipes out all the notions of a Deity as much as it can And when we are in sin we must be either willing to get out of it by Repemance or else we shall be willing to turn Atheists Guilt always saith another begets fear and fear hatred and hatred strikes at the being of the object hated Bates on Heb. 11.6 in M. E. at G. page 52. Gedolphins holy Arbor page 17 as is evident in Malefactors desiting there were no Law nor Judge Do not we say in our hearts there is no God so the fool the sinner doth It is Atheisme saith one when Men do but in their hearts say that it is all vanity which is spoken of God Are not we still guilty of not believing what God is Do not we deny if not expresly yet consequentially Gods absolute dominion to command us the goodness as well as righteousness of the law of God by which we ought to be ruled that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seeke him and the avenger of his adversaries that he sees our thoughts afar off and that our greatest secrets are naked and open to anatomized and diffected before his eyes that he is good yea the chief good Are not we still guilty of not believing what God saith which of us is yet fully perswaded that our losses for Christ shall be made up with the hundred fold in this life because he hath said Verily there is no Man that hath left House Luk. 18.29 30. mat 19 29. or Parents or Brethren or Wife or Children for the Kingdome of Gods sake who shall not receive manyfold in this present time He shall according to Matthew receive an hundred fold Which of us yet believes that God will repay what ever we lay out for his poor servants because he hath said Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and that which he hath given will be pay him again Which of us yet believes that if we will be Christs witnesses none of the World will cordially love us Mat. 10.22 because he hath said yee shall be hated of all Men for my names sake Which of us yet believes that all Hells and the Worlds hatred can do a Child of God no hurt because he hath said Blessed are yee when Men shall revile you Mat. 5.11 and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my Names sake We are indeed apt to beguile our selves and others in professing that we receive Gods testimony in all that he speaks but the Apostle tells us there is a denial of God in works Tit. 1.16 as well as in words and certainly denial in works is the strongest denial and manifests that our affirming what God saith in words is but meer hypocrisie that we do but flatter God with our mouth Psal 73 35 compared with v. 40 41. and lie unto him with our tongues Are not we still guilty of neglecting to get our hearts more and more established in believing that God is what God is and what God saith Is not this a lamentation and should it not be for a lamentation should we not mainly repent of our unbelief seeing it is not only the provocation but the cause of all our other provocations Hebr. 3 8. No wonder that God hath shamed the throne of our glory seeing we have rob'd God of his glory by our unbelief What is Gods declarative glory but his reputation in the World Unbelief takes away Gods reputation it makes him of no credit in the World it makes him a lyar 1 John 5 10. Rom. 3.3 By unbelief we attempt to make the faith of God i. e. his faithfulness of none effect O! repent repent that God who is no debtor to you who was never worse then his word hath so little credit with you who profess to be his servants his children his spouses No wonder that we are kept in the Wilderness yea in a manner brought back into Egypt We may thank our unbelief for shutting us out of Canaan Heb 3 19 They could not enter in because of unbelief No wonder that Gods promises the only solid grounds o◠comfort in times of tryal do not cannot comfort us alas Psal 27 13 they have no credit with us We faint because we believe not O that this sin may be your sin no more Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you for the future an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Hebr 3 12 and thereby God be provoked to depart further and further from you until he hath left you totally and finally 3 Vnsetledness in Religion Hath not this been your sin yea Against unsetledness is it not still your sin Who believes without wavering without any fear lest the contrary should prove true Are not you troubled with a Vertigo in your Heads a giddiness in your understandings Have not some thought scepticisme very tollerable 1 Cor 16 13 Col 2 6 7 8◠2 Thes 2 2 Hath not the Apostle said stand fast in the faith Be established in the faith as you have been taught c. Beware lest any spoyle you through philosophy and vain deceit be not soon shaken in mind Brinsley's spiritual Vertigo p 9 10 11 c. And yet have not many been for an Academical and Pyrrhonian demur and dubitation concerning Scripture Revelations Have not more been actually carried about as wheels as chaff as waves as clouds with every wind of
doctrine Have not you turned round as wheels with the times and places where you lived Have not you been up and down now of this mind then of that embracing and following those opinions and ways which the times have smiled upon Have not you been whirld about by the times as chaff by the wind Have not you been wavering Jam 1 6. as a wave of the Sea which is never standing still if there be any wind stirring Have not some of you been carried quite round about the Card and Compass as the Clouds of the Aire are from one quarter of the Heaven to another Hebr 13.9 Have not you been thus carried about with divers and strange Doctrines with Doctrines differing from the truth and strange to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Are not you yet unestablished yea are not you careless in seeking after establishment Are not you stil even indifferent whether you pray to God to establish you as David did yea or no Whether you enjoy the Sacrament of the Lords Supper that heart-establishing Ordinance duly administred yea or no Whether you continue fellowship with established Christians yea or no Do not you still stagger at the promises of God viz. that God will be a Sun and a Shield and no good thing will be with-hold from them that walk uprightly that Babylon is fallen is fallen i. e. shall as certainly fall and that utterly as if she were so fallen already that there shall be a resurrection of the dry bones c Do not you stil dispute the promises in your thoughts Do not you stil doubt whether God will be as good as his word and that because of the difficultie that lie in the way All staggering at the promises of God is from unbelief Rom 4 20 Brinsley c. p 98 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief Is not this also a matter of just and deep Lamentation to see so many Professors some of which were formerly looked upon as sober and stayed Christians now reeling and staggering like drunken Men to and fro carried this way and that way as the wind blows should any of you whilst your selves stand safe upon the shore see others though strangers much more if friends tossed upon the waves among rocks and quick sands ready to perish every moment might it not be presumed that it would affect the flintieâ— heart among you and can you see the souls of your brethren and sisters thus tossed to and fro without any trouble to your own souls But alas who stands fast and safe upon the shoar Are not all your hearts unsetled And what will yee not pity your own unstable souls Is it nothing to you to be under Reubens reproach Gen 49. 4 Jam 1 8 Vnstable as water thou shalt not excel A double minded Man is unstable in all his ways Are not you in danger of being utterly ruined in this hour of temptation that is come upon all the World Col. 2.8 Ne sit qui vos depraedetur Beza in loc mar 3 5 to try them that dwell upon the Earth Are not you in danger of being spoyled of being made a prey O! your unbelieving staggerings grieve the heart of your Lord. The Holy Ghost speaking of the unbelieving Jews tells us Jesus was grieved for the hardness of their hearts And shall they not grieve your hearts It is a wonder that God hath spared you so long O faithless and perverse Generation How long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you O! sin no more in this kind O that henceforth yee be no more children tessed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine Eph. 4.14 Brinsley c. 206 c. Hebr. 13.9 1 Thes 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2.2 by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive O! Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace Be restless till the Word come unto you in much assurance Be restless till you have attained unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God c. Seek heart-establishment from God for yourselves and others as Peter doth Now the God of all grace c. make you perfect 1 Peter 5 10â— Psa 51.12 stablish strengthen you And David Stablish me with thy free Spirit Neglect neither the Word nor Sacrament administred after the right order O! Hebr. 10.25 Forsake not the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is Trees stand sâ—â—er in the Wood or Grove where they have company than in the Field where they stand alone 4. Resting in a Dead Faith Hath not this been your sin Against resting in a Dead Faith Manton on Jam. 2.17 Have not you satisfied your selves with a Faith that is but the carkass of saving believing The Apostle in making mention of a dead faith alludeth to a corps or a dead plant which have only an outward similitude and likeness to those which are living Saving belief is an assent wrought in the Soul by the sanctifying Spirit and built upon a Divine Testimony But is not our belief the effect of natural reason White 's Directions p. 91 92 c. 1 John 5 1 further enlightned at most by the assistance of the Spirit Do not we remain unsanctified notwithstanding our believing Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Have we any further assurance of what we believe than that which Reason suggests Were ever the things believed evident to any spiritual sense within us Faith is the evidence of things not seen Hebr 11 1 Is not our belief grounded only upon an humane testimony We call that a Divine Testimony White c p. 95 96 c. saith one of the Western Worthies which is given by the Spirit of God to that Spirit which is within a regenerate person For saith he unto any testimony two things are required First The manifesting and presenting that which is to be credited or believed Secondly An ability in him to whom it is witnessed to understand it otherwise the proposing any thing by discourse to a beaâ— that wants reason to understand speech or the relating of any thing to a man that hath reason in the Greek tongue who understands no language but English is no testimony no more than it is to a deaf man that cannot hear Wherefore to make a Divine testimony there must be both Gods testifying unto man and also a mind in him able to understand that Revelation First The Spirit of God must reveal and manifest unto a man that Truth that is to be believed as the light discovers any visible object Next There must be in that man a light planted in his heart which the Apostle calls 1 Jo 5 20 An understanding to know him that is
He that is not with me saith Christ is against me He that doth not accept of God doth refuse him That Chapman that will not take your Wares at your price in so doing he doth refuse them That Woman that dissents that will not consent that such a man should be her Husband refuseth to marry with him Are not you still unperswaded to have God himself for your Portion Lam. 3.24 Portio cujusque dicitur in quo felicitatem suam quisque collocat Calv. to place your happiness in him and absolute Soveraign to come under his government Is not this evident in the remaining deafness of the ears of your Souls Not to give ear to or not to obey the Word of the Lord is to reject it and to reject the Word of God is to reject God himself Psa 81.11 My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me Were you ever yet effectually called Did God ever yet speak in such a voice as could not but be heard as could not be withstood If yet your ears are deaf unto the calls of God if yet you are able to withstand the voice of God certainly you do still refuse him Do not your hearts remain obdurate Do the offers of God make any impression on them Is any savour of God to be found in them Alas Gods offers do not move or stirr them cordially to defire the enjoyment of him and subjection to him Do not our worthless thoughts of God still continue Do not we still think that God is not worth so much pains so many prayers so much hearing so much time so many sighs and tears c. Alas which of us accounts Gods offers the best bargains That which a man counts to be his best bargain O. Sedg c. p. 301 302. he will saith the same Author 1. Make all things to give way to that 2. Make that to fill up his desire 3. It will draw forth his choicest diligence and pains 4. He will be at some loss to gain it 5. He is peremptory and unmoveably earnest for the enjoyment of it 6. The fruition of it presents unto him the sweetest joy Do we thus account closing with God best Best of all Where then are our present cares to get God himself Where are our strong fears lest we miss of God Where are our full desires and peremptory and stedfast resolutions to be the Lords as well as to have God to be ours 〈◊〉 will we part with for God Whence comes in our sweetest joy To them that believe i. e. receive Christ or rather God in Christ He is precious Christ is precious and God in and through Christ is precious But where is the precious thought Who are restless without God To whom are Goods not good without God Peace not rest without God Life not a beeing without God all nothing without God Give me children or else I dye said Rachel Dost thou say Lord give me thy self or else I dye O that this may be your sin no more Yet consider and be wise O! Do not still stand out against him Though you refuse his Ministers yet do not any more refuse their Master Though you like not the messengers yet do not any more dislike the offers What shall I say to perswade you or rather whereby God himself may perswade you If you will continue still resolute that God shall not be a God to and over you verily God will resolve that you shall not be a people but he will make an utter end of you Jer. 3.1 5. Thou hast played the haâ—lot with many lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord. Will he reserve his anger for ever Acts 3.19 Hebr. 10.26 yet in the midst of judgement he remembers so much mercy as once more to offer himself unto you notwithstanding all your former refusals of him and if now you will but accept of him all that is past shall be forgiven you and God will receive you into his grace and favour and never any more upbraid you with your often refusals of him Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins your refusals of God in Christ of such sins the Apostle speaks in that place may be blotted out But if you will not how can you read without trembling that Word of the Lord If we sin wilfully after wâ— have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation Against closing with God hypocritically which shall devour the Adversaries 2. Closing with God hypocritically Beware lest your willingness to have God for your God still prove a consent not suited to the object of Faith in its absolute necessary respects and nature It is essential to God as the object of mans Faith saith a Worthy to be his supreme Lord and Rector Baxter's Apology p. 62 63. and his ultimate end and chiefest good and so must be apprehended and willed by all that indeed take him for their God As also to be perfect in Beeing Wisdome Goodness and Power and of perfect Veracity yea it is essential to the object of our Faith as such to be considered comparatively As that God be taken not only as our Good but our chief good to be preferâ—'d before every creature that he be taken not only as our Lord but as Soveraign Lord to be obeyed before all other Where these essentials are not in the apprehension of the object there is not truly Consent or Faith Consent hath relation to the Offer and if it be not the offered thing that is consented to but somewhat else under that name then it is not indeed Consent for there is no Relate without its Correlate The Civil Law saith Ignorantis non est consensus A God that is inferiour to Creatures in Râ—le or Goodness and Desireableness is not God indeed And therefore he that takes God in this sense for his God takes but the Name of God an Idol of his own brain and not God himself Hath not this been your sin Is it not still your sin Do not you seem to consent when you do not indeed and in truth consent You pretend you are heartily willing that God should be your God and that you do consent to have him But First Are not you still ignorant of the true God Ignorantly whom you say you consent to take for your God Ignorant Professours can only seem to be Consenters And are not you still ignorant Professours See Chap. 1. Secondly Are not you for having of God Without rejecting other Gods without rejecting of other gods Indeed had our hearts been alwayes chast and faithful we should not have needed to break we should only have tyed a knot Teates Scripture-Map of the wilderness of sin and way to Canaan p. 338. but because of our former wanton dalliance with and engagements unto other lovers we must solemnly renounce and
and Amen psal 110 3 God only of unwilling makes them willing in the day of his power But alas are not you still forced to be willing to have him rather then to be damned Did you ever look after God but in a strait Have not sin and the World been your only delight in good days Ob sedg c fâ—nut open pag 303 304 and God your desire only in evil days In your extremities God shall go for a Number but in your prosperity he shall stand only for a cipher Verily involuntary consents are false are none are indeed real refusings Fifthly Is not your willingness to have God defective and not full Defectively and not fully Teate c page 338 Right consenting is not only a free but a full act of the will A divided heart never yet consented indeed to have God for its God Surely that Christ that God in Christ that will not allow one man to serve two masters will never allow one woman to have two husbands especially if himself must be one of them But alas though you may not place your happiness altogether in the creature yet are not you still for placing some part of your happiness in some created good Though you be not altogether for being ruled only by Satan or the World or the Flesh yet are not you still unwilling not to be ruled in the least by any of those Lords Ob Sedg c pag 302 303 Are not you still unwilling to become fully the Lords Is there not some one thing in your selves in the World that you stick for God can prevail with you for all but one thing in that he must yield unto you Is there not some one thing in God that you stick at you like Gods mercy and his love and his graciousness and his happiness but is there not some one thing in God that you like not Do not you mislike either his holiness or his justice or his anger and wrath against sin Are you sure that you like his Rule and Authority his Spirit his All Alas in this or in that you cannot like him you cannot come up to him you are content to part with this and to leave that to do this and to suffer that but you cannot yield up all unto God you will part with some sins yea with all but one you will forsake much of the World but not all Is not your consent accompanied with some one exception or other you will have God that with him you may enjoy such a lust or so that with him you may have such a kind of life so that for him you may not hazard your name and credit or your liberty or livelihood or your very life If it be thus verily you do but pretend to consent your seeming consent is a real dissent This one difference between God and your souls will keep the breach between you from being made up and condemn you for Refusers of him No bargain no match can be made where there is one exception Sixthly For the future and not for the present Are not you only willing to have God for the future and not for the present Do not you delay to close with God as your chiefest good and supreamest Lord Do not you pause on Gods offers and put him off for the present Hath not God your present denial but the Flesh the World and the Devil your present Embracements You take the present time to please the Flesh to enjoy the World to gratify the Devil but you do not take the present time to enjoy God O Sinner what is it that thy Heart doth at present choose and cleave unto Is it not something sinful or worldly Do not some of you see a more present good in your Lusts than in God Do not others see a more present good in the World than in God Are not you still guilty of trifling delayes O. Sedg c. pag. 281. Do not you say to God as Foelix to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Acts 24.25 A consent for the future is no other than a present dissent It is indeed a most contemptible refusing of God when we do not judge his offers even of himself to be our chief good and supreamest Lord worthy of acceptation of all acceptation of all acceptation for the present Seventhly Is not your willingness to have God temporary Temporarily and weakly Allens Vindication of Godliness pag. 276 277. and weak and not habitual and prevailing It is not saith one what thou art in a fit or in a fright or in a sudden passion in sickness or under the apprehensions of death that will give thee any certain Light by which thou maist judge of thy state but what thou art in the standing and abiding disposition and bent of thy Soul He that hath indeed consented to have God for his God abides willing is never unwilling when he is himself to be rid of Sin the World and the Devil and to place his Happiness in the enjoyment of God and being under his government To be sure his willingness abides greater than his unwillingness But alas Are not you only willing to have God in Fits and Moods Do not you remain habitually unwilling Is not your unwillingness greater than your willingness Right willingness saith the same Author will discover it self to be prevailing by bringing forth both Resolution Resistance against Sin Where a man is truly willing to be rid of Sin he will not only be patient and give God leave to Crucifie all his beloved Lusts and darling Corruptions and give the Word leave to hew and strike home at the root of them without hiding them or warding off the blow or wishing they may be spared to him but stands stedfastly on Gods side and taking part with him against resolves to use all his means for the conquering and overcoming of them And this resolution will bring forth resistance a restraining curbing and withstanding of Sin in all its Workings But were you ever thus resolved against the Flesh the World and the Devil and for God Do you yet thus resist all Temptations to the contrary 3. Renouncing God Renouncing of God Hath not this been your Sin Even since you have consented that God should be your God have not you cast him off Have you not returned with the Dog to the Vomit and with the Sow to wallow again in the Mire Have not you returned to your Former Lovers and to be again in subjection to those other Lords that have had absolute dominion over you Howard's Souls misery and recovery c. page 134. If you have not rejected God directly and intentionally yet have not you rejected him consequently and implicitly Thus Saul in sparing Agag and the fat Beasts of the Amalekites against Gods express commandment 1 Sam. 15.23 is said to have Rejected Gods Word therefore
God himself Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being King Have not you with deliberation for the gaining of somewhat that pleased you done that which is indeed casting off of God Which of you can say Psal 44.18 19 20 21. Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way though thou haâ— sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of Death Oh! if we have forgotten the Name of the Lord or stretcht out our hands to a â—ranâ—e God shall not God search out this Have not you listed up your heel against God after you have listed up your hand unto God Hath not God threatned to renounce you because you have renounced him 2 Tim. 2.12 to deny you because you have denied him O! be at length perswaded to remember from whence you are fallen Rev. 2. â— and repent Acts 11.23 and do your firâ—t-works and for the future with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord i. e. as one well observes as you have made a good choice Antipharâ—nacum Saluber â—â—mum p. 6. so still to sâ—ick to your choice Never more refuse God as the Stomach is said to refuse such meat aâ— because of its contrariety to its appetite it vomits up again Now that you may not only heartily mourn for but carefully take heed of even virtual as well as formal refusals of Gods offers of himself unto you to be your God consider seriously what provocations all kinds of refusals of God are unto his Majesty Must it not necessarily incense him that you should as it were tell him you will have none of his Mercy none of his Love none of Himself you had rather enjoy the World yea your lusts which dishonour and grieve him so much Jer. 44.4 5. Hath not God said Wherefore speaking of this very sin my fury hath been poured forth and kindled in the Cities of Judah and in the Streets of Jerusalem and they are wasted and desolate as at this day Yea may you not sear that God will let you fall in this hour of temptation yea give you up unto your own hearts lusts to commit all manner of wickedness Israel would have none of me so I gave them up unto their own hearts lust Psa 81.11 1â— and they walked in their own counsels Chap IV. The Miscarriages opposite to Trusting in God the relying Act of Faith 1. TEmpting of God Tempting is the same with trying Against Tempting God Amesiâ— medull l. 1. c. 12. Mal. 3.10 to tempt God is to make tryal of some Divine perfection unlawfully There is indeed a lawful making an experiment of God Try me now in this saith the Lord of Hosts This tempting or trying is an Act of Faith leading us to obey and practise those things which God hath commanded with expectation of that fruit and blessing that God hath promised But there is an unlawful making experiments of God And hath not this been yea is not this still your sin Is not your proving God an evidence of your tempting God Psa â—5 9 Your Fathers tempted me and proved me Do not you still make unlawful experiments of Gods power whether he can do such and such things They tempted God in their heart they said Psa 78.18 19 can God furnish a table in the wilderness Do not you still circumscribe Gods power and set hounds to it at your pleasure so that if God do not this or that which you have a mind to he shall not be accounted Omnipotent They tempted God Psa 78.41 and limited the Holy One of Israel Do not you still do such and such things in the most secret manner possible to try whether God seeth what is done in secret or no They tempted the Lord saying Exod. 17.7 Is the Lord among us or not Do not you still refuse to make use of the ordinary means God hath appointed trying whether he will provide for you extraordinarily This Christ calls Tempting the Lord. Mat. 4.7 Do not you still murmur and repine against God and his Instruments trying whether he will be angry Tempting Christ and murmuring are made Synonima's 1 Cor. 10.9 10. If you do not still tempt God directly and intentionally yet do not you still tempt him consequently and implicitely Do not you still do that which of it self and in its own nature tends to try either Gods Power or his Omniscience and Omni-presence or his Providence or his Justice and Anger of what mettal he is made This notion of tempting God may be farther cleared by considering White on Mat. 4.7 what it is to tempt man To tempt man is to desire and some way to endeavour to incline him to break that Law that ought to rule him In like manner To tempt God is to desire and some way to endeavour to incline him to break that Law which he hath proposed to himself to follow in the ruling of the World Hence some distribute temptations into two sorts some of inducement and some of tryal but the former sort may be referr'd to the latter because the will of God is tryed in them Thus God is tempted two wayes especially either by expecting that God should do what he hath not promised or by expecting that he should not do what he hath threatned And do not you thus still tempt God Do not you still expose your selves to danger without any urgent necessity expecting protection from Heaven Do not you still do what Christ was tempted to by Satan Do not you still refuse to use the ordinary means appointed by God for your safety and yet expect that God should even work miracles for your preservation It is true when God takes away means of safety from us then to expect safety immediately from Heaven is not to tempt God but to trust in God for God hath promised to come in at a dead lift When God affords no means of safety he will provide for our safety without means if it be good for us to be safe And Abraham called the name of the place Gen. 22.14 Jehovah â—â—ireh as it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen The English of which Text saith one is this Ash's Support for the sinking heart in times of distress pag. 3. John 4.8 Numb 20.11 Mans extremity is Gods opportunity When Christ and his company were in the desart where no meat was to be had he fed them miraculously but in the City he sent his Disciples to buy meat We may expect Water out of the Rock where there is nothing but Rocks and Stones but where we may hope to find Water we must digg for it 2 Kings 6 1â— 32. When Elisha was in a little Village not able to defend him from the Assyrians he had chariots and horsemen of fire to defend him but when he was in
Samaria a strong walled City though the King of Israel sent to fetch his head he said only to those that were with him Shut the door Do not some still expect that God should provide for their Bodies though they neglect the means that God hath appointed for their nourishment clothing recovery from sickness c 2 Thes 3.10 Do not some look to eat though they do not labour But do not more expect that God should provide for their Souls though they neglect the means of grace and salvation Do not you still think that your Souls shall do well enough though you take no pains about them Do not you lay all upon God and never trouble your selves about them Do not you still cry out Let us dye the death of the righteous But are not you careless of living the life of the righteous Do not you still expect help from God in sinful wayes Do not you still expect to meet with God in wayes of worship of your own devising Now therefore why tempt ye God Acts 1â— 10 to put a yoak upon the neck of the Disciples which neither our Fathers nor we were able to bear In a word as to this Head Do not you still do what tends to incline God to make good his promises though you do not perform their conditions Do not you also still expect that God should not execute his threats upon you though there be that in you against which where e're it is the threatnings are denounced Do not you still expect to escape punishments notwithstanding your very sins are threatned by God in his Word Do not you still run into temptation And are not you careless to avoid occasions of sin and yet remain fearless of falling into sin though God hath threatned Ezek. 14.3 4 5. 1 Cor. 10.9 to give up such to their own hearts lusts O that this may be your sin no more O! tempt not Christ any more as you have tempted him The naturalness of this sin should make you take heed This is an humour that we are all given unto by nature to be marvellous desirous to try conclusions that are rare and unknown to contemn things common and to be fond after strange novelties It was told the Israelites as plain as could be that they should not reserve of the Mannah till morning and they needed not to have reserved it they had fresh every day and yet forsooth they would needs keep it if it were but for an experiment sake to try whether it would sâ—ink or no Exod. 16.20 And though they were forbidden to gather any on the Sabbath day and on the Eeven before had enough for two dayes and it was told them they should find none on the Sabbath day yet they must needs try This sin should not only be the more lamented but the more taken heed of because it is such a provocation unto God It comes from much wickedness Such an one that will undertake a new way to know the will of God is not satisfied with Gods discovery of his will in his Word yea this sin proceedeth from pride and arrogancy such a soul refuseth to subject its will to the will of God and doth seek to make Gods will subject to its lusts This sin lays you open to all manner of temptations to any wickedness whatsoever neither are we overcome by any temptation of the Devil unless we do in a sort tempt God â—narâ— 8 11 12 Psal 95.11 The Lord Jesus sighed for the Pharisee tempting of God and why Because God sware in his wrath that their Fathers who tempted him should not enter into his rest It is verily height of madness to tempt God To tempt God is to put God to it 1 Cor 10 22 and do yee provoke the Lord to anger are yee stronger than he If you will needs tempt it were best for you to tempt your matches There is no dealing with Fire it is very â—langerous to make experiments thereof it will burn all that toucheth it Heb 12 29 and God is Fire yea our God is a consuming Fire 2 Not trusting in God Against not trusting in God The Hebrews express this act of faith by a word that signifieth to lean on or to cast the weight of ones body for support or stay And it shall come to pass in that day â—a 10 20 that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the holy one of Israel in truth But which of our souls do yet wholly rely upon God for the making good of his promises either for the bestowing or continuing of what is good or for the preventing or removing of what is evil Is not our not trusting in God still evidenced in our ignorance of Godâ— can God be more trusted than he is known They that know thy name Psal 9 10 and they only will put their trust in thee Is it not also evidenced in our want of interest in God by reason of our not assenting and consenting to him Who is this that cometh up from the Wilderness Cant 8 5 leaning upon her beloved who can suppose God to be thy leaning-stock if he be not thy beloved May not God say with a bitter scorn Teate c page 333 334 who art thou that learned upon anothers beloved How darest thou lay thine head in his bosome unto whom thou never yet gavest the heart in thy bosome 'T is interest and only interest in Christ in God in and through Christ that gives a right to this act of leaning upon him If you still refuse to enter into Covenant with God he is so far from calling you to take hold that he will even knock off your fingers from holding upon his Covenant with what hast thou to do Psal 50.10 to take my Covenant into thy mouth Iâ— God be thine if thou believest him and consents to have him to be thy God lean and welcome and the more thou leanest the dearer shalt thou be unto him Christ loved that Disciple best that leaned upon his bosome most John 21.20 Isa 49.5 Psal 18 â— If thou canst say with Christ my God thâ—â— maâ—st add he shall be my strength If thou canst say with David the Lord is my God thou mayst add my strength in whom I will trust But if God be not thy beloved thy leaning will be counted wantonness impudence and presumption Is not our not trusting in God also evidenced in our not keeping his way the way of his Commandments Psal 37.3 and the way of his Providence but tempting of him But of these evidences already in the former Chapters and the first section of this Once more what else do your carking cares and carnal sears argue but your distrusts of God Trusting in God will not indeed suffer you to be slothfully careless what becomes of you and
yours he that doth not endeavour by honest prudent diligent care to provide for his own is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 But yet trusting in God would not suffer you to be carkingly carefull for any thing Be careful for nothing Phil. 4. â— it would free you from all those cares that distract the head and divide the heart from other and better things yea it would free you from all carnal fears of evil Ob. Sedg on Psal 23 3. though you walk in the valley of the shadow of death that is though you meet with dangers as terrible as death though those dangers beset you as the Mountains do the Valleys though you be as neer to death as the shadow is unto the body Psal 112.7 8. though there be but a step between you and death But alas do not your carking cares and carnal fears either divert you from duty Mal. 3 1â— as if it were a vain thing to serve and wait upon the Lord or else distract you in duties in reading hearing praying meditating c. O that this may be your sin no more Verily if God shall never be trusted in by you you shall certainly and for ought you know suddenly be consumed by him What said the Bramble when chosen King Come and put your trust in my shadow and if not let sire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon Judg. 9.15 No wonder that Fire is proceeded from God to devour the tallest Cedars for their not trusting in him You should take the more heed of this sin because of your proneness to it and because of its being the life and vigour of every sin all sin is departing from God and we depart from God only because we do not trust in him 3 Creature confidence Against trusting in any Creature Luk 18.9 pâ—al 52.7 Isa 30.12 trusting in somewhat that is not God Is not this still your iniquity Do not you still trust in somewhat either within or without your selves Do not some still trust in their sins Loe this is the Man that made not God his trust but strengthned himself in his wickedness you trust in oppression and perversness and stay thereon Do not you still lay as fast hold of your sins as a lame Man of his Crutches Jer. 8.5 Lye on psal 62.8 in M. E. at C. p. 433 439. Prov. 3.5 Do not you hold fast deceit and refuse to return Do not you think that if your sins fall you shall fall Do not you think that you cannot live if you should leave your lying dissembling cheating flattering sinfull compliances with such and such Do not you still lean to your own understandings If you do you cannot trust in the Lord with all your hearts your own wisdome Isa 47 10. 1 Cor. 3 19. Rom. 8. â— your own politick contrivances for your safety will pervert you your wisdome will appear foolishness with God yea emnity against God Do not you still trust in your own hearts in your own purposes and resolutions against your sins and for God and in your promises of what you will do hereafter He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool prov 18.26 Jer. 17.9 but he that walketh wisely shall be delivered Alaâ— the heart of man is deceitfull above all things Do not you still trust in your own righteousness There is no more safety therein to secure you from the wrath of God in his Judgments in this World than there is to secure you from the wrath of God in Hell phil 3.8 9. This Paul knew and therefore he suffered the loss of all things and stil counted them dung that he might be found in Christ as his only City of refuge not having his own righteousness Do not you stil trust in the strength vigour and health of your bodies Engl. Annâ—t on Is 57.10 May it not still be laid to thy charge that thou dost finde the life of thy hand i. e. Thou still imaginest that so long as thou art so strong and healthy thou shalt not want sufficient means to support thee Do not you stil trust in your Cities Castles strong holds and yet doth not God tell you all thy strong holds shall be like Fig-trees Nahum 3 12 with the first ripe Figs if they be shaken they shall fall into the mouth of the eater Do not you still trust in your wealth It is so hard to have riches and not trust in them that what one Evangelist calls having of riches another calls trusting in them The rich Mans wealth is his strong City prov 18 11 and as an high wall in his conceit i. e. He conceiveth himself as safe in the midst of his wealth as if he were in a Tower as high as Heaven he thinks himself past the reach of danger but he is deceived Riches avail not in the day of wrath prov 11 4. Eccl 7.12 Zeph. 1.18 â—â—â—im 6.17 Col. 3.5 It is true at sometimes and in some cases money is a defence or shadow but in the day of Gods wrath money is but a shadow and no defence Trust nâ—t therefore any more in uncertain riches Be not once more guilty of this kind of Idolatry Do not some still truâ—t in their worldly greatness O! woe to him Hab. 2.9 that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house that he may seâ— his Neâ— on high that he may be delivered from the poâ—â—â— of evil Do not others still trust in their humane Allies and Assistances That they have such Friends and Conâ—ederate â—o many stout and valiant Men ready to form Armies to stand by them If the shadow of such be your truâ—t the end of that trust will be your confusion An Hâ—rse is a vain thing for safety Isâ— 30.2 3. psal 33.17 Nahum 3.13 And the stâ—utest Souldiers are but like an Army of Women without God Do not others truâ—t in Church priviledges crying out the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are we Such trust but in lying words No wonder that you have God for your foe Jer. 7.4 and that you are under his curse What saith the Prophet yea what saith the Lord by the Prophet Cursed be the Man that truâ—â—eth in 〈◊〉 an and maketh flesh his Arme. Jer. 17.5 No wonder that God is writing sentences of death upon all the means of your salvation God doth sometimes severely chastise his own Children even to prevent their trusting in themselves O! 2 Cor. 1.9 how carefully should you take heed of this sin seeing it is such a provocation unto God it being an undeifying of God and a deifying of some Creature seeing also it is a 〈◊〉 that may be often committed in a day yea in an hour and seeing it is a sin that you are very proae unto It is very much in the nature of Man fallen as one well â—â—serve to affect an absoluteness
had Hath not he deprived you not only of many visible tokens of his presence but of the spiritual light of his countenance that you may more value and be more chary of assurance if ever you enjoy it again And what shall God lose his end O! Culverwell's VVhite stone page 152. If ever God vouchsafe you any more of the hidden Manna take heed of wasting and crumbling it away take heed of losing the white stone any more O! maintain the Oyle of gladness in the Cruse be not any more willing to part with thy sweetness thy fatness and pleasantness Be never more willing to be left to the courtesie of a Wave O! never more be weary of the Sun-shine take heed of being once more cloyed with the clusters of Canaan and of nauseating the Honey comb 3. Remisness in recovering Assurance when lost Hath not this been your miscarriage Against Remisness in recovering Assurance and is not God therefore contending with you Hath not God deprived you of sealing Ordinances because you had before driven him from his own Ordinances and were not restless for his return Is it not the design of God in taking away from you sealing Ordinances to make you yet sensible of the loss of the sealing-spirit and that you may give him no rest till he hath returned you both that the Winter may be past and the time of singing may return Is it nothing to you to be under a spiritual Famine Can you now live without the hidden Manna Are you still willing to continue under such a dismal Cloud yea to set in it O that none of the three foregoing miscarriages may be your sins any more First Take heed therefore of thinking any more either that assurance is not attainable at all or that it is not tenable when attained or that it is not recoverable when loâ—t Reynold's VVorks fol. 100â— Apprehensions of impossibility in either will kill all endeavours yea desires after it because they will kill hope Though the will sometimes being inordinate may be tickled with a desire of impossibilities under an implicit condition yet no hope whether regular or corrupt can respect its object under that apprehension It worketh two passions most repugnant to this Hatred and Despair the one being a proud opposition the other a dreadfull flight from that good in which the Mind perceiveth an impossibility of attaining it Treasure up therefore the promises that God hath made that Believers shall have keep Ezek. 34 30. Hos 2.19 23. recover assurance not only that they shall know that God is their God but they shall walk in his Light and if at any time through their own default they lose the Light of his countenance that upon their Repentance he will heal their back-slidings and love them freely m niâ—est himself as graciously as ever Promises they are of things as future they are undertaking of good things which shall come to paâ—â— Now every future thing is a possible thing Secondly Take heed of slighting any more the want of Assurance Uncertainly as to the truth oâ— faith and as to interest in God iâ— no light evil it is even an insupportable bâ—rden especially to those that have experienced what an Heaven upon Earth there is in Assurance Though one may be a Bâ—â—iâ—â—eâ— and not know that he is a Believer and though Assurance 〈◊〉 it is gained may be lost yet verily you 〈…〉 to 〈…〉 whether your Faith in God be true and whâ— heâ—â—e 〈◊〉 you were Assured if you can carry the want or loâ—s of Assurance as it iâ— were no burden and do not follow after the gaining or rec vering of Assurance with unâ—tâ—eâ—able sighs and groaâ—s â—sal 3â—â— 7 42 3 4. Thou hid thy faith saith David and I was troubled It waâ— indeed his daily sorrow of heart yea it was aâ— death unto him It is true some â—un into the other extream they are too much troubled for not gaining or losing Assurance looking on their case as desperate and themselves as guilty of the unpardonable sin in dâ—ivinâ— God away from them but do you take heed of both extream not only lest you should be troubled too much but lest you should be troubled too little Thirdly Take heed not only lest your complaints but led your reque is for the procuring or preserving or recovering of Assurance be heartless Are you in sears whether you be believers whether God be your God especially in such days as these you should be as David was all prayer you should even envy your selves the time you are forced to spend in eating and drinking and sleeping Never expect to geâ— Assurance aâ— first without such pantings as the chased Hart hath after the water-brooks without earnest entreaties and longing of Soul Are you for the present under the light of Godâ— countenance Deprecate heaâ—â—ily an Eclipse Haâ—e you lost your assurance Desiâ—e earnestly from God new stamps and impressions tell him though you have â—ost the Print yet he hath not lost the Seal Psal 30.6 â— 8. 77 1 2. 88 1 â— â— give him no rest till he give your soul ' rest Read but the Psalms of David â—enned by him when he wâ— in deâ—â—â—tion you 'l think that he breathed out his Soul with hiâ— Petâ—â—ms How earnest also was Heman yea Jesus Churst's Agony made him more to express his earnestness than at other times Luke 22 44. Being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly This is one end of Gods present dispensations towards you Hos 5 15 I will go saith God and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their afflictions they will seek me early i.e. betimes Hickman c. page 205 with all speed with caâ—e and vigour also at such a rate as Men are wont to do things in the morning If your doubts do not prevail so far as to make you leave off hearty praying your hearty prayers will prevail so far as to make you leave off doubting Fourthly Take heed of contenting your selves not only with heartless but with fruitless complaints Some saith a famous Author are of a whining temper Symmonds deserted Soul's case and cure page 486. apt to sill the ears of all their familiars with sad relations of their mournful case but there is little else to be found besides complaints the soul humbleth not himself before God nor contends in prayer nor striveth by the Ordinances and holy walking to finde what it always was without or hath lost He compares them to the sick man who lyeth grieving himself but no way seeking in earnest to help himself and to Issachar crouching under his burthen To spend time saith another in whining complaints Hickman c. page 200. is more easie and more pleasing to those who have bruised themselves but to stir up strength and be doing is more safe and pleasing to God I would not so he goes on have deserted souls chidden for crying
out and roaring How can they do other whose wounds stink and are corrupt whose sores run all the night long But they must not spend all their time in roaring but get the broken bones set and make use of them so shall they recover strength and rejoyce Fifthly Take heed of neglecting any longer any one means of Gods appointment either for the getting or keeping Hickman c. page 167. to page 173. or recovering of Assurance The neglect of any one as one well observes may provoke God to reject your attendances on him in the other 't is also uncertain in which God will manifest himself and evidence to you the truth of your Faith in him Sometimes he doth it in prayer sometime in the reading or hearing of the Word of God sometimes in religious holy conference sometimes in receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper sometimes in singing of Psalms Sixthly Take heed of remaining any longer lazie and slothfulâ—n the use of the means O! 2 Pet. 1.10 yet at length give diligence to make your calling sure Culverwell's VVhite Stone page 150 c. 157 c. i. e. your effectual calling that your faith in God is a full answer thereunto Assurance both requires and deserves all diligence Such is the darkness deceitfulness and inconstancy of the heart such is the malice policy and diligence of Satan to improve it of so much consequence is this business and so dangerous is it to be deceived herein that all diligence is little enough So satisfactory also is this assurance that no labour will be grudg'd by those that do believe it Antipharmacum c. page 41. See many more pathetical considerations to humble for laziness and to stir up to diligence herein in Morn Exer. at Criple-gate page 141.315 316. Iisdem alitur quibus dignitur O! the rather now give all diligence to put your faith in God out of doubt because a Day of great trouble is approaching yea already begun What have you beside this to oppose to all your troubles here When it comes to resisting to blood and giving up all can you fadge with such work while your spirits are dubious cloudy in this point O my friends Believe it 't is nothing but this that can make a Saint tryumph glory in abasures tribulations And little do you imagine how insupportable troubles are when the spirit is low and dubious in point of interest In particular Take heed of being lazie or any other ways miscarrying in self examination Assurance consists in a ressex Act and by such workings it is gotten maintained and recovered The main reason why some never had Assurance why others do not keep assurance and why others do not recover assurance is because they are not often enough nor diligent enough in reflecting upon the deift course of their hearts lives they do not often enough rightly throughly compare themselves with the sure marks of true faith in God laid down in the Word of God Many will take some little pains to â—inde out the marks of true faith in God and some little time they will spend in comparing their hearts with those marks but they will not continue diligent in this great duty of self-examination till the matter be brought to some issue they will not behold their faces in the Glass long enough to beget in themselves a true notion or Idea of themselves but go away and presently forget what manner of persons they were But let it not be so with you any more Do you make it your business to go through with this work and therefore take heed of being mistaken as to what faith in God and what assurance of faith is Neither make more Hickman c. page 120 121 122. nor fewer essentials of faith in God neither more nor less necessary to interest in God than God hath made Expect not ordinarily to have assurance of faith wrought preserved or recovered by some vocal or as it were vocal testimony of the spirit or as soon as you be assured to be void of all fears and filled with all joy in believing Set not about this work unseasonably but when you finde your hearts in the most serious and quiet frame He that will see his Face in a Glass must be fixed and not in motion Be still Psal 4.4 and so commune with your own hearts When you are full of dark and black temptations you are in a mist and not able to see things aright The muddied Water is not fit to give the true shape of the Face Hearken not to what carnal reason and Satan say for or against your interest in God Before faith in God T. Goodwin's child of light c. page 26.27 28. caâ—â—al reason and Satan use their utmost strength to perswade Souls of the goodness of their condition without Faith thereby to prevent the entrance of Faith and their seeking after it at all as not needfull to interest them in God After saith in God is wrought Hickman c. page 127 128 129. and erected upon the ruines of all Satans strong holds and the Souls carnal reasonings Satan and carnal reason in revenge of such an overthrow muster up new Forces to perswade the Believer by all the Objections they can raise that it doth not believe aright that its faith is not saving Take heed therefore of self-love and sinful jealousie and prejudice upon either account when you set about this work As self-love and self-flattery bribreth and setteth carnal reason to plead for the interest of Unbelievers in God so when once faith is wrought sinfull jealousie doth edge and sharpen the wit of carnal reason to argue and rangle against the work of Faith and all such Objections as carnal reason doth finde out against it are pleasing to this corrupt principle when you try your selves Burges's Refinings part 1 page 57 58. you will but deceive your selves if you do not cast out these two cursed corrupt Principles out of your souls if your hearts be prepossest with either your judgments will be blinded and become partial in passing sentence upon your estate Take heed of trying your selves by false marks of faith in God of weighing with false weights Hereby you may miscarry both on the right hand and on the left on the right hand if you try your selves by marks of perfect faith in God on the left hand if you try your selves by such things as are not indeed Scripture-marks of true faith in God for as God is the Principium essendi the beginning or cause of the being of any grace so Gods Word is the Principium cognoscendi the Principle by which we know what is true grace I cannot but mind you of three Rules of Direction Ob. Sedgw. of Faith chap. 13. sect 1. which a worthy now with God hath left you in this case 1 There are some things without which faith cannot be in the heart and yet