The right method for a settled peace of conscience, and spiritual comfort in 32…

So also in sins of Commission: Alas, what sins did Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, Asa, Peter, &c. commit? If we should say as the Papists and Arminians, that these being mortal sins, do for the time, till Repentance restore him, cast a true Christian out of Gods favour into a state of Damnation; then what man breathing is able to enumerate those Mortal ⟨p. 124⟩sins? and tell us which be so Damning, and which not? Nay if he could say, Drunkenness is one, and Gluttony another; Who can set the punctual stint, and say, Just so many bits a man must eat before he be a Glutton: or Just so much he must drink before he be a Drunkard? or by such a sign the turning point may be certainly known? We may have signs by which he may be tried at the Bar of Man; but these are none of them taken from that smallest degree, which specifieth and denominates the sin before God. If we avoid the foresaid opinion, that one such sin doth bring us into the state of Damnation, yet is the difficulty never the less: For it is certain, that he that commits sin is of the Devil, 1 Joh. 3.8. and there are spots which are not the spots of Gods children: and all true faith will mortify the world to us and us to it, Gal. 6.14. and he that is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof, Gal. 5.24. and that if we live after the flesh we shall die. Rom. 8.13. and his servants we are to whom we obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto Righteousness, Rom. 6.16. and if we delight in iniquity or regard it God will not hear our prayers, Psal. 66.18. and that he that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity, 1 Tim. 2.19. and that God will judge all men according ⟨p. 125⟩to their works, and bid the workers of iniquity depart from him, Mat. •.23. Now can any man on earth tell us just how great or how often sinning will stand with true Grace, and how much will not? who can find those punctual bounds in the Word of God? I conclude therefore, that no Minister, or at least, none who is no wiser then I am, can give a true discernible difference between the worst of Saints and the best of the unsanctified, or the weakest degree of true Grace, and the highest of common Grace; and so to help such weak Christians to true Assurance of their salvation.