The life of faith in three parts, the first is a sermon on Heb.…

6. Lastly, You can scarce more dishonour the Christian Religion, nor injure God and our Mediator, or harden men in Infidelity, than by fathering your ill-shapen fictions on Christ, and calling them the Christian or Justifying Faith.

6. Lastly, You can scarce more dishonour the Christian Religion, nor injure God and our Mediatour, or harden men in Infidelity, than by fathering your ill-shapen fictions on Christ, and calling them the Christian or Justifying Faith.

Direct. 29. Take not all doubts and fears of your salvation, to be the proper effects and signs of unbelief: Seeing that in many they arise from the misunderstanding of the meaning of Gods Promise, and in more, from the doubtfulness of their own qualifications, rather than from any unbelief of the Promise, or distrust of Christ.

It is ordinary with ignorant Christians to say, that they cannot believe, because they doubt of their own sincerity and salvation: as thinking that it is the nature of true faith, to believe that they themselves are justified, and shall be saved; and that to doubt of this, is to doubt of the Promises, because they doubtingly apply it. Such distresses have false principles bought many to. But there are two other things besides the weakness of faith, which are usually the causes of all this. 1. Many mistake the meaning of Christs Covenant, and think that it hath no universality in it; and that he died only for the Elect, and promiseth pardon to none but the Elect (no not on the condition of believing.) And therefore thinking ⟨p. 272⟩that they can have no assurance that they are Elect, they doubt of the conclusion.