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men and devils, who labour by false definitions of grace, to keep precious souls in a doubting and languishing condition, and so make their lives a burden and a misery unto them.

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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 true believers, who are subject to doubt: in the same persons (that the forementioned scriptures speak of) you may see their faith commended, and their doubts condemned, which necessarily supposes a presence of both.

Rem. 4. 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 doth assurance flow from faith. This truth I shall make good thus:

The assurance of our salvation and pardon of sin doth primarily arise from the witness of the Spirit of God, that we are the children of God; Eph. i. 13. and the Spirit never witnesseth this till we are believers; For we are sons by faith in Christ Jesus:' Gal. iv. 6. therefore assurance is not faith, but follows it, as the effect follows the cause.

* Mat. vi. 30. xiv. 31. and xvi. 8. Luke xii. 28.

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 hath faith, he must first be ingrafted into Christ by faith, before he can have assurance of his salvation; which doth clearly evidence, that assurance is not faith, but an effect and fruit of faith, &c.

Again, A man must first have faith, before he can have assurance; therefore, assurance is not faith. That a man must first have faith before he can have assurance, is clear, for he must first be saved, before he can be assured of his salvation; because 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 hath not; therefore a man must first have faith, before he can have assurance, and so it evidently follows, that assurance is not faith, &c.

CHAPTER III.

The third Device that Satan hath to keep the soul in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition, is,

BY inclining the soul to make false inferences from the cross dealings of Providence. Saith

Satan, dost thou not see how Providence crosses thy prayers and desires, thy tears, hopes, and 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:

Remedy 1. Against this device of Satan, 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, &c. met with many things contrary to their desires and endeavours, that were not contrary to their good, as all know, who have wisely compared desires and endeavours, and God's actings together. Physic often operates contrary to the patient's desire, when it doth not work contrary to his good.

Rem. 2. Solemnly consider, that the hand of God, may be against a man, when the love and heart of God is much set upon him. No man can conclude how the heart of God stands, by his hand. † The hand of God was against Ephraim, and yet his love, his heart was dearly set upon him, Jer. xxxi. 18, 19, 20. I have

* Ps. lxxvii. 7, 11. lxxxi. 1. ult. and lxxiii. 2, 23.

God's providential hand may be with persons, when his heart is set against them. God's providential hand was for a time with Saul, Haman, Ashur, and Jehu, and yet his heart was set against them. "No man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him," Eccl. ix. 1, 2.

surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I was returned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Ephraim is my dear son, he is a pleasant child, for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.'

God can look sourly, chide bitterly, and strike heavily, even where, and when he loves dearly. 'The hand of God was very much against Job, and yet his heart was very much set upon him,' as you may see by comparing chap. i. and ii. with xli. and xlii. The hand of God was sore against David and Jonah, when his heart was much set upon them. He that shall conclude, that the heart of God is against those that his hand is against, will condemn the generation of the just, whom God would not have condemned.

Rem. 3. Consider, that all the cross providences that befall the saints, are but in order to some great good, that God doth intend to confer upon them. Providence wrought cross to David's desire, in taking away the child, but yet not cross to greater good; for was it not far better

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for David to have such a legitimate heir as Solomon, than that a bastard should wear the crown and sway the sceptre?

'Joseph you know was sold into a far country, by the envy and malice of his brethren, and afterwards imprisoned because he would not yield to his mistresses lusts;' yet all these providences wonderfully conduced to his advancement, and the preservation of his father's family, which was then the visible church of Christ. It was so ordered by a noble hand of Providence, that what they sought to decline, they promoted. Joseph was therefore sold by his brethren, that he might not be worshipped, and yet he was therefore worshipped because he was sold!

David was designed to a kingdom, but Oh, the straits, troubles, and deaths that he run through before he felt the weight of the crown: and all this was but in order to sweeten his crown, and settle it more firmly and gloriously upon his head. God so contrived it, that Jonah's offence, and those cross actings of his that attended it, should promote that end which they seemed most directly to oppose: Jonah flies to Tarshish, then is cast into the sea, then saved by a miracle. Then the mariners (as is very probable) who cast Jonah into the sea, declared to the Ninevites what had happened; therefore he must be a man sent of God, and his threatenings must be believed and heark

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