180 VireE ionsforgetting and keeping' have Grace before we can Knowwe have it, fo or- dinarilywe muff have a goodmeafure of Grace be. fore we can fo clearly difcern it as to be certainof it. Small things, I have told you are next to none, and hardlydifcernable by weak eyes. When all wayes in the world are tried, it will he found that there is no way fo lure for a doubting foul tobe made ca. t in,of the truth of his Graces, as to keep them in Action, and get them increafed. And it will be found that there is no one caufe ofChriflians doubt. ingofthe truth of their Faith, Love , Hope Reo pentance, Humility , &c. fo great or fo com- mon as rife final! degree of there Graces. Doth not the very language of complaining Chrifians thew this ? One faith, I have no faith : I cannot believe : I have no love toGod : I have no delight in duty : Another faith , I cannot mourn for fin : my heart was never broken : I cannot patient- ly bear an injury :1 have no courage in oppofing fin, &c. If all thefe were not in a low and weak degree, men could not fo ordinarily think they had none. A lively, flrong, working Faith, Love zeal Courage, &c. would Phew them- felves, as do the higheft Towers, the greateftmoun- tains, the ftrongeft windes, the greateft flames, which will force an obfervance by their greatnefs and effe&s. ç. Confider alto that it is more plea - fing to God to fee his people Rudy him and his wilt directly; then to fpend the firft and chiefeft of their ffudies about the attaining of comforts to them - felves. 5. And it is the nature of Grace to tend firft and chiefly toward God ;, and but feconda- rily to be the evidence ofour own happinefs. We have
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=