Duty, then it is certain he may have true faving Faith without it.

But, may some say, ought not every Man, especially every good Man, to apply the Promises of the Gospel to himself in particular? Are they not to be the Support and the Comfort, and the Joy of his Life?

To this I anfwer thefe two things: In one Sense, every Man, both good and bad, ought to apply them to himself; and, in another Senfe, every good Man may fa apply them.

First; Every Man whatsoever ought to apply the Promises of the Gospel to himself, as they are Motives and Encouragements to spur him on to do his Duty: But then this Application is but to be conditional, that is, thus; He ought to look upon all the Promises as belonging to him, if he perform the Conditions of them; he ought verily to believe, that he, in particular, fhall be a Sharer in all the Benefits that Chrift hath purchased for his Church, fuppofing that he makes good the Terms on his Part required in the Covenant of Grace. This kind of Application of the Promises is neceffary to be made by every Man, both good and bad; because it is neceffary to the doing our Duty. Without fuch an Application, a Man would not be put upon using his Endeavours to attain the Things promifed; and, confequently, the Promifes of God would lofe their End; they would not be Motives to Obedience.

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And thus far, I will readily grant, that to apply the Promises to curfelves, is of the Effence of Faith; and not to do it, is Unbelief: For, indeed, it is a flat denying our Affent to the Revelations of God. God faith, in general, Whofoever believeth, and repenteth, fhall be faved. The Man, who refuseth to make this Application, muft be fuppofed to contradict this; for he must be supposed to say, that he doth not believe that he himself should be faved, tho' he fhould believe and repent; which is flat Unbelief,

But now, the Perfons I am treating of are no ways guilty of this Unbelief; for they do apply the Promises of the Gospel to themfelves in particular, in that conditional Way we now talk of. They acknowledge and believe the Remiffion of Sins in general, and the Salvation purchafed by Jefus Chrift; and they believe likewife, that they in particular fhould have their Portion in thofe Benefits, if they did perform the Conditions. Thus far, then, they do apply the Promises to themfelves; which is all that Faith obligeth them to do. But here they ftick; they are in doubt whether they have performed these Conditions, whether their Faith and Repentance be fuch as God will accept. This is their Doubt; but this is no Unbelief in them For, as I faid, they ought not, they cannot, farther believe the Promises to belong to them, than they can fatisfy themselves they have made good the Conditions.

But,

But, Secondly, befides this conditional Application of Promises, by way of Motive and Encouragement to do our Duty, which every Man, both good and had, is bound to make to himself; a good Man may go farther; for he may make a pofitive, abfolute Application of the Promifes of Forgiveness and Salvation to himself, to his own unfpeakable Comfort: That is, when he finds, by the holy Frame and Temper of his own Heart, and the Fruits of Piety in his Life and Conversation, that he hath the Qualifications of a true Difciple of Chrift; he may fpeak Peace to himself, upon good Grounds, and affuredly. believe, that the Promises of the Gospel do belong to him in particular: That his Sins are forgiven him; that he is actually in the Favour of God; and that, if he perfeveres in that Courfe of Holinefs in which he now walks, he shall at last attain everlasting Salvation.

But then it is to be remember'd, that thefe comfortable Reflections and Applications are not fo much his Duty, as his Happiness; or,

if you will, they are no otherwife his Duty, than as it is his Duty to contribute all he can to the making his Life as happy and as comfortable as he can, in this World.

The plain English is, thefe Things do not make any Part of the Conditions of the Gofpel, but only of the Comfort of it; it is the Happiness of a Man, that he is able to make fuch a Judgment of the Sincerity of his wn pious

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pious Endeavours, as to conclude from hence, that he is in God's Favour; and, fo long as he makes fuch a Judgment, he will not fail to draw fuch a Conclufion, and much Comfort will he receive from it. But if, thro' Ignorance, or Mistake, or Melancholy, he be hinder'd from making fuch a Judgment of his own Qualifications, as to give him Confidence to believe that the Promises belong to him : This is rather his Infelicity, than his Sin; it is not want of Faith, but Weakness of Judgment. And, tho' he cannot with Affurance look upon the Promises as belonging to him in particular, fo long as his Mind continues thus clouded; yet God Almighty, the Searcher of Hearts, knows that he hath a Right to them, and will effectually make them good, to the eternal Salvation of his Soul, if he continue faithful to the End.

But, Fourthly and laftly: Let it be farther confidered, that this Affurance of our Salvation, or this Believing that our Sins are forgiven, or this applying Chrift's Merits to ourfelves, is no-where in Scripture called by the Name of Faith: Nor, on the other Side, are thefe Terms of Faith, and Believing, ever used in such a Senfe, as can be reasonably interpreted to import these Things.

First, I fay, That these Things are never, in Scripture, called by the Name of Faith: We meet, indeed, with thofe Things, often in the New Teftament; but they are always ftyled by another Name than that of Faith. The

Apoftle

Apostle mentions the Hope of Chriftians, and the full Affurance of Hope; and he mentions their joying in the Testimony of a good Conscience, their Peace and their Joy in believing. In a Word; We meet, in the New Teftament, with feveral Expreffions of the Confidence and Affurance that good Christians had, or might have, of the Favour of God, and the Forgiveness of their Sins. But these Things are no-where intimated to be the fame Thing with their Faith, in proper fpeaking, but rather to be the Effects and Confequences of their Faith. Those Things are represented to be the comfortable Fruits of their Faith and Believing in Jefus Christ, and not to be Faith or Believing itself.

And certainly it must be thus: For what Grounds has any Man of Hope, or Affurance, that his Sins are forgiven him, or that the Benefits of Chrift's Paffion belong to him, other than this, that he is among the Number of those true Believers, to whom the Promises are made? And, if fo, then his Hope, or his Affurance, is not the fame Thing with his Faith, or his Believing; but fomething that is confequent from it, or bottom'd upon it.

But, farther, I fay, Thefe Terms of Faith, or Believing, are never ufed in that Senfe in Scripture, in which the Persons, whose Cafe we are now upon, do take them. In Scripture we, indeed, often find mention made of Faith in Chrift, for the Remiffion of our Sins; But nobody is to understand this of the