Though I am blind yet mine eyes are good Those that had the lepresse in the head were to be judged unclean Is it nothing to you still to remain useless unto others Is it nothing to you to be even in such times as these without an interest in God strangers from the life of God through ignorance Eph. 4.18 so as none of Gods ofters of himself do yet prevail with you Is it nothing to you to continue prepared for ruine Hos 1.14 The people that understand not shall not only stumble but fall i. e. 〈◊〉 â—ally perish O ye ignorant Professions Rev. 6.17 the great day of Gods wrath is coming and how will ye be able to stand O that you would yet know the things that belong to your peace Luc. 19.42 before they be hid from your eyes 3. Against Eryour Errour Take heed not only of not apprehending but of mis apprehending God and the things of God Hath not this been your 〈◊〉 Have not your apprehensions concerning God been very erroneous Have not some Professors thought That there is no God nor Devil nor Heaven nor Hell but what is within us and that â—n and grace were equally of God and agrecable to his will O! Be not alwayes deceived concerning the Providence of God his Worship his Minisiry his House his Discipline in his house Brook's Satans wiles Rom. 1.28 c. Is it nothing to you to be under the Gentiles heavy and dreadful Plague to be given up to a reprobate mind a mind void of judgement a mind disallowed rejected and abhorred of God a mind that all have cause to be ashamed of 1 cor 3 11 12 13 14 15. Is it nothing to you to suffer loss in Gods resiuing fire Is it nothing to you still to entertain that wâ—orish woman that hath caâ— down many wounded many yea slain many many strong men many great men many learned men yea many Professing men 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Is it nothing to you to be still in danger of Gods sending upon you strong delusions or aâ— the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the efficacy of errour that you should believe a lye the lye of lyes viz. Popery that you may be damned Ah Souls Can you seriously consider these hints and those you have in the Gospel-glass chap. 9. and not dread and stand upon your guard against every Errour in Religion True hatred is to the whole kind It is sad to frown on one Errour and to smile on another Gideon had seventy sons and but one bastard Judg 8.13 and yet the bastard destroyed all the rest One turn may bring a man quite out of his way Ah Lord said one this mercy I humbly beg that thou would rather take me and do any thing with me than to give me up to those sad Errours to which thousands have married their Souls and are in a way of perishing eternally Jam 1.16 O! Do not erre my beloved Brethren Take heed therefore of pride of that proud Curiosity I have already cautioned you against The meek or humble as the word signifieth will he guide in judgement the meek will he teach his way Psa 25.9 The same Author tells of a man who seeing in a Vision many snares of the Devil spread upon the earth sate down musing and said within himself Who shall pass through these Whereunto he heard a voice answering Humility shall pass through them To persist wilfully in Errour is Diabolical It were best we never erred next to that that we amend our Errours Take heed of being cententious against the truth Rom. 2. â— and disâ—bedient to the truth when made known unto you yea take heed of a voluntary sluggishness and an assected laziness as to searching out of Truth which cannot but expose a man to Errour for Truth doth commâ—â—dy keep so much State 1 Tim. 6.10 as not to reveal her self to any but those who studiously seek her Take heed also of Covetousness In a word be careful to subdue all your inordinate affections for they are of great force to sway the Judgement 4. Vnteachableness Against Unteachableness Take heed of unwillingness to get clear and right apprehensions of God Hath not this been your 〈◊〉 Have not you been not only ignorant and erroneous but unwilling to be instructed Have not you been not only destitute of Aliâ—d est ne 〈…〉 but opposite to the saving knowledge of God Light hath been offered but have not you shut your eyes against it And if some light hath broke in upon you Rom. 1.19 you have not liked to retain God in your knowledge Have you not wilfully rejected knowledge and hath not God therefore rejected you Hos 4.6 See Bâ—â— on the place Have not you caâ— off the knowledge of God witâ— contempt and despite as the word signifyeth Have not you cast off the means of knowledge And hath not God therefore took away the means of knowledge Have not you thought that you must busie your heads about some other matters and that you may do well enough without this knowledge if you do but know how to trade and to mannage your worldly businesses Have not you rejected the knowledge of that Truth especially that should have brought you to the true worship of God as those Priests did the knowledge that they must worship God at Jerusalem for fear of losing their estates Hath not God therefore in an extraordinary manner rejected you So much is noted thinks Tremellius by the redundancy of a letter in the word for Gods rejecting not found elsewhere in all the Scripture Have not you even studied to be ignorant of God Baâ—â—â—â—oughâ— on Hâ—s 4 1. Have not you therefore been for unteaching Priests and humane inventions in the worship of God which kept out of the Land of Israel the knowledge of God No wonder that God hath a controversie with the Land no wonder that God is contending with English Professors in a way of judgement no wonder if there be no peace in England to him that goeth out and cometh in 2 chron 15 3.5 but great vexations upon all the Inhabitants God vexing us with all adoersity So it was with Israel in the like case Israel was without the true God i. e. the true worship of God and without a teaching 〈◊〉 and in those times there was no peace c. No wonder â—â—at God hath made us to see 〈…〉 seeing we would not see No wonder that God is departed from us seeing we have said at least in our hearts Job 〈…〉 see Bâ—â—â— on Job 22. â—â— Depart for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Your Ignorance hath much incented God against you but your Vnteachableness much more O! dequaint now thy self with him I beseech you now now that the hand of God is out against your selves in some kind or other now that the hand of God â— much heavier
to inslave our consciences to Men be given up to so soar a bondage They shall be his servants that they may know my service and the service of the Kingdomes of the Country i.e. That they may know the difference between them the bondage of the one and the liberty of the other O that this may be your sin no more why should ye be any longer willing to be the servants of Men seeing one is your Master which is Christ 2. Sinful Incredulity Against Incredulity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere fidem habere testimonium accipere The assenting act of faith is a full perswasion of any truth upon a divine testimony The Hebrews the Greeks the Latines express it by such words as import believing or giving credit to Many think all Infidels are without the pale among Turks and Heathens But alas are not too many found in the bosomes of Churches The Israelites were Gods people and yet destroyed in the Wilderness because they believed not And may not we fear destruction for our unbelief Capel of temprations page 153 154. Are not we still guilty of not believing that God is what God is and what God saith One well observes that all sin comes from Atheisme for who would sin did he then verily believe that there were a God that saw all and would punish all And such a God God must be or no God And all sin tends to Atheisme for sin wipes out all the notions of a Deity as much as it can And when we are in sin we must be either willing to get out of it by Repemance or else we shall be willing to turn Atheists Guilt always saith another begets fear and fear hatred and hatred strikes at the being of the object hated Bates on Heb. 11.6 in M. E. at G. page 52. Gedolphins holy Arbor page 17 as is evident in Malefactors desiting there were no Law nor Judge Do not we say in our hearts there is no God so the fool the sinner doth It is Atheisme saith one when Men do but in their hearts say that it is all vanity which is spoken of God Are not we still guilty of not believing what God is Do not we deny if not expresly yet consequentially Gods absolute dominion to command us the goodness as well as righteousness of the law of God by which we ought to be ruled that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seeke him and the avenger of his adversaries that he sees our thoughts afar off and that our greatest secrets are naked and open to anatomized and diffected before his eyes that he is good yea the chief good Are not we still guilty of not believing what God saith which of us is yet fully perswaded that our losses for Christ shall be made up with the hundred fold in this life because he hath said Verily there is no Man that hath left House Luk. 18.29 30. mat 19 29. or Parents or Brethren or Wife or Children for the Kingdome of Gods sake who shall not receive manyfold in this present time He shall according to Matthew receive an hundred fold Which of us yet believes that God will repay what ever we lay out for his poor servants because he hath said Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and that which he hath given will be pay him again Which of us yet believes that if we will be Christs witnesses none of the World will cordially love us Mat. 10.22 because he hath said yee shall be hated of all Men for my names sake Which of us yet believes that all Hells and the Worlds hatred can do a Child of God no hurt because he hath said Blessed are yee when Men shall revile you Mat. 5.11 and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my Names sake We are indeed apt to beguile our selves and others in professing that we receive Gods testimony in all that he speaks but the Apostle tells us there is a denial of God in works Tit. 1.16 as well as in words and certainly denial in works is the strongest denial and manifests that our affirming what God saith in words is but meer hypocrisie that we do but flatter God with our mouth Psal 73 35 compared with v. 40 41. and lie unto him with our tongues Are not we still guilty of neglecting to get our hearts more and more established in believing that God is what God is and what God saith Is not this a lamentation and should it not be for a lamentation should we not mainly repent of our unbelief seeing it is not only the provocation but the cause of all our other provocations Hebr. 3 8. No wonder that God hath shamed the throne of our glory seeing we have rob'd God of his glory by our unbelief What is Gods declarative glory but his reputation in the World Unbelief takes away Gods reputation it makes him of no credit in the World it makes him a lyar 1 John 5 10. Rom. 3.3 By unbelief we attempt to make the faith of God i. e. his faithfulness of none effect O! repent repent that God who is no debtor to you who was never worse then his word hath so little credit with you who profess to be his servants his children his spouses No wonder that we are kept in the Wilderness yea in a manner brought back into Egypt We may thank our unbelief for shutting us out of Canaan Heb 3 19 They could not enter in because of unbelief No wonder that Gods promises the only solid grounds o◠comfort in times of tryal do not cannot comfort us alas Psal 27 13 they have no credit with us We faint because we believe not O that this sin may be your sin no more Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you for the future an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Hebr 3 12 and thereby God be provoked to depart further and further from you until he hath left you totally and finally 3 Vnsetledness in Religion Hath not this been your sin yea Against unsetledness is it not still your sin Who believes without wavering without any fear lest the contrary should prove true Are not you troubled with a Vertigo in your Heads a giddiness in your understandings Have not some thought scepticisme very tollerable 1 Cor 16 13 Col 2 6 7 8◠2 Thes 2 2 Hath not the Apostle said stand fast in the faith Be established in the faith as you have been taught c. Beware lest any spoyle you through philosophy and vain deceit be not soon shaken in mind Brinsley's spiritual Vertigo p 9 10 11 c. And yet have not many been for an Academical and Pyrrhonian demur and dubitation concerning Scripture Revelations Have not more been actually carried about as wheels as chaff as waves as clouds with every wind of
doctrine Have not you turned round as wheels with the times and places where you lived Have not you been up and down now of this mind then of that embracing and following those opinions and ways which the times have smiled upon Have not you been whirld about by the times as chaff by the wind Have not you been wavering Jam 1 6. as a wave of the Sea which is never standing still if there be any wind stirring Have not some of you been carried quite round about the Card and Compass as the Clouds of the Aire are from one quarter of the Heaven to another Hebr 13.9 Have not you been thus carried about with divers and strange Doctrines with Doctrines differing from the truth and strange to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Are not you yet unestablished yea are not you careless in seeking after establishment Are not you stil even indifferent whether you pray to God to establish you as David did yea or no Whether you enjoy the Sacrament of the Lords Supper that heart-establishing Ordinance duly administred yea or no Whether you continue fellowship with established Christians yea or no Do not you still stagger at the promises of God viz. that God will be a Sun and a Shield and no good thing will be with-hold from them that walk uprightly that Babylon is fallen is fallen i. e. shall as certainly fall and that utterly as if she were so fallen already that there shall be a resurrection of the dry bones c Do not you stil dispute the promises in your thoughts Do not you stil doubt whether God will be as good as his word and that because of the difficultie that lie in the way All staggering at the promises of God is from unbelief Rom 4 20 Brinsley c. p 98 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief Is not this also a matter of just and deep Lamentation to see so many Professors some of which were formerly looked upon as sober and stayed Christians now reeling and staggering like drunken Men to and fro carried this way and that way as the wind blows should any of you whilst your selves stand safe upon the shore see others though strangers much more if friends tossed upon the waves among rocks and quick sands ready to perish every moment might it not be presumed that it would affect the flintieâ— heart among you and can you see the souls of your brethren and sisters thus tossed to and fro without any trouble to your own souls But alas who stands fast and safe upon the shoar Are not all your hearts unsetled And what will yee not pity your own unstable souls Is it nothing to you to be under Reubens reproach Gen 49. 4 Jam 1 8 Vnstable as water thou shalt not excel A double minded Man is unstable in all his ways Are not you in danger of being utterly ruined in this hour of temptation that is come upon all the World Col. 2.8 Ne sit qui vos depraedetur Beza in loc mar 3 5 to try them that dwell upon the Earth Are not you in danger of being spoyled of being made a prey O! your unbelieving staggerings grieve the heart of your Lord. The Holy Ghost speaking of the unbelieving Jews tells us Jesus was grieved for the hardness of their hearts And shall they not grieve your hearts It is a wonder that God hath spared you so long O faithless and perverse Generation How long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you O! sin no more in this kind O that henceforth yee be no more children tessed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine Eph. 4.14 Brinsley c. 206 c. Hebr. 13.9 1 Thes 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2.2 by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive O! Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace Be restless till the Word come unto you in much assurance Be restless till you have attained unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God c. Seek heart-establishment from God for yourselves and others as Peter doth Now the God of all grace c. make you perfect 1 Peter 5 10â— Psa 51.12 stablish strengthen you And David Stablish me with thy free Spirit Neglect neither the Word nor Sacrament administred after the right order O! Hebr. 10.25 Forsake not the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is Trees stand sâ—â—er in the Wood or Grove where they have company than in the Field where they stand alone 4. Resting in a Dead Faith Hath not this been your sin Against resting in a Dead Faith Manton on Jam. 2.17 Have not you satisfied your selves with a Faith that is but the carkass of saving believing The Apostle in making mention of a dead faith alludeth to a corps or a dead plant which have only an outward similitude and likeness to those which are living Saving belief is an assent wrought in the Soul by the sanctifying Spirit and built upon a Divine Testimony But is not our belief the effect of natural reason White 's Directions p. 91 92 c. 1 John 5 1 further enlightned at most by the assistance of the Spirit Do not we remain unsanctified notwithstanding our believing Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Have we any further assurance of what we believe than that which Reason suggests Were ever the things believed evident to any spiritual sense within us Faith is the evidence of things not seen Hebr 11 1 Is not our belief grounded only upon an humane testimony We call that a Divine Testimony White c p. 95 96 c. saith one of the Western Worthies which is given by the Spirit of God to that Spirit which is within a regenerate person For saith he unto any testimony two things are required First The manifesting and presenting that which is to be credited or believed Secondly An ability in him to whom it is witnessed to understand it otherwise the proposing any thing by discourse to a beaâ— that wants reason to understand speech or the relating of any thing to a man that hath reason in the Greek tongue who understands no language but English is no testimony no more than it is to a deaf man that cannot hear Wherefore to make a Divine testimony there must be both Gods testifying unto man and also a mind in him able to understand that Revelation First The Spirit of God must reveal and manifest unto a man that Truth that is to be believed as the light discovers any visible object Next There must be in that man a light planted in his heart which the Apostle calls 1 Jo 5 20 An understanding to know him that is
true as the light or visnal-faculty is planted in the eye or else he cannot comprehend that light that shines unto him The evidence then which a true believer hath of any truth of God which he embraceth is the manifesting of that truth unto the Spirit not only by a form of words to the natural understanding but beyond that by a kind of demonstration unto the spiritual mind as the evidence of any object to the eye is by the shining of the light upon it which makes it to appear to be such as it is This kind of testifying or evidencing things Rom 8 16 in a spiritual way the Apostle calls The witnessing of Gods Spirit with our Spirit mentioning expresly two Spirits whereof if either be wanting there can be no Divine testimony But is not our belief grounded upon the testimony of Reason upon the consonancy of Scripture-revelations to right Reason And is not the testimony of reason an humane testimony Yea Do not we believe upon an humane testimony when we believe any thing written in the Scriptures for the testimony of the Scriptures If that we believe the Scriptures themselves upon the general consent of the Church or upon the probability and reasonableness of the things therein delivered or upon the observation of the truth of those writings in most things which all make up but an humane testimony This the same learned and judicious Divine proves thus White c p 98 99 The assent unto one thing for another is built upon that to which we first give our assent as a stone in a wall though it lyes immediately upon that stone that is next under it yet it is indeed supported by the foundation which bears up all the building We say we do believe but is not our Assent without sutable impressions upon our hearts and without a sutable carriage in our lives Doth the reality of Gods being believed Baxter's Divine Lise on John 17 3 make us look upon our selves and all things as nothing without God as nothing in comparison of God and to let the beeing and reality of our love desire and endeavours be let out upon the most real and transcendent Beeing Doth the belief of Gods Vnity contract and unite our stragling affections and call them home from multifarious Vanity Doth the belief of Gods Immensity and Incomprehensibility fill our Souls with admiration Doth the belief of Gods Eternity draw our Souls from transitory to eternal things Doth the belief of Gods Simplicity make us in love with holy simplicity Doth the belief of Gods Invisibility make us mostly esteem and value things invisible Doth the belief of Gods Immutability beget in us unchangeable resolutions for God Doth the belief of Gods Almightiness sill us continually with holy fear and promote trusting in him Doth the belief of Gods Wisdome make us delight in the wisdome which is from above and to choose God for our Teacher and Counsellour Doth the belief of Gods Goodness fill our Souls with a superlative love unto God and industrious desires to be conformâ—d to his goodness in our measure Doth the belief of Gods Holiness cause us to have most high and honourable esteems of holiness in the creature and to fall in love with it and wholly conform our selves to Gods holiness in Christ Doth the belief of Gods Truth and Faithfulness make us resolved for duty and an holy life seeing the commands of God are serious and the promises and threats true The true and sound assent to any Divine Revelation as an holy truth includeth a correspondency in the believer to the thing believed Such an assent descends from the understanding to the affections and so to the conversation True Faith and right Obedience cannot be separated for he that believes the truth of Gods promises fill'd with such things as he doth most want must needs desire the good contained in them and seeing God hath declared the effect of his promises attainable only in wayes of obedience if he neglect that means it is manifest he doth not desire the end Certainly if our assent doth not cannot act no more than a dead body can rise and walk it is but a dead faith The Apostle doth not say as one well observes Faith is dead without works Manton on Jam 2 20. but Faith without works is dead I here is a difference between these predications as there is between those A man without motion is dead and a man is dead without motion Works are not the cause that give life to Faith but yet they are the effects that argue life in Faith Faith is not alwayes alike lively but yet it is alwayes living and operation is the necessary effect of life O! What cause have we to repent of our dead Faith And what Shall it alwayes remain dead Take heed I beseech you not only of setting no your rest in a Knowledge but in a Faith falsely so called Take heed of pleasing your selves any longer with the name of Faith and remaining destitute of the vertue of Faith for the crucifying your lusts and corruptions and conforming your hearts and lives to the Commandements of God To assent to truth with the neglect of goodness or with lazy desires after goodness is but a vain Faith That assent that doth not now subdue sin Gen. 23.4 will not suppress fear when you come to dye What! will ye not yet bury your dead out of your sight Chap. III. The Miscarriages opposite to Consenting to have God to be your God the third Act of Faith 1. Against resusing God REfusing God Beware of still refusing to have the true God to be a God unto you and a God over you to have him to be your Portion and Soveraign To be God Gen. 17.1 7. Rom. 9.5 implies to be enough unto all to be an all-sufficient and self-sufficient good and to be over all and above all to be an all-commanding good Ephes 4.6 To refuse God is to refuse to place our happiness in him and to come under his government Hath not this been your sin God hath offered himself to be your chief good and absolute Soveraign but have not you refused such offers Yea do not you still refuse them There are many degrees of refusing as one well observes Although we may be free of some of them Ob. Sedgwick's Fountain opened c. chap. 6. yet are not we comprized in some one or other of them Are not some guilty of refusing by way of presumptuous persecution Are not others by way of malicious opposition Are not others by way of scornful derision Are not others by way of open though not malicious resistance And if we be not guilty of any of these refusings yet are not we guilty of refusing by way of dissent or unperswasion Are not we yet unperswaded to accept of God upon his own tearms Certainly there is no medium 'twixt Faith and Infidelity 'twixt receiving of God and refusing of God
He that is not with me saith Christ is against me He that doth not accept of God doth refuse him That Chapman that will not take your Wares at your price in so doing he doth refuse them That Woman that dissents that will not consent that such a man should be her Husband refuseth to marry with him Are not you still unperswaded to have God himself for your Portion Lam. 3.24 Portio cujusque dicitur in quo felicitatem suam quisque collocat Calv. to place your happiness in him and absolute Soveraign to come under his government Is not this evident in the remaining deafness of the ears of your Souls Not to give ear to or not to obey the Word of the Lord is to reject it and to reject the Word of God is to reject God himself Psa 81.11 My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me Were you ever yet effectually called Did God ever yet speak in such a voice as could not but be heard as could not be withstood If yet your ears are deaf unto the calls of God if yet you are able to withstand the voice of God certainly you do still refuse him Do not your hearts remain obdurate Do the offers of God make any impression on them Is any savour of God to be found in them Alas Gods offers do not move or stirr them cordially to defire the enjoyment of him and subjection to him Do not our worthless thoughts of God still continue Do not we still think that God is not worth so much pains so many prayers so much hearing so much time so many sighs and tears c. Alas which of us accounts Gods offers the best bargains That which a man counts to be his best bargain O. Sedg c. p. 301 302. he will saith the same Author 1. Make all things to give way to that 2. Make that to fill up his desire 3. It will draw forth his choicest diligence and pains 4. He will be at some loss to gain it 5. He is peremptory and unmoveably earnest for the enjoyment of it 6. The fruition of it presents unto him the sweetest joy Do we thus account closing with God best Best of all Where then are our present cares to get God himself Where are our strong fears lest we miss of God Where are our full desires and peremptory and stedfast resolutions to be the Lords as well as to have God to be ours 〈◊〉 will we part with for God Whence comes in our sweetest joy To them that believe i. e. receive Christ or rather God in Christ He is precious Christ is precious and God in and through Christ is precious But where is the precious thought Who are restless without God To whom are Goods not good without God Peace not rest without God Life not a beeing without God all nothing without God Give me children or else I dye said Rachel Dost thou say Lord give me thy self or else I dye O that this may be your sin no more Yet consider and be wise O! Do not still stand out against him Though you refuse his Ministers yet do not any more refuse their Master Though you like not the messengers yet do not any more dislike the offers What shall I say to perswade you or rather whereby God himself may perswade you If you will continue still resolute that God shall not be a God to and over you verily God will resolve that you shall not be a people but he will make an utter end of you Jer. 3.1 5. Thou hast played the haâ—lot with many lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord. Will he reserve his anger for ever Acts 3.19 Hebr. 10.26 yet in the midst of judgement he remembers so much mercy as once more to offer himself unto you notwithstanding all your former refusals of him and if now you will but accept of him all that is past shall be forgiven you and God will receive you into his grace and favour and never any more upbraid you with your often refusals of him Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins your refusals of God in Christ of such sins the Apostle speaks in that place may be blotted out But if you will not how can you read without trembling that Word of the Lord If we sin wilfully after wâ— have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation Against closing with God hypocritically which shall devour the Adversaries 2. Closing with God hypocritically Beware lest your willingness to have God for your God still prove a consent not suited to the object of Faith in its absolute necessary respects and nature It is essential to God as the object of mans Faith saith a Worthy to be his supreme Lord and Rector Baxter's Apology p. 62 63. and his ultimate end and chiefest good and so must be apprehended and willed by all that indeed take him for their God As also to be perfect in Beeing Wisdome Goodness and Power and of perfect Veracity yea it is essential to the object of our Faith as such to be considered comparatively As that God be taken not only as our Good but our chief good to be preferâ—'d before every creature that he be taken not only as our Lord but as Soveraign Lord to be obeyed before all other Where these essentials are not in the apprehension of the object there is not truly Consent or Faith Consent hath relation to the Offer and if it be not the offered thing that is consented to but somewhat else under that name then it is not indeed Consent for there is no Relate without its Correlate The Civil Law saith Ignorantis non est consensus A God that is inferiour to Creatures in Râ—le or Goodness and Desireableness is not God indeed And therefore he that takes God in this sense for his God takes but the Name of God an Idol of his own brain and not God himself Hath not this been your sin Is it not still your sin Do not you seem to consent when you do not indeed and in truth consent You pretend you are heartily willing that God should be your God and that you do consent to have him But First Are not you still ignorant of the true God Ignorantly whom you say you consent to take for your God Ignorant Professours can only seem to be Consenters And are not you still ignorant Professours See Chap. 1. Secondly Are not you for having of God Without rejecting other Gods without rejecting of other gods Indeed had our hearts been alwayes chast and faithful we should not have needed to break we should only have tyed a knot Teates Scripture-Map of the wilderness of sin and way to Canaan p. 338. but because of our former wanton dalliance with and engagements unto other lovers we must solemnly renounce and
getting Assurance Against want of Assurance which is called by some Divines Sensus Fidei the feeling or perceiving of Faith by others Flos Fidei the very lustre and eminency of Faith When God requires all the Act of Faith he doth not only require that we know him and believe him and consent to have him and relye upon him but he requires that we know that we do so It is true Assurance is not such a duty as concerns all men at all times and immediately it concerns only some and those in an order and mediately Though therefore it is not the sin of Vnbelievers not to know that God is their God for that cannot be known by them such are not bound immediately to be perswaded of an interest in God unless we will say that they are bound to be perswaded of a lye God being the God of Believers only yet it is the 〈◊〉 of Believers â—ickman's discourse concerning the spirits â—ealing up believers page 76 77. to let their interest in God to hang hovering and in dispute It must be confess'd that Gods not evidencing the direct Acts of Faith unto Believers is not their sin for God may refuse to evidence them out of Soveraignty or for the meer tryâ—l and exercise of grace and nor for the Believers sins but yet for a Believer to be regardless of getting Assurance is his sin yea if God refuse for any long time to evidence the direct Acts of Faith he may thank some sin or other He that bids us Work out your salvation and make your calling and election sure would not so let us be at uncertainties concerning our selves did not we sleight some Ordinance or omit some Duty or give way to some Lust And is not this your sin still Do not you still want that feeling or perceiving of Faith which is not meerly humane and subject to falshood and delusions but from Gods Spirit perswading the Soul that it doth know believe consent to and crust in God and therefore infallible for the Spirit can no more inwardly pâ—rswade a soul of then he can externally bear witness to any thing that is false It is a good rule laid down by a late worthy in our Israel Burges's Resâ—nings c. Part 1. fol. 20 21. 〈◊〉 in all the Acts of Faith whether they be direct or reflect the firmness and certainty doth more depend upon Gods spirit confirming us then upon the clearness of the Arguments But which of us can say that we know infallibly we are believers from Gods spirit perswading us of the truth of our faith It is true no Man hath such perfection of degrees of assurance in an ordinary way Doâ—little in Morning Exercise at Criple gate â—â—â—m 12. p. 3 â— 307. as that one degree more cannot be added to the former and yet as one well reasoneth there is not any repugnancy in asserting an infallible assurance and denying a perfect assurance for I infallibly know that there is a God and that this God is good and just and yet I have not a perfect knowledge of a Deity or of his goodnes and justice for in this life we know but in part Is not your want of assurance that God is your God evidenced still in your Not being â—et above the tormenting fear of death not yet despising the perishing viâ—ities of this World not yet slighting the censures of the ungodly Hickman in supra p. 135 to page 155. remaining still without an holy boldness in prayer not yet taking comfort in Word and Sacraments not yet abounding in praise and thanks giving not yet kindly mourning for your sins nor watching against them and not yet disregarding cavils against the Truth Is not God contending with you upon thiâ— account God hath often called upon you in the Ministry of the Word to give all diligence to make sâ—â—e thâ—â— you are believers and that God is your God upon your saith in him but though God hath spoken in your prosperity you have not heard Jer. 〈…〉 And is not he â—â—ing his Rod to make way for his Word to enter into your hearts Is not he depâ—iving you of all your outward delights Causing all your desirable things to perish at his rebuke that they may not hinder you any longer from making suâ—e what cannot be taken away from you that your hearts may not be taken up any longer with other enjoyments and thereupon want either time or will to pursue the one thing necessary Are not the Childs Babies taken away to make it learn its Lesson Hath not God made a Thorn to grow up with every Flower the Star Wormwood to fall into every estate you are in that you may yet at length say it is not good to be so busie to secure these bitter-sweets and careless of securing an interest in the unmixed chief good Is not God bringing you into life-threatning dangers that you might not only hear with the hearing of the ear but see with your eyes the necessity of having your interest in God cleared up unto your souls 2 Carelesness of preserving assurance Against carelesness to keep Assurance Non minor est virtus quam quaerere paâ—ta â—ueri when gotten It was your duty to be as carefull to keep as to gain assurance When you had gained assurance you should have remembred that you took God to be your God to rule you and make you happy in the enjoyment of himself not to make you rich and great in this World and that therefore Gods people being in the hands of the Midiamites will not evidence that the Lord is not with them Judg. 6.13 Hâ—â—â—bman c. p. 183. to 193. Dâ—ut 26 10 11. though Gideon say If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us You should have remembred that sincere not perfect faith in God interests souls in him and that therefore frailties and infirmities do not dissolve the union you should have been very thankfull for the first fruits of the Heavenly Canaan Psal 85. 8. Eccl. 5. 4 5 6. you should have been very careful not to return unto folly you should not have deferd to pay your vows unto God yea you should have brought forth such fruit after assurance as you either did not or could not before assurance But have not you been careless of discharging your duty herein Have not you forgotten the termes of the Covenant you have entred into with God Have not you been unthankful even for an Heaven upon Earth Have not you been guilty of wilful Relapses Have not you refused or delayed to pay your vows Have not you done as little for God as you might have done had the light of his countenance been never lifted up upon your souls And is not God therefore angry with you Is not he greatly displeased with you That is his meaning when he saith he hath no pleasure in such fools Mat. 13.12 Hath not he taken away what you
out and roaring How can they do other whose wounds stink and are corrupt whose sores run all the night long But they must not spend all their time in roaring but get the broken bones set and make use of them so shall they recover strength and rejoyce Fifthly Take heed of neglecting any longer any one means of Gods appointment either for the getting or keeping Hickman c. page 167. to page 173. or recovering of Assurance The neglect of any one as one well observes may provoke God to reject your attendances on him in the other 't is also uncertain in which God will manifest himself and evidence to you the truth of your Faith in him Sometimes he doth it in prayer sometime in the reading or hearing of the Word of God sometimes in religious holy conference sometimes in receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper sometimes in singing of Psalms Sixthly Take heed of remaining any longer lazie and slothfulâ—n the use of the means O! 2 Pet. 1.10 yet at length give diligence to make your calling sure Culverwell's VVhite Stone page 150 c. 157 c. i. e. your effectual calling that your faith in God is a full answer thereunto Assurance both requires and deserves all diligence Such is the darkness deceitfulness and inconstancy of the heart such is the malice policy and diligence of Satan to improve it of so much consequence is this business and so dangerous is it to be deceived herein that all diligence is little enough So satisfactory also is this assurance that no labour will be grudg'd by those that do believe it Antipharmacum c. page 41. See many more pathetical considerations to humble for laziness and to stir up to diligence herein in Morn Exer. at Criple-gate page 141.315 316. Iisdem alitur quibus dignitur O! the rather now give all diligence to put your faith in God out of doubt because a Day of great trouble is approaching yea already begun What have you beside this to oppose to all your troubles here When it comes to resisting to blood and giving up all can you fadge with such work while your spirits are dubious cloudy in this point O my friends Believe it 't is nothing but this that can make a Saint tryumph glory in abasures tribulations And little do you imagine how insupportable troubles are when the spirit is low and dubious in point of interest In particular Take heed of being lazie or any other ways miscarrying in self examination Assurance consists in a ressex Act and by such workings it is gotten maintained and recovered The main reason why some never had Assurance why others do not keep assurance and why others do not recover assurance is because they are not often enough nor diligent enough in reflecting upon the deift course of their hearts lives they do not often enough rightly throughly compare themselves with the sure marks of true faith in God laid down in the Word of God Many will take some little pains to â—inde out the marks of true faith in God and some little time they will spend in comparing their hearts with those marks but they will not continue diligent in this great duty of self-examination till the matter be brought to some issue they will not behold their faces in the Glass long enough to beget in themselves a true notion or Idea of themselves but go away and presently forget what manner of persons they were But let it not be so with you any more Do you make it your business to go through with this work and therefore take heed of being mistaken as to what faith in God and what assurance of faith is Neither make more Hickman c. page 120 121 122. nor fewer essentials of faith in God neither more nor less necessary to interest in God than God hath made Expect not ordinarily to have assurance of faith wrought preserved or recovered by some vocal or as it were vocal testimony of the spirit or as soon as you be assured to be void of all fears and filled with all joy in believing Set not about this work unseasonably but when you finde your hearts in the most serious and quiet frame He that will see his Face in a Glass must be fixed and not in motion Be still Psal 4.4 and so commune with your own hearts When you are full of dark and black temptations you are in a mist and not able to see things aright The muddied Water is not fit to give the true shape of the Face Hearken not to what carnal reason and Satan say for or against your interest in God Before faith in God T. Goodwin's child of light c. page 26.27 28. caâ—â—al reason and Satan use their utmost strength to perswade Souls of the goodness of their condition without Faith thereby to prevent the entrance of Faith and their seeking after it at all as not needfull to interest them in God After saith in God is wrought Hickman c. page 127 128 129. and erected upon the ruines of all Satans strong holds and the Souls carnal reasonings Satan and carnal reason in revenge of such an overthrow muster up new Forces to perswade the Believer by all the Objections they can raise that it doth not believe aright that its faith is not saving Take heed therefore of self-love and sinful jealousie and prejudice upon either account when you set about this work As self-love and self-flattery bribreth and setteth carnal reason to plead for the interest of Unbelievers in God so when once faith is wrought sinfull jealousie doth edge and sharpen the wit of carnal reason to argue and rangle against the work of Faith and all such Objections as carnal reason doth finde out against it are pleasing to this corrupt principle when you try your selves Burges's Refinings part 1 page 57 58. you will but deceive your selves if you do not cast out these two cursed corrupt Principles out of your souls if your hearts be prepossest with either your judgments will be blinded and become partial in passing sentence upon your estate Take heed of trying your selves by false marks of faith in God of weighing with false weights Hereby you may miscarry both on the right hand and on the left on the right hand if you try your selves by marks of perfect faith in God on the left hand if you try your selves by such things as are not indeed Scripture-marks of true faith in God for as God is the Principium essendi the beginning or cause of the being of any grace so Gods Word is the Principium cognoscendi the Principle by which we know what is true grace I cannot but mind you of three Rules of Direction Ob. Sedgw. of Faith chap. 13. sect 1. which a worthy now with God hath left you in this case 1 There are some things without which faith cannot be in the heart and yet
by it or attained by us But the glory of God will be visibly rather hindred the Gospel harmed and the good of souls hazarded O! see that for the future you do not unnecessarily pull sufferings upon your selves for your confession of your Faith Allegs Vind. of Godl p. 379. There is as an eminent Confessor well observes a suffering for our fault there is a suffering for our Righteousness without our fault and there is a suffering for our Righteousness through our fault Run not your selves upon trouble when you need not by unwary and imprudent managing and ordering your selves in the duties that confession of Faith engageth you to Be clear especially in those things which may be costly labour to see the Pillar of Fire and the Clâ—ud going before you Take heed of giving any just occasion to others to persecute you not onely because the event of so great a temptation is uncertain but also lâ—st you be a cause that others by shedding your blood become greater sinners then otherwise they would be 2. Vnpreparedness openly to acknowledge saith in God Against unreadiness to confess openly when called thereto 1 Pet. 3.14 15. when over he calls thereunto What the Apostle saith concerning Hope is true concerning Faith Be ready alwayes to give a reason both of the faith that is before you and of the faith that is within you of the grace as well as of the object of faith your own acquaintance with God believing of God consenting to have him for your God and relying upon him Though you are not bound saith the grand Casuist to render an account alwayes C. C. p. 64. yet you are bound alwayes to be ready at least with an habitual readiness though the outward action be not required at all times yet the inward habitude is But alas I have not you been strangers to an habitual inclination and disposition to this duty Have not you been without those principles of self-denyal and love to God that Spirit of faith patience and prayâ—â— that make souls ready for such work O that this may be your sin no longer Is not this one reason of the present Dispensations of Providence towards you to stir you up by the Rod that would not be stirred up by the Word to get to be ready not only to be bound but to die for Christ at Jerusalem The Apostle doth not say I will be bound or I will die Acts 21.13 but I am ready is be bâ—urd and to die All backwardness is sâ—ding back when our Saviour saith unto us Take up thy Gross and follow me 3. Refusing Against delaying actually to confess when called thereto Refusing or delaying actually to make an â—pâ—n acknowledgment of Faith in God whâ—n thereby God will be most magnifâ—â—d the Gospel best maintained and the good of souls best ministred to Hath not this been the sin of some of you Have not you actually declined that confession which you have been called to make Have not you deferd your testimony to another time and have not you hereby driven God away from you sure I am this cost many of the Martyrs especially in the Marian-Persecution very dear They did not make open acknowledgment of their Faith in God when God called them thereunto and what was the Issue God in respect of comfort left them and they were under worse torments then their Persecutors could have inflicted on them When Jonah had a Commission sealed him to go to Nineveh with a Message from God he withdrew himself and went another way but God in the midst of his security cast him into the Whales belly and when he was there God withdrew from him as if he meant never to own him more insomuch that he saith I am cast out of thy presence Jona 2.4 O that herein you would sin no more when ever God calls you thereto do not defer to exhibit an open oral confession of your Faith in God no See Christ confessed qu. 7 prop. 7. p. 69. c. not a moment longer when God calls you thereto do not defer to exhibit an open real confession of your Faith in God in an active way openly living up unto your Faith in God or in a passive way either by staying to suffer or by suffering in flying as the forementioned ends will best be promoted O! do not your Consciences tell you that if you had been more publick in your real confessions in an active way you had suffered less not only from God but from men Take heed of suffering any more upon this account 4. Dissembling in confession Against dissembling in confession C. G. p. 43. There is a time saith our Casuist for tho suspension of our confession but there is no time for simulation properly so called in our confession We may yea must deal prudently but not deceitfully Hath not this been your sin Hath not your conversation been in fleshly wisdom and not in godly simplicity and sincerity Have not you at least at sometimes gone about to cast a vail of deceit before the eyes of men Prov. 12.24 Isa 33.1 No wonder that such deceitful ones are under tribute no wonder that such treacherous dealings are dealt treacherously with Dissemble I beseech you no more either in your oral or in your real confessions 5. Denying Faith in God Hath not this been your sin Against denying Faith in God and hath not God therefore denyed you in this world O! take heed of denying your Faith in God once more lest Jesus Christ deny you in Heaven O! Do not once more deny your Faith in God either inwardly or outwardly either by word Mat. 10.33 or work whether explicitly or implicitly Even concealed smâ—thâ—red much more denyed truths will one time or other set the Conscience in a Flame Jer. 20.9 When Jeremiah said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name What followeth Then his word was in my brest as a burning fire V. Caril on Job 6.10 shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing Let him not spare saith Jâ—b for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One q.d. If I had hid his word from men God might justly hide his merciâ—s from me or if I had concealed his words from others God might now justly reveal his wrath against me 6. Making shipwrack of Faith Hath not this also been your sin Against making shipwrack of Faith 1 Tim. 1.19 Rev. 2.5 Heb. 10.23 Veaning in the Farewel Sermons Have not you renounced the confession which you once made And hath not God departed from you not only for your departures from your faith in him but for your departures from your profession thereof O! remember from whence you are fallen and repent and do your first works What saith the Apostle Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and what ever others do let us among whom upon whom in whom such mighty things have been done by God hold fast our Faith have we a mind to be without God again had we rather return to be Satans then continue to be the Lords yea the profession of our faith faith without profession will do no more for us then profession without faith and that without wavering this is both a man-like and a Christian act 〈…〉