pleased to have his people exercised, troubled, and vexed with the operations of sinful corruptions. And they are these-partly to keep them humble and low in their own eyes; and partly to put them upon the use of all divine helps, whereby sin may be subdued and mortified; and partly that they may live upon Christ for perfecting the work of sanctification; and partly to wean them from things below, and to make them heart-sick of their absence from Christ; and to maintain in them bowels of compassion towards others that are subject to the same infirmities with them; and that they may distinguish between a state of grace and a state of glory; and that heaven may be more sweet to them in the close. Now does the Lord upon these weighty reasons suffer his people to be exercised and molested with the operations of sinful corruptions? O then let no believer speak, write, or conclude bitter things against his own soul and comforts, because that sin troubles and vexes his righteous soul; but lay his hand upon his mouth and be silent, because the Lord will have it so, upon such weighty grounds as the soul is not able to withstand.

Rem. 6. Solemnly consider that believers must repent for their being discouraged by their sins. Their being discouraged by their sins, will cost them many a prayer, many a tear, and many a groan; and that because their discouragement under sin flows from ignorance and unbelief. It springs from their ignorance of the riches, freeness, fulness, and everlastingness of God's love; and from their ignorance of the power, glory, sufficiency, and efficacy of the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ; and from their ignorance of the worth, glory, fulness, largeness, and completeness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and from their ignorance of that real, close, spiritual, glorious, and inseparable union that is between Christ and their precious souls. Ah, did precious souls know and believe the truth of these things, as they should, they would not sit down dejected and overwhelmed under the sense and operation of sin. God never gave a believer a new heart, that it should always lie bleeding, and that it should always be rent and torn in pieces with discouragements.

Dev. 2. The second device that Satan has to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition, is, by working them to make false definitions of their graces. Satan knows, that as false definitions of sin wrong the soul one way, so false definitions of grace wrong the soul another way. I will instance only in faith, O how does Satan labour might and main to work men to make false definitions of faith. Some he works to define faith too high, as that it is a full assurance of the love of God to a man's soul in particular, or a full persuasion of the pardon and remission of a man's own sins in particular. Says Satan, Why dost thou talk of Faith? Faith is the assurance of the love of God and of the pardon of sin; and this thou hast not: thou knowest thou art far off from this; therefore thou hast no faith.' And by drawing men to make such a false definition of faith, he keeps them in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition; and makes them spend their days in sorrow and sighing, so that tears are their drink, and sorrow is their meat, and sighing is their work all the day long.

6

The philosophers say, there are eight degrees of heat; we discern three. Now if a man should define heat only by the highest degree, then all other degrees will be cast out from being heat. So if men will define faith only by the highest degrees of it, by assurance of the love of God, and of the pardon of his sins in particular, what will become of less degrees of faith?

If a man should define a man to be a living man, only by the highest and strongest demonstrations of life, as laughing, leaping, running, working, walking; would not many thousands who groan under internal and external weaknesses, and who cannot laugh, nor leap, nor run, nor work, nor walk, be found dead men by such a definition, whom yet we know to be alive? It is so here, and you know how to apply it.

Now the remedies against this device, are these—

The first remedy is solemnly to consider that there may be true faith, yea, great measures of faith, where there is no assurance. The Canaanitish woman in the gospel had strong faith, yet no assurance that we read of.

These

things have I written unto 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, 1 John v. 13. In these words you see that they did believe and had eternal life, in respect of the purpose and promise of God, and in respect of the seeds and beginnings of it in their souls, and in respect of Christ their Head, who sits in heaven as a public person, representing all his chosen ones, who hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus ; and yet they did not know that they had eternal life. It is one thing to have a right to heaven, and another thing to know it. It is one thing to be beloved, and another thing for a man to know that he is beloved. It is one thing for God to write a man's name in the book of life, and another thing for God to tell a man that his name is written in the book of life, and to say to him, Rejoice, because thy name is written in heaven. So Paul; In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Eph. i. 13. So Micah; Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, for when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned, or, the sad countenance of God, as the Hebrew has it, Mic. vii. 8, 9. This soul had no assurance, for he sits in darkness and was under the sad countenance of God, and yet he had strong faith; as appears in those words. When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. So those in Isa. l. 10, had faith, though they had no assurance.

suffice for the first answer.

And at this

Rem. 2. Solemnly consider that God in the scripture defines faith otherwise. God defines faith to be a receiving of Christ; As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, John i. 12. to be a cleaving of the soul unto God, though no joy but afflictions attend the soul,

Acts xi. 23. Yea, the Lord defines faith to be a coming to God in Christ; to be a resting, or staying, or rolling of the soul upon Christ. It is safest and sweetest to define as God defines, both vices and graces. This is the only way to settle the soul, and to secure it against all the wiles of men and devils, who labour by false definitions of grace to keep precious souls in a doubting, staggering, and languishing condition; and so make their lives a burden, a hell unto them.

Rem. 3. Seriously consider this, that there may be true faith, where there is much doubting. Witness those frequent sayings of Christ to his disciples; Why are ye afraid, O ye of little faith? Persons may be truly believing, who nevertheless are sometimes doubting. In the same persons that the forementioned scripture speaks of, you may see their faith commended and their doubts condemned, which necessarily supposes a presence of both.

Rem. 4. Solemnly consider that assurance is an effect of faith; therefore it cannot be faith. The cause cannot be the effect, nor the root the fruit. As the effect flows from the cause, the fruit from the root, the stream from the fountain, so does assurance flow from faith. This truth I shall make good thus

The assurance of our salvation and pardon of sin primarily arises from the witness of the spirit of God, that we are the children of God; and the spirit never witnesses this till we are believers, for we are sons by faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore assurance is not faith, but follows it, as the effect follows the cause.

Again; no man can be assured and persuaded of his salvation, till he is united to Christ, till he is ingrafted into Christ; and a man cannot be ingrafted into Christ till he has faith. He must first be ingrafted into Christ by faith, before he can have assurance of his salvation; which does clearly evidence, that assurance is not faith, but an effect and fruit of faith.

Again; faith cannot be lost, but assurance may; therefore assurance is not faith. Though assurance is a precious flower in the garden of a saint, and is more infinitely sweet and delightful to the soul than all outward comforts and

contents, yet it is but a flower that is subject to fade, and to lose its freshness and beauty, as saints by sad experience find.

Again; a man must first have faith before he can have assurance; therefore assurance is not faith: and that a man must first have faith before he can have assurance, is clear by this-a man must first be saved before he can be assured of his salvation, for he cannot be assured of that which is not; and a man must first have a saving faith before he can be saved by faith, for he cannot be saved by that which he has not; therefore a man must first have faith before he can have assurance, and so it roundly follows, that assurance is not faith.

Dev. 3. The third device that Satan has to keep the soul in a doubting condition, is by working the soul to make false inferences from the cross actings of Providence. Says Satan, Dost thou not see how Providence crosses thy prayers, and crosses thy desires, thy tears, thy hopes, thy endeavours? Surely if his love were toward thee, if his soul did delight and take pleasure in thee, he would not deal thus with thee.'

Now the remedies against this device are these—

Rem. 1. Solemnly consider that many things may be cross to our desires, that are not cross to our good. Abraham, Jacob, David, Job, Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah, Paul, met with many things that were contrary to their desires and endeavours, which were not contrary to their good; as all know, that have wisely compared their desires and endeavours and God's actings together. Physic often works contrary to the patient's desires, when it does not work contrary to his good.

I remember a story of a godly man, who had a great desire to go to France, and as he was going to take shipping, he broke his leg; and it pleased Providence so to order it, that the ship which he should have gone in, at that very same time was cast away, and not a man saved; and so by breaking a bone, his life was saved. Though