YeR. 5.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 187
unjust gain. This, for a fit and in some distemper, may be incident to God's children.
3. The last thing in the method proposed is the cure of unbelief. God by his mighty power can only cure it, Eph. i. 19 ; but the means which we must use may be reduced to two heads — 1. Cautions ; 2. Directions.
[1.] Cautions. (1.) Take heed of setting God a task : Ps. Ixxviii. 19, 20, ' Can the Lord prepare a table in the wilderness ? ' &c. So Mat. xxvii. 40, ' If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.' This is to go be3"ond the promise, and to indent with God upon conditions of our own making. So Mat. iv., ' If thou be the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.' So when we prescribe to God, in matter of allowance ; we would have God maintain us at such a rate ; be so fed, so clothed, have so mucli by the year, such portions for our children : ' He that will be rich,' &c., 1 Tim. vi. 9. God never undertook to give us meat for our lusts. When we subject his providence to our direction, and prescribe what he shall do for our satisfaction, we do but make a snare for ourselves. (2.) Take heed of betraying faith by distrusting present means ; it is a usual thing : Luke xvi. 30, ' If one came from the dead they would believe.' If we had oracles or miracles, or God did speak to us from heaven as heretofore, then we should not falter in our trust as we now do ; but by this excuse you impeach the scriptures. Moses and the prophets are a sufficient ground for faith, and extraordinary means will not work on them upon whom ordinary do not prevail. There were weaknesses then, and so there will be ; whatsoever dispensation God may use, man is man still : ' They believed not though he opened the clouds, and commanded manna from heaven,' Ps. Ixxviii. 23. (3.) Take heed of ifs in prin- ciples of faith. Foundation-stones if laid loose endanger the whole building ; take notice of the first hesitancy : Gen. iii., ' Yea, hath God satd ? ' So Mat. iv. 3. ' If thou be the Son of God,' &c. There was a plain oracle from heaven determining it a little before, ' Thou art my beloved Son,' but the devil would fain draw it to an if. (4.) Beware of sin. Doubts are the fumes of sin, like the vapours that come from a foul stomach : uprightness begetteth serenity and clear- ness. As in nature there is often a KVKXoyevvrjafi, a circular generation, vapours beget showers, and showers beget vapours ; so in moral and spiritual things there is such a circular generation ; unbelief maketh way for sin, and sin for unbelief. Sin will weaken trust, it cannot be otherwise ; shame, and horror, and doubt, these are the consequences of sin. God never undertook to bear us out in the devil's work.
[2.] Directions. (1.) Strengthen your assent to the word of God. Fire if well kindled will of itself burst out iuto a flame ; so assurance and comfort would more easily follow if there were a thorough and un- doubted assent to the truths of the word. We take them up hand over head, and then when a temptation cometh, no wonder that the building tottereth when the foundation is so weak. There are several degrees of assent: conjecture, which is but a lighter inclination of the mind to that which is probable ; opinion, which is a stronger inclina- tion to think that which is represented is true. But there is formido oppositi ; it is mixed with hesitancy and doubts, oXcyoTrcaria, we;ik
188 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 5.
faith, or firm adherence upon sufficient conviction ; yet doubts may arise, and in time of temptation this degree of assent may be over- borne. But above this there is a thorough certainty or ' assurance of understanding,' Col. ii. 2. We should never cease till we come to this. It is a great mistake to think that we need not look after the settling of our assent to the truths of the word, but take these for supposed ; but in an hour of temptation we are made sensible of our folly herein ; and if I am not mistaken, much of our careless- ness and unsettledness of life doth proceed from thence. (2.) In settling assent, begin with natural principles, and then go on to those which are spiritual and mystical, — as God's being, and God's bounty in the 3verlasting rewards, Heb. xi. 6 ; the necessity of purity and holiness, Heb. xii. 14 ; the fall and misery of the creature ; and then our re- demption by Christ, &c. 1 observe the apostles, when they came to gain men to faith, began with truths suited to their capacity and pre- sent understanding. With the vulgar they evince creation and provi- dence, by arguments taken from showers of rain and the courses of nature, Acts xiv. 16, 17. With the philosophers they urge the notions of a first cause and a first mover, and those inclinations in nature towards an eternal good, Acts xvii. (3.) Urge your hearts with the truths you assent to, and work them upon your affections, Rom. viii. 31 ; Heb. ii. 3 ; and Job v. 27. (4.) Observe the disproportion ot your respects to things present and things to come. If the judg- ment-seat were fixed and the books opened, how would natural men tremble? Now faith should make it as present, Heb. xi. 1. The apostle saith, ' I saw the dead, small and great, stand before the Lord,' &c., Rev. XX. 12. Faith, which is ' the evidence of things not seen,' should see it as if it were in being. The light of faith differeth not from the light of prophecy in regard of the certainty of the thing which is to come, or the assured expectation of it. The light of pro- phecy requireth a special revelation, and differeth in degree from the light or sight of faith, as it causeth rapture and ecstatic motions ; but as to the seeing of things to come with certainty, there they agree. Well, then, if you would discern the strength or weakness of your faith, observe how differently you are affected with what is jjresent and what is future ; so also how differently you are affected with things visible and things invisible, with things temporal and eternal. If upon easy terms you might have a good bargain for lands and riches, how readily would men embrace the offer ? For temporal profit what pains will they take ? But now in things of soul concernment we are not alike affected, which is an argument we do not believe them. In all cases it is good to put spiritual things in a parallel with temporal instances. We are taught that wisdom : Mai. i. 8, ' Offer it now to the governor,' &c. Would we do thus to an earthly potentate as we do to God ? If an able potent friend promise help in troubles, how are we cheered with it ? If God promise the same things we are little comforted. If every offence that we commit were liable to the notice of man, and our punishment should be to hold our hand in scalding lead for half an hour, men would be more afraid to offend than now they are in the sight of God, who knoweth all their thoughts, and hath threatened eternal torment. If the tastins: of such a meat would