Article as Estius says because in it especially the Jews differed from Pagans or because it is the first Article of our Faith But he might questionless have added other Articles which the Devils as well believe and are convinced to be certain Truths They believed Jesus to be the Son of God Mat. 8.29 And that he was the Christ Luk. 4.41 The Devil that puts others upon questioning whether there be a God Or whether the Scriptures be the Word of God hath no doubt of these things himself He that would have Men Atheists or Infidels is far from being either himself Atheism and Infidelity are Sins which the Devil cannot be guilty of An Atheist or an Infidel is in that respect worse than the Devil himself Now certainly that Faith which the Devils have cannot be true Saving-Faith But the Devils have such a Faith as this they are clearly convinced that the Scriptures are the Word of God and that what God's Word holds forth is certainly true How absurd and irrational is it to suppose that the Devils that are Damned have that same Faith for the nature of it which the Scripture calls precious Faith and which it maketh the condition of Salvation And yet mistake me not I grant a Dogmatical Faith is included in Saving Faith As the Vegetative Soul is included in the Sensitive or as both these are included in the Rational Soul So a believing that there is a Christ that he is come in the Flesh and a believing the Word of Christ is included in our believing in him And indeed they that believe not what is spoken of him in the Gospel that believe not the Son of God his taking Mans Nature on him uniting it to his Person that there was such a one as Jesus Christ that was born of a Virgin that suffered was crucified at Jerusalem and rose again from the dead and ascended up to Heaven according to the Scriptures they that allegorize the true Christ out of Doors and only acknowledg a Christ within them they do not believe in that Jesus whom Paul preached whom all the Apostles preached whom the Father sealed I further grant that to believe with a Dogmatical Faith is part of Man's duty It is a setting to our Seal that God is true Joh. 3.33 And he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyer 1 Joh. 5.10 Think what an heinous Sin it is to give God the Lye If you deny his Truth you deny him to be God If he were not the God of Truth he were not the true God And further we must grant that the Word is a great gift of God that it is a wonderful favour that he is pleased thus to reveal his Mind and Will and make himself known to the Sons of Men. And that it is a work of the Spirit though but a common work which such may have as shall not be saved to bring Men to assent to the Truth All this is granted But yet though we know the Truth and cannot but assent to it in our Judgments if we do not embrace it with suituble Affections if we do not heartily cleave to it and sincerely submit to it our simple belief of the Truth is so far from being a Saving work that it will increase our Condemnation as our guilt is increased by it 3. True saving-Saving-Faith is not a meer perswasion that my Sins are pardoned that I shall be Saved Some have gone this way Believe that your Sins are pardoned for Christ's sake and they are pardoned and you justifyed Believe that you shall be saved by Christ and you shall be saved A short cut to Heaven But how little need is there to teach Men Presumption or to encourage it But to shew you the Vanity of this conceit 1. All that hear the Gospel are bound to believe in Jesus Christ But all such are not bound to believe that they are pardoned justifyed and shall be saved 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ And what Duty is more pressed in the Gospel But where doth the Gospel command all to believe that they shall be saved How many alas that are in their Sins that are such as the Word of God condemneth Know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Such as the Apostle speaketh of 1 Cor. 6.9 10. believe contrary to the Gospel if while such they believe that they are pardoned and shall be saved The Gospel calleth us to repent that our Sins may be blotted out And we have no ground to believe or hope that our Sins are pardoned till we repent When we find unbelief spoken of as the great condemning Sin we must not take it so as if Sinners were condemned because they would not believe that their Sins were pardoned Nor is it the sense of that Article in our Creed I believe the Remission of Sins that I believe my Sins are remitted Too many lay down this Conclusion that yet stand condemned by the Sentence of God's Word All impenitent Sinners are bound to believe that at present they are in a state of Wrath Heirs apparent of Hell that except they repent they shall perish they cannot be saved 2. Are we not justifyed by Faith Deny that and you deny plain Scripture Now we cannot be justifyed by Faith if we are first of all to believe that we are pardoned and justified Le Blanc Thes Theol. p. 212. §. 103. Quomodo enim possemus justificari per actum qui justificationem jam factam praesupponit Must we believe our Sins are pardoned that they may be pardoned Must we believe we are Justifyed that we may be Justifyed What can be more absurd Then we must believe what is not that it may be as we believe If the first Act of Faith be to believe that I am pardoned and justifyed then Remission and Justification must needs go before Faith The Act supposeth the Object In order of Nature Faith is before Justification otherwise we are not justified by Faith and in order of Nature at least we must be justified before we can truly believe that we are justified Therefore we cannot be justified by believing we are so It is a plain contradiction to say that we believe before we are justified and yet are justified before we believe 3. It cannot be the first Act of Faith to believe I shall be saved except instead of the Word some special Revelation besides the Word be the Ground of my Faith This is plain because it is not at all credible to me according to the Word that I shall be saved till I know I have Faith such a Faith as hath Salvation annexed to it by promise such a Faith as purifieth the Heart worketh by Love c. According to the Word only he that believeth with such a Faith shall be saved That I cannot believe according to the Word that I shall be saved till I find such a Faith
1. I say how dark are such a ones apprehensions of the Sun compared with ours who enjoy its Light Spiritual Minds are for such an experimental Knowledg of God and Jesus Christ Yea they are for an appropriating Knowledg The more they know of God the more earnestly they desire and endeavour to discover their special propriety in God They cannot be satisfyed till they know him to be their God The more they know of Jesus Christ the more they long to know that he is their Jesus and their Lord. 2. Spiritual Minds are for knowing more of themselves There can be no Sound Knowledg without Self-Knowledg Nil prosunt lecta nec intellecta nisi teipsum legas intelligas Let a Man Read Study Understand never-so-much all his Knowledg is vain and unprofitable without an application of it to himself Job 5.27 Hear and know thou it for thy good In the Hebrew it is know thou for thy self or with thy self Many hear as for others are more ready to apply the Word to others than to themselves Such are not likely to get good by what they hear are no better for what they know The Word is compared to a Glass And it concerneth every one to look his Face in this Glass Yea it is not enough to look with a sudden Glance and so away again but we must continue therein to know what manner of Persons we are and ought to be Jam. 1.23 24 25. And Spiritual Minds are for Self-Acquaintance Spiritual Knowledg will put Souls upon and help in examining and proving themselves that they may know themselves 3. Spiritual Minds would know all the Counsel of God so far as concerneth them and especially they are for knowing what most nearly concerneth them Knowledg without Wisdom as one says is usually curious Dr. Manton on Jam. 3.13 p. 384. and censorious Sound Minds would be acquainted with the Word of God pro or con They are ready to receive it whether it make for them or against them And so The Ear that heareth the reproof of Life abideth among the Wise He that heareth reproof getteth Vnderstanding Prov. 15.31 32. See also Prov. 19.25 What a strict charge did Eli lay on Samuel not to hide any thing from him that the Lord had told him 1 Sam. 3.17 And when he was told of the evil determined against his House he did not fret and fume but said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good So Hezekiah 2 King 20.19 But how few that would like to hear of their Sins or are willing to hear of the Judgments God has denounced against them in his Word Such Knowledg is too painful for the most They had rather sleep on in their Sins than be so disquieted God's Messengers are accounted their Enemies and Tormentors when they tell them the Truth Alas we can meet with but few in comparison that are for right things that will endure sharp reproof though needful to set them Sound But few that would have their Sores touch'd But a Sound Mind would hear and know the worst of it self It is the Prayer of such a one Make me to know my Transgression and my Sin What I see not teach thou me and wherein I have done Iniquity I would do so no more Search me O God and prove me and see if there be any way of Wickedness in me and lead me in the Way Everlasting Such would know their Sins to be humbled for them and to turn from them So likewise Sound Minds would know more of their Duty to discharge it These would be more knowing not only in matters of Faith but as well in matters of Practice Prov. 10.8 The Wise in Heart will receive Commandments The Wisdom of the Prudent is to understand his way In the point of his Duty here he would not be to seek Such have little time to spend have little Heart to spend time about such Notions though true that have little or no influence on the Heart and Life Others study those things most that do least concern them And are taken up with by-matters neglecting the main But wholsom words and the Doctrine of Godliness agree best with Sound Minds As the Psalmist says Psal 119.104 Through thy Precepts I get Vnderstanding And prayeth ver 27. Make me to understand the way of thy Precepts And again ver 73. Give me Vnderstanding that I may learn thy Commandments As John's hearers came and asked What shall we do What shall we do Luk. 3.10 12 14. Serious Minds make little account of that Knowledg which hath no influence on is not reducible to practice Now the Lord grant that we may be filled with the Knowledg of his will in all Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and encreasing in the Knowledg of God HEB. 10.39 But of them that believe to the Saving of the Soul SAving Faith is omnium virtutum radix Fundamentum as the Foundation in the Spiritual Building as the root of other Graces What Glorious things are spoken of Faith in Scripture Where is the Christian that will not acknowledg that doth not in some measure understand the usefulness excellency and the necessity of Faith A Christian could not live without it nor can he perish with it But the Question is How Saving-Faith may be known And wherein it is differenced from other Faith that is not Saving Indeed there is an Historical or Dogmatical Faith and there is a practical Faith there is a dead Faith and a living Faith there is a temporary Faith and a grounded and permanent Faith there is a counterfeit Faith and unfeigned Faith It ought to be our great care that we take not Leah for Rachel that we take not up with a Fancy instead of Faith Here first I shall shew what it is not 1. True Faith is not a blind implicite Assent to one knows not what Not a believing as the Church believes I grant as there is a general Repentance and humiliation so a general Faith As there is an Humiliation for unknown Sins when a Man is humbled and heartily grieved to think that he is more vile and sinful than he sees himself to be and to think that he is guilty of a multitude of Sins more than he is able to find out and discover in his Heart and Life whereby he is disposed to a particular Repentance for any of those unknown Sins as he cometh to a knowledg of them so there is a general and implicite Faith or Assent to Divine Truths contained in God's Word such as one hath not yet attained to the knowledg of when a Man believeth that whatsoever God saith in his Word is most certainly true and would yeild his Assent readily to any Truth which at present he has no knowledg of as soon as he sees the Scripture for it But this general implicite Faith and credence of the Word of God is
wrought and working in me Therefore this perswasion that I shall be saved cannot be the first Act of Faith If it be a perswasion grounded on the Word true Faith is presupposed to go before And the Apostle hath barred Mens expectation of special immediate Revelation here Rom. 10.17 where he concludeth that Faith cometh by hearing of the Word of God 4. Many have this confident perswasion that their Sins are pardoned that they shall be saved who have not true justifying saving-Saving-Faith and therefore surely this cannot be the proper formal Act of true justifying Saving-Faith Many Hypocrites and meer out-side Professors yea many a wicked Man hath this perswasion How hard a thing is it to take down Sinners confidence Mr. Baxter We have need as one says to lay all our Batteries against this Bulwark of Presumption How many that will say they hope to be saved by Christ yea they never doubted of their Salvation in all their Lives They can argue that Christ died to Save Sinners and they are Sinners therefore he died to Save them If this be Faith the case of many a Presumer is not so dangerous but very happy 5. Many have true Faith and are justified and in a State of Salvation yet have not this perswasion that their Sins are pardoned dare not conclude that they are in God's Favour and such as shall be saved Therefore this cannot be the formal Act of Faith Faith could not be without its formal Act. If you make this the formal Act of Faith then you must say there is no true Believer but hath it Then there is no true Believer that walketh in Darkness But certainly a Soul may trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God while yet he walketh in Darkness and can see no Light Isa 50.10 Is it not the condition of many a dear Child of God to be in great doubts and full of fears about their Spiritual and Eternal Estate Should we not condemn the Generation of his Children many yea the greatest part of them as Children that have no Faith if we define Faith to be a believing that our Sins are pardoned and that we shall be saved Many a holy humble Christian goes on drooping even to his dying day and it is well if he come to this comfortable conclusion at last As one giveth this as part of the Character of a Christian H. Palmer Paradoxes p. 64. §. 73. He thinks sometimes God hath no Mercy for him and yet resolves to die in the pursuit of it And to tell poor troubled afflicted Consciences that they cannot have Faith who do not believe their Sins are pardoned is not the way to comfort them but to set them more on the Rack This would make the Hearts of many sad even such as God would not have made sad 6. Such a particular perswasion that my Sins are pardoned c. if it be sound and well-grounded is Knowledg and not Faith As the Apostle John hath it I think some nine or ten times Hereby we know Observe well 1 Joh. 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God Where he clearly distinguisheth believing on the Name of the Son of God from their knowing that they had Eternal Life or that they should be saved What follows that ye might believe on the Name of the Son of God is not spoken of the first Act or beginning of Faith but of continuance and progress in it And it is plain that this particular perswasion of which I am speaking if it be sound and have any good bottom depends on two several Propositions one of which is laid down in Scripture as this Proposition He that believeth shall be saved The other is of a Man 's own Conscience or from the knowledg a Man has of himself But I believe From whence this Conclusion follows therefore I shall be saved So that it is not an Act of Faith properly but a rational Conclusion presupposing these two things 1. That all true Believers shall be saved 2. That I know my self to be a true Believer Now can that be a right description of Saving-Faith which necessarily presupposeth a Man to have Saving-Faith before and to know that he hath it Thus I have indeavoured to remove these unsound and false Notions of Faith Now I come to shew what it is Indeed you may meet with diverse sound descriptions of Faith something differing in words that yet agree in the thing I would not be one of those that make differences where there are none or make differences wider than they are With the Learned Placeus Faith is tenax atque efficax persuasio veritatis eorum Thes Salmur Par. 1. p. 32. §. 36. c. An holding and effectual perswasion of the truth of those things which are revealed to us in the Word of God and particularly of the Gospel-Promise of Remission and Salvation by Christ And as he addeth it is so in the Vnderstanding that it affects and determines the Will Le Blanc that Judicious Writer describes it to be Thes Theol. in Folio p. 210. §. 89. Assensum firmum practicum atque fiducialem adhibitum omnibus c. A firm practical and fiducial Assent given unto all things which are revealed of God but especially to the Promises of the Gospel In the late Confession of Faith this account is given of Saving Faith Chap. 14. §. 2. By this Faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the Authority of God himself speaking therein and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth yeilding obedience to the Commands trembling at the Threatnings and embracing the Promises of God for this Life and that which is to come But the principal Acts of Saving-Faith are accepting receiving and resting upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and Eternal Life by vertue of the Covenant of Grace In the shorter Catechism Faith in Jesus Christ is a Saving Grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for Salvation as he is offered to us in the Gospel Notwithstanding a difference in Expression yet here is an agreement in sense That I run not out too far I shall only note something of the Object of Faith and of the Acts of Faith The Object of Faith is thus distinguished There is the general and common or according to others the full and adaequate Object of Faith and that is the whole Word of God the Word of Truth so Faith assenteth to the whole Word of God as true Again there is the special Object of Faith and that is the Word of Promise so Faith consenteth to the terms or condition of the Promise and in this way relyeth on God and Christ for performance The Promise of Remission and Salvation by Christ Faith takes special
freed from but there is some special Sin or other that they are wedded unto and in league with and this they seek to hide palliate and excuse all they can whether it be Pride or Sensuality Voluptuousness or Covetousness c. that that is a Mans special beloved Sin a natural Man is for cloaking that Sin and cannot endure to hear his Herodias spoken against he studies Evasions and Distinctions to defend that Sin and to put off Convictions Thus the natural Man and Hypocrite will beat about the Bush I remember Mr. Hooker compares the Confessions of such to the Cries of the Lapwing As the Lapwing will cry and flutter and make most ado when furthest from her Nest or from her Young So such whose Hearts are unsound whatever Sins they take notice of yet they use to keep aloof off from their special Sins But the Doves of the Valleys they mourn every one for his Iniquity Ezek. 7.16 And this is a good Sign when a Mans sowrest looks are on his Dalilah his darling-Sin 3. Godly Sorrow is not only moved for open miscarriages which others may take notice of but is also stirred and working upon secret Sins As Judah said Gen. 38.23 Let her take it to her lest we be shamed Many would blush to have their Sins discovered who are not troubled while they can keep them close under-board If they have been guilty of lying and are found out or guilty of some theft or wrong done to their Neighbour and it is brought to light then they are vexed and disquieted The Thief is ashamed when he is taken But might they have gone on in Sin undiscovered it would not have troubled them That cannot be Godly Sorrow where there is no respect unto God And there is no respect unto God where secret Sins are not a Burden God sees in secret He sets our secret Sins in the light of his Countenance And so if we have godly Sorrow we shall take notice of cast a sorrowful Eye even on our secret Sins As it is more that God knoweth and is displeased at them than if they were known to all the World 4. Godly Sorrow is stirred in a sense of spiritual Impurities and not only moved at some gross Immorality Natural Conscience may fly in a Mans face for grosse Sins though secretly and closely committed Sins that defile the Hands that defile the Body stare a Man in the Face and he cannot so easily look off from them The filthiness of the Flesh disquiets the Conscience of many a natural Man while he is not sensible of the filthiness of his Spirit he quite overlooks other Sins seated within that defile the Heart and Soul But a gracious Soul is burdened with Unbelief spiritual Pride Hypocrisy with the inward Distempers of his Spirit yea many times he observes and is humbled for the first risings of Corruption first Motions to Sin 5. Godly Sorrow is moved as upon a sense of the prevalence and stirring of Corruption so upon a sense of the Souls being so wanting and weak in Grace A natural Man will complain when his Conscience is like a raging Sea for want of Peace while he complains not that his Heart is like a dead Sea he is not troubled for the want of Grace He could pray with the Psalmist Psal 51.9 Hide thy face from my Sins but not go on with the Psalmist ver 10. Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Or if he prayeth for a clean Heart an holy Heart it is without Heart Confes lib. 8. â—7 As Austin confesseth he did when a young Man Da mihi Castitatem Continentiam sed noli modo timebam enim ne me cito exaudires cito sanares à morbo concupiscentiae quam malebam expleri quam extingui The natural Man loves Sin and therefore while such cannot truly desire Grace nor mourn for the want of Grace But the gracious Soul is weary of Sin Sin is its greatest Burden He sees a beauty in Grace and Holiness is taken with it and is ashamed to see himself so short here Like him that cried out with tears Lord I believe help thou mine Vnbelief He desires indeed to love God and is ashamed that he loveth God no more He would prize Jesus Christ and is grieved that he prizeth Christ no higher He is grieved for Sin and this further is his trouble that he can grieve no more He follows after Holiness and mourns to think that his Heart and Life are no more holy 6. A gracious Soul is humbled for the Iniquities of his holy Things When others are highly conceited of their formal heartless Services he sees cause to be ashamed of his best Performances is troubled for sinful defects in his best Duties As the Church confesseth Our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags As Nehemiah when he had shewn great Zeal for God and his Service yet prayed Neh. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Others rest in the Work done when they do Duties they care not how indeed take God's Name in vain yet they think they thereby make God their Debtor Like those Isa 58.3 who said Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not wherefore have we afflicted our Souls and thou takest no knowledg As if the Lord did them wrong if he did not take notice of them and reward them A gracious Soul sees need of much Incense as Rev. 8.3 to perfume the best Prayers and Services that ever he presenteth unto God And it is God's free-grace that these are accepted as well that his Transgressions and Sins are pardoned Yea such a Soul is more troubled and afflicted in Spirit that he prayeth so weakly with so little Faith and Fervency than others are for not praying for their many sad and sinful Omissions of the Duty He is more troubled for hearing no better with no more reverence and trembling at the Word than others for their often turning away their Ear from the Word 7. A gracious Heart is ordinarily touched with a sense of the least Sins Others may be troubled for great Enormities but such a Soul would not make light of the least Infirmities Indeed no Sin is to be called or accounted little positively and absolutely but only comparatively There is not the least Sin but deserveth Death and can that be a small matter that deserveth Death Yet some Sins are more hainous deserving a greater Condemnation and a sorer Punishment But it is with a tender Heart as it is with the Eye that tender part a small Mote in the Eye offends it and makes it run over So not only gross Sins but lesser Miscarriages will grate sore on a tender Heart It is oft smitten for vain thoughts idle words inordinacy in following lawful Employments a little Excess in the use of Creature-Comforts or outward Recreations such things as others account venial Matters yea think it a foolish
perswasion that their Sins were pardoned for Christ's sake Which is a quite different thing from Faith as I have before shewed And yet Alas how many poor Souls that are still under the same mistake Many that complain they cannot believe when their meaning is they cannot but fear that they are not such unto whom God hath promised the benefits of Remission and Salvation And yet if they be asked Do you not believe the truth of whatsoever God hath spoken or promised And are you not willing to have Christ as he is offered to sanctify as well as justify you to rule as well as redeem and save you And do you not believe both his Power and Willingness to save all that heartily accept of him on his own terms and that Salvation can be no other way obtained And therefore notwithstanding all your doubts and fears about the sincerity of your acceptance of him yet do you not resolve to cast your selves on him and do you not look to him alone for Salvation This they could not deny without bearing false Witness against themselves Now this is Faith though all that have it cannot see it in themselves and therefore many true Believers doubt whether they are pardoned and shall be saved In Faith there is a believing application of Christ and the Promises As those Believers spoken of Heb. 11.13 were perswaded of the Promises and embraced them They did not only assent to them as true but embraced them as good not only as good in themselves but as good and proper for them they clave to them Indeed the holy Angels assent to the truth of the Gospel fully and are marvellously taken with admire and delight in the glorious Mysteries of Divine Grace therein contained but it is not their duty and concern to apply these things to themselves But Believers apply these things as most nearly concerning them Though there be not always a sensible application of Christ and the Promise with Faith which one calleth an Axiomatical Application so as to say and conclude that Christ is mine and the Promise or promised benefits are mine yet there is a real application a willing acceptance of Christ and resolved adherence recumbency and dependance on him And yet I grant that this Affiance and Recumbency on Christ though it is certainly in the habit and in Truth where Souls truly accept of Christ on his own terms it is but weak yea sadly clouded with doubts and fears in many true Believers As Cruciger on his Death-Bed Invoco te quanquam languidâ imbecillâ fide sed fide tamen c. When a Soul hath let go its hold elsewhere to take hold on Christ yet many times it takes hold on him but with a trembling hand That it is with a Believer as with the four Lepers 2 King 7.3 4. Why sit we here till we dye Let us go to the Syrians if they save us we shall live As with Esther Chap. 4.16 I will go to the King If I perish I perish As with the poor Prodigal Luk. 15.18 I will arise and go to my Father Though he knew not whether his Father would look on him and bid him welcome when he came As one says There is a Faith that is called a coming to Christ Vines is a motion a strugling to the Rock as well as a Faith resting and setling upon him Nec qui Serpentis aenei aspectu sanabantur pariter erant perspicaces P. Molin They that were cured with looking up to the Brazen Serpent were not all alike quick-sighted Aliud est luctarifiduciam cum dubitatione Chamier Panstrat tom 3. l. 13. c. 8. §. 11. p. 416. aliud nullam esse fiduciam True Faith may be with many doubtings And when one doubteth not of the truth of God's Word and Promises but only whether he be such an one to whom the promised benefits belong this is not the Sin of unbelief And commonly the doubtings of Believers are of this sort viz. not a distrust of God but a mistrusting themselves a suspition of themselves a jealousy of their own hearts that they are not right Surely most Believers are troubled with doubtings of this kind And indeed they have great cause to doubt of the truth of their Faith that as they say never doubted of their Salvation in all their Lives Yet further to lay down a few notes whereby you may judg of your Affiance and trust in Christ whether it be sound or no. 1. A Sound Affiance in Christ is not without a self-distrust and self-despair Haec vera hominis fiducia à se deficientis innitentis Domino suo Bern. Have we received the Sentence of Death in our selves not to trust in our selves Do we let go all broken Reeds and forsake all false props are we taken off our own bottoms that we put no confidence in the Flesh Indeed Sinners are not so well inclined towards Christ as to come to him before a sense of their necessity drive them They come not till they see they have none else to go unto that all other refuge fails them And so long as any are for establishing their own Righteousness they are it's true like Paul while he was a Pharisee as the Pharisees were Men that trusted in themselves that they were Righteous Luk. 18.9 but contrary to Paul after he was a Convert a Christian who then would be found in Christ not having his own Righteousness c. Phil. 3.9 In Hab. 2.4 A Soul that is lifted up is opposed to one that lives by Faith And I remember One observes a more direct opposition betwixt self and Christ than betwixt Sin and Christ for says he Sin does accidentally drive us unto Christ but Self does altogether draw us from Christ It is indeed a fatal mistake for Men to ascribe and attribute that to their own works or to any thing in themselves which is proper to God's Grace or to Christ's Righteousness Satisfaction and Merits If ever we be saved we must see our selves lost and undone in our selves and that we cannot be saved but by Grace in and through Jesus Christ that there is Salvation in no other It is true most certain and unquestionable that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 So we cannot be saved without an inherent Righteousness yet we are not saved for it This is a necessary qualification unto not the procuring cause of Salvation It was the carnal Jews overthrow as we see Rom. 10.3 that they set up their own Righteousness confronting God's free Grace and Christ's Merits Mr. A. Disc of the two Covenants p. 124 125 126. gives a threefold account why it might be called their own Righteousness in opposition to the Righteousness of God 1. Because they sought the pardon of their Sins by that only which was their own their own Sacrifices 2. Because they did not think Regeneration or
Long-Suffering should lead Sinners to Repentance Rom. 2.4 especially considering the proper tendency thereof For though eventually per accidens through Mens wickedness that despise and abuse Divine Patience and Long-Suffering many a man's Condemnation is increased and aggravated thereby yet per se in its own nature the Long-suffering of the Lord is Salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 This gives us time and space for Repentance and for working out our Salvation as there v. 9. The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance As also it is a Motive to Repentance God's forbearance and long-suffering preacheth and presseth to Repentance proclaiming God's unwillingness to punish his waiting to be gracious his waiting for the Sinners return Thus I say God's common Goodness and Patience exercised towards Sinners is to lead them to Repentance And much more should his special Grace and Favour vouchsafed to his People promote their Repentance See Ezek. 16.60 61 62. And when it is thus that the greater Sense and Experience we have of God's Goodness Grace and Mercy the better thoughts we have of God and the worse thoughts we have of our Sins and of our selves for Sin When we blush and are humbled and ashamed greatly to think how we have requited the Lord evil for good when by God's mercies we are brought to a loathing of our selves for our Iniquities this is child-like and ingenuous this is a comfortable Evidence that our Sorrow is after a godly sort 5. Do we mourn for Sin as that for which Christ suffered In Zech. 12.10 Where the Spirit of Grace and Mourning is promised to be poured out upon the Church and People of God It is said And they shall look upon me whom they have peirced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son c. That these Words have reference to Christ is evident from John 19.37 The Garden where Christ was in his bitter and bloody Agony and Mount Calvary where he was crucified are Schools whither we should go in our serious Meditations to learn to mourn for Sin Now are our Hearts softned in the Blood of Christ Do the thoughts of a bleeding crucified Saviour set our Hearts a bleeding for Sin A gracious Soul sees more of the evil of Sin in what Christ suffered than in all that ever he himself suffered or can suffer by it 6. Do we mourn for Sin as defiling as the deformity of the Soul As it is contrary to God's Image the Beauty of the Soul that which was and would be Mans chiefest excellency as it renders us unlike to an Holy God Many can be troubled in respect of the guilt of Sin as it exposeth to Wrath bindeth over to punishment who are not troubled for the Pollution and filthiness that is in Sin As Pharaoh could cry out of the Plagues that his Sin had brought upon the Land yet was not sensible of the Plague of his own Heart A gracious Soul groaneth under and is sadly burthened with his corruptions and sinful imperfections even when he may know that in and through Christ he is freed from Condemnation He is sick of Sin weary of it as one would be of filthy noisom Cloaths about him He cannot but with the Leper cry out Vnclean Vnclean And as Job Behold I am vile 7. Do we grieve for Sin as the Disease of the Soul as that which disableth us from serving God as we ought that greatly indisposeth us to that which is good Are we weary of Sin as the Prisoner of his Shackles as the sick Man of his Disease 8. Do we mourn for Sin as the partition-wall betwixt God and Souls as that which estrangeth us from God and God from us Carnal Men can be troubled when their Iniquities separate betwixt them and good things here but such as sorrow after a godly sort see far more evil in Sin as it separateth betwixt God and Souls They are oft thinking how they might enjoy more of God's gracious Presence were it not for their Sins As what is it but Sin that hinders our Communion with God Gracious Souls oft think how they might be refreshed with the Light of God's Countenance but that their Iniquities like Clouds are still interposing And this is Godly Sorrow when indeed Souls are lamenting after the Lord. Thus let us examine what are the Grounds and Motives of our Sorrow 2. Godly Sorrow may be known by its extensiveness and adequateness unto the Object if we do not make light of any Sin that we know and are convinced of There are many Sins which others lightly pass over and make nothing of which a gracious Heart is deeply sensible of and truly humbled for 1. A gracious Soul is humbled for original Sin as well as for actual Transgressions Such an one lays to Heart the Sin of his Nature as well as his personal Sins Indeed his actual Sins lead him to take notice of and mourn over original Corruption As when David came to confess his great Sin of Blood-guiltiness he traced it to the Fountain-head his being shapen in Iniquity Psal 51.5 As Paul cryed out Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death Such see their birth-Sin to be the Womb of all other Sins They cannot make light of natural Corruption the Fountain from whence so many impure Freams of actual Transgressions issue the Root of Bitterness which bringeth forth so much poisonous and deadly Fruit. Now what should such think of themselves who were never humbled for that sinning Sin were never sensible of the Corruption of their Natures Who will not believe that their Natures are so bad Who bear up themselves with this that they have as good Hearts towards God as the best while yet their Hearts were never changed And how little are they sensible of the evil of Natural Corruption who when Sin hath shamefully broken out when they have been unreasonably transported with Passion Revenge c. think to excuse the matter saying Alas they cannot help it it is their Nature But was Nabal ever the better for being of such a churlish Nature that a Man could not speak to him Sure they are not duly humbled for the Corruption of their nature who take this for an Apology or excuse Is it not so much the worse that the Nature of the Wolf is ravenous and the Nature of the Toad or Serpent is poisonous So that we are naturally prone to Sin it is no extenuation but an aggravation of our sinfulness 2. A Gracious Soul is for laying load of Sorrow upon its special Sin Such Sins whereby the Spirit is most grieved and Communion with God most obstructed and growth in Grace most hindered must needs be most grievous to a gracious Heart as they are found out Others may be ready to confess and seem troubled for common failings such Sins as the best of Men in this state of imperfection are not