actions so but he will offend and resist the Spirit of God in them Now why when as all resist God should reject some as they have rejected him and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts and work irresistibly on others who have resisted their God as much and break open their hearts though lock'd and barr'd against him and fill them with quickning grace and pull a Lot out of Sodom by force and draw a soule out of the wildernesse by head and shoulders I say why he should doe it when two are grinding at the same mill take one and leave the other when two are in the same field why the one should be taken the other left when two soules are equall in duties fasting mourning in the way that God hath appointed why he should baulke this and take the other when perhaps that which is taken hath been the least penitent too I will conclude with Dr. Davenant is Sacrum Misterium divinae voluntati reliquendum A sacred and secret mistery to be left to the divine pleasure and the reason lies in the agents own breast It is because he will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy and whom he wills he hardeneth God is his owne reason and his free grace it s owne cause So then we conclude that the soule cannot move one foot to a spirituall action spiritually not by any common grace it must be only by Gods regenerating and saving grace So that to answer yet more distinctly to the Question In respect of Gods exciting and preventing grace if we looke so farre we cannot come but that preventeth us We are as clay in the hands of the Potter we are all dead in sinnes But when the Lord hath changed the soule then it commeth The first motion upon the will is from God before there is any motion of the will unto God but when the will is healed of God then the soule commeth then the soule which was meerly passive before is active and will endeavour to doe somthing for that God that hath done so much for her It followes the drawing of Gods most holy Spirit Draw me saith the Spouse and I will run after thee First I must be drawne but then I will run In the same moment God makes us to will and we will yet all the efficacy of the Action comes from Gods most holy Spirit It is certaine saith Augustine that Certum est nos velle quum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus qui operatur in nobis velle wee are willing when wee are willing but he makes us willing that workes in us to will and to perform Phil. 2. 13. And so he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God drawes but he drawes the soule that is willing Ay but first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he makes it willing So I have shewed what proprietie the soul hath in the Action how she commeth and how willing she is to the motion She is drawne but she is willing to be drawne to Jesus Christ But first she is made willing before she is willing ay and in her life after she is come to Christ in her walking with Christ Non suis confidit viribus she trusts not her owne strength she even then commeth leaning which is the next Branch of the Doctrine I have to handle Though she comes up from the wildernesse she comes up not of her owne strength but leaning First Let us enquire what the expression holds out to us Secondly What is the soules hand Thirdly Who is it she leanes upon Fourthly What in him she hath to trust to and how in every wildernesse she leans and out of every wildernesse comes up leaning I conceive here are foure things hinted in this expression leaning which I may tearme the foure fingers of the Spouses hand which she layes upon her Saviours shoulders First It doth argue that the soule is weary otherwise she would not leane Secondly It is a willing posture I am not forced to leane I do it willingly The soule that comes up with Christ is willing Thirdly It is a posture of love Otherwise she would not leane Fourthly It doth argue a confidence that the soule hath in the Lord that he is able to beare her Otherwise shee would not trust the weight of her soule upon him First it doth argue wearinesse If she were not weary she would not leane Humiliation is a preface to faith and the way to be found is to be lost It is not a leaning of wantonnesse but a leanning of wearinesse O Lord I am sinking into Hell let me save my selfe from sinking by thy shoulders I am falling Lord let me leane whiles the soule hath any strength to goe it is too proud to be beholden to leane Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11. 29. First weary then come First heavy laden then I will ease you What shall I doe to be saved saith the Gaolor O I am lost undone I am at a Non-plus O what shall I doe I am weary for I am farre readier to beleeve that that Voice What shall I doe is rather the Voice of the soul at it's nil ultra sadly sensible of it's lost and miserable condition sufficiently humbled in the sense of it than the voice of a soule thinking it might doe any thing that might be but in the least contributary to the desert of salvation I cannot be perswaded to think that when the Gaolor spake those words prostrated by humiliation at the Apostles feet that he had the least thought that he could throw in so much as two mites into the Treasury of free grace But as it is the ordinary speech of one drown'd in the depth of sorrow O what shall I doe What shall I doe though at that instant they know they can doe nothing to help themselves So the Gaoler in a true sense of his owne lost condition cryes out O what shall I doe he was weary it was time for the Apostle to bid him leane then beleeve saith the Apostle and thou shalt be saved It is but a wresting of the place or mocking it rather to bring it to perswade that duties preparatory were here excluded Surely had not the Apostles seen him humbled in some degrees they would as well have prefixed Repent here as Peter did to them Act. 2. Repent and be baptized Christ came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance He is a Saviour but it is for them that are lost in their owne feeling too And the truth of it is the soule scornes to leane upon Christ so long as it is able to goe alone when it hath never a crutch of merits or duties to rest upon then it lookes out for some rest for it's foot for some shoulder to beare up for some staffe to stay it selfe upon Leaning doth argue wearinesse that 's the first Secondly It doth argue a willingnesse in the soule to come to Jesus
of free grace to speake it with reverence and he desires nothing more then to be delivered in thine heart He is a Sea of mercy and he would rejoyce to empty himselfe by drops into his peoples hearts But why did I say empty Can the Sun lose any light by communicating his light to others When the creature speaks of God he must speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would fill thee and yet continue full himselfe He is satisfied when thou art full He shall see of the travell of his soule and shall be satisfied Thou art not so willing to receive as he is to bestow free grace O then lean upon him Thirdly Consider that canst not dishonour thy God more then when thou art humbled by him for thy sins and cast downe in thine owne thoughts and cal'd to beleeve in his mercies and secured upon his word if thou wilt but trust him If thou wilt not then beleeve in him Surely then thou art of a little faith if not an Infidell Thou couldst not beleeve when thou wert an impaenitent hard-hearted creature Why because thou knewest no need thou hadst of faith Neither couldst thou hear Christs invitation because thou wert not weary and heavie loaden but now that the Lord hath humbled thee now the promises belong unto thee what darest thou not take Christs word Suppose a Traytour were condemned to dye and the King should send a Pardon by the hand of his owne Son to this forlorne wretch and he should refuse it saying The King cannot pardon me what hath he to do to send me a Pardon I know he doth but mock me he meanes nothing lesse c. Were not this a peice of unworthinesse by which he should dishonour his Prince as much as with his Treason before O take heed of provoking the Lord still it is enough that thou hast provoked him once yet he will pardon thee And on the contrary thou canst not honour Christ more then in beleeving for thou acknowledgest the unfadomable depth of his free love and mercy Thou proclamest God to be a God gracious long-suffering a God that may be trusted by the creature which hath deserved nothing at his hand that he is so pure an Essence of love that he will create himself a cause of love where is none And though he coould find nothing in thee to pardon thee for thy sake yet he would pardon thee for his owne Name sake So likewise you that are in any wildernesse or shall be of Affliction Desertion Temptation c. O leane leane T is that which God requires at your hand 't is that which will ease you when you are weary help you when you are heavie laden Beleeving will ease you when complaining will not 't is that which honours God and honours Christ It gives him the glory of his Power and Providence Dominion and free Grace and mercy Christ beleeve me will take it kindly at your hands that you will try him in need and trust him even in despaire though he kills you yet you will trust in him Those that venture upon Death with such a faith cannot dye Those that have such a Spirit must live eternally The way to live is to dye beleeving and the way to stand is to leane falling O come all yee that love the Lord trust in his mercies I have done only I conclude with my Text. O you that are falling as you think into the pit of despaire that are lost in the wildernesse of sorrow Beleeve beleeve and you shall be saved Come out trusting upon God resting upon the fulnesse of his mercy and the freenesse of his grace come out come out leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in a wildernesse of afflictions lean upon Gods staffe let his rod comfort you beleeve that he smileth while he smiteth thee beleeve in affliction you shall have no more then you are able to beare he will let his grace be sufficient for you and all shall worke for your good And come you out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in the wildernesse of temptation in the snare of the Devill beleeve and leane your Christ was tempted and he knowes how to succour those that are tempted leane upon him to beare you up in and to give you an happy issue out of your temptations in which you are in for the triall of your faith and come you out likewise leaning upon your Beloved You that are in the wildernes of Desertion cry My God! though you be forsaken keep your faith retaine your Interest O leane lose not your hold you have upon the Almighty leane in and come out of this your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved Finally All you that are in the wildernesse of sin the worst wildernesse of all Let me conclude with you And once more as the Embassadour of Jesus Christ in my Masters name as if he himselfe were here I beseech you by the many and tender mercies of him whose bowels yerne towards you by his precious bloud which was powred out upon the Crosse for sinners and who knowes whether not for you as well as others as you tender the life happines of your own souls the joy of your faithfull Pastors nay which is most of all as you tender the honour of God come out O come out of your sad wildernesse be humbled and mourne sit downe in dust and ashes that you may rise up adorned with grace and be crowned with glory that you may leane upon your Beloved and O that my first or last words might prevaile with some great sinner this day for whom we might all rejoyce concerning whom we might all say who is this that comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved FINIS A LESSON OF SELF-DENIALL OR The true way to desirable BEAUTY By JOHN COLLINGS M. A. Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Ver. 38. And he that taketh not up his crosse and followeth after me is not worthy of me Printed for Rich Tomlins 1649. TO THE Right Honourable The Lady Frances Cecill the only Daughter of the Right Honourable the Lady Elizabeth Counteise Dowager of EXETER Increase of true Honour and Peace and Happinesse Madam WHen I considered the plenty of Gospell-sheaves which the Gracious Lord of the Harvest hath in our days caused his reapers to bind up I could not but question whemy gleane were worth your Ladiships stooping to take up God hath seemed to empty his treasuries upon our heads that there is scarce a gospell-duty but some or other more eminent labourers in the Lords harvest have undertaken to discover and urge which makes me sometimes tremble to think at what disadvantage they must perish that are yet dead or unfruitfull But if there be any lesson that hath been lesser urged or practised than other it is this of
thee 2. Thee that wert as low as others Adam left thee as deep in hell as any reprobate there Loe here the infinitenesse of free grace Two were in the same house yea grinding at the same mill of iniquity and thou art taken and the other is left possibly thou wert in thy wildest youth seeming to ride faster to hell than the other were that were thy brethren friends and acquaintance yet the Lord hath raised thee and let the others lye wallowing in their bloud he hath not said to them live 3. Thee that wert his Enemy Was ever dying love yea love in dying extended to an enemy before You have heard of two stories one of a Grecian the other of a Roman paire Theseus and Perithous Pilades and Orestes that would have dyed for their friends each for another but hath any offered to dye for his Enemy Moses would offer to have his name blotted out for his people that were Gods people and which he loved but would Moses have done it for a Philistine yet this hath Christ done O love ye the Lord all his Saints 4. Thee that never askt it He was found of them that sought it not Alas mankind lay as well without a tongue to aske as an hand to help themselves and behold Christ pitied them and amongst them thee his love declared from Eternity towards thee had not so much cause in thee as a poore prayer would have amounted to he was not moved by thy sighs and teares but by his owne infinite love 5. Lastly thee that hast still Rebellion in thee Christ said within himselfe when he dyed upon the Crosse Now is my heart-bloud powred out for as vile wretches as any are and for those that I know will requite my bleeding wounds my dying love with new speares and thornes thus he knew that thou wouldst doe in the time of thy unregeneracie yea and after thou shouldst be called too Who lives and sinnes not Now Christian lay these things to thy heart meditate of study out this love and see if thou hast not cause to say My soule and all that is within me my tongue and all that is without me praise the Lord. But O remember Christian Remember Burnt offering and sacrifice he doth not require but this he requires that thou shouldst doe his will O say Loe I come I am ready to do it But more particularly let me point thee out some particular duties that the Lord requires of thee in a poor answer to his rich Acts of eternall love First hath not he thought his glory too deare to lay aside for a while for thee nor his Word and Truth too dear to pawne for thee nor his bloud too deare to spill for thee hath he valued nothing in comparison of thee O doe thou value nothing in an equall ballance with him be willing to deny thy selfe for him who in every thing hath denyed himselfe for thee Thy Lusts cannot be so pleasing to thee as Christs glory was to him Be content to leave them Thy Honour cannot be so great as his was which he left for thee and became ignoble in our eyes Surely when wee saw him we esteemed him despised smitten of God and afflicted Isa 53. 4. But it was when hee was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities when the chastisement of our peace was upon him and that by his stripes we might be healed Thy Riches cannot be greater than his yet remember him O remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sake became poore that you through his Povertie might be made rich 2 Cor. 7. Thy life cannot be more deare than his yet he valued not his life for thee but powred out his bloud his precious bloud upon the Crosse that through his bloud thou mightest have remission purchased Learne hence Christian a lesson of self-deniall Be content to suffer for him who was content to suffer that he might raise thee value nothing in comparison of him This Lesson had Saint Paul learned Phil. 3. v. 7 8. What things were gaine to me I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may win Christ c. ver 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death Looke upon nothing in an equall ballance with him 1 Cor. 2. 2. I determined not to know any thing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Secondly hath Christ entred into a Covenant and given his word to his Father and kept his word with his Father for you O then learne of him Vow your selves to him and keep the vowes of your lips Say with David Psal 116. ver 16. Ah Lord truly we are thy servants we are thy servants and the sons of thy handmaids for thou hast loosed our bonds Say with David Psal 40. Mine eares hast thou opened and bored them Say Ah Lord we come to doe thy will Christ kept his word with his Father for you Ah keep your word with him pay him the vowes which you have made Thirdly Hath Christ to raise you taken upon him your flesh O then Take ye upon your selves his spirit He hath become for you the childe of man doe you become for him the children of God Be made partakers of the divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. Your Nature was full of imperfection and weaknesse the divine Nature is full of perfection and glory He hath raised you be raised put off your filthy rags and put on change of Raiment Fourthly Hath Christ died that he might raise you from the death of Sinne and from the power of the Second death O then dye to sinne Col. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry for which things c. The Apostle Saint Paul presseth the great duty of mortification from this very principle Likewise reckon yee also your selves to be dead to sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 11. and so on ver 12 13. Let not sinne therefore reigne in your mortall bodies c. Ah throw away the nailes that pierced your Christ Fifthly Did Christ rise from the dead that he might raise you from the death of sinne O then rise to newnesse of life The Apostle Saint Paul presseth this worke of Vivification also from Christs Resurrection Rom. 6. ver 4. We are buried with him by Baptisme into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father euen so we also should walke in newnesse of life and so all along that Chapter Sixthly Hath he
intends to marry and will whether she will or no yet he will wooe her and if it be possible marry her will as well as her person yet whether she will or no he will and may marry her for she is his purchase she is his wife in his determination before he hath married her But yet even this simile is lame Every simile comparing the wayes of God with the wayes of man must at least halt of one foot for though this Emperour hath power to force the womans body to the action yet hee hath no power to force her will to be willing to the action The will is alwayes independent sui juris but God hath power not only to marry the soule which he hath bought from being a slave to the Devill but to make her willing to marry him yet she is in Christs decree his Spouse before â—e hath actually revealed his decree unto her so though strictly and properly the soule cannot be said to lean upon Christ in the wildernesse of sinne yet she may be said to be beholden unto the Lord Christ and that thus 1. Every soul hath the like principles of corruption and would act to the full of it's depraved operations were it not for Gods preventing and restraining grace She is beholding unto God for his preventing and restraining grace though here she is meerly passive Secondly She is beholden unto God for his exciting grace The soule heares and fasts and prayes meditates of her owne sad condition though for the substance of the action it is her owne yet it is Gods exciting grace makes her willing to heare fast pray though not his speciall saving-grace yet his common grace But this is not the leaning meant in the Text she leanes here upon Christ but not upon Jesus a Saviour upon God but not as her Beloved And here the soule is brought into a second wildernesse 2. The wildernesse of Sorrow Contrition Repentance call it what you please though I know the later tearme Repentance be controverted by some Yet I know not why we may not say That a man may repent without saving-grace And for that Repentance which they say must be the effect of faith If I were a School-man I should rather call it Godly Sorrow but I desire not to play upon tearmes And for their defining Repentance To be a sorrow for sinne out of the sense of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ it is a definition they have devised for their owne purpose And give them their premises according as they please they would be poore Logicians if they made the conclusion to displease them For from hence they argue If the love of God be the ground and cause of Repentance viz. the love of God manifested and sensible to us we having apprehended it by faith the speciall love of God then faith must goe before Repentance viz. an apprehension of Gods saving love and reliance upon it But I answer the definition which they give us of Repentance is deceitfull it is a definition of a Species in stead of a Genus as we say in Logick As some unwary Divines define Faith to be an assurance of Gods love in Iesus Christ This is true but this is a faith of the highest stamp and many a precious soule is without this faith to his dying day Faith of adherence is another thing as if I should goe to define a man to be a reasonable creature skil'd in all sorts of Learning Any man would understand me that I did not goe about to describe a man in generall but this or that particular man And I say once againe if I were a School-man I should rather call this A godly sorrow and define Repentance in generall to be A sorrow for sin there is the genus and differentia Or if there be required a fuller definition with the ground though I conceive such a definition would be more proper to give of Repentance in it's severall kinds than of Repentance in generall yet we may give it thus It is a sorrow for sinne arising out of the feare of Gods wrath or apprehensions of Gods love And I know not why we may not say That a man may repent without saving grace Bishop Davenant sayes A man by exciting the grace of God may Peccata propria considerare ad sensum eorundem expavescere liberationem ab hoc metu exoptare tremble for his sinnes and mourne for them and desire deliverance out of them and if this be not Repentance I know not what is not taking Repentance for the whole worke of conversion as sometimes it is taken in Scripture but taking Repentance for a wearinesse of sinne and sorrow for it But those of our Brethren here that are so afraid of Babylon that they will run quite beyond Jerusalem so afraid of being Arminians or Papists to ascribe any desert to duties or tye that God hath to concurre with our duties that they are resolved they will not be sober Protestants So afraid of being Heterodox that to avoid it they will not be Orthodox tell us that this is a legall not a saving Repentance It sounds ill to distinguish between a legall and saving Repentance I will digresse a little to rend this Fig-leafe being all they have to cover the nakednesse of their opinion I would faine understand that tearme saving Repentance in what sence they take it the Scripture warrants no such distinction 1. If they meane by saving Repentance such a repentance as merits Salvation or such a Repentance as God is tyed necessarily to concurre with with his saving grace I say no Repentance can be saving repentance No Repentance saith Learned Davenant can so dispose the heart Ut ex merito congrui teneatur Deus gratiam cuiquam infundere 2. If they meane by saving Repentance such a repentance as of it selfe without any more adoe shall be sufficient to Salvation I say againe no Repentance can be called a saving Repentance For Without Faith it is impossible to please God 3. If they meane by saving Repentance a repentance that conduceth to Salvation I say this kind of Repentance let them call it legall or what they please is a saving Repentance 4. If they meane by saving Repentance such a repentance as is wrought ordinarily in such as shall be saved I say in that sense this Repentance is a saving Repentance Now Whether it ought not to be preacht as Well from law as Gospell-motives is a question lyes not in my way to determine only I here my Saviour though he were Gospel it self preaching it from a Law-motive Luk. 13. 2. Except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Let the unprejudiced Reader judge if damnation be not there preached as a terrible motive to Repentance Surely I then may learne to preach from the Best of Preachers and preach Repent or you will goe to Hell Repent or you will be damn'd as well as Repent because God hath loved you Yea and John too
righteous with God to render trouble to them that trouble him we presse God with our sinnes as a cart is prest with sheaves it is his owne similitude no wonder if hee lades us with troubles to the breaking of our hearts when wee take such liberty to break his lawes I am not of their mind that think Saints troubles come not upon them for their sinnes that they come not as law demands for satisfaction I grant that they may come medicinally or meerly for the exercise of faith or patience or some other graces I also easily grant Whether wee may call them punishments or no though I see no solid reason against the affirmative in that nicety I will not dispute but this is sure enough If the Saint were not a sinner hee should not bee a sufferer neither in body nor in spirit nor in his estate nor his relations Death with all the appurtenances of it death both in the egge and bird is sinnes wages sinnes off-spring Saints by their sinnings by their inconstant and uneven walkings are causes of their own sufferings causes of their owne miseries A third head of causes for the Saints troubles may be the world And that 1. In respect of the incertainty of its comforts 1 Joh. 2. 17. The world passeth away and againe 1 Cor. 7. 31. The fashion of this world passeth away Job complaines that his welfare past away as a cloud Job 30. 15. Take what you will of the world it passeth away our friends passe away One generation goeth and another commeth Our prosperity passeth away Job's sunshines had a cloud came over them Riches take themselves the wings of the morning and flie away Now hence of course ariseth trouble when the heart of the creature is fixt upon a Relation and the Generation passeth the parent dies the husband wife child friend or what ever the Relation be it is gone Man goeth to his long home the mourners of course goe about the streets the affection remaines but the object being gone the spirit is disquieted the heart dissetled c. and so for other things Trouble followes of course upon the flitting and passing away of what the heart was let out after 2. The world is also a cause of the Saints troubles In respect of the ill nature of its inhabitants the malice of them Joh. 15. 19. Because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you The world is very selfish in its love it loves none but its own If yee were of the world the world would love its owne The world cares for none but those that are it 's owne it hateth Christ and all that claime kinred of him all that are in relation to him Joh. 15. 18. it hated Christ before it hated the Saints but hating him it hateth those that are flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones Eph. 5. 30. Thus you see various causes of the Saints troubles and so I have dispatched the third thing I promised you The fourth followes What peace is that that the Saint may have in Christ in the midst of this worlds troubles how is it in Christ and what paines hath Christ taken concerning it and how may the Saint get this peace and find it out in Christ and draw it from Christ To this I shall answer and first wee must enquire what peace is Pax est concordia Peace is an agreement say some tranquillitas ordinis a quiet of order saith Aquinas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because it drawes into an unity unio cordium rerum an union of hearts and actions say others tranquilla constitutio animorum ac rerum say others a quiet composure of differing spirits and actions Mutuus consensus say others a mutuall consent betwixt persons All amount to the same peace is a quiet composed frame of spirit amongst divers parties Now as there are many different parties in the world to agree and many different cases upon which agreements may bee so there are different sorts of peace There is an outward peace or an inward peace a peace with men and a peace with God peace with men may be either Politicall with Princes and subjects of different Kingdomes or amongst the subjects of the same Kingdome or betwixt the head and members of the same body politick or amongst men of the same City and Corporation contrary to forrain or civill warres and dissentions Or it may be domestick which is an agreement betwixt Husband and Wife Parents and Children Governours or Servants of the same family or more private betwixt party and party call'd pax sociorum the friendship and agreement of friends and companions c. All these now are the worlds peaces which Christ puts in opposition to his peace Ioh. 14. 27. Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you There is a peace that is properly called Christ's peace It was Christ's legacy hee left it by his last will and testament to his Disciples and Saints hee distinguiguisheth it from all other peace whatsoever Now in generall this is the peace that the Saints may find in Christ in the midst of this worlds troubles it is Christs peace But more particularly what is that what peace is that that the world cannot give that Christs peace This is that peace with God which is nothing else than mutuus consensus Dei hominis an agreement betwixt God and man the Creator and the creature it may be considered in the root and in the fruit in the cause and in the effect in the originall and in the coppy 1. The originall is our Justification in foro Dei in Gods Court A peace betwixt God and the soule by vertue of an Act of Oblivion that the Lord hath passed in Heaven concerning all the sinners sinnes hee hath said I will remember your sinnes no more hee makes them as if they never had beene now upon the passing this Act there is an agreement concluded betwixt God and the sinner the differing parties are one the peace is made and entered in the rolls of heaven God looks upon the sinner no more as his enemy but as his sonne daughter friend in the nearest relation to him From hence ariseth 2. A piece of conscience which is nothing else but the agreement of the sinner within himselfe Conscience that is Gods agent in the soule proclaims no more warre bids no more defiance the man is at peace with himselfe hee dare say to himselfe conscience is it peace and his conscience shall make him answer it is peace Now this peace is but the sealing up of the other in the court of the mans own bosome A coppy of the other taken out by faith according to that Rom. 5. 1. Beeing justified by faith wee have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ this is also Christ's peace Now this peace with God whether considered in the originall
doe it hee hath spoke it and shall hee not bring it to passe and upon such like considerations thy spirit begins to bee composed and to returne to its rest This is likewise a gospell-peace a true made right bred peace This was likewise something which the Church cald to mind from whence shee had peace Lam. 3. 31 32 33. The Lord will not cast off for ever though he cause griefe yet wil hee have compassion c. Shee lived upon the reversions of his love by vertue of his faithfulnesse that stood bound for the fulfilling it In short bee it from these particulars or any of the like nature if thy peace be hatched up in thy soule from a due consideration and application of the nature of God as hee hath revealed himselfe in his word it is a true Gospell peace a peace of Christs making in thy soul 3. If the peace that ariseth in thy soule ariseth from a due meditation and a believing application of any thing that Christ hath done or suffred for thee it is a true peace if it arise from a meditation of Christ dying for thee and washing thee with his bloud from Gods accepting thy soule in Christ this is true peace As suppose that thou art under some heavy burthen of spirit in respect of some outward crosses and trialls and now thou sitt'st down and thinkest well yet my sinnes are pardoned yet my soule is washed with the bloud of sprinkling yet the Lord hath accepted mee in his well-beloved why should I bee troubled this is a blessed peace Eccles 9. 7. Go thy way eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepteth thy work The Lord commands us to be at peace if we be at peace upon this account Rejoyce saith Christ that your names are written in the book of life Or if thy soule be troubled under the sense of thy sinnes and thou knowest not what to doe at last thou resolvest to cast thy selfe upon a promise to venture in upon Christ saying If I perish I perish and hence thou hast peace this is a true Gospell-peace of spirit In short if it be upon the consideration and application to thy selfe of any thing Christ hath done it is true peace Suppose thou hast some grievous affliction befallen thee thou art afflicted in thy body or in thy estate or in thy relations and this is a sad trouble to thee but now thou sittest downe and thinkest with thy selfe why should I bee thus troubled hath not Christ taken out the sting of this crosse hath it any poyson in it is it not a meere fatherly chastisement hath not Christ overcome the world and upon the due consideration of these things and believing application of such meditations thou findest a quiet secretly steale upon thy soule and thy spirit is becalmed this is a sweet peace a peace of Christ's concluding in thy soule this is according to Christ's rule Bee of good cheare I have overcome the world A fourth note by which thou mayest judge thy peace is this If it bee a peace concluded upon thy former experiences then is it a true peace such was Davids peace Psal 119. 52. I remembred thy judgements of old O Lord and I comforted my selfe David many a time made peace with his spirit this way looking over the old records of mercies and concluding confidently from the past or present mercy to the future Psal 116. 7. Returne to thy rest O my soule for God hath dealt graciously with thee If upon this account thou commandest thy soule to rest because the Lord hath dealt graciously with thee it is a signe the peace of thy spirit is right made The Psalmist whosoever hee was whether Asaph or David that composed that 77 Psal when hee could find peace no way he took this course he went and look't over the old records for it Psal 77. 11 12. It may be thou art under heavy burthens in respect of manifold corruptions or manifold temptations or in respect of some crosses and afflictions that are befallen to thee in this world or thou hast been troubled for some such thing and nothing would comfort thee But at last it came in thy mind the Lord hath delivered mee in many a strait I have seen mercy in many a judgement I have felt his upholding power many a time when I was even sinking and saying my hope is cut off from before the Lord why should I distrust him now why should not that God that hath delivered me in six troubles keep mee in the seventh also that it should not hurt me well I will trust in him c. This peace now is a true peace this is a peace of Christs making in the soul Fiftly If faith be a commissioner on thy soules part in making thy peace thou mayest then know it is a true peace Such was Davids peace Psal 27. 13. I had fainted unlesse I had believed to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living his believing kept him from faintings and settled his soule How is thy peace handed to thy soule Christian is it handed by faith is faith the Dove that thou sendest out of the Arke of thy soule when the waters of trouble are high and doth that returne with the olive branch in her mouth Open the windowes of thy soule and let it in never doubt but it is an olive branch of peace Is it a believing a trusting in the Lords providence or promise a believing a closing with God that works out thy peace feare not thy peace feare not any newes for not being good if faith brings it to thy soule faith seeth God sealing before it seales to thee Let that be a fifth note of triall I will adde but a Sixth Lastly Peace after prayer is ordinarily true peace It is not earned by prayer but it is usually a fruit that groweth upon that root and if thine be such rejoyce in it Such was Hannah's peace 1 Sam. 1. 15. 18. Hannah was a woman as shee reports her selfe of a troubled spirit shee goes and powres out her soule before the Lord and the words say her countenance was no more sad no shee had peace her prayer was answered shee had true peace Indeed any temple-peace is true peace any peace that the soule truly extracts out of ordinances is true peace David when he was so unreasonably troubled with that temptation Psal 73. of the wickeds prosperity at last hee goes into the Sanctuary there his soule was stayed Psal 73. 17. Wouldst thou know then whether thy peace be true or no whether it be Christs peace yea or no such a peace as thy soule may trust yea or no and not in thy peace have great bitternesse examine thy peace whence it came examine thy selfe how thou camest by it didst thou in trouble go and powre out thy soule before the Lord and crie mightily to him wrestle with him c. Didst thou wait upon