SPIRITUAL PEACE AND .COMFORT. - 325 God's wrath, ' Thou needst not fear if thou ha.dst not sinned.' But when he hath once, by sin, obscured his evidences, and necessitated doubting, then is fear, and sorrow, and praying for justification and pardon, his duty, and indeed not fitly to be called sin, but rather a fruit of sin, in-one respect, (and so bath some participation in it,) but a fruit of the Spirit, and of Christ's command in another re- spect, and so a necessary duty. For else we should say, that it is a sin to repent and believe inChrist, and to love him as dur Re- deemer; for you may say to any sinner, 'Thou needst not to have repented, believed in a Redeemer, &c., but for thy sin;' yet I hope none will say, that so doing is properly a sin, though doing them defectively is, God doth not will and approve of it, that any soul that can see no signs of grace and sincerityin itself should yet be as confident, and merryt and careless, as if they were certain that all were well. God would not have men doubt of his love, and yet make light of it. This is a contempt of him. Else what should poor, carnal sinners do that find themselves unsanctified? No, nor doth God expect that any man should judge of himself better than he bath evidence to warrant such a judgment. But that everyman should " prove his own work, that so he may have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For he that think- eth he is something when he is nothing, deceiveth himself;" Gal. vi. 3-6. And no man should be a self -deceiver, especially in a case of such inexpressible consequence. It is therefore a most desperate doctrine of the Antinomians, (as most oftheirs are,) that all men ought to believe God's special love to them, and their own justification, And that they are justified by believing that they were justified before, and that no man ought to question his faith, (saith Saltmarsh, any more than to question Christ.) And that all ears of our damnation, or not being justified after this believing, are sin ; and those that persuade to them, are preachersof the law. (How punctually do the most profane, ungodly people hold most points of the Antinomian belief, though they never knew that sect by name ?) God commandeth no man to believe more than is true, nor immediately to cast away their doubts and fears, but to over- come them in an orderly, methodical way ; that is, using God's means till their graces become more discernible, and their under- standings more clear and fit to discern them, that so we may have assurance of their sincerity, and thereby of our justification, adop- tion, and right to glorification. " Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left of entering into his rest any of us should seem to come short of it ; " Heb. iv. 1. " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoicebefore him w trembling; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish ; " Psal. ü. 11. " Work out your salvation with fear and trembling;" Phil. ii. 12. Not only, 1. A reverent fear
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