Of SIN in BELIEVERS. 41 1.) If any ofyou are out ofthe way upon this account, God will fpeedily let you know it ; for betides thatyou have his promife, that the meek he will guide in judgment, and reach them his way, Pfal. star. 9. he will not let you alwayserr. He will, I fay, not fuffer your nakednefstobe covered with fig-leaves, but take them away and all the peace you have in them, and will not fufferyou to fettle on fuch lees ; you (hall quick- lyknow your wound is not healed. But, 2.) Thiscourfe is commonly taken without waiting.; which is the grace, and that peculiar ailing of faith, which God calls for to be exercifed in fuch a condition. I know God doth fometimes come ejn upon the foul inftantly, in a moment as it were, wounding and healing it; as I ant perfuaded it was in the cafe of David, whenhe cut off the lapof Saul'a garment : but ordinarily in fuch a cafe Godcalls for waiting andla- bouring, attending as the eye ofa fervant upon his matter : lays the prophet !Pia), chap. viii. 17. I will wait upon the Lord, who hidethhis facefrom Jacob. God will have his children lye a whileat his door, when they have run from his houfe, and not in- ¡hotly rails inupon him ; unlefs lie take them by thehand, and pluck them in, when they are fò afhamed that theydarenot come to him. Now felf-healers, or men that (peak peace to themfèlves, do commonly make haft ; they will not tarry : they do not hearken what God fpeaks, but on they will gotobe healed (a). 3.) Such a courfe, though it may quiet the confcience and the mind, the rational concludingpart of the foul, yet it Both not fweetei theheart, with refr and gracious contentation. The anfiver it receives, is much like that Etta gave Naaman, Go in peace (b), it quieted hismind, but I mutt queftionwhether. it fweetned his heart, or gave him any joy in believing, other than the natural joy that was then Itirred in him uponhis healing. Do not my words do oad, faith. the Lord ? Mich. ii. 7. when God fpeaks, there is not only truth in his words, that may anfwer the convf,ion of our underftandings, but alto they do good, they bring that which is fiveet and good and defirable, to the will and affe&tions : by them the foul returns unto its reß, Pfala cxvi. a7. 4.)' Whichisworft ofall ; it amends not the life, it heals not the evil, itcuresnot the diftemper : when God fpeaks peace, it guides and keeps the -foul that it turn not again to folly (c). Whenwe fpeak it our Selves, the heart is not taken off the evil. Nay it is the readieft courfe in the world to bring a foul into a trade of backfliding., Ifupon thyplaiftering thy felt, thou findeß thy fellrather animated to the battei again, than utterly weaned from it, it is too palpable that thou haft been at workwith thine own foul, but Jefus Ghrift and his fpirit were not there. Yea and oftentimes nature having done its work, will e'er a few- days are over, come for its reward; and having been attive in the work of healing, willbe ready to reafon for a new wounding. In God's fpeakingpeace there comes along fomuch fiveernefs, and fucha difcovery of his loveas is a ftrong obligation on the foul, no more to deal perverfely (d). 3. We fpeak peace to our felves, when we do it !lightly. This the prophet com- plains'of in fume teachers, jar. vi. 14. They have healed the wound of the daughter ofmy people Jlighrly. And it isfo withTome perfons, they make the healing of their wounds a flight work, a look, á: glance offaith to the promifes doesit, and fo thematter is end- ed. Theapoftletelis us, that the word did not profit Tome, becaufe ir was notmixed with.fait , Heb. iv. 2. µá vvyxectaptios, it mu not well tempered and mingled with faith. Itis not a meer look to the word ofmercy in thepromife, but it mull bemingled with faith, until it isincorporated into the very nature ofit; andthen indeed it doth good untothe foul : ifthou haft had a wound upon thy. confcience, which wasattended with weaknefs and difquietnefs, which now thou art freed of, howcameßthou fo? I look- ed to the promifesof pardon and healing, and fo found peace : yea but perhaps thou haft made too muchhail, thou haft doneit overtly,. thou haft notfed upon thepromife, fo as tomix it with faith, tohave got all the virtue of it diffufed into thy foul ; only thou haftdone it flightlyi ; thou wilt find thy wounde'er it be long. breaking outagain, and thouflak knowthat thou art not cured. 4. Whoever fpeakspeace tohimfelf uponone account, and at the fame time bath another evil of no lets importance lying upon his fpirit, about which he huh had no dealing with God, that man cries peace when there is none. A little to explainmy meaning : aman bathnegleiked a duty againand again ; perhaps whet, in all righteouf- (a) Pfal. xxviü. r6. (b) Aings v. s9. (a) Pfal. lusan. 8. (d) Luk. xxii. 32. M nets
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