when their outward man perisheth that the Psalmist speaks indefinitely mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 II. Sometimes it falls out quite otherwaies those who in their life time have had much enjoyment of the sense of Gods love and through it have comforted themselves and others have yet died with little if any assurance or actual comfort this God suffers for many holy wise ends and purposes as 1. To quicken others up to the greater preparation When death is at a distance we are apt to think it is but an easie thing to die But when we shall see that the approaches of death have startled and grievously affrighted those whom we ever judged to excel us in grace we must needs if not fast asleep begin to look about us and to consider whether we with our weak imperfect graces are able to meet with that Prince of terrors and the more importunately to pray for and depend upon some strength greater then our own 2. God may permit it judicially for the hardning of prophane Worldlings and carnallists who seeing some of their loose companions to go out of the world like lambs to have no bands in their death Psal 73. to depart quiet peaceable confident void of impatience despair or fear and others who have made greater profession of Godliness and endeavoured after greater exactness die under many troublesome disquieting thoughts presently conclude that all which conscientious Ministers press upon their followers is but unnecessary sowerness and melancholy simplicity God counts not himself any way engaged to remove such stones at which he foresees such self-deluding sots will stumble and fall and never rise more rather he may seem on purpose to order it so that they who will get no good by his Servants life shall receive no benefit by their death 3. As a punishment to his Servants for their declinings and fallings from their first love a sin big enough to provoke him to remove his Candlestick from a whole Church Rev. 2.4 5. much more not to let his candle shine on the tabernacle of some one single Christian how eminent soever As love perfects its self so fear is cast out 1 Joh. 4.18 but as love weakeneth or declineth so fear returns and tormenteth Unto which three reasons we may add 4. Such is the nature of some diseases that they do cloud the Phansie and muffle the understanding and if so it is no wonder that the best of men do make false judgment of themselves and flie away from death as if Christ had never overcome it No wonder that a mind discomposed with bodily distempers recoils at the sight of eternity rather it is a wonder that a believer when he is most himself can think of that condition without astonishment so amazing is the contemplation of it to those who are accustomed to measure all actions and perfections by time 5. The Devil at such a time will be sure to stir up and make use of all his malice and subtilty 'T is said of the natural Serpent non nisi moriens in longum producitur 't is never at its full length till it be dying The old Serpent never so much shews himself in his full dimensions as when a Christian is dying when he is just on the borders of the heavenly Canaan he will then if he he cannot trip up yet bruise his heels that he may enter in halting and uncomfortable as he would not be tormented before his time so nor would he that a Christian should rejoyce before his time hence he casts a mist before his eyes that he may not see his interest in that place of bliss unto which he is hastning apace when his time of tempting is but short then usually he comes with the greatest fury III. I think it is rarely seen that any understanding Christian walking closely with God doth run out the whole course of his life without some assurance of the love of God 'T is not likely that any one should for months and years be joined to the Lord and made one spirit with him and the Lord not let him know that he loveth him in Gods ordinary way of working the spirit of bondage doth but make way for the Spirit of adoption But yet IIII. 'T is not impossible that a Christian should live in ignorance of his own estate all his days I do not find in my best search of Scripture that God hath any where promised that every true Faith shall bud and blossom in assurance or that he who is a Believer shall some time or other know himself so to be and if God hath made no promise to work assurance some time or other in every one whom he converts nothing there can be concluded to the contrary from reason for arguing rationally why may not he who wants it one year want it ten or he that wants it ten want it all the years that he spends in the flesh If any one will contradict us in this it behoves him to shew us any thing essential to a Christian which may not in some sort be in the want of assurance Obj. This leads to laziness and idleness for if men may be in the favour of God and have a title to happiness and not know so much they will not care though they live and die in ignorance of their condition Answ 1. If such a Doctrine were delivered in another matter no such use would be made of it If I should say that bread and water were as much as is necessary to keep life and soul together would men thereupon resolve to take no care or have any thoughts for any provision beyond bread and water why should Christians then when they hear that the being of Godliness may be kept up without assurance take up there 2. 'T is a sin to want assurance We should as well have peace in our own Consciences as peace with God nor are our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience till we have so I know active desertion or Gods withdrawing of his shining manifestation is not our sin even Jesus Christ himself who though he was made sin yet knew no sin was deserted which made him to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me When he so cried out we may well conceive and most sober Divines do conceive he was under the want of the influence of actual vision and of the actual joy and comfort of union nor will I deny but that God may withdraw out of Soveraignty or for the meer trial and exercise of our graces but whether ever he did so is more then I know or should he now do so it would be but for a season if for any long time we want Assurance 't is through weakness of Faith or through spiritual sloth or some other as sinfull distemper He that bids us work out our salvation and make our calling and election sure would not let us be at
by inward sense therefore the Conclusion may be of Faith so that they make such Conclusions to be of faith not immediately but onely by consequence and that on supposition That a Proposition certain from inward sense is stronger then a Proposition certain from Divine revelation which is not universally true Nor yet do we say that this testimony of the Spirit doth make us infallibly certain onely we say that it makes those who keep Consciences void of offence and are zealous of good works have such a certainty as is not mixed with any actual tormenting doubt or fear so as they can their hearts not accusing them nor having any ground to accuse them of presumption call God Father and Christ their elder Brother and the Spirit their Advocate Yet after all this they will not swear that they are the children of God or if they should they would thereby do an act sufficient to darken all the evidence they before had of their Adoption for no one hath power to require such an Oath nor can any controversie be ended by such an Oath which could not be ended without it otherwise we do swear in sundry matters in the which we have not a greater or so great an evidence as it is possible for a man to have of his Adoption And in all Churches there is either from the Parents or other Sureties required as oft as Children are baptized an abrenunciation of the World Flesh and Devil and when the baptized children come to be adult and receive Confirmation 't is required of them that they profess before the Bishops and all the Congregation present That they do renew the solemn Promise and Vow that was made in their name at Baptisme ratifying and confirming the same in their own persons and acknowledging themselves bound to believe and to do all those things which their Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for them Vid. Engl. Liturgy of the last Edition Now if so be persons could not be satisfied that they are sincere in their resolutions we should by calling them to make such Vows but teach them to dissemble and play the hypocrites Object But do not some of our Divines speak of an immediate testimony of the Spirit Answ They do But it is to be hoped that they mean no more then that the soul is sometimes more then usually meet to receive the Seal of the Spirit more then ordinarily disposed to give in its witness with the witness of the Spirit of God i. e sometimes it hath so abased it self before God or done acts so apparently tending to Gods glory so manifestly contrary to flesh and blood that it cannot upon the least reflection but discern the well-pleasingness of such actions unto God and consequently take comfort in them If they intend more then this by their immediate testimony they must not blame others if they say they understand them not or that they fear they understand not themselves Should any one hear a voice saying to him Thy sins are forgiven yea should he not onely hear such a voice but also see some glorious creature uttering that sound this would be an extraordinary testimony but before a man either could or ought to receive it and take comfort from it he must first have some rational evidence that the apparition or voice is from God and not from Satan who both can and frequently hath appeared and spoken not as from himself but from God We have in Scripture an example of Zachary punished because he did not believe the words of Gods Angel Luk. 1.20 there being sufficient evidence that he was an Angel of God and nothing in the Message that should render it incredible But we have also an Example of a Prophet more severely punished for believing one that pretended a Message from God whose Message had every thing in it that might make it unlike to be from God 1 Kin. 13.18 22 23. Wherefore to every young Convert who not patient to wait for his Assurance in a way of self-reflection and communing with his own heart looks for any thing like a vocal testimony I may say as did Gregory to Gregoria Videat cui ad manus non sunt Gregorii Epistolae A Lapide in 8◠ad Rom. v. 16. who had written to him that she would not let him alone till he had obtained a revelation that her sins were pardoned Rem difficilem postulas inutilem A difficult thing because it is not like that God in these dayes should so manifest his love and unprofitable because I should have as much ado perhaps to distinguish that voice as to discern the sincerity of my own actions Consult History and it will be found that where one hath been mistaken that did search and try his heart and ways hundreds have been deluded by voices apparitions impressions These delusions have been most frequent among the Romanists the sense whereof made Luther not many years before crept out from among them to say Pactum feci cum Deo meo ne vel visiones vel somnia vel etiam angelos mihi mittat Com. on Gen. cap. 38. I have agreed with God that he send neither visions nor dreams nor Angels Object Do not very eminent Divines say that Faith is general or special and that general Faith is little worth without special Faith Answ They do so and a good and convenient interpretation may be given of that distinction yea is given by the learned Dr. Hammond as to all the objects of Faith But it may not be dissembled that some of great note have made the essence of Faith to lie in a particular perswasion that a mans sins are pardoned an errour purposely refuted in the ensuing Treatise and which I am glad to observe rejected now almost by all Divines Indeed it makes us justified before Faith and therefore tends manifestly to harden unconverted sinners in their unbelief and puts the maintainers of it upon most horrible shifts in expounding sundry places of Scripture I instance in one which I do in the following sheets make much use of Ephes 1.13 In whom after ye believed ye were sealed Who would hence conclude that Faith does at least in order of nature if not of time go before Sealing or Assurance How can any who placeth Faith in fiducial Assurance bring himself off But poorly For Piscator who is even by Arminius a Professor of different perswasion from him much commended for solidity and clearness Vid. Epist Ecclesiasticas will not yield that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendred having believed but in the Present believing So the Vulgar Latines credentes which Estius is fain to excuse by Ampliation a kind of Licentia Logica must be the best translation Besides we know that God maketh use of the Ministry of men to work faith but if faith were an assent to this that John or Thomas is pardoned it will be hard to explain how any man who hath not the gift of discerning Spirits
indeed had his Revelations but those were not the ordinary standing lasting ground of his gloriation but the testimony of his Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God he had had his conversation in the World 2. Cor. 1.12 What that we are bid by St. Peter to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2. Epist 1.10 Which implyeth that assurance is not onely to be expected by extraordinary immediate Revelation 2. If we cannot have assurance 't is either because we cannot be sure what puts us into a state of grace or because we cannot be sure that we are in that state of grace To say that we cannot know what puts us into a state of grace or makes us children of God and disciples of Christ is too great an absurdity for the Papists themselves to swallow it doth indeed make the one half of the Scriptures needless for what doth Scripture more design then to lay down the distinguishing marks betwixt sincerity and hypocrysie faith and unbelief the power of Godliness and the form It will therefore perhaps be said that we may know what true grace is but we cannot know our selves to have true grace wrought in us because of the deceitfulness of our hearts Now that the heart of man is deceitfull deceitfull above all things will not be denied by any who either studieth Scripture or his own heart But we may well say that the deceitfulness whether natural or acquired is in part cured and removed by sanctifying grace and the Spirit also doth assist as is more to be shewen hereafter the sanctified faculty to observe and take notice of its own frame and therefore its remaining deceitfulness notwithstanding it may come to some certainty of its own condition To make short I ask Was Conscience designed by God to be a Witness and a judge did he intend it should somtimes justifie somtimes condemn If he did not design it to any such work or office why then all both Heathens and Christians have mistaken its nature and office if he did why then may not a renewed Conscience witness concerning a mans renewed and justified condition Doubtless it may witness and give such a Testimony as God will own hereafter and man may for the present comfortably acquiesce in As from our hearts condemning us we may infer that God will condemn us so from our hearts not condemning us we may collect that God will not condemn us and that with such firmness or certainty as will give us boldness in the presence of God and assure our hearts before him that we shall have the things we ask of him 1 John 3.20 21. Had the Testimony been so obscure and uncertain as Papists make it to be St. Paul would not have so rejoiced and gloried in it as we before observed him to do from 2 Cor. 1.12 3. If no assurance were attainable then some duties enjoined us would be altogether either unprofitable or impossible I instance in two or three Why are we bid to search and try our waies if it cannot be known whether they are right Why are we bid to examine our selves whether we be in the faith 2 Cor. 13. if it cannot be known whether we be in the faith How should we rejoice in the Lord and glory in tribulation if when we have done all our title to heaven must be uncertain if we may at last for ought we know to the contrary have our portion in the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Set a man upon a very high pinacle and let him know he may fall from it and see whether you can perswade him to rejoice the possibility and much more the probability of any danger that is intolerable must needs damp all joy Much less could a Christian be earnest and vehement in his desires to be dissolved and be with Christ if he could have no sure hope that when he is dissolved he should be found in Christ Why hath God set Promises as thick in the Word as Stars in the Firmament if by no means we can clear up our interest in them If the sweetness of all the Covenant were strained into one single Promise what would that avail me if by no means I could be perswaded that I shall one day be permitted to taste of it This argument did horribly puzzle Bellarmine and in answer to it he recites three opinions of Catholicks as he calls them according to none of which he thinks men will be left under any necessity of doubting concerning their reconciliation with God and at last he tells us that all they contend against is onely a certainty of Faith properly so called but we are wiser then to lay the stress of so material a question upon a School-phrase Let it but be granted that the soul can have such a knowledge of its own sincerity as makes it certain that it is not mistaken we shall sit down under the shadow of that concession and eat the sweet fruit of it leaving it to the Tridentine Doctors to determine whether this may be called Faith Catholick and if not whether yet it may not be called Divine Faith differing from Catholick Faith differing not in certainty and exclusion of doubting but onely in universality I must needs say I understand not how any man can be said to believe that he believes and if any of our Writers have so expressed themselves which is more then I know they spoke not properly Wendeline in his larger System of Divinity propounding against himself this objection as from the Papists What is certain with the certainty of Faith is either expresly contained in the Word of God or by due consequence may be thence deduced But that this or that man I or thou do truly believe is not expresly contained in Scripture nor can by any due consequence be thence deduced therefore it cannot be certain with a certainty of Faith doth well answer The conclusion doth not contradict us for we do not in kind say that we can by a certainty of Faith be certain that we truly believe but indefinitely that we may be certain With what certainty then I answer with a certainty of inward vision or the testimony of our mind enlightned by the holy Spirit who witnesseth to our spirit that we are the sons of God and do truly believe This certainty therefore is not written in the book of Scripture but in the book of our heart and that by the finger of the Spirit Hence we believe not that we believe but see feel As we do not believe that we do think of God but know and perceive by our mind quoting for the confirmation of his answer an elegant sentence of S. Augustine lib. 13. De Trin. Fidem suam quisque qui eam habet videt in corde suo tenet certissimâ scientiâ clamante conscientia In which way if he had proceeded in answering the self same objection
for they shall be called the sons of God It is the observation of Maldonat That to be called the sons of God implies somewhat more then to be the sons of God viz. that peace-makers shall be owned and published as the sons of God they shall have a testimony in the consciences of others and in their own consciences that they are the children of God 5. Loving of those that hate us blessing those that curse us praying for those that persecute us are actions very contrary to corrupt nature unto which nothing is more pleasing then private revenge but they have on them so much of the Image of him that maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth his rain on the just and unjust that they clearly evidence to him that is conscientious in exerting them his Adoption He cannot long question his own forgiveness from God who finds in himself an heart ready to forgive all who trespass against him for how should not the God of all mercies much more readily forgive then he who hath but a very dram of mercy Let any one who is of a trembling heart but go into his closet and there pour out his soul in supplications for the pardon and salvation of those who persecute him he can scarce not thence draw a deal of divine sweetness and secret sense of Gods love Unto such a one sooner then to any other would I promise settlement in a sure and glorious peace But revengeful projects are so black and hellish as that they cannot consist with calmness of conscience God indeed doth not a second time put any sins into the Book of his remembrance which he hath once blotted out but a malicious revengefull prosecution of our fellow Christians may write over in our own hearts and consciences all those sins that were by the Blood of Christ before blotted out for there is not as to all things the same reason of the Original of the Act of Indempnity kept in the hands of God and the Counterpane of it kept within our selves Direct 6. Let not any that would attain Assurance give way to any unnecessary scruples or doubts about his condition or think that every thing which calleth for trouble and shame doth presently make a man an hypocrite or out of covenant with God It is therefore wisdom as soon as any doubt ariseth presently to take our selves to task and see whether that which we have against our selves be such a matter as from whence we can rationally infer that God and we are still at enmity I shall not here take occasion to descend to particular doubts for they are numberless and besides to answer doubts in writing availeth little because a doubt as represented to a tempted soul scarce seems to be the same thing that it is when described on paper yet there are some general Rules that may be laid down which if particularly applied will be of great use for the silencing of doubts 1. I ought not to make my self an hypocrite for that which the holy Scriptures do no where make a character of hypocrisie If any consolation were tendred to me had it not a foundation in the Scriptures I were bound to reject it and so am I to put away all trouble which comes not backed with some Scripture By this rule our first Reformers did extricate themselves and others out of those labyrinths of desperation into which Popery had led them and the rule hath still a standing necessary use and if observed would set at liberty many who do account themselves bound 2. I must not make my self an hypocrite for that which would make the whole generation of the faithful Hypocrites as well as my self If I have a mind to gratifie my self in hard thoughts concerning my self yet I ought not to have hard thoughts of every one else too If I cannot see my own name written in the Lambs book of life yet I must not blot out the names of all that make up the body of Christ Jesus We may therefore observe if we have opportunity the confessions of those who are if any other sincere and if we do find but the same lustings to sin which they also complain and acknowledg to be in themselves we may not for such lustings conclude our selves to be out of covenant with God or if we do think there is not security enough in this course then may we read over the histories of those who have Gods testimony in Scripture that they were his children and if we find that our spot is but as theirs was we need not for it fear our condition 3. I need not trouble my self about that which hath been already objected against me and fully by me answered If a controversie hath been long handled the question truly stated arguments on both sides clearly produced which way a man hath gone he will go and not suffer himself to be removed from his opinion by every new book in which are onely the old arguments in a new dress without any new additional strength Sophisters if you give them an ear will be wrangling infinitely so will the Devil and our own carnal hearts we must therefore do by them as Moderators do by Opponents after their argument hath been answered bid them either urge it further or use some new argument or else be silent else shall we both lose our precious time and also wrangle away our consolations And let all those who might see the seal of the Spirit on their hearts did they not nourish needless doubts well consider that they do by disquieting themselves with childish irrational fears commit a very great sin For 1. They do rob the Spirit of all the honour due unto him for the work that he hath wrought in their hearts And can it choose but grieve him when he hath put forth power equivalent to that by which the world was created by which Christ was raised from the dead to find it overlooked and not at all acknowledged 2. He sins against his soul in hindring the growth it might make were it not hindred by continual fears that the root is still unsound Possess a builder with an apprehension that his foundation is not sure laid and you will never perswade him to carry on his fabrick with any vigour for he will still be thinking that when the storms and tempests arise it will fall and the higher he hath raised it the more shameful will be its fall 3. By thus disavowing Gods work of grace he doth dishearten and discourage his fellow Christians who observing him of whom they alway had far better thoughts then of themselves to doubt of his sincerity do begin to question their own 4. By nullifying in conceit the new creature on such weak grounds he extreamly hardens the unconverted who will hence be ready to conclude that no religion lies deeper then the phansie Object But if out of a fear not to deny a true evidence I should trust
them all over again and pass again every day through the same intolerable pangs as long as I live to be assured of my part in Christ Jesus A very Hypocrite in some tempest of terror might say as much but when this is become the frame of heart to will the blood of Christ absolutely it is not long usually ere God sprinkles us with it Here many may see whence it is that they spend the most of their days in grievings and groans namely because they will not rise up to the terms and conditions of comfort Would they confess their transgressions unto the Lord he would forgive the iniquity of their sin But if they will keep silence let them not wonder if their bones wax old through roaring all the day long if Gods hand lie heavy on them day and night till their moisture be turned into the drought of summer Would they ply their hearts with stirring thoughts then they would revive but if they be so lazy as never to commune with their hearts no wonder that they remain benummed Would they be humble God would give them more grace but if they suffer their proud thoughts to exalt themselves against the knowledg of Christ no wonder God sets himself against them The terms of the Covenant are made so low that God cannot in honour stoop lower if any one cannot bring himself to close with them let him not think that God will find out new ways to satisfie his longing follies and lazy desires V. He that would regain his lost Assurance must be sure to pray hard Profane wits make themselves merry with us because commonly in all our Directions we bring in Prayer for one They may as well laugh at Feast-makers who in all their entertainments furnish their tables with Bread and Salt or with Physicians who make Aloes an ingredient in almost every Pill Some duties are more peculiarly suted to some one kind of trouble but Prayer sanctifies and sweetens all Jam. 5. Is any man afflicted let him pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man suffer evil of what kind soever he will find it useful to betake himself to Prayer especially in soul-distresses and desertions Prayer must needs be advantagious because it seemeth to be one main end God aimeth at in withdrawing himself to make his people more fervent and frequent in Prayer Hos 5.15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early I will return to my place I will as it were shut my self up in Heaven as if I regarded them not till they seek my face that is my favour in their affliction they will seek me early betimes with all speed with care and vigour also at such a rate as men are wont to do things in the morning Hence we shall observe That the adopted children of God have when under desertion intended their prayers David did so Psal 30.6 7 8. Psal 77.1 2. So did Heman Psal 88.1 2 9. yea of the natural Son it is said That being in an agony he prayed more earnestly Luk. 22.44 that agony made him more to express his earnestness then at other times And when all other means have been used without success Prayer hath presently effected the cure so that man in Gerson that studied against Atheisme and could never get the better of it at last prayed that God would help him in it and he was clean rid of all his horrid temptations this way and was as really perswaded of the truth of unseen things as of the chair he sat in And many no doubt now alive have found by their own blessed experience that when the most rational arguments have not cured their distrustfull thoughts Prayer hath done it speedily they have kneeled down with the spirit of heaviness but did rise up cloathed with the garment of praise Object I should have hopes that God had not cast me off did he vouchsafe to receive a prayer from me but this is that which heightneth all my miseries that When I spread forth my hands he hideth his eyes from me yea when I make many prayers he doth not hear Answ This is a sad case indeed but no other then what many of the dearest servants of God have complained of The Spouse so complains Cant. 5.5 I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer So doth the Church Lam. 3.44 Thou hast covered thy self with a cloud that our prayers should not pass through But perhaps this was some faint Prayer Nay it was a most vehement Prayer When I cry and shout he shutteth out my prayer vers 8. And before these David Psal 22.1 2. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why are thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night-season and am not silent And before him Job ch 30. v. 20. I cry unto thee and thou doest not hear me I stand up and thou regardest me not We must to avoid the dint of this temptation know that it is our duty to pray alway and not to faint and what the fruit of that will be our Saviour hath told us in a whole Parable Luk. 18. The repulses God either gives or seemeth to give unto our Prayers should onely intend our devotion and make Faith to gather up its strength Therefore we shall observe in Scriptures that it hath not been unusual for Christians to plead and expostulate with God in case of desertion and not answering prayer Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring Psal 22.1 and Psal 80.4 O Lord God of Hosts how long wiit thou be angry against the prayer of thy people Many places there be of the same strain and import which pleas and arguings because they do sometimes arise from that holy becoming boldness which is purchased for Saints by the Blood of Christ Ephes 3.12 Heb. 10.29 but do also sometimes arise from a sinfull sauciness made up of discontent and unbelief therefore I shall to compleat this last Direction shew when a deserted person is in a fit frame thus to plead with God and also what are the Topicks from which Faith may argue A man cannot believingly plead and expostulate with God for not answering his Prayers till he be meet to receive that mercy he prayeth for Whilest iniquity is regarded God will easily answer our pleadings and make us ashamed of our expostulations Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our souls and thou takest no knowledge Isai 58.3 God easily counterpleadeth vers 4. Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickednesse Your fasts end in and are seconded with vexatious suits and brawls Vid. Gatak in locum you misuse your servants and deal hardly with your debtors not