that did hear the relation of it and did carefully reflect upon his own heart but must be satisfied about his union but our experience tells us this that the most understanding Souls about union are hardest to be satisfied about their union Thus you have the negative part of the answer opened Now before I proceed to the affirmative there is another question will be cast in upon the neck of this Que. 1. But may the Soul say If none of these can evidence to the Soul his Vnion with Christ are all those Souls evidences of Vnion that they have received from something thus inherent in themselves and done upon them by the Spirit of God rotten and unsound and no evidences Must we now cast away all our thoughts of union with Jesus Christ that were formerly gathered from the sight of such qualifications inherent in our souls Before I come to answer this question I must first premise two or three things 1. That the soul hath not conceived either qualities inherent in his soul or works done by his soul as the cause of his union with God in Christ That these should be the uniting means between Christ and thy soul that have drawn the Lord Christ to come into thy heart and to dwel in thee and so to cause thee to dwell in him This were no less than gross Popery to make any thing in our selves the cause of union 2. I also premise That thou hast not taken qualities inherent in thy self or works done by thy self as the ground upon which thou didst believe thy union with Christ This were a very dangerous sandy foundation for a soul to build upon This were to ground a divine faith upon an humane ground to ground a certain conclusion upon a poor changeable ground And this were to make thy faith of no longer lasting than the constancy of thine heart in such works or the constancy of thy sight in beholding such dispositions in thy heart This is both unsafe and exceeding dangerous 3. I must premise That thou mistakest not the ground of thy evidence conceiving thy self to receive thy evidence from qualities inherent in thy self or works done by thy self when thou receivest it from a promise of free grace alone It may be at the same time when the Lord declared to thee his willingness to accept of thy soul into union with Christ and let thee see thine heart closing with that gracious tender he at the same time lets thee see such holy dispositions in thy soul as the consequence of thy union thence it may be thou didst conclude thy evidence was from these when it was from something in the first place before works But if the question be demanded whether thy qualifications thus considered be evidences I answer negatively and affirmatively First they are no right kind of evidences 1. They are no evidences of Faith That which is an evidence unto the eye of Faith must be some truth of God revealed unto faith with such an authority that for the authority of the speaker and revealer of that truth the soul doth believe it and close with it Now in that manner the word alone is proper evidence unto faith Assurance of faith must always have a divine ground to build upon Now there is no divine ground but a divine word and thine own dispositions and graces are no divine but a humane ground 2. They are no evidence of knowledge Knowledge is the assent of the understanding to a necessary truth built upon an unchangeable ground or reason Now the union of thy soul with Christ could never be rightly taken as a necessary truth built upon thine own works as the unchangable reason of it For as you have heard no works done by the soul can be an unchangeable reason upon which a soul may build such a truth as this that he is united unto Christ in regard thou wert never yet fully certain of the right nature of those thy works or of those dispositions in thy soul from whence thou didst gather those thoughts of thy union with Christ Secondly I answer affirmatively they may be improperly called evidences and they may have begotten an evidence of opinion in thy soul though not an evidence of knowledge Opinion is the assent of the understanding to some truth propounded upon the sight of probable grounds and reasons of the truth of the thing propounded Now the sight of thy gracious dispositions and qualifications may be an evidence of opinion to thy soul that is they may have afforded some probable arguments of thy union with Christ And from thence may have flown these three effects of it 1. Thence may have risen a quiet and calm in the soul a cessation from those perturbations and tumults the soul was disquieted with formerly 2. Hence might flow some refreshments A hope of possibility to the poor sinking soul brings admirable refreshment Much like a man being ready to suffer Ship-wrack at Sea seeing but a ship coming towards him gives him hope of being taken in 3. From hence may arise some flitting joy Though Christ do but pass by as it were and the soul does but see his face through a crevis it refresheth his heart Thus far they may be evidences of opinion unto souls But there are divers things that must be noted about this evidence of opinion least we mistake For though I dare not say but these evidences of opinion in many souls may prove such that in the utmost issue of them may hold to eternity yet it is not without great danger to the safety and comfort of such souls Therefore observe I. That these evidences of opinion in souls do yet fall short of raising those souls into a full conformity to the rules of Scripture about and concerning evidences of union And that will appear in three things 1. In regard these evidences of opinion cannot rise to that fulness of certainty and that strength of confidence that the rules concerning evidences of a souls union do require souls to be raised to When this opinion is raised to the highest degree there cannot be a full certainty Now the Scripture requires souls to attain a full confidence about their union with Christ Heb. 10.22 2. In regard the foundation of the souls consolation in these evidences is laid upon a ground disagreeing to the rule The rule is onely the will of God revealed Now the will of God revealed is that there should be immutable grounds upon which the soul should be built Heb. 6.17 18. 3. In regard the consolation of the soul is unsutable in measure and degree to that which God intends for his peoples souls He intends full consolations to them a plerophery of consolation But how weak are those comforts that flow from those weak fluctuating inherent grounds of the souls qualities or the working of those qualities II. You must note about these evidences of opinion That no soul may justly satisfie or content it self with only those evidences of
first embracing of Christ had strange conceits of a temporal kingdom of Christ and yet no question the union between Christ and their souls was real only through want of clearness of light many disorderly affections were in them which were set in order afterwards Premise 3. Thirdly I must premise also That there is a vast difference to be observed between arguments or confirming signs of union with Christ and evidences of union with Christ Those properly are called evidences that do in their proper nature discover union whenever they are present So that when such things are present the soul cannot question his union with Christ And those cannot properly be called evidences that are not able to clear up union with Christ whenever they are present in the soul Now of that nature are many holy dispositions and holy qualities in the soul that may be present in the soul and not able to clear up the souls union yet these are evidences that may and do clear unquestionably whenever the Lord discovers them The Question you ask is a great question The question is how we shall know our union with Christ That is how we may attain evidences of union our union either being dark or doubtful or else never had clear evidences You that have it do not ask how you shall have it confirmed more and more but how you shall have evidences of your union Now I shall answer First Negatively how you may not Secondly Affirmatively how you may Neg. First negatively how you may not in three or four things Ans 1. First the souls union with Christ cannot be evidenced from any work of the spirit of God that is effected in or upon the soul That is neither by his Illumination Humiliation or Reformation Neither by a restraining work from sin or preventing work of sin or alluring work from sin that the spirit of God hath effected upon the soul All these works are too weak to clear up union to the soul and that upon three grounds 1. In regard all the works of the Spirit upon the Soul that do go before Union may be and are wrought upon Souls that never obtain Union with the Lord Christ As Humiliation sorrow for Sin restraint from Sin some kind of turning the Heart away from Sin some kind of love to the Ordinances of God All those that go before the very instant wherein the Soul is United to Christ may be effected in many Souls that never obtain Union Nay they may be and appear greater in many Souls that never obtained Union than in Souls that attain unto Union with Christ And in regard those works of the Spirit upon Souls are common to Souls that are not United as well as to Souls United thence they are no Evidences of a Souls Union Whatever must evidence Union to a Soul must be proper and peculiar to Souls United that it may be properly said that no Souls that are not compleatly United to Christ can have such a work upon their Hearts Now no such work goes before immediate union but may be common to a Soul never United to Christ For Conviction of Sin and Sorrow for Sin I might instance in Judas In reformation and desire to Ordinances we need go no further than a Wretched Herod Mark 6.20 He heard John Baptist gladly and reformed many things For a Souls Mourning after God apparently we may see it in Esau A Soul out of the sense of want of Union may Mourn most bitterly Now in regard of rhe Commonality of the works to Souls not United as well as unto Souls United they can be no Evidences of Union 2. In regard these works of the Spirit upon the Soul can yield no Divine Witness or Testimony unto the poor doubting Soul Indeed all the works of God Originally are Divine Works and Works of Divine Power yet they have no Power to yield a Divine Testimony Now nothing can be a sufficient ground for the Soul to believe its Union with Christ unless it be a Divine ground The proper object of all Divine Faith must be a Divine ground If it be a Fallible Ground it is a Fallible Faith if an uncertain Ground it is an uncertain Faith if a Humane Ground it is a Humane Faith Now in case upon those grounds as the sight of such works of the Spirit of God the Soul should believe its Union with Christ it should not believe it with a Divine Faith because there is no Divine ground to believe it upon 3. In regard there is no promise of Union with Jesus Christ made by God unto Souls that have these works of the Spirit of God upon them That is no promise to the Soul that is Burdened with Sin or the like I mean thus the Lord doth not engage in any of these promises to Souls that had such and such Works of the Spirit of God upon them that those he would bring into Union and none but those That is because my Soul is burdened with Sin or because the Spirit of God hath now convinced my Soul in this or that manner that therefore I have right to such and such a promise No these Promises are made to Souls in reference to Union with Christ that by Union with Jesus Christ I might have right to these Promises and to the effecting those Qualifications in the Soul too Ans 2. Secondly we cannot evidence our Union by any thing inherent in the Soul That is not by any gracious Quality Habit Inclination or Disposition that is infused from God into the Soul The Graces of the Spirit Communicated to the Soul and dwelling in it are as insufficient to manifest and evidence this interest in Christ as the workings of the Spirit upon the Soul I mean all holy Dispositions and Inclinations that are Communicated to any Soul And that upon these grounds I. In regard of the neer similitude and likeness of Counterfeit Qualities and Graces to all those Holy Qualities and Graces and Habits that can be discovered in a Soul The Devil hath his Artists at work as well as the Spirit of God is at work and there is no precious Jewel of Grace the Spirit frames in the Soul but the Devils Artists can Counterseit a Jewel of as neer Similitude as possible only to delude poor Souls Yea there is such a neerness of likeness in those false Dispositions to those True Precious Holy Qualities as the imperfect sight of the Soul cannot possibly discern the difference when the Union of the Soul is dark As to instance in Poverty of Spirit which is an emptiness of the Soul of all Confidence in it self being nothing in its own eyes Mark what a neer Counterfeit the Devils Artists can make cursed Pride of Spirit so as it can scarce be discerned nay so neer as the Soul commonly mistakes A Soul is convinced of Sin and moved to accept of the Lord Christ tendred Now comes the Devil What such a Cursed Wretch as thou art receive the Lord
of faith building upon the certainty of the Lords word Pre. 2. We must know that the Scripture doth make a distinction between assurances of souls union with Christ As in 1 John 4.16 Saith he We know and believe the love of God the father to us He makes a twofold assurance an assurance of knowledg and an assurance of faith Now indeed both the assurance of knowledg and the assurance of faith may in a large sence be called the assurance of a souls union with Christ in regard they have both the properties of knowledg Knowledg is the gathering of a necessary truth from some unchangable ground Now in both these assurances of knowledg and faith the knowledg of the souls union with Christ ariseth as a necessary truth from an unchangable ground The word of God is the unchangable ground from which the soul by the assurance of faith gathers the conclusion to himself that he is united unto Jesus Christ And the beholding the peculiar inseperable effects of a souls union with Christ is that unchangable ground from whence the soul gathers the assurance of knowledg Pre. 3. Thirdly that both the assurance of faith and knowledg are for the most part associates or companions in the same soul at one time They are for the most part cotemporary that is accompanying one another that when one is in the soul the other is in the soul that when a soul hath assurance of faith he hath also the assurance of knowledg And that for a three-fold reason 1. In regard those graces that are the ground of a souls assurance of knowledge are witnessed or declared by the Spirit of God to be given to the soul Whenever the Lord reveals from his own word unto a soul his willingness to take his particular soul into union with the Lord Christ the Lord doth at the same time witness to the soul his willingness to confer and bestow upon him all the grace his soul wants all the holiness the hungry or empty soul is breathing after He doth at the same time assure the soul he shall have love and delight in God he shall have poverty of spirit and strength over corruption 2. Through the assurance of faith those graces that are the grounds of the souls assurance of knowledg are begotten immediately Now in regard these are thus necessarily begotten thence it is the sight of them cometh to be apparent in the soul at the same time that the sight of a ground for assurance of faith is apparent in the soul 3. The lively workings and motions of all kind of graces are excited and stirred up in every soul by or through the Lords revealing unto the soul a ground for assurance of his faith of his union with Christ It is then the soul mourns for sin more sweetly and melts more preciously in the bosom of God than ever before though it may be there have been some heart-breakings under the sense of his wretchedness formerly It is then the soul is truly poor in himself and loaths and abhors himself more than ever before Pre. 4. Fourthly though they be at the same time for the most part in souls yet the assurance of of faith is the first according to order of nature in the soul For it is impossible there should be infallible evidences of the souls union with Christ drawn from his own graces when there is not some unchangable ground manifested from God unto the soul for the assurance of faith So that the assurance of faith in a right orderly way never flows from the assurance of knowledg but the assurance of knowledg flows from the assurance of faith And that arises upon these two grounds 1. In regard it must be the manifestation of the ground of assurance of faith unto the soul by God that doth procure a ground of the assurance of knowledg in the soul That appears thus The grace or love or favour of God is the ground of the assurance of faith Then the Lord doth draw the the soul to assurance of faith when he doth reveal to the soul his own particular grace and favour to take it into union with Christ out of the meer disposition of his own will alone for no other respect whatever but for his own sake Now the grounds of the assurance of knowledg are the effects of the grace of God revealed or the fruit of it Now those are begotten in the soul not by grace but by the manifestation of grace in particular unto the soul It is through grace revealed that grace hath its right proper effect in a soul and according to the measure of the grace of God revealed to a soul it hath the measure and degree of effect According to that in 1 John 3.2 We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is That is when we behold him through that sight we shall be transformed into the Image of God For the clearing of this you may consult with divers places as John 15.16 Saith Christ You have not chosen me but I have chosen you He doth not mean that they had not chosen Jesus Christ now at present as their portion but they did not choose Christ first But the manifestation of Jesus Christ choosing their souls first is the ground of the souls choosing Jesus Christ And according to the light revealing to a soul Jesus Christs choice of him so is the degree of strength wherewith the will closeth with Jesus Christ in the choice again Now the choice of Jesus Christ is the first act of any habit of grace that ever any soul brings forth There is no gracious act truly graciously acted by any soul till the will of the soul be drawn in upon the sight of the Lords choosing him to union with himself upon which the will also chooseth Jesus Christ into union with him And again you may consult with that known place in 1 John 4.19 Saith he we love him because he first loved us Not that from the essence of Gods love their love did proceed though that be true but from the manifestation of Gods love Now as the Apostle tells us Gala. 5 6. Faith worketh by Love The very first operation of the habit of Faith towards Christ is by love The soul at the same time it reacheth out a hand of Faith to grasp hold of Christ it reacheth out also an hand of Love unto Christ Now then observe the Graces and workings of Graces being the only ground for a soul to gather assurance of knowledge from and those Graces not being begotten in a soul but according to the degree of the Lords manifestation unto souls a ground of assurance of their union with Christ Thence it is that assurance of Faith must needs in order of nature go before the assurance of knowledge 2. The effects of grace which are always the grounds of the souls assurance of knowledge remain dark and hidden and obscure to the
soul when the grace of God that is the favour of God to the soul remains obscure and doubtful The truth of graces appears most clearly from their Original from whence they spring from the root upon which they grow in regard other Fruits may have so near a resemblance to them as they cannot be discerned by the eye of the soul that hath so much darkness in it whilst it remains here below But when the original of grace appears when the soul sees his love flowing meerly from the love of God to his soul that even because of Gods love to the soul therefore the soul loves God again it is then that love appears in the soul to be of the right stamp and indeed never till then So that till the love or poverty of spirit or mourning for Sin appear to the soul it self to be that which is the proper effect the proper consequence of the souls union with Christ the soul cannot be satisfied that his graces are of the right stamp Now in regard the effects of grace are doubtful when the grace of God himself to the soul is obscure and hidden Thence it is that the assurance of Faith must go before in order of nature the assurance of knowledge though for the most part not in order of time Now these things considered when you ask how the soul may know his Union with Jesus Christ The question must be concerning this assurance of Faith and not of the assurance of knowledge for you presuppose your selves not to have any union Therefore observe what question you ask you ask how you may gain an assurance of Faith that your particular souls are united unto Jesus Christ Now this question will divide it self into two questions First how souls do attain the first certain infallible evidence of their union with Christ Secondly How souls that do conceive and judge and estimate themselves to have attained their union with Christ may know whether their union be true whether their evidences be right evidences or whether they be delusions The first question must resolve every poor doubting scrupulous soul about his Union But now observe such souls cannot expect satisfaction from me about the union of their souls nor from any thing that man or the Wisdom of man can reveal unto their souls And that will appear in these four respects 1. In regard the producing Faith in the soul is an act of Almighty Power As you may see Ephe. 1.19 When he prays that they might understand the hope of their calling he prays also that they might understand and know the exceeding greatness of his Power to those that believe according to the working of his Mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead It is called a work of the Lords Power and a Mighty Power that is a Power of God as God as an incomprehensible essence For it was no other Power than the Power of God as God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and the Holy Ghost parallels that Power that draws the soul to believe with the Power of the Godhead 2. The producing the consequence of Faith of assurance in the soul is also another mighty work of the Power of God The consequence is the peace and Harmony in the souls bosom the setling of the poor tossed soul in his own wished for Heaven Now the begetting such Peace in the soul is ascribed to the Power of God Isa 57.18 19. He creates Peace Creation is a work that is proper to God alone as he is God as he is the infinite Divine essence Creation is to make something of nothing and therefore beyond the Power of all Creatures whatever 3. It must be a supernatural Divine light that can reveal to the soul the ground of the assurance of Faith Therefore you shall see Ephe. 1.17 18. how the Apostle desiring that those Ephesians might be brought to understand the depth of the Covenant of grace in their souls he prays to God that he would send into their Hearts the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints What is the hope of his calling That is what are the things hoped for and propounded as the objects of hope in the Lords calling souls You see there is a necessity both of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Not only of a Spirit of Wisdom that is of an habit of Spiritual Life and understanding infused into the soul but of a Spirit of Revelation that there might be a light of Revelation from the spirit to discover those deep hidden things unto the spirit of understanding that the Lord hath infused into the soul Now all the Revelations of man unto your souls scrupulous about your union can reveal no more than an external and outward light to the outward eye of your understanding And thence it is your scrupulous souls can receive no satisfaction about your union from any thing that can be revealed by man unto your souls But I pray mistake not I do not say the soul may not receive any satisfaction through that as a means but rather I affirm that through those Revelations of truths unto the eye of the natural understanding the Lord doth communicate true light into the spiritual understanding The Lord strikes in with the revelation of truths and puts light upon truths and puts light into the soul to receive those truths 4. In regard the Lord hath appointed a peculiar Officer for that end and hath designed that work of satisfying souls about their union for that Officer as peculiar to him alone Thence you shall see the Lord hath given the Officer a name sutable for that end which is the Comforter John 14.26 and commonly he is called as well by that name alone as the Spirit of God Now the office of the spirit is to lead into all truth John 16.13 and it must be truth that is some revelation of the mind of God that must give such souls satisfaction about their union Now in regard of all this it is evident that souls scrupulous about their union cannot expect satisfaction from any thing revealed by any man to their Souls but only so far as the resolution of this question will give them satisfaction and that 's in two things First in revealing to their Souls the insufficiency of their commonly supposed grounds from whence they seek for evidence of their union Secondly in raising their eyes of expectation to the right original of evidences of union We shall now proceed to the answer of this great question How souls attain the evidence of their union with Christ And yet before this question can be answered it will divide it self into theee Branches First from whence or from what ground souls do attain the infallible evidences of their union with Christ Secondly by what means do souls attain the evidences of their union
Thirdly in what manner those means produce the evidence of the souls union with Christ Quest 1. The first question is from whence Souls attain infallible Evidences of their Vnion with Christ Answ I answer That there is but one only peculiar ground substantially from whence souls can expect to receive infallible evidences of their union and that 's the Lords own free promise past out of the riches of his own grace alone to poor despisable souls wherein the Lord reveals his willingness to confer or bestow the Lord Christ upon their souls Now that this free promise alone is the infallible ground from whence souls can receive the infallible evidence of their union will appear in these three particulars I. In regard a Divine word must be the proper adequate object of a Divine Faith And every particular act of Divine Faith must have a Divine word Thence it is that in Rom. 10.17 The whole Gospel considered as the Gospel is said to be the word from which Faith cometh that is the word which is the foundation of Faith Not that it is the bare hearing of it that produceth Faith but through the hearing of the word the Lord reveals that word unto souls to be a true infallible foundation for souls to build upon And thence it is that the Word of God past out from God as a promise unto souls is made a ground of true hope unto souls Saith David Psal 119.49 Remember thy word that is thy promise unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope Now the word of promise thus considered being the only proper object of Divine Faith thence it is that it can only be from a divine promise that a soul can receive the infallible evidence of his union with Christ II. In regard there must be a revelation from God of his free donation and giving Christ unto a soul that must be the ground of the act of every assuring faith It must be through some light and apprehensions the soul hath of the Lords free will concerning his soul that Christ and his soul shall be one that any act of assuring faith can go out of the soul And that may appear in two things 1. In regard faith respects things only as they are revealed by Speech from some person or other and respects the authority of the person speaking as the ground and foundation upon which it acts that is upon which faith does believe Thus the authority of the Lords speaking was the ground of Sarahs faith Heb. 11.11 So the ground of Paul's faith is expressed thus I know whom I have believed and that he is able Now the Lord reveals his mind concerning the eternal condition of such souls only in his promise Thence it follows necessarily there must be some revelation of the mind of God in the word of promise or the Lords donation or giving Christ to the soul before there can follow any act of assuring faith 2. It appears in regard faiths proper exercise consists only in receiving Whence you may observe in Scripture that believing and receiving are both put for one ordinarily John 1.12 and Chap. 3.33 So that of necessity for every right exercise of any act of faith there must be an apprehension of something given that may be received by a soul And thence it is of indispensable necessity that there be an apprehension of the Lords giving Christ to the soul to be one with it before there can be an act of assuring faith in the soul III. It must be from the promise from whence the soul receives the evidence of his union in regard there must be a particular infallible certainty to faiths eye in the ground from whence faith of assurance or faith of evidence doth act Faith working only as a receiver can receive no fuller certainty or have any fuller confidence in it self of any thing to be effected or done than it sees manifest from the grounds from whence it takes that confidence or assurance Now the promises alone are the infallible certainty to the eye of faith Yea the Lord according to his own unchangable counsel hath determined that there should be no other certainty but to the eye of faith Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed And that 's the answer to the first Question from whence souls do receive the infallible evidence of their union with Christ which you see is only from the divine promise But yet here is another Question souls will cast in before we answer the second By what means Quest But may the soul say Is it not from the sight of a condition to which the Lord hath made some promise of Christ that a soul doth receive the infallible evidence of his union It is true it must be from a promise but the promise is not the nearest ground the proximate ground but the remote ground the furthest off ground And the condition of the promise fulfilled in the heart is the nearest ground and the immediate ground from whence the soul receives the evidence of its union For answer to it there are divers things to be premised and then to come to the direct answer of the question Prem 1. First I must premise That it is a general received division of the promises that they are either absolute or conditional Absolute made and founded upon the will of God alone and so to be accomplished only according to his own will and because he will Or else promises are made to some particular condition to be performed in souls upon which the Lord doth also fulfill the promise to the soul Now this division divides the promises into a Covenant of grace and a Covenant of works so it is all one with that known division promises legal and promises evangelical promises according to the Law and promises according to the Gospel Prem 2. Secondly I shall premise That there can be no promises of the Covenant of Grace properly called conditional promises there being not one condition included in the whole Covenant of Grace to which any one promise is made So that the division of the promises into promises absolute and promises conditional cannot hold rightly in the Covenant of Grace but every promise considered in the Covenant of Grace are all absolute promises That is the revelation of Gods will to souls that the Lord hath simply and fully determined to accomplish according to the manner and order and latitude wherein he doth propound them unto souls and that without any impediment or interruption so that whatever can possibly intervene yet the Lords will shall prevail in performing the promise Thence you shall observe Jer. 31.32 that the new Covenant called the Covenant of Grace and Love is distinguished from the old Covenant God made with the Jews as a Nation in that it was a Covenant wholly absolute containing nothing but promises which the Lord intended to
discerning to be communicated to the soul that doth not come from Jesus Christ Or else that there may be a light remaining in the soul from the relicks of nature which might let the soul see his absolute indispensable necessity of Christ or else he is undone for ever Now observe what a principle of darkness this is It takes away the peculiar office of Jesus Christ which is to open the blind eyes and give them sight Isa 42.7 Rev. 3.18 2. Thou must conceive that the soul should have received Jesus Christ before he is tendred to him Now no man dare own there should be a spiritual light in the soul before the Lord Christ heals his blindness And no man can conceive there should be the discerning of a spiritual object without a spiritual light The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 And for the second that a man should receive Jesus Christ before he be tendered to him this every man abhors as a great absurdity So that it is clear that this is a principle of darkness one of the motes the Devil would keep in the souls eyes But it is to be observed there are two truths about this thing that the Devil misses in propounding it as a glass to the soul 1. That there is no soul that receiveth Jesus Christ but hath a true sight and in some measure a true sense of his want of Christ and of the indispensable necessity of him Though no true spiritual discerning can go before the tender of Jesus Christ yet thus far it is true that at the same instant the Lord allures the heart to accept of Jesus Christ into union he doth beget a true spiritual sight of his absolute necessity of Christ 2. There is a second truth that is narrowly missed here and that is That this spiritual sight of the souls absolute indispensable want of Christ is communicated to the soul by the spirit of God working through the offer of Jesus Christ to the soul Though some conceive there are some things that may be called preparations not begotten by the Gospel but as they distinguish by the Law separate from the Gospel yet they all grant that no true grace either of light sight or sense is conveyed any way but through the Gospel of Christ and is instrumentally an effect of the Gospel of Christ Now that which is an effect of the Preaching of the Gospel of Christ must be an effect of the tender of Christ to the soul for that is the effect of the Gospel to tender Jesus Christ to the poor despicable loveless soul Now that this is a principle of darkness I shall prove from Scripture All those promises of Scripture that offer Christ freely must be expunged if this be a principle of light as Isa 55.1 Rev. 22.17 John 6.37 Where the invitation is free whoever will let him come If he have but a will let him be what he will A Second principle of darkness is That there must be a sight of the actings of the good will of God to the Soul Principle of darkness before the Soul can believe any good will of God intended to the Soul in Christ That is thus saith the Soul surely there must be a fight of some holy disposition there must be a beholding of some readiness to depart from sin and some casting off the principles of corruption there must be a heart seeking after God and praying and supplicating God before the Soul may conceive the Lord intends any good will to it in Christ Now the darkness that is in this principle will appear in opening four consequences flowing from it 1. If any such holy disposition or inclination be to be discerned in a Soul before he is to believe the Lords intending good will to his Soul in Christ then some particular effect of savour or some acting of the Lords good will should be received by a Soul besides the Lords promise and so should not be conveyed through the receiving of the promise unto the Soul And so consequently the Lord should convey Grace into Souls out of and beyond the bounds of his own Covenant of Grace 2. If any of these actings of Grace were to be seen in the Soul before it believes the Lords good will then should special Grace be conveyed to the Soul before engrafting into Christ So that life should come down from Jesus Christ into the Soul and it should partake of the influences of Jesus Christ and of the Graces of Christ before he receiveth Jesus Christ himself And upon this ground the Soul should bring forth good fruit before it be engrafted into Jesus Christ and become a good stock or good tree and so expresly contrary to the Scripture an evil tree should bring forth good fruit a Soul in enmity to God should bring forth holy dispositions 3. If the Soul should behold the actings of the good will of God towards his Soul before he believes the Lord intends good will to his Soul in Christ then must the Soul conceive that he may see his own Soul beloved actually of God even for the present before the receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ to make atonement or reconciliation to God for him The Soul must then conceive that there should be acts of friendship from God to the Soul before the Lord Christ should step in to make up the union of peace and agreement before there should be reconciliation 4 If the Soul should of necessity see the actings of Grace in his Soul before he see the Lord intends good will to his Soul in Christ then a divine word should not be the primary or principal ground of the Souls faith but rather the Graces or the actings of Gods good will discerned in the Soul and consequently all the foundation of such a believing Soul should be meerly in the Soul it self Now nothing is more directly contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture holding forth the ground of faith than this Abraham who is set forth as a pattern of Believers his faith was onely built upon the word of God giving authority to it from the authority of the Speaker Rom. 4.20 21. A third Principle of Darkness is this That it is Presumption for the soul to beleive or to receive the promise of Jesus Christ Principle of darkness so long as the soul seeth nothing but rebellion and Disobedience and Enmity in his heart against God This is another Hell-bred principle of darkness that smells much of the smoke that comes out of the bottomless pit to darken the light of the Lord Jesus And that this is a principle of darkness will appear by some few considerations 1. In regard there can be no rebellion nor no enmity healed but by vertue received from Jesus Christ Sin receiveth its deadly wound only upon the Cross of Jesus Christ and it is by vertue of the application of the
be one with them After Christ was gone into heaven and had left pleading with undone sinners with his own blessed lips you see Eph. 4.11 12. he sends out others in his own room such as might be Embassadors representing his own person to beseech and pray undone sinners to accept of reconciliation with the father through their union with him 2. By revealing that the Lord Christ took care to furnish such as he sent forth to allure undone sinners into union with him with a sutable spirit for that work Therefore before Jesus Christ would go to his father John 20.22 he goes to his Disciples and giveth them a Commission to allure souls into union with himself and when he had given them the Commission he breathed on them and said Receive ye the holy spirit 3. By revealing the Lords assimilating those whom he betrusts to reveal himself to lost sinners Not only in furnishing them with abilities of the spirit but also in conforming them in their very dispositions unto his own likeness he conveyed his own bowels of mercy and pitty and compassion into them that their bowels might yearn towards the gathering lost sinners into communion with him as the bowels of Jesus Christ himself yearned This you shall see Eph. 1.8 That Paul tells them he longed after them all in the bowels of Jesus Christ That is I longed after your perfection in union and communion with Christ in the bowels that Jesus Christ hath infused into me as some interpret it But indeed the interpretation may rather be of Jesus Christ in the same bowels that Jesus Christ longed after souls in the same kind of pitty and compassion that Jesus Christ had working in his bosom towards undone sinners 4. By revealing the Lord Jesus chusing out some desperate sinners on purpose to be as patterns of love before the eyes of other lost sinners that he would take into union with himself This is declared by the spirit 1 Tim. 1.15 16. to be the end of God to shew mercy to that blasphemer that persecuter that injurious one to Jesus Christ that he might shew forth a pattern to other sinners that should hereafter believe on him 5. By revealing the Lord Christ to have improved all his interest in those that are his own to engage them to help forward the work in gathering lost sinners into union with him As in John 21.15 16 17. when Jesus Christ was to leave the earth and would engage Peter to do some great thing for him he engaged him to reveal himself to poor miserable souls that 's under the term or notion here of feeding his Lambs and Sheep IV. For the evidencing the willingness of the Lord Christ to accept into union every loveless sinner that will embrace him the spirit reveals the absolute engagement of Christ by his own joy and by his own glory that is supernatural to embrace every loveless sinner that is willing to entertain him The Lord Christ considered as head to a mystical body may be said to be imperfect till all sinners that shall ever belong to him be gathered in And Jesus Christ even wants his Joy and Glory that he shall enjoy as a Mediator so long as there is but one lost sinner belonging to that mystical body to be gathered in Therefore it is impossible for Jesus Christ to reject one sinner that shall embrace him unless he will reject himself There is a third beam of divine light and that is Third beam of divine light The insatiable longing and thirsting of the Lord Jesus to embrace every soul into union that would be united to him The spirit is leading the soul from one degree of satisfaction to his faith to another till at last he cometh to give a full ground of satisfaction to the soul to make his union with Christ appear that faith hath ground not only of confidence but of triumph Now the spirit doth evidence this unto the soul for his satisfaction two ways First The spirit reveals the grounds from whence the longings of Jesus Christ after union with the soul do proceed Secondly The spirit reveals the expression of those longings of Jesus Christ by himself First The spirit reveals the ground whence those longings proceed 1. The spirit evidenceth the near alliance and precious relations that Jesus Christ accounts himself to have unto all those lost Sinners that long after union with him or that ever shall be brought into union with him 1. The Spirit reveals that the Lord Christ accounts all those lost Souls his Brethren Therefore Christ in John 20.17 when he sends Mary to tell the blessed news of his resurrection to his Disciples saith he Go tell my brethren that I ascend unto my father and your father to my God and your God Go tell my brethren That is those that are joynt adopted ones by my father as my brethren the joynt beloved ones as I am beloved of the father as Mediator Now from hence the spirit manifests that the soul of Christ cannot but long after union with all those souls that will embrace him into union 2. The spirit reveals that the Lord Christ accounts all those that shall embrace him to be as his Spouse as those that are to be married to him Jesus Christ hath infinite longings after himself and his own glory and then Eph. 2.28 He that loveth his wife loveth himself therefore Jesus Christ doth but love himself and his own glory in desiring the union of souls with himself and therefore his longings cannot be less than infinite and incomprehensible 3. The spirit evidenceth that Jesus Christ accounts all souls that shall embrace him as his own members without which he is not compleat as Mediator The fulness of Christ mysticall is the Church and he accounts not himself perfect till all his mysticall body be gathered to him Now hence the spirit manifests infinite longings in the bosom of Jesus Christ after every soul that would be one with him as he longs after his own good 4. The spirit reveals that the Lord Christ accounts every soul that will embrace him to be a part of his own glory Christ accounts not his own glory to be full till all those lost souls that ever shall embrace him be perfectly and compleatly joyned to him Now hence the spirit manifests that there cannot but be infinite longings in the bosom of Jesus Christ after the union of such souls with himself as would have union with him or are willing to embrace him seeing he cannot but infinitely long after the perfection of his own glory And seeing he cannot long after his own glory in the perection of it but he must long after the union of every lost soul that will embrace him into union with himself 2. The spirit also remembers the soul of those dreadful sufferings of Jesus Christ for all those souls that ever shall embrace him Now from thence the spirit evidenceth three ways that there cannot but be such longings of
And indeed if we look over all those Famous men as Calvin Greenham and that skilful Physician Mr. Rogers c. not one of a Thousand Ministers but we may extract some such Passages as these from them as Take heed you apply not Comfort too soon after you be Wounded Take heed you take not away the Corrosive and apply healing to soon If you take away the Tent saith one of them before the corrupt matter be healed it will heal of it self too soon and break out most dangerously Thus if the Tent of Fear and Horrour and Soul-Affliction for Sin be taken out of the Wound of the soul too soon the soul take Comfort too soon the Wound will be ready to heal too soon and so will either break out more dangerously or else it will be the everlasting death of the soul But observe how souls mistake this ground in conceiving these expressions to be sufficient ground upon which to build such a Conclusion 1. The meaning of these Divines in giving these cautions to take heed of applying Comfort too soon is only this that such as deal with Afflicted Consciences must take heed they do not too readily assure them that the promise of Life in Jesus Christ belongs to them and that they are certainly accepted in the Covenant of Grace Now indeed these Comforts may be applied to the soul too soon for this is not nor ought to be the first application of Jesus Christ to souls The very first act in the soul in its application of the Lord Jesus to it self is not that the Lord Christ is my Saviour and that he hath Redeemed my soul and Purchased Life and Eternal Salvation for me Thus indeed a soul might apply Jesus Christ too soon But the first application of Jesus Christ to the soul is the applying the Lords Tender of the Lord Christ unto the particular soul It is an assuring of the soul from what it beholds in the Declaration of the Will of God from his Word that it is his Will to receive his soul into union with Jesus Christ and that it is the Will of God concerning him that he do embrace Christ to be one with him 2. Observe That it is upon different grounds that a soul doth receive assurance unto his Faith that he is united to Jesus Christ and that other souls do manifest any Confidence that the soul is united to Jesus Christ There is one ground for the souls own apprehension that the promise belongs to himself and it is upon another ground that any soul may apply a promise by way of assuring the soul that he hath an interest in the promise This will appear in two things 1. The ground from whence the soul receiveth assurance to his own Faith of his union with Christ is invisible to all others when it is first visible to the soul it self The Lord may and doth frequently by his own Spirit so open the very secrets of his Heart and Mind unto a particular soul and his willingness his longing desire to accept him in Christ as he doth beget yernings in the soul to Christ and beget a blessed close between Christ and that soul but alas no other eye but his own seeth this blessed close 2. Those grounds upon which any other may assure a soul that he is united to Jesus Christ are but the Consequence of the souls own Apprehension of Christs acceptance of it into union with him So that observe If the spiritual Physician should apply Comfort in their sence to the soul that is assure the soul of his present interest in the Covenant of Grace he may do it indeed too soon because he can have no ground for such a Confidence that he is united to Jesus Christ till he hath applied Jesus Christ in particular to his own soul and that application hath brought forth some preceious Fruit that is till it hath brought forth Contrition and Godly Sorrow Emptiness Nothingness a sight of the souls own Sinking Perishing condition till it hath brought forth Gasping and Longing and Panting after Jesus Christ no Spiritual Physician hath any ground to assure or tell the soul that he is Confident that he is united to Jesus Christ and this is that that these Divines call Comfort And therefore they propound three or four things as necessary to be discerned by every Spiritual Physitian before he apply Comfort to them First say they it is necessary that the Spiritual Physician behold the soul Wounded in the sense of his Sin sensible of the Wrath and Indignation of God that is due unto his Sin and sensible of the unavoidableness of Wrath and Indignation Secondly say they it is necessary the Spiritual Physician should discern in the afflicted soul a Sincere Cordial Upright Single Purpose and Intention an absolute Resolution to abandon all those Sins a purpose to Hate them and Loath and Abhor them Thirdly say they that he must discern a sincere purpose to be constant in a Universal way of Obedience unto Jesus Christ to receive him as his only King and Ruler and Governour to be obedient to his Will alone Fourthly It is necessary that he discern earnest Longings and Pantings and Breathings after Jesus Christ an unsatiable thirst after him such a thirst as none can quench but Jesus Christ alone such a thirst as makes him so prise Jesus Christ that if all the World were turned into a Mountain of Gold it were nothing to him in respect of Christ and this thirst say they must be discerned by the Spiritual Physician to be only after the imputed Righteousness of Christ that is that he may be free from Sin and have the Pardon pass'd from Heaven to his soul and have the Righteousness of Christ to stand pure and clean and Innocent before God and then say they the Spiritual Physician may apply Comfort to the soul So that it is apparent from their own Principles what they mean by cautioning souls to take heed they do not apply Comfort to afflicted Consciences to soon And yet further these Divines in their application of Comfort also acknowledge it can be but in a conditional way that any one can lawfully aver to a soul and assure it from the Word that the promise of Life belongs to him and that be is in the Covenant of Grace For say they it must be only upon this condition that those things I named before be Truly and Really and Sincerely to be found in the soul So that in effect there is no Comfort that is applyed by them unto the afflicted Conscience And I must confess I see not any safety that can be concluded from the Word of God in application of Comfort in this way unto afflicted Consciences in regard it must rather establish the soul upon a Humane Authority than a Divine II. A second ground of this Principle is this That the promise of Life and Salvation doth not strait way belong to every soul that is Wounded and Terrified
faith the one believes in a rational way by his judgment when the other have confused motions towards God without judgment Now for the further clearing of this distemper of spirit 1. Saith the soul through this rash distemper prevailing in his heart those to whom the promises of God are intended to be made good God draws them to embrace them but I do not find that God draws me or giveth me power therefore I am none to whom this promise is made The principle is true but the conclusion is drawn rashly from it 1. The soul commonly draws this conclusion without weighing what the drawings of God are and what the secret power infused into the soul to receive those promises tendered to it is I have heard a soul draw this conclusion from this principle but when asked what are the drawings of God in the soul to inable it to embrace Jesus Christ tendered in the promise the soul knows not Ask it didst ever find the Lord making thy heart willing to receive the Lord Jesus to be one with thy soul and to make up an union with the father for thee O yes saith the soul I confess my soul longs for that I cannot but say I am willing And yet in the mean time through the distemper of rashness draws this conclusion that he is none of the number of those to whom the promise is made because God does not draw him 2. Suppose there was not this willingness yet the conclusion is rashly drawn from the principle in regard there is no time that God hath limited or prescribed to himself wherein he will draw the hearts of those that he intends the promises for 3. The souls ground is false in regard the Scripture determines not that the Lord always acts those inward habitual drawings of his when he hath once actually drawn 2. Say some souls through this rash distemper that those God intends good to he will not suffer them to grow worse and worse under the means and to decay in their affections and grow more corrupt But saith the soul I grow worse and worse under the means more corrupt and my affections decay and therefore I am afraid the Lord never intends to do good to me Now I pray observe but thine own rashness in not weighing and trying and searching all things to search whether indeed thou beest grown worse and worse under the means or no and to see in what degree thou art grown more corrupt and whether it be such a degree as the Scripture evidenceth God lets not those that he intends good to in Christ to fall into sin or no. Here should have been a great many things weighed before thou hadst drawn that conclusion I. Thou shouldest have weighed whether thine heart be grown more corrupt or no. Divers things things are considerable there 1. Though thou judgest thy self more corrupt yet thou mayst not truly have more corruption than thou hadst A soul is to distinguish between corruptions that are effectively so and those that are formally so It may be thou mayst see corruptions formally in thy soul more than before whereas thou mayst not be more corrupt effectively I mean thus thou mayst find more motions unto sin and wickedness than before and yet not those motions prevail to sin effectively that is to deprave and corrupt thy soul Though indeed interpretatively and according to the strict law of God those stirrings of corruption may be called sin yet they cannot properly be called corruption and thou canst not be said to be more and more corrupt for then they grow corruptions when the heart is inclined to them 2. Thou mayst judge thy self to have more corruption and yet there may not be more corruption neither First God may have cast more light into thy soul than before when thou didst judge thy self not to be so full of corruption Now through light every iniquity hath a greater weight upon the spirit than it had formerly Now the more weight it hath upon the spirit the more it is taken notice of And through more light there is a clearer discovery of the duty that the Lord requireth of the soul and of the nature and spirituality of the duty Now the more exquisitly the soul discerns the duty God requireth at his hand the more abominable he seeth his own heart Secondly if there be not more light it may be there is a greater tenderness of spirit infused into thee than formerly So that thou feelest corruptions more because the burden of them is more spiritually upon thy heart than before and so they appear to be the greater to thee 3. Corruptions may appear more when they are not more in regard there may be many occasions offered to draw forth inherent corruption into exercise There might be as many legions of iniquity in thy heart formerly though they did not appear because they had not the same occasion 4. Satan may be suffered by God to endeavour to draw out corruption for the discovery of corruption and the mortifying of it The Lord may suffer Satan contrary to his intentions to war against his own kingdom in thy heart in drawing out all his power to stir thy corruptions that thou mayst go to heaven for power to slay them So that if all these things were well considered it may be the heart would not be found to be more corrupt II. Suppose the heart should be grown more corrupt under means for a season Suppose the root of sin should get some sap and bud and sprout again and send forth its branches more plentifully and bring forth more fruit yet it were to be weighed before a soul draws such a conclusion whether sin may not revive again and grow more lively for a time even in those who are near to the heart of God to whom God intends all the good in the promises tendered by Christ III. It would be also considered whether the Scripture warrants the drawing such a conclusion from a real sense of growing worse and worse It would be considered whether the Lord be not tendered to at that time that thou mightest receive such influences of grace from him as might prevent thy soul from still growing worse and worse IV. It would be considered whether the soul can find that such a degree of declension as it is now fallen into be such a one as the Lord Christ hath excluded all that fall into it from receiving himself in the Covenant of Free Grace If I should follow up this rashness of the soul further I might open that the souls real declension in affections that were formerly may not be a sufficient ground to conclude that the soul is grown worse and worse 1. It would be considered whether affections did work in the Lords own orderly way through the following of the judgment in closing with the truth propounded in Christ It may be the novelty of the truths affected thy heart as being new things and it was not from the dictate
the most inward working of the mind and understanding he can find out the very secret workings of the understanding in a very probable way 1. The Devil can discern much of the thoughts and different workings of the minds and understandings of men by their outward actions Actions are but the birth of thoughts as all actions are the births of habits they are the original of all outward actions that are deliberate and rational And thence the Devil can discern very narrowly into the thoughts by the outward actions he can guess both by the gesture of persons and by the very motions of the body what the inward thoughts of the mind are especially when he discerns such and such to be the constant way and manner of the conversation of a person then he understands well what the Principle must needs be that leads such a person to order his conversation in that manner 2. The Devil can immediately discern what the Images and Species of things are in the fancies of Men. Images of things in the fancy of Man are but like a shadow to the Body whatever the workings and inward motions of the mind and understanding are the images of the same things are in the fancy As the shadow accompanies the Body so do these fancies accompany the understanding Now the Divel being also immediately to understand these from thence he can collect and gather what the notions of the understandings are 3. The Devil can discern all the motions of the affections and passions The passions always working in the blood by the motion of the animal spirits to the heart and from the heart thence the Devil can immediately behold the first rise of any passion and affection passions of fear or passions of love or joy and grief and hatred and displeasure Now these passions and affections always attending the will of the soul and the will of the soul always attending and following the understanding or the practical Judgment thence also the Devil can collect by the practice and affections what the inward notions or thoughts and workings of the mind and understanding are 4. The Devil can observe diligently what the issue and event of his own suggestions are upon the fancies of Men. He observes whatever false reasons that he himself propounds do produce â—n the person and from thence also he hath a near discerning from the â—ffâ—â—t that he discerns what the workings of the understanding and mind are 5. He hath a large and long time of experience of all the several and various acts that various principles and various thoughts have produced For though he be not able to discern the thoughts while they are locked up in the mind and understanding yet afterward when they are either revealed by a passion or when they are brought apparently into action he then understands them Now he for Five thousand years and above treasuring up all observations he hath observed when one hath confessed these and these were his thoughts what the effect of those thoughts were when another hath confessed these and these were his thoughts he hath observed what the effect of those thoughts were Now by his long and constant experience he can declare the actions of one Man with the actions of another Man what such and such thoughts have produced and thence can probably conclude what the workings of the thoughts and mind and understanding of any person is Now in all these ways he exercises his utmost skill his most exquisite act to discern into the understandings and minds of persons whom he intends to delude by any false reasonings concerning the certainty of their union with Christ so that the false reasonings that he shall suggest to them may be suitable that they may take at the very first suggesting of them There are three things in the understanding that he endeavours to understand by all his skill and art 1. He endeavours to discern the depth or shallowness of the mind and understanding of the person whom he intends to delude by some false Argument or other from whence he would fallaciously perswade the soul of his union with Christ Now according to what he discerns in the understandings of persons so he suites his reasons and arguments may be he discerns a shallowness in some understandings thence he suites his reasonings proportionable to their understandings many poor shallow souls he can perswade that their good meaning is enough to carry them to Heaven Another shallow soul he can perswade his good Prayers his deeds of Charity his paying every Man his own and dealing justly is enough Likewise when he discerns a greater depth of understanding in any person he lays out more of his curious skill and art he covers over his false reasons more speciously he lays his fallacy more indiscernably and deeply There is no low Argument that will satisfie a deep understanding though a natural one that he shall be saved yea no lower fallacy will be sufficient to delude such an understanding but a false apprehension and notion about the nature of faith some mystical fallacy about the mystery of believing in Jesus Christ 2. The Devil searches into the notions and principles that are most settled and fixed in the understandings of persons There are various notions that every understanding is filled with which according to the imaginations of the several persons are truth some understandings are filled only with gross and carnal and sensual notions they conceive of God only in a carnal and sensual manner and of the mystery of the Gospel carnally Others understandings are filled with notions that have a kind of spirituallity in them Now the Devil makes an exact search to find out these that thereupon he may propound lying arguments of the union of Souls with Christ suitable to those notions So that when he perceives an understanding only to be filled with carnal notions of God he can propound his carnal outside appearances of worshipping of God as a ground to that soul of his peace and union and reconciliation with God he need seek for no higher depth to delude such a Soul But when he perceives an understanding to be filled with higher notions of God and of the mystery of the Gospel he then propounds not only bare material outward acts of divine worship as the lying ground to delude such a soul concerning his union with Jesus Christ but he propounds inward actings of transcient slightly affections yea may be to such understandings he propounds the death of Christ a speculative faith and an historical faith in the death of Jesus Christ and from this historical and speculative faith he insinuates into them their peace and reconciliation with God and certain salvation by the Lord Jesus 3. The Devil makes a scrutiny into the mind and understanding to discern its occasional notions and apprehensions upon the providence of God that the person meet with He pries into the understanding to discern what Judgment it passeth upon the
through a clear evidence hath begotten such a precious confidence in the Soul The believing Soul ought to say concerning that his confidence as Job said concerning his Job 27.5 I will not remove my integrity from me I will not let go this my confidence till I have proved and examined the evidence of my union with the Lord Jesus from whence this confidence did arise This also may appear in two things 1. In regard the diminishing of this confidence in the believing soul before the trial of the evidence of his union with Christ received is an infinite injury to the sweetest Comforter the blessed Spirit who through the manifestation unto the Soul that he is united to the Lord Jesus establisheth the Soul in that pretious confidence The rejecting of that confidence so wrought by the blessed Spirit is a slighting of the spirit in his most precious Office and a disparagement of the very witness of that blessed Spirit 2. It is a most sinful unconstancy and fickleness to reject any thing received before clear demonstration of the errour of the soul in receiving It is contrary to the order rhat the Lord requires should be in all the motions of the soul which is that they should be subject to the power of holy sanctified reason So that this confidence before trial ought to be maintained in its full strength in case such a confidence was begotten by an evidence formerly received that he is actually united to the Lord Jesus Quest But here is a question then by the way would be opened But will the Soul say wherefore then are the commands given by God to prove and examine our selves whether we be in the saith and so consequently to examine the evidence of our union with Christ if we must not be dubious and anxious whether the evidence of our union with Christ received be true or no before we proceed ro the trial and examination of them Answ 1. For answer to this question by the way briefly I answer first that these Commands of Souls examining themselves whether they be in the faith are given universally to all Souls on purpose that deluded souls by the trying and proving themselves might discover their own delusions and discern their lying confidence of their acceptance into union with the Lord Jesus 2. These commands are given on purpose to believing souls to maintain the life of the confidence of the Lords will to admit them into union with Christ and the confidence that they are admitted into union with the Lord Jesus These commands are occasions to Souls truly united to the Lord Jesus to review over the grounds of their confidence of the Lords will to admit them into union with Christ and of the Lords actual admission of them into union Now the more the Soul views the ground of his confidence the more it views that blessed word of God that reveals the Lords will to admit even his Soul into union with the Lord Jesus in case he accepts it and by the Souls gazing upon that blessed word it discerns more of the truth and certainty infallibility and unchangeableness of that word and the more frequently and fully the Soul discerns that the stronger is its confidence in the will of the Lord that he will admit even that his Soul into union with the Lord Jesus and thence there is more occasion for the blessed Spirit to irradiate rhe souls believing act to enable the soul to see and feel it self to believe aright by which means the actual confidence of the souls admission with Christ lives and is maintained in its strength 3. These commands are given that there might be more preparedness against all assaults that are made from Hell against those souls Through this examination believing souls have their confidence maintained in its life and strength and so are fortified against temptation because it discerns clearly the foundation upon which his own confidence stands 4. The Lord gives these commands on purpose to draw forth into exercise all manner of holy dispositions in the believing soul This is done by the renewed view of that light that doth evidence unto the souls faith or unto the souls sense its union with the Lord Jesus Thenâ—… is the pretious subjection of the Heart to the will of God in all things acted then is the correspondent love of the soul answerable to the Lords love to the soul drawn out in its strength then are all the thirstings after near communion with God in Christ acted Pre. 3. Thirdly a third thing to be premised is this That there are many sinful distempers incident to believing souls in the times when they are doubtful of the truth of the evidences of their union with Christ which whenever they do prevail in any soul during their prevalency they do incapacitate those souls for a just trial and true examination of the evidences of their union There are especially four of those sinful distempers incident unto believing souls at such a time 1. There is an impatiency and frowardness of spirit under the obscurity of that truth of their evidence of union with the Lord Jesus incident to every believing soul Indeed our spirits are naturally impatient under every burden but when any Arrows from the Almighty are shot into the Conscience or any Arrow from Hell stick fast there I mean any doubtfulness any terrors and fears of the fulness of their conceived evidence of their union with the Lord Jesus then are their spirits in a superlative manner prone to fret and vex and fume by the prevailing of unruly passion Thus David under the doubtfulness of the Lords fulfilling a promise made to him breaks out into most dreadful impatience in 1 Sam. 27.1 I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul So in Psal 116.11 I said in my haste all men are liars So Psal 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine Eyes So the holy man Job Chap. 3.3 and Chap. 6.8 9. Now during the prevalency of this distemper of impatiency and frowardness of spirit under doubting the truth of their evidence their spirits are made uncable of a just trial and examination of the truth of the evidence of their union with the Lord Jesus There are two ways how this sinful distemper doth incapacitate souls for the just examination of the evidence of their union 1. It doth prevent a serious deliberate view of the evidences of their union with Christ that they have received by drawing out the intentions of their Spirits to look upon the grounds of their fears of the falseness of the evidence of their Union When any passion prevails in any Spirit it draws out the whole strength of the Soul that way Now the intention of the soul being drawn out to look upon the object of his fears the grounds of his doubts and the matter of the suspition of the falseness of his union by this the soul is made unsuitable to take any right deliberate
view of the evidences of his union 2. Impatiency of Spirit under the doubtfulness of the truth of the souls evidence of his union with Christ doth occasion every seeming opposition to the truth of the souls evidences to appear greater than it is in its own nature Thence it is frequent with souls under this distemper every suggestion from Hell bears such weight upon the Spirit as it is in a fume upon every such suggestion conceiving there is abundant argument against the truth of his union whereas upon the examination of the same objection by the same soul with a quiet calm spirit those objections appear to be invalid to have no weight nor scarce any colour whereby they should manifest the falseness of the Souls evidence of his union II. The second sinful distemper is an irrationality that the Soul subjects it self to in all the conclusions that it draws up against it self Now whenever a believing Soul subjects himself to this sinful distemper that he endeavours not to suppress every affection of Hope Fear or Joy which is not founded upon some blessed word of God then the Soul doth make it self uncapable of examining and trying justly the truth of his own evidences of his Union 1. In regard the Soul will of necessity be irrational in all its conclusions But when the Soul is irrational in its confusions it is uncapable of a just trial of the evidences of his union it is uncapable of comparing that blessed golden Rule of the Lord word and his own evidences together 2. In regard the thoughts of the Soul are all distracted when any thing is brought to the thoughts for the truth of his union that Soul without examination immediately entertains some hopes Again when any thing is objected to the Soul to prove the falseness of his evidence immediately again the soul entertains fears without examining the reality of what is objected against his evidence and those hopes and fears continuing enterchangeably working make such distraction in the souls thoughts that it makes it uncapable for any deliberate view of the evidences of his union 3. The third sinful distemper is a rashness hastiness or suddenness of spirit Thus some doubting of the truth of their former evidences of their union with the Lord Jesus because of some backsliding from God that they are conscious to themselves of will suddenly from such a place as that Heb. 6.4 concludes that they have sinned presumptuously and that there is no renewing them again by Repentance or unto Repentance The words run thus For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gifts and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they fall away to renew them again unto Repentance whereas did those Souls examine the intent of the Holy Ghost in these words it were easily to discern that the Holy Ghost intend those who finally apostatize from God not intending any slips and falls and backslidings that are incident to every believing Soul were there but a just examination of this portion of the word by collecting it and comparing with another word that would testify many Saints to have had their fallings and backslidings after their tasting of the heavenly gifts and after their being partakers of the Holy Ghost â—…ly in a higher way than the Spirit means here he mean here by partaking of the Holy Ghost only some participation of common gifts of the Spirit other Scriptures testify David and Abram to have had their falls yea almost every Saint after their tasting of the heavenly gift and yet to be renewed again by Repentance Now this distemper doth make the soul uncapable of a just examination of the truth of the evidence of his union with Christ 2 ways I. In regard this rashness makes the Soul uncapable of discerning the depths of Satan whereby he endeavours to obscure the truth of every Believers evidence of his union with Christ This sinful rashness occasions the Soul only to take a superficial of whatever is suggested or propounded Now Satans Suggestions have some sparkling of Angelical Glory some vernish of truth and holiness so that every suggestion of Hell whilst the distemper of rashness prevails in the soul cannot but be judged a sufficient ground to build a doubt and scruple upon and then Satan being always watchful to maintain a dispute that he once began with the Soul to make reply against whatever can be objected against his first suggestion every of these objections of Satan they will be counted sufficient ground for the rash Soul to draw another safe conclusion or to strengthen the Soul in the drawing its former false conclusion 2. This rashness also begets a confusion in the Soul the soul drawing conclusion upon conclusion upon every seeming ground and one conclusion maintains contradicting another a contradition of hope contradicting a conclusion of fear and there being no examination through the domineering power of rashness in the Soul of the truth of the one and the falseness of the other these conclusions begin to fight in nhe Soul at once yea multitudes of conclusions seem contrary each to other 4. The Fourth distemper that doth incapacitate a Soul for the just tryal of the truth of his own evidence is a prejudicial conceit against his own evidences even before any examination of the truth of the evidences of his union This is the sad distemper that prevailed in Asaph Psal 77.2 my Soul refused to be comforted he did refuse to receive any evidence that the Lord would be faithful But certainly this was the distemper of the Church Lamen 3.17 18. Thou hast remove my Soul far off from peace I forgot prosperity or rather as it is rendred by some I forgot God it is most probable she refused to entertain any of those thoughts that the Lord would yet be gracious Hence it is that many Souls under the Power of this distemper do study to wind themselves from under the Power of any truth that should lay hold upon their hearts so as to answer their objections and cavils against their acceptance into union with the Lord Jesus Now this Distemper doth make Souls uncapable while it prevail of a just examination of the truth of their own exidences in regard it causeth slighty unworthy thoughts of their own union Pre. 4. Fourthly it is to be considered that whenever any Soul is declined from or decayed in his former activity and operation of holiness he is then unsutable to examine and to try justly the truth of his own evidence of his union with Christ He is unsutable in these five respects 1. In regard the light of manifestation from the spirit is always suspended when the heart is in this decaying temper in holiness When ever any heart decay in holiness his first original decay is in the activity and strength of the precious believing disposition of the will