- ' Thegreat ExaltersofGrace.:;; _ 1 ~h: about the impojfibi!ityof11ny certainty We can have ofthe trmb of grace in our {elve'.r, 'Without divine revelation; which the Papifts grant ha-th been vouchfafed eo fome few, as Paul and ' ' others: for the truth is, to ~eep the' godly alwayes.puzling . and tyring themfelves about the danger of hypocrifie; and .withall to add, that they can never come eo any alfurance of . the truth ofgrace in the.mfelves, is to detain them in ·awan– dring wildernetfe,. is eo put in vexing ingredients, that the wonnd may never be curedt ·is as vain in Divinity, ~s thofe in Alchymy wh') fpend their labour and efiatcs to finde the lllJifofophers llone: When Chrill was rifen,it was a vain thing to feek for him·in the (epulcher,and conftan 1 dy toabide ther~. · To teach them, that there can be no certainty ofour being in the fiace of grace: to nourifh thefe doubcs ·and fears, as the proper elfed of humility, is indeed to teach men with briars and thorns_,,as they did the men ofSuccoth . .But. no wonder the Pt.pifts teach fuch uncomfortllble doctrine, for thereby tfucy inhance their own Church-commodities as,excellent re• ceipts; ,doing bereia like fome beggers, that will alwayes · keep their wounds raw, that fo theymay partake ofgreater almcs. 2~ The people ofG(jd are to /Je inftruaed in the ~n(earcbable• ' ~ nejfeoftheir errors, Without any pre;udice to aGejpei-life, ifthey /oak._upon this duty only M the preparative, .u the Way, not tU the end or the center. Certainly c'hofe Chrifiians wrong tbem– feh·es and the grace of God,who arc only in examination, in– tending no funher work,· but alwayes exerciling thcmfelveg herein : No, David diQ otherwifc, he groaneti:t under his corrupt ion, hut thenfl ieth eo grace as a fure refuge. So Paul ~oth lament and b(wail that bw of linne within him, yet runneth unto cbe grace ofGod in Chrifi. That which the godly !hou!J aim ar, is, firft to /ee they arc prepared and qua– lified 'With tbe trHth ofgrace, and this foundacion beingbid, t he'n the ren of theil' fiudy and affed iom is to be drawn out v ' . about C, hrirt. John the bel oved of Chri l.l:, ,who is fo much affected with Gods love, yet he giveth feverall charaClers,by which we may know when we are of God: We are to feek for a reH to our fouls, and that cannot be from the graces · A a within
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