' Mark, you cannot despise the gifts or graces of any that are sincere, but by interpreta- tion you judge the Spirit, and despise the Spirit, as it is said of the poor in I'rov. xvii. 6.
Chap. L] a cabinet of jewels. 285
their conditions, do begin to question their own estates and conditions; yea, and many times peremptorily to conclude that surely they have no grace, they have no interest in Christ, and that all this while they have but put a cheat upon their own souls.
Now, oh that all poor, weak, dark, doubting Christians would never leave praying over these eight things, and pondering upon these eight things, till they are perfectly cured of that spiritual malady that they have been long labouring under, and which has been very prejudicial to the peace and comfort of their own souls.
Dear hearts, a gracious soul may safely, boldly, constantly, and groundedly say that which the word of the Lord saith. Now, the word of the Lord saith, that ' the poor in spirit are blessed, and that tljey that mourn are blessed, and that they that hunger and thirst after righteous- ness are blessed, and that they that are pure in heai't are blessed,' Mat. v. 3, 4, 6, 8, and therefore he is blessed. And assuredly he that cannot embrace and seal to these as true and blessed evidences of a safe and happy condition, is greatly to lament and mourn over his unbelief, and earnestly to seek the Lord to persuade his heart and to satisfy and over- power his soul in this thing, as the poor man in the Gospel did : Mark ix. 21, ' And straightway the father of the child cried out with tears, Lord, I believe ; help my unbelief
O sirs ! the condition of the promises last cited being fulfilled, the promises themselves must certainly and infallibly be fulfilled, else the great and blessed God should lie, be unrighteous, unfaithful, and deny himself ;^ which is as impossible as for God to die, or to send another Saviour, or to give his glory to graven images. Assuredly the too hard, the too harsh, the too severe, the too jealous thoughts and conjectures, and the too humble, if I may so speak, censures and surmises that many weak, doubting Christians have of themselves, or of the goodness or graciousness of their estates, by reason of the weakness of their graces, or depth of melancholy, or the present prevalency of some unmortified lusts, or the subtilty of Satan, shall never make void the faithfulness of God, or the promises of God, which in Christ Jesus are all yea and amen, 2 Cor. i. 20. Doubtless God will never shut any poor, weak, doubting Christian out of heaven, because through bashfulness, or an excess of modesty, or the present darkness that is upon his understanding, or through the ungroundedness of some strong fears of an eternal mis- carriage, he cannot entertain such good thoughts, such honest thoughts, such gracious thoughts of himself, or of the goodness or happiness of his condition, as he should entertain, and as he would entertain, if once he could but be too hard for the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Oh that you would remember this for ever, viz., that the Lord never makes any promises to support, comfort, cheer, and encourage his people against their sadness, darkness, doubts, and droopings, but they shall support, comfort, cheer, and encourage his poor people in that condition ; fur otherwise the Lord should provide means for an end, out of his infinite wisdom, love, and tender care and compassion towards his people, and yet they should never attain that end. But thus to imagine is no small folly ; yea, it is little less than blasphemy. Well, sirs ! this is to be for ever remembered, viz., that whatsoever gift or grace of God in ' Joshua xxi. 45, xxiii. 14, 15 ; 1 John v. 10-12.
286 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. I
man brings him within the compass of God's promises of eternal favours and mercies, that gift, that grace, must needs be an infallible sign or evidence of salvation. But such are the gifts and graces specified in the fifteen particulars but now cited, and therefore that soul that really finds those gifts and graces in himself, or- any of them, shall certainly be saved. But,
The ninth raaxvm or consideration.
IX. Ninthly, Consider this, That in divers men there are divers de- grees of assurance, and in one and the same gracious soul there are different degrees of assurance oi divers times, hut there is in no man at any time in this life perfection of degrees ; for our understanding and hioiuledge in this life is imperfect both as to the faculty and its acts. 1 Cor. xiii. 12, ' For now we see through a glass darkly (Gr., in a riddle), but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even^ as also I am known.' A clear, distinct, immediate, full, and perfect knowledge of God is desirable on earth, but we shall never attain to it till we come to heaven. This well is deep, and for the most part we want a bucket to draw withal. The best of men can better tell what God is not than what he is; the most acute and judicious in divine knowledge have and must acknowledge their ignorance. Witness that great apostle Paul, who learned his divinity among the angels, and had the Holy Ghost for his immediate tutor, yet he confesses that he knew but in part. Certainly there is no man under heaven that hath such a perfect, complete, and full assurance of his salvation, in an ordinary way, as that one degree cannot be added to the former. Neither is there any repugnancy in asserting an infallible assurance and denying a per- fect assurance ; for I infallibly know that there is a God, and that this God is holy, just, and true, and yet I have no perfect knowledge of a deity, nor of the holiness, justice, and truth of God, for in this life the most knowing man knows but in part. Dear friends ! in the church of Christ there are believers of several growths : there are fathers, young men, children, and babes, I John i. 13, 14 ; 1 Peter ii. 2. And as in most families there are commonly more children and babes than grown men, so in the church of .Christ there are commonly more weak, stag- gering, doubting Christians than there are strong ones, grown up to a full assurance. Some think that as soon as they be assured, they must needs be void of all fears, and filled with all joy in believing, but this is a real mistake ; for glorious and ravishing joy is a separable accident from assurance ; nor yet doth assurance exclude all doubts and fears, but only such doubts and fears as ariseth from infidelity and reigning hypocrisy. But, " The tenth maxim or consideration. X. Tenthly, Consider, We have no ground from Scripture to expect that God should, either hy a voice from heaven, or by sending an angel from about his throne, or by any gloHous apparitions or strong impressions, ot hy any extraordinary way of revelations, assu7'e ua that we do believe, or that our grace is time, or that our interest in God and Christ is certain, or that our pardon is sealed in heaven, or