Evidence for Heaven, Appendix
AN APPENDIX, To the Foregoing Discourse. Containing certain rules to be observed by every Person, that hath attained any good assurance of the Love of God, and his own salvation, and desires to retain it.
FOrasmuch as assurance of the Love of God, and a mans own Salvation, is a pearl of great price, hard to be gotten, but quickly lost; and being once lost, harder to be regained, than gotten at first, as many examples in Scripture shew, and many Christians experience will tell them; I think it necessary, both for my own behoof and the Readers, to adde to this little draught of evidence, some few rules of Direction to be observed, for the keeping of this precious jewel, when it is once attained; but before I mention them, I desire the Reader to take notice of four things,
First, That although a Christian, which hath once a true and real interest in Jesus Christ, cannot lose his inheritance, nor misse of salvation, yet he may lose his evidence (I mean his assurance of it) and feare himself to be but an Hypocrite, and a lost Creature, and Satan labou…s above all things, to rob him of his evidence, whom he cannot rob of his inheritance.
Secondly note. That evidence of our interest in God and Christ, is a gift of Gods free grace, and it dependeth upon Gods free Will; I do not remember any particular promise in the Bible, that God hath made (ordinarily) to give this blessing of assurance unto his people, or to continue it unto them alwayes, unto whom he gives it; on whomsoever God bestows this grace of Assurance, it is over and above what he hath covenanted with his People to give them; and I call it (a gift of free grace) in this respect; God gives this blessing at pleasure, and he may take it away at pleasure; we hold it as Tenants at will, and when the Lord pleaseth, he may reverse his grant, or suspend his favour.
Thirdly, That God usually, (I do not say alwayes) continues this blessing, or suspends it, according to the use or abuse of it; God varies his carriage towards the Creature in respect hereof, as the Creature varies its carriage towards him; though Gods Love towards his People be alwayes the same, yet his discov…ries of it are not alwayes the same; though the Spirit of God be alwayes a leader to his People, yet be is not alwayes a witnessor to them; the Spirit of God many times suspends his testimony from those, to whom he continues his guidance.
Fourthly, It behooveth every one therefore, to whom the Lord vouchsafeth this royall favour, to study how to carry himself, so that he may still enjoy it, this hath been my work and indeavour ever since the Lord hath vouchsafed me any sence of his Love, and evidence of my interest in Christ, for this purpose I have propounded to my self, and shall here briefly commend to the Reader, these rules, which follow.
1. Having once gotten any good assurance of the Love of God, and thy own salvation, thus do; Lay up this Jewell safe in the Cabbinet of a tender Conscience.
2. Set a guard about it, guard it with the feare of God, and spirituall watchfulnesse; In the feare of the Lord is strong confidence. *Prov. 14.26.Therefore be thou in the feare of the Lord all the day long; All the day of thy life, all thy life long; and labour to keep a constant, spirituall watch over thy heart, over thy whole man and thy whole life.aFollow the counsel that Moses gave to Israel, Deut. 4.9. Take bred to thy self, and keep thy soul with all diligence, &c. Negative Rules.
What I shall say more concerning this subject, I shall conclude in two sorts of rules; the first, Negative, The second, positive; The Negative rules are these.
Peace being spoken to thy soul, take heed of doing any thing that should infring or interrupt it, take heed of returning unto folly; Take heed of relapsing into any sinne; this rule the word prescribes, on this very ground, bPs 85 8. Sin not away thi… blessin… give not r…ines to any lust; keep thy self from the accused … ▪beware therefore of returning unto former, or like offences.
Beware of eating, touching or looking after forbidden fruit; all sinne is forbidden fruit, therefore take heed of it, and the first motions thereunto; Remember Adam and Eve, who were by their externall senses led to eat of that fruit, which God had forbidden them to eat, or to touch, and thereby lost that sweet communion with God, which they had before, and that influence of his grace, which they had and might still have had, had they not eaten of that fruit.
Shun all sinne, hate and abhor all sinne, especially scandalous sinnes; remember Reuben and David; Reuben by one scandalous act, loft his priviledg, and David by one scandalous act lost his evidence.
Take heed of secret sinnes, allow not thy self in, give not way to any secret sinne, for these often interpose between God and the soul, between the Sonne of Righteousnesse, and the soul, and eclyps the light of Gods Countenance, and the bright beames, and ra…es of the Sun of Righteousnesse from us, Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sinnes in the light of thy Countenance, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 90.8. therefore beware of these.
Take heed of sinning against l…ght, against any light▪ naturall, morall, or Divine: Sin not presumptiously.
Take heed of backsliding in heart, in profession or in practise, from the truth of God, or power or form of godlinesse.
Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines, they are very unsetling; But beware lest ye be led away with the error of the wicked, 2 Pet. 3.17.and fall from your own stedfastnesse, as the Scripture speaks.
Take heed of abusing lawfull things, meate, drink, marriage, apparell, Christian liberty, and the like; take heed of abusing any of these, by unlawfull use of them; The Creature, as it is empty of what it promiseth, so it is inticing and insnaring with what it hath, and therefore had need to be warily used, or it may soone be abused, and the abuse of it, grieve the holy Spirit of God, and cause him to suspend his testimony, and God to hide his face from thee.
Take heed of preferring the injoyment of any thing, before the injoyment of God in Christ, and communion with him, or equalizing any thing with it.
Take heed of despising, slighting, neglecting, or formall using of ordinances, or holy duties.
Take heed of melancholly. I mean, that humour which is properly so called;Remember that God never gave any man any qualification, how glorious soever to the end he should glory in it▪ Gods People may often say of their pride, as Ieph… did of … daughter Alas my pri…e, thou hast brought me very low give not way to it, feed not thy self with it.
Take heed of carnal-confidence, Put no confidence in the flesh, nor in any inherent thing; seek not after righteousnesse in thy self, to justifie thy person before God, or build upon.
Take heed of unnecessary diffidence, and f…aggering at the promises of God through unbelief, and neglecting thy watch.
Take heed of spiritual pride; it is an ill flower springing out of a good stemm, it often breeds contention between God and man, and brings men into fits of a spiritual falling sickness, wherein they lye like dead men, and only fome out their own sh…me, therefore beware of it.
Take heed of grieving the holy Spirit of God, Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption; By slighting his testimony, or doing any thing contrary and disagreeing to his will.
Thus much of the first sort of rules▪ which are purely negative, and respect things to be avoided, by him that would keep his evidence: I shall now speak of the 2. sort of rules, which respect things to be done, by those that having attained some good Evidence for Heaven, desire to keep and retain it.
1. If thou wouldest keep thy assurance▪ labour to walk worthy of it, to be thankfull for it, and give God the glory of it; we sorfit many blessings by our ingratitude, and God often takes that from us, the glory of which we do not freely give to him.
2. If thou wouldest still keep thy assurance, walk humbly with God, and walk humbly with man, in the enjoyment of it.
3. If thou wouldst keep thy assurance, labour to follow the counsel of the Apostle, Eph. 4.17. Ye hence forth w…lk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, &c. ye that have obtained of the Lord, such a choise favour as this; ye which know in some measure, what it is to enjoy God, and communion with him;Walk according to the ruls of the Scripture. ye that have some …ssurance of an inheritance that fadeth not away, walk not in the vanity of your minds, nor after the vanities of the world, as others do that n…ver had such a jewell, as this, bestowed upon them. But see that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, as the Scripture directs, E…hes 5 15, 16. labour to walk exactly with God, and exactly with men, and redeem the time by improving of it; Walk worthy of God, as we are bid, 1 Thes, 2.12.
4. If thou wouldest still retain thy Assurance, practice that good thou dost know, be careful of all duty towards God, and towards man, in every relation wherein thou standest, and not only of the matter of duty, but also of the manner of performing it.
5. If thou wouldst still retain thy assurance, take upon thee Christs yoke: follow Christs steps, and labour to walk according to Christs rule in every thing.
Labour to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiels of the Divell: above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, Ephes. 6.10, 11, 16.
7. If thou wouldest still retain thy assurance, study the grounds of thy assurance (viz.) the promises of God: study their freenesse, their latitude, their stability, their Author, and his faithfulnesse, and study thy interest in the promises, and labour to live upon the promises.
8. In the eight place, If thou wouldst still retain thy assurance, rest not satisfied, with any measure of assurance attained, but still la…our to increase thy assurance; count not thy self to have attained, or to have apprehended assurance enough, but forget what is behind, and reach forth to that which is before; follow after more, Presse towards the mark, as the Apostle did, Phil. 3.12, 13, 14. Labour for increase of assurance; Labour for the riches (for all riches) of the full assurance of understanding, as the Scripture speaks *2 Col. 2.Labour to apprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and heighth of the Love of God, and to know the Love of Christ, which passeth knowledg, to be filled with all the fullnesse of God, as the Scripture speaks, Eph. 3.18, 19.
Quest. But you will say, How shall I do this? what may I do to increase my assurance, and better my evidence?
Answ. If thou wouldest increase thy assurance, and better thy evidence, thou must do these eight things.
1. Thou must diligently and conscionably continue to use all those means and ordinances, for the increasing of thy assurance, which thou didst use for the getting of it, and labour to be made better by those meanes thou usest.
2. Labour to grow up into Christ the head, from whom all the body, by joynts and bands, and all our graces by participation of his fulnesse, have nou…ishment ministred unto them, and increase with the increase of God.
Labour to grow in grace daily.3. Dye daily unto sinne, and live unto righteousnesse, Labour to be more like God and Heaven daily, if thou wouldest have more assurance of thy interest in God and Heaven.
4. In the fourth place, if thou wouldest increase thy assurance, stir up the gift of God, that is in thee; exercise and act grace, Labour to grow and increase in grace, to be strong in grace, in all grace; but especially in the grace of faith; He that increaseth knowledg (saith Solomon) increaseth sorrow; so he that increaseth faith increaseth assurance.
5. In the fifth place, If thou wouldest still injoy thy assurance and increase it, then labour to improve the assurance thou hast, be it more or lesse, to the glory of God, thy own and thy brothers good; They that improved their Talents, had a continuance, and an increase of them, whilst h… that improved not his Talent had it taken from him.
6. In the fixth place, If thou wouldest increase thy assurance, diligently follow every good work; Labour to be fruitfull in every good work.
7. Then again,Mat. 25. If thou woulde… increase thy assurance, use well the office, place, calling, and relations, which God hath set thee in; This is the way to attain great boldnesse in the faith, as is easie to be gathered, from the Language of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 3.13.
8. Finally if thou wouldest increase thy assurance, pray for the increase of it; urge God with that general promise, Mat. 25.29. for the obtaining of this particular blessing of increase of assurance.
Thus much for answer to the foresaid query, (viz) what we must do to increase our assurance and better our evidence. I return now to the work in hand, which is to propound more rules to be observed by those, who having attained some good evidence for Heaven, desire to retain it; I have already propounded eight rules, I come new to the ninth.
9. If thou wouldst still retain thy assurance, then labour to keep a holy jealousie over thy self, and over all thy performances, and wayes; holy jealousie is no destroyer, but a nourisher and strengthener of good assurance.
10. If thou wouldest still injoy thy evidence, then labour to profit by all Gods chastisements; God many times deserts his People, and hides his face from them, because they do not profit by lesser Chastisements; he useth greater rods, because lesser will not serve the turn: Labour therefore to discern Gods design in every stroke of his, and to answer Gods ends in every correction.
11. In the next place, If thou wouldest still injoy thy assurance, then call thy selfe often to account, and when thou espiest any failings in thy selfe, speedily humble thy self before the Lord for them, renew Faith and Repentance, seek pardon and reconciliation, apply the Blood of Christ for thy cure, let not Conscience lye under the guilt of any known sinne unrepented of; If our hearts condemne us not, then have we confid…nce towards God, 1 John 3.21. Labour therefore so to try, judge and condemn thy selfe that thy heart may not condemne thee; Labour so to act Repentance upon every occasion, that conscience may not find any guilt unrepented of, to charge thee with; Labour to prevent conscience herein, by doing that thy self now, that it would do hereafter, by being such a self condemning sinner, that thou maiest avoid a self-condemning conscience: He that is not a self condemning sinner here, shall be sure of a self condemning Conscience hereafter; Therefore O Christians! Iudg your selves, that you be not judged of the Lord; condemn your selves, that you be not condemned of conscience (at least not justly.)
12. L…t your Conversation be such, as becometh the Gospell of Christ, in simplicity and godly sincerity: This was ground of confidence and rejoycing to the Apostles, 2 Cor. 1.12. it may be so to thee, nay it will be so to thee, whiles conscience speaks truth.
13. Cast thy self wholly upon the merit of Christ for righteousnesse, to justifie thy person before God.
14. Stand fast in the Lord, labour to keep the faith; Paul saith, I have kept the faith, and hence infers, Henceforth there is laid up for me, a crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. 4.7, 8.
15. Then again, If thou wouldest keep thy Evidence. hold fast (not only) the faith, but also the profession of thy faith, without wavering, as the Author to the Hebrews exhorts all Christians to do, Heb. 10.23.
16. In the next place, If thou wouldest still retain thy assurance, then pray for the continuance of it, and live for the continuance of it; follow the counsell of Christ to his Disciples, watch and pray, that ye enter not into Temptation.
17. Remember that the foundation of God standeth sure, and his gifts of saving grace are without repentance, and his love towards his, Pray that the Spirit of God may still bear witnesse with thy spirit of Gods Love towards them.is an everlasting love.
18. Finally if thou wouldest still retain thy Evidence for Heaven and secure it from danger, from Satan, and all his devices, then intrust Jesus Christ with it who purchased it for thee; he and he only, is able to secure it.
Thus much for the rules to be observed by every one, that having attained some good Evidence for Heaven, desire to preserve and retain it.
Now the Lord of his infinite mercy in Christ, inable me so to follow these rules, and all the rules of his holy Word, that I may never know experimentally, what a deserted condition is, but still enjoy the light of his countenance, and the sence of his Love, and in death triumph over death, in assurance of life and happinesse that shall never end, that Christ may be magnified in me, both in Life and in Death, and of me through all eternity. Amen, Amen.
FINIS.