Two Inferences from the Former Cases of Conscience

These two cases being thus cleared, (1 That an [illegible] has no right to any spiritual good in [illegible]: And, 2 That the Spirit of God does never [illegible] known this to such a soul) hence it is clear: [illegible] manner and order that men have devised to make known the mind of God to a man, and to give comfort to the soul in distress, being cross to these truths now [illegible], is an erroneous and false way. As for [illegible], you being in distress about your sins, and [illegible] under the Spirit of Bondage, you must first lay [illegible] in the bottom, lay him in the foundation, Christ [illegible] first be yours, and so united to you, and your [illegible] forgiven by him, before you have any faith or [illegible] qualification wrought in you. This opinion [illegible] says, That Christ may be united to the soul, and [illegible] be justified and adopted before he have any [illegible]; it is a dangerous opinion, a desperate [illegible]; that I may say no worse of it. Mark what [illegible], here is the plot of all profaneness, the ground of looseness and familism: A man may have Christ [illegible] be justified and adopted while he is without [illegible], and therefore while he is under the power of sins, and the Spirit of God may witness this; And [illegible] though a man fall into any sin, or live in any sin [illegible] it be, he may have recourse to this [illegible], this witness of the Spirit, and that is enough. If a man say, Prove it: Are you in a state of grace? Is Christ yours? Prove it then. Prove it? (say they) that I cannot do, but the Spirit witnesses this to me: Ay, but prove this witness of the Spirit, that it is from God according to his Word. They will be forced to confess, I cannot prove it neither to myself, nor to another, only thus, I must believe it, and you must believe me: I was in trouble and distress about my sins, and then there was a voice from Heaven, the Spirit did witness to me, That Christ was mine, and my sins were pardoned, etc. This is a Spirit of Delusion, the Devil is there; whatever the Spirit of God says, it is that which the Scriptures say. Therefore if you have a testimony which is not to be found in the Scripture, nor can be proved and made good by the Scripture, it is the testimony of the Devil, not [illegible] the Spirit of God: for the Spirit of God, and the Word of God, ever go together; therefore if you say you have a witness of the Spirit, and the Word say, No: I'll say, It is a Delusion.

Secondly; hence it follows also: There are [illegible] promises wherein any saving good is revealed or evidenced to the soul, but either they are such [illegible] God promises to work the condition, or suppose the condition already wrought: either [illegible] mentioning a qualification, or necessarily implying [illegible] including the same, out of other places to be collected where the same is professedly handled.

All spiritual good (redemption, justification, salvation) purchased by Christ, were intended only for them that do believe; therefore there is no promise in the Scripture, but does evidence this.

Sometimes you have the covenant laid down in [illegible] lump (as it were) in a brief expression, as in a [illegible] sum comprehending all the whole frame, and then [illegible] several actions in their distinct order and manner [illegible] God's working are to be attended and conceived, as though they had been more fully, and in the several branches set forth to us. Take a taste of some few (Genesis 3:5): The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head. The head of Satan implies three things: Policy, Power, and Poison. To break this head is to crush and confound all these: The policy and power of Satan is overthrown in the work of vocation, when the soul is turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18): the venom and poison of Satan is taken away; partly in the [illegible] and punishment which is done away in justification, partly in the stain and pollution of sin, which is removed in sanctification. All these Christ does in [illegible] hearts of all his, and some of these all the saints of God must have evidence of before they can gain evidence that they are within the compass of this covenant. Thus the Apostle John disputes (1 John 3:3-5): Every one that has this hope purifies himself as Christ [illegible] pure. Why? For sin is the transgression of the law, and Christ was manifested to take away our sins: therefore (verse 6) whoever abides in him sins not: Christ came to take away sin, and therefore he that abides in Christ cannot abide in sin; and (verse 8) The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil.

So again (Jeremiah 31:33), I will be their God, and they shall be my people: (Zechariah 13, last verse), I will say it is my people, and they shall say you are the Lord our God: Here again is the sum of the Covenant comprised, and all the particulars with the manner of the work included and presupposed, as the Apostle once for all expounds these and the like passages (2 Corinthians 6:16), I will be their God and they shall be my people, therefore come out from among [illegible], and be separate and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father to you, and you [reconstructed: shall] be my sons and daughters says the Lord. If they touch no unclean thing, but be separate [reconstructed: from] Sin, Self, and the Creature, and so come out of [illegible] these in preparation, and come to him in effectual vocation, then he will be a father to them in his Christ, and make them his Children in Adoption, and then he will write his laws in their hearts, and renew them to that holiness which in Adam they lost, and so enable them to walk in his ways. And therefore when the Lord promises by the [reconstructed: prophet] (Isaiah 43:25), I am he that blots out your transgressions for my own name's sake, and will not remember [reconstructed: your] sins: that is, I do justify you freely when I have made you to believe by my free grace; For it cannot be conceived that the Lord would pass the sentence of Absolution upon her while she remained in the [reconstructed: state] of unbelief: For then that of the Apostle should fail, It is one God that justifies the Jews by Faith, and the Gentiles through Faith (Romans 3:30). Therefore look at verses 20 and 21 of this Chapter (for we must not have one place jostle against another) and there you shall [reconstructed: find] it is said, I will do this and that for my People, my Chosen, which are Believers, and of them and to them it is said (verse 25), I will blot out your sins for my own sake: The resolving of these Cases, and information of these Doubts, infers undeniably thus much, That there is no Absolute Promise that either gives or maintains assurance of our good estate, but such only wherein God engages [reconstructed: himself] to work the Condition, or else does of necessity imply it wrought.

It will be said, That the Covenant of Grace is free, and issues out of the free Mercy of God in Christ, and therefore the Lord has not in it any respect, to any thing we have or do.

It is all confessed, and yet there is no prejudice at [reconstructed: all] that accrues to the Cause in hand.

Free Grace is the Fountain of all: It makes the [reconstructed: Covenant], it works the Condition, it maintains the [reconstructed: condition] which is wrought (Ephesians 2:8): By Grace [reconstructed: are] you saved, through Faith.

And though God both requires and works the [reconstructed: faith] (Ephesians 2:8, Faith is the Gift of God), yet it is not for our Faith, or for the worth of any Grace [reconstructed: that] is in us, that we have life and salvation but by [reconstructed: grace], and those, as means and ways by Grace [reconstructed: ordained] and provided to give life. [reconstructed: Justification] is of [reconstructed: Free] Grace, does it not therefore require [reconstructed: faith] in [reconstructed: the] Party that is Justified, nor yet suppose him to be [reconstructed: called]? The Apostle openly contradicts such a [reconstructed: notion] (Romans 8:30), Whom he called, them he justified: [reconstructed: Glorification] is also of Free Grace, and yet does it [reconstructed: not] suppose Sanctification and Holiness in the Party [reconstructed: that] must possess it? Without Holiness no man shall [reconstructed: see] the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). As my Glorification does [reconstructed: not] hinder the freedom of my Justification because it [reconstructed: comes] before it, so my Justification does not hinder the [reconstructed: freedom] of my Vocation because Vocation goes [reconstructed: before] it, but only shows the order and manner of God's [reconstructed: working].