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
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
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
and a self-sufficiency Reynold on Hos â—4 3 sâ—l 803 804 80â— to seek the good he desireth within himself and to derive from himself the strength whereby he would repel any evil which he feareth Heâ—eby â—aâ—an prevailed to draw Man from God at first 〈…〉 next unto God every reasonable created Feâ—ing is 〈◊〉 unto its self we cannot conceive how it should turn from God 〈◊〉 not in the next step turn unto it self and by consequeâ—â—â— whatsoever it was in a regular dependance to have dâ—â—ived from God being â—dien from him it doth by an irregulâ—â— depend 〈◊〉 â—â—â—k from it self It iâ— natural for a sinful Creature whâ—â— seâ—â—â—th only himself and maketh himself the last end to seek only unto himself and make himself the first cause and mover towards that end Yea so desperate is the aversion of sinful man from God that when he is convinced of his impotency and driven off from self-dependance yet when he hath no horses of his own to ride on yet still he will betake himself unto creatures like himself Hos 5.13 If Ephraim see his sickness and Judah his wound Ephraim will to the Assyrian and King Jareb for help Yea when he hath nothing in the world to turn to but he is necessitated to implore help from God he will invent wayes of his own to do it If Horses fail and Ashur fail and Israel must gâ—e to God whether he will or no it shall not be to God that made him but to a God of his own making Once more consider you never repent for or from any sin unless you repent for and from this sin True Repentance and Conversion takes off the heart from all carnal Confidence Hos 14.3 either in Domestical preparations of our own We will not ride upon Horses or in Foreign aid from any Confederates Ashur shall not save us Or in any superstitious and corrupt worshp which sends us to God the wrong way We will not say any more to the work of our hands ye are our gods 4. Vain Confidence Vain not only in regard of the object trusting in somewhat beside God Against Hypâ—critical trusting in God but vain in respect of its form seeing though it hath in some sense God for its object yet it wants the essential properties of right trusting in God I mean Job 8.14 the trust of the Hypocrite which in Job is compared to the Spiders web It 's Mr. Caril's note upon the words That an Hypocrite hath a trust like himself He hath grace proper to his state false grace for his false heart And hath not your trusting in God been such as belongeth only to Hypocrites Is yet your trusting in God fixed and resolved Is there yet any strength in it Trust saith the same excellent Expositor where it is true hath a double effect the want of which discovers the falseness of it in the Hypocrite It confirms and strengthens the heart against all opposition And it encourageth the heart against all dangers Doth not our trust fail in both these Are not we still for going on boldly till we meet with opposition and dangers threaten us Will our trust though curiously wrought bear any force of battery or stress of weather any more than a Spiders web Are not we still guilty of not trusting in God at all times and for all things As true Obedience respects all the Commandements Caril on Job 13.15 so true Trust respects all the Dispensations of God A true believer saith one depends as much in proportion upon God for a piece of bread as for Heaven He trusts God in the least as well as in the greatest matters But though we pretend to trust in God for pardon and glory yet do not we think it needless to trust in him for food and rayment either supposing that we can help our selves or suspecting that God will not stoop so low as to help us When we have a great business to set about we stirr up our selves to trust in God and so we ought but the spiritualness of trust is seen in depending on God for managing the least business performing the least duty resisting the least corruption and bearing the least burden As it is the same love of God that saveth us eternally and preserveth us temporally so it is the same power of God that doth great and small things for us Can we yet trust in God in all weathers Some only trust in God in fair weather when they are full they can trust in God for bread and when they are safe they can trust in God for protection And others only trust in him in foul weather their trusting in God is not of choice but forced and of necessity they never trust in him but when they have nothing else to help them Are we yet able to say Though he slay me yet I will trust in him Or though he make me alive I will trust in him It is a glorious tryal of trust saith the same Worthy to say Should God make me not worth a groat yet I will trust him but it is a greater glory of this trust to say Though God make me worth thousands yet I will trust in him When we to sense have the least need of Gods help then to trust in him and depend upon him shews that we are most sensible that we need his help for by this we in one act give testimony to the All-sufficiency of God and to the emptiness of the creature by this we make God all and the creature nothing at all Faith gives a more spiritual discovery of it self when it convinceth us that we are poor in the midst of our abundance without God than when it convinceth us that we have abundance in God though we are poor Verily to trust in God in all estates and turns is proper to godliness Our trusting in creatures so much doth also evidence that we do but seem to trust in God and that in deed and in truth we do not trust in him at all He that trusts not in God alone doth not trust in him at all Every thing we joyn with God dis-joyneth us from God We can never take hold of God unless we let goe our hold of other things Which of us leans upon whole God only and that with the whole Soul Well seeing your trust hâ—râ—â—een the trust of the Hypocrite Job 8.14 Isa 14.23 it is no wonder that it hath been as a Spiders web No wonder that Gods besome of purgation to true believers hath been his besome of destruction unto your Trust and Confidence When the house is swept the cobwebs are swept awâ—y No wonder that such sinners as you Isa 33 14. in Zion be afraid No wonder that fearfulness surprizeth the Hypocrite O! as ever you would stand before devouring Fire take heed that your truâ—t be not as the Spiders web Chap. V. The Miscarriages opposite to Assurance the reflex Act of Faith 1. REgardlesness of
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
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
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