Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A28372
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Two useful cases resolved I. Whether a certainty of being in a state of salvation be attainable? II. What is the rule by which this certainty is to be attained?
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Blechynden, Richard, 1647 or 8-1697.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing B3183; ESTC R15390
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19,631
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35
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TWO Useful Cases RESOLVED I. Whether a Certainty of being in a State of Salvation be attainable II. What is the Rule by which this Certainty is to be attained LONDON Printed for Henry Bonwicke at the Red-Lyon in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1685. TWO Useful Cases RESOLVED COuld we look into the hearts of most men we should find some such reasonings as these soothing them in their Vices and lulling them asleep while they are in the ready road to Destruction All men commit some sins or others and most men such as my self or as great in another kind and yet they believe they shall not be miserable hereafter And therefore why should I notwithstanding my sins despair of Gods favour why should not I hope that the Infinite Mercy of God will extend it self to me also But then if his Conscience tells him that doubtless Millions have had hopes of Heaven that never came thither and then puts the Question to him What assurance what certainty have you that this shall not be your own case He straitway replies assurance indeed I have none but that I do not expect for how should fallible man know certainly how God will deal with him but I am told that Christ dy'd for sinners and that the Mercy of God is great on that therefore will I depend And so he goes on very comfortably in his Swearing his Damning his Drinking his Cheating or whatever other common Vices he is guilty of and so Hopes himself into Damnation But now these men if they have any real concern for eternal happiness as I hope some of them have by their conscientiousness in other particulars if they did believe they could come to a certain knowledge of their spiritual condition I cannot think but that their Consciences would not let them be at rest under such answers as these Christ dy'd for sinners and the mercy of God is great which the most profligate wretches have in their mouths as well as they No! their Consciences would be often asking them Whether the omission of this or that duty be consistent with a state of Salvation Whether a reverence of Gods Name whether Sobriety and Honesty and whatever else is commanded in the Gospel be not the indispensable terms of everlasting Salvation And so they would by degrees be brought to the consideration of all their ways and an examination of all the particular actions of their lives till by growing daily in grace they grew up to the perfect man in Christ Jesus And then O the Joy O the Comfort O the serenity of mind they would then experience With what assurance with what confidence would they approach the Throne of Grace in the words of Simeon in the Gospel Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation And when they perceive their dissolution drawing near with what Alacrity and with what transport of Joy would they break out into the Apostles words I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness You see how naturally this opinion of the attainableness of a certain knowledge of our spiritual slate tends to a virtuous and holy life But to prevent mistakes I deny not but that many men who think it impossible to frame a certain judgment of their state to Godwards are very watchful and cautious in all their ways carefully avoiding all those things that seem to have any contrariety to the will of God But I say this their opinion is not so apt to produce a good life as its contrary For the generality of men when they are once persuaded that with all their care and industry they can never come to a certainty they are ready to cast off all diligence and sollicitude about the conduct of their lives and to rely on the Indefinite Mercy of God and to hope the best by which means their sins and the vicious examples of the world grow upon them and their Hope the best knowledge they think they can attain to suffers them to go on in their sins without much interruption and disturbance Nay it may be reasonably presumed that many of the good men of this persuasion have a stronger assurance than their modesty and humility will suffer them to utter For what fears what anxieties what racking thoughts must pierce their minds who have the least doubt or scruple in a matter wherein they are everlastingly concerned What horrours what anguish must rend and divide their Souls upon their death-beds who know not but that the next moment they must pass into that Lake of Fire and Brimstone that burneth for over And this has been the case of many a pious and good man For the holy Biographers acquaint us with what hideous doubtings terrours of conscience some of their Saints and Worthies have departed this life and they did so 't is likely for no other reason but because a future state being then more lively and nearly represented to them they had not been able in their health to frame a fixed and settled judgment whether theirs should be a state of Happiness or eternal Misery Now since the framing a certain judgment of our present spiritual state is a thing of so great use towards our leading godly righteous and sober lives and of so great comfort to them that do so both in their life-time and on their death-bed I shall shew First That men may make a certain judgment of themselves whether they are in a state of Salvation Secondly I shall lay down the Rule by which they may make this judgment of themselves I know that many good and holy men are of opinion that no man can without great pride arrogance and presumption say That he is certain of his Salvation should he die that moment for they think the many woful and deliberate faults we are all guilty of the innumerable secret ones that have escaped our knowledge the wandrings and coldness in our Devotions the ill thoughts that many times arise in our minds and the imperfectness of our best actions These and such-like considerations they think are sufficient to confound the most confident and to baffle all pretences to an assurance And they are ready to say that they who are so certain of their going to Heaven by the immodesty of their persuasions seem to be farthest from it But if this certainty be attainable nay if it be our duty to attain it if it be a Doctrine plainly delivered in the holy Scriptures and therein practised by the holy men of God he must be a very timerous man that will be scar'd out of so useful and comfortable a truth by harsh censures and ill-grounded reproaches These Objections shall be duly weighed afterwards I. But first let us consider what the Scriptures say to my first Proposition That men may if they will deal impartially with themselves know certainly whether ther they
that were before pressing towards the Mark What is this but that he endeavour'd to grow persevere in his virtuous course lest by his after-negligence he might lose the Prize Thus I have given a particular Answer to the principal Scruples and Objections that may arise in some good persons minds And now in short I shall give a General One to them altogether which will deaden the force of many more that are not so considerable nor so close to my present Subject the mentioning of which would have swell'd this Tract beyond its designed bounds My general Answer is this Those considerations that would have overthrown the Peace of Conscience the Joy and the Comfort of the most Godly man that ever was and that would make our Saviours Yoke extreme uneasie they ought not to move any man Nay they themselves are faults if they do disturb us for they lessen our Notion of Gods and our Saviours Mercy and detract from the Goodness of the Covenant we are under Not but that a good man ought to strive against these smaller sins nay if he does not he will find they will lead him insensibly into greater But if he disquiets himself because he has not wholly conquer'd them he is to blame Since there are degrees of Glory and Happiness the higher our Performances the greater our Improvements of our Talents the less we have of Infirmities the nearer we approach to the Persections of the Almighty and consequently the more we shall partake of the Happiness with which he is blessed for evermore But if we do not reach the utmost height that Humane Nature is capable of though that were to be wished if we bury not our Talent in a Napkin if we are not among the bad and slothful Servants we shall as certainly enter into the Joy of our Lord as he that had the Ten Cities alloted him though by reason of our smaller proficiency we shall have a lower place assign'd us In the Invisible as well as the Visible Heavens there are Stars of a greater and a smaller Magnitude and these are as much in Heaven though they are not so High Thus I hope I have given satisfaction to the Doubts and Scruples that men are apt to question their Salvation upon tho' they have lived for a long time in a conscientious discharge of their duty without the commission of any one Wilful Sin And by doing of this I have proved even to the Doubting Christian that the Rule I have lay'd down is sufficient to secure any mans Salvation What has been said may serve also as a proof that we may certainly know our State to Godwards if we will carefully endeavour it For 't is chiefly the fore-going Objections that make men think it difficult if not impossible But there remains one sort of Objections against this Certainty and perhaps necessary to be answer'd They are taken from the words of the Prov. c. 20. v. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from sin As also from those of the Psalmist In thy sight no man living shall be justified And of Job 9.20 If I justifie my self my own mouth shall condemn me These and many more such passages signifie only this That we are all sinners and that if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us And that therefore we all stand in need of the Mercy of God and the Merits of our Saviour Now if good men may certainly know that both these belong to them as they may by the holiness of their Lives the fore-going Texts may teach us humility and the necessity of Faith in Christ but are far from overthrowing the Certainty I contend for III. There remains only one thing more to prove my Rule to deserve that name which is that it is plain and easie such as every man of common sense may apply to himself which is the third and last thing to be done Of which briefly If we have been guilty of any Crime through the violence of our Passions we are so far from being ignorant of it that it will haunt us day and night it will speak louder than the noises of the world and will thrust it self into our most secret retirements it will surprize us like the Passion that occasion'd it and we cannot get rid of it would we never so fain Then for wilful sins they are of like nature they will be constantly upbraiding us and flying in our faces And then if we have any sense of Gods Displeasure if we have any serious Concern for Eternal Happiness they will Both hunt us from place to place till they have driven us into the shelter of a severe Repentance And this being done who cannot tell whether for a long time together he has diligently avoided the like dangerous sins Whether he has lived Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present world not offending against his Duty to God or Man He that has lived thus why should he the least doubt of his good Estate why should not he give Peace and Comfort to his Soul since he has a Merciful God to deal withal since at the Right hand of God he has an High Priest that feels his Infirmities and who has also told him that his Yoke is easie and his Burden is light From what has been said 't is plain that they who obey God as to the generality of their Actions but yet for the gratifying of a Lust or the promoting an Interest now and then venture upon a sinful Action 't is plain I say that they can make no advantage of this my Rule but to let them see the dangerousness of their Condition For they are still out of the Kingdom of Heaven though they are not far from it For they resemble not the Merchant that parted with all he had to purchase the Pearl of great price they seem not to prefer Christ before all things nor to esteem their own Happiness hereafter above any Temporal and Sensual Good But that we may manifest our selves to be such not only to our selves but to all the world let us be careful to learn the whole compass of our Duty and then diligent in the Performance of it not falling into any either Heinous or Deliberate sin and striving against our Infirmities tho' we can never wholly subdue them For which end let us beg the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant to make us perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever FINIS