him, and both ways such as demonstrate the Divine perfections, and shall love, and glorify, and please him for ever.

So much for the opening of the true nature of love to God, ourselves, and others, and of man's ultimate end, and of the nature of holiness and goodness, and those mysteries. of religion which are involved in these points.

CHAPTER IV.

Subordinate Directions against those Grand Heart-Sins, which are directly contrary to the Life of Godliness and Christianity.

b

THE positive Directions to the Essential Duties of Godliness and Christianity, have already given you, Directions against the contrary sins: as in the first Grand Direction you have helps against direct unbelief: in the second, you have Directions against unbelief, as it signifieth the not using and applying of Christ according to our various needs. In the third, you have Directions against all resisting or neglecting the Holy Ghost: (which were first, because in practice we must come by the Son and the Spirit to the saving knowledge and love of the Father.) In the fourth, you have Directions against atheism, idolatry, and ungodliness. In the fifth, you have Directions against self-idolizing, and self-dependence, and unholiness in an alienating yourselves from God. In the sixth, you are directed against rebellion and disobedience against God. In the seventh, you have Directions against unteachableness, ignorance, and error. In the eighth, you have Directions against impenitency, unhumbleness, impurity, unreformedness, and all sin in general as sin. In the ninth, you are directed against security, unwatchfulness, and yielding to temptations, and in general against all danger to the soul. In the tenth, you

a Of the Sin against the Holy Ghost, I have written a special Treatise in my "Unreasonableness of Infidelity."

b Since the writing of this, I have published the same more at large, in my "Reasons of the Christian Religion," and in my "Life of Faith."

c ́ Of presumption and false hope, enough is said in the "Saints' Rest," and here about temptation, hope, and other heads afterwards.

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are directed against barrenness, unprofitableness, and sloth, and uncharitableness; and against mistakes in matter of duty or good works. In the eleventh, you are directed against all averseness, disaffection, or cold indifferency of heart to God. In the twelfth, you are directed against disIn the trust, and sinful cares, and fears, and sorrows. thirteenth, you are directed against an over sad or heartless serving of God, as merely from fear, or forcedly, without delight. In the fourteenth, you are directed against unthankfulness. In the fifteenth, you are directed against all unholy or dishonourable thoughts of God, and against all injurious speeches of him, or barrenness of the tongue, and against all scandal or barrenness of life. In the books referred to in the sixteenth and seventeenth, you are directed against selfishness, self-esteem, self-love, self-conceit, selfwill, self-seeking, and against all worldliness, and fleshliness of mind or life. But yet, lest any necessary helps should be wanting against such heinous sins, I shall add some more particular Directions against such of them as were not fully spoken to before.

PART I.

Directions against Unbelief.

I KNOW that most poor, troubled Christians, when they complain of the sin of Unbelief, do mean by it, their not believing that they are sincere believers, and personally justified, and shall be saved. And I know that some divines have affirmed, that the sense of that article of the creed, I believe the remission of sins,' is, I believe my sins are actually forgiven.' But the truth is, to believe that I am elect or justified, or that my sins are forgiven, or that I am a sincere believer, is not to believe any Word of God at all: for no Word of God doth say any of these; nor any thing equivalent; nor any thing out of which it can be gathered: for it is a rational conclusion; and one of the premises which does infer it, must be found in myself by reflection, or internal sense, and self-knowledge. The Scripture only saith, "He that truly believeth is justified, and shall be saved." But it is conscience, and not belief of Scripture, which

must say, 'I do sincerely believe:' therefore the conclusion, ⚫ that I am justified, and shall be saved,' is a rational collection from what I find in Scripture and in myself, set together, and resulting from both, can be no firmer or surer than is the weaker of the premises. Now certainty is objective or subjective; in the thing, or in my apprehension. As to objective certainty in the thing itself, all truths are equally true; but all truths are not equally discernible, there being more cause of doubting concerning some, which are less evident, than concerning others, which are more evident. And so the truth of God's promise of justification to believers, is more certain; that is, hath fuller, surer evidence to be discerned by, than the truth of my sincere believing, And that I sincerely believe,' is the more debile of the premises, and therefore the conclusion followeth this in its debility; and so can be no article of faith. And as to the subjective certainty, that varieth according to men's various apprehensions. The premises, as in their evidence or aptitude to ascertain us, are the cause of the conclusion as evident, or knowable. And the premises, as apprehended, are the cause of the conclusion, as known.

Now it is a great doubt with some, Whether a man can possibly be more certain that he believeth, than he is that the thing believed is true; because the act can extend no farther than the object: and to be sure I believe, is but to be sure that I take the thing believed to be true. But I shall grant the contrary, that a man may possibly be surer that he believeth, than he is that the thing believed is true; because my believing is not always a full subjective certainty, that the thing is true; but a believing that it is true And though you are fully certain that all God's Word is true; yet you may believe that this is his Word, with some mixture of unbelief or doubting. And so the question is but this, Whether you may not certainly, without doubting know, that you believe the Word of God to be true, though with some doubting. And it seems you may. But then it is a further question, Whether you can be surer of the saving sincerity of your faith, than you are that this Word of God is true. And that ordinary men doubt of the first, as much as they doubt of the latter, I think is an experimented truth. But yet grant that with some it may be

otherwise, (because he believeth sincerely, that so far believeth the Word of God, as to trust his life and soul upon it, and forsake all in obedience to it: and that I do so, I may know with less doubting, than I yet have about the truth of the Word so believed,) all that will follow is but this, that of those men that doubt of their justification and salvation, some of their doubts are caused more by their doubting of God's Word, than by their doubting whether they sincerely, though doubtingly believe it: and the doubts of others, whether they are justified and shall be saved, are caused much more by their doubting of their own sincere belief, than by their doubting of the truth of Scriptures. And the far greatest number of Christians seem to themselves to be of this latter sort. For no doubt, but though a man of clear understanding can scarcely believe, and yet not know that he believeth; yet he may believe sincerely, and not know that he believeth sincerely. But still the knowledge of our own justification, is but the effect or progeny of our belief of the Word of God, and of our knowledge that we do sincerely believe it, which conjunctly are the parents and causes of it and it can be no stronger than the weaker of the parents, (which 'in esse cognoscibili' is our faith, but in esse cognito' is sometimes the one, and sometimes the other.) And the effect is not the cause; the effect of faith and knowledge conjunct, is not faith itself. It is not a believing the Word of God, to believe that you believe, or that you are justified: but yet, because that faith is one of the parents of it, some call it by the name of faith, though they should call it but an effect of faith, as one of the causes. And well may our doubtings of our own salvation be said to be from unbelief, because unbelief is one of the causes of them, and the sinfullest cause.

And that the article of remission of sin is to be believed with application to ourselves, is certain: but not with the application of assurance, persuasion, or belief that we are already pardoned; but with an applying acceptance of an offered pardon, and consent to the covenant which maketh it ours. We believe that Christ hath purchased remission of sin, and made a conditional grant of it in his Gospel, to all, viz. if they will repent, and believe in him, or take him

for their Saviour, or become penitent Christians. And we consent to do so, and to accept it on these terms. And we believe that all are actually pardoned that thus consent.

By all this you may perceive, that those troubled Christians which doubt not of the truth of the Word of God, but only of their own sincerity, and consequently of their justification and salvation, do ignorantly complain that they have not faith, or that they cannot believe: for it is no act of unbelief at all, for me to doubt whether my own heart be sincere: this is my ignorance of myself, but it is not any degree of unbelief: for God's Word doth no where say that I am sincere; and therefore I may doubt of this, without doubting of God's Word at all. And let all troubled Christians know, that they have no more unbelief in them, than they have doubting or unbelief of the truth of the Word of God. Even that despair itself, which hath none of this in it, hath no unbelief in it, (if there be any such). I thought it needful thus far to tell you what unbelief is, before I come to give you Directions against it.. And though the mere doubting of our own sincerity be no unbelief at all, yet real unbelief of the very truth of the Holy Scriptures, is so common and dangerous a sin, and some degree of it is latent in the best, that I think we can no way so much further the work of grace, as by destroying this. The weakness of our faith in the truth of Scriptures, and the remnant of our unbelief of it, is the principal cause of all the languishings of our love and obedience, and every grace; and to strengthen faith, is to strengthen all. What I have more fully written in my "Saints' Rest," Part 2., and my "Treatise against Infidelity," I here suppose.

Direct. 1. Consider well how much of religion nature itself teacheth, and reason, (without supernatural revelation,) must needs confess :' (as, that there is another life which man was made for, and that he is obliged to the fullest love and obedience to God, and the rest before laid down in the Introduction.) And then observe how congruously the doctrine of Christ comes in, to help where nature is at a loss, and how exactly it suits with natural truths, and how clearly it explaineth them, and fully containeth so much of them as is necessary to salvation; and how suitable and proper a means it is to attain their ends; and how great a