that which he doth not feele For there be a great many mo as greatly tormented as he but he thinkes not so because he dâ—th not feele it so Thus do you deale you are greatly troubled with the weaknes of your own faith which you feele therfore according to your feeling you complaine Many deere seruants of God are greatly greeued for the weaknes of their faith that none hath so weake a faith as you haue not withstanding there be a great number besides your selfe who are as much troubled this way as you But I will take your own words You say your faith is weake Yea then you grant you haue faith And therefore say I or rather the Lord himself for your comfort you cannot possiblie perish For God so loued the world Iohn 3.16 that he gaue his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him might not perish but haue euerlasting life But your faith as you say is so weake that you cannot thinke it to be anie faith at all A weake faith is a good faith therefore make much of it and labour to strengthen it And I againe doe answer you with a better warrant than your thought that a weake faith is a faith yea a good and a sound faith The weakenes of faith doth not take away the nature and beeing of faith that because there is weaknesse in it therefore it should cease to be a faith Will you say a weake man is no man because of his weakenesse No A weake man is a man for he is a man though neuer so weake as long as there is any life and breath in him Neither doeth his weakenesse take away his goodnes for he may be a verie good man although he be verie weake So say I of your faith the weakenesse thereof takes not away the goodnes It is a good a sound and a liuely faith although it be weake I neuer yet heard of anie beleeuing man or woman Weaknesse of faith a generall complaint of all the godlie but haue complained of the weaknesse of their faith Nay for my part I haue marked it in sundrie examples that the more godly and beleeuing the more they haue complained I coulde from mine owne experience name diuerse to proue this paint and some of them well knowne vnto your selfe But I wil name some one or two out of the Scriptures and leaue the rest to your owne good consideration You reade in the Gospell of Marke the ninth chapter and foure twentieh verse of so good and faithfull a man marke 9.24 Example of a weake faith in a verie good man as you wil your selfe confesse hee had a true and sincere faith because hee saide vnto Iesus Christ Lord I beleeue Neuerthelesse this good man was sicke of your disease and felt his faith to be weake yea verie weake and therfore he intreates the Lord Iesus very earnestly yea crying out with tears saith Lord help my vnbeleef c. Again you reade in Saint Lukes Gospel the seuenteenth chapter and fift verse of the holie Apostles The Apostles weake in saith whom our Sauiour Christ had chosen to preach and by their preaching to beget faith in others yet euen these men doe in like maner find and feele great want and weaknesse in their owne faith For which cause they put vp their humble supplication vnto their Lord and master Iesus Christ that he would increase their faith So that now you see verie plainly Weakenesse and wants will waite vpon vs to our graue there is no cause why you should too much discourage your selfe with the consideration of the weakenesse of your faith Because the best and most faithfull seruants of God doe halt of this sore as well as you and shall doe as long as they liue in this world For there is no perfection of any good grace in this life 1. Cor. 13.9 We see and know in part and therefore must needes also beleeue and practise in part Perfection is no where to bee found but in heauen Weakenesse of faith a speciall meanes to humble vs. that that we may long to be there and so bee fully perfect God vseth this as a holie and good meanes rightly to humble you and many of his deare children for your good that by the true feeling of this weakenesse and many other infirmities you may see how much neede you haue to runne continually for strength and succor at the handes of your sweete Sauiour who hath throughlie supplied all your wants and who will so strengthen you that your faith though neuer so weake to your owne feeling may neuer faile you For which purpose I would haue youe to lay sure holde of these wordes full of sweete comfort deliuered vnto Peter by out Sauiour Christ for the strengthening of all the faithfull Simon Simon Luke 22.31 Sathan hath desired to winnow you as wheate All the faithfull are as deare to Christ as Peter but I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Marke I pray you how Iesus Christ promiseth to pray for Peter and not for him onely but for all the faithfull For is hee onelie Peters Sauiour He prayeth for all the faithful as wel as for Peter and for you is he not also the Sauiour of all the faithfull in the world Is hee not your Sauiour as well as Peters yes truly Then he will pray for you also For so he sayth in that most sweete prayer which hee makes to his heauenly father for all the faithfull which shall beleeue in him to the worlds ende Ioh. 17.20 I pray not for these alone but for them also which shal beleeue in mee through their worde And if hee in whom onelie the father is wholie and altogither well pleased Math. 3.17 and for whose sake hee can not bee displeased with you doe praie for you shall not hee bee heard and his prayer fullie graunted Yes it can not be denied But yet you say hee speakes to Peter Christ in Petes speâ—kes to al the faithfull by name and promiseth to pray for him by name Yea and that is as much as if he should call you by your name and say that he will pray for you and for so manie as Satan hath any desire to winow But satan hath a great desire not onely to winow Peter but all the rest of the faithfull also For so are Christs words saying Sathan desires to winow not thee Sathans malice in deadly against all the faithfull but you as if hee should say his malice is not against one alone but against all Therefore as all must looke to themselues so Christ promiseth to praie for so many as are windowed and particularlie for you because you can tell that you are winnowed And whereas it pleaseth the Lord thus to winow and sift your faith you may be sure not to loose but to gaine thereby For this you know the more the good corne is fanned and winowed
the cleaner it is and the oftner golde is put into the fining-pat the more pure and excellent it is To this end therefore are you fined after this manner that the triall of your faith being much more precious then golde that perisheth 1. Pet. 1.7 though it bee tried with fire might bee found vnto your praise and honour and glorie at the appearing of Iesus Christ Now I come to answere a fourth obiection of yours The fourth obiection and answere concerning praier That you cannot pray What can you not pray at all can yee neuer pray Yes you thanke God for his mercie you can pray sometimes but neither so often nor so zealously as you desire and as your neede enforceth you Sometimes you pray Cold praier better then no praier but verie coldlie and with verie little or no feeling Sometime you pray more earnestly and for all that you find small comfort And sometimes though you doe what you can you can not praie for your life This is as I knowe by some wofull experience a verie iust and true complaint yet I remember when I demanded whether you could praie at anie time you could not denie but you could pray sometime and I am persuaded with good feeling and sweete comfort to your soule Whereupon I proue once againe to your conscience that you haue a true faith vnto saluation because prayer is an vndoubted and plaine fruit of a liuely faith Rom. 1â— 13. accompanied with euerlasting saluation for whosoeuer calleth vpon the name of the Lord shal be saued Praier is not a common gift Prayer no common but a speciall gist giuen to the elect common to all but a speciall gift proper onlie to the elect as faith and repentance The Apostle saieth All men haue not faith 2. Thessalon 3.2 so say I all men haue not the gift to pray A wicked man can not pray because he can not beleeue for praier is a most excellent fruit of faith The vngodly haue not this gift in truth or in any good measure howsoeuer they haue many other excellent gifts of wisdome councell learning yet they want this which the Prophet doth plainly auouch saying of them that they call not vpon God as though he should say they do many other things but they doe not this and no maruell for indeede they cannot because they want that spirite which should teach them to pray for the spirit helpeth our infirmities and praieth in vs yea this same spirite of sanctification which hath wrought a gracious measure of Faith and Repentaunce in your heart hath taught you also to pray and to take so great delight therein that you are glad when you can pray your selfe or can be partaker with others when they pray But you say sometimes you cannot pray at all Praier is not a common gift and therefore you doubt your selfe very much The godly cannot alwayes pray as they would If you could pray when you would and as you would beare with my plainnesse for I speake from the feeling of mine owne heart you would be proude you would thinke it were but a gift of nature in your owne power and no gift of God so should God loose his glorie so should you soone forget the right vse of a notable blessing and forget also to be thankfull Nowe you haue it but seldome or not so often as you would your selfe you knowe from whome you receiue it and when you haue it you vse it with more reuerence and make more account of it you take more ioy in it and when you want it you groane to God for it the more earnestly It is verie needefull and much for your profit The want of many blessings and graces is very needefull and profitable that the Lord would excuse the best of his seruants with the want of manie blessings and graces both for their bodies and soules 1 To be sicke It is good some times to be sicke that we may knowe how good a thing it is to enioy the benefit of health 2 Hungerbitten It is good sometimes to be hungerbitten that our meate may be the more sauourie that we may be the more thankfull for our foode that we may receiue and vse it more reuerently and the more willingly releeue such as stand in neede It is good for vs some nights to be abridged of our naturall sleepe 3 To want sleepe that we may know thereby Psal 127.2 that it is the Lord who giues rest vnto his beloued It is verie meete we should sometimes be troubled in conscience 4 To haue a troubled concience Peace of conscience a pretious blessing that we may knowe how precious a blessing that is aboue all others to enioy the peace of conscience and to labour aboue all things to attaine to it and to maintaine the same It is good for vs sometimes to be cleane to seeke hawe to praie that when we can praie we may be the more humble reuerent and thankful But if you like to stand vpon this point to vrge the same against your selfe I will as in the sight of God to his glorie and mine owne shame confesse the truth vnto you as it is with me in this thing I haue more cause a thousand fold to doubt my selfe herein then you haue by reason of the great calling which the Lord hath layed vpon me being a minister and teacher of the word Therefore the Lord be mercifull vnto me a wretched sinner For my wicked euill heart is so narow and baren in prayer that many times I cannot pray at all And this fals out not onelie in my priuate meditations betweene God and mine owne soule but in my dailie prayers with my houshold wherein I haue beene forced for the most part to vse This hath beene in former time now through Gods grace it is otherwise yet perfourmed in great weakenesse and with many wants besides some speciall exercise an other way sufficient to abate the pride of my heart and to keepe me vnder and that almost word for word a short prayer which I haue set downe in a short Cathechisme for the helpe and furtherance of such as are vnder my charge And if vpon some speciall occasion offered I indeuour my selfe to pray otherwise it is such poore drie naked and sillie stuffe both for words and matter that after I haue prayed I am a great while maruelously tormented in conscience And I should be vtterly ashamed that you or any other should come within the hearing of my babling praiers And assuredlie were it not that I felt some more gracious assistance from the Lord in those prayers which are offered vp in my publike ministerie I could haue small assurance of Gods louing fauour towardes mee This I confesse according to the truth that you may know you are no more alone in this point than in the former and to intreate you to pray for me following the good aduise
the victorie for you and who will not shrinke one foote from you vntil such time as you also haue gotten the victorie For in all these things wee are more then conquerours through him that loued vs. Rom. 8.37 And that you may haue the more courage to fight this field without fainting vnderstand thus much All the faithfull doe fight one and the same battell that all the faithfull doe ioyne hands with you to fight out this battell The holie Apostle Paule had receyued a great measure of sanctification aboue manie thousandes of Gods children yet could not hee get the full mastrie ouer sinne but that full sore against his will to his hearts griefe hee fell into it Therefore with sorrow of soule hee complaines in the seuenth Chapter to the Râ—mames Rom. 7.19 That the good which he would he did not Paule fought a bloâ—die field with sinne but the euill which hee would not that did hee And that it may be well vnderstoode that this was not onelie a sharpe hote skirmish for a short fit but a set battle to continue to the ende of his life you may reade howe after sundrie and diuerse greeuous complaints of his owne weakenesse and of the strength of sinne as a man that is wearie of his life for no cause but this onely that he could not leaue sinne hee breakes out into these wordes of great passion Vâ—â—se 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the bodie of this death Poul could not â—eaue sinne as he desired In which speech he doth bewray two things First that hee could not leaue sinning although it was his whole studie and the onelie thing among manie which he most earnestlie desired Therefore he calles himselfe a wretched man because he carries about a bodie of sinne and death Secondly that hee had as longing a desire to cease from sin as any man could haue And therefore hee asketh this question Who shall deliuer me Nowe tell me I beseech you is it not thus with you The godly would saine leaue sinne and so would you with all your heart Would you not faine leaue sinne if you could and that with all your heart are you not wearie of it and sore grieued for it Must it not needes bee thus because you complaine so greatly you can not leaue sinne You sinne in deede but not willingly nor of set purpose â—say 5.18 you drawe not sinne vnto you with cart ropes as the wicked doe but you are violentlie drawne by the furie and violence of sinne The godly sinne 〈◊〉 willingly as the wicked You hunt not after iniquitie to pursue and followe after it with the intisements thereof But sinne hunts and pursues you till you haue lost both winde and strength and so it may bee you are manie times taken prisoner In which case you are no more to bee blamed then a Souldiour who in battell is full sore agaynst his will taken prisoner of his enemie which thing is most manifest to your owne conscience because when you are taken and you perceiue it you behaue your selfe as a man which is fallen into his enemies hande For your heart is greeued â—â—d your soule wonderfully troubled your sâ—eepe departeth from you you can eate no meate that doeth you good you take no pleasure in anie worldlie thing there is no mirth in you but you are all heauie and sad If you bee in companie where you are prouoked to bee merrie you laugh but for companie for it is but from the teeth forwarde To bee short so long as you are holden captiue of anie sinne you are wearie of your life Therefore all your studie is howe you maie breake off the fetters of sinne The godly study how to breake off the fetters of sinne and bee deliuered whereto you applie all your wit power cunning and skill And if through the great goodnesse of God you get anie aduauntage to escape there was neuer anie fowle more glad of a faire day or bird that hath broken out of the fowlers net more ioyfuil then you are of so happie deliuerance And when you are deliuered you are euer afterwards more carefull a great deale that you fall not againe into your enimies hand Againe you make not a trade of sinne The wicked do trade in sinne to follow it dayly and houreâ—â—e as the workers of imquitie Mat. 7.23 who follow it as carefully and continually as any man followes his occupation whereby hee must liue Ps 1.2.3 But the trade which you follow and the way wherein you walke with delight is the continuall meditation of the lawe of God with an earnest desire to practise it in your whose conuersation Coloss 3.2 Your minde and affections are not set vpon the earth but vppon heauen and vpon those things which may bring you to heauen It is better with you then you thinke for and therefore be thankfull and â—heere vp your heart in the Lord. Therefore in the true acknowledgement of Gods great mercy towards you you may with peace to your soule saie with the Apostle Paul in the seuenth chapter to the Romans and the fiue and twentieth verse I thanke God through our Lord Iesus Christ because in my mind I serue the lawe of God although in the flesh that is in that part which is vnregenerate I serue the lawe of sinne Touching that other point namely that you fall often and againe into that sin which you haue vowed neuer to coÌ„mit againe It is no wonder in this corruption to sinne often in the same sinne for as much as the same is against your wil through great infirmitie and not of anie set purpose although I wish you in anie wise to be as carefull as may be therein and to vse all good and holie meanes of watching ouer your affections and auoiding all those occasions All good meanes must be vsed against euerie sinne whereby you may bee drawen forward into aâ—e the least sinne by praying fasting and such like holie exercises whereby you may be better strengthened against all assaultes of sinne yet would I not haue you to discourage your selfe too much with the consideration thereof Consider wisellâ— and apply with reuerence For this you knowe that one which walketh in a supperie way or vpon ice may against his will yea though hee looke neuer so well to his feete not onelie take the first but the second and the third fall yea manie falles notwithstanding that he thinketh to set his foote maruelous sure Abraham although hee was the father of the faithfull Abraham fell more than once into one sinne and for his godlinesse highlie commended in the Scripture yet through great weakenesse lyed first in Egypt to Pharao in denying Sarah to be his wife These examples are to comfort such as woulde leaue sinne and not to encourage any to liue in sinne Genesis the twelfth chapter and thirteenth verse Againe hee