wrath to come: also, any mercy is a great mercy, to him who hath seen such a view of himself; he is "less than the least of mercies;" "any crumb fall– ing from the Master's table, is welcome;" he thinks it rich "mercy that he is not consumed." This is the thing that marvellously maketh God's poor afflicted people so silent under, and satisfied with, their lot; nay, they think he deserves hell, who opens his mouth at any thing God does to him, since he hath pardoned his transgressions.

So, then, for satisfying the objection, I say, if the Lord hath driven thee out of thyself, and commended Christ to thy heart above all things, and made thee resolve, in his strength, to wage war with every known transgression, and thou art in some measure as a weaned child, acquiescing in what he doth to thee, desiring to lay thy hand on thy mouth thankfully; then thy convictions of sin and misery, and whatsoever thou dost plead as a preparatory work, is sufficient, and thou art to debate no more concerning it. Only be advised so to study new discoveries of the sense of thy lost condition every day, because of thy old and new sins; and also to seek fresh help in Christ, who is a priest for ever to make intercession; and to have the work of sanctification and patience, with thankfulness, renewed and quickened often; for somewhat of that work which abaseth thee, exalteth Christ, and conforms to his will, must accompany thee throughout all thy lifetime in this world,

CHAP. III.

SECT. I.-Of Faith.

WE come now to speak of some more clear and sure marks, by which men may discover their gracious state and interest in Christ. The first thing by which men may know it is, their closing with Christ in the gospel, wherein he is held forth. This is believing, or faith, which is the condition of the covenant: "It is of faith, that it might be by grace." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Now, although, in propriety of speech, it is hard to prove an interest by faith, it being our very interest in him; yet the heart's closing with Christ Jesus, is so discernible in itself, that we may well place it amongst the marks of a gracious state: and if a man can make out this, that he believeth on and in Christ Jesus, he thereby proves a very true interest in him.

Many do scare at this as a mark, upon one of these three grounds:

1. Some conceive faith to be a difficult mysterious thing, hardly attainable. To these I say, Do not mistake; faith is not so difficult as many apprehend it to be. I grant true faith, in the least degree, is the gift of God, and above the power of flesh and blood; for God must "draw men to Christ." "No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him." " Unto

you it is given, in the behalf of Christ, to believe on him." Yet it were a reflection upon Christ, and all he hath done, to say it were a matter of insuperable difficulty; as is clear: "The righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down from above; or, Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed." It were, according to that scripture, as much upon the matter as to say, Christ came not from heaven, is not risen from the dead, nor ascended victorious to heaven. I say, he hath made the way to heaven most easy; and faith, which is the condition required on our part, more easy than men do imagine. For the better understanding of this, consider, that justifying faith is not to believe that I am elected, or to believe that God loveth me, or that Christ died for me, or the like: these things are indeed very difficult, and almost impossible at the first to be got at by those who are serious; whilst natural Atheists and deluded hypocrites find no difficulty in asserting all those things.

I say,

true justifying faith is not any of these things; neither is it simply the believing of any sentence that is written, or that can be thought upon. I grant, he that believeth on Christ Jesus, believeth what God hath said concerning man's sinful miserable condition by nature; and he believeth that to be true, that "there is life in the Son, who was slain, and is risen again from the dead," &c. But none of these, nor the believing of many such truths, do speak out justifying faith, or that believing on the Son of God spoken of in Scripture: for then it were simply an act of the understanding: but true justifying faith, which we now seek after, as a good mark of an interest in Christ, is chiefly and principally an act or work of the heart and will; having presupposed several things about truth in the understanding: "With the heart it is believed unto righteousness," Rom. x. 10. And although it seem, ver. 9. of that chapter, that a man is saved upon condition that he believes this truth, "God raised Christ from the dead," yet we must understand another thing there, and ver. 10. than the believing the truth of that proposition: for besides that all devils have that faith, whereby they believe that God raised Christ from the dead, so the Scrip- . ture hath clearly resolved justifying faith into a receiving of Christ: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,

The re

even to them that believe on his name." ceiving of Christ, is there explained to be the believing on his name. It is still called a staying on the Lord, a trusting in God, often mentioned in

the Psalms, and the word is a leaning on him.

It

is a believing on Christ: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent; and often so expressed in the New Testament. When God maketh men believe savingly, he is said to draw them unto Christ; and when the Lord inviteth them to believe, he calleth them to come to him: "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” The kingdom of heaven is like a man finding a jewel, with which he falleth in love: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls ; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." Now, I say, this acting of the heart on Christ Jesus, is not so difficult a thing as is conceived. Shall that be judged a mysterious difficult thing, which doth consist much in desire? If men have but an appetite, they have it; for they are "blessed that hunger after righteousness.' If you will, you are welcome. Is it a matter of such intricacy and insuperable difficulty, earnestly to look to that exalted Saviour? "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." And to receive a thing that is offered, held forth, and declared to be mine, if I will but accept and take it,