A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…

The Sixteenth Maxim or Consideration.

Sixteenthly, Consider, If you cannot, if you dare not say §16that you have grace,¹ yet do not say that you have no Grace, for the being of Grace in the soul is one thing, and the seeing of Grace in the Soul is another thing. A man may have Grace, and yet not know that he has Grace, he may have a seed of God in him, and yet not see it;² he may believe, and yet not believe that he does believe; the child lives before it knows that it lives. If you cannot say that your Graces are true, yet do not say they are counterfeit, lest you bear false witness against the real work of the Spirit in you. There are none so apt to question the truth of their Grace as those are that are truly gracious; though Satan cannot hinder the holy Spirit from working true grace in the Soul,³ yet he will do all he can to fill the Soul with fears and doubts and jealousies about the truth of that grace that the holy Spirit has wrought in it. When did you ever know the Devil to tempt an Hypocrite to believe that his Graces were not true, and that certainly he had not the root of the matter in him; if you cannot say that you have an interest in Christ, yet do not say that you have no interest in Christ, for a man may have an interest in Christ, and yet not see his interest in Christ, not know his interest in Christ; there are many precious Christians that walk in darkness, who yet have an interest in that Jesus that is all Light, Life,⁴ and love; if you cannot say that your pardon is sealed in the Court of your own Conscience, yet do not say that tis ⟨p. 82⟩not sealed in the Court of Heaven, for many a Christian has his pardon sealed in the Court of Heaven,