[David was confessedly and altogether wrong : for the promises which had been made to him were 'personal, and were irrespective of any moral qualities in him : but those which are made to us, pertain to characters only ; and then alone become ours, when we attain the character to wliich the pro- mises are made. For instance : not a promise in the whole book of God belongs to us, till we repent and believe the Gospel : so that, before we can actually apply the promises to ourselves with an assurance of our interest in them, we must inquire whether we have come to God in his appointed way. To expect the accomplishment of them to our souls without this, were presumption : so that, to ascertain the precise qua- lity of our feelings, we must inquire carefully, what is the special ground of our fear. If we are afraid lest God should forget his promises, or leave us to perish, notwithstanding we trust in him, our belief is highly criminal : but, if we doubt whether we have really come to Christ in his appointed way, we may be doing the very thing which our situation most imperiously calls for. " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves "^j" is a divine command: and, till we have an evidence in ourselves that we have fled to Christ for refuge, any confidence of our acceptance with God would be a fatal delusion. The truth is, that men's difficulties on this subject have arisen, in a great degree, from not distin- guishing properly between the graces of faith and hope : faith has respect to the word of promise ; and to be weak in the exercise of it, is highly sinful : but hope has respect to the thing promised ; and that ought to vary according to the evi- dence which there is of our title to it. If, therefore, we would judge how far our state of mind really corresponds with that of David, we must bear in remembrance this necessary distinction, and apply it to our state as occasion may require.]
Let me, then, impress upon your minds these ne- cessary hints:
1. Learn to distinguish between what is good and what is evil, in Christian experience —
[Distinguish carefully between faith and presumption, on the one hand ; and between fear and unbelief, on the other. That which many call faith, is nothing but an unfounded con- fidence of their own acceptance with God : and a greater curse cannot befall us, than the attainment of such a faith as that. On the other hand, that which many call unbelief, is a sense of our liableness to fall and perish : and a greater bless- ing than that cannot be bestowed on any child of man. To
'^ 2 Cor. xiii. 5.
t307.1 THE UNBELIEVING FEARS OF DAVID. 229
all / say, and to all God says, " Be not high-minded, but fear:" for "blessed is the man that feareth always." Of God's power or wiUingness to save you, it is not possible to be too fully assured : but of your own actual acceptance with him, your assurance must be in exact proportion to the evidence of it which is displayed in your life and conver- sation ]
2. Let your anticipations be under the influence
of faith —
[Whatever God has spoken in his word, shall surely come to pass. Now the word of God has said, that " ex- cept a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven :" " Except ye repent, ye shall all perish :" " He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him:" " Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord." Now you may anticipate the salvation of every penitent and believing saint, as surely as if you saw him in heaven; and the damnation of every impenitent and unbe- lieving sinner, as surely as if you saw him already in hell. This, indeed, must be taken into the account, that it is sup- posed they retain their characters ; for otherwise they shall actually change their respective dooms : the man who becomes righteous shall reap the fruit of his righteousness ; and the man who departs from his righteousness, shall perish under an accumulated load of guilt and misery. This is God's own express declaration"^; and his dealings with men in the last day shall be in strict and uniform accordance with it. Our ways may be unequal: but "his are, and shall be equaP."]