Terrors of Conscience because of its Guiltiness its former guilt of Sin let the Sin be what and of what Nature it will Oh let it remember that Christ was given for a Covenant for the People he was by his Father called in Righteousness and his Hand was held and he was kept and given for a Covenant of the People for a Light of the Gentles to open the blind Eyes to to bring the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness out of the Prison House Isaiah 42. 6 7. Let him remember that he is to say Isaiah 45. 24. Surely in the Lord I have Righteousness and Strength That if he had never committed those Sins which now so lie upon and load his Conscience yet he could never have stood before God in his own Works and in a legal Righteousness but what the Law could not do because it was weak through our Flesh that God himself hath done sending his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemning Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8. 3. And let him consider that being he must be saved by Christ and stand before God as found in him not having his own Righteousness though his Nakedness hath been more than the Nakedness of some other Men yet that long white Robe is large enough to cover it for the Righteousness of Christ his Merits are of vast and infinite Vertue as the Schoolmen say of Gods Essence that it filleth Heaven and Earth and an infinite space beyond both So the Merits of Christ have expiated for the Sins of all that shall be saved and have an infinite Vertue beyond Therefore there is no reason for a Soul to concluds its Sins shall not be forgiven or its Horrors of Conscience for them never cease those cease of course upon the sense of pardon or a good hope through Grace It is but a Relique of Popery that tortureth Mens Consciences past cure I mean an Opinion lurking in us that we must our selves satisfie the Justice of God and that upon the price paid and satisfaction given by Christ pardon doth not proceed freely for all Sin and all Blasphemy to a Soul seeking for it by earnest Prayer true Sorrow for Sin and resolution against it and a true adherence to the Lord Jesus Christ 3. Again Study the Sureness of this Covenant It is a Covenant of Salt as well as a Covenant of Peace Gods Covenant with Day and Night shall sooner cease it containeth the sure Mercies of David It cannot fail God cannot suffer his Faithfulness to fail he cannot alter the thing that hath gone out of his Lips The failure of Covenants amongst Men is rooted in their Variableness and Mutability their want of Fore-sight and Knowledge of future Contingencies c. no such thing can be as to this Covenant He is the Lord that changeth not his Name is I am he had a perfect and certain Prospect and Fore-sight of all that could happen 4. Finally Meditate of it as a well ordered Covenant It is true The Covenant of Grace hath its Conditions to be fulfilled on our part Such as are the taking hold of it mentioned Is 56. 6. which cannot be without seeking the Lord while he may be found calling upon him while he is near the wicked Man forsaking his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and his returning to the Lord Isaiah 55. 6 7. and perseverance in the ways of God is another condition to be performed But as to those it is in this well ordered That there are Branches in the same Covenant wherein God hath promised 1. To work those Conditions in us that is we doing what in us lies by Vertue of that Common Grace which he denieth to none or by Vertue of those special Habits which he will please to work in us not to be wanting in those further Aids and Assistances of his Grace by which we shall be inabled to do whatsoever he hath required of us in order to the obtaining the promised end of our Hopes in the Salvation of our Souls 2. That that those Failings which we shall be guilty of through Humane Infirmity though they may cause us sorrow in the Flesh yet they shall not frustrate the Promise and Covenant of God he will yet heal our Backslidings and love us freely Now the Covenant of Grace being thus rightly understood and apprehended I would fain understand what room can possibly be left in a Sinner for Satan to fasten this fiery Dart with any effect upon the Soul I will suppose a Soul under the greatest Terror imaginable for Sins of the highest nature Why should he destroy himself if there be hope in the God of Heaven concerning such Sinners If all Sin and Blasphemy whereby a Man shall Blaspheme may be forgiven him Is God a Righteous God that loveth Righteousness and can by no means clear the guilty Why yet should he do it if he hath provided the Soul a Righteousness whereby it may stand Righteous before God acquitted form all manner of Guilt and out of all danger of Condemnation What if it hath formerly been without Righteousness and be yet without Strength or Ability to any Act of Righteousness if the Righteousness wherein it must stand before God be not any personal Righteousness of its own but the Righteousness of Christ reckoned to it for Righteousness Is it tormented through fear of future Sinnings the prevailings of Temptations or its own Corruptions Yet why should the poor Creature run himself out of the World upon this fright when the Covenant of Grace is so well ordered as there is in it a sufficient Provision made for it both for Assistance against the prevailings and dominion of Sin to that degree as to ruin the Soul to Eternity and as to that degree of Guilt which every Soul through Ignorance Infirmity pure or mixt runs into for the healings of its Backslidings What is here left for a sinful Soul to do but to use the means of Grace to apply it self unto God by Fasting and Prayer to consider its ways and what in it lies to turn to the Lord to be sensible of its Sins and to trust in the Lords Mercies taking heed to it self that it sin no more presumptuously abstaining from all appearances of Evil studying to perfect Holiness in the fear of God and daily to renew its Repentance and Faith in Christ as it discerneth its Sins are renewing every day To what purpose doth a Soul under such gracious and hopeful Circumstances think of destroying it self and asserting its own Eternal Condemnation or at least making its Salvation very uncertain which it should rather design to make sure by an Holy Life and Conversation So that I say admit Horror of Conscience for Sin to be the Argument Satan makes use of to inforce this Temptation nothing can be more proper for a Soul exercised under the Temptation than to study understand
I do not think any Books opening the Scriptures or any portions of Scriptures fitter to be read or any Sermons fitter to be heard by persons under these circumstances then such Books such Sermons such Portions of Holy Writ as most express the Wrath of God against Sinners most livelily express the miserable estate of Souls in another World under the Wrath of God Together with such as contain or explain the Promises of God for Support and Strength and Help under and Deliverance from the greatest Pressures of Affliction and Misery By the reading and hearing of the one the Grace of God concurring which is always requisite to make the Soul believe what it reads and hears a Soul shall be deterred from such an undertaking from the rational consideration That there is no way for it to get out of its Misery and by the other it shall be perswaded that there is a far nearer and more certain way of Relief for it if it can but exercise a little Patience from the good hand of God who is able to relieve it and who hath promised and is faithful Which two points are of very great import for a Soul to be perswaded of that it may stand against this fiery Dart and of that Nature that it is impossible that any Soul in the full possession and belief of them should ever listen to this Temptation so long as it pleaseth God to keep it in the exercise of its Reason Let therefore every Soul under this Temptation make it its business to give it self the fullest possession of these Truths for it is the Unbelief or faint Belief of these things that gives the least advantage to the roaring Lion thus seeking about to devour Souls The more rooted a Soul is in the Doctrine of Eternity both that which relateth to damned Souls and that which relateth to such as shall be saved the more remote and difficult it will be as to listning to any Temptation of this nature CHAP. XI Further Directions for Souls thus tempted The avoiding of Solitude The Study and Meditation of the Nature of the Covenant of Grace in the Matter of it the freeness of it the sureness of it the well ordering of it in all things 3. Dir. AVoid Solitudes and Solitary Places I mentioned this before as a means to prevent prevailings of Melancholy but let me a little farther inlarge upon that Argument Indeed excesses of Solitude are by no means to be affected by Christians under the greatest freedom of Body and Mind tho nothing more conduceth to a Souls Health and Freedom in communion with God then some just Measures and Proportions of it yet nothing is more dangerous in this hour of Temptation I observe Elijah was alone when he prayed God in a fit of Discontent to take away his Life and Jonah ch 4. 5 8. was in a Booth alone out of the City when he said It is better for me to die than to live And our blessed Lord was alone when Matth. 4. 6. the Tempter said unto him set upon the Pinacle of the Temple If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down Of Souls under these circumstances it is eminently true that Solomon saith Ecc. 4. 11. Two are better than one and woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath none other to help him up These Acts are committed usually by Persons that are alone It is therefore highly advisable to Persons under these Impressions to avoid giving this advantage to the Adversary and to those who are nearly concerned in and about Persons under these Temptations to be watchful as to this thing especially when they discern the Impressions are most strong upon them But having touched upon this before I shall add no more to it now 4. Dir. Fourthly There is nothing more proper for Souls under these circumstances Than to be much in the Study and Meditation of the Nature of the Covenant of Grace I told you before that supposing a Man or Woman under the conduct and government of Reason it is very hard to imagine what Motive should possibly prevail upon them to put an end unto their Lives but the freeing of themselves from so eminent Evils which they suffer to that degree that they conclude it is better for them to die than to live Now these Evils I told you were either External Afflictions and Crosses or such as are Internals Horrors of Mind Terrors of Conscience If the Motive be a freedom from Evils of the first sort I advised before what I judged proper viz. The Consideration whether the determination of our Lives in that manner would indeed free us or rather make our Condition much worse And Secondly Whether there be not an easier and safer way to procure our selves such an Immunity But now Suppose the Evils be of the second sort viz. The Horrors and Terrors of Conscience from the guilt of sin If this be the Motive the force of it lieth in our Ignorance or Mistake about the Covenant of Grace and look as under a Temptation to which External Misery is the great Motive There is nothing more proper than a just understanding of the state of the Damned and the misery of Impenitent and Unpardoned Souls in the World to come So supposing the Motive to be Horrors and Terrors of Conscience upon our Reflections upon Sin there is nothing more proper for a Soul than rightly to understand the Covenant of Grace and the reading of such Books and whetting upon our Hearts such Portions of Gods revealed Will in his Word as are most fully expressive of it Truly to understand this That there is no Sinner run into such an arrear with Gods Justice no Soul so guilty but by vertue of a gracious Covenant of Redemption and Grace which God the Father hath from Eternity contracted with the Son of his Love the Redeemers part in which Covenant is also fulfilled by Jesus Christ may find Mercy with God repenting of his Sin and casting it self upon the free Mercy and Grace of God in and through the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ Such is this Covenant of Grace that the most guilty Soul fulfilling his part in it and accepting of it may be assured that although its past sins cannot be made never to have been yet they shall be as if they never had been That is they shall no more condemn the Soul then if they never had been they shall not be mentioned they shall be sought for and not found the Righteousness of Christ shall be reckoned unto the Soul as if it were its Righteousness It is impossible that a Soul knowing and believing this and living in the view of this gracious Covenant should ever be frighted out of its Life from the Horrors of Conscience by its Reflections upon its guilt of Sin Though an ignorant Person that knoweth not this or an unbelieving Soul which though it may have received the Notion of it yet cannot believe it may from this Motive
be induced to a yielding to this Temptation yet to speak the truth admiting a Soul sure of its Damnation and that its Sins were so great as they could never be forgiven it should in reason rather be an Argument to a Soul if it were possible by all means imaginable to lengthen out its days to the years of Methâ—sâ—lah then to cut off an inch of that time which God will allow him For what reason can prompt any Man to think the Horrors and Torments of a wounded Conscience more intollerable than the Pains that are suffered by damned Souls Or what Reason will guid any Man to endeavour to be tormented before his time How earnest do we find condemned Malefactors sometimes tho out of all hope to be pardoned but to be reprieved for a time but I say by reason of the Covenant of Grace this is not the case of any one poor Soul to advantage this Temptation There is no Soul that can in judgement say though sometimes they say so in their Fits and Passions I know I shall be damned and there is nothing can give a â—ise for Satan in this Temptation but Persons Ignorance or Unbelief of the Covenant of Grace O therefore let all Souls but especially such as are thus tempted study this Consider 1. What it is that God hath Covenanted for for pardon of Sin For power and strength against Sin for Eternal Life and Salvation for strength against Temptations Every Spiritual Promise is a branch of the Covenant and the Promises are of those various Natures that there is no Spiritual Evil of which we can have any present sense or any fear as to time to come for which God hath not in one Promise or an other provided us an Antidote Is it the guilt oâ— Sin already committed God hath promised to pardon it Is it the fear of guilt not yet contracted God hath said I will heal your Backslidings and love you freely He hath said Sin shall not have Dominion over your Mortal Bodies So as thoâ— hast no reason to destroy thy self eitheâ— because thou hast sinned or becauseâ— thou fearest thou shalt sin against God to an irremissible degree Art thou afraiâ— that Temptations shall prevail against theeâ— He hath assured thee that Christ waâ— therefore tempted that he might be able tâ— succour the tempted that with the temptation he will give thee an happy issue that he will bruise Sathan under thy Feet shortly In short There is no Spiritual Incumbrance as to which there is not some provision made in the Covenant of Grace and declared in some Gospel Promise 2. Consider again the freeness of the Covenant It is called a Covenant of Grace Grace signifieth Free Love I will saith God heal your Backslidings and love you freely There is nothing to be paid for thy Pardon all that is is finished the utmost Farthing that the Justice of God could exact is already paid by the Hand of Christ There is nothing required of thee but an acknowledgement of thy Guilt an hatred of thy former Ways a resolution joyned with an endeavour to forsake them with an acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as thy Redeemer and Saviour Oh this this is that which could a Soul under Temptations of this Nature believe these Temptations would certainly abate We in distresses of Conscience stick too much in a Righteousness of our own Let me here give you the Copy of a short Letter wrote by that Eminent Servant of God Luther to an Hermite v. Luther Ep. t. 1. I saith he desire to know what thy Soul doth whether at last being weary of its own Righteousness it hath learned to breath after and to trust in the Righteousness of Christ For in our Age a Temptation of Presumption too much prevaileth and particularly in them who by all means study to approve themselves Righteous and good Men being ignorant of the Righteousness of God plentifully and freely given unto us by and through Christ They so long study to work well until they arrive at a confidence of standing before God as it were upon their own Legs and by their own Merits which is a thing impossible You and I have both been once of that Opinion or rather in that Error but now I set my self against it but have not yet conquered my self as to it Therefore my dear Brother learn Christ and him crucified learn to sing Praise to him and despairing of your self to say to him Lord Jesus thou art my Righteousness I am thy Sin Thou hast taken upon thee what was mine and given unto me what was thine Thou hast taken what thou wert not and given unto me what I was not Take heed saith he of aiming at such a degree of purity as to appear to thy self no Sinner for Christ dwelleth in the Hearts of none but Sinners He therefore came down from Heaven when he dwelled in his Saints that he might dwell in Sinners O meditate of his Love and you will feel his most sweet Consolation For to what purpose hath he died if we could arrive at a tranquility of Conscience by our own Endeavours and Tormenting of our selves You will never therefore find Peace but by despairing of your Selves and your own Works and a fiducial dependance on him You will further learn by this That as he took thy Nature and made thy Sins as it were his so he hath made his Righteousness thine An hour of Temptation either of this Nature or to despair of Gods Mercy as to the pardon of Sin and the Eternal Salvation of the Soul will discover the value of those Physicians who have found out another way to relieve afflicted Consciences in the sense of their own Unrighteousness then by pressing the great Doctrine of the Gospel of the Justification of the Soul by the Righteousness of Christ reckoned to the believing Soul for Righteousness And certainly Gods Absolution or Acquittance of a Soul from its Debts to Divine Justice by the Righteousness of the Son of God reckoned accounted or which is the same imputed to it as if performed by it is of no more difficult Conception whatever some pretend in the case than a Creditors Discharge and giving Acquittance to a Debtor upon his Friend or Sureties payment of the Debt upon which the Principal is Discharged as if he had personally paid it Believe it other Notions may afford matter of Discourse in a calm time but nothing but the Notion of Free Grace and Christs Righteousness reckoned to us will serve us in an hour of Temptation Let us therefore rather chuse to part with the Sun in the Firmament or with the Light of our Eyes than to part with this great Truth Let some trust in Charriots some in Horses Let some trust in the Works of others some in their own Fancies but let us remember the Name of the Lord of God and let us remember that his Name is the Lord our Righteousness When a Soul is under great Horror and
not accuse those of acting by the Devil but from the Power of God from hence he concludeth That he did not cast out Devils as they malitiously charged him by the help of the Devil and that they were themselves otherwise convinced in their own Consciences therefore he did it by the Spirit of God and by that they could not but know that the Kingdom of God was come amongst them and so they spake Evil of God and the Spirit of God and that out of Malice contrary to the Conviction of their own Consciences Now saith he Take heed what you do this is a kind of Sin which God will never forgive though all other Sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven yet for you knowing that what I do I do as God and by the Power and Spirit of God to Persecute me and to Repraoch me and that you may the better do it to ascribe that to the Devil which is the Work of God done by me this is a Sin which shall never be forgiven So that according to our Saviours Words this seemeth to be the Sin That the Pharises knowing well enough that Christ was God Eternal God and having sufficient means to convince them of it and that from his Casting out of Devils and several other Miraculous Operations which it was in the Power of God onely to do Notwithstanding yea against this Conviction Maliciously Persecuted the Lord Jesus Christ and denied these mighty Operations to be from the Spirit of God but said they were from Beelzebub the Master Devil From hence will appear though not distinctly what the Specifical Sin against the Holy Ghost is yea what Sins border upon it and come nearest to it 1. All Sinning against Light and Convictions 2. Apostacy from a former Profession and owning of the Gospel and the Holy Ways of God 3. A Malicious Pursuing and Persecuting of such as our Consciences tells us are Righteous Persons 4. An Ascribing to the Devil what we are Convinced of to be the Works of God and so reproaching the Operations of the Spirit of God whatsoever the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost be These things or the most of them must be ingredients into it and truly if Persons have been enlightened with the Knowledge of the Truths and Ways of God and have made some Profession of them and have had some Savour of them if they fall away from that Profession and that to such a degree as not onely to disown what themselves formerly owned but to hate those Truths and Ways of God and to Persecute such as still Profess them and adhere to them and charge those Impressions and Operations which are from the Holy Spirit of God to be from the Devil so Blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God if there be such an unpardonable Sin to be commited surely these are under the guilt of it nor can I see any thing can possibly free them from the dreadful Consequence of it but a timely Repentance remembring their first professed Love and turning unto God which whosoever can do or shall obtain Grace from God to do undoubtedly hath not sinned beyond Pardon for he that confesseth his Sins and forsaketh them shall have Mercy But as I said before these Sins comes nearest this Guilt and where any Soul hath been or shall be in this kind and to this degree guilty the Devil hath a very fair Advantage against him to move him to Despair upon a Suggestion that he hath committed that Sin which according to the Revealed Will of God in Holy Writ shall never be forgiven nor will he find any way to get out of this Snare nor any thing to answer the Tempter pressing hard upon him with a Temptation of this Nature until he can say I have indeed done this but God hath given me an Heart to Repent of it to remember from whence I fell and to do my first Works and he will find it as hard for him to recover any just hopes of Pardon and Eternal Life and Salvation as he will find it to be renewed by Repentance if the latter be found impossible to a Soul under these Circumstances so will the former also be found O therefore to prevent Temptations of this nature take heed of all sinning of any continuance and going on in a course of Sin especially of any sinnings against Light and Convictions or against former Professions and especially of any Malice and Hatred to the ways of God which you either have formerly owned and acknowledged or which your Consciences tell you are the right ways of the Lord. 3. Thirdly Let me again commend to you an Acquaintance a through Acquaintance with the Covenant of Grace and the Dispensation of Salvation revealed to us in the Gospel The Despairing Soul hath ordinarily a Legal Spirit and sticks in the Covenant of Works Remember that we are not under the Law bâ—t under Grace in some sense not onely true Believers but even the whole World or at least that part of it to which the glad Tidings of Salvation through the Gospel is published is not under the Law but under Grace not under a Legal Dispensation So as none can be saved without a personal perfect Obedience to the Law of God but under a gracious Dispensation wherein as the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 17. The Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith that is wherein it is revealed that the Righteousness wherein a Man must stand Just and Righteous before God is not his own Righteousness made up of his Obedience to the Commandements contained in the Divine Law but the perfect Righteousness of Christ by God reckoned unto every Soul that repenteth and believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ who walketh not after the Flesh but after the Spirit minding and savouring the things of the Spirit which Righteousness of Christ is reckoned to the Soul as soon as it comes to own receive and lay hold upon Christ in the Gospel exhibited and tendered unto it The Soul well possessed of the Doctrine of Free Grace and Gospel Justification though it may see frequent Causes for Heart-sorrow and Humiliation as well for its former as for its renewing Sins yet cannot easily see the umbrage of any ground to Despair and cast away its hope as to Divine Mercy and Forgiveness or Eternal Life and Salvation But I have elsewhere enlarged upon this Argument 4. Fourthly If you would avoid Temptations to Despair take heed of presuming You shall observe in the Tempers of those with whom you converse in the World That those whose hopes are most quickly up find them also soonest down The reason is because they are persons that usually have no great depth of judgement and do not build their hopes upon good and sufficient bottoms So that as it is with some little Rivolets whose Channel is but a small continent and which want depth every good showr of Rain raiseth them and causeth them to overflow the Banks but then the same degree of Rain
as he tells him was ready to have done greater things for him against all this he sinned in the matter of Bathsheba and in the matter of Uriah It is true this cost him many Tears many Prayers yet he obtained Mercy Peter was a Man of great Light and had been made the Object of great Love Christ had said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church yet this Peter cursed and sware and denied his Master and after this when he had gone out and wept betterly Christ remembred him and I doubt not but you believe Peter is in Heaven Thou canst not say that thou hast sinned against greater Light or greater Love than these two eminent Saints in Glory sinned against To have sinned out our Light indeed that is to such a degree as we have no more Checks no more Rebukes of Conscience this is very sad and the Interpretations of it be to the Enemies of God To be past Feeling that is sad but by thy Trouble and Complaining it appeareth that is not thy Case but it is plain that many have sinned against Light much Light and against much Love too whom God hath from the infiniteness of his Mercy forgiven and rereceived up to Glory 3. Temptation But will such a Soul say It is true had I in time turned unto God there might have been hope but alas time is past time is past with me had I turned to God in my Youth but I am in the declining part of my Life God hath said His Spirit shall not always strive with Man The Fig-tree was Cursed after Three years in vain expecting Fruit. God hath a long time been looking for Fruit of my Soul and hath found none I have sinned wilfully after I had received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth now I fear no more Sacrifice of Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgement and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Heb. 10. 26 27. To which I say 1. This is indeed a very sad and bitter Reflection and I desire that such Complaints as these when we hear them may be sanctified to all that have time before them to take heed how they mispend it and trifle it away but where this Counsel is too late the Question that we have in hand is Whether there be a sufficient Warrant for a Souls Despair 2. The sadness Secondly of this Case is aggravated from the appearances of Scripture for this Temptation It is generally held by Divines That as Countries and Nations have their Periods of Grace so particular Persons have their Days of Grace too and Periods beyond which Gods Spirit shall not strive with them and it appeareth by that Text Heb. 10. That there is a wilful Sinning after the Knowledge of the Truth after which there will remain no Sacrifice for Sin But what that degree of wilful Sinning is and how it must be circumstanced that is another Question But to speak more directly to the Temptation 1. In the first place I would have thee scriously consider Whether the Freeness of Divine Grace in the Remission of Sins be duly thought of by thee who objectest thus against thy self Take heed thou hast not some Thoughts within thee that thou shouldest recompence God by thy future Holiness for thy past Provocations and whether that which discourageth thy hoping in God and looking up unto him for Mercy be not a prospect that thou art not like to have time enough to make this Recompence If thou hast any such Thoughts as these thou dost not well attend to the Promise of Pardon which runs thus I will blot out thy Transgressions for mine own Name sake and we have Redemption even Forgiveness of Sins through his Blood The end which God aimeth at in the Forgiveness of any Souls Sin is his own Glory the glorifying of the riches of his Grace not receiving the Homage of an Holy Life though that be thy Duty and what God requireth of thee yet I say that is not Gods great and ultimate end He will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and extend Compassion to whom he will extend Compassion The Consideration upon which God doth it is the Price paid and Satisfaction given by the Blood of his Son It is not for our sake nor for our future Works sake but for his own Name sake and for his dear Sâ—n's sake that he granteth unto any Pardon and Forgiveness of Sin Now although the time of thy Life yet to come in probability will not be commensurate to the time of Life which is past and spent in Sinning and Dishonouring God yet why may not the great God glorifie the Riches of his Grace in the free Forgiveness of thee Why may he not exalt the Blood of his Son in washing thy Soul 2. Secondly It is not for us to know times and seasons which are in Gods Power onely It is true God seemeth to have revealed that every Soul hath a set time beyond which be will shew it no favour and that this is not onely the end of our Life but may be sometime before our dying day but we know not what time that is and therefore it is rashness for any Soul to conclude my time is past Where have we any Directions from the Word of God to fix any such time or to conclude it as to any period of time We know the Master of the Vineyard called to some to come and Work in his Vineyard at the 11th hour and we know also that the Thief upon the Cross was told in the last hour of his Life that he should that Night be with Christ in Paradise Secret things belong unto God Revealed things onely to us and to our Children Unless we had some certain Rule to determine the Time to us we have no Reason to determine it our selves to discourage us from what his Word commandeth us as our certain Duty 3. Thirdly Supposing there be an heart found in us to be sorry for our Sins humbled for them and to turn from them to God and to accept of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Salvation tendred unto us in the Gospel it is certain our time is not yet past The Reason is because the promise of Pardon and Salvation is made unto such So that no Soul hath reason to conclude there is no hope for him in God but that Soul that laboureth under impenitency and hardness of heart and findeth in it self a resolution yet to go on in its sinful courses And therefore you shall observe in that dreadful Text Heb. 6. the Apostle saith of them that have been once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and the Powers of the World to come and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost c. if they fall away it is impossible they should be renewed again by Repentance if they could Repent it were not impossible they should be Pardoned or obtain Eternal Life and Salvation but
I before said gives us Comfort as to Children dying in their Infancy others maintain The Regeneration of Elect Infants by Baptism I shall freely tell you what I judge is all in this Cause The most of those Baptized in the time of the Apostles were Persons grown up who had first made a visible Profession of their Repentance and Faith in Christ to these Baptism was a Seal of the Forgiveness of Sins and an Engagement to an Holy Conversation as you read Rom. 6. 4 c. To Infants it is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace as exhibited to Mankind That in case they do Repent and Believe their Sins shall be washed away with the Blood of Christ To these it is an Ordinance of Admission into the Church To these it is an Engagement to be the Lords an Avouchment of God for their God and Christ for their Saviour To these if when they grow up they shall Repent and Believe it shall be as a Fountain of Living Water springing up in the Soul to Eternal Life they shall as the Apostle instructeth the Romans Rom. 6. 4 5 6. fetch Arguments obliging them to die unto Sin and to live unto God Whether it hath any such immediate Effect as to all to justifie them from the guilt of Original Sin or to Regenerate them that is to make a change in their Heart I shall not dispute but cannot prove it nor do understand how possibly it should have any further effect of this Nature than Circumcision had to the Jews I am sure the Holy Scripture makes Pardon of Sin and Justification not the necessary or ordinary Effect of Baptism but of Confession of Sin True Repentance and forsaking of Sin and True Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ Flatter not your selves therefore if there be any Soul that liveth in any known course of Sin that never confessed his Sins and forsook them nor knew what godly Sorrow for Sin meant nor what it was to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe in him onely knoweth he was Baptized and he liveth in the Church and is called a Christian and here he resteth not doubting but being confident that he shall be saved Let me tell him or her he presumeth and trusts his Soul upon a Lie and that which no weighed Divine of any Perswasion would ever say was a sufficient bottom to rest his Soul upon None ever said that Baptism washed away Sins past and to come and those that do ascribe Justification to Baptism make it such a state as may be lost and is lost by a course of Actual Sinning CHAP. V. The Notion of a Power in Man to Repent and Believe agreed by few if true no ground of hopes for Eternal Life Why Mistakes about the Nature of Regeneration Conversion Saving Repentance Faith Holiness great Occasions of Presumption The Truth as to those Notions enquired and proved What Regeneration Repentance Conversion Faith Holiness is necessary to Salvation and to the raising any Hopes in us with Relation to it 4. A Fourth Notion which I instanced in as a cause of Presumption was this That every Man and Woman hath his Life in his hands I mean a power in and of himself supposing the Common Grace of God denied to none to do all that God requireth of him in order to Salvation is a power to Repent to Believe to Love God c. Hence many think that there is no haste for Men to deny themselves or to take up the Cross or to follow Christ they may stay till they are old and their Eyes can be no longer pleased with Seeing nor their Ears with Hearing if then they do but Repent and Believe all is well enough As to which give me leave to speak two or three things 1. As brisk as this Opinion seemeth to be in the World I could never yet meet with any so hardy as to affirm That these things were within the Power of Man without the Assistance of Special Grace I have met with many that have talked high for the Power of Mans Will but when they have been brought to a close Discourse they would assert it no farther than either as to Moral Actions or Acts of Moral Discipline They would affirm indeed that a Man hath a power to go to Church instead of going to the Tavern to turn away his Foot from the House of an Harlot to do Justly and an hundred such things to read to hear the Word to pray to consider his Sins Now these are things which none denieth onely we say his power as to these is much weakened by the fall So as we doubt whether by Common Grace and all the Natural Power Man hath he can do these materially good Actions when he is pressed with a vehement Temptation But I say I could never yet meet with any that would say It is in the power of Man to Believe to Repent savingly to Love God c. 2. If any doth say so He saith what is contradicted by a multitude of Scriptures But it is not my work to enlarge here on that Discourse 3. In the next place Those Divines that do hold the greatest Natural Power in the Will of Man yet do say Time may be past that a Man may have sinned away this Natural Power and have his Heart so hardened in a Course of Sinning that he may have lost this Power and so be concluded to an Eternal Misery which alone to considerate Souls is enough to spoil its Presumption from this Head For how shall I who go on in a Course of Sin knowingly presume because I have a power in my self to turn when I will if it be possible that I may by a Course of Sinning have so provoked God as he may have given me up to a judicial blindness of Mind and hardness of Heart 4. Admitting thou hast such a Power if it still remaineth established that this Power must be produced into Act and that before thou canst enter into Heaven thou must actually Repent and Believe how dost thou know thou shalt have time for it May not God take away thy Soul with a stroke May he not come upon thee on the sudden and say This Night thy Soul shall be taken from thee and then what doth thy Power signifie Doest thou not see Men and Women die suddenly So that a pretence of such a Power in thee signifies nothing but that thou art more inexcusable by it if indeed thou hadst such a Power that thou didst not use it for the end for which thou hadst it 5. I proceed now to the great grounds of Mens Presumption viz. Mistakes as to the Nature of Regeneration Faith and Holiness The Scripture makes all these so necessary to Salvation that altho some ignorant Persons may build up to themselves idle and presumptuous Hopes because God made them and Christ died for all Men and they are Christians and Baptized c. yet considerate Persons plainly must see That unless a Man be
born again of Water and the Spirit he can never enter into the Kingdom of God they are the indisputable words of our Saviour John 3. 3. And St. Paul plainly saith that Neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature Our Saviour saith He that believeth not is condemned already he shall never see Life c. The Apostle saith without Faith and Holiness no Man shall see the Lord No considering Man therefore can possibly raise up to himself any hopes of the Pardon of Sin or Eternal Life but he must satisfy himself that he is Regenerated that he doth Believe and that he doth so far Obey as God will accept it To this purpose nothing can serve the Devils turn so effectually as for the Soul to be deceived in the Notions of Faith and Holiness Nothing can be more the concernment of the Soul than to take care it be not deceived There have been several Notions of Faith that have striven for Mastery in the World 1. The first is the Popish Notion who make Faith to be the Souls Assent to the Proposition of the Word which may be without any Practical Obedience for many a Man assenteth to the truth of the Proposition which yet he alloweth not an influence upon his Life and indeed this is such a Faith as the Apostle tells us the Devils are possessed of They Believe and Tremble 2. The Second is their Notion who make Justifying Faith to be what our Saviour tells us it is John 1. 12. A Receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ a closing an hearty closing with him as offered in the Gospel hoping trusting in him and him alone for Salvation No Soul can possibly do this that doth not first Assent to the Proposition of the Gospel and agree to what that Revealeth concerning Christ both as to his Person and as to his willingness to Save But it is possible that a Soul may Assent to those Propositions and yet not Receive Christ upon the Terms he propoundeth This Receiving Christ and Trusting in him as their Saviour they say necessarily draws on Holiness and Obedience though Faith and Love are two things for the rational Nature of Man will not suffer him to hope or trust in another for any kindness which he hath promised upon Terms without the fulfilling of those Terms upon which it is promised but this they say may be without any certain Assurance of the Souls Acceptation which a man cannot have until he be Justified 3. A Third is the Notion of them who make it a full Assurance of the Love of God but yet such a one as obligeth the Soul to all manner of Duty and this seems to have been the Notion of some Eminent Divines upon our first Reformation but is rejected by latter Divines as it being not possible that that should be an Instrument in our Justification which it is not possible that any Soul should have till it be Justified besides that many a Pious Devout Soul hath not arrived at this 4. Others make it to be a confident Perswasion that Christ died for them whether they find themselves obliged to Live to him yea or no. 5. Others make it to be a Practical Assent to the Gospel The danger of a Souls Presuming is from the first and the fourth of these principally If Men and Women think they do Believe because they do agree to the Proposition of the Gospel they may easily run away with a vain Imagination that all the Promises of the Gospel are their Portion when indeed not one of them belongs to them because this Believing is not that Believing which the Scriptures make necessary to Salvation for the evidence of which suffer me to offer these few things to your Consideration 1. Because this Assent may be without any Holiness or Conformity to the Will of God Murtherers Traytors Thieves do agree to the Proposition of Humane Laws though they prodigiously violate them There may be an Assent of the Understanding to a Proposition to which Mens Lusts and Passions suffer them not to live up to but we know that without Holiness none can see God and therefore this cannot be that Believing to which the Promises of seeing God and living with him are annexed 2. Because as I said before the Devils thus Believe yea I believe better than the most of Men do For our Assent to a Doctrine according to the workings of our Reasonable Natures is more or less according to our Evidence of it Now the Devils have seen the Propositions of the Gospel That Christ is the Eternal Son of God That he was made Man and died for our Sins These are Propositions which the Devils having been in the World ever since the Creation must needs see in a better Light than any Man can do who onely seeth the truth of them by the light of Reason or the Revelation of Scripture not imprinted upon his Soul by the Demonstration of the Spirit Revealing perticularly to the Soul what is generally Revealed in the Word 3. Thirdly Consider That every where in Scripture A Person the Person of Christ is made the object of that Faith to which the Promises of Life are made It is made a believing in Christ on his Name a Receiving of him a comeing to him Now a Proposition not a Person is the object of Assent We indeed sometimes say We Assent to such or such a Person But the meaning is we agree to such a Proposition which he hath delivered by word of Mouth or by Writing The Object of Justifying Faith the Scripture makes to be the Person of the Mediator I therefore begg of you to take heed that you deceive not your Souls by this Notion of Faith And take as much heed of their wild Notion who make Faith to be nothing else but an assumed confidence that Christ died for them let them live as they list This separateth Faith and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord and is indeed nothing better in it self than a most bold and unwarrantable presumption exclusive of that fear and trembling with which we are commanded to work out our Salvation Their Notion is far better who make Faith to be a practical Assent but still I pray observe the Act of the Soul is made to be Assent and the Object of Assent can be no other than a Proposition and for my own part I cannot think this the Act of that Faith that Justifieth for the Object of that Act as I said before is in Scripture constantly made the Mediator himself not a meer Proposition I am afraid of this Notion as calculated to justle Christ out of the place of a Mediator wherein God hath set him which was not onely to treat with his Father about the Terms of Mans Salvation but to stand as the middle Person between God and Man to merit Salvation for us by his Active and Passive Obedience by a gracious Act of God to be reckoned to us upon
we find that although in many things we have failed yet in the general course of our Actions we have endeavoured to do in all Circumstances what God hath commanded us well but yet our Hearts tells us nay the Scriptures tells us that if what we have done hath not been done out of love to God out of a desire to obey him it is all nothing It may be we have asked our hearts this question and they reply to us that it hath been the command of God and a will and a desire to please God that hath carrie dus out generally to our Actions but yet we shall find so much mixture of self-seeking so much want of Affection at sometimes that when we have done all if it were not for a Covenant of Grace and Redemption we were undone I can never enough mind you of the last words of David 2 Sam. 23. 4 5. v. 3. he tells you what God had said to him The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake unto me He that Ruleth over Men must be just Ruling in the Fear of God as the light of the Morning when the Sun riseth a Morning without Clouds as the tender Grass springing out of the Earth by clear shining after Rain So far he considereth now his Rule now he reflects on himself and findeth that he had come short of this he had not been just in the matters of Uriah and Bathsheba nor in many other things Where is then this good Mans hope mark v. 5. Although my House be not so with God yet he hath made me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my desire although he maketh it not to grow The God of Heaven hath said to every one of us the Rock of our Salvation He that believeth is not condemned he hath said My Sheep hear my Voice and follow me and I give them Eternal Life But I have been full of unbelief I have been deaf to many a voice of Christ in many things I have sinned and come short of the Glory of God I have troden many a step a-wry I hope my general aim hath been right but I have halted and trodon short and come infinitely short of my Rule My Heart my ways have not bin so with God Where 's a good Christians hope then but in this The Lord hath made with the Son of his love an Everlasting Covenant well ordered and sure in all things a Covenant that in consideration of the Satisfaction which he hath paid to his Fathers Justice the price which he hath paid his Righteousness shall be reckoned for Righteousness to every Soul that upon the offer of the Gospel shall receive him close with him accept him and in sincerity of Heart shall give up himself to the Obedience of his Will for this is every good Mans Salvation and when we have done all here the stress of our Hopes must lie Yet here is no ground for Hope without Action true Affections towards God conjoined with sincere Actions The Covenant of Grace will not relieve one ill principled and loose walking Christian tho it be the onely relief for a Sincere Christian that is sensible of his imperfect walking with God 5. Fifthly If you would take heed of Presumption you must take heed of wilful sinning against Light doing any thing which your Conscience telleth you you ought not to do The Nature of Man is biassed to prophesie and promise good to himself none but an Atheistical Sleepy Secure Soul that never thinks of Heaven or Hell or what shall become of him after this Life but maintaineth some secret hopes in one degree or another that he is in the Favour of God that his sins are Pardoned and that he shall be Eternally Saved Now these hopes in the heart of a wilful sinner that goeth on in a course of known Sin can be but Presumptions and therefore every Soul that thus liveth and walketh must either be a Presumptuous Person or one that despaireth for he must either have some Hope or no Hope if he hath no Hope at all it is either because he is under Despair or because he is an Athist and never mindeth and regardeth any thing but what he should Eat or Drink and Put on and how his Posterity shall live when he is dead If he hath any Hope it can be no other then a Presumptuous Hope for he hath not one line in Scripture to justify it There is no peace to the Wicked saith God so that without cleansing our ways and taking heed thereto according to the Word of God there is no avoiding the guilt of Atheism Despair or Presumption and this is a very dreadful Meditation but such as nothing can be truer We see there are but few very few that despair so that as Solomon saith Prosperity slayeth the Fool so it is either Atheism and a Carelesness as to any consideration of another life or else Presumption that slayeth the most of those poor Souls which go down into the Pit 6. Sixthly Be much in Prayer to God to guide you in the examining of your state and to keep you from taking up with vain Confidences take the Example of the Man according to Gods own Heart Psal 129. 23. Search me O God and know mine Heart try me and know my Thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Beg of God to give you that good hope through grace which he mentioneth to beget you to a lively hope and not to suffer you to please your selves with a Presumptuous Hope that as to your hopes for Eternity it may not be to you as the Prophet speaketh Isaiah 29. 8. As when an hungry Man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awakes and his Soul is empty and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath Appetite 7. Finally Be in the Fear of the Lord all the day long the wise Man saith Blessed is he that feareth always Prov. 28. 14. and we are you know commanded to work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling Phil. 2. 12. It is true there is a state of Love that casteth out Fear perfect Love casts our Fear saith the Apostle and Paul tells us Rom. 8. We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but a fear least we should offend God a fear least we should deceive our own Souls is an excellent guard and protection to a Soul if it riseth indeed to cause a distrust in God or a despair of his Goodness then it is putrified then it dishonoureth God and such a fear ought not to be endured in a believers Soul but there is a Cautious Wary Ingenious Well-regulated Fear that well becometh even the best Souls while they are in their state of Corruption and Mortality and where they are daily incompassed with Temptations FINIS