not beleeve that is apprehend and apply and rest upon Christ as my Saviour We speak not of Faith as it is an infused habit and the gift of God to us but as it is an inherent grace and operative in us Now then we will 1. Enquire what the causes of such complaints in gratious souls may be 2. We will consider how to satisfie the soul in such troubles and scruples For the first complaint I cannot I dare not rest upon Christ and beleeve in him There are many causes of it which I shall speak to One ordinary cause of it is Scrap 1. The souls to much eying of preparatory qualifications I do not say the souls eyeing but the souls too much eying of them Hence it is that if you ask a poor soul under that trouble what 's the reason thou darest not rest thy self upon Christ Faith is a pretious flower that grows as well in the poorest beggars as the greatest Princes garden The meanest arm may as boldly lean on Christs shoulder as that which is gayed with gold-lace Alas saith such a poor soul Gods justice proceeds according to method First he useth to pull down and then to exalt First to lay the soul low licking the dust then to say to it I am thy salvation Alas I was never enough humbled I never saw hell yet would God rend my heart in pieces I could beleeve he would bind it up would he humble me c. Now in order to the satisfaction of a soul under this trouble it would be first enquired 1. Whether humiliation goeth before Faith or no. 2. If it doth what may comfort a soul under this affliction of spirit and what it ought to do in relation to its peace For the first it is a question variously tossed and determined understood and concluded in these times in which God hath cast our lot some utterly denying any such work some too eagerly contending for measure some limitting Gods dealings others misinterpreting if not wilfully mistaking the terms It will not therefore I trust be a lost labour first to enquire the truth of that question which is ordinarily thus termed Quest Whether Faith goeth before Repentance or Repentance before Faith Now for the fuller determination of it I shall first explane the terms Then conclude the truth and prove it by Scripture and Reason And lastly answer those Objections ordinarily made against it First I will spend a little time to open the terms which when rightly explaned I am confident will put the question out of question to those Christians that have any experience of the Lords dealings for the ambiguity of every term hath onely darkned the clearnesse of this truth First let us understand what is meant by Faith both in the kinde and in the act There are divers kinds and divers acts of Faith There is an historicall Faith which consists onely in the knowledge and assent to the truth of an History There is a Faith of miracles There is a temporary Faith and there is a true justifying Faith The question is onely to be understood of the latter which hath also severall Acts. First 〈◊〉 Secondly Relyance Thirdly Perswasion The question is to be understood of the second Act Whether God gives the soul power comfortably and truely to relye upon Christ and the promises for salvation before he hath wrought repentance in the soul Secondly the term Repentance is subject to ambiguity too Repentance is sometimes taken largely for the whole work of conversion and so Godly sorrow is an effect of it sometimes strictly and when we speak of Repentance in the question we onely understand the first parts of it consisting in conviction contrition and humiliation by which the soul is carried out into a loathing of it self both for its sins and in its righteousness And the question is Whether God doth not work in a soul a sorrow of heart and loathing of it self for sin before the soul hath power to rest upon Christ for salvation and relye upon him as its Saviour Lastly we must safely understand what is also meant by going before First we do not understand by going before a precedency in Gods hidden operation he at once infuseth the habits of grace into the soul But secondly by going before we understand a going before in a gratious Act and in a comfortable apprehension Neither farther is the question to be understood as if we thought Humiliation went before Faith as a work wrought by our own strength We acknowledge Humiliation to be a work of Gods speciall grace in the soul And the question is plainly thus Whether God ordinarily gives a poor soul power to act Faith by relying upon Christ and the promises of life and salvation before in some measure he hath brought the soul to be sensible of its lost and undone condition We say he doth not We will grant to our Brethren that are unsatisfied concerning this truth First That a man must beleeve before he can mourn But how not by any saving act of justifying Faith He must beleeve there is a sin-pardoning Saviour that hath fulnesse and freenesse of mercy and enough in his fulnesse for him and that though he hath sinned yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Then he puts his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope Secondly we will easily grant that a man must have saving and justifying Faith before the work of repentance and humiliation will be perfect in his soul As we maintain it to be a precedent work so we denye it not to be a subsequent effect Thirdly we will grant that it is not a work to be done by our own strength it is Gods work onely our dispute is concerning Gods usuall order in working The same spirit that works a power in the soul of dependence upon Christ takes also away the heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh Fourthly we will grant that the habits of these graces are both together in the soul We onely question which God gives the soul power to act first Fiftly We dispute not concerning the measure but concerning the thing We do not question whether the soul must be thus far or thus much or thus long humbled before God will give it power to act Faith by a comfortable reliance on Christ We onely say it must be humbled Sixtly We do not limit the workings of God and say it is so necessary on Gods part that he cannot give the soul power comfortably to apply Christ and the promises but we say it is not his usuall course and ordinary may of dispensing grace to do it Yet his dealings are various he works not alike to all he may and sometimes doth go out of his beaten road The question is not concerning a necessity on Gods part but onely concerning a necessity on our part not concerning his miraculous power but his gracious will nor concerning any extraordinary operation but concerning his ordinary way of dispensations
and fell down at their feet and said sirs what must I do to be saved Take the great convert Paul Act. 9. what astonishing sorrow was he swallowed up in he was even humbled to the grave before you read of his Faith Let every Christian examine his own experience whether ever he should have received or prized Christ if he had not first been strucken with the sence of his own misery Enough hath been said for it let us hear a little what can be said against it 1. Obj. No man will be humbled except he beleeve what shall make me run to God and mourn except I beleeve he will pardon Answ We do not dispute of any Faith but a justifying Faith To beleeve and be perswaded I may be pardoned is not a distinguishing act of a justifying Faith this was granted before t is one thing to beleeve I may be pardoned so may an hypocrite T is another thing to beleeve I am pardoned or to relye on Christ for pardon this is proper to a justified person nor can he beleeve he is pardoned till he is humbled 2. Obj. Repentance is the effect of Faith now the cause must alwayes go before the effect Answ We distinguished before of Repentance Repentance hath two parts The aversion of the soul from sin and the conversion of the soul to God the latter part of it is onely an effect of Faith the former part of it the turning of the soul from sin is also an effect but not onely an effect it is begun before Faith though it be not ended till our life be at an end Secondly The turning of the soul from sin and the imbittring sin to the soul is an effect of Faith or rather a consequent of Faith viz. a generall common Faith in the beginning but not alwayes a consequent of saving justifying Faith 3. Obj. Christ must work this humiliation or it is good for nothing now if Christ be in the soul working humiliation then there is Faith Therefore Faith must go before humiliation Ans First Though Christ work this humiliation in the soul yet it doth not follow that Christ is in the soul for it may be a work of common grace and Christ is not in every soul upon which his common grace works But secondly to answer more fully I am of the minde of Master Shepheard and Master Hooker that although there be an humiliation which is indeed the work of common grace which an hypocrite may have yet there is an humiliation which is the work of special grace and that this likewise precedes the exercise of Faith And although it is true that Christ cannot be in the soul but in the same instant the soul is in Christ for Faith is the marriage grace yet it doth not follow that the soul is inabled by an act of Faith to apply Christ to it self assoon as Christ is in the soul and the habit of Faith is infused into the soul and therefore the question is stated not concerning the habit of Faith but concerning the act of Faith viz. Whether God gives the soul power to receive relye upon and apply Christ or receive any comfortable apprehensions of Christ and the soul in respect of us who can onely judge of the habit by the act cannot be said to have Faith before it hath acted humiliation or repentance The question is not which the soul must have first in respect of Gods gift but which it acts first for our apprehension 4. Obj. The preaching of this puts souls upon diâ—pair and hinders Faith they do not beleeve because they cannot finde that they are so humbled as God requires Ans 1. The sun must not be hid because it hurts fore eyes What is the truth of God must not be concealed because wicked men and seducers grow worse and worse Secondly No â—oul that is elected can dispaire if God hath given them to Christ the Devil shall never pluck them out of his hand the word must be preached though to some it must prove the savour of death unto death To the Gentiles foolishnesse Thirdly We do not say they must repent to such and such a degree mourn so many tears we dispute not how much sorrow there must be but maintain there must be some Fourthly True sorrow ought not to hinder Faith for the end of it is onely to bring the soul to be willing to exercise the grace of Faith by comming to Christ resting and relying upon him for salvation c. 5. Obj. But God works not his acts of speciall grace after the manner of men he works them together therefore faith and repentance are together wrought Ans We dispute not how God works them but how the soul acts them not which is in the soul first but which appears out of the soul first Iacob and Esau may be twins and in their mothers womb together but shall it therefore follow that they shall come out together may not Esau put out his hand before Iacob and be seen first by the mother and world too 6. Obj. But this is to take away free grace to say God will not save a poor creature before it be thus and thus humbled Ans 1. It is not to take away the freenesse of grace but to teach men to take heed that they do not turn the grace of God into wantonnesse it does not destroy free grace to enjoin qualifications and conditions of Gods own making Secondly You may as well say it destroyes free grace to say none shall be saved but those that beleeve which is the expresse language of Scripture He that beleeveth not is damned already Thirdly Free grace is established hereby For 1. Is it not free grace to give a soul Christ if it will but mourn and be humbled and beleeve is it not a free gift to give a kingdom unto me upon condition I will throw away a knife with which I was about to cut my own throat 2. We do not say that this humiliation and precedent sorrow doth deserve any such free grace for the performance of the action therefore the grace is still free 3. We say that free grace works this humilation a man can as well break a rock as break his own heart without the work of this powerfull spirit and the spirits operations are free even like the winde that blows where it listeth Ioh. 3. 8. We exalt free grace and make it yet more free onely we would not have men turn the grace of God into wantonnesse to their own confusion and therefore their vain objection that this brings us again under the covenant of works do this and ye shall live falls in pieces of it self for we neither hold that it is in the power of any creature to do this to break his heart and mourn for sin nor yet that any shall merit any salvation by doing of it we abhor that doctrine of merits that God justifies either for any works of grace acted of our own or for the
drink Though I begd my bread and wanted water all the dayes of my life O that I had the robes of his righteousnesse to cloth my soul though I went naked O give me Christ O give me Christ above all for all instead of all or else I dye Here now be comforted the end is wrought again and thou hast no ground not to beleeve because thou art not enough humbled The cause must not destroy the end The end of humiliation is as you have heard What serves humiliation for but to bring thee to it If thou beest already by humiliation brought that thou art grieved for sin past that thou hatest sin present that thou loathest the thoughts of embracing sin for the time to come that thou art made willing to close with Jesus Christ that thou prizest him above all the earths contentments whatsoever thou hast no ground nay thou sinnest in letting thy Faith stumble upon this threshold 4. Consider that it is possible thou mayest mis-judge thy self in this point of the measure of humiliation too The fountain of humiliation is often so deep that we cannot fadom it the well may be deep though we see but a little of it First Consider that in thy humiliation you must measure length and bredth and all Secondly Consider thou must measure inside as well as outside Thirdly You must remember it is not done though it may be done enough for thee to apply a promise and rest upon Iesus Christ and receive and apply him to thy soul First Many Christians mistake upon this Principle Why doest thou think thy humiliation is not enough They will answer you alas I was never in such a depth of amazing sorrow as Paul was as I have heard such and such a Christian was they were even in the jawes of hell My work was a slight work to theirs Half so much broad-cloth of a great bredth will make a suit as well as so much again of some that is not half the bredth the bredth makes amends for the length of the other Others God hath given them deep sorrow but short perhaps he hath given thee long sorrow but not so broad and deep there may be as much water in a shallow pond that is broad as in a deep well that is straight It may be thou hast been divers moneths weeks years under thy sorrow though it was not such an heart-rending sorrow as others might be They had sorrow that even rent their heart in pieces but it lasted not so long as thine before they had joy God measured out their measure in depth and thinc in bredth Secondly Consider if you will measure your humiliation right you must measure both inside and outside Possibly you judge you are not humbled enough because you have not shed so many tears as others have you measure it onely in the outside alas many tempers are not so disposed to tears as others Suppose two men were wounded the one bleeds nothing or little at all the other bleeds that the blood stains all his apparell runs down the streets you see scarce a drop of blood come from the other but the wound closeth will you therefore say that the one bleeds not so much as the other nay surely you will say that he bleeds more desperately he bleeds inwardly The seat of humiliatiō is the heart not the eye Humiliation is not to be measured by wet handkerchiefs the swoln face is not alwayes the outside of a most broken heart possible your heart weeps your soul is ready to burst with groanings but you want the vent of your eyes they are tongue tied The measure of your humiliation for all this may be greater then the other Thirdly Possibly some may say O but can I think that God requires no more tears no more sadnesse for those thousands of sins that I have in my life time committed against him Consider therefore Christian that your humiliation is not past when you have apprehended and applyed Christ to your souls You must reserve some tears for the time to come you have humiliation-work after Faith Zach. 12. 10. Though the seven Devils be cast out and Mary be set by Christ yet she may wash his feet with the tears of her eyes and wipe them with the hairs of her head She may come again and stand behinde him weeping you have to do to look upon him whom you have pierced and mourn As the man that takes physick it works before he takes his broth but that sets it working again and more So though before you apply Jesus Christ there will be some humiliation yet your receiving him and resting upon him by Faith doth not stop up your fountain of tears you shall have a mourning time after that save an handkerchief to wet then Fifthly For thy comfort consider that humiliation ought not to be 1. A ground of Faith 2. Is not a ground of acceptation The first will depend upon the latter First Consider thy humiliation is not a ground of thy acceptation Thou art not therefore accepted because thou art thus and thus humbled If we watch not our nature saith reverend Sibbs There will be a spice of Popery which is a naturall Religion in this great desire of more grief as if when we had that we had something to satisfie God withall and so our minde still runs too much upon works If free-grace did not clarifie tears and the greatest sorrow we could have for sin those bitter waters would be more filthy then the puddles of the street If the blood of free-grace doth not cement a broken heart and accept it and merit for it hell is its desert and portion for all any merit in it It is a good piece of a prayer Psal 20. 3. The Lord accept thy sacrifice or make far thy sacrifice or turn thy sacrifice into ashes A broken and a contrite heart is the Lords sacrifice which he will never despise Psal 5◠17. But the Lord must 1. Turn it into ashes 2. Make it fat 3. Accept it And therefore this can be no sufficient remora in thy way of Faith For couldst thou make thy head a fountain of water and thine eyes rivers of tears they should merit no salvation heaven is not to be bought with sighes nor art thou therefore accepted because thou art humbled but even thy humiliation must have an acceptation otherwise God should save us not for his own sake and for his Name sake as indeed he doth but for our tears sake for our humiliation sake for our works sake for Christians must warily consider that God doth not save his people and accept his children for those works which his own spirit worketh in them This is a Doctrine of Popery who to wash their hands of the Doctrine of merits wherewith they are charged tell us they hold no such matter as that a Christian may be saved by his own works but God gives him grace to work good works and for them he accepts for
hearts of such Christians as yielding to this temptation have troubled and perplexed their own spirits First of all consider That as it is a certain truth that there is such a sin commissible that a creature may be guilty of yet it is as incertain what this sin is None ever could yet determine it or if they have done it it hath been unwarrantably I mean for the specificall â—in Innumerable almost have been the opinion of the Antients Some have thought it to be malice against the Brethrens-graces others Finall impenitency others despair of Gods mercy The Papists make six species of it 1. Impenitency 2. Despair these two seem to be but consequents of it 3. Obstinacy in wickednesse All obstinacy in wickednesse cannot be and how high what degree of obstinacy constitutes it they leave us to seek 4. The resisting of a known truth This comes nearest it but yet for the heighth and degree of resistance they also leave us in the dark and every resistance is not 5. The malice against our Bretheren for grace and goodnesse This hath something in it tending to it but reacheth not the full neither 6. A sinning out of presumption of Gods mercy That presumption is an ingredient in this sin is certain Aq. 22â— q. 14. Att. 2. and that the sin against the Holy-ghost is a sin of presumption but every sinning upon presumption of Gods mercy certainly is not unpardonable It is certain that blasphemy against the Holy-ghost may be variously taken First Lâ—terally when any blasphemous speech is spoken against the Holy-ghost As if any should maintain the Holy-ghost is not God c. So many of the antient fathers took it Secondly It is sometimes and so we take it to be meant here for a sin against the Holy-ghosts proper operations and workings as his enlightening grace c. Heb. 4. 6 7. For whosoever sins the first way sins not unpardonably Aus T. 10. though dangerously as Saint Austine largely proves Serm. 11. de Verbis Din. p. 47. Copiose tractat that the Texts Mat. 12. 31. c. are not to be meant of every blasphemous word but there is quadam blasphemia quoddam verbum a certain word and a certain kinde of blasphemy Now what this is that we are in the dark for nor have any except the Papists unwarrantably dared certainly to define or describe it so as to say This is the unparponable sin Now therefore Christian upon what ground doest thou say Thou hast sinned the sin against the Holy-ghost when neither thou nor any other can say this or that is the sin against the Holy-ghost why doest thou accuse the soul of thou knowest not what Judge if this be not an irrationall yielding to a groundlesse temptation But saith a poor Christian I have refused the enlightening spirit I have refused instruction and hated counsell and what is this but the impardonable sin or have â—inned against knowledge such and such a truth I have denied disputed against it c. To make therefore a little progresse though positively it cannot be said nor specifically determined what the sin against the Holy-ghost is that is unpardonable for it is certain that every sin against the Holy-ghost is not unpardonable A lye against knowledge is a sin against the Holy-ghost Act. 5. 3. yet not unpardonable Jacob committed it for the blessing Yet 1. It may be shewen negatively what it is not 2. Severall ingredients may be discovered that must be in this compound of iniquity And in relation to thy complaint consider Secondly That none can be guilty of it but such as have had a great measure of knowledge of Gods truth Heb. 6. 4 5 6. They must be such as have been enlightned that is such as the Gospel hath been preacht too and receive by so that it hath cleared up his understanding from that darknesse and mist of naturall blindnesse and ignorance in which Adams fall left us Secondly Such as have tasted of the heavenly gift that is Faith saith Pareus such as having heard the word have not onely been convinced of it but given a firm assent of Faith to it for it can onely be understood of a temporary Faith of assent not of true justifying Faith for that in whomsoever it is is kept by the power of God to salvation 1 Pet. 2. 5. Thirdly Such as have tasted of the good word of God Such as have had the Gospel preacht to them and have apprehended it good and sweet received it with joy Heb. 10. 26. Heard it gladly as Herod Heb. 10. 26. They must be such as have received the knowledge of the Truth It must be a defection and a declination from knowledge and a profession as is clear from that place Heb. 10. 26. from whence is plain that a naturall man that never was enlightned or an heathen that never heard the word of God or those that though they have heard yet have not had hearts to regard and received what they hear and give assent to it These cannot be guilty of this unpardonable sin why doest thou therefore trouble thy self that thou hast refused the Gospel and therefore thou hast sinned the sin against the Holy-ghost When the Gospel was never made known to thee so far as to enlighten thee possibly thou heardst the word but understoodst not regardest nothing Those that crucified Christ were converted at Peters Sermon Act. 2. have thine ears been stopt to the means of grace be humbled for it but dispair not because of it though thou beest called at the ninth hour yet if thou wilt come in at the eleventh thou shalt be received and welcome onely come God winked at the time of thy ignorance Act. 17. 30. Act. 17. 30. This sin must be against the word heard received tasted c. It is not a bare piece of originall corruption consisting in a privation of knowledge or aversenesse unto knowledge or vanity of heart in not regarding knowledge but it is the highest piece of actuall rebellion not for a while to stand at a distance from a pardon offered but to begin to reach out an hand to take it and then draw back and spit in the face of that God that offers thee This is plain for it is a blasphemy against the Holy-ghost in his workings now the spirit doth not alwayes work with the preaching of the word much lesse is the law of nature the work of the sanctifying spirit But the work of illumination and sanctification those are the spirits works in which we must take heed of opposing him This sin is not petty-iarceny but high-treason against God But alas will a poor Christian say yet I fear for I have received and tasted the word of truth and I have made a shew of rejoycing in the good word of God and after this have I been in my heart thinking to deny Christ to be the Saviour of the world to deny the word to be the word of truth and
as crimson they shall be as wooll But now the Christian not clearly understanding the nature and vertue of these promises cannot make a particular application of them to its soule it stands off and cannot make a particular application Alas saith the Christian these are made upon condition of a wearinesse and an heavy load of hungring and thirsting of comming of washing and cleansing of putting away the evil of my doings of ceasing to do evil and learning to do well Hard sayings Who can heare them I cannot get my heart to hunger and thirst I cannot get my heart to be weary and heavy laden A Leopard can as well cleanse himselfe of spots and an Ethiopian as well wash away the blacknesse of his skin as I can wash my black soule c. One that hath no legs can as well walk to Rome as I can come to Christ But know Christian thy particular applying faith here is hindered by a meer misunderstanding of the promise for though those promises require conditions yet they require not conditions to he fulfilled in thy strength but those required conditions are as well parts and branches of the free covenant of Grace as those promises which thou desirest to apply therefore you shall find promises for the fulfilling those conditions in thy soul God requires a wearines of sin and a loathing of sin and a sorrow for sin as a condition Mat. 11. 29. Is 55 1 3. God promiseth to give this self abhorring frame of Spirit and to work this loathing in his peoples soules Ezek. 6 9 20 43. 36. chap. 31. Zach. 12. 10. God requires washing and cleansing as a condition Isa 1 16. â—7 18. He hath promised to work this in the soule Christ tels Peter he would do it â—oh 13. 8. And David prayes that God would do it for him Psal â—1 2. 7. which prayer was grounded upon a promise and this washing is attributed to God as the working of his spirit Isa 4. 4. v. When the Lord shall â—ave washed away the filth of the daughteâ—s of Sion and shalt have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit of judgement and the spirit of burning God requires turning and comming and learning and leaving sin as a condition but he hath promised to fulfill these Hosea 14. 8. but he hath said none can come unlesse the Father draw him Ioh. 6. 44. and the Spouse without question grounding her prayer on a promise saith draw me Cant. 1. 5. He hath required turning as a condition Ezek. 33. 11. Ier. 3. 14. but he hath promised to work this in the soule Mat. 4. 6. and upon this the Church prayes Ier. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned So that this is a certaine rule God requires no condition of a promise which he hath not promised to fulfill in us And whatsoever spirituall action is anywhere required of us as a duty he hath somewhere promised to bestow upon us as a dispensation of free Grace Therefore I would have the soule in such a condition when it stumbles at the condition of a promise seek out those promises where God promiseth to fulfill those conditions in it and particularly apply them and rely upon God for making them good and direct its prayers accordingly So I have done with the first thing required in the Soule for the particular application of the promises viz. a cleare understanding of the promises for which I have given three Rules Now in regard that at all times there may be in a true beleeving soule a clear understanding of the promises I conclude there may be true faith in the soule that at all times cannot make a particular Application But I hasten to The second thing which is requisite in that soule that doth truly rely or that can particularly apply the promises and that is a cleare understanding of its own condition for how can I truly and particularly apply a promise to the wound of my Soule when I do not understand truly what wound my soule hath Now a true believing soule may have a very false estimate of its own condition Thus had David and Asaph and the Church they thought they were cast off Psal 43. 2. Psal 44. 9. Psal 60. 1. Psal 7â— 1. 77 7 89 38. Now if I think that a part of my body is gangrened I will never apply Physick to it because I know it is in vaine so so long as the Soule conceives that its condition is irrecoverable its sins unpardonable that applying promises to it is but applying warm clothes to a dead man it will never apply Now such a temper may be in the beleeving Soule occasioned by the violent temptations of Sathan by dark clouds of melancholy or the like it apprehends its sinns nor pardonable or at least not pardonable as yet to the soule O! sayes the soule I have sinned against the holy Ghost what good will it do to me to apply promises I am dammed It is a temptation which Sathan ordinarily first or last troubles beleeving soules with I have answered that case of Conscience particularly and therefore shall not enter into a particular discourse of it now Now till the soule be brought so farr truly to understand its own condition that its wounds are curable and to cry unto God for the healing and cure of them it cannot be expected that it should particularly apply any Promises as plâ—isters for the healing and in regard I say that there may be some misjudging of the soules true estate in a gracious soule there may also be a want of this peculiar faith It is true it is given by all sober Divines as the least degree of Faith to beleeve that my sins are pardonable and to run and fly and cry unto God for a pardon of them but yet through the distemperature of the soule even this thing that the soules sins are pardonable which is generally beleeved and is the soules foundation upon which ground it humbles it self and cries and prayes may not be beleeved by the soule that yet hath true Faith or at least beleeved very darkly and with a great deale of doubting The third and last thing which I will instance in which must be found in that soule that shall particularly apply a generall promise as its particular portion is a constant wonderfull working of the powerfull Spirit of God upon the soule For let a soule never so truly understand its own condition and never so truly understand the vertue of the promise and never so fully conceive that the promises have an adequate proportionable vertue for the healing of its particular wounds yet unlesse the spirit of God by a wonderfull powerfull worke of grace doth lay the salve upon the sore and apply the promise unto the soule it cannot be done as it is with a man that hath lost his hands or the use of them and suppose him to have a sorein his back let him never so truly understand the
Aug. 16th 1648. I Have perused this Booke entitled A Cordiall for a fainting soule wherein I find many cases clearly resolved tending to the consolation of afflicted consciences and wounded spirits which are so judiciously and piously handled and so effectually and fitly applyed that I thinke them very profitable and through Gods blessing availeable for the comforting of poore weak Christians and the curing and removing of their doubts and scruples which retard and hinder their progresse in the wayes of Piety and therefore very worthy to be printed and published John Downame A CORDIALL FOR A FAINTING SOULE OR Some ESSAYES for the satisfaction of wounded spirits labouring under severall burthens In which severall Cases of Conscience most ordinary to Christians especially in the beginning of their Conversion are resolved Being the summe of fourteen Sermons delivered in so many Lectures in a private Chappell belonging to Chappell-Field-House in NORVVICH With a Table annexed conteining the severall Cases of Conscience which in the following Treatise are spoken to directly or collaterally Preached and now published upon the importunity of divers Christians By John Collings Mr of Arts and one of the most unworthy of the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ for the preaching of the Gospell in that City Hostis noster adhuc in hâc vitâ nos positos quantò magis nos sibi rebellare conspicit â—amò ampliùs expugnare contendit eos enim pulsare negligit quos quieto jure possidere se sentit Contra nos verò eo â—ehementiùs incitatur quo ex corde nostro quasi ex jure propria habitationis expeâ—itur Greg. in Cap. 33. Job Isa 30. 40. Who is amongst you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that sitteth in darknes and hath no light Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God LONDON Printed for Richard Tomlins at the Sun and Bible neare Pie-corner MDCXLIX To the Right Honourable and truely Noble both by the first and second Birth the Lady Elizabeth Countesse Dowager of Exeter Happinesse and Peace Madam AFter that I was perswaded to let the world see these Receits I thought it policy to give them as much allowance of advantage as they were capable of and to this end I have presumed to offer them to your Honour for your probatum est The Sermons never yet were made more publike then the private Chappel belonging to this Family where they have been offered to the ears of those that have importuned me to venture them upon a publike censure My designe from the first beginning of that private Lecture was to satisfie diverse doubting Christians in severall cases of conscience if God might but honour me so far as to remove strawes out of the way of their faith The most of those cases herein contained were such as in my little time I had gathered from the experiences of divers and possibly it was but my duty to endeavour to satisfie them in my Pulpit who had almost set me in my closet And had not I had their Imprimatur so much nothing is there of mine in them they had never been offered as a Sacrifice at another Altar If God hath sanctified them but to one soul I dare not call them common or unclean If what hath satisfied my own and possibly some others spirits may be honoured with further successe let the Physician of souls have the glory and I onely more of his work which is a wages to it self I am confident as your Honours eye passeth the several pages your Ladiship will espie some stone turned out of the way upon which your Honours own soul stumbled Let it minde your Ladiship to say with David Psal 116. Ah Lord Truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the childe of thine hand maid for thou hast loosed my bonds I shall be honoured if any thing in these Papers occasion but one meditation of praise Madam I am confident your Honour is past this rough stumbling way It will be yet sweetnesse for your Honour to remember the dayes of old though you have led captivity captive I have here but begun my work answering some few cases according to the ability God hath measured to me The greate part is yet behinde viâ—â— Such as arise from the miâ—judging the effects of faith If this be acceptable I may possibly hereafter venture a second part upon the publike Charity My single aim in this work hath been to prepare the way of the Lord and it is Madam an Honourable employment to be a Pioneer to the Lord of Hosts I have neither sought to enter line these plain Sermons with reading nor yet glaze them with Rhetorick I knew leaves of antiquity would make no plaisters for wounded consciences nor would it be the smell or look but the inward vertue of the salve which must heal the sores of a troubled spirit I have often wished that some man whose years had taught him more divine wisdom and experience in these secret cures might have prevented me in this work Alas Madam your Honour knows I am but an infant of dayes let not your Honour expect much but remember that he who writes hath not yet exceeded the twenty sixth yeer of his age and that as his days have been few so they have most of them been very evil too But my bowels yearned to see so many poor souls lye wounded and panting for life in the way of our Ministery and every one in the midst of this Pamphlet age passing by and but looking on if not possibly another way Many have handled notions and disputed niceties in Divinity Others more profitably have laboured in practicall paints in which God hath honoured this age in which we live to excell former Centuries of Time But few have made it their work except collaterally to remove the souls obstructions which soon put the whole frame of their spirits in a sad distemperature and upon the removâ—th of which depends so much for the Christians thriving and growth though he be fed at the daintiest tables This hath made me though the meanest of those that labour for the Lord to do the 〈…〉 in casting a directâ—r eye upon their woundâ— where I have failed my eyes are â—nto the great Physician to supply the deficiences of his poor creature who in this hath indeavoured to do nothing but for his sake and those on earth who are his Mysticall pieces How sweet Madam shall be the countenances of the glorified ones when the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ the highest flower in glory shall be fully transparent in their cheeks clarified from the duskish shadow that corruption casts upon them Me thinks it will be glorious to see and it is sweet but to think how beautifully David appears before the throne of the Lamb without the visible track of a tear upon his cheeks who here quartered so many nights amongst floods and billows of sorrow and was so often startled at so poor a
querie as Where is thy God become Let your Honour lift up your head The day of your redemption draweth nigh The Lord Jesus is pulling out his handkerchief laced with love to wipe all tears from your eyes and hastning to bow the heavens and come down to Gather his Saints together even those that have made a covenant with him vvith their lips and translate them from this valley of tears to that place where they shall hunger and thirst no more but be satisfied with his likenesse who is the brightnesse of his Fathers glory I humbly beg your Honours pardon for my presumption Your Honours former honouring me with the acceptation of some former labours hath emboldned me and I know your Ladiships spirit is so low that it can rejoyce in stooping to take a message from the Prince of glory though from the mouth of his meanest Embassador In which confidence I humbly offer these worthlesse indeavours to your Ladiships hands and with my humble supplications at the throne of Grace for your Honours progresse in Grace here and happinesse in Glory here after I rest Your Honors most devoted servant in the work of the Lord Iesus JOH COLLINGS From my study in Chappel-field-house in Norwich Aug. 17. 1648. To the Christian Reader especiallie such an one as walks with a troubled Spirit FOr thy sake Dear Heart were these Sermons composed preacht and now made publike The world this day abounds with treatises and excels former times in the Spirituality of the penmen who have written powerfull and practically Some there are that have made it their work to Plant These have led souls up the stairs to Iesus Christ shewing them the way to the land of Glory such have been our Shepheard and Hooker with divers others Others God hath set to build and as he used the other chiefly as his porters so he seemeth to have used these as the Grooms of his chamber appointed them to set out the excellency of the Lord Iesus Christ to them that are sick of love These have led souls from chamber to chamber shewing them all the chambers of free grace and making it their chiefest work to set out the Bridegroom in his glory and exalt the Riches of free mercy The work of the first was to dresse the Bride The second discover the Bridegroom in his wedding Robes A third sort have had their work allotted them to shew Christians how to keep house with Iesus Christ These have directed Christians how to walk closely with Iesus Christ of that number have been our Bolton and Burroâ—ghs and Sibbs and Downham A fourth sort have been Gods weeders making it their work to deliver poor souls from the snares of the Devil and the truth of God from those errours which this age hath brought forth And no wonder if in greater plenty then former times in regard we have had a summer so wet with showers of grace in the dispensations of Gospel-mysteries excelling the drinesse of former times A fifth sort there have been though a scanter number that have attended upon Christs hospitall indeavouring to heal the wounds of bruised spirits In this way have our Downham and Bolton and Sedgwicks and Sibbs laboured in part I have laboured to rank my self in the latter number offering to thee some Receits for the staying of thy soul if sick of love If there be any thing in this Treatise spoken to thy souls particular wants Let God have the glory and the Author thy prayers Sure I am to some of those in whose ears they were delivered they were As apples of Gold in Pictures of silver Think not there is any vertue in these lines they are but as Elishaes staff to the face of the dead childe Possibly thou mayest from hence discover how irrationall the temptations of Sathan are if once duly weighed Use these poor meditations with faith and prayer and possibly Christ may honour them so far as to make them instrumentall for the clearing the way of thy faith and establishing thy souls peace Truly Reader it was not my own but others opinion of them which hath made them publike If by removing a block out of thy way they but quicken thy pace to Iesus Christ if by removing or preventing thy doubts they adde but a dram to thy faith it shall be mâ—â—crown if they but discover to thee the evenues of Gods wayes which the Devil and thy and my base heart would make rugged I have my end who desire nothing from them but a giving glory to God in helping on the peace of thy soul My intention is to make a further progresse I have sent this but to usher the way and to see if this age can like any treatise that quarrels not in cholerick disputes nor smells of novelties It is a sad Age Christian in which we live while most of our time is spent in Tithing mint and Annis we neglect the weightier things of God law Disputing opinions hath eaten up the Religion of Christians we are all too apt to spend more time in examining our Brethrens Tenets then in searching our own hearts How much of our times How many of our Books are spent in quarrelling for the Ius Divinum of a Church-government which is but as the mint and Annis to the weightier things of Gods Law Yet am I not of so loose principles as to think The Government of the Church a meer circumstance nor can I think that form of Government worth taking up in a street that for the essentials is not to be found in the word of God Iuxta secundum are terms I understand not Every Truth of Christ hath the brightnesse of a star in its forehead but of these stars some differ from others in glory Reader thou shalt see here a great deal of the poor creatures weaknesse but his strength must be perfected in weaknesse whose work it is to stay up the hearts of them that relye upon him Search the Scriptures see if these things be true which thou here meetest with if they be receive them for truths sake and use them as an handkerchief to wipe the tears from thine eyes I have endeavoured neither to darken them with misty expressions nor yet to paint them with beauteous vermilion-language I had rather they should take thine heart then thine ear and be rather an object of thy meditation then admiration I remember that true speech of Hierom in his Epist ad Nepotianum instructing him how to preach Docente te in Ecclesiâ non clamâ—r populi sed gemitus suscitetur lachrimae auditorum laudes tuae sint Sermo Presbyteri scripturarum sale conditus sit Nolo te declamatorem rabulam garrulumque sine ratione seâ— mysteriorum peritum Sacramentorum Dei tui eruditissimum Verba volvere celeritate dicendi apud imperitum vulgus admirationem sui facere indoctorum hominum est Nihil tam facile quam vilem plebeculam indoctam concione linguaeque volubilitate
them he saves We say no for even the works of Gods spirit of grace acting in us are our works and salvation is not of works but of grace And this Evangelicall lesson is hinted to us even in the Ceremoniall Law The Lord commands a yearly day of atonement Levit. 16. for the sins of the holy Place To prove this I might instance in all those Text of Scripture of which the Epistle to the Romans and Galatians are especially full and so the Epistle to the Ephesians which treat concerning the Doctrine of Justification and clear it not to be of works neither internall nor externall but of grace But I will instance but in one Titus 3. 5 6 7. But after that the kindenesse saith he and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration Mark ye by it not for it Gods mercy and free-grace is the ground of the souls acceptation and therefore consider upon what principle thou runnest that concludest I have not yet been enough humbled for to be accepted as if thy humiliation were the reason and ground of Gods acceptation Indeed we ought never to think that we are enough humbled yet we ought alwayes to think that humiliation too much and that sense of our sins too much which hinders Faith for it destroyes its end Therefore why art thou thus troubled Christian with this conceit that your Faith is no Faith because before it you wept not just so many tears It is Faiths work to beleeve and apprehend the souls acceptation before God Now Gods acceptation as you have heard is never for the souls humiliation and therefore what should hinder thy Faiths working in apprehending thy acceptation before God because thou art not accepted for this work any more then any other Nay Secondly Thy humiliation is not a ground of Faith Thou doest not therefore apply Christ because thou art so and so humbled Put case that a great Prince should be willing to bestow his son in marriage upon a poor peasant onely saith he I will make this term or condition that when you come to marrie him you shal come in sackcloth to shew what ye are he shal give you a better garment afterwards wil any one say that this maids coming to the marriage arraied in sackcloth is a ground of her so rich mariage or will any say it is a meritorious condition that she deserveth such a match to come so attired Surely no the ground of all is the Princes delight in her this is the ground of his taking her to wife and yet the King commanded that attire So the Lord saith Poor vild wretch I will give thee my Christ in marriage but thou shalt come weeping to shake hands with him weeping for thy sins he shall afterwards take off thy sackcloth garments Can any say that this is either a meritorious cōdition or a ground of acceptation or Faith Consider Christian wert thou never so much humbled thou couldst not say I will therefore beleeve because I am humbled Humiliation is a necessary antecedent to Faith 〈◊〉 ground of Faith Let 〈◊〉 that therefore be a stumbling block to thee which cannot be a pillar and foundation to thee if thy Faith cannot stand upon it let it never stumble upon it And thus I have done with the second thing I propounded which was to propound such considerations to such souls as were under this temptation as might comfort their hearts and strengthen and stablish them Onely I beseech you remember to whom I have been speaking all this while not to hard-hearted stony souls but to broken and humbled souls not to those that regard not to get their souls humbled at all but to those that are humbled that they can be humbled no more and that groan under the hardnesse of their own hearts not to those that presume to apply their hot boiling lusts and corruptions to the blood and wounds of Jesus Christ flattering themselves with a notion of Faith and conceiting they do beleeve but to those that are humbled though they cannot have a good thought of themselves I would not be misunderstood to have spoken one word to slight the work of humiliation or to cherish that licentious novell Doctrine that there is no need at all of it and a Christian shall not need regard it but what I have spoken hath been not for dead men what should they do with cordialls but for dying fainting swooning Christians not for them that consider their sins too little but for them that so dim their eyes with poring on them that they cannot see the absolute covenant of God and the free-grace of Christ and lay hold upon the promises of life There is an extream on either side the sober Christian avoids either and keeps the mean So I have done with the second thing I propounded viz. to propound some considerations which might comfort the afflicted soul under this affliction and strengthen it to resist this temptation For without question as the Devil hath a designe upon many a soul to run it upon a rack of presumption and carry it on in a blind notion of Faith so he hath a designe upon some souls to wrack them upon the sands and sink them in a pit of despair The Devils devouring voice to souls is either There is no need of humiliation or there is no humiliation enough I come now to the last thing which I propounded which is to give some directions to such souls as are burthened with this affliction and groan under this temptation how to demean themselves and what to do I will reduce all that I shall speak by way of direction to these heads First Eye the nature of the covenant and grace and promises of God more Secondly Eye the nature and cause of humiliation more Thirdly Labour to get thy heart more humbled First of all Eye the nature of God declared in the free dealings out of his grace to thee This I shall enlarge in three instances 1. Eye Gods covenant and the nature of that 2. Eye Christs grace and the nature of that 3. Eye the Promises and the nature of them First Eye the nature of God in his covenant more The cause of this affliction is Christians too much eying and poring upon their sins and themselves the penitent beleever ought to have two eyes one to look downward another to look upward This is that which David comforted himself with when he considered his own unworthinesse and the unworthinesse of his house 2 Sam. 23. 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is my salvation and all my desire although he maketh it not to grow David though a man according to Gods own heart yet had a wicked house Absolom had slain his brother rebelled against his Father
is but a dark and forced act of his will not a voluntary and clear act of it closing with the truth and embracing of it nor can it be because as I have shewed his assent of his will cannot proceed from a well enlightned understanding without the precedency of which the will is but ravished into an assent The understanding is that which holds the candle to the will in the soul Now the assent and credence which every true beleever gives to the word of truth though it be an act of the will for it is the wills act to delight in and close with and â—eal yet it proceeds from a spiritually and clearly enlightened understanding for it is the understandings office to dictate to the will Now assent in the wicked man is but an act of his will without any clearnesse in the understanding the understanding onely presenting the truth as a notion or tradition or commonly received opinion this is far from an act of Faith but such as the devils have It is like the Athenian devotion Paul coming to Athens Act. 17. 23. found an Altar with this superscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the unknown God Their worshipping argued some assent of the will and the will alwayes following the dictate of the understanding It is certain that there was some knowledge the truth was this Their understanding had gathered up some generall notions of the Deity That there was a God c. and these might be seen by the light of nature or heard from their forefathers and suckt in by tradition And it is plain it was no more for they ingenuously confesse that the God whom they worshipped was unknown to them they knew that there was a God and possibly that this God was a spirit and that this God must be worshipped Naturall eyes discern all this but it was not a clear and distinct knowledge and assent they worshipped they knew not what their Altar was to the unknown God As many name-Christians beleevers at large now a dayes mutter over their common-prayers to their unknown God and come to Church to worship an unknown God onely their fathers or mothers have told â—hem there is a God and a Christ and this â—â—rist came into the world to save sinners and they must be good Church-men and serve God c. But now where this is an assent in the soul to a truth as an act of true Faith it is out of a distinct and clear understanding It conceives a great deal of reason why it should beleeve such a truth close with such a promise assent to such a word and the soul so clearly and brightly sees the truths that it sets its hand and heart unto that it wonders at the blindenesse of carnall men that they should not see it as clear as they do but yet be blinde to the things of God when for their parts they are as clear to their souls as the sun when it shineth at bright noon-day And therefore Faith is called Heb. 11. 1. The evidence of things not seen The word translated evidence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a convincing demonstration it commeth of the Greek verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leigh critica which signifies say criticks so to convince and bring evidence and reason for a thing and prove it by demonstration so clearly that no man can either deny it or object against it or so much as pretend an objection against it Such is Faith to the gracious soul it perswadeth the soul so to assent that the soul is clearly convinced of the thing to be assented to Faith hath so fully perswaded the soul of the word truth promise that it desires its hand and heart to that the soul is fully satisfied in it and is clear in it Though the beleeving soul neither doth see nor expects to see the brightnesse of sublime mysteries by the eye of carnall reason yet it sees by another eye and so clearly every thing that it assents to that it conceives there can be no darknesse in it no reason nor objection pretended against it but frivolous and vain and of no value This is Faiths first act stedfast clear assent Now in this the soul may possibly deceive it self The second Act of Faith which we ordinarily say is the very marrow and essence of justifying Faith is reliance and dependency upon Jesus Christ when the soul having been perswaded of the word of truth and assented to it doth in the next place hang and depend upon it as the word upon which it must live and commits his soul to Christ and hangs upon him as the Christ by which he onely can be saved This I say is that Act which justifieth A learned Author hath noted six words in Scripture Ball in his Treat of Faith by which the Holy-ghost doth expresse to us the nature and work of beleeving First Faith exprest by six words Beleeving put in opposition to fainting Psa 27. 13. I had fainted unlesse I had beleeved Secondly Trusting put in opposition to fearing Psal 78. 22. They trusted not in his salvation they were afraid of the Canaanites Thirdly Betaking to as to a castle Psal 2. 12. Our translation reades it Blessed are all they that trust in him But Mollerus saith it signifies Protectionis causâ aliquò confugere se recipere verbum appositum saith he to fly to some place for protection as to a castle in a time of danger Fourthly By a word that signifieth To lean and relye upon as an old man leaneth on a staff 2 Chron. 16. 7 8. Because thou didst relye upon the Lord he did deliver them into thy hand verbatim say Expositors because thou didst lean upon him as thy staff Fifthly By another word That signifies to stay up the minde as with a prop Esau 48. 2. You stay your selves upon the Lord from fearing despairing from sinking dejections c. A sixth word by which it is exprest is rolling and hanging upon as a drowning man on a boy Psal 37. 5. So that we may say That the very essentiall act in which consists the marrow of justifying Faith is this When the soul being perswaded of the truth of Gods eternall word gives a fâ—ll and fixt assent and credence to it to every curse and threatning as well as to every promise and yet doth not faint nor sink in despair nor drown in sorrow but in this apprehension of its lost and undone condition runs to Iesus Christ as a safe castle and hangs upon him committing the whole burthen of its soul unto him and stayes there leaning upon him and the promises of life made in him to the soul This is now justifying Faith which afterwards creates in the soul a quiet â—esting in God a sweet delighting in God a stedfast hope in him and a patient waiting for him and at last a confident assurance of him But this is certainly Faith so far as is upon pain of damnation necessary
and preach what need men in naturall condition have of Jesus Christ what a wofull condition they are in without him what a readinesse there is in Christ to save them and upon this presse faith doe you think it is not possible that some soule may be startled and run out of it self and rest truly upon Christ and yet not be for the present so well instructed as to give you an account of the Trinity of persons And yet without question it is a truth and a fundamentall truth too Acts 19. v. 2. Paul came to Ephesus and found certain men that were Disciples v. 1. He asks them if they had received the Holy Ghost they ingenuously confest that they were so farre from receiving the gifts of the Holy Ghost that they had not so much as heard whether there was an Holy Ghost or no I know most of expositors construe it of the gifts of the holy Ghost but for my part I cannot subscribe to their opinion but think the latter clause hath more then the former and that there is an emphasis in their answer and so Ioh. 20. v. 9. we find the Disciples of Christ ignorant in the point of Christs Resurrection from the dead and Christ chides his Disciples for their ignorance in this point The Disciples were ignorant concerning the Father Ioh. 14. 8. Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Luk. 24. v. 5. The very Apostles were ignorant in the point of Christs Kingdome and rule and dreamt of Christs restoring the temporall Kingdome to Israel Act. 1. v. 6. This is the case of many a poor Christian it may be it cannot read or it hath not lived where there hath been any faithfull powerfull soule-enlightning preaching but when Gods time comes he brings the soule to heare and it doth possibly heare of its poor naturall undone condition and that there is none other name by which the Christian may be saved but onely the Name of Jesus yet this now being the work of Gods Spirit the spirit carries on its own work and creates faith in the soule brings the soule to trust and rely on Iesus Christ There may be divers fundamentall points that the soule all this while hath not heard a word concerning as how many yeare sometimes doth a Minister preach and not directly meddle with the Doctrine of the Trinity c How many weeks and not preach the Doctrine of the Resurrection But here is now the condition of such a Christian after the Spirit of God hath enlightned him and convinced him c. the poor soule that regarded not instruction before now begins perhaps to learn to read pray now he heareth the Word more enquireth concerning God more c. and every day discovers more truth then other to which the soul by nature was blinded then begins Satans work the soule reflects upon it self and begins to say now Wo is me I have my work still to begin I have made my self beleeve I have been a beleever so long and alas I have been a poor blind ignorant wretch blind to the truths of Iesus Christ c. how could I beleeve while I knew so little Yes Christian thou mayest be a Scholler though thou beest but in thy Accidence there are some truths which are the Credenda ad salutem the very foundation upon which salvation standeth Now true faith is not consistent without these I cannot rest upon Christ and Christ onely for salvation and yet not know that there is a Christ nor what this Christ is how proportionate a Saviour for me without question the knowledge of the Doctrine of faith in Iesus Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of man what he is what he hath done what need we have of him what a fulnesse there is in him what a sufficiencie of salvation for every soule that beleeveth c. is so much knowledge as is absolutely necessary and without which no soule can be saved yet this must not be understood without some caution as I shall shew you anon for though it be truth such a blind soule may be enlightned so far as truely to beleeve yet if so it will deny no truth but labour and thirst after the knowledge of every truth A man may be a Grecian and yet not know every word in the Greek tongue no not every Radix Beleevers shall not bee saved by their Book Secondly A Beleever may be ignorant in many circumstanciall points of Religion and yet be a true Beleever this is clear from many examples in Scripture Peter himself did not know he might eat those birds and beasts Acts 11. which to the Iewes were unclean The beleeving Romanes did not know their liberty in point of holy-dayes Rom. 14. and eating of meats first offered to Idolls Gal. 4. which maketh the Apostle take a great deale of paines for setting Rules to strong Christians how to carry themselves in relation to their weak brethren Gal. 5. whose consciences were stumbled at their eating both in the 24. Chap. of his Epistle to the Romanes and also in his Epistle to the Corinthians he harps upon the same string again The Churches of Galatia and Colosse were ignorant about the point of Christian liberty The indulgent Master will not throw away the childs Exercise for want of a Comma Christ rejects not the Christians Faith because it is not fringed with a knowledge in every circumstantiall in Religion I call no truth circumstantiall as by a slighting and neglective terme for it is a beame of God but as comparatively though they be truths to be known embraced loved practised yet they touch not the vitals of salvation as I may say They are not necessary to be known ad esse to make a true beleever Thirdly a Christian may be ignorant in the History of the Bible and yet have true justifying faith Every Scholler is not a Chronologer nor an Historian no more is every beleever I may know what Christ was though I know not what Moses and Aaron were I may know which way Christ took to bring my soule out of darknesse into marvellous light though I do not know which way Moses took to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt I may know there is but one King of Kings though I do not know how many Kings there were of Israel and Iudah The Disciples did not know all the Prophets had spoken Luk. 24. 25. Fourthly a Christian may be a true beleever and yet not know the meaning of many places in Scripture God would never have appointed expounders of the Law if every Christian qua Christian were to have been a generall Commentator That Well is deep and every one hath not a Bucket to draw There are that tell us that â—e Spirit reveales the meaning of Scripture to the beleever and would thence evince that whoso hath the Spirit must needs bee fit to unty every knot and unriddle every mystery of Scripture but every one that hath
yet at all times the soule may not be able to say this promise of Heaven and glory and happinesse belongs to me Psal 77. 7 8 9. Holy Asaph in a dark day with his soule may say Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy cleane gone for ever Doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies The reason lies not that the soule doubts of the truth of God in his promises at all no it verily thinketh that if it had fulfilled the conditions of the promises the promises would remaine to its soule as stedfast as Mount Sion but it cannot see that It looks upon its sinnes in a multiplying glasse and upon its repentance in a diminishing glasse Every mountaine of good in its selfe now seemes a Mole-hill and every Mole-hill of sinnes seemeth a Mountaine unto it Thence it is that in the soules dark day of afflictions in the soule or in a dark day of afflictions to the body the soules faith is weakned it is ready to look upon its great affliction as an evidence that it wanteth that interest in God which it should have to apply promises It sayes with Gideon Iudg. 6. 13. when the promise saith like the Angel The Lord is with thee it answers O my Lord if the Lord be with me why then is all this beâ—alne me and where be all his mercies no the Lord hath forsaken me and delivered me to the hand of Satan now the soule must not take a judgement of its faith from hence but appeale abanima perturbata ad animam quietam to a calm day in the soule again Lastly In dark times the truly beleeving soule though it can give no reason for it may not be able to rest and apply the most absolute peculiar promises as its peculiar portion this I shall fully make out by considering what is requisite to be in the soule that shall appropriate any promise to it selfe as its portion upon which it will live in which and upon which it will dwell The Eleventh SERMON LUKE 17. v. 5. Lord increase our faith I Am still treating concerning those doubts and weaknesses which may and often doe consist with true saving faith in a gracious soule My last Proposition I left imperfect it was as you may remember this That a gracious soule may truly rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and upon his promises for eternall life and yet not be able at all times fully and truely to appropriate and peculiarize all the promises to its self This I shewed in foure Propositions premising first a distinction of promises and secondly a distinction of times my last Proposition was this That in dark times a truly gracious soule may not be able to rest upon and apply the most absolute free promises for salvation so far as to say These promises are my portion To make out this I told you I would shew you what things are requisite to be in the soule that shall appropriate any promise to it selfe as its particular portion whiâ—h is the work at which I then stopt and which I have now to take up for here is the busines with troubled spirits tell them of large absolute free promises as say they here are jewels in boxes but these belong not to us they are not our portion and from hence further they conclude that they have not any true faith because they have not for the present a particular full power to apply these promises as plaisters to their wounded soules and rest upon them but yet I shall shew you the want of this doth not null our faith and is not alwayes a negation of it I conceive there are three things that are requisite to be found in the soule that shall be able to apply any particular promise to its selfe as its portion 1. A cleare understanding of the Promise 2. A cleare understanding of its own condition 3. A mighty and particular working of the Spirit of God upon the soule inabling the souâ—e to make such particular application First There must be a cleare understanding of the Promise the promise must appear to the soule as a salve having a full efficacie and vertue in it for the healing of its sore otherwise the soule can never apply it now it may possibly be that thy non-application of the promise may proceed from thy not understanding the vertue or misunderstanding the intent and end and power and efficacie of the promise possibly thou mayest understand the promise to be made particular when it is propounded generall and such have I my selfe sometimes met with that being under afflictions of spirit when I have propounded a promise to them as a salve fit for their sore they have evaded that way Ah! but that promise was made to the Iewes or to such or to such a particular person it was a plaister spread for anothers wound and what have I to doe to lay hold on it Or it was not made for such a sinner as I am not for a backslider not for such an hard hearted wretch as I am c. and with such cavils have stood at a distance from the promise crying It is not meet that the childrens bread should be given to dogs or perhaps their non-application may proceed from a misunderstanding of the matter of the promises Now for this thou must cleare up thy understanding in the nature of the promise both in respect of the persons to whom it is made and in respect of the matter of the promise and for the more cleare and full understanding of the promise I shall give a rule or two The first is remarkable I find it in a reverend Author which I shall deliver in his words with a little limitation thus Generall promises for spirituall mercies are alwayes to be applyed particularly and particular promises for spirituall and temporall mercies are to be applyed generally I call those generall promises which are either made to Gods people in generall or concerning spirituall things in generall as for example God had made a generall promise to any that should pray toward his Temple 1 King 8. 37. 40. Iehosaphat being after in distresse 1 King 8. 3â— 40. applyed this generall promise to his owne particular condition 1 Chron. 20. 8. 10. 1 Chron. 20 8. 10. And without question it was from a particular faith in this generall promise that Daniel prayed with his windowes open towards Hierusalâ—m Dan. 6. 10. Dan. 6. 10. and so for those promises which are made to the people of God for spirituall mercies in generall Psa 84. 11. such is that promise Psal 84. 11. He will give grace and glory and no good thing will be with-hold from them that live uprightly ought to be applyed for any spirituall good thing Iam. 1. 12. or particular dispensation of grace So the Apostle Iames 1. 12. would have the
nature of his disease and the vertue of the salve with which the Plaister is spread that is to be applied to the sore hee is not able yet to apply it and lay it on for cure the hand of the Chirurgeon or some other for him must doe this Ro. 8. 16. So it is with the Soule Ro. 8. 16. The Spirit it self must beare witnesse with our spirits that wee are the children of God now unlesse that be witnessed we have nothing to do with the promise the children of the promise must be the children of God and in being his children they become â—â—ires of the promise as the Apostle disputes Gal. 3. It is a sweet and remarkable expression of David to this purpose Psal 119. Psal 119. â—9 v. 49. Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope It is God and his spirit that must cause us to hope and trust in his word Now in regard that the Saints and Servants of God may though they alwayes have the spirit dwelling in them yet sometimes have the Spirit not so fully and powerfully acting in them the strong and powerfull actings of the Spirit it being the effects of Gods manifestive love which may be more or lesse in a Christian though his elective love admits of no degrees I say in this regard I conceive a Christian may have true saving Faith and yet not for the present at all times bee able to apply the promises with a particular Faith as its owne proper and peculiar portion And now you have heard the reasons which may be reduced shortly thus 1. Because there may be a misunderstanding or a cleare ignorance of the vertue of the promises which must be understood before they can bee particularly applyed 2. Because there may be a misunderstanding of the soules condition it may say there is no hope and judge its wounds incurable 3. Because there may want such a constant powerfull working of the Spirit of God in the soule as must be joyned with the soules peculiar application and yet there may be true faith For the first I conceive the particular applying of the promise with a confidence they are my portion doth argue a sense of faith which may not be in the soule and yet true faith be in it Secondly Because as a man must not be judged to be no man because he wants his power to act reason in a Feaver So the estimate of the truth of faith that is in the soule must not be taken in the distemperature of the soule when under heavy temptations or secondly dark and melancholy apprehensions or thirdly overpressing afflictions or fourthly sad desertions Thirdly Because there is a difference between resting out of a principle of hope which argues onely a relyance and dependance and out of a principle of certainty and perswasion applying The truly beleeving soule when out of desertions For hope which is seen is no hope and from under temptations and not burtheâ—d with afflictions and melancholy doth alwaeys apply the promises with an application of hope it hopes they belong to it Rom. 8. 24. though not alwayes with an application of perswasion now the application of hope and the resting out of a principle of hope But our hope must be lively provided there be an acting accordingly is enough to save Rom. 8. 24. â— Pet. 1. 3. 4 We are saved by hope 1 Cor. 15. 19. 1 Col. 27. But yet this we must not rest in but labour for a full perswasion the full assurance of hope Heb. 6. 11. Thou mayest apply thy selfe to the promse when thou canst not apply the promise to thee But of this more in the next Sermon The Twelfth SERMON LUKE 17. v. 5. Lord increase our faith CHAP. XII Concerning those weaknesses that may accompany the highest act of faith viz. Assurance And how to satisfie the soule that scruples its faith because it cannot be assured at all or weakly and unconstantly MY subject is to discover what doubts and weaknesse may be in relation to the last and highest act of Faith in a gracious soule for there is nothing more ordinary then to heare such complaints as these from a gracious soule Alas never tell me of faith I have no opinion at all that ever I shall be saved never did poor soule live at such incertainties I pray I look upward I desire I faint I groan I swoon and yet not a drop of cordiall water of perswasion that my Christ will afford me to revive my dying spirit or if I do sometimes catch up a perswasion in my soule and come to think that I have an interest in God it is but a bare thought and so weake that it is scarce able to â—â—â—nd a day sometimes indeed for a day or a week or a month together I could blesse my soule in a good condition but then againe I am as full of doubts and feares and is there any certainty in this faith am I not like a wave of the Sea tost about with thousands of winds One while I think I am sure of heaven and glory and am as it were wrapt up into a third heaven and the diademe of glory is fitting on to my head another while I am thrown down to hell and me thinks every Devill is tracing mee I will with the help of my God endeavavor to satisfie thee and shew thee what weaknesse may consist with this act and in relation to this act of Faith in these ensuing Conclusions Conclus 1. Thou wayst have a true and certaine faith and such a one as will richly save thee and yet have no assurance of thy salvation Indeed my severall Sermons that I preacht upon this Subject doe all concurre to the proofe of this truth for if a Christian may have saving Faith and yet so much weaknesse and doubting consist and be contemporaneous with it in the soule it will necessarily follow that Assurance is not the minimum quod sic the least degree of saving Faith But now it lying in my way I shall speak something more distinctly to it There are Opinions on the right hand and on the left concerning this sublime act of our Faith 1. The Papist denies any possibility of Assurance and reviles that pretious Doctrine as licentious and pleads only for a generall faith to believe the history of the Word and the Articles of Faith c. 2. The Antinomians on the other side deny any Faith to be true Faith that is accmpanied with any kind of doubting a full assurance they will make the minimum quod sic the least Faith that can help a man to heaven Some Reverend Writers living neare the time of the reign of that Popish Doctrine denying anything of perswasion to come into the nature of true saving Faith and setting themselves in full opposition to it have not a little though unwillingly contributed to the last opinion defining Faith to be a perswasion of the
inferre a negative conclusion from ouâ— sense Sometimes wee see not the beames of the Sun the interposition of the Moone doth hinder us in an eclypse from beholding its light yea dark clouds we see ordinarily will doe it what shall we therefore conclude that the Sun doth not shine or that the Sunne doth not cast an influence upon the creatures this we should call ridiculous In like manner thou sayest I doe not feele God casting his influence of grace upon my soul strengthening me against my corruptions nor so shining upon me with beames of enlivening quickning grace my heart is not quick in his service it is dead unto duties and dull in them I doe nor feel the heat of the Son of Righteousnesse warming my soule with beames of love c. therefore wilt thou conclude God doth not doe it The Psalmist cryes out for want of feeling Psal 22. v. 1. Psal 22. v. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and art so farre from my health and from tâ—e words of my roaring and so hee goes on v. 2. O my God I cry by day time and thou hearest not and in the night and have no audience Mark Christian holy men may sometimes want feeling did not God think you heare David had he indeed no audience according to his sad thoughts Ah! saith a Christian but there was some comfort though he did not feele peace yet hee did feele strengh he felt God enabling him to pray and cry and seek him but I cannot feele this Heark yet once againe to Asaph Psal 77. v 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak David Psal 51. v. 10. 11 12. He prayes to God to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him and v. 14. to confirm him with a free spirit And yet shall we think that at this time David had not the sweet influences of Gods holy Spirit if so we are confuted from the foregoing verse Cast me not away from thy presence take not thy holy spirit from me By all which it may easily appeare that it is one thing not to feel God strengthening and quickning us and another thing for him not to doe it The working of Gods Spirit within us is very secret according to the nature of the Spirit we doe not feele the starres influence upon us nor yet the actings of our soules within us and yet it is certaine they have an influence upon us and that our soules do subtilly and secretly act in all in every part of our bodies and therefore secondly Consid 2. That the truth of Gods love to thee in his acting in thee is not so easily to bee discerned in the acting and working of God as in the effect of such acts and operations secret acts of spirituall substances are not to be discerned and understood in agendo but in affecto not in the doing but when they are done we cannot feel the soules conveying of its influence and power of working through every part of the body wee cannot understand or see or feele the time when it doth it nor the manner how it doth it c. yet we know it is done and that is enough for us thou canst not see nor feel the acting of the vegetative soule in the plant thou canst not feel how it growes or see when it growes or understand the moment of its shooting out yet thou sayest it doth act the plant is grown and the vegetative soule in it hath questionlesse been the internall principle of its growth You may possibly see a man in some lethargick disease or in a trance that you shall not see or discern that his soule is yet in his body you shall not discerne his pulse to beat nor discern him to breath but all possibly in the room may judge him dead yet his body keepes still warme doth not stiffen or grow cold his eyes are not set nor his chap fallen and possibly by applying a glasse to his mouth you may discern he yet breathes and lives and consequently you may gather the mans soule hath not yet taken its leave of the body for then you know hee would grow stiff and cold and so you conclude that his pulse doth still beat though so obscurely that you cannot feele or discerne it so it may bee with thy soule Christian the invisible worke of God in acting his grace in thee quickning strengthning thee moving thee to spirituall duties if thou lookest to see it and feele it acting as thou mayest feel the beating of thy pulse upon thy wrist thou mayst be deceived it may beat darkly and secretly it is a secret work of a spirituall substance and yet thou mayest be comforted in it if thou wilt but look to the effects if thy soul and body do not grow stiffe and cold stinking with old sins and lusts and base corruptions there is some spirituall life that keeps thy soule warm though thou canst not feele Gods secret and spirituall working in thy soule in the very act of warming and quickning thee and enabling thy soule to love him and desire after him yet speake truth does not thy soule love him doest thou not delight in him doest thou not desire after him come let us put a glasse to the mouth of thy soule here 's a base lust and corruption which if thou actest thou shalt bewray the hatred of thy God to all the World darest thou doe it wilfully and knowingly here is a prophane company that would be glad of thy company and at the same time here 's an Ordinance of God at which if thou wilt be thou mayest possibly suck a great deale of sweetnesse and taste much of thy God where wilt thou be wilt thou baulk thy communion with God rather then with prophane and ungodly men If thou darest so it is something but on the contrary doth no communion no company please thee so as the company of the Saints of God and doth no communion like thee so as the communion thou hast with thy God in his Ordinances If so thou hast some spirituall life in thee for the dead man hath no such judicious pallat and if thou livest a spirituall life it is not thou that livest but Christ that liveth in thee and thou livest by Faith in the Son of God thus thou mayest easily discern that in the effects which thou couldst not in the working of the cause But Alas saith a poore Christian my willing and desiring is nothing for though to will bee present with me yet I have no strength to performe And what will you make a desire to beleeve and pray Faith and Prayer I answer raw desires and wishes are no more beleeving then Esaus weeping for the blessing was the blessing or Balaams wish to dye the death of the righteous was the happy end of such as dye in the Lord. But the sincere desires and good will of justified persons are accepted of the Lord for the deed and when
Christ pronounceth such blest as hunger and thirst after righteousnesse we say in that sense a sincere desire to pray and believe Ruth p. 14â— is materially and by concomitancy a neighbour and neere a kin to beleeving and praying A verball or seminaâ—â— intention to pray beleeve love Christ do his will is in the seed of praying beleeving c. when the intention is supernaturall and of the same kind with the act as the seed is the tree we say not so of naturall intentions or desires As Abrahams sincere intentions to offer up his sonne was the offring of his son c. But I go to a third consideration Thirdly therefore consider that feeling at the best is but a deceivable and disputable evidence ofttimes conclusions grounded upon sense are false and sink in time If thou judgest thy condition by feeling thou mayest ofttimes think God doth nothing for thee though he be at that instant fully enlivening thee c. and againe think that God is at peace with thee and that hee carrieth thee out to duties c. when there is no such matter and it is nothing but the strength of natuarall parts that carrieth thee out c. Saul thought he had a great deal of feeling 1 Sam. 15. 13. when he came to meet Gods messenger he cryes out Blessed be thou of the Lord I have kept the Commandments of the Lord But yet the following part of that story will tell you that Saul was far enough off from any true feeling of peace and comfort So without question those in Mat. 7. 22. judged themselves to have a great deale of feeling of Gods strength when they had prophesied in Gods name and in his name cast out Devils and in his name done many wonderfull workes yet Christ professeth he would say to many such I never knew you depart from me yee workers of iniquity thou cryest thou dost not feele God carrying thee out in duties as many other Christians are and that which thou callest Gods spirit in them or in thy selfe may be no such matter it is not the courting of God with elegant eâ—â—â—essions that argues the strength of God assisting there is many a stammering non-sence prayer that hath more of the sweet spirit of God in it there may be a full heart though it runs not out of the lips so fast yea oftentimes the fulnesse of the heart causeth the straitnesse of the lips just as the fulnesse of the vessell may occasion the water to run slowly out of the hole for want of vent or wind The Apostle sayes that the Spirit of God helpeth our infirmities with cryes and groanes which cannot be uttered it doth not say it helpeth our infirmities with courtly expressions that cannot be paâ—alleled thou mayest when thou thinkest that God carrryes thee out with more strength and enlargement to duties call and misconstrue that to be the strength and assistance of the spirit of God which is occasioned meerly from thy owne clearenesse of naturall spirit when thou art in a little better vein of Rhetorick then thou wert Mistake not there is a distinction betwixt Praying gifts and Praying graces I observe it is said Iacob wrestled with God by vertue of strength from him subintellige This is the strength of the spirit the spirits worke is not to carry out our tongue in expressions but our heart in zeale and importunity It is not said that Iacob scraped leggs with God no he wrestled wee are but ill ludges of feeling commonly which makes feeling but a deceivable and disputable evidence Fourthly consider that No Christian feeleth alwayes alike yea perhaps hath no cause to feele alwayes aliâ—e God to the best of his dearest servants doth sometimes measure but an Ephah and sometimes but an Omer distinguish alwayes betwixt the truth of Gods love to his deare children and the actings I meane the visible actings of his love that of God which is not seene is alwayes full and certain to Christians I meane his elective love the yernings of his heart towards his deare children there is of God also that may be seen Psal 68. 24. They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my God in the Sanctuary Gods goings in a poor soule are sometimes very visible to a gracious soule but sometimes his goings are more secret and invisible yet he is alwaies going in acts of love and grace to his poore fervants only his goings are more mysterious and dark God sometimes goes a meere foot pace just sets one foot before another in them and towards them sometimes hee goes faster and more strongly in them and apparently towards them First Gods soft going in the soule may sometimes bee a cause why the soule cannot feel Peter had no reason to feel the strength of God alike when he shamefully denied his Master in the high Priests Hall as when hee durst venture to walke on the Sea towards him Secondly God withdrawes some degrees of his strength sometimes to try whether a Christian can stand upon the true legs of Faith as well as upon the wooden legs of sense the mother withdrawes her hand sometimes to see how the child can goe without trusting to the feeling of her hand guiding and supporting it Thirdly another cause may be in the Christian why he cannot feele God carrying him out to acts of his grace in his strength alwayes alike The soule may possibly have lost its feeling the benummed member doth not feele In sicknesses and deseases of the body Nature may sometimes bee so much infeebled that sometimes the party affected falls into a dead swound wherein he is deiprved for a time not only of the use of his understanding reason and memory but also of his sense motion and vitall functions So it may be with a Christian sin or the violence of some temptations of Sathan may bee such that the Christian cannot feele any thing the soule cast into a swound and deprived of all the spirituall faculties of it faith love life c. no wonder the soule for the present doth not feele the leg of the soule is asleep the whole soule is benummed how should it feel but let it alone a little as such body if not quite dead will quickly returne to its sense again and live and feele and move c. so likewise will the gracious soule quickly come to recover its life and sense and motion againe though the soule seemes to the judgement of sense to have no sap or principle of life in it yet consider it is winter-time with the soule stay but till the spring and summer while the frost hath done nipping and discolouring and the soule will have its sap visible and recover iâ—s beauty againe there is fire in the soule though it be caked up in the night wait but till the morning that the ashes be blown away you shall see the fire of Gods spirit is not extinguished in the soule I sleepe saith the Spouse but my heart waketh
at this instant in the midst of all your sad doubts walk closely with God according to the rule of his word Canst thou say Though I have been afflicted very much yet have I not departed from thy judgments Bee of good comfort Christian God shall wipe these teares from thy eyes And the God of Peace shall bruise Sathan under your feet shortly Rom. 16. 20. And now I have done with such doubts and scruples as may arise in gracious soules concerning the nature and acts and degrees of Justifying Faith To God only wise be glory through Iesus Christ for ever Amen Rom. 16. 27. FINIS READER The Author desires the charity of thy heart for the whole and of thy Pen for the mending these following Errata's of the Presse IN the Epistle to the Reader read he doth not say salibus c. page 1. read when the Ruler feared p. 56. for promise read premise p. 62. for recreated read revealed p. 68. for Thou saith read Thou sayest mend the same â—ault p. 69. p. 138. for redence read credence p. 142. for this is thy tempter read this is temper p. 189 for as say they read alas say they p. 196. read the promises have such an influence in stead of have made such p. 206. for tracing me read tearing me p. 218. for God comes in with sighes read God comes in with signes p. 235. for thou sayest read thou seest p. 254. for and they read and they say p. 258. for Son read Sun ibid. for perswades his sins read perswades him his sins If there be any more they are such literall mistakes as thine eye will easily correct An Exact Alphabeticall Table of all the principall things in the foregoing SERMONS A ADherence see Reliance Application of the promises to the soule in particular must be the wonderfull work of Gods Spirit pag. 202. Three things necessary to such a particular Application p. 189. 190. 191. 192. Application of hope and of perswasion p. 202. Assent an act of Faith what it is a â—ase of Conscience about it 136. 137. 138. What Assent is What manner of Assent is an act of Faith and what not Three properties of that Assent which is an act of true Faith It is the lowest act It is not the proper act of justifying Faith We may truly Assent when we think we doe not p. 137. 138. Assent true and pretended how to be discerned p. 137. 138. 139. Assent to every particular truth not absolutely necessary to Faith p. 144. Assent to other mens judgements concerning Scripture no act of Faith p. 146. 147. Weaknesses in Assent as an act of Faith p. 136. 137. 138. c. Two Cautions concerning weaknesse of Assent p. 153. 154. Assurance what it is it is not necessary to justifying Faith p. 206. 207. Popish and Antinomians opinion about it both false p. 207. 208. 211. 212. Assurance may bee true yet weak and inconstant in degree p. 215. At what times ordinarily it is strongest p. 217. 218. What Christians ordinarily have Assurance at their death and who want it p. 219 Assurance may be sometimes quite lost though once true and it is againe recoverable p. 219. Assurance how hindred p. 220. Atheisticall and blasphemous thoughts how we may know whithen they bee our own corruptions or the Devils temptations p. 141 142. 143. 144. B Believers will be sensible of their weak faith why p. 5. 6. 7. They will and ought to strive against it for an encrease why p. 7. 8. may bee comforted though their faith bee weak p. 8. 9. They can have nothing in Godâ— Decree can hinder their heaven p. 68. They have misgiving natures p. 163. They have winter and summer times what they are p. 183. At what times they may want a power to apply temporall promises p. 185. In dark dayes they may have true Faith and yet want a power to aâ—ply conditionall promises and absolute too p. 186. 187. They must truly understand their condition if they would apply the promises particularly p. 200. They must Believe for feeling as well as any thing else p. 242. Their doubts how they differ from unbelievers doubts see Doubts They doubt not the truth of the promise p. 252. They doubt in regard of something in themselves p. 255. 257. Five Notes concerning Believers doubts p. 258. 259. 260. 261. Their doubts if past seldome return or if they do not to stay p. 266. They conquer all doubts at last they may doubt p. 124. Their doubts differ from the other doubts of unbelievers in five different Effects p. 263. 264. 265. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost see Sinne against the Holy Ghost Blasphemous thoughts not the sinne against the Holy Ghost they may possibly not bee our own p. 96. C Charters of free-grace how slandered p. 67. 68. Christ cannot bee made rich with the â—oblers ends of our righteousnesse p. 84. Christ would have married Adam without a portion none since p. 84. He undertakes to his Father for great sinners p. 86. He was tempted to doubt of the truth of the Scriptures c. but he made the Devill run away p. 140. Clearnesse of truths to us severall wayes p. 150. 151. The Covenant of Grace was made with Christ for us p. 195. Reasons to prove it p. 195. The nature of it may comfort wounded Spirits p. 44. It is 1 Everlasting 2 Ordererd 3 Sure 4 Particular p. 44. 45. D Deniall of those truths we for the present are ignorant of dangerous p. 134. 135. What manner of deniall of truth is an ingredient into the sinne against the Holy Ghost p. 98. 99. Desertion makes Believers tremble p. 178. In the time of it Believers go to Christ but how p. 178. Desires to believe and pray how they are Faith and Prayer Mrâ— Rutherf â—pinion p. 237. The Devill proved a coward he durst not re-inforce an assault p. 142. 143 Directions for such at cannot feele God carrying them out so in his strength to duties as they desire p. 244. 245. Dispensations of free-Grace have been made to great sinners p. 46. They are made variously p. 46. 47. Two things may be gathered from the revealed difference of Gods free-Grace to Lydia and Paul in respect of Humiliation preceding Faith p. 47. 48. Doubtings may consist with Faith proved p. 124. 123. They are sinfull p. 123. They are not Faith p. 123. They may consist actually with habituall faith p. 123. Believers may Doubt or bee tempted to Doubt concerning the truth of the Scriptures p. 140. Disputing argues a weaknesse not a totall want of faith p. 160. 161. Doubtings in Believers how they differ from the doubtings of unbelievers p. 248. 249. 250. 251. 252. 253. 254. 255. 256. 257. 258. 259. 260. 261. 262. 263. 264. 265. They differ in their Principle p. 248. How Abraham doubted of infirmity p. 249. 250. That place Rom. 4. 20. concerning Abrahams doubting examined p. 249. 250. 251. Doubtings in Believers differ from doubtings in others in the occasion of