~;rpcrtcnccs. Chap 6.Sea~4- --~------------~ - - - -·Jcrcm.t 5. u5. 2. If it hath been obtained after much prayer,this was a true Experienc; 1 S.m1. '· ' For the [econd, obferve. I. If thy former Expn·ienccs have incrrafcd lively hope in thee, it is a fignethey have been true, Rom. 5· +· 2. lfthy ExperiC>,ces hare mcrcafCd thy faith and confidence m God, they were true Experiences, Pfal. 27. z, 3 . 3. If after an Experience ofthe goodnelfe of God towards thee, thou fcelefl thy heart warmed with more love to God, and thy fclf more quickened to an holy and clofe coo. vcrfation, this looks like a Da'Uids Experience, Pfalm. 116. 1, y, 12, J+, 18. 0 but (crycs the foul) I have had, I fuppofe, many of thefc Experiences, but no comfort as ytt. Thus Da-oid after the remembrance ofhis fangs in che night, left his foul ll:ill in doubt; and he goes on to fay, Will the Lord cajl off jar cwr? and J>i/1 he be Ff.<ms 77 • 7 f'•vo!Jrable iJo more? In this cafe it is the duty of Chrifl:ians,to call to minde their former Experiences of Faith and 'joy again and again ; for though they comfort not at one time, yet they may at another. Have we found a Promife (which is a bre..floJCon– fol<~tion) milklelfe? y~t again fuck; Comfort may come in the end : If after we have impanell"d a Jury and Grand Inquefl: to fearch, and our firll Verdift condemns, or they bring in an lgnura1m"; yet do, as wife Judges often do, fend them about 1t again, they may finde it the next time: Jonah look"d once, it feems, and found no comfort, for he faid, I will loo"-._ again towards thine holy Te,ple: So fome have look"d over their hearts by fignes at one time, and have to their thinking found nothing but Hypocryfie, Unbclicf, Hardnefs, Sc!f.feeking, c;-c. but not long after, examining their hearts again by the fame figns, they have- efpyed the Image of God drawn fairly upon the Tables of their hearts, and fo found a world of comfort. 0 but (cryes the foul!) I have to!fed and wmbled over my heart; I have {Mrched into the Rrg£jhrs and Records of G'ods dealin...f!,s, and me think.,.r, 1 can Ctllt nothing into remem– brance betwixt God and me: \Vhat, nothing? look again: Did God never fpeak peace to our hearts? Did Chriil never lhed his love abroad into our fouls? Have we ' at no time found in our heart pure fl:reins of love to Chrill ; Pure drops' of godly for– row for offending Chri(r? Have we never an old tryed Evidence, which hath been ac– knowledged and confirmed again and again in open Court? What not one? Surely, if we can now eaU to mind but oue, if in truth, it may fupport us: If one promife do be· long to us, all do : for every one conveyes whole Chrifl, in whom all the Promifes are made, and who is the matter of them : As in the Sacrament, :he Bread conveycs whole Chrift, and the wine conveys whole Chrill: : fo in the Word, every promife conveys whole Chrilt: if we can but fay as the Church of Ephejics, This tlnng I have, thatlhate fin: we may pleadthis to God,yeathough it be in Iclfer degree, ifin truth and fincerity (fee in the duty of Self-tryal) if it be true gold, though never fo little ofit, it \vill palfe current with him : He will not quench thefmoa"J>l[ flax, though it be but a finoake, not a flame; though it be but as a weckjn 'theJocker, (as it is in the Original) likeli er to dye and go out thanto continue, which we ufc to throw away, yet he will nottpeench it, but accept it. 0 let m comfort our felves with thefe words ! 0 bm (cryes the foul again! ) I have f earched all crevifes f orlight, bur' alas, I can– not fee the leafl beam ofit : What help noll' remains? If it be thus, poor foul, Be not faithlejfe, but believing. Chrifl helps fome to live above glorious Manifefl:ations; feme– rimes in abfence of thefe Manifcl!ations,juft ones may live, and rejoyce ih-the invifible Elfence of God : Cluiftians may live waiting on God, when his face is wholly hid froll) them; or Chrifl:ians may live depending on God, when all other fubordinate /lays or helps are loll: : In fuch a foul there may be this refolution, Let God do what he will with me, rle hang on him fl:ill, ThoHgh he kill me, yet will I trujl in him, and there is comfort in this. , ., If fo (faith the foul) then what need ofE.qc,.ienccs, fa lo»g as JIJtt'Ue the Promifes 1 anJ may live by Faith? 0 but for all this, be not carelefl"e of Experiences: for 1 . It 1.s the goodnclfe ofGod, that be/ides the promifes of good things to come, he is pleafed to give us fame prefent evidence and tafl:e of what we believe: This heightens his mcrcr, that bcfidcs Faith, he lhould train up his children by daily renewed Experiences of hts fatherly care. 2. Though it be one thing to live by Faith, another thing to live by fight, yet the more we fee, and feel, and tafl:e of God, the more we !hall be lead to . relye on him, for that which is yet we neither fee nor feel; This is the very meamng of God, th;lt by that which we f.cel, we 1night be frrcngth'ned in that we look for. T · SEC '
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