in whom also, after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,' Eph. i. 1 3. So Micah : ' Rejoice not against me, O my enemy : for when I shall fall, I shall rise ; when I shall sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, be- cause I have sinned,' &c., or, 'the sad countenance of God,' as the Hebrew hath it, Micah vii. 8, 9. This soul had no assurance, for he sits in darkness, and was under the sad countenance of God; and yet had strong faith, as appears in those words, ' When I fall, I shall rise ; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.' He will bring me forth to the Light, and I shall behold his righteousness. And let this suffice for the first answer.1
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That God in the Scripture doth define faith otherwise. God defines faith to be a receiving of Christ — 'As many as received him, to them he gave this privilege, to be the sons of God,* John i. 12. 'To as many as believed on his name,' Acts xi. 23 — to be a cleaving of the soul unto God, though no joy, but afflictions, attend the soul. Yea, the Lord defines faith to be a coming to God in Christ, and often to a resting and staying, rolling of the soul upon Christ. It is safest and sweetest to define as God defines, both vices and graces. This is the only way to settle the soul, and to secure it against the wiles of men and devils, who labour, by false definitions of grace, to keep pre- cious souls in a doubting, staggering, and languishing condition, and so make their lives a burden, a hell, unto, them.2
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seri- ously to consider this, That there may be true faith where there is much doublings. Witness those frequent sayings of Christ to his disciples, ' Why are ye afraid, O ye of little faith ?'3 Persons may be truly be- lieving who nevertheless are sometimes doubting. In the same persons that the fore-mentioned scriptures speak of, you may see their faith com- mended and their doubts condemned, which doth necessarily suppose a presence of both.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That assurance is an effect of faith; therefore it cannot be faith. The cause cannot be the effect, nor the root the fruit. As the effect flows from the cause, the fruit from the root, the stream from the fountain, so doth assurance flow from faith. This truth I shall make good thus :
The assurance of our salvation and pardon of sin doth primarily arise from the witness of the Spirit of God that we are the children of God, Eph. i. 13 ; and the Spirit never witnesseth this till we are believers : ' For we are sons by faith in Christ Jesus,' Gal. iv. 6. Therefore assur- ance is not faith, but follows it, as the effect follows the cause.
Again, no man can be assured and persuaded of his salvation till he be united to Christ, till he be ingrafted into Christ ; and a man cannot be ingrafted into Christ till he hath faith. He must first be ingrafted into Christ by faith before he can have assurance of his salvation ; which doth clearly evidence, that assurance is not faith, but an effect and fruit of faith, &c.
1 So those in Isa. 1. 10 had faith, though they had no assurance.
4 Mat. xi. 23, John vi. 37, Heb. vii. 25, 26. 3 Mat. vi. 30, xiv. 31, xvi. 8 ; Luke xii. 28.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 97
Again, faith cannot be lost, but assurance may ; therefore assurance is not faith.1 Though assurance be a precious flower in the garden of a saint, and is more infinitely sweet and delightful to the soul than all outward comforts and contents ; yet it is but a flower that is subject to fade, and to lose its freshness and beauty, as saints by sad experience find, &c.
Again, a man must first have faith before he can have assurance, therefore assurance is not faith. And that a man must first have faith before he can have assurance, is clear by this, a man must first be saved before he can be assured of his salvation ; for he cannot be assured of that which is not. And a man must first have a saving faith before he can be saved by faith, for he cannot be saved by that which he hath not ; therefore a man must first have faith before he can have assur- ance, and so it roundly follows that assurance is not faith, &c.2
The third device that Satan hath to keep the soul in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is,
Device (3). By vjorking the soul to make false inferences from the cross actings of Providence. Saith Satan, Dost thou not see how Providence crosses thy prayers, and crosses thy desires, thy tears, thy hopes, thy endeavours ?3 Surely if his love were towards thee, if his soul did delight and take pleasure in thee, he would not deal thus with thee, &c.
Now, the remedies against this device are these :
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That many things may be cross to our desires that are not cross to our good. Abraham, Jacob, David, Job, Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah, Paul, &c, met with many things that were contrary to their desires and endeavours, that were not contrary to their good ; as all know that have wisely compared their desires, and endeavours and God's 'actings together. Physic often works contrary to the patients' desires, when it doth not work contrary to their good.
I remember a story of a godly man, who had a great desire to go to France, and as he was going to take shipping he broke his leg ; and it pleased Providence so to order it, that the ship that he should have gone in at that very same time was cast away, and not a man saved ; and so by breaking a bone his life was saved. Though Providence did work cross to his desire, yet it did not work cross to his good, &c.4
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That the hand of God may be against a mam, when the love and heart of God is much set upon a man. No man can conclude how the heart of God stands by his hand. The hand of God was against Ephraim, and yet his love, his heart, was dearly set upon Ephraim : ' I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus : Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed
1 Ps. li. 12, xxx. 6, 7 ; Cant. v. 6 ; Isa. viii. 17.
2 There is many thousand precious souls, of whom this world is not worthy, that have the faith of reliance, and yet want assurance and the effects of it ; as high joy, glorious peace, and vehement longings after the coming of Christ.
3 Ps. lxxvii. 7, et seq., xxxi. 1, ult., lxxiii. 2, 23.
4 The Circumcellians heing not aide to withstand the preaching and writing of Augus- tine, sought his destruction, having beset the way he was to go to his visitation, but by God's providence he, missing his way, escaped the danger. [See ante, Conf. — G.]
98 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.