soveraign Authority Omniscience perfect Holiness exact Justice the equity of his Law and reasonableness of our Obedience to it the unspeakable Happiness prepared for the Godly and Misery for the Wicked to all Eternity Meditation on such things as these is indeed very useful to press upon our Consciences the Strictness of our Obligation to holy Duties and to move us to go by Faith to Christ for Life and Strength to perform them But that we may receive this Life and Strength whereby we are enabled for immediate performance we must meditate believingly on Christ's saving Benefits as they are discovered in the Gospel which is the only Doctrin which is the Power of God to our Salvation and whereby the quickning Spirit is ministred to us and that is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among all them which are sanctifyed Rom. 1.16 2 Cor. 3.6 Act. 20.32 You must take special care to act Faith in your Meditation mix the Word of God's Grace with it or else it will not profit you Heb. 4.2 and if you set the loving kindness of God frequently before your eyes by meditating on it believingly you will be strengthned to walk in the truth Psal 26.2 and by beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord you will be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 This kind of Meditation is sweet and delightful to those that are guided to it by the Spirit of Faith and it needs not the help of such artificial-Methods as the Vulgar cannot easily learn You may let your Thoughts run in it at liberty without confining them to any rules of Method you will find your Souls much enlivened by it and enriched with the Grace of God which cannot be effected by any other kind of Meditation though it be never so methodical and curiously framed according to the Rules of Art 4. The Sacrament of Baptism must needs be of great use to promote the Life of Faith if it be made use of according to its Nature and Institution because it is a seal of the righteousness of faith as circumcision was formerly Rom. 4.11 But then we must take heed of making it a Seal of the contrary Righteousness of Works as the carnal Jews did that sought to be justified by the Law of Moses and as many Christians do that transform the New Covenant into a Covenant of Works requiring sincere Obedience to all the Laws of Christ as the condition of our Justification into which new devised Covenant they think themselves to be entred by their Baptism I may say of Baptism thus perverted and abused as the Apostle saith of Circumcision Baptism verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a Breaker of the Law thy Baptism is made no Baptism Rom. 2.26 If thou be Baptised so long as thou continuest in the abuse of that holy Ordinance Christ shall profit you nothing Christ is become of no effect to you Ye are all fallen from grace Gal. 3.2.4 Beware also of making an Idol of Baptism and putting it in the place of Christ as the Papists do who hold that it conferreth Grace by the very work that is performed in the Administration of it And as many Ignorant People do that trust rather on their Baptism than on Christ like to the Pharisees who placed their Confidence on Circumcision and other external Privileges Phil. 3.4 5. We are to know that God is not well pleased with many that are Baptised 1 Cor. 10.2 5. and the time will come when he will punish the Baptised with the Unbaptised as well as the circumcised with the uncircumcised Jer. 9.25 Beware also of advancing Baptism to an equal Partnership with Faith in your Salvation as some do who account all Baptism null and void besides that which is administred to persons grown up to years of Discretion and they that refuse to be re-baptized at those years are to be accounted Aliens from the true Church from Christ and his Salvation notwithstanding all their Faith in Christ If the Baptism of Infants were null and void yet the want of true Baptism would be no Damning matter to those that are otherwise perswaded Circumcision was as necessary as Baptism in its time and yet the Israelites omitted it for the space of forty years in the Wilderness without fearing that any would fall short of Salvation for want of it John 5.6 7. Many precious Saints in the Primitive times of Persecution have gone to Heaven through a Baptism of Suffering for the Name of Christ before they had opportunity to be Baptized with Water And in those ancient Times when the Custom of deferring Baptism too much prevailed we are not to think that none were in a state of Salvation by Faith in Christ that deferred that Ordinance or neglected it Take notice further that it is not sufficient to avoid the pernicious Errors of those that pervert Baptism contrary to its Institution but you must be also diligent in the improving of it to the ends for which it was instituted And here let me desire you to put the Question seriously to your Souls What good use you do make of your Baptism How often or seldom do you think upon it The vulgar sort of Christians yea it may be feared many sincere Converts do so little think upon their own Baptism and study to make a due improvement of it that its of no more profit to their Souls than if they never had bin Baptized yea their sin is the more aggravated by rendring such an Ordinance of none effect to their Souls through their own gross neglect Tho Baptism be administred to us but once in our Lives yet we ought frequently to reflect upon it and upon all Occasions to put the Question to our selves Into what were we Baptized Acts 19.2 What this Ordinance Seals What did it engage us to And accordingly we must stir up and strengthen our selves by our Baptism to lay hold on the Grace which it seals to us and to fulfil its Engagements We should often remember that we are made Christs Disciples by Baptism and engaged to hear him rather than Moses and to Believe on him for our Salvation as John baptized with the Baptism of Repentance saying to the People That they should believe on him that should come after him i. e. on Christ Jesus We should remember that our Baptism sealed our putting on of Christ and our being the Children of God by Faith in Christ and our being no longer under the former Schoolmaster the Law Gal. 3.25 26 27. And that it sealed to us the putting off the body of sin and our Burial and Resurrection with Christ by Faith and the forgiving of our trespasses Col. 2.12 13. Our being made Members of one Body of Christ and to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.12 13. We may find by such things as these which are more fully discovered in the Gospel
in three particulars 1st The Grace of Faith is as well fitted for the Souls receiving of Christ and Union with him as any Instrument of the Body is for receiving and closing with things needful for it By the very act of hearty trusting or believing on Christ for all Salvation and Happiness the Soul heaveth and putteth away from itself every thing that keepeth it at a distance from Christ as all confidence in our own Strength Endeavours Works Privileges or in any Worldly Pleasures Profits Honours or in any humane Helps and Succours for our Happiness and Salvation Because such Confidences are inconsistent with our Confidence in Christ for all Salvation Paul by his Confidence in Christ was taken off from all Considence in the Flesh he suffer'd the loss of glorying in his Privileges legal Righteousness and counted all other Enjoyments in matters of the World or of Religion to be but Dung that he might win Christ and be found in him Phil. 3.3 6 7 8 9. the voice of Faith is Ashur shall not save us neither will we ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands ye are our God for in thee the Fatherless find mercy Hos 14.3 We have no might against this great company of our spiritual Enemies neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee 2 Chron. 20.12 I might multiply places of Scripture to shew what a self emptying Grace Faith is and how it casteth other Considences out of the Soul by getting above them to Christ as the only Happiness and Salvation The same act of trusting or believing on Christ or on God is the very manner of our Souls coming to Christ Joh. 6.35 drawing near to the Lord Psal 73.28 fleeing unto the Lord to hide us Psal 143.9 making our resuge in the shadow of his wings Psal 57.1 staying our selves and our minds upon the Lord Isa 50.10 26.3 laying hold of eternal life 1 Tim. 6.12 lifting up our selves to the Lord Psal 51.1 2. rolling our way and casting our burden upon the Lord Psal 37.5 55.22 and of our eating and drinking Christ as hath already appeared Let us consider that Christ and his Salvation cannot be seen or handled or attained to by any bodily motion but are revealed and promised to us in the Word Now let any invent if they can any way for the Soul to exercise any motion or activeness in receiving of this unseen promised Salvation besides believing the Word and trusting on Christ for the Benefit promised If Christ were to be earned by Works or any other kind of Conditional Faith than this yet a Faith must be instrumental to receive him Some think Love as sit to be the uniting Grace but I have shewed that Love to Christ's Salvation is an Ingredient into Faith And though Love be an Appetite unto Union yet we have no other likely way to fill this Appetite while we are in this World besides trust on Christ for all his Benefits as he is promised in the Gospel 2dly There is in this Saving-Faith a natural Tendency to furnish the Soul with an holy Frame and Nature and all Endowments necessary thereunto out of the Fulness of Christ An hearty affectionate trussing on Christ for all his Salvation as freely promised to us hath naturally enough to work in our Souls a rational bent and inclination to and ability for the Practise of all Holiness because it comprehendeth in it a trusting that through Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God and that our old man is crucified Rom. 6.2 6 4. and that we live by the spirit Gal. 5.25 and that we have forgiveness of sin and that God is our God Psal 31.14 and that we have in the Lord righteousness and strength whereby we are able to do all things Isa 45.24 Phil. 4.13 and that we shall be glortensly happy in the anjoyment of Christ to all eternity Phil. 3.20 21. When the Saints in Scripture speak so highly of such glorious spiritual Privileges as I have here named they acquaint us with the familiar fence and language of their Faith trusting on God and Christ and they give us but an Explication of the nature and contents of it and they speak of nothing more than what they receive out of the Fulness of Christ And how can we otherwise judge but that those that have an hearty Love to Christ and can upon a good ground think and speak such high things concerning themselves must needs be heartily disposed and mightily strengthened for the practice of Holiness 3dly Because Faith hath such a natural tendency to dispose and strengthen the Soul for the practise of Holiness we have cause to judge it a meet Instrument to accomplish every part of that Practice in an acceptable manner Those that with a due affection believe stedfastly on Christ for the free Gift of all his Salvation may find by experience that they are carried forth by that Faith according to the measure of its Strength or Weakness to love God heartily because God hath loved them first 1 Joh. 4.19 to praise him to pray unto him in the name of Christ Ephes 5.26 John 16.26 27. to be patient with cheerfulness under all afflictions giving thanks to the Father that hath called them to his heavenly inheritance Col. 1.11 12. to love all the children of God out of love to their heavenly Father 1 John 5.1 to walk as Christ walked 1 John 2.6 and to give themselves up to live to Christ in all things as constrained by his love in dying for them 2 Cor. 5.14 We have a Cloud of Witnesses concerning the excellent works that were produced by Faith Heb. 11. And though trusting on Christ be accounted such a slight and contemptible thing yet I know no Work of Obedience which it is not able to produce And note the excellent manner of working by Faith by it we live and act in all good Works as People in Christ as raised above our selves and our natural state by partaking of him and his Salvation and we do all in his name and on his account This is the Practice of that mysterious manner of living to God in Holiness which is peculiar to the Christian Religion wherein we live and yet not we but Christ liveth in us Gal. 2.20 And who can imagine any other way but this for such a Practice while Christ and his Salvation is known to us only by the Gospel The explanation that I have made of the Nature and Office of true Faith and of its Aptitude for its Office is sufficient to evidence that it is a most holy Faith as it is called Jude 20. and that such a trusting on Christ as I have described in its own nature cannot have any tendency to Licentiousness but only to Holiness and that it rooteth and groundeth us in Holiness more than the meer accepting of any terms of Salvation and consenting to have Christ for our Lord can do
Sinai-covenant would have proved to them an occasion of no Happiness but only of sin Despair and Destruction Of it self it was only a killing Letter the ministration of death and condemnation and therefore it is now abolished 2 Cor. 3.6 8 9 11. We have cause to praise God for delivering his Church by the Blood of Christ from this Yoke of Bondage and we have cause to abhor the Device of those that would lay upon us a more grievous and terrible Yoke by turning our very New covenant into a Covenant of sincere works and leaving us no such better Covenant as the Israelites had under their Yoke to relieve us in our Extremity DIRECTION VII We are not to imagine that our hearts and lives must be changed from Sin to Holiness in any measure before we may safely venture to trust on Christ for the sure Enjoyment of himself and his Salvation .. EXPLICATION WE are naturally so prone to ground our Salvation upon our own works that if we cannot make them procuring Conditions and Causes of our Salvation by Christ yet we shall endeavour at least to make them necessary Preparatives to fit us for receiving Christ and his Salvation by Faith And Men are easily perswaded that this is not at all contrary to Salvation by Free-grace because all that is hereby ascribed to our works or good Qualifications is only that they put usin a sit posture to receive a Free gift If we were to go to a Prince for a Free gist good Manners and due Reverence would teach us to trim our selves first and to change our slovenly Clothes as Joseph did when he came out of the Dungeon into the presence of Pharaoh It seemeth to be an impudent slighting and contemning the Justice and Holiness of God and Christ and an insufferable affront and indignity offer'd to the divine Majesty when any dare presume to approach into his Presence in the nasty pickle of his Sins covered all over with putrifying Sores not at all clo'sd boundeup or cleansed much more when they endeavour to receive the most holy One into such an abominable stinking Kennel as a Sinners heart is before it be at all reformed The Parable concerning the Man that was to be bound hand and foot and cast into outer Darkness for coming to the Royal Wedding without a Wedding garment seemeth to be intended as a Warning against all such Presumption Mat. 22.11 13. Many that behold with terrour the abominable Filth of their own hearts are kept off from coming immediately to Christ by such Imaginations which Satan strongly maintaineth and increaseth in them by his Suggestions so that they can by no means be perswaded out of them until God teacheth them inwardly by the powerful Illumination of his Spirit they delay the saving act of Faith because they account that they are not yet duly prepared and qualified for it On the same Account many weak Believers delay coming to the Lord's Supper for many Years together even as long as they live in this World and would be as likely to delay their Baptism if they had not been baptized in Infancy Against all such Imaginations I shall propose the following Considerations First This Error is pernicious to the Practice of Holiness and to our whole Salvation in the same manner with that treated of in the foregoing Direction and may be confuted by the same Arguments which are there produced whether Holiness be made a procuring Condition of our Salvation through Christ or only a Condition necessary to qualifie us for the Reception of Christ we are equally brought under those Legal terms of doing first the Duties required in the Law that so we may live Therefore we are equally bereaved of the Assistance of those means of Holiness mentioned in the foregoing Directions as Union and Fellowship with Christ and the Enjoyment of all his sanctifying Endowments by Faith which should go before the Practice of Holiness that they may enable us for it and we are equally left to labour in vain for Holiness while we are in our cursed natural State whereby our sinsul Corruption will be rather exasperated than mortified so that we shall never be duly prepared for the reception of Christ as long as we live in the world Thus while we endeavour to prepare our way to Christ by holy Qualifications we do rather fill it with stumbling-blocks and deep pits whereby our Souls are hindered from ever attaining to the Salvation of Christ 2dly Any the least change of our hearts and lives from Sin to Holiness before our receiving of Christ and his Salvation by Faith is not at all necessary according to the Terms of the Gospel nor required by any one Syllable in the Word of God Christ would have the vilest Sinners come to him for Salvation immediately without delaying the time to prepare themselves for him When the wicked Jaylor enquired what he must do to be saved Paul directed him forthwith to believe on Christ with a Promise that in so doing he should be saved and straitway he and all his were baptized Acts 16.30 33. Paul doth not tell him that he must reform his heart and life first though he was in a very nasty pickle at that time having but a little before fastened Paul and Silas in the Stocks and newly attempted an horrid wilful self-murder Those three thousand Jews that were converted by Peter's Preaching and added the same day to the Church by Baptism Acts 2.41 seemed to have as much need of some considerable time to prepare themselves for receiving of Christ as others because they had but lately polluted themselves with the Murder of Christ himself v. 23. Christ commands his Servants to go out quickly into the Streets and Lanes of the City and to bring in to his Feast the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind yea to go out into the high ways and to compel them to come in without allowing them to tarry away until they had cleansed the sores and shifted off their filthy rags and swarms of lice Christ would have us to believe on him that justifieth the ungodly and therefore he doth not require us to be godly before we believe Rom. 4.5 He came as a Physician for the Sick and doth not expect that they should recover their Health in the least degree before they come to him Mat. 9.12 The vilest Sinners are fitly prepared and qualified for this Design which is to shew forth the exceeding riches of Grace pardoning our sins and saving us freely Eph. 2.5 7. For this end the Law of Moses entered that the offence might abound that so where sin abounded grace might much more abound Rom. 5.20 He loved us in our most loathsom sinful Pollution so as to die for us and much more will he love us in it so as to receive us when we come to him for the purchased Salvation He hath given full satisfaction to the Justice of God for sinners that they might have all
themselves for the Lords Supper that so they may make their Peace with God and trust securely on Christ for his Salvation but all Resolutions of that kind are vain and hypocritical sooner broken than made Those that know the Plague of their own hearts do find that their mind is enmity unto the Law of God and Christ and cannot be subject unto it Rom. 8.7 and that they can as soon remove a mountain as give up themselves sincerely to Obedience before they trust on Christ for his Salvation and for the gift of a new heart whereby they may be enabled both to will and to do any thing that is acceptable to God We should have been sufficiently obliged to all obedient purposes resolutions and resignations if Christ had never come into the World to save us but he knew that we could perform nothing holily except he made us first Partakers of Salvation and that we shall never obey him as Law-giver until we receive him as Saviour He is a saving Lord trust on him first to save you from the guilt and power of sinâ— and dominion of Satan and to give you a new spiritual Disposition then and not till then the Love of Christ will constrain you to resign up your self heartily to live to him that died for you 2 Cor. 5.14 and you will be able to say with an unfeigned Resolution O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds Psal 116.16 4thly It seemeth to them evident that some good works are necessary before we can trust on Christ safely for the forgiveness of sins because our Saviour teacheth us that if we forgive not men their Trespasses neither will our heavenly Father forgive our Trespasses and directeth us to pray Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Mat. 6.12 15. Restitution also was to be made of things wrongfully gotten from others before the Sacramental Atonement was made by the Trespass offering Lev. 6.5 7. This is sufficient to prove that forgiving others and Restitution according to our ability or at least a sincere desire and purpose so to do are very closely joyned with the forgiveness of our sins and are very necessary to fit us for Prayer and for Sacramental Applications of pardoning Grace to our selves A lively Faith cannot be without these Fruits and therefore we cannot pray or partake of Sacraments in Faith without them but yet if we strive to do either of these before we trust on Christ for our Pardon and Salvation we shall do them slavishly and hypocritically not in any holy acceptable manner Our forgiving others will not be accompanied with any hearty Love to them as to our selves for the sake of God and our Restitution will be but a forced act like Pharaoh's letting the Children of Israel go or like Judas restoring the thirty pieces of Silver being compelled thereunto by terror of Spirit and when the terror that forced us is removed we shall be as ready to recal our Forgiveness and to wrong others again as Pharaoh was to bring the Israelites again into bondage after he had let them go Exod. 14.5 If you would forgive others heartily so as to love them again you must first apprehend the love and mercy of God towards your selves by Faith in Christ and then you will be able according to the Apostle's Instruction to be kind tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Ephes 4.32 The readiness of Zaccheus to make Restitution followed upon a discovery of Christ's love to him and his joyful receiving Christ into his house was fruit whereby he did evidence the Truth of that Faith that was already wrought in his heart 5thly I shall reckon up together several other Qualifications that distressed Souls would find in themselves that they may be duly prepared to trust on Christ for their Salvation and when they have laboured anxiously a long time and cannot get them at last they lie down in sorrowful Despondence not daring to apply the Consolations of the grace of God in Christ to their wounded Consciences Let perplexed Souls mark the particulars and observe whether the condition of their own Souls be reached in any of them O thou afflicted tossed with tempests and not comforted what good Qualifications is it that thou wouldest have that thou mayest be encouraged to lay hold on Christ for Salvation It is likely thou wilt answer in the bitterness of thy Soul O let me have first some love to God and Godliness in mine heart and freedom from mine hateful heart-risings against him and his Service Let me have some good thoughts of God his Justice Mercy Holiness that I may be able to justifie him tho' he damn me and that I may not be filled with murmuring and hellish Blasphemies in my mind against him let the raging of my lusts be abated and the stinking kennel of my wicked heart a little cleansed let me have some holy reverential Fear of God and not only a pannick tormenting horror I would be more affected with the wrath of God and not be of a slighting heedless Spirit I would be more humbled for Sin loath it and be ashamed of it and be sorry for it with a godly Sorrow not meerly because of the Punishment but because it grieveth and vexeth the holy Spirit of God I would be able to make a willing and ingenious Confession of sin and to pour out my Soul to the Lord in lively affectionate Prayer for Forgiveness and to praise and glorifie him heartily and not to be like a lifeless stone in the duty of Prayer as I am Are these the things thou desirest O poor distressed Soul The best Reply I can make for thy speedy comfort is to inform thee that the things are good but thy desires are not well timed it is unreasonable for thee to expect these holy Qualifications whilst thou art in thy natural State under the guilt of Sin and the apprehension of the Wrath of God before thou hast received the Atonement and the new Spiritual Life that is by Christ through Faith in his Name thou dost but exasperate thy Corruptions and harden thy Heart and make thy wounds to stink the more because of thy foolishness such good Qualifications are included in the Nature of Faith and for the most part they follow after it so that they cannot possibly be obtained before thou trustest in Christ for thy Salvation as I shall shew concerning them particularly in their Order A love to the Salvation of God and to the free Gift of Holiness is included in the Nature of Faith so that it cannot be hearty without it Act Faith first with this kind of Love and the Apprehension of God's Love to thy Soul will sweetly allure and constrain thee to love God and his Service universally We love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4.19 We cannot be before-hand with God in love and
is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.5 They that are perswaded of the Free-grace of God toward them in Christ are not indeed sollicitous about earning their Salvation by their own legal Works and Satan is ready to suggest to them that this is a sinful Carelesness and tendeth to Licenciousness but they that will believe this false Suggestion of Satan shew plainly that they do not yet know what it is to serve God in Love and that they are held in to all their Obedience by the Bit and Bridle of slavish Fear as the horse and mule that have no understanding Psal 32.9 Thirdly Beware of thinking so highly of this Assurance as if it were inconsistent with any doubting in the same Soul A great Reason why many Protestants have receded from the Doctrine of their Ancestors in this Point is because they think there can be no true Assurance of Salvation in any that are troubled with Doubtings as they find many be whom they cannot but own as true Believers and precious Saints of God True indeed this Assurance must be contrary to Doubtings in the nature of it and so if it be perfect in the highest Degree it would exclude all Doubting out of the Soul and it doth now exclude in some Degree But is there not Flesh as well as Spirit in the best Saints on Earth Gal. 5.17 Is there not a law in their members warring against the law of their minds Rom. 7.23 May not one that truly believeth say Lord help my unbelief Mark 9.24 Can any on Earth say they have received any Grace in the highest Degree and that they are wholly free from the contrary Corruption Why then should we think that Assurance cannot be true except it be perfect and free the Soul from all Doubtings The Apostle accounts it a great Blessing to the Thessalonians that they had much Assurance intimating that some true Assurance might be in a less Degree 1 Thess 1.5 Peter had some good Assurance of Christ's Help when he walked on the Water at Christ's Command and yet he had some Doubtfulness in him as his Fear shewed when he saw the Wind boisterous He had some Faith contrary to doubting though it were but little as Christ's Words to him shew O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt Matth. 14.29 30 31. It is strange if the Flesh and the Devil should never oppose a true Assurance and assault it with Doubtings A Believer may be sometimes so overwhelmed with Doubtings that he may not be able to perceive an Assurance in himself he is so far from knowing his Place in Heaven already as some scoffingly object that he will say that he knoweth not any Assurance that he hath of being there and needeth diligent self-examination to find it out yet if at that time he can blame his Soul for doubting Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him Psal 42.11 If he can condemn his Doubtings as sinful and say with himself This is mine infirmity Psal 77.10 These Doubtings are of the Flesh and of the Devil if he still endeavour to call God Father and complain to him that he doubteth whether he be his Father and pray that God will give him the Assurance of his Fatherly Love which he is not sensible of and dispel those Fears and Doubtings I say that such an one hath some true Assurance though he must strive to grow to a higher Degree for if he were not perswaded of the Truth of the Love of God towards him he could not rationally condemn his Fears and Doubts concerning it as sinful neither could he rationally pray to God as his Father or that God would assure him of that Love that he doth not think to be true Do but grant that it is the Nature of saving Faith thus to resist and struggle with slavish Fears of Wrath and doubting of our own Salvation and you grant in effect that there is and must be something of Assurance of our Salvation in Saving faith whereby it resisteth Doubtings and you are in effect of the same Judgment with me in the Assertion however strange my Expressions seem to you If this that I have said concerning our Imperfection in Assurance as well as in other Graces were well considered this ancient Protestant Doctrine would be freed much from Prejudice and gain more Esteem among us Fourthly In the last place let it be well observed that the Reason why we are to assure our selves in our Faith that God freely giveth Christ and his Salvation to us particularly is not because it is a Truth before we believe it but because it becometh a certain Truth when we believe it and because it will never be true except we do in some measure perswade and assure our selves that it is so We have no absolute Promise or Declaration in Scripture that God certainly will or doth give Christ and his Salvation to any one of us in particular neither do we know it to be true already by Scripture or Sense or Reason before we assure our selves absolutely of it yea we are without Christ's Salvation at present in a state of Sin and Misery under the Curse and Wrath of God Only I shall prove that we are bound by the Command of God thus to assure our selves and the Scripture doth sufficiently warrant us that we shall not deceive our selves in believing a Lie but according to our Faith so it shall be to us Matth. 9.29 This is a strange kind of Assurance far different from other Ordinary kinds and therefore no Wonder if it be found weak and imperfect and difficult to be obtained and it be assaulted with many Doubtings We are constrained to believe other things on the clear Evidence we have that they are true and would remain true whether we believe them or no so that we cannot deny our Assent without rebelling against the Light of our Sences Reason or Conscience but here our Assurance is not impressed on our Thoughts by any Evidence of the thing but we must work it out in our selves by the Assistance of the Spirit of God and thereby we bring our own Thoughts into Captivity to the Obedience of Christ None but God can justly require of us this kind of Assurance because he only calleth those things that are not as tho they were Rom. 4.17 He only can give Existence to things that yet are not and make a thing to be true upon our believing it that was not true before He only can make good that Promise What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Mark 11.24 Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not Lament 3.37 Therefore this Faith is due to God only and greatly redowndeth to his Glory Men will often require a Believing something like it as when one says I will forgive your Offence
walk according to the Principles and Practices of your old natural state and you will be moved thereby to yield to the Dominion of Sin and Satan to withdraw your selves from God and Godliness as Adam was moved from the sight of his own Nakedness to hide himself from God Gen. 3.10 Therefore your way to a holy practice is first to conquer and spoil such unbelieving thoughts by trusting confidently on Christ and persuading your selves by Faith that his Righteousness Spirit Glory and all his spiritual Benefits are yours and he dwelleth in you and you in him In the might of this Confidence you should go forth to the performance of the Law and you will be strong against Sin and Satan and able to do all things through Christ that strengthens you This consident perswasion is of great necessity to the right framing and disposing our Hearts to walk according to our new state in Christ The Life of Faith principally consisteth in it And herein it eminently appeareth that Faith is an Hand not only to receive Christ but also to work by him and that it cannot be effectual for our Sanctification except it contain in it some Assurance of our Interest in Christ as hath bin shewed Thus we act as those that are above the Sphear of Nature advanced to Union and Fellowship with Christ The Apostle maintained in his Heart a perswasion that Christ had loved him and given himself for him and hereby he was enabled to live to God in Holiness through Christ living in him by Faith He teacheth us also that we must maintain the like perswasion if we would walk holily in Christ We must know that our old man is crucified with him and we must reckon our selves dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.6 This is the means whereby we may be filled with the Spirit strong in the Lord and the power of his might which God would not require of us if he had not appointed the means Eph. 6. Christ himself walked in a constant perswasion of his excellent state he set the Lord always before him and was perswaded that because God was at his right hand he should not he moved Psal 16.8 How should it be rationally expected that a Man should Act according to this new state without Assurance that he is in it It s a rule of Common Prudence in all worldly Callings and Conditions that every one must know and consider well his own State lest he should act proudly above it or sordidly below it and it is a hard thing to bring some to a right estimate of their own worldly Conditions If the same rule were observed in Spiritual things doubtless the knowledg and perswasion of the Glory and Excellency of our new state in Christ would more elevate the hearts of Believers above all sordid Salvery to their Lusts and enlarge them to run chearfully the ways of Gods Commandments If Christians knew their own Strength better they would enterprize greater things for the Glory of God This Knowledge is difficultly attained it is only by Faith and spiritual Illumination the best know but in part and hence it is that the Conversation of Believers falleth so much below their holy and heavenly Calling 6. Consider what Endowments Priviledges or Properties of your new State are most meet and forcible to incline and strengthen your Heart to love God above all and to renounce all Sin and to give up your self to Universal Obedience to his Commands and strive to walk in the persuasion of them that you may attain to the Practice of these great Dutiesâ— I may well joyn these together because to love the Lord with all our Hearts Might and Soul is the first and great Commandment which influenceth us to all Obedience with a hatred and detestation of all Sin as it 's contrary and hateful to God The same effectual means that produceth the one will also produce the other and Holiness chiefly consisteth in these So the chief Blessings of our holy State are most meet and forcible to enable us for the immediate performance of them and are to be made use of to this end by Faith Particularly you must believe stedfastly that all your Sins are blotted out and that you are reconciled to God and have access into his Favour by the Blood of Christ and that he is your God and Father and altogether Love to you and your all-sufficient everlasting Portion and Happiness through Christ Such Apprehensions as these do present God as a very lovely Object to our Hearts and do thereby allure and win our Affections that cannot be forced by Commands or Threatnings but must be sweetly won and drawn by Allurements We must not harbour any Suspicions that God will prove a terrible everlasting Enemy to us if we would love him for there is no fear in Love but perfect Love casteth out Fear because Fear hath Torment he that feareth is not made perfect in Love we love him because he first loved us 1 Joh. 4.18 19. David loved the Lord because he was persuaded that he was his Strength Rock Fortress his God and the horn of his salvation Psal 18.1 2. Love that causeth Obedience unto the Law must proceed from a good Conscience purged from sin and this good Conscience must proceed from Faith unfeigned whereby we apprehend the remission of our sins our Reconciliation with God by the merits of the blood of Christ 1 Tim. 1.5 with Heb. 9.14 For the same end that your Hearts may be rightly fitted and framed for the performance of these principal Duties the Holy Scripture directeth you to walk in the perswasion of other principal Endowments of your new state As that you have fellowship with the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 1.3 That you are the Temple of the living God 2 Cor. 6.16 That you live by the Spirit Gal. 5.25 That you are called to Holiness and created in Christ Jesus unto good works That God will sanctisie you wholly and make you perfect in holiness at the last 1 Thes 5.23 24. Eph. 2.10 That your old man is crucified with Christ and through him you are dead unto sin and alive unto God and being made free from sin you are become the Servants of Righteousness and have your Fruit unto Holiness and the End Everlasting Life Rom. 6.6 22. You are Dead and your Life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is your Life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in Glory Col. 3.3 4. Such perswasions as these when they are deeply rooted and constantly maintained in our Hearts do strongly Arm and Encourage us to practise Universal Obedience in opposition to every sinful Lust Because we look upon it not only as our Duty but our great Priviledge to do all things through Christ strengthning of us and God doth certainly work in us both to will and to do by these Principles because they properly belong to the Gospel
Likewise your Hearts will be purified to unfeigned love of the Brethren in Christ and you will walk toward them with all lowliness meekness long-suffering forbearing one another in Love if you maintain a stedfast belief and perswasion of those manifold Bonds of Love whereby you are inseparably joyned with them through Christ as particularly that there is one Body and one Spirit one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Finally you will be able to abstain from all fleshly and worldly Lusts that war against the Soul and hinder all Godliness by an assured perswasion not meerly that Gluttony Drunkenness Letchery are filthy Swinish Abominations And that the pleasures profits and honours of the World are vain empty things but that you are Crucified to the Flesh and the World and quickned raised and set in heavenly places through Christ and that you have pleasures profits honours in Christ to which the best things in the World are not worthy to be compared And that you are Members of Christ the Temple of his Spirit Citizens of Heaven Children of the Day not of the Night nor of Darkness So that 't is below your State and Dignity to practise deeds of darkness and mind fleshly worldly things Thus I have given Instances enough to stir you up to acquaint your selves with the manifold endowments priviledges properties of your New State in Christ as they are discovered in the Gospel of your Salvation whereby the new Nature is fitted for holy Operations as the common Nature of Man is furnished with the Endowments necessary for those Functions and Operations to which it is designed and also to stir you up to make use of them by Faith as they serve to strengthen you either for Universal Obedience or for particular Duties And by this manner of Walking your Hearts will be comforted and established in every good Word and Work and you will grow in Holiness until you attain to Perfection in Jesus Christ 8. If you endeavour to grow in Grace and in all Holiness trust assuredly that God will enable you by this manner of Walking to do every thing that is necessary for his Glory and your own everlasting Salvation and that he will graciously accept of that Obedience through Christ which you are enabled to perform according to the measure of your Faith and pardon your Failings though you offend in many things and fall short of many others as to degrees of Holiness and high Acts of Obedience And therefore attempt not the performance of Duty in any other way though you cannot yet attain to do so much as you would in this way This is a necessary Instruction to establish us in the life of Faith that the sense of our manifold Failings and Defects may not move us eitheir to Despair or to return to the use of carnal Principles and Means for help against our Corruptions as accounting this way of living and acting by Faith to be in-sufficient for our Sanctification and Salvation The Apostle Paul exhorts the Galatians to walk in the Spirit though the flesh lusts against the spirit so that they cannot do the things that they would Gal. 5 10 17. We are to know that though the Law requireth of us the utmost perfection of Holiness yet the Gospel maketh an allowance for our Weakness and Christ is so meek and lowly in heart that he accepteth of that which our weak Faith can attain to by his Grace and doth not exact or expect any more of us for his Glory and our Salvation until we grow stronger in Grace God shewed his great Indulgence to his People under the Old Testament that Moses the Law-giver suffered them because of the hardness of their hearts to put away their Wives Though from the beginning it was not so Mat. 19.8 and also in tolerating the customary practice of Polygamy tho Christ will not tolerate the continuance of such Practices in his Church since his Spirit is more plentifully poured forth under the Gospel Yet he is as forward as ever to bear with the Failings of his weak Saints that desire to obey him sincerely We have another Instance of God's Indulgence more full to our present purpose in his commanding that the fearful and faint-hearted should not be forced to enter into the Battel against their Enemies but suffered to return home to their Houses Though sighting in Battel against Enemies without Fear and Faint-heartedness was a Duty that God did much exercise his People in at that time Deut. 20.3 8. So under the Gospel though it be an eminent part of Christ's Service to endure the greatest Fight of Afflictions and Death it self courageously for his Name sake yet if any be so weak in Faith that they have not sufficient Courage to venture into the Battel no doubt but Christ alloweth them to make use of any honest means whereby they may escape the hands of Persecutors with safety to their holy Profession He will accept them in this weaker kind of Service and will approve of them better than if they should hazard a denial of his Name by venturing themselves upon the Tryal of Martyrdom when they might have escaped it Peter came off with Sin and Shame by venturing beyond the measure of his Faith into the hands of his Persecutors when he went after Christ to the High Priest's Hall whereas he should rather have made use of that indulgent Dismission that Christ gave to him and the rest of his Disciples Let these go their way Joh. 18.8 Christ dealeth with his People as a good careful Shepherd that will not over-drive his Sheep He gathereth his Lambs with his Arms and carrieth them in his Bosom and will gently lead those that are with young Isa 40.11 He would not have his Disciples urged rigorously upon the Duty of Fasting when their Spirits were unfit for it because he knew that imposing Duties above their Strength is like putting a piece of new Cloath into an old Garment and new Wine into old Bottles which spoyleth all at last Mat. 9.14 17. That Precept of Solomon Be not righteous overmuch Prov. 7.10 is very useful and necessary if rightly understood We are to beware of being too rigorous in exacting Righteousness of our selves and others beyond the measure of Faith and Grace Overdoing commonly proveth undoing Children that venture on their Feet beyond their Strength have many a Fall and so have Babes in Christ when they venture unnecessarily upon such Duties as are beyond the strength of their Faith We should be content at present to do the best that we can according to the measure of the gift of Christ though we know that others are enabled to do much better and we are not to despise the day of small things but to praise God that he worketh in us any thing that is well-pleasing in his sight hoping that he will sanctify us throughout and
in vain when you utter Petitions for the coming of his Kingdom and doing of his Will and yet hate Godliness in your Heart This is Lying to God and slattering with your Lips but no true Prayer and so God takes it Psal 78.36 and you must have a sense of your wants and necessities and that God only can supply 2 Chron. 20.12 And fervency in those desires is required Jam. 5.16 And you must pray with attention minding your selves what you pray or else you cannot expect that God should mind it 1 Pet. 4.7 Watch to it Dan. 9.3 Set your selves to this Duty intently God seeth where your Heart is wandring when you pray without attention Ezek. 33.31 When you say never so many prayers without Understanding Attention Affection it is not praying at all but sinning and playing the Hypocrite as Papists mumble over their Latin Prayers upon the Beads by Tale prating like Parrots what they cannot understand And thus ignorant People say over their Forms of English Prayers and account they have well-discharged their Duty tho their Heart prayed not at all and were minding other things This is a meer Lip-labour and bodily Exercise offering a dead Carcass to God plain deceit Mal. 1.13 14. a form of Godliness with denying the Power 2 Tim. 3.5 whereby Popery hath cheated the World of the Power of this and all other Holy Ordinances They say God minds and knows what they speak and approves it I answer He doth so as to Judg them for Hypocrites and profane persons for not knowing minding and approving what they utter themselves He hath no pleasure in Fools Eccles 5.1 2. They would not deal so with an Earthly Prince 2. You must pray in the Name of Christ for the Spirit glorifies Christ Joh. 16. and leadeth us to God through Christ Eph. 2.18 As I have shewed that walking in the Spirit and walking in Christ is all one so praying in the Spirit and by and through Christ And as we are to walk in the Name of the Lord and to do all things in his Name as is commanded Joh. 14.13 14. It is not enough to conclude our Prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord but we must come for Blessings in the Garments of our elder Brother and must depend upon his Worthyness and Strength for all So also we must praise God for all things in his Name as things received for his sake and by him Eph. 5.20 We must lay hold on his Strength only and plead nothing and own nothing for our Acceptance but him We must not plead our own works arrogantly like the proud Pharisee Luk. 18.11.12 except only as Fruits of Grace and Rewards of Grace Isa 38.1 2. Praying in the Spirit is upon Gospel not legal Principles Rom. 7.6 with 2 Cor. 6.3 with great Humiliation and sense of Unworthyness Psal 51. with a broken Spirit with Despair of Acceptance otherwise than upon Christ's Account Dan. 9.18 If your Enlargements Struglings Meltings have been never so great yet without this all is Abominable 3. Hence you must not think to be accepted for the Goodness of your Prayers and trust on them as works of Righteousness which is making Idols of your Prayers and putting them into the place of Christ quite contrary to praying in the Name of Christ Thus Papists hope to be sav'd by saying their Tale of Prayers upon their Bead-Rows and they have Indulgences granted upon their saying so many Prayers and of such a sort Yea some ignorant Protestants trust on their Prayer as Duties of Righteousness and they think one Prayer to be more acceptable than another by reason of the Holiness of the Form if it were made by Holy Men especially the Lords Prayer which they use to help them in any Exigence or Danger how little soever they can apply it to their own Case they make an Idol of it And some use it and other places of Scriptures as a Spell or Charm to drive away the Devil And others think their Prayers more acceptable in one place than in another by reason of the Holiness of the place Joh. 4.21 24.1 Tim. 2.8 Others trust on their much speaking Mat. 6. which they call the enlarging of their Hearts They think to put off God and stop the Mouth of Conscience with a few Prayers and so to live as they list 4. Pray to God as your Father through Christ as your Saviour in Faith of Remission of Sins and your acceptance with God and the obtaing of all other things which you desire of him as far as is necessary for your Salvation Jam. 1.5 6 7. ch 5.15 1 Joh. 5.14 15. Mar. 11.24 Heb. 10.24 and Psal 62.8 and 86.7 and 55.16 and 57.1 2. and 17.6 This is praying in Christ Eph. 3.12 and by the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.16 Gal. 4.6 Without this Prayer is Lifeless and Heartless and but a dead Carcass Rom. 10.14 Psal 77.4 By this you may judge whether you have prayed rightly more than by your melting Affection or largeness in Expression Though you be not assured that you shall have every thing that you ask yet every thing that is good This Faith you must endeavour to act and therefore if any Sin lye on Conscience you must strive first to get the Pardon of it Psal 32.1.5 and 51.14 15. and Purisication from it by Faith that you may lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 The sin of wrath there is especially mentioned because that is contrary to Love and forgiving others Here lyes the Strength Life and Powerfulness of Prayer Set Faith on work and you will be powerful and prevail 5. You must strive in Prayer to stir up and act every other sanctifying Grace through Faith moving you thereunto Thus your Spikenards will yield their Smell as godly sorrow Psal 38.18 peace Isa 27.8 joy Psal 105.3 hope Psal 71.5 desire and love to God Psal 4.6 and love to all his commands Psal 119.4 5. and to his people out of love to him Psal 122. you must seek the Spirit it self in the first place Luk. 11.13 Psal 37.5 and all spiritual things Mat. 6.33 Praying only for carnal things shews a carnal Heart and leaves it carnal Pray for faith Mar. 9.24 and for such things as may serve most for the glorifying God 2 Chron. 1.11 12. and for outward things you must act in submission to his Will and thus Prayer sets you in a holy frame Mat. 26.42 Luk. 22.42 43. Hallowing Gods Name must be your aim Mat. 6. not your Lusts Jam. 4.3 6. Strive to bring your Soul into order by this Duty however disordered by Guilt Anguish inordinate Cares or Fears Psal 32.1 5. and 55.16 17 20 22. and 69.32 Phil. 4.6 7.1 Sam. 1. A Watch must be often wound up you must wrestle in Prayer against your Unbelief Doubting Fears Cares Reluctancy of the Flesh to that which is good against all Evil Lusts and Desires Coldness of Affection Impatience trouble of Spirit every