Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

in like manner the believer, the man in Christ, when in desertions and temptations, hath a sure conjunction with Christ, even whilst there is a suspension of comforts; unless we own this distinction, we cannot maintain the doctrine of perseverance against the Remonstrants.

in like manner the believer, the man in Christ, when in desertions and temptations, hath a sure conjunction with Christ, even whilest there is a suspension of comforts; unless we own this distinction, we cannot maintain the doctrine of perseverance against the Remonstrants.

Fifthly, Faith is the first-born of all graces, and leads the van to all the rest, it is the mother-grace, and as it were teems out all other graces; and no wonder, for it unites us to Christ, out of whose fullness we receive grace for grace, and into whose image we are changed from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord, but assurance follows after faith and all other graces. This will be evident, if we consider the manner how assurance is produced; it is not an Enthusiasm, a voice, an internal locution, speaking to the heart some such words as these, thou art in Gods favour, or thy sins are forgiven, or thou art a son of God; no, it is in another way, the holy spirit doth so irradiate the heart in its reflections, and all the precious graces lodging there, that it plainly appears, that the grace of God is there of a truth; as it was with the blind man in the Gospel, when his eyes were opened he could look abroad in the world and say, here's the earth, and there's the sea, and yonder's the Sun, Moon and Stars, sensibly pointing from one creature to another: so it is with the believer, when he is irradiated by the holy spirit, he can look into his own heart and experimentally say, this is the precious faith, and that is the love in incorruption, and the other is the meekness of wisdom, and so go over all the parts of the new creature formed within him, or at least over such, or so many of them as may assure him that he is in a state of grace. This is the way of assurance, first ⟨p. 144⟩there is a constellation of faith and other graces in the heart, then these graces irradiated by the holy spirit send forth a kind of splendour, which the soul reflecting on it self, taking up, it comes to attain assurance, well knowing that such and such things accompany salvation, and import no less then a Divine favour; notable is that of St. Paul, in whom after the believed, ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise,