| OCR Text |
Show difcourfe upon it. J ,lhall therefore only further .glvc you •my ad. vlce,,and,cell•you what a Ch•illian may do in prder tb the b>ing· ing ofhirnfelfinto this capa~_ity to fay,my Belowdll'tllill4,•anill4m his! and that I lhall do in feveral particular~. ·· Firll, Get a right n.tion •f this certainty. I.hinted it to you before, that this is one great reafon of Chrifiians ilitratlslallilillls; for ,.ani of this c"lainiJ is their millake con,erning it. Do not expect that God lhoQ.Id fend an Angel from Heaven to tell you your namer art ~illm in tbe boo~{. ofLife. ,Nor that God lhonld always fill the Sails of your Souls with thegaleJ<Of•divine Confolatlon. That man is certain, whofe heart condemns him not. He that can find a Propo!ition in the word ( fuppofe that, 1 Job. 3·'4· We It•~• that ,.e are paj[ed from death to life, bec11u{e l>'tlove the Brethren,) and then can fay ( and his heart condemns him not) ···1 love the Brethrm.J this man now hath an a1furance, he may fay, my Beloved is mine and I""' bin for where can the lncertainty be? not in the Propofition, that is the letter of the word which it is impoffible lhould lie;wili<,you fay in the Application ~f this w01d ? But we mull fuppofe, '· That the Soul doth "'*!1 kvethe Brethrm. 2. 'Ih11ttbe S ••l is by tbe Spirit of God upheld to fle the {ine<rity If its Ofllll·heart ill thi1 a{]; which being fuppofed, what hindereth the certainly? They are but rare cafes, and-n<tra· ordinary, when the Lord fills the Soul with flnfible cmjolationr that its llate is demonllrable to it tanqwm ex priori;every Soul mull not expell with P a11l to be rapt into tbohird EUavm, and bnNIII· utterable wortl1. Secondly, Get 11 true notion. of 1he advant.rge of the Covenant of grace:·Chrifiians rnifunderllanding this, 10r ignorance ofit, or un· belief in it,is a great caufe of their incertainty in this great concern. The Scripture hath fo evidently declare<l a poffibility of a Chrtllians knowledgcf his Spiritual !late and interell in Chrill, from a ch.rnge within our· fdves,our loving th• Br~thrm, doing Righteouf neji, receiving the Spirit, bei!lg borH .rgain, that the onJy,_ftumbling· block a Chriliian can have •is from his not-feeing fuch desrees of thefe habits an~ ;exercifes ofgrace, as it may .be he looks·tor and tabours after. , . Now this millake mull proceed :either from their total ignorance, :orl<:~lll tbeir ,!fli[underliao.ding, or-not·believing !h~ terms of ·t,he~ !;A1!111f>}lt:O[Y.t"'e; and rthat princi~ally in thefe . thtngs. , 1 ,_ :1 '· .c: r. That up., it GOfltUctptnh1bt • .,iiJ,f.,Jbedertl. ifhisisthe , ' great 'Hoi¥14 Chriflian lhllJ·iltlllin to alfimtnu. treat indulgence of the Covenant of 1\race. Cbritl hath fatisl!ed, • Cor. I. 12. he hath fulfilled tlie law perfcllly, and' fo hath made way for his Rom. 7· &8. Father with fecurity to his jutlice,to accept the fincere will, defire, and inde•vours of believers for their perfell fulfilling the law:· Now though it be true, That were Chri£!iam llill under the Cove· nant of works ( which in fome fenfe is the cafe. of all unbelievers) they could never be fatisfied oftheirSpiritualellate,becaufe no man. liveth, and finneth not agalnll God; no man can fay he is perfect·: yet the Covenant of gr~ce having provided for this; If a Chriftian can fee his Faith, if he be able to fee his fincerity, to fay with P.oul, tofllilJis preflnt fllitb me1 Ifhe be able tofee that he hath (through grace) thus far attained, and that whereln he hath not yet attain-ed, he is llill preffing fort~~ard trtiParJ the marl{.; he maf be certain. of his Spiritual and ofhis eternalllate, thoijgh he be very far from. a legal Righteoufnefs. 2. That this Covenant is .,eU-erdered an4 fu~e, (as David ex-· pretfcth it,) i.e. fo ordered, that the errour and'failings of Gods people,lhall not make the Cove1,1ant on 'Gods part to, fail; acmrdmg to that, P[al.-89. v. 3 I, 32,3,3,.34· and that, 'fer. 3 2. 40. E .JPill ma~e lin everl•fting covenaHt "''ith them, tbizt I wiU not turn afiiJ}' . from them to do them good; but I wiU. p11t my fear into their hearfl that they tbaU never depart from_ me. The feed of God Jh•U abide in· them; no>1e JhaUpl~t<4 them oHtofthe llandt ofChri/i, Job. 1 o •. Ar· minia111 denying the per[e~erance ofSaiot$, leave Cbril\ians at great Jncerfainties; and ~o at moll altow them but a certainty for the prefent, and conditional. Bttt the Coven~nt is well-orJrrtd aHJ!. [HTe, and he mull rightly underlland this, that arriveth at this certainty of which I am now [peaking, Thirdly, Learn to diflin~uilh, ~ttllli:<t the langHagt and {eNtcnce· •f a SoHl difturbed, .rnd tpe Hn,ttli/C( or ,Jlimony of a S o11l not dift~~rb• d in tht t:<trci[t of itt reafon. This now is ao hard Jeff on, for a Soul in the hour of Its bodily ditlemper to fee thjs, and hardly to, be expelled; we ufe to fay, that a difeafe once truly know!) i~ half cured, and truly fo it ls in thi~caf~. The mifery is this, that Chrifiians canoot be made, to fee tqe true caufe of their dillempers: when it hath ple~(e<l , ~od1ln the courfe of his providence, dther by, or (as it happens fometim~s )' withou.t the ufe of roeaos, to blow overtha.t black, Cloud of'Mclancholy, which hindered their Souls in their exercifes ofB.eafon; then thty ar.e able to lay with the Pfli/mift; Pfal. 77· ro. This iso mine infirmity. But Q.o o :1< while |
