casts them vp euery day shall the easier cast them vp at the weekes end and he that casts them vp euery weeke shall the easier cast them vp at the yeeres end but hee that lets them runne on from day to day and from weeke to weeke hee shall finde them so perplexe and intricate as that they shall trouble his best braines to bring all ends together The practise of this continued repenatnce is 1 Hearty confession and bewailing of our sins to the Lord. 2 Carefull watchfulnes ouer our harts to keepe out all sinne 3. Strict examination of our selues at the dayes end and so censuring our selues for that we finde amisse with earnest calling on GOD for greater Grace 3 The third degree is renued repentance Repentance 3. Renued repentance Where is oftentimes discontinued interrupted or at least increases not so as it should therefore euer and anone it is in speciall sort to bee renued Now here are two things to be considered The practise and the times of this Repentance 1 The practise of this repentance what it is 1. The practise wherein it consists Ans 1. In performing the duties of Repentance handled before in generall in a greater measure and a more powerfull manner Acts 2. Corin. 7. 11. speaking of this renewed repentance which some call extraordinary repentance Beholde saith the Apostle what care what cleering c. They had care before but now a greater measure and a more watchfull care 2. In a more strickt examination of our selues Examination of our selues is to bee practised dayly but now a stricter and seuerer and that specially for our estate to godward And therefore this narrow search must discouer some secret infirmities before not found out As in reading ouer our owne workes or writings the second or third time wee espye that which we did not before So in the second reuiew of our liues by renued repentance we find out more sinnes then before 3. In a greater measure of contrition and humiliation as in those Israelites drawing buckets of water in a greater plenty of teares deeper sighes and sobbes 2. The times and occasions of this renued repentance 2. The times They are fiue 1. When wee are to performe speciall seruices to God because then wee may feare least our former negligences may come vp in account against vs therefore we must in speciall sort renue our repentance and so seeke vnto God Thus before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Paul commands a 1. Cor. 11. 31. Gen. 35. 1. 2. c. renuing of our repentance and a fresh iudging and condemning our selues Thus Iakob renued his repentance before he went vp to Bethell and purged his family of the idolls This God also first cals for before our approching into his presence in the duties of his worship wash you make you cleane and then Isay 1. 16. 18. Come and let vs reason together So oft then as an holy seruice is to bee performed to God wee must renue our Repentance 2. When wee seeke for any speciall blessing at the hands of God Because then our sinnes may interpose themselues and so intercept the blessing desired then are wee especially to renue our repentance As when our aduersaries renue the battell against vs wee are to renew our preparation against them so must we doe heere Thus Isaac when he Gen. 24. Gen. 32. 9. sought the blessing of a good wife went out into the fields into some secret corner or other to pray Acts. 1. in speciall manner vnto the Lord. So did Iakob when he sought the mercy of deliuerance from his brother Esau So the election of ministers in the Primitiue Church was done with prayer 3 In speciall afflictions when God corrects our dulnesse and by them as by whetstones seemes to sharpen our repentance and to put an edge vppon our prayers So did Dauid in the rebellion of his son 2. Sam. 15. 26. 30. 2. Chron. 20. Absolom and Iehoshaphat when the Moabites and Ammonites came vp against him And this is that which the Prophet calls for Search your selues Zeph. 2. 1. search your selues before the decree come foorth c. wishing them in that speciall affliction to enter into a speciall examination and search of all their waies 4 In and after our speciall falls and sinnes whether grosse and more palpable or more secret such as are dulnesse coldnesse security Thus Dauid after his two sinnes of adultery and murther in a most speciall sort renued his repentance in his priuate confession to Nathan and his publique confession 2. Sam. 12. 13. Psal 51. to the whole Church Peter after his deniall went out and wept bitterly So when the Church of Ephesus was fallen into coldnesse and security the Lord calls vppon her to remember from whence Reuel 2. 5. shee was fallen to repent and doe her first workes 5. At the time of death Then because the children of God take their farewell of repentance they take also their fill of it they thinke with themselues this is the last act of my repentance it shall be therfore the best And in death Sathans temptations and consciences accusations will be strongest and therefore our preparation against them must bee more then ordinary On the sixt day the Israelites gathered double Manna because none was to bee gathered by the day following the day of rest So because the time after death is a time of rest and Sabbath from repentance therefore then should there bee a double portion of Repentance Euery motion is the swiftest towards the center It is good indeed to see men ioyfull and comfortable in their death but yet withall if we see them not humbled and penitent wee may iustly suspect their ioy Euen the holy Martyrs who exceeded in spirituall ioy and had the greatest cause of ioy that might bee were yet great in their repentance at their death Hezekiah receiuing the sentence of death turned to the wall and prayed and wept sore 2. King 20. Here mark the preposterous course of the world that make death the time of beginning repentance whereas it is indeed onely the time of renuing repentance begunne and practised before in our life-time Obiect But the thiefe on the crosse began to repent but at his death Ans It was a miracle with the glory whereof our Sauiour would honor the ignominy of the crosse We may almost as well expect a second crucifying of Christ as such a second thiefe Christ then triumphing on the crosse did as Princes doe in the triumph of entring into their kingdomes they pardon grosse offences before committed such as they pardon not afterwards CHAP. XVIII Of the motiues to Repentance from the euill it remooues HAuing thus absolued the doctrine of Repentance it will not bee amisse to close vp this Treatise with some perswasiues motiues wherby men may be induced to the practise of it Indeed the bare necessity of it might mooue but such is our dulnesse that
we resort as they Acts 2. 9. 10. 11. did to Ierusalem The Papists pilgrimages thither are absurd because the Acts 2. 9. 10. 11 holinesse is not inherent in the ground and the wals but was only in regard of the worship of God which then was there in speciall manner and now failing it is no longer the holy city The second point is the setting of Christ vpon the pinnacle of the temple Some difference there is amongst Interpreters what it should be It matters not greatly All agree in this that it was a very dangerous place Doct. Marke heere what aduantage there is in places for temptations Sathan had before the aduantage of the place in the desert giuen him by our Lord and Sathan many times takes the aduantage of the place for his temptations heere hee takes it himselfe As heere hee tooke the opportunity of this place and the danger thereof for Christ to stand long vpon it to vrge this temptation of this Cast thy selfe down so doth he still against vs for the better enforcing his temptations against vs. Some places are as dangerous for our soules as the pinnacle of the temple was for the body And when once hee hath gotten vs vpon these pinnacles then it is hard if wee cast not our selues downe As when Peter was in Caiaphas his hall then was he set as it were on the pinnacle of the Temple and how fearefull a fall caught hee So in Ioseph learning in Pharaohs court to sweare by the life of Pharaoh Quest May we not then dwell in such places Ans As for the body we may not bee venturous to goe vpon high steepe and dangerous places without a calling but hauing a calling wee may as Masons and Carpenters doe So for the soule when God cals vs to such places as he did Ioseph Obadiah Nehemiah then we may dwell therin but if no calling take heede then and let Peters example teach vs the danger of Caiaphas his hall Wee that can scarse stand in the firme ground neuer trust wee our feete in slippery ground vnlesse God guide and leade vs into it Thus much of the fitting of the temptation 2. The vttering of his temptation The vttering of it followeth And he sayd vnto him If thou bee the sonne of God Cast thy selfe downe for it is written c. In which words two things to be considered First the sinne whereto he tempts Secondly the arguments whereby he tempts That whereto he tempts is to Cast himselfe downe 1. The sinne whereto he tempteth headlong from the top of the pinnacle Where obserue Doctrin 1 That the Diuell in temptation hath no enforcing power though hee haue a perswading sleight It The Diuell in temptation hath no enforcing power but onley a perswading sleight rests in vs to giue assent Therefore he sayes heere Cast thy selfe downe For indeed else we should not sinne Many fondly excuse themselues and their sinnes by the Diuell but the Diuell could not make thee sinne except thou wert willing And hee hath no power to constraine thy will The Diuell is the father of thy sinne but thine owne concupiscence is the mother And what could the father doe without this mother Euery man is tempted when hee is drawen away by his owne concupiscence and is entised Iam. 1. 14. Iam. 1. 14. Doct. 2 That the Diuels power is limited Hee can bring Christ and set him on the pinnacle hee cannot The Diuels power is limited throw him downe He is a finite creature and cannot doe all things And in those things hee can doe such as was this to throw downe a man standing on the pinnacle of the Temple for euen a childe might haue done this he is curbed and restrained by God So the Lyon 1. King 13. killed the Prophet but 1. King 13. neither touched the asse whereon hee rode nor yet the dead carkasse Three notable evidences of Sathans limited power may we finde in that one history of the man possessed in the region of the Gadarens Luk. 8. 27. First Luk. 8. 27. in that he begges leaue to enter into the swine He that afterwards boasts of that all the world was his and all the kingdomes thereof hath not power so much as ouer a vile swine Secondly we see that as soone as he enters into the swine hee presently carries them headlong into the sea why did hee not so to the man possessed Surely not for any loue hee bare to him more then to the swine for he is a deadly hater of man-kinde He would as willingly haue drowned the man as he did the swine had not God limited him Thirdly his name was Legion there was a whole Legion of Diuels in him Now a Legion in the warres containes aboue six thousand footmen Veget. lib. 2. cap. 6. seauen hundred horse men Now though whole a legion of diuels such an army and host of them in one poore man yet were not able to destroy him nor to do with him as they did with the swine Thus it is also in the rage of Sathans instruments against the Church the spirituall bodie of Christ God suffers his Church to be in their hands as Christs body in Sathans to bee placed as it were on the top of the pinnacle to bee in great danger and as with Dauid but an haires breadth betweene him and death yet then Gods snaffle is put into their mouthes and his hooke into their nostrils as into Esaus and Labans in Iaakobs cause Pilates brag therefore against Christ Knowest thou not that I haue power to crucifie thee Ioh. 19. 10. And Labans to Iaakob Gen. 31. 29. I am able Ioh. 19. 10. Gen. 31. 29. to doe you hurt they were but vaine crakes Sathan himselfe was faine to say to God in Iobs cause stretch out thine hand Vse Heere is comfort then in greatest dangers Doth God take care for oxen saith Paul so may wee say Doth God take care for swine Are wee not much better then they Though the knife bee in the enemies handes ready to cut the throate of Isaac lying bound on the altar yet their hands shall sooner wither with Ieroboams then doe the deede Euen then God will work our deliuerance euen by themselues as heere the Diuell doth not onely not throw Christ downe but carries him safe away from this so tickle and dangerous a place But in the action it selfe of casting downe himselfe It had beene a great sinne in Christ to cast down himself it may be asked what sinne was in it Answ Reason 1 1. There was a manifest hazarding yea throwing away his life against the sixt commandement Life is a most precious gift of God and it ought not to be made so little of as to bee aduentured at Sathans pleasure This is a sinne that Sathan tempts still vnto and often preuailes to offer violence vnto their owne bodies by throwing downe themselues from high places by running to the water to the
Christian say I haue had more griefe in procuring thy displeasure by sinne then the worldlings haue had in the miscarriage of their corne and oyle 2. According to the greatnesse of the Euill must sorrow be proportioned Now of the two Euils the Euill of sinne is farre greater then the Euill of punishment For it is onely sinne that grieues the spirit of God and depriues vs of the fauour of God Affliction and Gods spirit can agree very well Therefore Dauid describing true blessednesse remooues nothing from it but sinne as being that which onely makes vs miserable Surely they the blessed men worke no iniquity And not surely they suffer no aduersitie Psal 119. 3. Sinne therefore being the greatest Euill craues the greatest sorrow 3. The precepts and examples in the Scripture shew as much Though in worldly sorrow baldnesse was forbidden the Iewes yet in sorrow for sinne it was commanded them The Lord calleth vnto mourning c. and vnto baldnesse Isay 22. 13. saith Esay A plaine argument of a greater sorrow expected for sinne then they ought to haue for any outward worldly crosse whatsoeuer Dauid sayes his eyes gushed out with riuers of water for other mens Psal 1 19. sinnes What then did they for his owne Great is that Hyperbole and it argueth an hyperbolicall and excessiue sorrow I caused my bed euery night to swim Psal 6. 6. and not only so but water my pallet that lies beneath my bed with my teares Implying that if his head could containe so much water the griefe of his heart could furnish it In the same sense doe some take that of the repenting Israelites that they drew 1. Sam. 7. water and powred it out before the Lord. And thus doth Zacharie describe the sorrow of true Repentants that euen after plenty of teares and lamentations Zach. 12. in publique yet the fountaine shall runne still in priuate and flow from the Church to the priuate closet euery soule mourning in secret by himselfe And which is strange that the lamentations of one poore woman weeping solitary in her closet shall equall that great mourning of the whole multitude in the valley of Megiddo for the death of Iosiah Farre then are they from Repentance who though they can cry and howle on their beddes when their money their houses their lands are gone what speake I of so great matters The death of a cowe or the losse of a few pigges will pinch them sore And yet their maine and fearefull sins could neuer yet draw so much as one teare from their eyes or fetch one sigh from their hearts Quest 1. Are Teares necessarily required in this sorrow Answ 1. Sometimes want of teares proceeds from abundance of griefe so oppressing the minde that it cannot ease it selfe by weeping As in him that weeping at the death of his friend could not yet weepe at the death of his owne sonne 2. Sometimes the constitution of the body will yeeld no teares The triall heere is the same as in the matter of memory If a man haue a naturall defect in his memory which is the cause hee can remember but very little of a sermon then neither will hee remember much of a tale of a play of worldly matters So if the constitution or complexion deny teares in sorrow for sinne neither will it affoord them in worldly sorrow But as thy ability to remember worldly matters when thou hast none to remember Gods argues no naturall infirmity but a sinnefull corruption of memory so is it heere If thou can weepe plentifully for worldly losses and yet haue dry cheekes for thy sins this is from the corruption of thy heart not from the constitution of thy body Quest 2. May not the childe of God feele more griefe for some worldly crosses then he doth for his sinnes Answ 1. Sorrow may be considered either as it is in the will and so it is nothing but the displeasure and dislike of that which the vnderstanding apprehendeth as euill Or as it is in the sensitiue faculty of the soule common with vs to the beasts In the former way Gods children feele greatest Thom. supplem qu. 4 art 1. Bellar. de poen l. 2. c. 11. sorrow for sinne Their will sanctified and directed by the spirit detests abhors nothing more then to sinne against God But yet all the children of God doe not feele such a sensible stinging smarting griefe for their sinne in the sensitiue faculty as they doe for diuers outward afflictions For the more corporall a thing is the neerer is it and more familiar to the sensitiue faculty and so pinches more there For example in extremity of tooth-ach or in the burning of ones finger there is a more sensible griefe felt then in a lingring feuer or then is sometimes in death it selfe And yet the will guided by right reason dislikes the feuer and death far more then the tooth-ach 2. Greatnesse of griefe may be measured either by the violent intension or by the constant continuance and duration Now that which is wanting to the griefe of Gods children for their sinnes the former way is recompenced and made vp in the latter Their griefe for sinne is not so extreamely violent because of the ioy and comfort of the holy Ghost which they feele in the middest of their heauinesse and yet this ioy doth not any way lessen the displeasure of our wils against sinne though it qualifie the sensible smart nay rather it encreases it For as ioy and delight in learning makes the scholler learne the better so delight in godly sorrow sets vs forward in it but yet as we sayd it mirigates the extremity of passion so that oftentimes the children of God are for the time more violently tormented for their crosses then for their sinnes As Dauid cried out vehemently O Absalom Absalom but not O Vriah Vriah Yet his griefe for Vriahs death was a more setled constant griefe as oftentimes the stillest waters are deepest My sinne is euer before me so was not Absolons death That was soon ouer Iob sayes that he possessed the sins of his youth Iob. 13. 26. euen in his olde age but he sayes not that he possessed the afflictions of his youth Time had worne away those sorrowes for they are but like a sudden dashing tempest but sorrow for sinne is like the still soft but soaking raines that wets to the very rootes The one is like a mighty torrent or land-flood soone dried vp or a blaze of thornes soone extinct the other like a little spring alwayes running or a constant fire holding out the whole day Ob. Wee are bidden reioyce alwayes how then can wee sorrow alwaies for our sinnes Answ 1. These two may well stand together because godly sorrow ministers matter to vs of ioy Let the Repentant alwaies sorrow and reioice Semper doleat poenitens de dolore gaudeat Pro. 14. in and for his sorrow saith Austin As in prophane ioy euen in
was to Dauids zeale but as water vpon lyme made 2. Sam. 6. it the more hotter I will be yet more vile And other mens hatred of the trueth did but encrease his Psal 119. 126. 127. Loue They haue destroyed thy Law therefore doe I loue it A worthy example of repentants zeale in this kind was that of that repenting woman who though Christ were at dinner in a Pharises house Luke 7. and much company likely there yet in the holy madnes of her zeale she comes rushing in seeking him whom her soule loued not abashed with the company but before them all falls to kissing and washing the feete of Christ 2. Propertie This zeale of Repentance thinkes nothing too good for God or too deare for him and spares for no cost and charges in the cause of his glory Thus Dauid repenting for his numbring of the people would not haue the place for the altar and the burnt offrings of Arannah for nought but would giue him money for them So the Israelites repenting for their idolatry shewed their 2. Sam. 24. zeale in their costly offerings to the Tabernacle euen Exod. 36. till they were faine to be forbidden to offer So it was with that good woman that poured the box of costly oyntment vpon the head of Christ 3. Property It makes vs draw others to God This our Sauiour required of Peter as a fruit of his repentance that when hee was conuerted hee should strengthen his brethren In our sinnes wee are commonly Luke 22. 32. instrumentall for Sathan to draw others into our sinnes with vs. True Repentance will make vs zealous to bee as instrumentall to bring others to God I would saies Paul that not onely thou but Acts 26. 29. all heere were not onely almost but altogether as I am except my bonds 7. Duetie is Reuenge Here is the demonstration 7. Reuenge of our zeale for God and his word when we reuenge their quarrells vpon their capitall enemy the flesh the corruption of our nature There is much deceit in zeale The zeale of many is only verball It may be heard but not seene but true zeale must be seene as well as heard Come saies Iehu and see what zeale I haue for the Lord. Now as his zeale 2. King 10. 16 was seene in the reuenge which he tooke vpon Baals Priests in the slaughter of them so must our zeale appeare in our reuenge vppon the flesh which wee must wound and daily mortifie This reuenge will shew what affection we beare to our sinnes Before repentance they are so deare to vs that wee cannot endure so much as the reproofe of them but when our repentance comes then comes reuenge and we can brooke not onely reproofe of them from others but vengeance also vpon them from our selues And when once we can come to be reuenged vpon them it is a signe wee account them as enemies For no man desires reuenge but vpon his enemy Salomon knew the right mother of the child by her tender heart and earning bowells which could not indure to see the babe diuided by the sword surely when wee cannot abide the sword of reuenge to wound and slay our sinnes wee haue cause to suspect 1. Kings 3. 27. our repentance for who would bee loath to haue his enemy wounded Now this reuenging our selues vpon the flesh is Generall Especiall 1. Generally this reuenge consists in that which the Apostle calls the beating downe of the body And offering vp our bodies as sacrifices to God both which places I vnderstand of the body of sinne that is the 1. Cor. 9. 27. Rom. 12. 1. flesh which must looke for no better at our hands then a clubbe or a sacrificing knife It must be handled as Sarah handled Hagar roughly Our flesh is of a slauish disposition If a slaue be well vsed hee will grow sawcy and malapert And hee saith Salomon that brings vp his seruant delicately he will bee as his sonne nay hee will ouertop him as Ieroboam did Rehoboam at whom it is thought Salomon aymed Prou. 29. 21. at in that Prouerbe This slaue then must haue a straight hand held ouer it and must be vsed like a slaue to a whip to a cudgell Wee are not debters to the flesh wee owe it no kindnesse no fauour Rom. 8. we owe it nothing but reuenge nothing but blowes and the blue eye that S. Paul gaue it But alas how farre are wee from this how doe we feed and flesh 1. Cor 9. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flesh against the spirit what ease and content doe wee giue it How doe wee stroake and hugge and cocker it How doe we take thought for it How doe we gratifie it in all things as Dauid did Adoniah Rom. 13. 14. whom hee would not displease from his childhood to 1. King 1. 6. say why hast thou done so 2. This Reuenge is more speciall and it consists in these particulars 1. There cannot bee a greater reuenge then to spoyle our aduersary of his chiefest delight and in stead of that to vexe him with that which is most contrary thereunto Now the flesh in euery one hath some speciall darling sinne wherein shee most delights which is as her right eye in regard of pleasure or as her right hand in regard of profit Now Matth. 5. this right eye must be plucked out and wee must bee reuenged vppon the flesh as the Philistimes vppon Sampson in putting out his eyes And this right Iudges 16. 21 hand must be cut off and the flesh must bee vsed as was Adonibezek Such sinnes as are deerest must Iudges 1. be quite abandoned and the contrary graces must be carefully practised A reuenge it is on our enemy to hurt his body any where but to spoyle him of his eye or hand this is a speciall reuenge The repenting sinner in mortifying the whole body of sinne must do as Cranmer did in the burning of his body he burnt it all but first hee beganne with his right hand So the repentant must labour to consume the whole masse of the body of sinne and bring old Adams bones into ashes but yet let him beginne with the most speciall members thereof Thus did Zaccheus when hee was conuerted His gainefull sinne of wrong and oppression that went first to the pot his right hand went first to the fire Luke 19 8. Halfe my goods I giue to the poore and if I haue wronged any man by forged cauillation I restore him seuen fold Pauls maine sinne was persecution and wasting of the Church and what delight did the flesh take therein but loe how hee practised his owne rule As ye haue giuen your members seruants to vncleannesse and to iniquity to commit iniquity so now giue your members seruants vnto righteousnesse in holinesse As fast as with both hands hee pluckt Rom. 6. 19 downe so fast with both hands he built vp againe The
the euill that I thought to bring vpon them Thus the Nineuites repentance wrought repentance in God God saw their workes that they turned from their euill wayes and God repented of the euill that hee Ion 3. 10. had said he would doe vnto them and he did it not Thus by their repentance was the threatned sentence reuersed A strange thing as Chrysostome hath noted that the condemned Malefactors repentance should repeale the Iudges sentence and a thing altogether vnvsuall in the Courts of men yet in Gods court repentance doth not onely frustrate Gods owne casting sentence but turnes it into an acquitting sentence doth not onely turne backe the euills to be expected but brings the contrary blessings which could neuer bee expected That murtherous and adulterous marriage betwixt Dauid and Bathsheba how many heauy curses did it threaten yet they seriously repenting all curses turned into blessings Christ came of this marriage and Salomon the eldest sonne thereof was the most eminent man for gifts that euer was and in his posteritie did the kingdome continue for many generations Loe how Repentance was more powerfull to draw downe blessings then murther and adulterie both together with their vnited forces to bring downe curses For this is a certaine rule in all vnlawfull entrances into any Calling that After-Repentance is counteruayleable to a lawfull entrance and both keeps backe the punishments due to vnlawfull entrance and sometimes brings greater blessings of God then a lawfull entrance Wouldest thou then keep backe those plagues thy sinnes haue deserued the way is to repent Repent of thy sinne and God will repent of his plagues Gods anger is often in Scripture compared to fire now looke what power the elementary water hath against fire to quench it when it is beginning to flame and burst out the same vertue is in the water of the teares of Repentance to keep the fire of Gods wrath from breaking out vpon vs in his punishments This is the water that can only preuent the burning of this fire 2 Because sometimes notwithstanding our Repentance 2. Remouing God sees it fit to lay some chastisements vpon vs for the furtherance and increase of our repentance to shew his hatred of sinne and for the example of others as in Dauid punished with the losse of his child after his Repentance for his adulterie and in Ionah throwen into the sea after his repentance for his disobedience therefore though the power of repentance appeare not in keeping backe the affliction that it touch vs not yet appeares the power of it in the taking away of the affliction in due time If my people saith the Lord 2. Chro 7. 14. vpon whom my name is called doe humble themselues and pray and seeke my presence and turne from their 2. Chron. 33. wicked wayes then will I heare in heauen and be mercifull to their sinne and will heale their land After Manassehs repentance had broken the fetters of Sathan and his sinnes it also broke the yrons he was held in in prison And repentance was the same to him that the Angell was to Peter which opened Act. 12. the prison and loosed his fetters Loe the Angelicall vertue of repentance So Ionahs repentance was as a powerfull vomit to the Whale and made him cast him vp safe vpon the land Ionah his repentance was as powerfull as the three childrens faith It ouercame the fire of the whales belly as well as their faith the fire of Nebucadnezzars furnace yea it did not ouercome the fire onely but the water also in the Seas that they could not drowne him So Iob repenting recouered all his losses and receiued double riches and possessions 3. If afflictions still abide with vs and we cannot 3. Sweetning and sanctifying as yet be deliuered yet Repentance is a sweet comforter and so brings a mitigation of our afflictions If it cannot plucke out the poyson yet it shall turne it to wholsome food so that affliction shall be as no affliction and according to the Apostles counsell we shall weep as if we wept not If a man feele 1. Cor. 7. the grace of Repentance in his afflictions so that he can go to God and confesse and bewayle his sinnes calling vpon him for mercy and renewing his couenant with him his affliction shall not so much grieue him as this his repentance shall cheere and reioyce him For to say the truth in all our afflictions it is more our sinne then the affliction that pinches vs. Sinne is a thorne in the flesh which makes but the touch of the finger painfull whereas if that thorne were not the stroake of the whole hand might be endured without any paine Now repentance takes away that thorne that is sinne and so makes our afflictions both easy and comfortable None so meeke quiet patient silent and cheerefull in affliction as the Repentant sinner The more repentance the more ease in afflictions Onely the impaenitent are impatient He that hath two burdens on his backe at once must needs feele more trouble then he that hath onely one Now the impenitent sinner hath two burdens his affliction and his sinne which addes weight to his affliction and layes as it were the hand to presse it downe vpon vs. But the penitent sinner hath but one burden his affliction as for sinne the other burden his repentance hath eased him of it Therefore Dauid prayes Looke on my affliction and trauell and forgiue me my sinne Then is Psal 25. 18. our affliction eased when our sinne is forgiuen which cannot be without repentance for it is sinne onely that exasperates affliction and is as salt and vineger to a sore it is sinne that makes it smart Thus did Dauids repentance ease and sweeten the 2. Sam. 12. affliction of his childes death when by prayer fasting and such like exercises of Repentance he had remooued the cause of affliction his sinne his affliction was not bitter and burdensome but his Repentance inabled him cheerefully to rise vp and refresh himselfe And this is the reason why the children of God as hath been shewed haue alwaies in their afflictions afresh renewed their Repentance that they might if not wholy free themselues from their affliction yet from the stinge and torment of it and might gaine if not deliuerance from yet patience and comfort in it for this is the admirable power of Repentance that it turnes euen crosses into comforts losses into gaines and aduantages as contrarily impaenitent lying in sinne turnes comforts into crosses and helps into hinderances Ionah while he went on impaenitently in his disobedience the ship could not saue him nor all the skill of the Marriners but when he once repented then neither the waters could drowne him nor the heat of the fishes maw consume him When he was in his sinne then the windes the seas and all were against him when in repentance all for and with him the Sea and the Whales belly kept him safer then
And on the contrary Paul speaking of the new man framing and forming him in vs. Gal. 4. 19. vses such a word as signifies an essential and substantiall forme And Heb. 13. heauen is sayd to bee a city hauing foundation No earthly thing hath any foundation but are reeling and tottering whence that phrase of the vncertainty of riches 1. 1. Tim. 6. 18. Timoth. 6. 18. Either they forsake vs liuing or we them dying 4. Meditate of the excellent reward of the life to come Wee must goe vp with Moses into Mount Nebo and see the heauenly Canaan and with Iohn into Gods mountaine and see the heauenly Ierusalem and put downe the diuels mountaine with Gods mountaine and his sight with that sight with that sight which is there when wee shall see what better things wee haue in heauen wee shall scorne the diuels offers and thinke our selues disparaged being Gods sonnes and heires of heauen to be offred such trash And therefore the diuell did not heere as in the other temptations say If thou be the sonne of God because that heere it would haue made against him as being a temptation not standing with the dignity of Gods sonnes If wee could but know our owne worth in being Gods sons and the rich inheritance this sonneship entitles vs vnto wee would scorne this world as much as an honest man hauing a sweet and well-fauoured wife of his owne would doe some filthy druggle and blouzie Postquam in montium verticem ascenderimus parua nobis vrbs moenia etiam videntur c. Sic parua videbuntur otiam diuitia gloria c. cum coelestia respicias Chrys ad pop Antioch Hom. 15. 1. Tim. 6. harlot As on the top of high mountaines the greatest houses and men seeme but small so from the toppe of Gods mountaine all these earthly things which heere wee so admire will seeme but meane and small It is because wicked men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Peter speakes blinde and cannot see things that are a farre off such as are heauenly that they fall so in loue with the earthly This remedy Paul prescribes 1. Tim. 6. But thou ô man of God flie these things viz. couetousnesse But how Lay hold on eternall life When our desires and thoughts are in pursuit after these earthly things then should we direct them by presenting this other and better obiect of heauenly glory This last meditation serues also to answer that obiection that God rewards not his seruants fulfils not his promises of this life made to them For though he neuer should as hee often doth remember them with temporall blessings yet they are all abundantly fulfilled in the enioyment of that heauenly glory Iob. 22. 24. and Psalm 91. 16. Iob. 22. 24. Psal 91. 16. With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my saluation And therefore as Hebr. 11. God neede not Heb. 11. bee ashamed to bee called our God as falsifying his trueth because hee hath prepared a city for vs which is an vniuersall collection of all blessings All these meditations layd together and well digested wee shall bee able to answer Sathan in this temptation as the King of Sodome was answered by Abraham Gen. 14. 23. God forbid that wee should take so much as a shooe latchet of Sathan least it should Gen. 14. 23. be said Sathan hath made vs rich Now come wee to the Diuels second proofe from his ability in regard that all these things are his by Gods donation and deliuery so that hee may dispense them where and how he will Where wee haue to consider 1. The Diuels lie with the colour of it 2. His slander 3. His craking First the Diuels lie that God had giuen him all the world and the honours thereof to dispose as he 1. The Diuels lie would This is a very lie For Ps 24. 1. The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof Psalm 75. 6. 7. Psal 24. 1. Psal 75. 6. 7. To come to preferment is neither from the East nor from the West nor from the North But God is iudge hee maketh low and hee maketh high And there was one now in presence who had sayd long agoe By mee Kings doe raigne Prou. 8. And afterward All Prou. 8. 15. power in heauen and earth is giuen to mee Matth. 28. Matth. 28. And who now truely and iustly might haue sayd concerning the deliuery of this power as Zidkiah vniustly sayd vnto Micaiah concerning the Spirit 1. King 22. When went the Spirit of the Lord from me 1. King 22. to thee So when was this power taken from mee and giuen to thee Indeede the Diuell is Gods iaylour and hath the keyes of hell deliuered vnto him hee hath fetters and irons rackes and tortures deliuered vnto him beeing an hang-man and executioner but hee hath not that deliuered vnto him which heere hee speakes off For if it were as hee sayes would hee preferre at any time his enemies to Kingdomes would hee arme them with swords against himselfe Surely Sathan will not bee diuided against himselfe Matth. 12. would hee preferre Dauid Hezekiah and Iosiah to the throne to beate Matth 12. Reuel 2. downe the throne of Sathan Reuelat. 2 would hee preferre such figgetrees to the Kingdome No surely None but Ahabs Neroes and Domitians and such vile brambles that would scratch and tear in peeces Gods Saints Either then the Diuell is a grosse lyer or a most simple foole But the Diuell is no such simple foole as to put a knife into his aduersaries hand to cut his owne throat with And therefore he is a notorious lier If it were as the Diuell would there should bee not onely no good Kings but no Kings at all but Tyrants onely For the Diuell is an enemy to kings because their authority is an enemie to him Iude 18. The cause why the Diuell so ruled then is noted Iudg. 18. to bee this In those daies there was no King in Israel Take wee heede now this being such a lie we beleeue it not The practises of many witnesse against them that they acknowledge the Diuels Lordship for in sicknesse they seeke to charmes and witches for health in pouerty for wealth in obscurity for honour by shifts and wicked meanes If we beleeued that God were Lord good meanes would suffice vs we would seeke all these outward blessings in the wayes of godlinesse and neuer seeke to get them by offending God or otherwise then by seeking him and his fauour who is the bestower of them Thus we see the Diuels lie The colour of the diuels lie Let vs see the colour of it For there is some truth in this which the Diuell speakes and that is this Doct. The Diuels chaine is sometime slackened and God lets him alone in his violent vsurpation and God sometimes lets the Diuell alone in his violent disposing of earthly things disposing of these earthly things and