trade with it as otherwise he might so there is not any thing of sanctification currant and of solid comfort to a believer unlesse Christ be there and his image which is righteousnes and true holinesse 3. Consider that it is a usual delusion of Satan to tell a poore soule that God hath no mercy for it when the soule hath obtained mercy and this mercy not farr from it yea at the gate as it were and that it is the nature of unbeliefe to be inquisitive and curious to find out any colourable pretention whereby it may seeme to doe wel in excluding it selfe from grace and in not harkening unto what God saith in his word I would gladly believe but I dare not besides I cannot believe Consider four things viz. 1. Consider with thy selfe and examine what reason thou hast or canst have to doubt or be afraid since Christ cryeth saing If any man thirst let him come to me and drink The spirit and the Bride say come and whosoever wil let him come Doth God invite you to come and are you afraid oh come he wil not quench the smoking flax Hope thou in his mercy and know that the Lord takes pleasure in them that feare him in them that hope in his mercy Examine thy soule why it would flie unto the hills of its owne preparations seeing that God who is a strong hold hath invited thee unto himselfe and indeed the first thing that a poore soule that sees it self lost and fatherlesse is to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus he expects no previous qualifications and indeed the best preparation for Christ is to see in our selves no preparation at all for him 2. Consider that if thou desirest to believe thy will is in part regenerate and thou dost in some measure believe though weakly Lord I believe help thou my unbeliefe And remember that the heart in a mystical and spiritual acceptation is seated in the will and in the understanding but more principally in the will so that that object or thing unto which the will is most inclined or the desires runne out most after unto that is the bent of the heart said to be if our wills be renewed our hearts are renewed Saith Paul to will is present with me good I would do so then with my mind I serve the law of God whereby it evidently appears that the will is one with the mind and that the heart is one with them and that these three are one and are alike spirituall where your treasure is there will your hearts be also there will be your mind and your affections and by affections the heart is meant Set your affections on things above Gods servants are in Scripture described by a desire to feare his name Those desires that work towards God came from him The Spirit returns to him that gave it If thy desires be spiritual thou art spiritual they flow from faith and from the Spirit and are a part of the worke of grace in us which he having begunne will perfect to his own praise A man cannot desire that which he doth not believe to be nor love To wil to believe and repent is an evidence that the soul doth believe and repent to will to be regenerate is an effect and testimonie of regeneration It is God that worketh in you to will c. Spiritual desires cannot possibly be in that soule that hath not spirituall life for to desire after Christ or to a believe in him is an act of spirituall life a dead man cannot desire and nothing but Christ can possesse the soule of a sense of its want of him the depraved will of man being wholly inthralled unto sin can contribute nothing hereunto but is altogether insufficient for and averse unto it and also to the perceiving and receiving of the things of God they being spiritually discerned God must give eyes to see and an heart to understand 3. Considert hat many doe believe and yet know not whether they believe or no and thereupon they doe as the blinde man did call their faith unbeliefe many give God their hearts and know it not being ignorant of what is meant by the heart and where it is seated viz. in the will understanding desires affections and delights though principally in the will 4. Consider that it is not in the power of the Creature to believe and that faith is not any condition of the covenant of grace required on thy part but a grace of the covenant on Gods part to be given for this covenant is not made with us but with Christ for us to believe is a fruit of the Spirit of Christ we must bee in Christ before wee can beare fruit therefore we must be in Christ before we can believe hee that hath the Spirit of Christ hath Christ we have the Spirit of Christ before we believe therefore we have Christ before we believe and men are ordained unto eternall life before they believe I am afraid the day of grace is past and so nothing can doe me good 1. You must not give way to such discouraging thoughts answer them with Jonah who knowes but the Lord may returne 2. For which of Gods loving kindnesses and rich mercies hast thou taken up such hard thoughts of him to nourish Jealousies against his love remember what David saith How precious are thy thoughts to me oh God great is the summe of them If I should count them they are more then the Sands and what Christ saith Be not afraid onely believe and what he did he received sinners 3. If thou thinkest the day of grace is past because thy sinnes are great that argument will not hold hearken what God saith I have spread out my hand all the day to a rebellious people that provoke me to anger continually to my face 4. Consider That if thou hast an heart desirous to returne unto God thy day of grace is not past Christ knocks still If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes c. Saith a poore drooping believer I feare that when persecution comes I shall not suffer nor hold out unto the end but dishonour God betray his truth shame and grieve his people Cast all these cares and feares upon the Lord In nothing be carefull hee will care for thee he that hath ingaged his owne faithfulnesse for the making good of every tittle of his promises hath promised I will never leave thee nor forsake thee God will take care for his owne glory truth and servants his wisdome power Love and faithfulnesse shall order all I am discouraged because that of all the spirituall things I hoped for none are made good to mee I doe not possesse any 1.
babe in Christ though carnal those desires which worke towards God came from God the Spirit returnes to him that gave it Secondly I call those Members of Christ accidentally weak who are habitually strong in the faith having strong breathings of the Spirit of Christ and so not lyable unto that constant weaknesse wherewith babes or children in Christ are incompassed and yet may somtimes be accidentally weakned by reason either of sharp afflictions unto which Christ brings them or great services unto which he calls them or else by some great and desperate falls into sinne which through infirmity and as it were by accident they have taken There are two sorts of men that after the committing of sinne can believe pardon thereof no further then they can see themselves humbled or finde repentance in them for it First Such as have a weak faith in the Lord Jesus and these with Thomas may receive reprehension from our Saviour Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Secondly Meere titular Christians but in very deed hypocrites who build their faith upon the sandy foundation of their own repentance humiliation and such other like qualifications though they say and perhaps think otherwise and then no wonder if when their foundation be removed their faith faile and they fall But if it be inquired what the difference is between a weak Member of Christ and an hypocrite I answer The weak Member of Christ hath another secret frame of Grace in him which will not suffer him to rest upon this rotten foundation the Spirit of God bloweth upon him and gives him to see that this way of the flesh will faile him and at last pitcheth him absolutely upon Christ and leads the poore soule to lay hold upon the word of his promise which indures for ever All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof is as the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely the people is grasse the grasse withereth the flower fadeth but the word of God shall stand for ever When the Lord begets one by the immortall seed of his Word he then lets him know that all flesh is grasse and that whatsoever â—lesh and nature can desire to rest upon falleth away and teacheth him to rest onely upon the word of Promise which indures for ever tendred in the Gospel But the hypocrite being not blown upon by this Spirit not having the seed of grace conveyed unto him in the Gospel-promise stumbles at this way of free justification and seeks justification in another way forming up a Religion according to himselfe of pleasing and displeasing and by what he doth and doth not and thus going about through his naturall knowledge or light to establish his own righteousness wherein is but a more glorious damnation to be got at best he submits not to the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ And he waxing confident in this way teacheth it unto others thinks others foolish and blind in regard of himselfe yea he growes so confident as that heâ— dares pleade his cause with God Have we not prophesied in thy name c. He hath a faith though indeed but a dead one and yet it wil go farre in the resemblance carrying the image of something like unto the new man as the faint reflections of the Sun in a cloud look like the Sun but are not and may both deceive the soul of the person where it is and of others that goe but according to the appearance yet there being no spiritual life nor Christ formed in such a soul there can be neither any right spiritual enjoyment of Christ nor sollid communion with God in him though all the changes of the Spirit may seeme to be there to such a carnal formally deceiving heart He may repent as Ahab he may joy in the Gospel ordinances and have a kind of reforming with Herod there may be in him a kind of faith as in those that believed mentioned in the Parable but in time of temptation fell away there may be a frequenting of the word preached as appears by those that said unto our Saviour have we not eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou taught in our streets There may be a conviction of sin as in Faelix who trembled at Pauls preaching he may hold out with Christ in very great troubles nay suffer even death in the cause of Christ But all these are not yet in the power of Christ nor in the life of the Spirit so that the fruits and seeming graces of such are but like the berries upon the thorn in the way side not like the grapes upon the Vine he is not built upon that Rock of ages Christ Jesus and other foundation can no man lay and therefore it is no matter of admiration if like wandring stars and clouds that have no water such are ever rolling up and down and never established He dare not reckon with his conscience for the blood of sprinkling is not there and without blood there is no remission no boldness against sinne no looking Conscience in the face An hypocrite may have a name to live and to tast of the heavenly gift but is indeed dead and senseless yea absolutely void of spiritual life and may not unfitly be compared to that Statue of a man which they say Albertus Magnus was thirty years about that by reason of springs and devices within could walke up and down and speak articulately which stil was void of life so here c. some springs within resulting from self-love some scrnes of ostentation may produce in the hypocrite speech and motion in the wayes of God but being destitute of spiritual life must needs be void of spiritual senses and consequently of those soule satisfying ravishing and transforming tastes and relishes of the goodness of God which the Saints enjoy And thus although he may ascend many rounds in Jacobs ladder the greater at last will his fall into utter darkness be if the Lord give not repentance But inasmuch as the child of God and an hypocrite both stand for repentance it may be enquired what the difference is between the repentance of the one and of the other I shal only instance a few of the differences instead of many more that might be insisted upon 1. That which turneth an hypocrite from his sin causing him to grieve and mourne for it is principally a convicted conscience and restraining grace this made Judas confesse his sin and restore his pieces of silver who neverthelesse denyed the power of the Spirit of Christ But the child of God he hath this Law of repentance put into his inward parts and written in his heart by the finger of the Spirit of the Lord though many times by
through the Gospel he ever remaines beautifull and comely to an eye of faith whereby he sees himselfe in the righteousnesse of Christ made perfectly and everlastingly righteous yea presented in the body of Christs flesh through death holy unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God 4. From ignorance of their glorious Gospel freedome Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law c. that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith Christ is the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth Now wee know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law But no true Believer is under the Law but they are all under grace In the first Adam we had to doe with God onely in a way of subjection and righteousnesse but now in our second Adam in a way of Sonship or adoption free grace and love For what the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his own sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh That the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the Law of sin and death We are delivered from the Law that we should serve in newnesse of Spirit and not in the oldnesse of the Letter Christ hath blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and taken it out of the way nayling it to his Crosse He hath led Captivity captive That he might deliver the creature from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God the Spirit saith that no Curse can come nigh our dwelling place The glorious beames of Christs grace and love now shine forth upon the soules of his poore children like the Sunne in the spring time which light carries a vertue causing the earth to spring and blossome as the garden of the Lord. Christ hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve in newnesse of Spirit without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life The Spirit of Christ doth indeed set a believer as free from hel the Law and bondage here on earth as if he were in heaven nor wants he any thing to make him thus free but to bring him to believe that he is so for Satan sinne sinful flesh and the law are all so neer and about him in this life that hee cannot so walke by sight or in the clear apprehension of it but the just live by faith and faith is the evidence of things not seene Two wayes for a believer to hold stable comfort hope Joy and confidence in God at all times 1. To live in Christ and not in our selves A believers condition is twofold yet as a believer he hath but one in Christ in himselfe yet he ought ever to consider himselfe in Christ by faith and not in himselfe In Christ he hath perfectly obeyed the whole law perfectly suffered and satisfied for all his sins to the justice of God and in Christ is perfectly just and righteous and thereupon it is said that our life is hid with Christ in God And we are raised up with Christ and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus even already but in himselfe there is a body of lust corruption and sinne and there is a law revealing sinne accusing and condemning so as if a believer live only by sense reason and experience of himselfe and as he lives to men he lives both under the power and feeling of sinne and the law but if he by the eie of faith lookes upon himselfe to be within the walls of that strong and impregnable City of refuge the Lord Jesus the law and divine Justice of God cannot pursue him for his sins if he live by faith in Christ and in the apprehension of his love believing in the life righteousnesse obedience satisfaction and glory of him whom the Spirit calls ours Christ is ours we are Christs and Christ is Gods he then lives out of the power of all condemnation and unrighteousnesse Christ being the end of the Law for righteousnesse c. And thus a believer is blessed only in a righteousnesse without not within and all his assurance confidence and comforts are to flow in unto him through a channel of faith and not of works believing himselfe happy for what another even Christ hath done for him not for what he hath done or can doe for himselfe for when wee are at the best we are but unprofitable servants and may not live in our selves nor by sight but by faith and when we are at the worst we are to live upon Christ by faith and derive all our comforts from God in in his everlasting and inviolable covenant of grace which is an inexhaustible fountaine of divine consolation for a poore believer to have recourse unto for the stability of soulâ—satisfying joy and comfort sparkling from the face of God upon him and indeed the glorious joy of a believer would be alwaies unspeakable did he alwaies apprehend his happinesse in and by Christ Jesus 2. To live by faith which consists in the souls communion with God in Christ and the soules enjoying of Christ in his promises both spiritual and temporal Faith supplies all wants it honours God and God honours those most that live by it By faith we live to God a life of joy in him our righteousnesse as if we had never sinned by faith wee live above sinne infirmities temptations desertions sense reason feares and doubts faith sweetens the sweetest mercie and the bitterest miseries it renders great afflictions as none it is the Bulwarke of the souls strength and comfort By faith wee obey God it makes the yoke of Christ easie and sweet it states the soul in the possession of heaven while the bodo remains on earth By saith wee view the glory of heaven and know our selves to be happy even then when to a carnal eye we seeme most miserable By faith we can chearfully part with and suffer deprivation of the sweetest outward comforts and enjoyments and welcome death knowing that we do but exchange the worst place and things for better Those that live by faith live upon God and are feasted in his banquetting house which is plentifully stored with all desirable dainties having this welcome Eate O friends and drinke abundantly It is oh believer thy portion duty and priviledge to refresh and exhilerate thy soule with his dainties and to enjoy Christ in them all that so thy joy may be full To live by faith in effectual calling
heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God 3. From the lying vanities we have chosen they that hearken unto lying vanities forsake their owne mercies 4. From ignorance heedlesnesse and forgetfulnesse of the fulnesse and freenesse of the promise of God and his everlasting covenant of grace and from living by sense and not by faith 5. From unskilfulnesse of the word of righteousnesse 6. From the want of watchfulnesse against sin the not keeping of a clear conscience omission of duties and loose walking with God these will raise tumults in the soul 7. From building our hope and comfort upon that which is mutable and uncertaine upon our own personal Sanctification and not upon Christ and our free justification by him who is made unto us of God Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 8. From ouâ— owne false reasonings as to conclude that we have no work â—o grace wrought upon us because we as present cannot see or feele any grace in our selves thus many weake believers that are through Christ right precious in the sight of God are subject to delude themselves in chusing trouble and preâ—erring it before comâ—ort 9. From the bodies distemper with melancolly and troubling your selves with the event of things and from pride which hinders a quiet submission unto God in that condition inward or outward which he hath led us unto and from want of patience to wait upon him for deliverance out of trouble in the use of means 10. From want of consideration of the ground of the trouble and enquiry whether it ought to be a cause of discouragement or not 11. From too much eying of sinne or an over-sensiblenesse of infirmities and not eying of Christ with them the conscience enlighted siding with the law against it self 12. From the poor creature striving to get out of its dungeon by its ownwrestling whereby in steed of gaining inlargment it heightens its own distempers 13. From unbelief which takes the law and applies the same with the threats thereof unto the soule therby occasioning fears and discouragements 14. From ignorance of the love of Christ and when the blessed spirit of truth doth once come into the soule and discover the love of Christ unto it its doubts are immediately resolved and it is sweetely revived 15 From slighting the means that God hath given for our recovery we are indeed with thankfulnesse to use the means and yet to know that means cannot cure a soul it must be the operation of the Spirit of Christ in the soul which is as God pleases 16. From Gods not appearing to and the Spirits not operating in the soule the operation whereof discovers unto the soule the overflowing fulnesse of the loves of Christ and brings the soule to believe in the Lord Jesus and trust in his mercy Our carnal reason and corrupt hearts and Satan with his suggestions are so neere us and before our eyes that we cannot see God and we hearken so much unto what these dictate that we mind not the blessed voice of the Spirit of Christ which would revive and fill our soules with joy and peace in believing and make us so wise and strong in his time that we should not any more cast away our confidence in God And as Gods love which is free ful and perfect is discovered to the soule so yea in the same measure anr doubts and feares cast out Perfect love casts out fear and the poore creature is made perfect in love Nine Reasons against fears and discouragements in a believer raised from Isaiah 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I wil strengthen thee yea I wil help thee yea I wil uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousnesse The first reason is Because it is against Gods command for a believer to feare or be discouraged fear thou not 2. Because thou hast the presence of God to helpe thee I am with thee 3. Because a believer hath an interest in God which is a happinesse beyond all miseries I am thy God 4. Because nothing can befall him but what God appoints who loveth him 5. Because whatsoever befals him shall do him good 6. Because the bitternesse shal be but short 7. Because fears and discouragements never do any good but much hurt they deprive us of many an opportunity of doing Christ service 8. Because fears are doubts are unsuitable for a Saint the fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake c. with Sâ—rcerers Idolaters and Lyars 9. Because fears are unreasonable for a child of God the Lord having given unto his many sweet and precious promises That they shall not want any good thing he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee they are therefore safe and neede not to fear but in God alwaies rejoice and sing praises to him One and twenty several means to be used by poore weake believers for their settlement in the assurance of the love of God when they are tossed with tempests and incompassed with discouragements viz. 1. Means Commune with thine owne heart and make diligent search to find out what it is that troubles thee Reason within thy selfe Why art thou cast downe O my soule and disquieted within me c. 2. Means Renounce all lying vanities and hearken unto none of them hearken not to the voice of thine own heart it is a lying vanity and wil deceive thee Hearken not unto sense Thomas said he would not believe unlesse he might see and thrust his hand into his side but such sensual practises are to be abhorred by us for it is no other but to consult with flesh and blood which cannot discern spiritual things and is condemned some wil see an holy frame of Spirit in themselvs and feele sinne subdued before they wil believe this is sensual for faith lookes not to such things as these but to God in his word therefore we live not by sight but by faith blessed are they which have not seen yet have believed Hearken not unto carnal reason for in so doing thou canst neither believe submit to God not be setled Reason wil say a Virgin cannot bring forth a child and that a woman ninetie years of age is past conceiving a child Reason contradicts God himselfe and saith these things cannot be can reason believe that the wals of Jericho fel down by faith and that the Saints stopped the mouths of Lyons and quenched the violence of fire Yet faith did it Is it likely or possible to reason for a man to walke upon the sea or Peter did Did not Christs command seeme vain to Peters reason that he should then cast hâ—s net into â—he sea seeing he had cast it in so often and fished all night and caught nothing Can reason
conceive how the dead who are eaten with beasts and fishes and turned into dust can be raised unto life or that the sea can be divided the Sun go backwards the Rocks yeild water in abundance the flint be turned into a fountaine of water or that drie bones shal live Surely there can be no reason given to reason for these things wherefore seeing that sense and reason are so contrary to God in his word we may not hearken to them when they say the soule hath no grace because sense seeth or fâ—eleth none and that God wil not pardon our sins because there is no reason to reason why he should nor any way to reason which way it can be for with God all things are possible Also live not upon duties and performances groundlesse hopes nor peace comfort joy raptures or ravishments whether true or false live upon God alone and if thou livest upon any thing else as thy foundation whatsoever your sparks be you shall lie down in sorrow 3. Means Give no way at all to any discouragement although it seem never so just and reasonable This was David sin to admit of a Pâ—rley with that which he looked upon as tending to his discouragement saying Will the Lord cast off for ever doth his promise faile for evermore I said this is my infirmity As soone as he saw his infirmâ—ty he had other thoughts of God saying Who is so great a God as our God thou art the God that dâ—st wondeâ—s and thy footsteps are not known If God in his greatnesse mercy and the wonders he doth and the way he goeth were knowne by us we should admire and rejoyce at that for which we now mourn 4. Means Learn to know and distinguish betweene the voice of Christ and all other voices learne to know and say distinguishingly of Christs voice it is the voice of my beloved and hearken to it for it is peace thy sinâ— are forgiven thee I wil remember them no more therefore that voice that tends to the hindrance of the Saints peace suiteth with the voice of Satan and is not the voice of Christ I wil heare what the Lord wil speake for he wil speake peace unto his people Satan makes it his work to contradict this voice of God unto the soul and say it is a delusion and not likely to be from God yea and alledgeth seeming reason for it saying unto the soule Art thou a child of God and thus overpowered with corruptions c And now because this voice is suitable to carnal reason the poore soule is ready to close with it and conclude against God and its owne comfort that the voice of peace was not from God but a delusion of Satan and hereupon comes to mistake Christs voice to be the voice of Satan and Satans voice to be of Christ therefore know oh poore soule that such discouraging voices are from the divel and not from the Prince of peace 3. Means Learne to knovv and distinguish betweene the voice of the Gospel and the voice of the Lavv the Lavv saith Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Law to do them vvhen there is any worke to be done upon paine of punishment or upon promise of eternall life it is the voyce of the Law the Law requires doing something for life Moses describing the Righteousnesse of the Law saith That the man that doth these things shall live by them But the voyce of the Gospel is farre otherwise as that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a Curse for us and that his mercy is above what we can aske or thinke The promises of life are free and without condition the Gospel declares what God workes in us and freely gives unto us I will love them freely If we listned more unto the promise which is the voice of the Gospel and not to the voyce of the Law wee should enjoy more peace and finde lesse trouble 6. Meanes Meddle not with the threatnings in the word so as to apply them to thy soule for that they belong not unto thee and are no part of thy portion they concerne not the state of a believer however they may be of use to prevent sinne yet are of no use unto him after commission of it yea it is a weaknesse in a believer after commission of sinne to apply unto himself the threats of the Law against that sinne because we are not under the law but under grace Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Christ being made a curse for us hath made perfect satisfaction on our behalves unto the justice of God and brought in an everlasting righteousness Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord. This to doe is indeed against carnal reason sight sense and feeling but we are to walke by faith and not by sight 7. Means Judg not your condition by false principles some judge their eternal condition desperate for that they want those things the enjoyment whereof would not prove their state good as knowledge memory parts sensiblenesse of sins c. Others account their state and condition very bad for that they are incompassed with those things which if they were freed from would not prove their eternal condition good as passion temptations discontentednesse at the providences of God c. 8. Means Take heed ye be not overwhelmed with sin eye not so much thy infirmities beware of such a minding and complaining of sin as tends to discourage oppresse and trouble thy soule Davids experience speakes it sinful I complained saith he and my spirit was overwhelmed I am so troubled that I cannot speake to eye sinne so as to be overwhelmed and to have our spirits drunk up in the consideration of it is both against God and thy owne soule what thou seest and feelâ—st pore not upon and learn to see and perceive what is not obvious to thine owne sense and sight faith is the evidence of things not seene walk by faith and not by sight 9. Means Eâ—e Christ alâ—ne mind him meditate upon him the riches and freenesse of his grace and fetch all thy consolation from him who is made unto thee of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption eye not so much thy selfe or thy sins as Christs full and perfect satisfaction which was offered by him and accepted of by God the Father for all thy sinnes oh therfore live in and rest upon the Lord Jesus alone and place all thy confidence in him who wil settle thee comfort quicken and uphold thee and be infinitely better unto thee then thy selfe can be 10. Means Learne to distinguish betweene thy justification and thy personal sanctification the first is quite out of thy selfe consisting in the
and thou maiest be as well mistaken as Gideon was 4. Consider that the greatest peace any saint enjoyes is not any ground of incouragement for him to believe and likewise remember that no terrors that ever take any of Gods Jobs Davids or Jeremiahs ought in the least to discourage them in believing for our happiness consists not in any thing that wee can â—ee feele or apprehend in our selves but in the word and promise of our God and in that wee are knowne of him who loves us and comprehends us in himselfe not imputing our trespasses unto us but his righteousnesse without works 5. Hearken what the Lord saith by his Prophet Isaiah and cast all thy fears of hell upon God in a promise and trust in the Lord when thou art in the flames of this fire thou shalt not be burnt With God nothing is impossible oh troubled soule the day spring from on high hath by the tender mercies of our God visited us and so it will visit thee also and give light to thee that sittest in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide thy feete in the way of peace 6. Consider whether poring too much upon thy sins untill thou wert filled with despaire hath not brought thy terrors upon thee consider whether thy omissions and commissions against conscience have not augmented thy horrour and looke that thou skin not thy self againe with thy performances and duties and remember that what is a great cause of mourning is not the least ground of dispaire Oh therefore cast not away your confidence for yet a little while and hee that shall come will come and will not tarry And say with the Prophet Micah When I sit in darknes the Lord shall be a light unto mee He will bring mee forth into the light and I shall behold his righteousness I have no love to Christ I am an enemie to him and not fit for him 1 The reason why thou lovest not Christ is because thou livest not in the apprehension of his rich love because thou hast not the heart-breaking sight and sense of the pardon of thy sinnes by him Wee love him because hee loved us first the manifestation of this love unto a poore soule constraines it to love him againe 2. Dost thou apprehend thy selfe an enemy to God so were the dearest of Gods children While wee were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son c. Enemies cannot deserve nor desire a Christ yet God gives forth a Christ unto such 3. It is impossible for thee to fit thy selfe for Christ If thou seest such a necessity of him as that without him thou art undone and hereupon pantest after him he hath brought thee absolutely under his promise oh then go to him and thou shalt speed he is faithful that hath promised He wil draw thee unto him with the cords of a man with bands of love and with loving kindnesse He saith also He that cometh unto me I wil in no wise cast out And Christ adds further I and my Father are one And we give power to the faint and to them that have no might we adde strength Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walke and not faint Remember this that if God hath wrought in thee to hunger and thirst after righteousnesse that is Christ he himself hath pronounced thee blessed a desire after Christ and his righteousnesse is no other then the off-spring of the Spirit and life of Christ in the soule the best perswasion for Christ is to see in our selves no preparation for Christ at all None but fitted or prepared ones will take Christ yet is no preparation to be forced on any as mans work in any sense There are indeed many sweete and precious promises in the word but those who have a propriety in them are believers and I am none Poore soule Consider three things 1. Consider that you may be mistaken in your selfe and think you do not when you do believe and herein may you erre on the one hand as the carnal man doth on the other he thinks he doth believe when he doth not and you think you do not when you do believe as a cheater would put off his brasse for gold so an honest man may suspect his gold to be brass It is a great signe and symptome of faith to have a sight and sense of our owne infidelity and unworthinesse 2. I grant that none may apply a promise of life but such as believe yet the promises are for all the elect thou knowest not but that thou art one of them when God shall give thee faith thou shalt know thy interest in the promises In the meane time stay thy selfe with this that the Lord Jesus gave himselfe for enemies and to justifie the ungodly Be not dismayed God may save you hearken unto what the Lord saith I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will say unto them Thou art my people and they shall say thou art my God Oh sweet place then by no means yeild to thy fears nourish not jealousies against the love of God but resolve in the strength of Christ to cleave unto him in his word hold him fast with the Spouse saying My beloved is mine and I am his 3. Consider that if ever any of the light of Gods soule-astonishing love and sinne pardoning mercie dawned upon thy soule if ever hee hath made any spirituall discoveries of his love unto thee and in thee remember with him is no variablenes nor shadow of turning hee changes not and therefore the Sonnes of Jacob are not consumed And though you finde your selfe unbelieving yet you are not to question the truth and certainty of the accomplishment of Gods promises that are in him yea and amen that are sure and not grounded upon your faith but upon his owne grace and upon his Sonne and his righteousness and faithfulness it is not thy unbeliefe that can make the faith of God without effect if wee believe not yet he remaines faithful he cannot deny himselfe I have no assurance of salvation I am not sealed up to the day of redemption and therefore have no faith 1. Consider that faith and assurance are distinct assurance cannot bee without faith but faith may be without assurance assurance is not properly an act of faith but an effect of it and indeed above it After that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise the seede of faith may be in the soule before the soule know it and by how much the greater our feeling and
whereby they are led forth to weigh their state of grace only in the scale of mortification of sinne as it is commonly taken for dying to particular Acts and in so doing they unavoidably come short of that comfortable perswasion as to the eternal condition of their soules which others who place their assurance in Christ and his free promise do enjoy because sinne hath a stronger side in us then the Spirit and for that the spiritual condition in this life consists more in being justified from sin then cleansed from it and our blessednesse more in having the curse of sin removed then the corruption our justification being more glorious then our sanctification and our forgivenesse of sinne is farre more glorious then our cleansing from sinne for the just shall live by his faith which is not a life by sense and sanctification only but a life by believing for life in another in Christ and thereupon our life is said to be hid with Christ in God and Christ is called our life When Christ who is our life c. I speake now to the weak and wounded believers for sinne not to the carnal and unregenerate in sinne God will have Christ to be our life and our all that our all that man may be nothing And as the light of the Sun damps the fire and extinguishes its light as not enduring any light but it selfe so when Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse arises in a poor soul out-goes all fire and candle light yea and sparke light of its own kindling wherewithal the soule had compassed it selfe about it leaves not one spark remaining to walke in or for the heart to derive comfort from Saith such a soule what if all the fire which I have heretofore kindled and compassed my selfe about withall be extinguished and annihilated Christ is infinitely a better light heate and comfort and sparkles with the brightest lustre when alone 2. From ignorance of the ends that God many times proposes unto himselfe in suffering corruption to be strong in his deare children God hath in wisdome and much love left sinne in his to abase them in their own eyes and to keepe them humble in the sense of their transgressions and that we may know what we are and our strength and that our God might thereby exercise in us the fruits and graces of his own spirit faith for pardon wisdome watchfulness self-denial meekness â—umility c. and that we might love Christ the more in that all our sins are pardoned which graces had we no sin left in us we should not have such occasion to exercise as also that he might inure us to live upon him by faith that we might long to be in heaven where we shal enioy perfect freedome from all sin and that we seeing our selves to stand in such need of Christ to manifest unto our consciences our pardon thereof and to heale us might love and prize him the more and depend upon him for strength against sin and live upon his fulnesse and that the power of Christ might the more palpably appeare in the miraculous preservation of a little sparke of grace in the midst of the ocean of our corruptions and that the power of his grace in subduing of our so strong and so many corruptions might be made manifest Saith Paul I glory in my infirmities not simply as they are sins but in that the power and goodnesse of God is the more seene both in pardoning and healing of them if there were not evil it could not be knowne what is good justice and mercy had not been knowne And when thou sinnest against the Lord Jesus albeit he will tell thee of thy fault in thy conscience to humble and abase thee in thine own eyes yet he still remembers the grace that is in thee The sinning Church in Sardis hath but a few good names among many bad and Christ records them thou hast a few names even in Sardis c. And falling Philadelphia hath but a little strength and yet Christ eyes it and blazons it Thou hast a little strength and hast kept my words and hast not denyed my name Because thou hast kepâ— the word of my patience I will also keepe thee from the houre of temptation which shal come upon all the world to try them that dwel upon the earth Christ will not forget thy weake grace though mixed with strong corruptions he turns all his childrens sins to their good he makes Samsons riddle a truth in believers souls Out of the Eater there comes forth meat and out of the strong sweetness Christ makes the devouring corruption in believers to become meate for their faith to feed upon while he is killing of one sin he gives ground to believe the ruin of another and he brings forth sweetnesse out of their strong sins in making his grace to superabound where sin did but abound The Lord Jesus kindles the Spouses love even by her coldnesse doth he not cause her sleeping while he knocked to end in a healthfull fit of love-sicknesse when shee awaked 3. From their ignorance or forgetfulness that they are in all their dealings with God to draw neare and come unto him as having put on Christ and sonship first and not as sinners and unrighteous A believer is to consider himselfe thus in Christ in the first place and to put on the relation of Sonship and righteousnesse and to look at or consider sinnes no otherwise in himselfe then as debts paid and cancelled by the blood of Christ and never to conceive himselfe and Christ as two but endeavour clearly and constantly to see that whatsoever good there is in Christ is his owne as if it were in his owne person and by this all bondage fears and doubtings are removed and his spirit is free For the Son hath made him free indeed And now he comes in the Spirit of Adoption and calls God Father And here begins all faith hope confidence love liberty when as others dare not believe themselves in such a condition til upon termes of humiliation sorrow for sinne and works of righteousness they have as they think a reasonable price or satisfaction to come with and then begin to believe hope and be confident And thus in way of compounding and bargaining with God deal with him at all occasions but such submit not to the righteousnesse of God and the free gift of Justification by grace and give not glory to God we must either have all in Choist or nothing in him hearken what the spirit saith of every true believer she is black but comly he is clothed with the white robes of Christs purity and holiness and therefore comly in the sight of God though in himselfe in the glass of the Law reason and sense he appears black yet in Christ