Chapter IV
How Satan and our hearts increase this darkness
l>y false conclusions from the Spirit s ivor/c, illustrated by the like in the illumination of tem
poraries. The Spirit s work in both compared.
AND now the Spirit of God having proceeded thus far himself in causing such darkness and terrors of conscience in them that fear him; Satan and
their own hearts, unto which he may and doth often further also leave them, may take occasion from these dispensations of the Holy Ghost, which are
all holy, righteous, and true, to draw forth false and fearful conclusions
against themselves and their estates, and start amazing doubts and fears of
their utter want of grace, and lying under the curse and threatenings of eter
nal wrath at the present, yea, and further, of eternal rejection for the future, and that God will never be merciful ; and so lay them lower, and cast them
into a further darkness and bondage than the Holy Ghost was cause of, or intended : misinterpreting and perverting all these his righteous proceed
ings, as interpreting that withdrawing his light and presence, and hiding
himself, to be a casting them off, (thus Heman, Ps. Ixxxviii 14;) so, like
wise, misconstruing that temporary wrath, chastising and wounding their
spirits for the present, to be no other than the impressions and earnest of God s eternal vengeance ; and arguing, from their being under wrath, them
selves to be children of wrath ; and misapplying the application of all those
threatenings of eternal damnation made by the Spirit, but in relation and under a condition of such and such courses for the future, to be absolute
against their persons, and to speak their present estate. And because such
examples of men cast off are presented to them, to shew them what advan
tage God might take against them ; they, mistaking, think they read their own destiny laid before them in them, and conclude that God will deal so with them. And thus the Apostle says of sin, Rom. vii. 11, that sin takingoccasion by the commandment, he misunderstanding the scope of it when a Pharisee,
* it deceived him, and therefore slew him ; and yet the com mandment is holy, just, and good, ver. 12. So Satan and our hearts, by occasion of these dealings of the Spirit, which are righteous and true, as himself is, who is the Spirit of truth and leads into truth, do deceive be
l among the slain, whom God remembereth no more, as Heman speaks, Ps. Ixxxviii. 5. And as in these, so in other works and dispensations of God s Spirit, it is
lievers, and lay them in their apprehensions
ordinary for Satan and our hearts to practise the like delusions and false
conclusions upon them. To instance in those more common and inferior works of the Spirit on the hearts of men, not as yet savingly regenerated :
the Spirit enlightening them, together with impressions of joy, and a taste of sweetness in the promises of the gospel, and of salvation revealed therein, which, under a condition of true repentance and conversion, the Spirit of
CHAP. IV.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 247
God doth make the offer and tender of known unto their hearts. Thus he
wrought upon the stony ground, and in the Jews by John s ministry, John
v. 35 ; which light, and taste, and revelation of this conditional proffer, tending in a way unto salvation, by alluring their hearts to seek it, they often through Satan s abuse of this good work, and the self-flattery of their own hearts, do
too hastily take to be that grace which accompanies salvation, (exppsva rr,s
GM77ioia$,) or which hath salvation annexed to it ; from which the Apostle, by that Very expression, Heb. vi. 9, doth difference those enlightenings men
tioned ver. 4. They thus mistaking these works precursory to grace, even
as the Jews mistook John, that was sent but before to prepare the way for
Christ, to be that very true Christ that was to come into the world, and
misunderstanding the intendment of God s most blessed Spirit in such his
dealings, they make up too hasty a conclusion not meant by the Spirit in
those premises.
And I instance in these the rather, because these his dispensations of de
sertion, which we have in hand, towards them already regenerated, and those
forementioned visitations towards such as often attain not to regeneration, are in an opposite way of comparison exceeding parallel, and much alike in
the dispensations themselves, as well as in the differing false conclusions which are drawn from either, and do therefore exceedingly illustrate the one
the other ; God withdrawing himself as much in their sense from those who
are in covenant with him, as he draws near unto and visits their hearts from
on high who are as yet strangers to him. The needle of God s favour and
love varying as much, that I may so allude, towards hell in their compass who shall be saved, as it doth heavenward in the other, many of whom arrive
not thither. For as they are brought nigh to the kingdom of heaven, as
Christ told him, Matt. xii. 34 ; so of true believers it may be said, that their
souls do often draw near to hell in their own sense and apprehension, and
6 the pains of hell do take hold upon them. And as the other are enlight
ened, as Balaam was, so they are left to walk in darkness and see no light ; and do taste of that wrath which the law threatens, as those other taste the
goodness of that salvation the gospel offereth. God, out of a temporary
anger, chastising them for a moment, as with a temporary favour he shiiietli
upon the other. That as they for a season rejoice in that light, John v.
35, so God s dearest children may be for a season in much heaviness, as
the Apostle speaks, 1 Pet. i. 6, and walk in darkness. And as the simili
tude of the dealings themselves runs thus far along in a parallel line of com
parison, so it holds in the false apprehensions which Satan and our hearts do make out of both. And the cause of the mistake in each is also alike. For God s dealings with those temporary believers being so like to those dealings towards such as receive a state of adoption from him, they thence too hastily conclude their acceptance unto life. And, on the contrary, God s dealings with these temporary despairers, as I may so call them, being so like
^ in
their sense to his proceedings with those he cuts off for ever, they, in like
manner, as hastily conclude ( I said in my haste/ says David) their eternal
rejection. Only in the issue they prove unlike : these desertions tending but
to the present discomfort of true believers through their frailty \ but in the
other, through their own willing neglect, their enlightenings turn to their
destruction.
So as, to conclude, we must warily sever the work of God s Spirit herein from that of Satan and our own hearts, not attributing such desperate con
clusions to the Spirit. Thus that depth of sorrow wherewith that humbled
248 A CHILD OP LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART I.
< swallowed up, 2 Cor. ii. 7, is ascribed unto Satan, when, ver. 11, it is made and termed one of his devices, which word doth in part refer to the Corinthian s sorrow. Thus David also im putes that his questioning, Ps. Ixxvii., whether God would be merciful to Mm, ver. 7, unto his own heart j this is my infirmity, says he, ver. 10. So as the blame herein is to be divided between Satan and our hearts. To speak more particularly of either.
Corinthian was well-nigh
CHAP. V.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DABKNESS. 24:9
CHAPTER V,
How our own hearts are the causes of this darkness. The principles therein which are the causes of it.
2. THAT our own hearts should be the causes and producers of such distress and darkness, when the Holy Ghost thus deals with us, is at all no wonder; because
(1.) As we are creatures, there is such a weakness and infirmity in us, as David speaks ; by reason of which, if God doth but hide himself and with draw his presence, which supporteth us in comfort, as in being, we are ready presently to fall into these fears of ourselves. The Psalmist saith of all the creatures, Thou hidest thy face, and they are troubled, Ps. civ. 29 and this by reason of their weakness and dependence upon God. And no less, but far greater, is the dependence of the new creature upon God s face and presence ; that it cannot be alone and bear up itself, but it fails if God hide himself, as Isaiah speaks, chap. Ivii. Especially now in this life, during the infancy thereof, whilst it is a child, as God speaks of Ephraim, Hos. xi. 1 ; then it cannot stand or go alone, unless God bear it up in his arms, and teach it to go, as he speaks there, ver. 1-3. And then also, as children left alone hi the dark are afraid of bugbears, and they know not what, and are apt to stumble and fall, which is by reason of their weakness ; so is it with the new creature in its childhood here in this life. It was my infirmity, says David; and again,
< Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled/ Ps. xxx. 7.
There is not only such a weakness in us as we are creatures ; but-=
(2.) Also an innate darkness in our spirits as we are sinful creatures. Since the fall, pur hearts of themselves are nothing but darkness, and therefore no wonder if when God but draws the curtains, and shuts up the light from
us, that our hearts should engender and conceive such horrid fears and doubts. Thus, in 2 Cor. iv. 6, the Apostle compareth this native darkness of our hearts unto that chaos and lump of darkness which, at the first creation, covered the face of the deep, when he says that God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, he referreth to the first creation, Gen. i. 1, 2, * hath shined into our hearts, even of us apostles, to give the light of the know ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that no longer than God continues to shine, either the light of comfort or of grace, no longer do our hearts, even of us believers, retain light in them. And if at any time he withhold that light of comfort in his face, when yet he continueth an influence of grace, then so far do our hearts presently return to their for mer darkness j and then doth that vast womb of darkness conceive and form all those fears and doubts within itself. Considering withal that our hearts are a great deep also, so deep in darkness and deceitfulness as no plummet can fathom them ; deceitful above all things, who can know it f Jer. xvii. 9. Darkness covereth not the face of this deep only, but it is darkness to the
250 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN BARENESS. [PAET I.
bottom, tlirougliout darkness. No wonder then, if when the Spirit ceaseth to move upon this deep with beams of light, it cast us into such deeps and darkness as Heman, complaining, speaks of, Ps. Ixxxviii. 6, and franieth in
itself such hideous apprehensions and desperate conclusions of a man s own
estate.
(3.) Especially seeing there is so much strength of carnal and corrupt rea son in men, ready to forge and invent strong reasons and arguments to con firm those sad fears and darkened apprehensions ; and those drawn from those
dealings of God s Spirit mentioned. For as it is said of the Gentiles, that when their foolish hearts were darkened, that is, when left and given over to their own natural darkness, they became vain in their imaginations, or
(as the original hath it) in their reasonings, Xoyiff^oTg, Rom. i. 21; and this even in those things which God had clearly revealed in his works to the light of nature, of which that place speaks
: so may it be said even of those who have been most enlightened, that their hearts are apt to become much more vain in their reasonings about, and in the judging of their own estates before God, out of his word and dealings with them, if God once leaves them unto darkness. And this that great caveat given to professors, James i. 22, gives to
understand, when they are exhorted to take heed that in hearing the word
they be not found deceiving themselves by false reasonings. So the origi
nal, cra0aXoy/o/vo/ iauroug, renders it ; which is as if we should say, false-
reasoning themselves : as we use to say, in a like phrase of speech, befooling themselves. And this is spoken of judging of their own estates, concerning which men are more apt, through the distempers and prejudices of self-love, to make (to speak in that phrase of the Apostle) false syllogisms, and to
misconclude, than about any other spiritual truth whatever. And as men that want true faith, the unsound hearers of the word, of whom the Apostle there speaks, are thus apt, through carnal reason misapplying the word they hear, to frame and draw from thence, as he insinuates, multitudes of false reasons to uphold and maintain to themselves a good opinion of their estates :
so, on the contrary, in those who have true faith, all that carnal reason, which remains in a great measure unsubdued in them, is as apt to raise and
forge as strong objections against the work of faith begun, and as peremp
torily to conclude against their present estates by the like misapplication of the word, but especially by misinterpreting God s dealings towards them. And they being sometimes led by sense and reason, whilst they walk in dark
ness, they are apt to misinterpret God s mind towards them rather by his works and dispensations, which they see and feel, than by his word, which
they are to believe. This we see in Gideon, Judges vi., who, because God wrought not miracles, as he had formerly for his people, but had delivered them into their enemies hands, from thence reasoneth against the message of the
angel, (Christ himself,) who had told him, The Lord is with thee, ver. 12. But he objects, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this
befallen us 1 Where be all the miracles which our fathers told us of? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, &c. This we may also see in Asaph, or what other holy penman of the 73d Psalm; his heels were well-nigh tripped up in the dark : My feet were almost gone, says he, ver. 2, that is, from
keeping his standing by faith, as the apostle speaks, Rom. v., and this by an argument framed by carnal reason, from God s dispensation of outward
chastening of him every morning, with outward afflictions, as the opposition doth there import. And how peremptory is he in his conclusion thence deduced 1 Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, ver. 13 ; and what reason hath he ? For all the
prosperity to wicked men, but, on the contrary,
CHAP. V.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DAKKNESS. 251
day long I have been plagued, <fcc., ver. 14. He thought his reason strong and irrefragable, else he would not have been so concludent : Verily, &c. But what would this man have said and thought if he had been in Heman s
condition, or in Job s or David s ? If in those shallows of outward troubles, which are common to man, his faith could not find footing, but he was wellnigh carried away with the common stream and error of wicked men, to have condemned himself and the generation of the righteous/ ver. 15; how would his faith have been overborne if all God s waves and billows had gone over him ? as David complains, Psalm xlii. 7. How would he have sunk in Heman s deeps, Psalm Ixxxviii. ? or in David s, Psalm Ixix. 2, I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing
: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me? speaking of such waters as came in unto his soul, ver. 1, even the floods of God s immediate wrath breaking in upon his conscience, overflowing the inward man, and not the outward
only. How much more peremptorily would he have concluded against him
self if this had been his condition ? As indeed they, and many others of the
generation of God s children have done, when they have lain under and walked in such distresses.
And the reason of all this is as evident as the experience of it :
[1.] In general ; reason is of itself a busy principle, that will be prying
into, and making false glosses upon all God s matters as well as our own, and trying its skill in arguing upon all his dealings with us. Thus Jeremiah must needs be reasoning with God about his dispensations towards wicked men, chap. xii. 1, 2 ; and Job, of his dealings with himself, chap. xiii. 3. And reason being likewise the supreme principle in us by nature, and our
highest difference as we are men, therefore no wonder if, when we are left to ourselves to walk in darkness, we walk as men, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. x. 3 ; and, to use Solomon s words, do lean to our own wisdom, Prov.
iii. 5, even because it is our own, and was brought up with us. It is our
great Ahithophel, and, as David says of him, our guide, with whom we have taken so much sweet counsel in all our worldly and politic affairs. In which only we should make use of its advice ; but we too often take it into the sanctuary with us, and walk in company with it into the house of God, (to allude to what David says there, Psalm Iv. 13, 14;) that is, we
suffer it to meddle in matters that pertain to the sanctuary, and to debate and conclude of our spiritual and eternal estates, as well as of our temporal. And, which is worse, we are opinionative of its judgment therein : I thought, says Asaph, in that forementioned psalm, to know this, ver. 1 6, that is, he thought to have comprehended and reached God s mind, in those his dis
pensations, by the discussions of reason, and so to have concluded rightly from them; whereas, after he had gone into the sanctuary, ver. 17, with
faith alone, and thereby consulted with the word, he confesseth his own wis dom and best reason to have been as ignorant of God s meaning, and of those
rules he proceedeth by, in those his dispensations towards his children, even
as a beast (ver. 22) is of those principles which men walk by, or the inten
tions they have in their ways. If reason then, when it is so utterly unskil
ful and mistaken in the premises, will yet be exercising and trying its faculty in reasoning from them, no wonder if the conclusions thence deduced be so wide and wild ; and yet, with Asaph, we think we know this.
[2.] But more particularly; carnal reason is the most desperate enemy to
faith of all other principles in man. For until faith be wrought, it is the most supreme principle; but then faith deposeth and subjecteth it, and afterwards doth often contradict it ; yea, excludes it, as unskilful in its matters,
252 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DAKKNESS. [PART I.
from being of its counsel. And so deep and desperate is this enmity against
faith, that look, what is the most especial work and business of faith, which
is to alter our estates before God, and put us into a state of justification and
to assure us of it, therein it shews a more peculiar enmity against faith, by
opposing it in that work of it more than in any other. This enmity shews it
self both before and after faith is wrought, and the one illustrates the other. For as before faith was wrought, carnal reason shews its opposition, by using the utmost of its strength to persuade a man of the goodness of his estate, though without faith; thereby to prevent the entrance of faith and our
seeking after it at all, as not needful to change our estates or to justify us, and thus would keep it wholly out ; and therefore, in the first working of
faith, the Holy Ghost brings faith in by force of open arms, as a conqueror
casting down all those strongholds and reasonings Xoy/oy/touj, as the word is, 2 Cor. x. 5 which carnal reason had been long a-building and a-fortifying, and so erecteth faith a throne upon the ruins of them all : thus, in like
manner, after faith is thus wrought, all that carnal reason which is left un subdued doth, out of a further revenge of such an overthrow, and with a
greater degree of enmity, oppose faith still ; only it diverts the war, now
mustering up new forces, and turneth all the great ordnance a clean contrary way; namely, to persuade a man, by all the objections it can raise, of the badness of his estate now, as before of the goodness of it ; hereby to blas pheme the great work of faith in justifying of us. And also because that, next to justifying us, the office and errand of faith is to settle in our hearts
peace with God, and a persuasion of our being in his favour, as Eom. v. 1 ; therefore doth carnal reason bend the utmost of its power and acumen to
persuade upon all occasions, by all the most specious and seeming arguments
it can start and suggest, that God is not at peace with us, nor as yet recon
ciled to us; merely to contradict faith in what is the principal point it would persuade us of.
So that as in men, whilst unregenerate, carnal reason endeavours by false
reasonings to preserve a good opinion of their estates in them; in like man
ner, the very same principle of carnal reason, continuing its opposition to
faith, doth as much persuade to a bad opinion of their estates when they are once regenerated.
[3.] And to conclude this; if in any condition that befalls God s child
carnal reason hath the advantage and upper ground of faith, it is now when
it is in the valley of the shadow of death, as David speaks, when it walks
in darkness, and hath no light. A condition that doth afford a most com
plete topic for carnal reason to frame objections out of; when, in respect of God s dealings with him, there is a seeming conjunction of all bad aspects threatening perdition and destruction; when faith is under so great an
eclipse, and is left to fight it out alone in darkness, and hath no second :
when, on the contrary, carnal reason and our dark hearts, which are led by
sense, are possessed with the sense, the deepest and most exquisite sense, and impressions of (that which the heart is most jealous of) God s sorest wrath and displeasure, and that felt and argued, not mediately and afar off, by consequence from outward afflictions, but immediately from God s own hand. Thou always hast suspected, says carnal reason, that thou wert a child of wrath, and that thou and God were enemies, but now thou findest it put out of question, and that from God s own mouth, who speaketh grievous things against thee, Jer. xxxi. 20 : thou hast it also under his own hand, for,
lo, he writeth bitter things against thee, that is, in thy conscience, as Job
speaks, chap. xiii. 26, and holdeth thee for an enemy, ver. 24; and whips
CHAP. V.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 253
thee with the same rod of his immediate wrath and displeasure wherewith he lasheth those that are cut from his hand, and whom he remembereth no
more, but are now in hell, as Heman speaks. A time also this is when this
present sense of wrath so distempers, and, to use Heman s words, distracts the mind, that it cannot listen to faith, which speaks of nothing too but of what it sees not; even as the people of Israel could not attend to Moses s
message of deliverance, through the anguish of their present bondage, Exod.
vi. 9. So as no wonder if then carnal reason be most busy, and takes this
advantage to frame and suggest the strongest objections to the soul whilst it
is in this distemper.
(4.) Add unto all this, that as there is such strength of corrupt reason which is thus opposite to faith, so that there are many other principles of
corrupt affections in the heart which join and take part with carnal reason in all this its opposition against faith, and which set it a-work and do back
it as much in persuading God s children that their estates are nought, as in
securing men unregenerate that their estates are good; and the hand of
self-love, which bribeth and biaseth carnal reason, especially in judging of our estates, is found as deep in the one as in the other; and this doth yet give further light to this point in hand. For look, as before faith is wrought,
self-flattery, which is one branch of self-love, bribeth and setteth carnal rea son a-work to plead the goodness of their estates to men unregenerate, and causeth all such false reasons to take with them which tend to persuade them
to think well of themselves : so when once faith is wrought, jealousy, and
suspiciousness, and incredulity, which are other as great sprigs of pride and
self-love in us as the former, which do begin to sprout and shew themselves when that other is lopped off, and which do grow up together with the work of faith, these do edge and sharpen the wit of carnal reason to argue and
wrangle against the work of faith and grace begun; and all such objections as carnal reason doth find out against it are pleasing and plausible to these
corrupt principles, for they are thereby nourished and strengthened. And the reason why such jealousies and suspicions, &c., which are such
contrary dispositions unto self-flattery, which swayed our opinions of our
estates before, should thus arise and be started up in the heart upon the work of faith, and be apt rather to prevail now after faith, is, [1.] because that
in the work of humiliation, which prepares for faith, all those strongholds of
carnal reason being demolished which upheld self-flattery, and that false good opinion of a man s estate, and those mountainous thoughts of presumption as then laid low, a man is for ever put out of conceit with himself, as of
himself. At which time also, [2.] he was so thoroughly and feelingly con vinced of the heinousness of sin, which before he slighted, and of the great ness and multitude of his sins, that he is apt now, instead of presuming as
before, to be jealous of God, lest he might have been so provoked as never
to pardon him ; and is accordingly apt to draw a misinterpretation of all God s
dealings with him to strengthen that conceit. And, [3 ] having through the same conviction, the infinite error and deceitfulness of his heart before, in
flattering him and judging his estate good when it is most accursed, so clearly discovered and discerned, he thereby becomes exceeding jealous, and afraid of erring on that hand still, and so is apt to lend an ear to any doubt and
scruple that is suggested. Especially, [4.] he being withal made apprehensive both of that infinite danger to his eternal salvation there may be in nourish
ing a false opinion of the goodness of his estate, if it should prove otherwise ; because such a false conceit keeps a man from saving faith, whereas to cherish the contrary error in judging his estate bad, when it is in truth good, tends
254 A CHILD OP LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART I.
but to liis present discomfort : so as he thinks it safer to err on that hand than the other. And, [5.] being also sensible of what transcendent concern ment his eternal salvation is of, which he before slighted, this rouseth suspicion, which in all matters of great consequence and moment is always doubting and inquisitive, and also keeps it waking, which before lay asleep. And all
these being now startled and stirred up, do not only provoke carnal reason
unsatisfiedly to pry into all things that may seem to argue God s disfavour, or the unsoundness of our hearts, but also do give entertainment to, and
applaud all such objections as are found out, and makes up too hastily false conclusions from them.
(5.) Last of all, as there are these corrupt principles of carnal reason and
suspiciousness in us, to raise and foment these doubts and fears from God s
dealing towards us ; so there is an abundance of guilt within us, of our false
dealings towards him. And we have consciences, which remain in part de
filed, which may further join with all these, and increase our fears and
doubtings ; and as we are dark and weak creatures, so guilty creatures also. And this guilt, like the waves of the sea, or the swellings of Jordan, does
begin upon these terrible storms from God to rise, and swell, and overflow
in our consciences. As in David, Ps. xxxviii., when God s wrath was sore
upon him, ver. 1, 2, then also he complains, mine iniquities are gone over my head, ver. 4. There is much guile and falseness of heart, which in those
distempers, when our consciences do boil within us, and are stirred and heated to the bottom, doth, like the scum, come up and float aloft. Thus
in David, when he was under the rod for his sin of murder, as the guilt of
his sin, so the guile of his spirit came up, and he calls for truth in the in-
\vard parts, Ps. li. 6. For as his sin, ver. 2, so his falseness of heart was
ever before him; and with an eye to this he spake that speech, Ps. xxxii., Oh, blessed is that man in whose spirit is no guile, and to whom the Lord
imputeth no sin. Thus he spake when God had charged upon him the guilt of his sin, and discovered to him the guile of his spirit, ver. 4, 5. And this
guile doth oftentimes so appear, that our consciences can hardly discern any
thing else to be in us ; it lies uppermost, and covers our graces from our view : and like as the chaff, when the wheat is tossed in the fan, comes up to
the top, so in these commotions and winnowings of spirit do our corrup tions float in our consciences, whilst the graces that are in us lie covered under them out of sight ; and the dark side of our hearts, as of the cloud,
is turned towards us, and the light side from us. And indeed there are in
the best of us humours enough, which if they be stirred and congregated in our consciences, may alone cast us into these burning fits of trouble and dis
tress ; so as whilst God s Spirit shall withhold from us the light of our own
graces, and our own consciences represent to us the guile and corruptions that are in our best performances, our hearts may conclude ourselves hypo
crites, as Mr Bradford in some of his letters doth of himself, and others of
the saints have done. Yea, so as even our own consciences which are the
only principle now left in us which should take part with and encourage
faith, and witness to us, as the office of it is, the goodness of our estates in
this may join with the former corruptions against us, and bring in a false
evidence, and pronounce a false judgment. Even conscience itself, which is
ordained, as the urine of the body, to shew the estate of the whole, and there
fore is accordingly called good or evil as the man s state is, this is apt in such
distempers to change and turn colour, and look to a man s own view as foul
as the state of a very hypocrite. And the reason of this is also as evident as is the experience of it. Even
CHAP. V.] A CHILD or LIGHT WALKING ix DAEKXESS. 255
because conscience remains in part defiled in a man that is regenerate ; and though we are sprinkled from an evil conscience in part, yet not wholly
: so as though our persons are fully discharged from the guilt of our sins, through the sprinkling of Christ s blood, before God yet the sprinkling of that blood upon our consciences, whereby we apprehend this, is imperfect. And the reason is, because this very sprinkling of conscience, whereby it testifies the sprinkling of Christ s blood, and our justification thereby, is but part of the sanctification of conscience, as it is a faculty, whose office and duty is to
testify and witness our estates ; and therefore, as the sanctification of all other faculties is imperfect, so of conscience also herein. And hence it is that when God s Spirit forbeareth to witness with conscience the goodness of our estates, and ceaseth to embolden and encourage conscience by his
presence, and the sprinkling of Christ s blood upon it against the remaining defilement, that then our consciences are as apt to Ml into fears, and doubts, and self-condemnings, even as much as, when he withdraws the assistance of his grace, those other faculties are to fall into any other sin. And therefore, as the law of sin in the other members may be up in arms and prevail so for as to lead us captive unto sin ; so may the guilt of sin in our consciences remaining in part defiled, by the same reason prevail against us, and get the upper hand, and lead us captive to fears and doubtings, and cast us into
bondage.
256 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DAEKNESS. [PART I.