If we must aim at Affurance, what fhould they do, that are not able to discern their own spiritual condition? 1 Joh. 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God,that ye may know that. ye bave Eternal Life. He greatness of the mercy, in having of the Scri our happiness and our comfort: for our happiness, that we may have is this. Since men may know that they have eternal life, what must they do that cannot difcern their spiritual Condition? Here are two things to be performed, Firft, That we may know in this life, that we shall certainly be par takers of eternal glory in the life to come. For if affurance be not pof fible, I can neither blame you for wanting it, nor ftir you up to labour after it. Secondly, Lay down fome Rules for the getting of it, and directions, i c John 3.36. d Eph. 2. 3: e Tit.3.3. g Job.5.40,43. Mark 2: 10. directions, if by these rules we cannot for the present obtain it. 1. Pofition. r. An unregenerate perfon while (c) fuch can have no affurance, or certain knowlege of the eternal falvation of his Immortal foul. Becaufe as fuch he hath no actual interest in the promises of salvation, being without the conditions of faith and repentance, to which the promiles are made, being a child of (d) wrath, (e) a flave to his lufts, a (f) captive to the Devil a(g) rejecter of the Son of God. This man fs Tim.2.16. hath plague fores, tokens of eternal death. I cannot fay thou shalt be infallibly damned,becaufe thou (b) mayeft repent and believe, and thou 1 Tim.2.25, canft not fay thou shalt be faved, becaufe thou haft not yet repented for thy fin,nor believed on the Son of God. A wicked man is not fubjum capax, a fubject capable of this affurance, Eph.1. 13. In whom alfo after ye believed, ye were fealed with that holy Spirit of promife. It is not the hard ftone, but the foft wax that receiveth the impreffion of the feal. If he hope for Salvation while he liveth, and dyeth in a natu ral condition, he fhall lofe his hope (i) and foul together: this prefumption will prove felf-delufion, and end in desperation Luke 18.11. worfe than a Pharifee,(k)whether he be a private perlon,or a Preacher, that liveth in grofs fins, hating the power of godliness, and discouraging holiness, that yet bleffeth God for election, juftification,fanctification, and affured hope of glory. i Job 11.20. & 8.3,4. & 8. 4. mi Joh. 2.·3,14. 1 Pct.2 2. 2. Pofition. He is 1 Plal.77.1.to 2. That many of Gods dear Children (1) for a long time might rethe 10.ver.& main very doubtful as to their prefent and eternal condition,and know 88.4,15,16. not what to conclude, whether they fhall be damned, or whether they lfa.50.10. fhall be faved. There are believers of feveral growths in the Church of God: (m) Fathers, young men, Children, and ( n ) Babes ; and as in most families there are more babes and children, than grown men, fo in the Church of God, there are more weak doubting Chriftians, than ftrong ones,grown up to a full affurance. A Babe may be born and yet not know it, fo a man may be born again and not be fure of it. Sometimes they think they have grounds of hope, that they fhall be faved, fometimes they think they have grounds of fears, that they fhall be condemned: not knowing which might be most weighty, like a pair of ballances, they are are in equal poyfe. Zach. 14.6. And it fall come to pafs in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor darke dark. It is fpoken primarily of Gods providential difpenfations, towards his Church in Gofpel times; For a while the fhould live in Crepufculo in twilight: in a mixt condition of light and darkness, comfort and affliction; like a man in a mifly morning,that neither walketh in the dark,nor yet hath the light clear to fee far before him; like Paul and the Marriners that faw neither Sun nor Stars for many days, (e) • Acts 27.10. fo might it be with a particular person, in reference to his fpiritual condition. By this you fee, First, We make a difference betwixt faving faith as fuck, and a full perfwafion of the heart. Secondly, That fome of those that shall be certainly saved, might not be certain that they shall be saved; for the promise is made to the grace of faith,and not to the evidence of it. To Faith as true,and not as ftrong; they may be fure of Heaven, and yet in their own fenfe, not affured of Heaven. As an Infant may be born to a great eftate, and have a certain title to it, but yet he might not know it, or make it out to himself or others. So that the Quellion is not de certitudine ob-jecii,of the certainty of Salvation, but de certitudine fubjecti, of the ap-.. prehenfion, fenfe, and knowledge of the believing perfon, concerning his falvation. 3. Pofition & 25.34. ૧ 3.That a believer may not only in the general, gather from the word of God (p),from the death of Chrift(q), from the glorious preparation q Mat. 20.28. God hath made(r),that many shall be infallibly brought to glory, but r Put. 1.4354 alfo that he in particular,fhall be one of them. This must have its proof after; I therefore now pass on. 4. Pofition. 26,17. mentio. tl.,Crofs, Un f Bellarmin. de Baptifmo.Tom. 4. That we are not to expect any voice from Heaven,or Gods fend- 3.lib 1. cap 253 ing of an Angel, or extraordinary revelation, to make us to know that nech 12. Cewe do believe, or fhall be faved, but to make use of those helps, and remonies about means appointed by God, common to all believers, but yet fufficient Baptifm, Exar for the obtaining of this particular Affurance. This I put in, becaufe cifm, Salt, Spit-.. the Papifts grant it may be got by extraordinary revelation, but not ation, Wax-taelfe; As it is their wicked practife to keep the people moft ignorant per lighted, in of those things, of which they fhould have moft knowledge, that token that the following them with an implicite faith, & blind obedience,might not baptized perfon fcruple at their Humane Traditions, and unwarrantable, and many from the power () ridiculous Innovation, that have crept in amongst them, fo they of darkness keep them most doubtful, where they should be moit fure, and fo the unto light,es counfel is tranflated . Si quis dixe counsel of Trent (t). If any may fay that he knoweth, he fhall cerrit, hominem tainly perfevere, or infallibly be affured of his election, except he have renatum & ju- this by special revelation, let him be Anathema. A wicked counfel that Anathematizeth a man for afferting that may be obtained, which God commandeth him to get, 2 Pet.1.10. Make your calling, and efcEtion fure. ftificatum teneri ex fide ad credendum fe 5. Pofition. certo effe, ex numero præteftinatorum, A5. That fuch as have been filled with divine joy, through wellnathema fit. Concil. Triden, grounded apprehenfions of their prefent grace and future glory,might Tell.6 can. 15. lofe that affurance, and that joy (n), and this may be, 1, From God And again, acting, 1. As(x) a Soveraign Lord. 2. As a wife God putting a more Si quis dixerit, eminent difference btwixt Earth and (y) Heaven. Or, 2. From the magnum illud ufque in finem buffetings of Satan. Or, 3.From themselves, 1. For the trial and exerperfeverantie cife of fome of their graces (z). Or, 2. For correcting them for fina). donum fe certo As, 1. For their backwardness to duty (b). 2. Slothfulness in duty.. babiturum ab- 3. Frequent ftrong actings of pride in and after duty. 4.Letting down foluta & infalheir fpiritual watch;and fo, 5.Falling into fome notorious tranfgreffine, nifi hoc ex on (c). Or, 6. For not setting a due esteem upon the comforts of the ecials revela- fpirit (d). Or, 7. Infulting too much over weak believers; not exertione dedicerit cifing tender compallion to dejected drooping Chriftians. 8. For their Anathema fit. too much Earthly-mindednefs. 9. Not rifing presently by repenConcil. Triden. tance (e); for these reasons and the like, their Sun might be eclipfed, a winter of forrows,might follow their fummer joyes. They may Lofe their evidence,but not their adherence; and though there fhall not be any intercifion of justification, yet there might be afterwards a non-apPfa.13.1. with prehenfion of it. tibili certitudi. feff. 5. Can.16. u Pfal. 30.7. Can.5. x Job 9. 17. I Cor.13.12. Ifa. 8: 17. € 2 Sam. 11.4, 13.15. comp. Pial.51.8, 2. Job 15.11. belfro57.17. 6. Pofition 6 That in divers men, there are divers degrees of this affurance, and in the same man different degrees at divers times,but in no man at any time, in this life perfection or degrees; For our understanding is + Cant. 5.2,3,6. imperfect, both as to the faculty and its acts. And though the mind is curing, yet it will not be perfectly cured in this life, from that darkness that befell it, by mans Apoftacy from God. For we have but an imperfect knowledge of Faith and Love: and while we have but an imperfect knowledge of the premises, we cannot give a perfect affent to the conclufion. And no man hath fuch perfection of degrees, of the affurance of his falvation, in an ordinary way, as that one degree more cannot be added to the former; neither is there any repugnancy in afferting an infallible affurance, and denying a perfect affurance; for I infallibly know that there is a God, and that this this God is good and juft; and yet I have not a perfect knowledge of a deity,or of his goodness and juftice; for in this life we know but in part, 1 Cor. 13. 11, 22. There are three ways that we come to a certainty. 283 1. There is a certainty that comes by fenfe, which cannot erre a- A threefold bout its proper object, when there is a due distance, a fit difpofiti- certainty. on of the Organ, and the medium rightly difpofed: thus Thomas was certain of Chrifts refurrection from the dead. John 20. 25. The other Difciples faid unto him, we have feen the Lord, but he said unto them, except I shall in his hands the Print of the nails, and put my finger into the Print of the nails, and thrust my band into his fide, I. will not believe. Verf. 27. He faith to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and bebold my hands, reach bitber thy band, and thrust it into my fide, and be not faithless but believing. Verf. 28. And Thomas anSwered and faid, my Lord, and my God. Though the other Difciples told him they had feen the Lord, yet he would not take it for a certainty from their report, except he had a certainty from his own fenfe. But the Papifts do not only deny us a certainty of faith, but alfo á certainty of fenfe; for though in the Sacrament we fee it is real. bread, and taste it to be real bread, and feel and handle it as real bread; yet contrary to our fenfe, would have us believe, and say it is tranfubftantiated. 2. There is a certainty of fcience, or knowledge arifing from first principles,received by all,that are proved by their own light, that can.. not be demonftrated a priori, because there is nothing true before them; as a man cannot fhew you the Sun but by its own light: So I certainly know, that both parts of a contradiction cannot be true; fo I certainly know, that the whole is greater than any particular part. 3. There is a certainty of authority, or teftimony, if the teftimony be humane,it begets but a moral perfwafion, for no humane teftimony is of neceffary verity, becaufe truth is not neceffarily,, but contingently and mutably in the man that gives this teftimony, and the teftiimony hath not its cogency or validity from it felf,but from the qualiti cations of the perfon that bears the teftimony, whence there is a gra-.. dual certainty in humane teftimonies; only God is fo neceffarily true, that it should imply a contradiction that he should be God, and yet. lye. God cannot lye, Tit. 1. 2. So that a Divine teftimony begets a cer- e Deut.31.4; tainty of divine Faith; for what God faith, I undoubtedly know to be & 34 6. true,because truth is(e)effential to him; for if truth be neceffary to the Heb.6 18. Teftator, the truth of the teftimony must neceffarily be (f) true, fo If Joh.17.17 know |