Object, But you wil fay, As a man may too soon after fickneßeate, if he eates before he be purged, he wil relapse: foi have a fowl and an unpurged beart, and therefore I may not be fo ready to beleeve.

To that I anfwer. Faith is a purging Grace, In Asts, 15. 9. It is the proper operation of faith to humble and to Sanctify. That as thofe fick perfons that Chrift healed had meat given them prefently to eate, and yet that meat did wel enough with them, and they furfeited not: fo you may eate and feed on Chrift by faith freely, and yet be humble and holy. Lydia was converted, and the beleeved presently. God opened her heart, Alts, 16. 14. The Jaylor beleeved prefently, A&ts 16. 31. And how humble was heto wafh the feet of the difciples, as wel as juft, in being kind to them, unto whom before he had been cruel. Had a man been fick before and but newly recovered, if the meat he eates do purge the humor, whereof he had been fick, it is as good as Phyfick. Now faith is Phylick as wel as meat, it doth as wel purify the heart from al fin, as it doth comfort the heart as gainft fin. Therefore be thou what thou win Se Be thy fins what they may be, be thy heart as ad as can be, yet thou maift fafely put thy felf prefently upon beleeving. It is true thou canst not beleeve until thou art fenfible of thy fins, and thy heart be humbled, but that wil come with ease and lefs difficulty if thou putteft thy felf upon beleeving firft. Your beleeving and going about that work,wil make the work of humiliation eafyer and pleafanter to you. The end (you know doth injoyne the meanes to it. It puts a neceffity upon the meanes, and the fame neceffity that there is of its felf. As for example. If a man be to build an houfe

house who hath none to put his head in until it be provided) he wil get together ftraw and timber, and get them with haft, he wil make haft to the work, why? because he hath not where to hide his head until his house be built: So if a man makes this his work; to beleeve, if he laies a neceffity on his Soul ro lay hold prefently on the mercy offered, he wil fet himself upon the finding out of fin It is a great failinge, and judging of himself. that Chriftians look at humbling and mourning as things good in themselves, and not as means to faith. And from thence it comes to pass that they are dul to beleeve, because they are not humbled: and when they are humbled, they are as dul to beleev e as ever, because I fay they look on thefe things not as coming from faith, and tending to faith, but meerly as things good in themselves. Mark what I fay. As the confcience ought to be fo tender that the leaft reproof fhould fhame it and convince it, A man fhould not need demonftrations to prove a matter and the hainoufnefs of it where he is guilty: A man fhould not be unto reproofe as a man at a barre of judgment,who pleads not guilty, whatever confcience tells him, until he be proved to be guilty by wittneffes, and according to Law. Buta man fhould ingeniously confefs his fault, and receive admonition from his brother, fo farre as what is fpoken be truth, though it cannot be proved:1 fay fo farre aswhat is fpoken be truth,it ought to be acknowledged, though it cannot be proved. Now as a man ought to be thus tender of confcience to receive a reproofe, fo he ought to be as tender in receiving of the promifes, and the apprehenfions of Gods love, if there be but the root of the matter in him, if there be but a good ground of poffibility and probability that he is fuch a one as Jefus Chrift meanes wel unto. For I befeech you do but ob

ferve

ferve it here, which is the ground of al that I have fpoken; Chrift gives a reproofe to them that beleeved not. As therefore a reproofe of fin ought to be takenin one kind,fo it ought in another:a man ought to be as tender of being found guilty of backwardnefs to beleeve, as he ought to be tender of being found guilty, or of yielding to the guilt in him of any other fin.

Object, But Peradventure you wil yet fay unto me, How can these ftand together; A quick fence of fin, and a readineß to beleeve, if I have a lively and a fresh fence of my own deferts, that I can take nothing to my felf but fhame,what have I to do with the promises of the Gospel.

I anfwer, it is true, thou haft nothing to do of thy felf: but the ground of thy faith, is not thy grace, but Gods grace, it is not thy deferts, but the merits of Jefus Chrift. You fhal find that these two may very wel ftand together. The fervants of Benhadad, they came from their mafter, who lay clofe and durft not fhew his head being conquered by King Ahab. He was in a cave and fent out these men to lpy out what likely hood there was to come upon any termes of Grace and favor. They look upon him as become the fervant of a king: and yet notwithstanding they are as quick to lay hold on the kindness of a King unto him, as any brother. Thy Servant Benhadad faith let him live. Is my Brother Benhadad yet a live? (Thy Brother fay they) let bimlive, 1 Kings, 20. 32. 33. As a man may have a fharp eye, and yet a quick eare, thefe two hinder not each other: So neither doth the quickness of the fence of fin hinder a man at al from beleeving. For confider it. The fence of fin is wrought by God on purpose to quicken a man

to

to beleeve. As when a man is backward in pay ment, the Creditor fets the Serjeant on his back, and then he comes and brings the fum prefently: or elfe beggs mercy heartily from him. So God chargeth fin upon a mans foul on purpose, that he may come to him for forgiveness. The Law is a School-mafter (faith he ) to bring us to Chrift Gal. 3. 24. A School-mafter. The Apoftle fpeaks of condemning the moral Law. For he fpeaks of that which faith Curfed is every one that continues not in the Law to do it. And he speaks in condemnation of the moral Law as fet out by the ceremonies which God had appointed:All the bloody ceremonyes were to fhadow out what our deferts were: that we should dye rather then the beaft: and what Jefus Chrift fhould in our ftead endure for us : Now all this was to bring us unto Chrift. Therefore Ifay there is no hinderance at al in the fenfe of fin unto faith. It is a double fin for a nian to have the fence of fin,and not to be ftirred up to go to Chrift; yea, it is no fence of fin. For unbeleife is a fin,and as great a one, as any, or al that a man can be guilty of befides. Thy fenfe of fin is partiall which is not of al fin. Thy fence of fin is feigned and hypocritical, which is not according to the nature of the fins thou knoweft. Unbeleife therefore being the greatest fin, muft needs have the greatest fence of forrow, if thy fence be as it fhould be. Take a Jew ufing the ceremonies of the Law, were he affected never fo much with them, but yet knew nothing of Jefus Chrift in them, it were fuperftition in him, and not the worship of God. So Ifay, if a man be never fo much affected with the evil of fin, and the danger of fin, and is not thereby drawn unto Jefus Chrift, it is no godly forrow: No godly forrow at al. You fhal find yet further.

That

That the fence of fin when it is kindly, doth of its own nature prompt a man to look out for pardon. This pardon must be had: and this deliverance which a man needs must be had, Either from himself, and then a mans fence of fin is not good, by the Law; for where the Law convinceth, it fhews a man that from it he muft expect no mercy, and by the doing of it, he cannot come to make fatisfaction.) If it puts a man to look for it from Jefus Chrift, then it is but as a fparre in his fides, or only as a warning peece that is fhot of by the fhip, which leads a fleet, that al the reft may come af ter into the fame fhelter, or upon the fame fhore. Let me therefore my beloved ftirre you up to this, To be as fenfible of your fin, in being backward to beleeve,as you are fenfible of your danger in breaking of the Law. And all this ferves to clear the third motive,that is, that there can be no danger at al in beeing forward to beleeve.

MOTIVE, IIII.

4. Let me add another Motive, and that is this. There can be no good ground at al for you to be backward to beleeve, or to put of the grace that is offered in the Gofpel, no reason I fay can be given for it that is warrantable. You heard what ground our Lord Jefus Chrift doth analize it unto,he faith it is Folly and Sluggishneß, hardneß of heart, and carnal joy that makes it Luke, 24. 25. That ground beloved which moft people go upon is this. They are unworthy They can do nothing fuitable to that grace which is tendred. It is too much for them. Is there any reason that they fhould be fupream and give a law to Gods bounty? Is there any caufe why the beggar fhould not receive, because he is not worthy to come under the roofe?