Christ though the World seemed to be turned Arrian when persecutions cannot affright us from our Duty nor others Apostasies make us dislike Religion but we are the more stedfast and walk more closely with the Lord this shews that grace is much increased 9. Then we grow in Grace when our fruit is really better than formerly for quality and more for quantity If we bring forth more fruit than in times past it argues us more fruit than in times past it argues us more purged Joh. 15. 2. Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit When we are filled with the fruits of righteousness as this is to the praise and glory of God so it declares that he has made all grace to abound towards us that we might abound unto every good work 2 Cor. 9. 8. Case 13. The last Case is this How may we understand when our joy is true and well grounded There is a joy of the Hypocrite the Hearers compared unto the stony ground received the Word with joy the Jews rejoyced in John that burning and shining light for a season so that there is a great deal of false joy which whoever entertain they will lie down in sorrow Esa 50. 11. How then shall true joy be known To this I answer 1. True joy follows after true sorrow they who reap in joy do first sow in tears Ps 126. 5. Our Lord tells us that the mourners are blessed for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. Rest is given to the weary and the heavy laden That joy is sinful and utterly unseasonable where Sin is made light of and never was lookt upon as a burthen But if we are humble and broken and weary of all Sin and of all that is in Sin desiring to be delivered from the force and filth as well as from the guilt of it and then are revived we may conclude our peace is from the God of peace and comfort for though he be the high and the lofty one who inhabits Eternity yet he dwells with him that is of an humble and contrite Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Eze. 57. 15. 2. True joy has ever the Lord Jesus for the foundation of it Phil. 3. 3. We rejoyce in Christ Jesus says the Apostle And Rom. 5. 11. If we joy in God 't is through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the atonement The Comforter does ever glorifie Christ so as to make us understand that all grace mercy and peace is given to us through a Mediatour His sorrows have purchased pardon and salvation and the joy of that Salvation The Churches joy is built upon the same Rock on which the Church her self is built and that Rock is Christ therefore her consolation is the stronger 3. True joy is never without true holiness The Spirits sanctification always goes before and ever accompanies his consolations Peace and righteousness do kiss each other where peace is of the right kind Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost A true Saint if he makes bold with Sin his joy will be lessen'd perhaps lost his peace which has been spoken to him will be broken if he return to folly 4. True joy is Spiritually rational not an Enthusiastical business my meaning is there can be good Scripture-reason produced for it The Spirit of God works sanctifying grace in the heart increases that grace and acts that grace so that there is a powerful exercise of it and then he does bear witness to the truth of it The Spirit discovers unto the Soul that he has made it willing to receive Christ and to hunger after holiness and willing to be the Lords and to serve him in sincerity and to escape the corruption that is in the World through lust and now his testimony of adoption is rational and may be received as indeed the witness of the Spirit Whereas when joys are but the fruits of stubborn and irrational impulses and the comforts of the Gospel are applied without any Scripture ground comfortable Scriptures are not brought by the True and Good but by the Bad and lying Spirit 5. True joy is not a seal unto error and delusion Some have fallen away from the truths of Christ and got above his Ordinances and cast his Word behind their backs and despised his Blood and yet have bragg'd of Joy Oh the subtlety of the Evil One As he makes use of false Teachers false Opinions and false Hopes so of false joys to ruine Souls 6. True joy is strength to them that have it Nehem. 8. 10. The joy of the Lord is your strength Spiritual joy affords great ability to do the work of God to bear Afflictions and Tribulations and to resist and overcome the Tempter and the World and the lusts thereof The joyful Christian is a man of might he wrestles with the principalities and powers of darkness and is too hard for them he is discouraged at no difficulty in Religion he mounts up with wings as an Eagle he runs and is not weary he walks without fainting Esa 40. ult he is faithful unto death and at last is rewarded with a Crown of life Rev. 2. 10. Thus have I resolved all the Cases I propounded I come now to the Application I begin with some inferences that may be drawn from this Doctrine If this be true that it highly concerns all to Examine and Prove themselves then 1. Hence I infer the misery of Man by nature who is in darkness so that till he is enlightned from above he is not capable of understanding himself his condition or his interest Man by nature is under the power of darkness of this power you read Col. 1. 13. and how deliverance from it is to be valued Darkness has a great power to keep men under Sin to make them careless stupid and utterly unconcerned what becomes of them to Eternity therefore evil Angels are stayled the Rulers of the Darkness of this World Nay the Natural Man is in the abstract called darkness it self Eph. 5. 8. For ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. Now how can he that is in darkness look into himself or look into the Lord Oh the misery of dark Souls What unspeakable danger are they in and their not seeing their own peril does but the more increase it We pitty a man that has sustained a breaking loss and does not know it a Begger that being blind is near a precipice and does not perceive it but much more compassionable is the case of the Natural Man who neither knows himself nor the things which concern his peace 2. Hence we may infer the folly of the Natural Man who is so prone to cry peace unto and to deceive himself He loves to go upon sure grounds in other matters and is very serious about trifles but wofully trifles
believe a lye This the Apostle tells us will end in damnation 2 Thes 2. 11 12. I grant that true Saints may fall into Error but the Elect of God shall not finally be deceived in those doctrines which are fundamental and of absolute necessity to be believed in order to Salvation True Saints do still hold the Head and build upon the Rock Christ though some of their building may be wood and hay and stubble Those therefore who deny the Lord that bought them and make light of the blood of Jesus the price of the Churches redemption are none of the Sheep of Christ and will bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. 9. They never were but in a state of Nature who are total and final Apostates Such are compared to the stony ground and in time of temptation falling away Christ says they had not root in themselves Mat. 13. 21. so 1. Joh. 2. 19. If they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest they were not all of us The utter Apostate shall be fill'd with his own ways and ripen himself apace for ruine Gods Soul shall have no pleasure in him his drawing back will be to perdition Heb. 10. 38 39. and his last state worse than his beginning Thus the Word describes a State of Nature 2. In the second place I am to describe out of the same Word of God and give the signs of a State of Grace and to shew you what are those things which accompany Salvation Now the Scripture pronounces them in a safe and good estate 1. Who come to the light and are willing to be searched True Gold does not fear the Touchstone and true Grace can abide the trial sincere Souls upon this very account like that preaching best which searches most whereas unsound Israel could not bear the words of the Prophet Amos 7. 10. There is a kind of Spiritual instinct in true Believers which inclines them both to a jealousie of themselves and a desire to have their hearts laid open whereas Hypocrites love the dark and are contentedly nay gladly ignorant of themselves Our Lord speaks very plain Joh. 3. 20 21. Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be discovered but every one that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Doest thou like the Word when 't is most quick and powerful When 't is most sharp and piercing Doest thou bring thy heart to the Lord and say Search it O God Even throughout and look into every corner and let no corruption lye concealed let not so much as one lust be hid or spared This willingness to be thus examined and proved and to have the reins and heart tried argues truth of grace 2. They are in a State of Grace who are truely contrite and broken because of Sin Psal 34. 18. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit He that is indeed contrite has been convinced of Sin by the Spirit of God and has been made to see the evil in it and the evil that will follow upon it His sin and his misery have been perceived He is grieved because he has sinned against the Lord and wishes that his sorrow might be more abundant because his sin has so much abounded and he laments over a corrupted heart and nature which inclines him to nothing else but sin His heart troubles him which is so hard as well as wicked He accuses himself he judges himself before God he loaths himself in his own sight And now all sin is hated he will divorce the Herodias and consent that the Benjamin should go Nay the sin which was like Benjamin the darling is a Benoni matter of the greatest sorrow This hatred of all sin argues spiritual and saving understanding Psal 119. 104. Through thy Precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way Sin ruines none but those that love it Those that hate it generally implacably and to the death shall never dye and be destroyed by it Certainly thou art sincere if thou hatest thy lusts that formerly were thy Lords and if thou canst truely cry with David Psal 119. 133. Order my steps in thy Word and let no iniquity have the dominion over me 3. Those are in a State of Grace who receive Jesus Christ the Son of God To reject Christ binds all our guilt upon us and fixes us under wrath and 't is in effect to refuse Salvation But to as many as receive him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his name Joh. 1. 12. If Christ be rightly and indeed received he is received just as God offers him as a Prince to Rule as well as a Saviour from Wrath to give Repentance as well as remission of Sins Act. 5. 31. Christ must be received as an able Saviour as a willing Saviour as the onely Saviour and the whole of that Salvation whereof he is the Author must be valued When he is received there is a consent to cast all that offends him out of the heart to make room for him and truely all of Christ is welcom His strictest commands his mortifying and sanctifying Spirit his Yoak his Burthen his Reproach his Cross are welcom for his sake as well as his Crown If we do not sit down and count the cost and first of all well understand and then fully agree to the Articles and Terms on which Christ is to be received we may easily deceive our selves 4. Those are in a State of Grace who desire after God above all and yield and give themselves unto the Lord. The Psalmist was a sincere Saint who said Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee i. e. none as my great help as my chief happiness besides thee And notice is taken of the grace of God bestowed upon the Churches of Macedonia because they gave their own selves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8. 5. If thy eyes have been opened to see that God is a far greater good than the Creature and a greater good to thee and thou desirest and chusest the Lord himself who is so gracious and alsufficient as incomparably the best portion and art as willing to be his portion as to have him thine this willingness shews thou art of the number of his people and that his powerful grace has been at work in thee Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power God is called the portion of Jacob and Israel is styled the rod of his inheritance Jer. 10. 16. God and his people chuse each other 5. They are in a State of Grace who hunger and thirst after righteousness Our Lord pronounces such blessed and if he
he was of the straitest Sect and touching the righteousness of the Law blameless and yet though his life was without blame his heart was without grace Hypocrites how far soever they go do either allow themselves in sin or place a confidence in their own righteousness If we would therefore go beyond them we must grieve for all sin and hate it We must worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the Flesh Phil. 3. 3. 6. To be unwilling to Try and Prove our selves is a very bad symptom The decay'd Tradesman cares not to be at home for fear of being dunn'd by his Creditors neither does he like to look into his Books because he suspects that he owes more than he is worth So unsound Professors like not to dwell with themselves for fear Conscience should fill their Ears with a dreadful sound and reproach them with their offences and they are loath to study the volume of their own hearts because they suspect they shall find little but what is stark naught there Sin is a work of darkness where the light is fear'd and shun'd 't is a sign that sin bears sway and where it reigns it will ruine Joh. 3. 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil 7. Though it be very bad with us yet 't is really good to know the very worst of our selves Hardness of heart and unsensibleness of sin is a very great plague the infliction of which argues God to be very angry but conviction of sin is the work of Gods Spirit When the Comforter is come he shall convince the World of Sin Joh. 16. 8. Indeed if a bad condition were unchangeable and there were no difference between an unregenerate Sinner and an Apostate Angel 't were another matter But the truth is though our state and hearts are both bad yet both may be alter'd for the better And if we are sensible that we are under the power of darkness we shall be the more importunate that God would deliver us and translate us into the Kingdom of his dear Son If we perceive that our hearts are old and evil 't will make us to cry with more fervency that the Lord would give us the new heart and the new spirit promised in his new Covenant 8. There may be great disconsolateness where there is truth of grace if it be unknown The children of light may walk in darkness the heirs of salvation may complain as if they were near lost and the friends and favourites of Heaven may think and speak as if God accounted them his Enemies Hark unto Heman Psal 88. 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou bast afflicted me with all thy waves And vers 15. 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me and while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted Believers being made alive are also endued with Spiritual Sence and cannot be indifferent as to Gods love and hatred as others are If they have not some assurance of the one they cannot but have some dread of the other they should therefore prove themselves that they may know the love that God has to them and that they may joy in God through Jesus Christ by whom they have received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. 9. There is a day of Trial and Judgment appointed and very near at hand God has appointed a day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness Act. 17. 31. and truely the Judge standeth before the Door Jam. 5. 9. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh And if we cannot abide the Trial of our own Consciences now how shall we abide the Trial of him who is greater than our Consciences and knoweth all things It concerns us to call our selves to a severe account and believe in Jesus that we may be justified and then at that day we shall not be condemned Let us watch and work that our Lord when he comes may find us so doing Let us store up Scripture evidences that we are his Children and then we shall have boldness in the day of Judgment and not be ashamed before him at his coming Gods Judgment hereafter will be according to truth names and shews how insignificant will they be at the great day Therefore let us look to it that our graces be true that as such they may be found and own'd at last 10. A well grounded assurance is possible to be obtained Let us never give over Trying our selves till we have it We are commanded to give all diligence to make our calling and by our calling our Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. We must not cast away our confidence when once we have gotten it but hold the beginning of it firm unto the end Assurance of the love of God of what value is it What a relish does it give to every Mercy What sweetness does it put into the bitterest Cup of Affliction How undaunted does it make us at the approach of the last Enemy And with what courage and confidence to commend our departing Souls into the hands of him that has redeemed them Before I come to the Application I am to resolve several Cases of Conscience concerning the Subject I am upon Now the Cases will be of two sorts some relate to Sir and a State of Nature and others relate unto a State of Grace I begin with those Cases relating to Sin and a State of Nature Case 1. And the first is this Is it not better for Sinners to continue ignorant of themselves than by an over-strict search to fill their souls with trouble and horrour Is it not a wiser part to keep themselves quiet while they are so than to raise a storm and tempest that may not be laid in hast Now they receive their good things now they receive their consolations now they can take their ease eat drink and be merry they can feast and laugh and sing and time runs very swift being spent in carnal jollity Why then should they look into the state of their Souls and put an end to all their peace and joy and comfort Ans 1. Sinners ignorance of themselves and the wretched condition they are in does but add to their misery Secure indeed they are in a sence but farther off from safety It was the misery of Ephraim that Strangers had devoured his strength and gray hairs were here and there upon him and yet he knew it not Hos 7. 9. Self-ignorance and carnal security makes the hearts of the Sons of Men fully set in them to do evil and causes their state to be nearer a kin to desperate Such will fearlesly add Sin to Sin and draw iniquity with cords of vanity and treasure up more and more wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath 2. Their peace and joy can be but short at longest Pleasures for evermore can be found alone in Gods Prefence The pleasures of sin and sense
premised 1. The Children of men do owe obedience unto God as their rightful Lord and Governour and consequently it concerns them to examine whether the Lord has been obeyed or other Lords have had and still have the dominion over them Man did not make himself neither is he able to perserve himself and he is farthest off from being able to redeem and save himself therefore man is not his own 't is impious in him to speak that language Psal 12. 4. Who is Lord over me But that God who gave him his being who holds his soul in life and alone can redeem and save his soul from wrath does justly lay claim to him as his subject and require obedience from him 2. The Sons of men are under a law which they are obliged to keep as a rule of righteousness God himself has given them a law which is holy just and good they are therefore to examine what respect they have had to this law Whether it has been kept as it ought like the apple of the eye Or whether it has been hated and broken and cast behind the back For sincere obedience and life and death and disobedience are joyned together Deut. 30. 19 20. 3. We are all of us not only under a law but under the eye of our Lord and Law-giver continually He compasses our path and our lying down and is acquainted with all our ways Psal 139. 3. And shall we be ignorant of our own ways His eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men Psal 11. 4. When we would look more intently our eye-lids are more contracted Gods eye-lids are mentioned to signifie how intently he eyes when he tries the Children of men and shall not they prove and try themselves 4. Naturally we are prone to nothing but what is contrary to that Law and Rule we should walk by The Apostle sticks not to say that the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. And as the heart of man is desperately wicked so 't is deceitful above all things and it manifests its deceitfulness in concealing and hiding that it may hold fast its wickedness Those that have such hearts how jealous should they be of them How careful to prove and to pry into them And suppose there be a new nature given yet upon proof 't will be found that there is too too much of the old remaining 5. We are endued with a power of self-reflection and may take notice both of our hearts actions There is a law written in our hearts by nature which does in part discover what we should do and be but the Word of God much more fully informs us of our duty We may erect a Bar or Tribunal in our own souls and call our selves before it Conscience can first be Witness and afterwards a Judge And truly a right judging of our selves is one way to escape being condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. 31. 6. All must be Summoned to give an account of themselves unto God at last Rom. 14. 12. So then every one of us must give accout of himself unto God 2 Cor. 5. 10. We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether it be good or evil Should we not then try and prove our selves before hand repent of our evil deeds believe in the Mediator and throughly amend our doings that we may be found of our Lord and Judge in peace These propositions premised I shall open the nature of this duty of self-proving 1. Self-proving implies a serious Inquisition and Search into our selves Psal 77. 6. I communed with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search And truly a diligent search is but needful for as Augustine observes Grande profundum est homo Man is a great deep and therefore 't is difficult for a man to sound himself and to come to the bottom of his own heart Job speaks of the secrets of nature and says there is a path which no fowl knoweth and which the Vultures eye though it be so piercing hath not seen Job 28. 7. But the secrets of the heart are more abstruse and hard to be found out The Heathen Poet advised Tecum habita Dwell with thy self our thoughts should dwell much upon our selves that we may find out the utmost of our selves Our whole man is to fall under our inspection our ways our words our senses our souls are all to be lookt over 2. Self-proving implies a fear of self-deceit The Apostle cautions against being deceived by man Eph. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words against being beguiled by Satan 2 Cor. 11. 3. But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ He cautions also against self-deceit 1 Cor. 3. 18. Let no man deceive himself He that is not jealous over himself will easily mistake and may go out of the World mistaken and after death the mistake will be impossible to be corrected we must therefore take heed to our selves that our spirits deal not treacherously 3. Self proving implies using the Light of the Word of God This Word is quick and powerful and as the Anatomists Knife dissects all the parts of the Body and lays even the inmost of them open unto view so the Word like a sharp and two edged Sword does pierce through all and divides between Soul and Spirit i. e. between Nature and Grace for the natural man is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the meaning may be that the Word discovers not only the corruption in the Affections and the inferior faculties of the Soul but also that depravation and sin which is in the faculties which are Superior and discerns what the intents and thoughts and reasonings of the heart are Heb. 4. 12. Unless we make use of the light of the Word we shall be lost in the dark while searching our selves The Word makes manifest the very secrets of the heart and hereby 't is plain that God who searches the heart is the Author of this Word and does accompany it 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. We find an Hearer convinced of all and judged of all the secrets of his heart are made manifest and worshipping God he acknowledges God is in the Preachers of a Truth 4. Self-proving implies comparing our selves with that Rule whereunto we ought to be conformed The Commands of God lay an obligation upon the whole man We are required to cleanse our hands and purifie our hearts Jam. 4. 8. We must be holy in all manner of Conversation and our affections must be set on things above not on Earthly things our Minds also and Consciences must be purged from their defilements Now a comparison is to be made between what we should be and what we are This bringing our selves to the right
and Gold that ever was created is but dross in comparison of these riches To go to Ordinances and from them as the Door turns upon the Hinges and to remain just as we were will turn to no account nay to an ill account We are not to rest therefore in opere operato the work done but examine what light what heat what strength what grace what peace we gain by attending upon God or else we may live and dye like lukewarm and mistaken Laodicea who said she was rich and increased with Goods and had need of nothing and knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. 7. 'T is not amiss if there be some Self-proving every day that keeping of the heart with all diligence Prov. 4. 23. implies a daily watching and calling it to an account and that pondering the path of our feet required vers 26. implies both wariness before and a tracing our Steps afterwards to see whether they have been right or wrong step towards God or from him Pythagoras an Heathen advises every night to ask our selves such Questions as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where have I sinn'd What have I done What duty have I let alone Thus bad and good deeds every night Will be thy chiding or delight In the seventh place I come to the Arguments persuading all to this examination and proving of themselves 1. Satan is very subtle he does endeavour to conceal and hide both Sin and Grace Sin in the wicked that they may not perceive the evil nature and tendency of it till it has actually and utterly ruin'd them and Grace in them that do believe that their hearts may be tormented with doubts and fears and straitned in thanksgiving unto God Satan is a lying Spirit and upholds his Kingdom by deceit and falshood His work is to fill Gods Children with false fears and his own with false hopes and he has many wiles and stratagems to do both 'T is good therefore to be aware of him and to be the stricter in searching of our selves that he may not impose upon us nor make us call evil good and good evil Let us take great heed for Satan is the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12. 10. and will accuse them to themselves as well as accuse them before God he will transform a true Saint and make him look in his own apprehension like a meer reprobate And as he is the Accuser of the Brethren so he is the Excuser of the wicked and makes them say they shall have peace till the anger of the Lord and his jealousie smokes against them and eternal Vengeance overtakes them 2. The heart is deceitful above all things Jer. 17. 9. as it is unknown to others so it hides it self from the view of the man himself Need there is then of Self-examination The heart of man will represent Sin as profitable as pleasant as creditable and in fashion and that there is no such danger in the commission of it but that 't is time enough hereafter and easie enough to repent and obtain a pardon The heart will extenuate sin after 't is done and take notice of the mercy of the Lord but shut its eyes against his justice and holiness 't will call any thing almost by the name of saving-grace and from very weak and insufficient premisses conclude the State is safe Such cheats therefore must be more narrowly eyed and we must bring them to the Heart-searcher that they may be discovered 3. There is no Grace but has its counterfeit When abundance of Brass and bad Money is abroad there is the greater care to try before we take There is a world of counterfeit Grace at this day Many take themselves to be something when they are nothing and so deceive themselves every one therefore should prove his own work that he may have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another Gal. 6. 3. 4. that is that he may have not only the good word of others but the joyful approbation of his own Conscience that his work is good and wrought in God There is a precious faith that ends in the salvation of the Soul and there is a counterfeit faith that dures only for a while and in time of temptation fails There is a saving knowledge which is life eternal and there is a notional knowledge which only puffs up him that has it and makes sorrow and stripes at last to be the more There is a sincere love to Christ that has a vehement flame which many Waters cannot quench which no Floods can drown and there is a love which is only a painted Fire a love in word and shew and not in heart and deed and truth There is a Zeal which God is mightily pleased with as that Zeal in Phineas and there is a Zeal not according to knowledge There is a true Humility which makes us like to Christ and gives the Soul rest and there is a shew of Wisdom and Humility to be found even in the Synagogues of Satan and Antichrist All grace therefore whether in pretence or true must be tried by the Word which if rightly applied is infallible in its decision 4. Many do actually go out of the World mistaken in themselves surely then we should be serious in Self-trial The foolish Virgins because their Lamps were burning and neatly trimm'd that is they profess'd and talkt high and made a glistering shew came with full expectation of admission into the Kingdom Therefore with confidence they knock and with confidence they speak Lord Lord open unto us Mat. 25. 11. But the answer is I know you not The Door contrary to their expectation is shut for ever against them and they are sentenc'd to burn too in Hell though their Lamps on Earth did burn and blaze in a glorious profession of Religion Some are brought in pleading with the Lord Jesus when He says He knew them not We have eat and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our Streets Luk. 13. 26. As if they should say Lord 't is very strange thou shouldst not know us None more flocked after thee than we did none were more forward to hear thy Word we were Guests at thy Table many a time and yet dost thou not know us Hear their pleas see their confidence of being let in and yet behold them thrust out unto Eternity 5. Hypocrites may go very far and yet remain but Hypocrites and miscarry Therefore we should examine and see that we go farther An Hypocrite may have a name that he is alive he may bend his Knee and lift up his Eye and speak as it were with the tongue of an Angel he may pray and prophesie so as to gain mans approbation but yet that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God Luk. 16. 15. How far did the Apostle Paul go before his Conversion
18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Ephraim had the seal of the Covenant administred to him in infancy which was Circumcision and therefore he calls the Lord his God and has the greater encouragement to cry to him to circumcise and turn his heart unto himself And surely under the New Testament the Covenant is not made more narrow nor our arguments and encouragements fewer to plead for converting grace Let Sinners therefore beg that as they have been baptized with Water in the Lords name so they may be justified by the blood of Christ sanctified by his Spirit and effectually turned unto God Till the Lord does turn you you must needs remain unconverted And when once you are made earnest that you may be sincere Converts you are earnest for that which is most agreeable to the will of God and 't is a sign that the work is already begun There could never be strong desires to be turned if the heart were not in some degree turned to desire it Case 6. The sixth Case is this How far may Sinners go and yet fall short of Grace and Heaven This is of great concernment to be fully resolved that we may not be mistaken in our selves therefore I shall be the larger upon it Many with Agrippa are almost persuaded to be Christians that are not Christians altogegether Many with him in the Gospel are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven who yet never come thither the case such is sad for they are miserable after they were near to happiness they are like a Merchant that is Shipwrackt and loses all and himself too within sight of shore they sail as it were by Heaven to Hell and their being once so near Heaven will make Hell the more doleful and intolerable Now how far Sinners may go and yet still remain but in a State of Nature I shall shew in these particulars 1. They that have no true grace may own and acknowledge the Christian Faith to be true 'T is affirmed of Simon Magus that he believed Act. 8. 13. The miracles that were wrought by Philip for the confirmation of the Gospel gained his assent that it was the Gospel of God and of undoubted truth In like manner Nicodemus while a Stranger to Regeneration was convinced and did confess that Christ was a Teacher sent from God Joh. 3. 1 2. Now as I go along I shall shew wherein such as have no grace do fail that the unsound may be convinced of their hypocrisie and the truely gracious may be the better able to discern their sincerity Though the forementioned persons believe the truth of the Gospel they do not apply it to themselves nor heartily embrace the goodness of the Gospel but prefer their lusts their pleasures and their profits before Gods Kingdom their assent is weak and does not influence their Consciences affections and conversations and so proves ineffectual to Salvation Jam. 2. 14. What doth it profit if a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can Faith save him And v. 26. As the Body without the Spitit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also 2. They that have no grace may solemnly be admitted into the visible Church Simon the Sorcerer was baptized and yet Peter tells him afterwards that he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Act. 8. 13 23. Multitudes of the Jews of old were circumcised in their flesh whose hearts were never circumcised Jer. 9. 25 26. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt and Judah and Edom and the Children of Ammon and Moab for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all the House of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts How many by Baptism are admitted into the Church of Christ and rest herein not caring to partake of the Blood of Christ and least of all to partake of the Spirit of Grace and Holiness which are signified by the Water in that institution What did it profit the Jews that they were circumcised in their flesh if after they did not answer their infant Cirumcision by a circumcised ear and heart and an holy and obedient Conversation And in like manner what will the being baptized with Water avail if the filthiness of Sin be not purged but loved and there be not an answer afterwards of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3. 21. 3. They that have no true grace may be forward in profession and by talking at an high rate attain unto some reputation for Godliness thus Sardis had a name and fame that she liv'd and yet was dead Rev. 3. 1. But these forward Professors when unsound drive on some carnal design as the ravenous Birds when they soar never so much aloâ—at have their eyes downward and are looking after something that they may prey upon Under all their profession their hearts they neglect and suffer them to be full of pride and passion and love of the World they have no desire after inward purity and besides they wilfully and wofully fail many times in their dealings with men and in regard of those duties which in their capacities and relations are incumbent upon them 4. They that have no true grace may engage in all the publick Ordinances that Christ has instituted they may pray and hear and be admitted unto Communion and Church-fellowship and yet not be the real Members of Christ and be shut out of the Kingdom Those persons had eat and drank in our Lords presence and had heard him teaching many a time unto whom he speaks after this terrible manner There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of Heaven and you your selves thrust out Luk. 13. 26 28. These hypocritical engagers in Ordinances seek not the Lord himself in his Ordinances His favour and the communications of his sanctifying Spirit they prize not they desire not and though Ordinances leave them as proud and wanton and unbelieving and earthly-minded as they found them they are unconcerned for to have better hearts than they had is not any piece of their design 5. They that have no true grace may attain to a great measure of notional knowledge That Servant who was beaten with many stripes did know the will of his Master Luk. 12. 47. We all have knowledge says the Apostle 1 Cor. 8. 1. unsound as well as sincere An Hypocrite may have great light in his understanding but that light makes him high-minded his knowledge is without affection to Spiritual things his head is very clear but his heart is very cold He is acquainted with the truth but he holds it in unrighteousness Is it not a sad sight to see Children that have the Rickets with great Heads but Arms weak and unable to do any thing and Legs small and feeble and unable to go Here is
the Emblem of one that knows the Word of God but neither loves nor obeys it A great head he has but his actions and steps bear no proportion to to the knowledge he has received 6. They that have no true grace may attain unto excellent gifts Judas and Demas were both Preachers of the Gospel and called upon others to turn to God and yet were not real Converts themselves Our Lord tells us that many will say to him in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name And yet they shall be bid to depart from him Mat. 7. 22 23. Many Ministers miscarry Many fall into Hell from under the Pulpit and our of the Pulpit they are able to preach to others and yet themselves are castaways These unsound ones aim at their own applause in the exercise of their gifts they hunt after honour they prefer gifts before grace and many times use their gifts amiss to divide and destroy and not to edfie the Church of Christ 7. They that have no true grace may have their Consciences exceedingly awakened and may be filled with the terrors of the Lord because of Sin Pashur had the name of Magor-missabib because of those terrors where with he was surrounded Oh what an agony was Judas in when he saw that Christ was indeed condemned and under these terrors there may be a confession of Sin I have sinned says Judas in that I have betrayed innocent blood I have sinned against the Lord and against you says Pharaoh to Moses But 't is to be observed concerning them that are unsound that their troubles do either drive them to carnal means to remove them or to desperate courses or if they do seek unto God 't is but for a while and they are glad when their trouble is gone that they may sin with greater freedom When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God but yet their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant Psal 78. 34-38 8. They that have no true grace may have some inclination towards and wishes after grace and holiness Agrippa his heart was somewhat inclin'd towards Christianity The young man in the Gospel had done something and was inclined to do more good that he might inherit Eternal Life Mat. 19. 16. But these wishes as they are weak and inconstant so they are inconsiderate When they hear that holiness is necessary to happiness they say Oh that we might be holy But when they understand that holiness is to hate every pleasing and gainful sin to keep unspotted from the World and to yield up their whole man unto God that he may dwell and rule in them and command all and make what use he pleases of them in his service to his glory then their ignorant and lazy wishes to be holy cool and vanish They are not for present and through Sanctification If they could have grace upon a Death-Bed just sufficient to keep them out of Hell they look upon that as the best time of having it which shews they are of Balaams mind and that they desire not to live the life but only to die the death of the Righteous 9. They that have no true grace may resolve upon a reformation nay actually reform in many things The Israelites of old when terrified by the voice of the Lord out of the midst of the Fire they speak thus to Moses Deut. 5. 27. Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it Here was a good resolutin but when the Lord adds v. 29. Oh that there were an heart in them to fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them forever It shews how unlikely 't was to be kept Such resolutions are made in distress and fear to stop the mouth of a clamorous Conscience and in their own strength and when the distress is over they break them as quickly and easily as Sampsons bands were snapt asunder And suppose there be an actual reformation as in Herod who heard John and observed him and did many things Mar. 6. 20. Yet the obedience is but partial there is not a following the Lord and his Word fully Herod forsook several of his iniquities but his incestuous love to Herodias his Brother Philips Wife he could not endure to be told of rather than pluck out this right eye he cuts off the Head of the Baptist who told him 't was unlawful for him to have her 10. They that have no true grace may not only lead an unblameable life but may suffer much upon the account of Religion The lives of the Pharisees were free from scandalous and notorious Crimes and yet their righteousness was insufficient according to our Lords sentence Nay as external active obedience may be yielded by them that are graceless in heart so some passive obedience also Judas was one of those twelve that forsook all and followed Christ but 't is likely 't was in hope of a greater gain for he kept the Bag and bare what was put therein and probably thought he should be a great man in the Kingdom of Messiah which he deemed a Temporal Kingdom Unsound ones are acted by vain glory in their sufferings not influenced by love to Christ and Truth And though they give their Bodies to be burned and have not this love what does it profit them 1 Cor. 13. 3. Some may undergo much but 't is to promote a Party not Christianity and though very stiff and stubborn in their sufferings yet much of the express Word of God they cast behind their backs 11. They that have no true grace may yet be very zealous in defending the Truths of the Gospel I grant Conversion to an Opinion is many times taken and mistaken for Conversion unto God though that Opinion is erroneous and such Zealots for erroneous Opinions care to talk of nothing else hardly the most warm and spiritual discourses are not savoury to them they are apt to judge all that are not of their way though never so holy but connive at Sin in those that side with them and while their heads are busie about their Opinions their spirits hearts and lives are not lookt after But I go farther and affirm that Graceless ones may espouse the quarrel of Truth and stand up for the defence of the Gospel The Apostle tells us of some that did preach Christ not sincerely not of good will but even of envy and strife yet he rejoyced that Christ was preached and the truth of the Gospel published and maintained Phil. 1. 15 16 18. Many may speak for that which is really truth and defend Tenents that are sound and Orthodox but these Opinions are entertained only as Opinions they float in their heads but sink not down into their hearts neither do they care practically to improve
of their hearts they call judicial hardness and when the black vapours ascend and seize upon their spirits and torment and affright them as if Nature were just ready to be dissolved this they are apt to think the hellish agonies of Cain and Judas and to conclude them the foretastes and certain forerunners of eternal Wrath and Vengeance Satan represents the grace they have as no grace that he may discourage them from duty if he does not persuade them to act desperately against their own lives Then a thought comes in that God is an hard Lord who will not give grace though they desire it above all the World but is resolved to destroy them Again Satan represents the Truth they have embraced and which the generality of the Generation of the Righteous do embrace as no truth and violently hurries them and bears it in upon their spirits especially in duty to distract and dead their hearts that they ought to turn to this or that or t'other erroneous way else they will never know peace Whatever comforts and encouragements the Gospel hands forth to them they with a strange obstinacy reject as too good for them and not belonging at all to them And though the hand and hatred of Satan be in all this yet he is so subtle as to hide himself under the dark shades of Melancholy so that he is unperceived Now for the relief of such I shall shew how the truth of Grace may be discerned under the prevalency of Melancholy 1. Melancholick ones that are gracious have usually very low thoughts of themselves they have not confidence in the flesh but are convinced that their own righteousness is rags their wisdom folly their strength weakness they see that no flesh has reason to glory in the Lords presence and being thus humble God has promised to have respect to them Psal 138. 6. Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly And Psal 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart an heart prepared to pray they desire thou wilt cause thine ear to hear 2. Melancholick ones who have grace though they are full of fears yet their fears are without Scripture ground they are apt to conclude themselves Hypocrites but not from Scripture premises Satan in a violent way does inject such thoughts that God hates them never was indeed near them or has quite left them and never any Saints were in the like condition and hereupon follows a stinging perplexity but not one word of God is produced to prove all this Though Satans injections are direful and doleful yet the Word speaks hopefully concerning them because they are weary of Sin willing to close with Christ and hunger after righteousness and true holiness and had rather have an assurance of the love of God and the light of his countenance than Corn and Wine and all the things of the World in the greatest plenty and abundance 3. Melancholick ones who have grace though they are filled with a great many fancies and fears yet the fear of God is predominant and they are afraid of Sin as the greatest evil The favour of God is most desirable his anger most formidable in their esteem therefore they dare not use sinful or suspected means for their relief and help They are not like Saul who in his distress and sadness ran to the Witch of Endor they dare not turn Gluttons and Drunkards nor attempt to drown their sorrows in sensuality but had rather remain Melancholick Saints than become boon Companions and jolly Sinners They do indeed imagine and fear a thousand things without reason but truely with a great deal of reason the fear of God rules in their hearts and they eschew what is evil in his sight 4. Melancholick ones who have grace endeavour to improve their melancholy after a gracious manner Now the World appears vain Creatures are miserable comforters delights have lost their relish and are become undelightful They take hold of the advantage to get more loose from the World and more above it If one perplexing fume turns all the World into an empty bubble into an insignificant cypher Why says the gracious Soul should I ever dote upon this World more Under Melancholy Death seems very near and as they are going to bed or at other times they have very strong and startling impressions of Eternity Gracious Souls take hold of this advantage the more seriously to prepare for Death and to provide for Eternity and this argues they are indeed the Children of Wisdom Psal 90. 12. 5. Melancholick ones who have grace have a great care of the Gospels credit nay truely sometimes this lies nearer their hearts than their own lives They are afraid of madness and frenzy lest Religion which they are professors of should suffer by it they resist temptations to self-Murther because if they who have heard and talkt so much of the Gospel should lay violent hands upon themselves prophane Sinners would speak evil of the way of Truth and be more strongly prejudiced and hardned against the Gospel as a Doctrine that has but a bad tendency this shews that they love the Gospel in truth and consequently are of God Joh. 8. 47. This care of the Gospel farther appears in that when their melancholy abates their seriousness remains Indeed the better their heads are their hearts are in a better frame because then their Souls and their Grace can act with greater freedom They long for clean hearts and desire clear heads that with heads and hearts they may be more serviceable unto God 6. Melancholick ones who have grace in all their distress and trouble desire to look unto God though they fear he is an enemy yet they cannot but look to him for help though they do but chatter as a Crane and mourn as a Dove yet they cannot refrain speaking Hezekiahs and Jobs language O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me Esa 38. 14. I am full of confusion see thou my affliction Job 10. 15. Case 10. The tenth Case is this How may Repentance be known to be true when 't is a Death-bed Repentance Or just before a Malefactors Execution It must needs be granted that Repentance at last is possible and that 's all probable or usual 't is not One instance we have in Scripture to hinder despair and but one to hinder presumption To dally and to delay in Religion how dangerous is it 'T is perfect madness willingly to lie under the wrath of God under the Devils power under the guilt and dominion of Sin and upon the brink of Hell one minute longer The longer you delay Sin grows stronger evil habits are more rooted Satan entangles you faster in his snare the heart grows harder the Spirit of the Lord is more grieved and Repentance becomes more difficult and unlikely We have cause to fear that many thousands who talked of Repentance hereafter have been surprized by Death and have suddenly dropt
into Hell before that Hereafter came Well but some at last have seem'd very penitent and How shall the truth of Repentance be discerned Unto this I answer 1. Such who repent truely at last are very ready to accuse and very severe in judging of themselves they give glory to God and take shame to themselves they justifie the Lord in putting a period to their days and acknowledge that he might justly laugh at their calamity and mock at their fear and distress and anguish and refuse to pitty and pardon and kill the Body and damn the Soul together This judging of themselves is a very good sign and there is a promise of escaping judgment that is condemnation annexed thereunto 1 Cor. 11. 31. For if we should judge our selves we should not be judged 2. Such who repent truely at last are very jealous over their own Spirits lest the distress they are in and the nearness unto death be the only motive unto Repentance therefore their cries are the more earnest to be sincere Converts They prize new hearts and beg that God would deliver them from their natural guile and wickedness and make them indeed new creatures Oh how do they long not only for a pardon but that they may feel the power of the renewing and sanctifying Spirit of Christ Heal me and I shall be healed turn me and I shall be turned save me and I shall be saved Jer. 17. 14. are their strong cryes and oh with what vehement desires are they accompanied 3. Such who repent at last truely are filled with an holy indignation that all their time and strength has been wasted in serving Sin and Satan and dishonouring that God that made them to whom they owe themselves How angry are they and displeased at themselves that when they should have been labouring in the Lords Vineyard they either were standing idle in the Market or wrought iniquity with both hands earnestly Now this holy indignation is by the Apostle made an argument of sorrowing after a godly manner of repentance unto salvation 2 Cor. 7. 11. 4. Such who repent truely at last do look unto Jesus Thus did the Thief upon the Cross Lord remember me Luk. 23. 42. Christ is their hope and the grace of God in him which does superabound though Sin has never so much abounded They look upon his Blood as the Blood of God and able to do away the greatest guilt the foulest spot and stain the most monstrous defilements They perceive that the Blood of Jesus speaks better things than the Blood of Abel Heb. 12. 24. Cryes louder for Mercy and Salvation than Abels did for Vengeance Hereupon they are encouraged and enabled to act the faith of reliance and believing on Jesus they shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2. 6. Oh how is this Saviour now prized How are they grieved at their former and so long continued neglect of him And though the Lord forgets their Sins they cannot but remember them though he justifies them they cannot cease condemning themselves the truth is they are ashamed and confounded and open not their mouths because of their shame though the Lord is pacified towards them for all that they have done Ezek. 16. 3. 5. They who repent truely at last have a care of Gods honour and are willing to prevent others delaying their repentance Their mouths therefore are full of cautions they blame their own folly and exhort others to grow wiser and while 't is called to day to harden their hearts no longer The Earl of Rochesters dying care was to have his prophane and lewd Writings burnt as being only fit to promote Vice and immorality by which he had so highly offended God and shamed and blasphemed that holy Religion into which he was baptized and all his obscene and filthy pictures which were so notoriously scandalous He wisht his Son might never be one of those wretched creatures who pride themselves in abusing God and Religion adding That no Fortunes or Honours were comparable to the love and favour of God To a Friend of some Note that came to see him he thus expressed himself Oh remember that you contemn God no more We have been all mistaken in our conceits and opinions our persuasions have been false and groundless therefore God grant you repentance And in his dying Remonstrance signed before Witness having bewailed his pernicious opinions and vile practices he thus speaks to all whom he had drawn into Sin I warn them in the name of God and as they regard the welfare of their immortal Souls no more to deny his Being or his Providence or despise his goodness no more to make a mock of Sin or contemn the pure and excellent Religion of my ever blessed Redeemer though whose merits alone I one of the greatest of Sinners do yet hope for mercy and forgiveness Case 11. The eleventh Case follows which is this How may Grace be discovered in Saints that are fallen When I speak of the falls of Saints I mean not their Sins quotidianae incursionis of daily incursion for there is not a day nor a duty wherein the best do not in some respect offend but faults that are more gross and offensive that approach nearer unto the nature of presumptuous transgressions That Saints do sometimes thus fall is evident from Scripture and Experience therefore all of them should be the more watchful humble and cry to be upheld living by faith on that God who is of power to establish them Rom. 16. 25. Rom. 11. 20. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not highminded but fear But when they do fall there is a difference between the manner of theirs and others transgressing 't is said of such as are born of God that they cannot sin because they are born of God 1 Joh. 3. 9. i. e. they cannot sin in such a manner as the unregenerate do I am to present to you a Child of Light under an Eclipse and yet even now there is a great difference between him and them that are under the power of darkness 1. A Saint when he falls sins not with the full consent of his will not only his Conscience does declare against Sin but even his Will so far as sanctified and renewed is also against it His purpose is to take heed to his ways that he may not offend Psal 39. 1. therefore when he falls he is surprized and in the hurry of a temptation and though in this hurry Conscience is not heard and corruption like a torrent carries him away yet there is a secret dislike of Sin which arises from the Spirits lusting against the Flesh Hence it is that Saints cannot take that delight in Sin which others do because their wills do not fully close with the temptation Though in Davids transgression there was too much of deliberation and contrivance especially in his carriage towards Vriah yet if you consider the matter you may find he was
in the weighty concerns of another World Any thing satisfies him and makes him securely to say all is well If Satan tell him as he did our first Parents that he shall not surely dye Satan is believed the God of Truth and the Word of Truth being disregarded How many when they hear the Words Curse do bless themselves in their hearts and say they shall have peace though they walk on after the imagination of their evil heart therefore the Lord threatens that his anger and jealousie shall smoke against such and he will blot out their names from under Heaven Deut. 29. 19 20. Are they reproved for Sin They say All are Sinners whereas Penitents forsake presumptuous Sins and are willing to forsake all but these Self-deluders are hardly willing to forsake any They bear up upon this that God is merciful and yet they slight and abuse his mercy preferring their vanities and lusts before it and go on to injure his Justice and provoke him to Jealousie They are full of hope because Christ died and yet they thwart one great end of his Death and will not be the better for it for they refuse to dye to Sin and live to Righteousness 3. If it highly concerns all to prove themselves hence we may infer what an advantage it is to enjoy the light of the Word of God This is a Glass that flatters none It discovers what Sin is and where it is It calls Grace Grace and will speak peace to them that are the Sons of peace but on the contrary it will tell the Sinner though he be never so high in the World never so high in his vain hopes Thou art the man that lovest and livest in thy iniquity therefore thou art under wrath a Son of Death and in danger of eternal damnation This word convinces of Sin shews the necessity of turning unto God and is a great means of Conversion and afterwards by discovering of Grace it proves the joy and rejoycing of the heart The Unbelievers and Ungodly need this Word and ought to prize it for it shews them their guilt and a Mediatour their sore and also a Physician and faith is wrought by the hearing of it Rom. 10. 17. The Saints have loved this Word exceedingly Hark how the Psalmist cries out Psal 89. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance 4. Hence we may also infer the benefit of a searching Ministery Seers that will see vain visions are not worth hearing and Prophets that prophesy only smooth things had better prophesy nothing at all for they prophesy nothing but deceit Such Prophets are guilty of the blood of Souls and utterly ruine them while they heal them slightly crying peace peace when there is no peace Jer. 6. 14. Such Pastors destroy the Lords Vineyard such Dawbers are not Builders of the House of God How sad is it when the blind lead the blind both they that are led and they that are the leaders fall into the bottomless pit of perdition But a plain dealing Minister that rebukes Sin sharply that gives warning in time to flee from eternal wrath that commends himself to every mans conscience in the sight of God that speaks as if he knew mens hearts and discovers their secret thoughts to them that is a Son of thunder to the wicked and a Son of consolation to the broken hearted and has the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary and heavy laden Such a Shepherd is a great blessing to the Flock ought highly to be esteemed in love for his work sake and may be an happy instrument to save himself and them that hear him 5. Hence we may further infer the great necessity of the Spirits aid Unless he enlighten the eyes of our understandings we shall pass a wrong judgment upon our selves and every thing else also A subtle Serpent and a deceitful heart will be too hard for the most powerful Preacher breathing if the Spirit of the Lord does not second and set home the word preached The Spirit as I said before takes the Glass of the Law and holds it before the Sinner that he may see therein both his heart and life and then and truely not till then he will cry out Alass alass What have I been What have I done Where am I And whither will my Sins at last bring me The Spirit can charge Sin so home that there is no denial no excuse made The Sinner trembles confesses laments begs pardon consents to forsake his wickedness Thus Ephraim after he was instructed is ashamed and confounded because of his abominations The Publican being made sensible he was a Sinner cries out God be merciful And as the Spirit convinces the Sinner so he discovers to the Saint what God has given him not only the things themselves which are great and glorious but also the Saints interest in those things 1 Cor. 2. 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know those things which are freely given to us of God 6. If it highly concerns all to prove themselves learn hence the hatred and subtlety of Satan in Staving men off from this duty All his subjects are a company of inconsiderate fools if they would but bethink themselves they would become wiser than to serve such a Master This Enemy cannot endure that wicked men should look downward to Hell for fear they should be awakened and affrighted nor that they should look inward into themselves for fear they should see themselves lost and look out for a Saviour nor that they should look upwards unto God for fear they should be converted and healed The Devil hates Souls therefore is unwilling that any care should be taken about them he cannot abide that any should inquire into their Spiritual state therefore he endeavours to divert them he allures some with wealth bewitches others with pleasures intoxicates others with applause and honour he represents Self-examination to be Self-tormenting and holiness a meer Hell upon Earth But in all this he shews his falshood as well as enmity What madness is it to listen to him as a Leader and Counseller who is both a Liar and a Murtherer 7. Hence we may learn the great Error of the Church of Rome in crying down Assurance and consequently discouraging Self-examination The Council of Trent Sess 6. has impiously determin'd and declared Certitudo remissionis peccatorum est vana omni pietate remota fiducia The Saints assurance of the pardon of Sin is a vain and ungodly confidence How have they here blasphemed against the Comforter in making all his joys and consolations which suppose Sin to be pardon'd altogether vain The Scripture speaks after another manner Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 1 Joh. 4. 16.
We have known and believed the love that God hath to us 1 Joh. 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life And v. 19. Hereby we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our hearts before him This assurance was not the effect of a particular and extraordinary revelation peculiar to that first age of Christianity but was the result of those charcters of Grace which are to be found even in the Saints now as well as then The consolations of the Spirit were not confin'd to the Primitive times but as a Comforter he is to abide with the Church for ever Joh. 14. 16. And indeed those who walk in the fear of God may expect the comforts of the Holy Ghost without any presumption The Apostle bids us to draw nigh with a true heart in full assurance of faith Heb. 10. 22. And 2 Pet. 2. 10. We are commanded to give diligence to make our calling and election sure What impiety is it then to say that Assurance is an impious confidence What is it that the Church of Rome does not strike at She strikes at our Liberties at our Lives would clasp the Book of the Gospel and lock it up in an unknown Tongue She would baffle our very senses and lord it over our Consciences and exercise dominion over our Faith and rob us of our peace and comfort and joy in Gods Salvation Vse 2. It may serve for a great and just lamentation that this duty of Self-proving is so exceedingly neglected by the generality even of those unto whom the Gospel is preached Multitudes are as unconcerned what is likely to become of them in another World as if there were not a pin to chuse between Heaven and Hell as if eternal Life did not deserve to be desired and eternal Death were not worthy of their fear Men are willing to know whether they thrive in the World there is anxious enquiring what the Parliament does and what the times are likely to prove whether peaceable and prosperous or full of tumult and confusion But alass alass 't is no part of the enquiry of the most among us What Eternity is likely to prove to them whether an Eternity of horror and woe or an Eternity of joy and blessedness A great number live in the prophane and total neglect of God and godliness and will not give the Gospel so much as the hearing but truely there are also many who will pray attend upon the Word preached and profess high and talk religiously who never talk with themselves nor call their hearts to task nor speak such language as this to themselves O animula vagula blandula Quae nunc abibis in loca O my Soul in what state art thou And where art thou likely to be lodg'd when once thou hast left this earthly Tabernacle The consequences of this neglect of Self-examination are fatal and truely lamentable 1. These careless Sinners that prove not themselves know not themselves they know neither their Sore not the way of Cure their Sins are hid from them and so they must needs be strangers to Repentance and godly Sorrow they remember not their own wickedness so as to mourn and condemn themselves therefore God will remember it so to condemn and punish them He that is ignorant of himself must needs remain impenitent and hard-hearted and such do treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 5. 2. The not proving themselves is the ground of Sinners presumptuous confidence False hope cannot bear a serious Trial but they that try not themselves are full of such hopes and such hopes the stronger they are the more destructive The hope of them that are Hypocrites and forget God is compared to a Spiders Web 't is spun out of themselves but 't is easily cut off and they and their Hope shall perish together Job 8. 13 14. They that prove not themselves in how certain danger are they of building their house upon the sand And when the Rain descends and the floods come and beat upon their house 't will fall and great will be the fall of it Mat. 7. 27. 3. They that prove not themselves hide their faces and esteem not the Lord of Life and Glory they feel not their sickness they sancy they are whole and value not Physician they are more afraid to be cured of their Disease than to die of it They have no hunger and so they slight the bread of life they never were weary and heavy laden and so they mind not him that alone can give them rest they never were thirsty in a Spiritual sence so the invitation is not hearkned to to come and drink of the Water of Life freely for want of proving themselves they know not in what a most wretched and lost condition they are no wonder then if they neglect great Salvation and how shall such escape Heb. 2. 3. When the Apostle says How shall we escape He does not say what to intimate that the punishment which will follow upon neglecting the great Salvation whereof Christ is the Author is much sorer than tongue can utter or heart is able to conceive or reach 4. They that prove not themselves know not what they are doing they are breaking a Law most worthy to be kept with as great chariness as the Apple of our Eyes they are engaged in the service of Sin whose wages is Death and Hell they are the Devils Vassals who hates and strives to ruine those who serve him with the greatest labour they are provoking the Lord more and more to anger and provoking themselves to the confusion of their own faces 'T is very bad and sad work they are employed about and because they neither prove their work nor themselves they do not in a penitential way cry out What have we done But what they have done they will do still whatever comes on 't therefore the Lord complains Jer. 8. 6. I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying What have I done Every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel 5. They that prove not themselves know not whither they are going these careless Sinners consider not that their most pleasant Sins will be as bitter and as deadly as the very gall of Asps at last that of Solomon is verified in them Prov. 14. 12. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death The end of that broad way our Lord speaks of his hid from the multitude which go in it They are blind and do not see afar off nay though Death is near at hand and Hell follows immediately upon Death yet they do not see it Woe unto them they fly from God and they run post haste towards ruine and do not understand what dreadful and everlasting destruction they are near till they have actually and utterly destroyed themselves and that beyond