of Wrath by Nature subject to the Curse of the Law the Power of Satan and insupportable misery to all Eternity 2. We must believe assuredly that there is no way to be saved without receiving all the saving benefits of Christ his Spirit as well as his Merits Sanctification as well as Remission of Sins by Faith It being as he saith the ruin of many souls that they trust on Christ for the remission of Sins without any regard to Holiness when as these two benefits are inseparably joined in Christ He herein grants more than many will desire of him that men should assuredly believe this in the first Act of Faith 3. We must be fully perswaded of the all-sufficiency of Christ for the Salvation of our selves and all that believe on him 4. We are to be fully perswaded of the truth of the general Free-promise in our own particular case 5. We are to believe assuredly that it is the Will of God that we should believe in Christ and have Eternal Life by him as well as any other Now without the two former of these we shall not mind coming to Christ but shall make light of him without the others we shall have little encouragement to come to him Now if any shall enquire whether these things which are perpatory to our believing or coming to Christ be in our own power or are the effects of God's Grace in us and whether conversion do always follow thereupon I Answer There are some things as much in our own power as any of our natural or moral actions are that may have a tendency to our conversion and therefore the Prophet complains of Israel Hos 5.4 that they did not frame their doings to turn to the Lord. And there is a Sermon in the Morning Exercise Published in the Year 1661. ☜ reputed to be Mr. Greenhills who was a person far from the suspicion of ascribing too much to the power of Nature which resolves the question what persons must and can do towards their own conversion Now it is certain that men may as well go by their Natural power where the word is preached as to places of temptation And there they are within the call of the Gospel and so are as the impotent persons at the Pool of Bethesda Jo. 5.1 c. 1 Cor. 3.5 c. Rom. 10 17 Luk. 8.12 in a nearer capacity of cure if it please God by his Spirit to give increase to what is planted and watered for faith comes by hearing and therefore the Devil endeavours to divert our minds from what we hear lest we should believe and be saved We see further how much it is in man's power to bend his mind to the study of any particular subject we see it plainly not only in mens chusing in general the study of Law Physick or Divinity but those that addict themselves to the study of Divinity chuse any particular point thereof to treat on And they who give not the least ground of hope that there is any saving work upon their own souls will press upon others such things as the consideration of may incline and dispose them to believing Ezek. 18.14 28. Psal 119.59 Rom. 2 23. and men have the same natural power to teach themselves which they have to teach others But all this will not reach to conversion any farther than God is pleased to give to every one I will now shew you what God doth towards the conversion of sinners or which may have a tendency thereto Some things he doth by his Providence which he makes many times subservient to his Grace Acts 17.26 He that determines the bounds of mens habitation casts them into such places where they may hear the Gospel preached plainly seriously by such as persuade men 2 Cor. 5.11 as knowing the terror of the Lord. And he may exercise them under some affliction which may be as a ground-rain soaking to the roots and softning the clods and turning them to mold that the seed that hath been long buried may spring up of that which persons have a long time before heard and never thought of after when some humbling affliction befalls them they bethink themselves 1 Kings 8.47 and repent But such works fall short many times of true Conversion Hos 6.4 Gen. 20.6 Jo. 16.8 and this goodness proves but as the morning cloud or early dew which passes away God doth something further by his common grace restraining men from much evil I confess I think our Saviour where he speaks of the Spirit 's reproving or convincing the World understands the World of such whom he chose his Disciples out of and distinguishes them from but I think it is not intended of any inward working of the Spirit upon their hearts but of those Miracles which he wrought which confirmed the truth of Christ's Resurrection and of his Doctrine By such means as I have now mentioned men may be brought near the Kingdom of Heaven but never enter into it Mark 12.34 See Cassander's consultation p. 45. But those preparations which Salvation doth follow upon are as the soberer Papists acknowledge wrought by Gods Grace and Spirit He enlightens the mind so as we have a more clear sight of Heavenly things and other apprehensions of them than before we had when it pleases God to reveal his Son in us Gal. 1.16 Isa 53.2 Cant 5.10 Jo. 6.44 45. he that before had no form nor comeliness in our eyes nor any beauty that we should desire him is now the chief of Ten thousands in our account and altogether lovely God draws us to Christ by teaching tho I do not think that all the efficacy of God's Grace consists in propounding things to the understanding or in enlightening the understanding to conceive aright of them But by a secret touch of his Spirit he so effectually inclines our hearts to him 1 Kings 8.57 Phil. 2.20 that we do in a sort naturally mind spiritual things that is freely without constraint This of the Spirit 's enlightning the mind is not a peculiar notion of Enthusiasts but the commonly received Doctrine of sober Protestants So Bishop Pierson on the Article of the Holy Ghost in his Exposition of the Creed tells us The work of the Spirit is double external and general or internal and particular By the former he reveals the will of God to the whole Church by the latter he illuminates the understanding of particular believers that they may receive the truth the Holy Ghost working in us an assent to that which is by the word propounded Again God doth by his Spirit convince us spiritually of our state and condition and the word Eph. 6.17 Heb. 4.12 Acts 2.37 which is the sword of the Spirit and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing to the dividing asunder betwixt the Soul and the Spirit the joynts and the marrow pricking sinners at the heart so as it shall be as a Sword in their bones
that Christ should lay this Charge upon them that they should not let their hearts be troubled They might think that they ought to be troubled for these things yea that they could not but be troubled for them Heb. 12.5 Jer. 5.3 Isaiah 42.24 25. For we should not despise the chastening of the Lord as we should not faint when we are rebuked of him We should take heed of both extreams It was the Sin of the Jews that when God smote them they were not grieved and that they did not lay his Judgment to heart 1 Pet. 5.6 John 11.33 We ought to humble our selves under his mighty hand And we find that Christ himself was troubled at the death of Lazarus Now to all this I answer That we should not suffer our selves to be transported by any Passion neither should Sorrow too much affect our hearts but as it is said of Christ in the place now mentioned He troubled himself So it is in the Margent according to the Greek we should in our Passions be not only Passive but Active ruling our own spirits Prov. 16.32 letting them out only so far as the matter requires as it is said of Lot 2 Pet. 2.8 That he vexed his righteous soul We use to say of Fire and Water they are good Servants if they be kept within their bounds but they are bad Masters when they exceed their limits We may say the same of our Passions we may yield so far to sorrow as to ballast the mind therewith and keep it steddy so it will make the heart better Eccl. 7.3 But we must not so far give way thereto as to overburden our spirits therewith so as to sink them 2 Cor. 2.7 Psal 102. Prov. 15.13 Psal 77.4 Job 2.13 Neh. 8.10 Job 15.11 or overwhelm them so as to break our spirits so as to make us unfit for Prayer or uncapable of Counsel nor so as to weaken our hands in the Lords works nor so as to slight his consolations or to give others occasion to think that we have low thoughts of God as if we could not satisfy our selves with him and his Favour as David did in his Troubles Psalm 63.3 4. without the Addition of outward Comforts 1 Sam. 1.8 As Elkanah took it ill that Hannah could not content her self with him as better than Ten Sons Joab looked upon it in David as a slighting of his faithful Subjects 2 Sam. 19.6 when he was so out of measure troubled for the loss of Absalom For the Second Objection That they are things of that nature which he had forewarned them of that they could not but be troubled at them I answer That as Christ would not deceive his Disciples with vain hopes but tells them the worst before-hand So he provides a sufficient Remedy against the Troubles which he forewarns them of He doth not as some that take upon them to confute some dangerous Errors when their Arguments are weak and not satisfactory and so they do more hurt than good while reciting such Errors they publish them to the World without a sufficient Answer not sufficiently fortifying persons against them But as Christ told them such things as filled their hearts with sorrow so he provides Consolations for them answerable thereto as he doth ordinarily proportion the Consolations of his People 2 Cor. 1.5 to their Tribulations He doth indeed in this and the following Chapters propound particular Remedies against those several Troubles which he had warned them against But the great Catholicon or General Remedy which he recommends to them is Faith in God and in Jesus Christ Ye believe in God believe also in me which words are not only an opposite Command to what he warns them against as that of Christ to Thomas John 20.27 be not faithless but believing but also a means to prevent Trouble of Mind Some question how these words should be read because the Greek word is the same in both places and may be taken either indicatively as they speak or imperatively that is either declaring what they already did or requiring what they should do So that some read them Ye believe in God ye believe also in me Therefore they should not let their hearts be troubled Matth. 1 16. as indeed they had professed their Faith not only in God but in Jesus Christ Others again read them both as a Command to believe in God and to believe in Christ because they think it is not likely that he should commend them for their Faith or acknowledg that they did believe when he blames them so oft for their unbelief as Matth. 6.30 and 14.31 Mark 2.40 But when there is Faith and that to a good degree it may fail for a time under Temptation as Abraham did tho he was the Father of the Faithful both in Egypt and in Gerar. Gen. 12.13 Gen. 20.2 John 14.9 Heb. 1.9 Some read it Believe in God and ye believe in me as Christ tells them He that had seen him had seen the Father because he was the express Image of his Person So he that did believe in the Father John 10.30 did believe also in him because he and the Father were one But I think our Translation doth best express our Saviour's meaning They did not question God's Being or Veracity but they were required further upon pain of Damnation to believe on Christ John 8.24 And he saw what was like to befal him would shake their Faith as indeed it did and they were ready to give up their Hopes John 16.32 Luke 24.21 1 John 5.13 So he may here press them still to believe or to continue so to do As the Apostle saith These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God that is may continue still so to do What is objected against this Interpretation of the Words is not considerable viz. That it is not likely that the same word should be taken in two several Senses in one Verse There is nothing more ordinary than to have the same words in different Moods in the same Verse which is the case here as Ezek. 3.27 He that hears let him hear and he that forbears let him forbear So Matth. 19.12 He that is able to receive it let him receive it But it is more to translate the same words differently in the same place which yet the nature of the thing or the matter in hand doth sometime necessarily require as John 2.23 24. many believed in his name but Jesus committed not himself to them or durst not trust them CHAP. II. I Will now proceed to shew 1. What it is to believe in God and Christ 2. Why it is here required that we should not only believe in God but in Jesus Christ 3. What an effectual Remedy this is against Trouble of Mind
This is believing with all the heart when we do gladly and willingly apply our selves to him for Grace and Salvation For thus to seek to God Heb. 11.6 or to Christ is to come to him That which is called coming to God is in the same verse expounded diligently to seek him so they say Jer. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more unto thee Psal 10.4 Joh. 1.12 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God So we must receive Jesus Christ that is accept of him for our Saviour submit our selves to his way and method of Salvation saying with Paul Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts. 9.6 Gal. 5.6 So our Faith must work by love his readiness and willingness to save us at the price of his own Blood 1 Joh. 4.19 must make us love him who loved us first And this love will constrain us while we judg that he dying for us when we were dead we should no more live to our selves but to him that died for us 2 Gor. 5.14.15 and is risen again I will endeavour to make this more plain by a similitude There may be some Physician in the Country whom we may reckon our selves happy that we ever knew or heard of Tho' there are many that know of such a person and perhaps live near him yet do not regard him because he is nothing to them while they find themselves well and see no need of him But we were sick of a dangerous disease which we never heard that any were cured of till this Physician came amongst us but hearing that he cured all that he took in hand that would follow his directions that he was so obliging that he turned away none that came to him that he expected neither see nor present from the poor that had nothing to give but cured them Gratis we chose him for our Physician applied our selves to him followed his Directions and find already such a change and alteration in our selves and so good success that we resolve to stick to him and follow his directions looking for perfect cure in time from him This is our case Jesus Christ is come into the World to save sinners many know this but are never the better for it because they not finding themselves sick think they need not the Physician Mat. 9.12 Rom. 10.14 and so never apply themselves to him But we knowing the miserable condition wherein we were think our selves happy that ever we heard tidings of him for how should we believe on him of whom we have not heard But we looked upon it as worthy of all acceptation That Christ came into the World to save sinners Hereupon we applied our selves to him 1 Tim. 1.13 tho' we had neither price nor present to find acceptance with him yet did we not seek his favour that we might continue in Sin but that he would save us from our Sins and bless us in turning us from our iniquities Thus we see that Faith Mat. 1.21 Acts 3.26 or that saving act whereby we are justified and saved is neither a bare notional knowledge nor a barren dead Faith but such a belief of the Gospel as doth suppose our miserable estate by nature as brings us to Jesus Christ as our only Saviour not only for pardon of sin so as we may avoid the wrath to come but for entire and compleat Salvation Rom. 6.14 so as iniquity may not have dominion over us but that we may be freed from the bondage of it and so redeemed from it as to be a peculiar people to God zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 I shall have occasion to add something afterwards which may more fully clear up this point and so shall at present proceed to the second thing which I propounded to speak of viz. Why we are to believe in Christ as well as in God First If we consider Christ as God of the same Essence with the Father Joh. 5.23 Joh. 10.30 so we are to honour the Son as we honour the Father for so he and the Father are one But if we consider him as Mediator so we are to believe in him as the immediate object of our Faith and by him to believe in God 1 Pet. 1.23 Joh. 17.3 As the knowledge of Christ must be superadded to the knowledge of God for obtaining Eternal Life so Faith in Christ must be joined with our Faith in God We must come to God by him Heb. 7.25 None can come to the Son but by the Father that is Joh 6.44 Joh 14.6 by his grace drawing them But none can come to the Father but by the Son That is they must have access to the Father through his mediation As the Tyrians made Blastus their Friend when they came to desire Peace of Herod Acts 12.20 So if we would have Peace with God we must have access to him by Jesus Christ it is he that must bring us to God Rom. 5.2 Eph 2.18 1 Pet. 3.18 Ephes 1.6 We must first by Faith come to Christ and he must introduce us to God that we may find acceptance with him The Jews were so terrified at the giving of the Law that they were afraid of having to do any more immediately with God and therefore desired that Moses might come betwixt God and them Exod. 20.19 Now as the Athenians had an obscure notion of an unknown God but the Apostle declared to them him whom they ignorantly worshipped Acts 17.23 so here the Jews had some Conviction of the necessity of a Mediator and they pitched on Moses as the fittest person for it that they could think of But God answered to the ground of their desire Deut. 18.15 c. Ephes 3.20 and promises them a Mediator which they could never have thought of that was fit for that Office doing for them above what they could ask or think As God doth doth many times in answering the Prayers of his people grant the thing which they desire but not in such a way or by such means as they might think of but by some more proper way or means which his wisdom finds out But further before the Incarnation of Christ they were to believe in the Messiah to come but now that he was come and had given sufficient proof that he was the promised Messiah by doing these works which never any man did they were to determine their Faith on him in particular Joh. 15.22 Joh. 8.24 or dye in their Sins But he doth likewise press this upon them because he foresaw what discouragements they were like to meet with and how likely their Faith was to be shaken in this particular 1 Cor. 1.23 A crucified Christ was a stumbling-block to the Jews and to the Greeks foolishness The Jews thought that the Messiah when he came should abide for ever John 12.34 therefore his Disciples when they saw his
shall have too much ground to suspect that our Faith is not an unfeign'd Faith 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1 5. Tit. 1.1 or the Faith of Gods elect if it do not work by love It is further evident That Assurance must be maintained by Reflection or Self-Examination because the Apostle makes that to be the scope of his Epistle That those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life 1 John 5.13 and may still believe or be confirmed in their Faith If any doubt what those things are that he refers to doubtless they are not the things immediately going before but the Epistle in general In several places of which he shews what doth evidence a state of Salvation and what is inconsistent therewith as Ch. 1.6 7. Ch. 2.3 15. Ch. 3.14 Ch. 5.1 4. Now after all this some are unsatisfied with this way of attaining Assurance or rather maintaining it as being neither satisfactory nor necessary and it seems to found our Assurance and Comfort on something in our selves For this last Objection to dispatch it in few words As fruit tho it grow from the Root yet grows upon the Branches so tho all our Hope and Comfort be originally from the Grace of God yet this manifesting it self in its effects we may comfort our selves in what God hath wrought in our selves as well as rejoice in behalf of others when we see them walking in truth 2 John 4. or see in them those things that accompany Salvation Heb. 6.9 or have Salvation following on them And if any say this may suffice for a Judgment of Charity which is all that is required of us in reference to others but it is not sufficient to that judgment of certainty which we should have concerning our selves This will receive an answer from what I have to say upon the two other exceptions Now whereas it is said that this way of self-examination leaves Christians at great uncertainty about their Spiritual Estate and the evidences that are usually given for satisfying them are not so convincing but Christians are perplexed still with fears and doubts I answer That we should not go to Ministers either in hearing or reading or conferring as Naaman went to the Prophet to be cured of his Leprosie expecting that he should do it with a word of his mouth and a stroke of his hand 2 King 5.11 We cannot expect that they should presently resolve us about our Spiritual condition but there is much diligence to be used by our selves as there is in all things of any worth which are difficult As this deserves our diligence so it requires our diligence not only for the tryal of our Grace but for the exercise of it It is observed by some that Christians in our days have not ordinarily that Assurance which others have had in former times and I doubt the observation may be true but I think it proceeds not so much from any error about the nature of Faith as from decay in Grace and that manifest declining that there is in the practice of Religion and it is no wonder that professors of Religion are such strangers to Assurance and Spiritual Comfort while there is such a manifest difference betwixt the Christians of these days and of former times and I desire that the words of one suspected by none to derogate from the Grace of God or the operations of his Spirit in reference to man's Salvation may be diligently heeded It is saith he impossible that many professors whom we see and converse withal should have any solid peace with God It is a fruit that will not grow on an earthly selfish frame of mind and conversation God forbid but that our utmost diligence and continued endeavours to thrive in every Grace should be required thereunto Now in this case I neither think it so easy a matter as some do to attain Assurance nor such an impossibility as others do Some Learned Men think that Assurance doth generally accompany saving Faith because they suppose the Soul must needs know its own acts and so must necessarily know when it believes and when it repents and consequently infer its own Justification But tho it be easy to know our own acts considered Physically or Naturally that is when we put forth such an act in general as when we believe or repent or know God yet it is another thing to know our own acts morally considered or as they ought to be qualified in order to such ends as they are appointed to There may be a Faith which is but temporary Mat. 13.21 or for a season there may be a repentance like that of Nineveh which may avail to the preventing of temporal Judgments but not to Salvation There may be such a knowledge whereby we do not know things as we ought to know them 1 Cor. 8.2 Tit. 1.16 so we may only profess that we know God But we must know that we know him 1 Jo. 2.3 Jer. 22.16 by our Obedience as the fruit or effect thereof so it requires search and self-examination 2 Cor. 13.5 to know whether we are in the Faith or in the state of true believers But on the other hand some suppose it impossible to attain Assurance by reflecting upon any thing in our selves as an evidence of God's special Grace or favour towards us and that they may wholly disable Christians for inferring any Assurance from any thing in themselves they deny both propositions from whence they should draw their conclusion For example we say that those who love the brethren are passed from Death to Life 1 Jo. 3.14 By reflecting upon our selves we add further that we love the brethren thence we conclude that we are passed from death to life Now these men with whom we have now to do deny both the Propositions that is they deny we know that we our selves are passed from death to life by our love to the brethren making this to be rather a ground of a judgment of Charity concerning others than a judgment of certainty concerning our selves for we may surely make a better judgment of our own love to the brethren than of the love of others only they think a judgment of Charity may suffice towards others but we are now speaking of Assurance of our own love but in this argument they insist on the second Proposition denying absolutely that we can know our own love to the brethren or at least that Christians can ordinarily know it there being so many properties of it which it is hardly possible for any Christian to find in himself 1 Cor. 13.4 c. but further we must know them to be brethren they say otherwise Papists or any sort of persons love those of their own way looking upon them as brethren Yea we see such Divisions and Animosities and mutual Exacerbations among Christians as it seems impossible either to attain to a judgment of Charity
in order to our believing which may commend us to Christ for his acceptance It is said a mans gift makes room for him Prov. 18.16 and brings him before great Men by means thereof he hath free access to great Men and finds favour with them But we can bring neither price nor present to Christ Isaiah 61.10 Cant. 8.10 nor come to him as a Bride adorned with Jewels that we may be in his eyes as one that finds favour we must rather come to Christ that we may buy of him Gold tried in the fire Rev. 3.18 Isaiah 55.1 that we may be rich and white raiment to cover our nakedness and eye-salve to anoint our eyes and we must buy this without money and without price It is as they speak the antecedent put for the consequent Judg. 2.14 Psalm 44.12 as God is said to sell his people when he delivers them into the hands of their Enemies tho he sell them for nought because in selling there is a delivering of what is sold into the hands of the Buyer So we are said to buy when we make a thing our own or get it into our own hands Ezek. 16. Tho the Prophet speaks chiefly of the mean Condition of the Jews when God took them to be his peculiar people and advanced them to such greatness yet that was a Representation of the State and Condition wherein God finds Sinners when he chuses them out of the World and sets than apart for himself Our righteousness is but as filthy rags Isaiah 64.6 These do not reach to cover a man's Nakedness but it is seen through them and if they be filthy rags they rather make a person more loathsome than become an Ornament to him so far as they do reach So our best Works or Duties reach but a little way they extend but to a small part of our lives and so far as they do reach they are polluted and defiled with sin We must not come with our own righteousness to Christ but we must be married to Christ that we may bring forth fruit to God Rom. 7.4 And if any say we are married to Christ by faith and so must receive that Grace whereby we believe before we are married to him I answer It is in this case as it happens in some Marriages If a mean person marry one that is much above her tho she be entitled by Marriage to what is her Husband 's if she hath not wherewithal to bear the Charge of the Marriage or to come to him as Rebecca did to Isaac she must take on trust what will defray this Charge on the Credit she hath by such a designed Marriage or be furnished with what is necessary from him So tho we are entitled to the benefits of Christ by our believing on him yet it is given to us to believe on him for his sake Phil 1.29 through whom we receive the first Grace as well as all the rest 2. There is nothing required in us to make the Grace of God to become effectual He doth not as those that make choice of such as nature hath qualified or fitted for improvement to great employments or take the advantage of any good humour which he finds men in that may dispose them to Eternal Life as some interpret the words of the Evangelist which in our Translation were ordained to eternal life Acts 13.48 Nebuchadnezzar when he would take some of the Children of the Captivity to train up for his Service chose such as were well-favoured or fightly and such as were skilful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science and such as had ability Daniel 1.4 But God doth not seek out such for his Service He makes the heart of the rash to understand knowledg and the tongue of the stammerers to speak plainly Isaiah 32.4 The Carpenter indeed must look out such Wood as is naturally fitted for his use he cannot make a crooked piece straight by bending or make a knotty piece cleave But a Founder can take any piece of Metal of what size or form soever or however rusty or batter'd and cast it into what Mold or Form he pleases So God can of stones raise up children to Abraham Matth. 3.9 And as he shews the freeness and riches of his Mercy in chusing the worst of Sinners so he shews the power of his Grace in making a thorough change in those in whom he finds the most deep-rooted Prejudices against the Gospel He turned Paul when he was in his full Carreer towards Hell while he was breathing out threatnings and slaughter against the Church Acts 9.1 and verily thought he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth and 26.9 Gal. 1.23 24. so that they glorified God in him when they saw such a wonderful change wrought in him But tho there be nothing in us which may oblige God to bestow his Grace on us or facilitate his Work in our Conversion or drawing us to Christ yet as Faith is our Act there is something required in order thereto that we may believe with all our heart Acts 8.37 or freely and willingly take hold on God's Covenant Prov. 27.7 Matth. 7.6 Matth. 11.28 Revel 22.17 The full stomach loathes the hony comb and swine will tread pearls under their feet Therefore only those that are weary and heavy laden and those that thirst are invited to come to Christ because none but such will come John asks the Pharisees and Sadduces Matth. 3.7 Who had warned them to flee from the wrath to come whereby he doth not I suppose mean the wrath that was to come upon that nation by the Romans but the damnation of Hell Luke 21.23 Matth. 23.33 1 Thes 1.10 as our Saviour elsewhere calls it Tâ—â—s is the wrath to come which Jesus deliverâ—â—â— from The Sadduces did not believe that there was any Future state and consequently any wrath to come The Pharisees trusted in themselves that they were righteous and so could not apprehend any danger of the wrath to come Therefore he seems to question their sincerity in the profession which they made and requires them to bring forth fruit meet for repentance and not to ground their hopes upon their Descent from Abraham As men are to give a reason of the hope that is in them 1 Peter 3.15 so they should have some reason for their believing or coming to God by Jesus Christ I shall take the liberty here to refer to what hath been said by a Grave Sober man on this Subject he being a person that none will suspect of going too far on this hand Mr. Walter Marshal in the Gospel Mystery of Sanctification p. 207 c. In the Instructions that he gives to prevent the defects that we are most liable to in the first Act of Faith he tells us 1. We must believe with a full perswasion that we are Children
hands of Christians by teaching that perfection is not necessary to Salvation nor attainable in this Life because Chistians generally concern themselves more to endeavour after Assurance than after Perfection both as it is more attainable and more necessary to the comfort of their Lives As for the profession of the People of God in Scripture it is not universally true of them for as we meet with instances of many triumphing in the assurance of the love of God and the hope of future glory so we do of some under doubts and terrors and as Moses wished in another case that all the Lord's People were Prophets so I wish that all the Lord's People had Assurance yea I hope that if he call them to like sufferings he will give them like Assurance as his People had under theirs formerly it being his ordinary way to proportion their Consolations to their Sufferings 2 Cor. 1.5 Yea we ordinarliy teach not only that Assurance is attainable without extraordinary Revelation but that it is the Duty as well as the Interest of Christians to endeavour after it Having premised thus much briefly I will now proceed to enquire how far Faith is attended with Assurance and how it may be sometimes without it I will not say there is a direct Act of Faith and a reflex Act I think not the terms so proper but I own what they call the direct Act of Faith is the most proper Act of it and that when a man hath believed or doth believe he may reflect upon it and say with him Mark 6.24 I believe and thence he may infer his Interest in the promise of Salvation and so have Assurance which some call Assurance of Faith and we may call it so as it is inferr'd from our Faith rather than as it is an act of Faith The Scripture speaks of a full assurance of understanding Col. 2.2 which is a clear and certain knowledge of Truths Of a full assurance of hope Heb. 6.11 Heb. 10.22 that is a certain expectation of Salvation Of a full assurance of faith Now. the Assurance which we are now speaking of is indeed rather the Assurance of Hope than the Assurance of Faith tho it is indeed grounded on the Assurance of Faith wherewith we should draw nigh to God not only in particular Acts of Worship but in our first access to him in Conversion as the Prodigal first returned to his Father's House and when he was received into it made his particular Addresses to his Father as he had occasion And this full Assurance is not only such as that of Abraham That what God had promised Rom. 4.21 he was able also to perform Nor as that of Sarah That judged him faithful that had promised Heb. 11.11 So as he will certainly make good his promise according to the true Tenor thereof whether we believe or no he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2.12 Rom. 3.3 And if some do not believe their unbelief shall not make the faith of God without effect It shall be fulfilled to others that do believe But there is a further Assurance of Faith even in the first direct Act thereof whereby we do apply the Grace of God to our selves in particular which is not a believing that our Sins are already pardoned or that they shall be pardoned upon our believing that they are so but that they shall be pardoned upon our believing that is upon our addressing our selves to God by Jesus Christ upon our coming to him or casting our selves upon God's free Grace in Christ This is that boldness and access with confidence which we have by the faith of him Ephes 3.12 Heb. 10.19 that boldness which we have to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Boldly adventuring our selves on God's free Grace in Jesus Christ for Salvation fleeing for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before us Heb. 6.18 in the encouragement of the gracious invitation of the Gospel to all those that are weary and heavy laden Matth. 11.28 Rev. 22.18 John 6.37 to those that shall desire really the Water of Life and the promise made to such And in confidence of the gracious promise made to all that come to Jesus Christ that he will in no wise cast them out And tho it is true Ministers in their preaching do often make use of the example of the Lepers that sate at the gate of Samaria 2 Kings 7.3 4. who resolved to go into the Host of the Syrians as the most likely way to save their lives because there was no other course that they could take wherein there was any hopes of it for if they went into the City they should dye there if they continued where they were they should dye So that if there were the least probability of saving their Lives by going to the Syrians this being the only way which did afford them any hopes it was the wisest course they could take So in this case there being Salvation in no other Acts 4.12 Mark 16.16 John 3.18 and Unbelievers being under Condemnation If there were but the least probability of finding mercy through him it would be the safest course that Sinners could take They would certainly perish if they should not believe in Christ and they can but perish if they betake themselves to him But all this is spoken not to discourage the hopes or weaken the confidence of such as flee to Christ for refuge as if it were doubtful whether Christ would shew them mercy or receive them to favour but to meet with the Scruples of Doubting Christians that fear that Christ may reject them tho we do not grant that it may be so while we have his promise that he will not do it Yet suppose such a thing possible it is acknowledged by all that we should take the safest way so that if there were only a possibility much more if there be a probability of Salvation by Christ and no possibility thereof any other way it is certainly the best way for us to betake our selves to him It is in this case as if a Physician should come to a sick Person and tell him his Condition is very dangerous and there is but one Remedy that will save his Life but if he will make use of that he doth not doubt of his recovery The sick Person is apprehensive enough of his danger but he hath not much confidence in this Remedy but doubts whether it will cure him or no. His fears may be such and his Melancholly prevail so far that the Physician can hardly hope to free him from his fears at present but may think it an unanswerable Argument to perswade him to use such a Remedy that if he do not use it there is no way but Death but if he do use it he may live So when Christians are under Temptation and the Power of Melancholly we may more easily prevail with them to venture
desires of those with whom they pray or the desires which they know in their own Consciences they and others ought to have but many times men pray for ostentation or for a pretence to shew their talent in expressing themselves or to seem more religious than they are but those Prayers whereby we may make a judgment of our selves are the prayers which we pour out to God in secret not by rote or by book but from the bottom of our hearts which we may know by dealing faithfully with our selves Men indeed ask for such things as they are convinc'd they ought to pray for or as they have accustom'd themselves to pray for or which they have learned to pray for by hearing good Men pray or out of good Books it may be out of the Lord's Prayer But these are not their real desires and they would not be willing to be taken at their word to walk so strictly as they pray that they may walk to do the Will of God on Earth as it is done in Heaven to have their sins forgiven only as they forgive others But what are our real requests which we make known to God Phil. 4.6 which our hearts do sincerely concur with or what are these requests uttered by others with whom we join in prayer that our hearts do close with and which we add our hearty Amen to It is but a word of course with many and they deal with themselves as men deal many times with others setting their hand to petitions which they never gave their consent to but what are the petitions which we really own and would gladly have answered Are they for Solomon's Leavings Riches long Life the lives of our Enemies Are they such as the Sons of Zebedee asked Matth. 20.21 Honours and Preferments or rather such as Solomon's petition was for Wisdom not to govern a Kingdom but to get a Kingdom to make us wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 Prov. 16.32 Psal 4.7 Psal 119.80 Psal 119.4 5. to rule our own spirits that he would lift upon us the light of his Countenance that our hearts may be found in his Statutes do we turn precepts as well as promises into Prayers desiring that God would direct or incline our hearts to what he requires us Do we pray rather for the fruit or a sanctified use of Affliction than deliverance from it Heb. 12.1 Psalm 89.15 Psalm 119.10 that tho we cannot walk in the light of God's Countenance yet we may walk by the light of his Word that though we may not with John lie in Christ's bosom yet we may with Mary Jo. 13.23 sit down at his feet to hear his word fearing the Lord Luc. 10.39 and obeying the voice of his servants tho we walk in darkness and see no light have nothing of comfort Is 50.10 4. Let us examine our selves by our company Here the rule holds Noscitur ex socio c. If we know not what a man is we may give a near guess by his company if a stranger come amongst us we may conjecture at his temper tho we never come near him by the company that he chuses and ordinarily associates himself with It is true it may be our unhappy lot to be cast among such whose society may be a burden to us Psa 120.5 and we may be necessitated by our worldly occasions to keep company with prophane and wicked persons 1 Cor. 5.10 But who are they in whose company we chiefly delight or whom we chuse to make our familiar friends and companions Psal 16.3 all David's delight was in the Saints those he accounted the most excellent persons He was a companion of those that feared God and invited such to turn to him Psal 119.63 79. they are such that the sincere Christian makes choice of as his bosome friends not only as they are dear to God 1 Jo. 5.1 and so loving him that he begat he loves him that is begotten of him and would shew kindness to such for his sake 2 Sam. 9.1.7 as David shewed kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake But like will to like It is natural in brute Creatures and persons are in their element when they are conversing with those like themselves we may observe ordidinarily at any publick meetings where there are several sorts of persons who they are that get together and how they sort or divide themselves If there be Scholars or Learned Men they will be together Husbandmen will associciate together so Merchants or other Trades-men not only as they can best bear a part in such discourse as persons of their own way have together and are not as the Apostle saith in another case Barbarians to each other but they relish such discourse as is of things in their own element as we speak and which is more they may get a further insight into their own Calling or Business by the experience of others which they communicate to them so it is with Christians when they meet with those that speak of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God It is like one fallen into the company of those that speak their own Language or Discourse of matters belonging to their own calling we may gain experience by conversing with such As the Apostle longed to be at Rome that he might not only impart some spiritual gift to them Rom. 1.11 12. but that he might be comforted together with them by their mutual faith Christians may be helpful to others that are far above them in gifts and knowledge as Junius saith of himself in his own Life tho he was a means of increasing the knowledge of an honest Countryman that he accidentally met with yet the Countryman was a means of inflaming his Zeal he speaking with such feeling and such a savoury relish of the matters of Religion as made him think there was something yet further in Christianity than he had attained to so that Christians sharpen each other by their mutual converse Prov. 2.7.17 Psalm 66.16 Psal 34.2 as Iron sharpens Iron David would tell others what God had done for his Soul and the humble those that were brought low by affliction and not too proud to learn should bear thereof and be glad that there had been others in like condition with themselves and yet had sound mercy and help yea they should say V. 6. This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his trouble They should not consider him as a King as a Prophet as a man after God's own heart for the eminency of Grace but as a poor man seeking shelter among strangers 1 Sam. 21.11 c. and which is worse using such poor mean shifts as he did debating himself so far below that Courage and Faith which he had at other times for this Psalm was composed upon his changing his behaviour before Abimelech when he drove him away and he departed the story of