thou dost; hast thou had no vision, not extraordinary, of an angel, or inunediato revelation, but ordinary, of the Spirit of God, I mean, in his Avord and ordi- nances, encouraging thee from those characters which are in the Scripture given of faith, and the conformity thy f lith hath to them, to take and own thy faith, as that which is conceived in thee by the Holy Gliost, and not a brat formed by the delusion of Satan in the womb of thy own groundless imagination? If so, be afraid of bearing false witness against the grace of God in thee. As there is that makes himself rich in faith, tliat hath nothing of this grace, so there is that maketh himself poor, that hath great store of this riches. Let us therefore hear what are the grounds of this thy suspicion, that we may see whether thy fears or thy faith be imaginary and false.
Object. First, Saith the poor soul, I am afraid I have no true faith, because I have not those joys and consolations which others have who believe. Ans. First, Thou mayest have inward peace, though not joy ; the day may be still and calm, though not glorious and sunshine; though the Comforter be not come with his ravishing consolation, yet he may have hushed the storm of thy troubled spirit ; and true peace as well as joy is the consequent of faith un- feigned. Secondly, Suppose thou hast not yet attained so much as to this inward peace, yet know thou hast no reason to question the truth of thy faith for want of this. We have peace with God as soon as we believe, but not always with ourselves. The pardon may be passed the prince's hand and seal, and yet not put into the prisoner's hand. Thou thinkest them too rash, dost not, who judged Paul a mui'derer by the viper that fastened on his hand ? And what art thou, who condenmest thyself for an unbeliever, because of those troubles and inward agonies which may fasten for a time on the spirit of the most gracious child God hath on earth ?
Object. Secondly, But can there be any true f\uth where there is so much doubting as I find in mj^self? Ans. There is a doubting which the Scripture opposeth to the least degree of faith. Our blessed Saviour tells them what wonders they shall do if they believe and doubt not, Matt. xxi. 21 ; and Luke xvii. 6, he tells his disciples, ' if they have faith as a gl'ain of mustard-seed,' they shall do as much. That which is a faith without doubting in Matthew is faith as a grain of mustard-seed in Luke. But again, there is a doubting which the Scripture opposeth not to the truth of faith, but the strength of faith : Matt. xiv. 31, *0 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?' They are the words of Christ to sinking Peter, in which he so chides his doubting, as yet to acknowledge the truth of his faith, though weak. All doubting is evil in its nature ; yet some doubting, though evil in itself, doth evidence some grace that is good to be in the person so doubting ; as smoke proves some fire, and peevishness and pettishness in a sick person, that before lay senseless, is a good sign of some mending, though itself a thing bad enough. But the thing here desirable, I conceive, would be to give some help to the doubting soul, that he may know what his doubting is symptomatical of, whether of true faith, though weak, or of jio faith. Now for this I shall lay down four cha- racters of those doubtings which accompany true faith.
First, The doubtings of a true believer are attended with much shame and sorrow of spirit, even for these doubtings. I appeal to thy conscience, poor doubting soul, whether the consideration of this one sin doth not cost thee many a salt tear, and heavy sigh, which others know not of? Now I pray from whence come these ? Will unbelief mourn for imbelief ? or sin put itself to shame ? No sure, it shews there is a principle of faith in the soul, that takes God's part, and cannot see his promises and name wronged by unbelief with- out protesting against it, and mourning under it, though the hands of this grace be too weak at present to drive the enemy out of the soul. Dent. xxii. 27, the law cleared the damsel that ' cried out in the field ;' and so will the gospel thee, who sincerely moiu-nest for thy unbelief. That holy man, whoever he was, Psa. Ixxvii., was far gone in this doubting disease. How many times do we find his unbelief putting the mercy and faithfulness of God (which should be beyond all dispute in our hearts) to the question and dubious vote in his dis- tempered soul ! He might with as nuich reason have asked his soul whether there was a CJod, as whether his mercy was clean gone, and his promise fail'; yet so far did his fears in tliis hurry carry him aside ; but at last you have
47'2 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH.