the shortnes and lightnesse of your afflictions â—n comparison of the farre more intolerable and eternall weight of torments of Hell which you escape and in comparing afflictions with glorie I will point out to you onely the Apostles gradation you shall have for affliction glory for light affliction weight of glorie for short affliction an eternall glorie for common and ordinarie affliction excelleÌ„t glorie And albeit it might be thought that hee had said enough yet he addeth degrees of comparison yea goeth beyond all degrees calling it more excellent farre more excellent for thus he saith Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory Indeed you must not looke at the things which are seene with the eye of sense but at things which are not seene which are spirituall and eternall seene onely by the eye of faith You will say If you did beare afflictions for Christ then you could thus thinke and thus expect but you oft-times suffer affliction iustly for your sinne I answer Though this place principally point at martyrdom and suffering for Christs cause yet it is all one in your case if you will beare afflictions patiently for his sake A man may suffer afflictions for Christ two wayes First When he suffereth for his Religion and for his cause Secondly When a man suffereth any thing which God layeth upon him quietly for Christs with and commandement sake This latter is more general than the former the former must be comprehended in this latter else the former suffering for CHRISTS cause if it be not in love and obedience and for Christs sake our of Conscience to fulfill his will is nothing whereas he that endureth patiently GODS just punishment for sinne for Christs sake endevouring to submit his will to the will of Christ this man suffers that is patiently endureth affliction for CHRIST though he never be put to it to suffer for profession of Christ and if such a one were put to it hee would readily suffer for Christs cause And such afflictions as these thus patiently endured worke also this excellent weight of glorie as well as the other By these and the like reasonings of faith you may worke your soule to patience as David and others have done by casting anchor on God and on his Word fixing their staie and hope in GOD. Let the issue of your reasoning be this I will waite on God and yet for al matter of disquietment praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Thus David quieted his heart when he heard tydings that his Citie Ziglag was burnt and that his wives and all that he had together with the wives children and all that his souldiers had was carried captive and when he saw that his souldiers began to mutine and when he heard them speake of stoning him hee incouraged himselfe in the Lord his God And good Iehosaphat in his desperate condition cast anchor here saying O our God we know not what to doe but our eyes are on thee Thus by the exercise of your hope in God the heart may be wrought unto much patience and quiet in all distresses Thus much be said of the fourth meanes of patience in the several branches of it A fift meanes of patience is observe the patience of others as of the Prophets and faithfull servants of God who are recorded in Scripture and left as examples of suffering affliction and of patience We count them happy that endure saith Iames. You haue heard of the patience of Iob and have seene the end of the Lord that the Lord is verie pittifull and of tender mercie But especially represent to your thoughts the patience of your head and Saviour Iesus Christ whom you pierced by your sins who as a Lambe dumbe before the shearer opened not his mouth Now if you would consider him who is the Author and finisher of your faith who indured such contradiction of sinners such intolerable anguish of soule when hee wrastled with his Fathers wrath then you should not be wearied nor faint in your minds when you are under any affliction If with Christ you set the ioy before you you shall be able to endure the crosse and despise the shame of all persecution for well-doing and shall so runne that race that is set before you with patience that you shal in the end sit down with Christ at the right hand of the Throne of God Sixthly and lastly Pray much for patience waiting patiently for it and without doubt the God of patience and consolation who hath commanded it who seeth that you have need of it who hath promised to give you all your petitions which you make according to his will will surely give you patience SECTION 3. Of bearing afflictions thankefully and fruitfully TO beare adversitie and afflictions well it is not enough that you beare them patiently because you deserve them and because they come from God but you must beare them thankfully chearefully and comfortably because they are as you have heard for your good We doe not onely patiently endure the hand of the Chirurgion and the â—otions of the Physician but wee â—oe thanke them pay them and are glad of their receits though they put us to paine Count it exceeding ioy saith Saint Iames when you fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your â—aith worketh patience c. Last of all unto patience and â—hankefulnesse you must adde fruitfulnesse and growth of grace this should be the fruit of al crosses and afflictions that with David you may be better for them and that you may with â—ob come out of them as gold refined and purged from drosse Therefore God doth chasten you as he did Iacob This is all the fruit to take away your sinne and that you should bee partaker of his holinesse Be better therefore for crosses then God hath his end wheÌ„ after his plowing harrowing and threshing of you hee shall reape the crop of well-doing which hee reapeth not so much for himselfe as for you for the ground that bringeth fortâ— fruit meet for him that dresseth it receiveth blessing from God Alâ— good workes are treasured up iâ— heaven for the doers thereof When you have learned thiâ— lesson also How to bee abasâ— and to suffer need as well as hoâ— to be full and to abound together with all the fore-mentioned directions how at all times and in all things to walke with GOD you shall approve your selfe to be a good Scholler in the Schoole of Christ one of the highest forme a good proficient in the profession of Christianitie one that hath walked far with God and you shal hereby declare that you are neither barren nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Thus much concerning the outward frame and
going to bed at nighâ— my meaning is not to urge thâ—… as necessary as if it were sinneâ— omit any of these particulars bâ—… except better come in place 〈…〉 most coÌ„venient Wherfore taâ—… these Cautions First as I said if other pertiâ—ent more profitable thoughts â—ffer not themselves or if you be â—…rren of other holy meditatiâ—ns use these Secondly the bare similitudes â—nd allusions with all such reâ—emblances which are free not â—ommanded by God but in our â—…oyce to take up from things â—atural artificiall to put vs in â—…ind of spirituall things and to â—…eare our judgements therein â—ust beused with puttinga wide â—ifference betweene them and â—hofe which are Sacramentall â—or the SacrameÌ„ts besides their â—aturall aptnesse to signifie what â—hey doe represent they have diâ—ine institution from GOD whereby to the beleever they â—re through Gods Spirit effectuâ—ll not onely outwardly to signiâ—ie exhibit seale but inwardâ—y to apply and confer the thing signified these not so yet as â—elps to your memory and understanding these are of singular use For our Saviour in his speeches while hee lived upon the earth and in his writings in the holy Scripture is frequent in the use of them as you may observe in the manifold parables and similitudes in the Gospell CHAP. III. Of beginning the day well walking with God SECTION I. VVHen you are thus awake and are risen out of your bed that you may walke with GOD the remainder of the day It will be needfull that you first renew your peace with God and then keepe it by doing those workes of pietie equitie mercy and sobrietie which any way may concerne you that day For how can two walke together safeâ—y especially a weake one with him that is strong except they be agreed And how can any walke with God if hee be not holy in â—ll his conversation You have as much cause to beware of him and to obey his voice and not provoke him who goeth before you in the wildernesse of this world to guide and bring you to his heavenly kingdome as the Israelites had to beware of him who went before them to keepe them in the way and to conduct them unto the earthly Canaan the place which he had promised and prepared for them It was for this that Iosuah told the people that except they would feare the Lord and serve him in sincerity and put away their strange gods they could net serve God they could not walke with him For he is saith he a holy God he is a iealous God hee will not forgive your transgressions nor your sinnes For this cause if unavoydable necessity hinder not Begin the day with solemne prayer and thanksgiving Before which that these duties may bee the better performed it wil be convenient if you have time that you prepare your selfe by meditation the matter whereof should be an enquiry into your present estate how all things stand betweene God and you How you have carried your selfe since you last prayed and renewed your peace with God what sinnes you have committed what graces benefits you want what fresh favours God hath bestowed on you since last you gave him his Tribute of thankes and how much prayse and thanks you doe owe to him also for continuance of the old Thinke also what imployments you shall have that day Consider likewise what ground and warrant you have to approach to the Throne of Grace to aske â—ardon and to aske and expect â—avour and helpe of God Vpon â—hese considerations rightly proâ—ecuted you must worke your â—eart to a resolution through Gods grace to reforme whatsoever you find to be amisse And that you will flie unto and only relie upon Gods mercy in Christ that you will acknowledge him in all things and that you will now seeke grace and helpe of him whereby you may walke as in his sight in all well-pleasing all that day To further you herein doe thus First lay a peremptory charge upon your conscience to deale unpartially plainely and fully in this examination and judging of your selfe Secondly you should be so well acquainted with the summe and meaning of the Law that you may bee able to carry in your head a Catalogue or Table of the principal duties and vices required and forbidden in each Commandement whereby you may try your obedience past and may set before you a rule of your life for time to come Thirdly lest the calling to minde the multitude and greatnesse of your sinnes by the Law should make you despaire of Gods favour you should be so well exercised in the Articles of the Christian faith and in the principall promises and precepts of the Gospell that you may be able also quickly to cal them to mind for the strengthening of your faith and hope in God The patterne of wholesome words should be familiar unto you for these purposes All this need not take up much time you will finde it to bee time well redeemed For first by such preparation you shall keepe your selfe from that rude and rash thrusting yourselfe into Gods holy presence whereof â—ou are warned in the Scripâ—ures Eccles 5. 1 2. Secondly when by this meanes â—ou have well humbled softeâ—ed seasoned and set streight your heart to God-ward so that you can say you regard no iniquity in your heart and when hereby you have called your thoughts in from stragling and have gotten composednesse of minde and inward strength of soule without which the arrow of prayer can never flye home to the marke then you may approach unto Gods speciall presence with more faith and boldnesse you shall be more able to utter before him apt confessions lawfull requests and due thankesgivings more understandingly more distinctly more humbly more devoutly more feelingly more fervently and with more assurance of a gracious hearing all which are requisite in prayer then possibly you could ever be able to doe without such preparation Thirdly this due preparation to prayer doth not only fit you to pray but is an excellent furtherer of a godly life For it maketh the conscience tender and watchfull over you by the daily exercise of the knowledge of the precepts and threats of the Law and of the precepts and promises of the Gospell And it being enforced to examine accuse judge and passe sentence yea to doe a kind of execution upon you for your sinne smiting your heart and wounding it selfe with godly feare griefe and shame a worke to which the coÌ„science is loth to come till it must needs wherefore to prevent all this trouble vexation and smart it will rather give all diligence in other acts which are more pleasing namely it will direct you in the wayes of God check and warne â—ou before-hand lest you should sinne to the end that when you come to examine your selfe againe it might finde matter not of grieving and tormenting but of reioycing comforting your heart
way and affoordeth meanes to attain both through the commands and promises thereof in the doctrine of faith and repentance Now therefore bring your self to the Gospell Try your selfe thereby first whether your first faith and repentance were sound then set upon reforming getting pardon of particular and later offences But learne to put a difference betweene the Commandements of the Gospell and of the Law the Law exacteth absolute obedience The gracious Gospell doth through CHRIST accept of the truth of Faith and Repentance so that there be an endevour after their perfection It would be too long to shew you at large the signes of unfained Faith and Repentance I will for the present onely say this Have you been humbled heretofore and through the promises and commandement of the Gospell which biddeth you beleeue have you conceived hope of mercy relying on Christ for it and thereupon have had a â—â—ue change in your whole man so that you make God your utmost end and out of hatred oâ—… and love unto Christ and â—is wayes have had a will in all things to live honestly and to â—…devour in all things to keepe alwayes a good conscience to wards God and man desiring the sincere milke of the Word to grow by it loving the brethren desiring and delighting in communion with them then be you confident that your first faith repentance and new obedience was sound If upon tryall you finde that they were not sound then you must begin now to repent and beleeve it is not yet too late Touching reformation and obtaining of pardon and power of your particular sinnes doe thus Consider the Commandement which biddeth you to repent and amend Consider the Commandements which bid you to come unto Christ when you are weary and beavie laden with your sin beleeving that through him they shall be pardoned and subdued to this end Consider that Christ hath fully satisfied for such and such a sinne yea for all sinne and that you have many promises of grace and forgivenesse yea a promise that God will give you grace to beleeve in him that you may have your sinnes forgiven Consider that there is vertue and power in Christs death and resurrection appliable by faith through his holy Spirit for the mortifying the old man of sinne and quickning the new man in grace as well as merit to take away the guilt and punishment of your sinne Improve this power of Christ in you unto an actuall breaking off your sinnes and living according to the wil of Christ which is done by mortifying the old man of sinne and by strengthning the new and inner man of grace In mortifying your sinne doe thus Take all your sinnes especially your bosome sins those to which the disposition of your nature and condition of your place doth most incline you your strongest and Captaine sinnes and with them the body of corruption in you the originall and mother-sinne smite at them strike at the very roote arraigne them condemne them in your selfe dragge them all to the Crosse of Christ and nayle them thereunto that is by Faith see them all nayled with Christ to the Crosse whereon he was crucified and beleeve that not onelyin respect of their guilt but also of their raigning power they are al crucified with him dead and buried as is signified to you lively in your Baptisme When you see that your old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sinne should be destroyed you will take courage against sinne and will refuse to serve it sith by Christ you are freed from the dominion of it When you thus by faith put on the Lord Iesus Christ you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Grieve heartily for your sinnes conceive deadly hatred against them displeasure against your selfe for them These like a corrasiue will eate out the core and heart of sinne Make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it but be sober in the use of all earthly things this by little and little will starve sinne Avoid all obiects and occasions of sinne yea abstaine from the appearance of it this wil disarme sinne When you feele any motion unto sinne whether it rose from within or came from without resist it speedily and earnestly by the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God as your Saviour did and as Ioseph did for which cause it must dwell plentifully in you Thus you shall kill sinne That you may strengthen the inner man by the Spirit whereby you may not onely mortifie the deeds of the flesh but bring forth the fruits of the Spirit doe thus First Apply Christ risen from the dead for you particularly beleeving that God by the same power quickneth you and raiseth you together with Christ to walke in newnes of life reckoning your selfe now to be alive unto God being dead unto sinne become the servant of righteousnesse This beleeving in Christ embracing and relying upon the precious promises of the Gospell doth draw downe Christ into your heart and doth more and more incorporate you into him by it he by his Spirit dwelleth in you wherby of his life grace you receive life and grace and so as the Apostle saith are made partaker of the divine nature flying the corruption which is in the world through lust Affect your heart with ioy unspeakeable and with peace in beleeving considering that you are iustified through our Lord Iesus Christ this Ioy of the Lord as a cordiall will exceedingly strengthen grace in the inner man Take heed of quenching or grieving the Spirit but nourish it by the frequent use of holy meditation prayer hearing and reading of the Word receiving the Sacraments by a Christian Communion with such as feare God and by following the motions of the Spirit of God which you shall know to be from it when the thing wherunto it mooveth is both for matter circumstance according to the Scripture the Word of the Spirit This is to be led of the Spirit and this will be to walke in the Spirit and then you shal not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Vpon your fasting day you shal doe well to renew your Covenant with God and in some cases so that it be done advisedly to enter into a particular vow to leave some grosse sinne with the occasions of it and to doe some necessary neglected dutie and to embrace all furtherances thereof This also will much strengthen your resolution against sinne and for holinesse There remaineth yet one principall work wherein a chiefe busines of the day of your fast lyeth for which all formerly spoken to maketh way and by which with the former meanes you may attaine to true reformation of your selfe reconciliation with your
he What is that all no but he proceedeth to this last act of meditation and saith I will have respect unto thy wayes Gods holy nature attributes Word workes also what is dutie what is a fault what you should be and doe what you are and what you have done what be the miseries of the wicked what is the happinesse and what are the privileges of the godly are fit matter of meditating by the direct act of the understanding That which must settle your judgement and be the rule to direct your judgement what to hold for true and good must be the Canon of Gods Word rightly understood and not your owne reason or opinion nor yet the opinions or conceits of men for these are false and crooked Rules In seeking to know the secrets and mysteries of God and godlinesse you must not pry into them farther than God hath revealed for if you wade therein farther than you have sure footing in the Word you will presently lose your selfe and be swallowed up in a maze and whirlepoole of errors heresies These deepe things of god must bee understood with sobrietie according to that measure of cleare light which God hath given you by his Word When Sinne happeneth to bee the matter of your meditation take heed lest while your thoughts dwell upon it though your intention be to bring your selfe out of love with it it steale into your affections and worke in you some tickling motions to it and so circumvent you For the cunning devices of sinne are undiscoverable and you know that your heart is deceitfull above all things Wherefore to prevent this mischiefe 1 As Sinne is not to bee named but when there is just cause so is it not to be thought upon but upon speciall cause namely when it sheweth it selfe in its motions and evill effects and when it concernes you to try and finde out the wickednes of your heart and life 2 When there is cause to thinke of sinne represent it to your mind as an evill the greatest evill most lothsome most abominable to GOD and as a thing most hatefull and hurtfull to you Whereupon you must worke your heart to a detestation of it and resolution against it 3 Never stand reasoning or disputing with it as Eve did with Satan but without any plodding thereupon you must doe present execution upon it by sheathing the Word the Sword of the Spirit into the heart of it and by the deeds of the Spirit kill it And if you would insist long in meditating upon any subject make choise of matter more pleasant and lesse infectious It is needfull that you be skilfull in this first part of meditation for hereby you finde out and lay downe propositions Whence you may conclude who is to be adored who not what is to be done what not what you should be what not But the life of meditation lyeth in the reflect acts of the soule whereby that knowledge which was gotten by the former act of meditation doth reflect returne upon the heart causing you to assume and apply to your selfe what was propounded whence also you are induced to endevour to worke your heart unto that which you have learned it ought to be This though it be most profitable yet because it is tedious to the flesh is most neglected Wherefore it concerneth you which are well instructed in the points of faith and holinesse to be most conversant in this when you are alone whether of set purpose or in your journyings or otherwise You should therefore be well read in the booke of your conscience as well as in the Bible Commune oft with it and it wil fully acquaint you with your selfe and with your estate It will tell you what you were and what you now are what you most delighted in in former times what now It will tell you what streights and feares you have beene in and how graciously God delivered you what temptations you have had and how it came to passe that sometimes you were overcome by them how and by what meanes sometimes you overcame them It will shew what conflicts you have had betwixt flesh spirit what side you tooke what was the issue of the conflict whether you were grieved and humbled when sinne got the better whether you rejoyced were thankfull in any sort when Gods grace in you held his owne or got the better Your conscience being set aworke will call to remembrance your over-sight and advantages which you gave to Satan and to the lusts of your flesh that you may not doe the like another time It will remember you by what helpes and meanes through Gods grace you prevailed got a good conquest over some sinne that you may flye to the like another time If you shal thus take observation of the passages and conflicts in this your Christian race and warfare your knowledge will be an experimentall knowledge which because it is a knowledge arising from the often proofe of that whereof you were taught in the Word it becommeth a more grounded a more perfect and a more fruitfull knowledge than that of meere contemplation It is onely this experimentall knowledge that will make you expert in the trade and warfare of Christianitie Take me a man that hath onely read much of Husbandry Physicke Merchandise Policie and martiall affaires who hath gotten into his head the notions of all these and maketh himselfe beleeve that he hath great skill in them yet one that hath not read halfe so much but hath beene of long practice and of great experience in these goeth as farre beyond him in Husbandry in giving Physick in Trading in Policie in true feats of Armes as he goeth beyond one that is a meere novice in them Such difference there is betweene one that hath onely notions brain-knowledge of Christianitie and in may be some practice withal but severed from experimentall observation and him that taketh notice of his owne experiences and is oft looking into the Records of his owne Conscience throughly to peruse them The experiments which by this meanes you shall take of Gods love truth and power of your enemies falshood wiles and methods of your owne weaknesse without God of your strength by God to withstand the greatest lusts and strongest Divell yea of an abilitie to doe all things through him that strengthneth you will beget in you faith and confidence in God and love to him watchfulnesse and circumspection lest you be overtaken with sinne yea such humilitie wisedome and Christian courage that no opposition shall daunt you neither shall any drive you from the hold you have in Christ Iesus Where reade you of two such Champions as David and Paul and where doe you reade of two that recorded and made use of their experiences like these Wherefore next to Gods booke which giveth light and rule to your Conscience reade oft the
booke of your Conscience See what is there written for or against you When you finde that your selfe and life is according to the rule of God booke keepe fast to that with comfort but wherein you finde your selfe not to be according to this rule give your selfe no rest untill in some good measure at least in indevour you doe live according to it I have insisted the more largely on this point of meditation because of the rarenes necessitie and profitablenesse of it manie of Gods people omit it because they know not how to doe it and because they know not their neede nor yet the benefit which they may reape by it I have indevoured to shew you how That you have neede to meditate Consider that reading hearing and transient thoughts of the best things upon whatsoever occasion leave not halfe that impression of goodnesse upon the soule which they would doe if â—y meditation they might be recalled and be made to stay and â—t sometime upon it Without â—his meditation the good food of the soule passeth thorow the understanding either is quite â—ost or is like raw indigested â—â—eate which doth not nourish those creatures that chew the â—â—d till they have fetched it â—acke and chewed it better Meditation is in stead of chewing â—he cud All the outward meanes of Salvation doe little good in comparison except by meditation they be pondered and laid up in the heart 2. That meditation will doâ— you much good know it by these 1 It doth digest ingraft and turne the spirituall knowledge tendered in Gods ordinances into you and it doth frame and turne you into it so that Gods will in his Word and your will become one willing the same things 2 Meditation fitteth for prayer nothing more 3 This Meditation maketh for practice of godlinesse nothing more 4 Nothing doth perfect make a man an expert Christian more then this 5 Nothing doth mak a man know and enjoy himselfe with inward comfort nor is a clearer evideÌ„ce that he is in state of happines then this For in the multitude of my thoughts within me â—aith David to GOD thy comforts delight my soule And he doth by the Spirit of GOD pronounce every man blessed that doth thus meditate in Gods Law day and night CHAP. IX Of keeping Company as in the sight of God SECTION 1. VVHen you shall be in company of whatsoever â—…rt you must amongst them â—alke with God Directions hereunto are of two â—…rts First shewing how towards â—ll Secondly how towards good â—r bad First in whatsoever companie you are your Conversation in word and deede must be such as â—aâ— procure 1 Glory to God â—2 Credit to Religion 3 All â—…utuall lawfull content helpe and â—…ue benefit to each other For these â—…re the ends first of societie secondly of the variety of the good â—ifts that GOD hath given unto men to doe good with To attain these ends your conversation must be 1. holy 2. humble 3. wise 4. loving First it must be holy you must as much as in you is prevent all evill speech behaviour which might else breake forth being alike carefull to breake it off if it be alreadie begun in your company Suffer not the name and Religion of God nor yet your brothers name to be traduced but in due place and manner contest against either Be diliget to watch and to take all good occasions to utter and to nourish good speech and good motions even whatsoever may tend to the practice and increase of godlinesse and honestie Secondly your conversation must be humble You must give all due respect to all men according to their severall places and gifts reverencing your betters submitting to all in authoritie over you Esteeme your equals better then your selves in honor preferring them before you Condescend unto and tender them of the lower sort Thirdly you must be wise and â—iscreet in your carriage towards all and that in divers particulars 1. Be not too open nor too reserved Not over-suspicious nor over-credulous For the simple beleeveth every word but the prudent looketh well to his going 2. Apply your selfe to the severall conditions dispositions of men in all indifferent things so farre as you may without sin against God or offence to your brother becomming all things to all men comporting with them in such sort that if it be possible you may live in peace with them and may gaine some interest in them to doe them good But farre be it from you to be as many who under this pretence are for all companies seeming religious with those that be religious but indeed are prophane and licentious with those that are prophane licentious for this is carnal policy and damnable hypocrisie no true wisedome 3. Intermeddle not with other mens businesse but upon due calling 4. Know when to speake and when to be silent How excellent is a word spoken in season As either speech or silence will make for the glory of God and for the cause of Religion and good one of another so speake and so hold your peace 5. Be not hastie to speake nor be much in speaking but onely when just cause shall require for as it is shame and folly to a man to answer a matter before he heare it so it is for any to speake before his time turne This is commended to you in the example of Elihu in Iob. Likewise know that in the multitude of words wanteth not sin but he that refraineth his lips is wise 6. Be sparing to speake of your selfe or actions to your owne prayse except in case of necessary Apologie and defence of Gods cause maintained by you and in the clearing of your wronged innocency or needfull manifestation of Gods power and grace in you but then it must be with all moddestie giving the prayse unto God Neither must you cunningly hunt for prayse by debasing or excusing your selfe and actions that you might give occasion to draw forth commendations of your selfe from others This seeking of prayse any way argueth pride and folly But doe prayse-worthy actions seeking therein the prayse of God that God may be glorified in you then you shall have prayse of God whatsoever you have of maÌ„ Howsoever follow SalomoÌ„s rule Let another prayse thee not thine owne mouth a stranger and not thine owne lips 7. As you must bee wise in your carriage toward others so you must be wise for your selfe which is to make a good use to your selfe of all things that fall out â—â— company Let the good you seâ— be â—â—â—â—er of conâ—ent and of thankes to GOD and for your imitaâ—ion Let the evill you see be matter of grefe humiliation and a warning to you lest you commit the like sith you are made of the same mould that others are made of If men
report good of you to your face represse those speeches as soone and as wisely as you can giving the prayse of all things to God knowing that this is but a temptation and a snare and a meanes to breed and feed selfe-love pride and vaine-glory in you If this good report be true blesse God that he hath enabled you to give cause thereof and studie by vertuous living to continue it If this good report be false endevour to make it good by being hereafter answerable to the report If men report evill of you to your face Be not so much inquisitive who raised it or thought-some how to bring him to his answer or how to cleare your reputation amongst men as to make a good use of it to your owne heart before God For you must know this evill report doth not rise without Gods providence If the report be true then see Gods good providence it is that you may see your error and fault that you may repent If the report be false in respect of such or such a fact yet consider have you not runne into the appearance and occasions of those evils then say Though this report be false yetit commeth justly upon mee because I did not shunne the occasions and appearances This should humble you and cause you to bee more circumspect in your wayes But if neither the thing reported be true neither yet have yâ— runne into the occasions thereof yet see GODS wise and good providence not onely in discovering the folly of foolish and the malice of evill men who raise and take up an evill report against you without cause but in giving you warning to looke to your selfe iest you deserve thus to be spoken â—â— And what doe you â—now â—at that you shoâ—â—d have â—allen into the same or the â—â—ke evâ—ll if by these reports you had not beene forâ—warned Make use of the railings and reviling of an enemy for though he be a bad Iudge yet he may bee a good Remembrancer for you shall heare from him those things of which flatterers will not and friends being blinded or over-indulgent through love doe never admonish you Fourthly your conversation amongst all must be loving you should be kinde and courteous towards all men Doe good to all according as you have ability and opportunity Give offence wittingly to none Doe wrong to no man either in his name life chastitie or estate or in any thing that is his but be ready to forgive wrongs done to you and to take wrong rather then to revenge or unchristianly to seek to be righted As you shall have calling and opportunitie doe all good to the soule of your neighbours exhort and incourage unto well-doing If they shew not themselves to be dogs and swine that is obstinat scorners of good mâ—n conâ—emners of the pearle of good counsell you must so far as God giveth you any interest in them admonish and informe them with the spirit of meeknes and wisdome With this cloakâ— of love you should cover and cure a multitude of your companions infirmities and offences In all your demeanour towards him seeke not so much to please your selfe as your Companion in that which is good to his edification Speake evill of no man nor yet speak the evill you know of any man exceptin these or like cases 1 When you are thereunto lawfully called by Authoritie 2 When it is to those whom it concerneth to reforme and reclaim him of whom you speake and that you doe it to that end 3 When it is to prevent certaine dammage to the soule or state of your neighbour which would ensue if it were not by you thus discovered 4 When the concealment of his evil may make you guiltie and accessary 5 When some particular remarkeable judgement of God is upon a notorious sinner for his sinne then to the end that GOD may be acknowledged in his just judgments and that others may be warned or brought to repent of the same or like sinne you may speake of the evils of other But this is not to speake evill so long as you doe it not in envy and malice to his person nor with aggravation of the fault more then is cause nor yet to the judging of him as concerning his finall estate When you shall heare any in your company speake evill of your neighbor by slandering or whispering tale-bearing whereby hee detracts from his good name you must not onely stop your eares at such reports but must set your speech and countenance against him like a North-wind against raine When you heare another well reported of let it not be grievous to you as if it detracted from your credit but rejoyce at it in so much that God hath enabled him to be good and to doe good all which maketh for the advancement of the common cause wherein you are interessed Envie him not his due prayse Detract not from any mans credit either by open backbiting or by secret whispering or by any cunning meanes of casting evil aspersions whether by way of pittying him or otherwise As He is good or doth well in such and such things But c. This but marreth all And to heape up all in a word In all your speeches to men and coÌ„munication with them your speech must bee gracious that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace not vice to the hearers It must not be prophane nor any way corrupt filled out with oathes curses or prophane jests it must not be flattering nor yet detracting Not bitter not railing not girding either by close sqâ—is or salt iests against any man It mâ—…t not be wanton ribaldry lasciâ—ious and filthy It must not be false no nor yet foolish idle and fruitlesse For all eviâ— communication dâ—th corrupt good manners And Wee must answer for every idle word which wee speake Besides a man may easily be discerned of what Country he is whether of Heaven or of the earth by his language his speech will bewray him There is no wisdome or power here below can teach and enable you to doe all or any the forementioned duties This wisdome and power must bee had from above Wherefore if you would in all companies carrie your selfe worthy the Gospell of Christ First be sure that the Law of God and the power of grace bee in your heart else the Law of grace and kindnesse cannot bee in your life and speech You must be indued therefore with a spirit of holinesse humilitie love gentlenesse appeaseablenesse long-suffering meekenesse and wisedome else you can never converse with all men as you ought to doe For such as the heart is such the conversation will bee Out of the evill heart come evill thoughts and actions but A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good
spite all good company and good conference he will cast in matters of jarres difference and discord And because the best men differ in opinion though not in fundamentals yet in Ceremonies and lesse necessary points of Religion and for that they all have infirmities and while the reliques of corrupt nature are in them are subject and apt to mistake and misconstrue one anothers actions and speeches as also the ends of their actions and speeches you will need that this bond of love be strong that it be not broke asunder by any of these or any other meanes but that you remain fast and sweetly knit together in the unitie of the Spirit through this bond of peace I commend this Christian society in brotherly love the rather because 1. there is nothing giveth a more sensible evidence of your conversion and translation from death to life than this 2. Nothing doth more further the increase and power of godlinesse in any place or person then this For let it be observed though there be never such an excellent Ministrie in any place you shall see little thriving in grace amongst the people untill many of them become of one heart shewing it by consorting together in brotherly fellowship in the Communion of Saints 3. Nothing bringeth more feeling joy comfort and delight next the communion with God iâ— Christ then the actuall communion of Saints and the love of brethren It is the beginning of that our happinesse on earth which shal be perfected in Heaven It is for kind the same that onely differeth in degrees And to conciude this subject after that you have beene in company good or bad it will be worth your while to examine how far forth you have hindred any evill in other have preserved your selfe from evill how farre you have endevoured to doe good to others and how much you haue bettered your selfe in knowledge good affection zeale or any other good grace by your company and according as you find let your heart checke or cheare you CHAP. X How a man should carry himselfe as in Gods sight when things goe well with him SECTIONI VVHen at any time you prosper in any thing and have good successe that you may therein walke according to God First Take heed of committing those sinnes whereto man is most apt when his heart is fatted with prosperity Secondly be carefull to produce those good effects which are the principal ends why God giveth good successe The sinnes especially to bee shunned are 1 Denying of God by forgetting him and his wayes departing from him when you are fat like Iesurun taking the more licence to sin by how much you shall prosper more in the world 2 Ascribing the prayse of successe to your selfe or to secondarie causes sacrificing to your owne net 3 High mindednesse thinking too well of your selfe because you have that which others have not and despising and thinking too meanly of those which have not as you have 4 If riches increase or if you thrive in any other earthly thing set not your heart thereon either in taking too much delight therein or intrusting thereupon Holy Iob and good David were in some particulars over-taken with this latter When Iob was warm in his nest he did hatch this secure conceit that he should dye in his nest and multiply his dayes as the sand And David in his prosperity said he should never bee moved But the LORD by afflictions taught them both to know by experience how vaine all earthly things are to trust unto and ingeniously to confesse their error I reduce the good effects which are the principall ends why God giveth good successe unto these two heads 1 professed prayse and thankes to God 2 Reall proofes of the said thanks in well using and imploying this good successe for God First prayse and thanke God For 1 it is the chiefe and most lasting service worship which God hath required of you 2 It is most due and due to him onely he onely is worthy for of him are all things and he is called the God of prayses 3 It is the end why God doth declare his excellency and goodnesse both in his Word and Workes that it may be matter of prayse and thankes also why he hath given man an hart to understand and a tongue to speake that for them and with them as by apt instruments they might acknowledge his goodnesse and excellencie thinking and speaking to his prayse and glory wherfore David speaking to his heart or tongue or both when hee would give thankes saith Awake my glory and I will give praysâ— 4 There is not any service of God more beneficiall to man than to bee thankefull For it maketh those gifts of God which are good in themselves to be good to you and they are the best continuers of good things to you yea Thanks are reall requests and the best security you can have for God will not withdraw his goodnesse from the thankefull This Prayse and Thankes is a religious service wherein a man maketh knowne to God that hee acknowledgeth every good thing to come from him and that he is worthy of all prayse and glory for the infinite excellencie of his Wisedome Power Goodnesse and of all his other holy and blessed Attributes manifest in his Word and Workes and that he for his part standeth wholly beholding to God for all that he hath had now hath and which hereafter hee hopeth to have Prayse and Thankes goe together and doe differ only in some respect The superabundant excellency in God shewed by his Titles and Workes is the obiect of prayse The abundant goodnesse of God shewed in those his Titles and Workes to his Church to you or to any person nothing to which you have reference is the obiect and matter of your thankes These things concerning praise and thankes are needfull to be knowne and observed First Who must give prayse and thankes Namely you and all that have understanding and breath must praise the Lord. Secondly To whom praise and thanks are due Only to God Not to us not to us saith the Church but to thy Name give glory Thirdly By whom must this Sacrifice of thankes be offered Even by Christ onely the onely high Priest of our Profession out of whose golden Censer our prayers and praises ascend and are sweet-smelling to GOD as Incense Fourthly For what must wee praise God and give him thanks Wee must praise him in all his workes be they for us or against us we must thanke him for all things spirituall and temporall wherein he is any way good unto us Fifthly With what must wee prayse and thanke him Even with our soules and all that is within us and with all that we have We must praise and thanke GOD with the inward man praise him with the
in hatred and in wrath as hee doth to his enemies All things works together for good to them that love God therfore whatsoever he giveth to such is in love Fifthly Preferre the honour and glory of God before and above all things that may be beneficiall to your selfe preferre likewise the kindnesse and love of God in the gift farre above the gift it selfe then you will never bee so taken up with the enjoyment of the gift as to forget to give prayse and thankes to the Giver Sixthly unto the former helps â—dde this take upon you with â—n holy imperiousnesse over your soule charge your selfe to be thankefull and sith you have good reason for it take no nay Say with David Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me blesse his holy Name c. Lastly to all other meanes ioyne earnest prayer to God to give you a thankefull heart It is not all the reasons you can alleage for it nor at the morall perswasions you can propound to your soule can worke it though these bee good meanes yea Gods means if you goe about to worke your heart to it in the power of your owne might all will be in vaine For as you cannot pray but by Gods Spirit so neither can you give thankes but by the Spirit Therefore say as David did Renew O Lord a right spirit in me and open my lippes that my mouth may shew forth thy prayse SECTION 2. Touching proofes of Thanks IT is not enough to professe and utter prayse and thankes to God you must give proofe of it First by devoting and giving your selfe to God to be at the will of him who is your Soveraigne Lord who giveth you all that you have who is alwaies giving unto you and alwaies doing you good Pay your vowes to him that performes his promises to you Let it appeare that you acknowledge him to be such a one as you say in your prayses and that you stand bound and beholding to him indeed as you say in your thankes in that you carrie your selfe in your life towards him as to him who only is Excellent who onely is God who is your God the God of your life and salvation and that in all holy service and in all holy living For Thankes-doing is the proofe and life of Thanks-giving and it is a divine saying The good life of the Thankefull is the life of Thankefulnesse Wherfore every new mercy should quicken your resolution to persevere and increase in well-doing serving God the rather with gladnes of heart because of the abundance of all things Secondly Doe good with those blessings which God giveth you For every good gift is given to a man to profit withall not onely himselfe but every member of that body whereof he is part Whatsoever good gift God hath given you whether corporall or spirituall it must be imployed to Gods glory and to your neighbors good as well as to your owne as God shall minister opportunitie If riches and the same must be understood of health strength wisdome skill c. be given to you you must honour God therewith and as God doth prosper you in any thing you must communicate to them that need as to the poore sicke weake simple and ignorant If God give knowledge faith spirituall wisdome abilitie to pray or any other of his rich graces you must not hoard them up and keep them reserved for your owne private benefit but you must communicate them to others and improve them for the good of others for the procuring their spirituall good and edifying them in faith hope and love By communicating your goods and common gifts of God in this sort you make your selfe friends with them against a day of need and when you honour GOD and doe good with any the talents which GOD putteth into your hand to trade with then you make the best improvemeÌ„t of them Hee who thus maketh God his friend in his prosperitte shall certainely finde him to be his sure friend in adversity in this life and when he shall be put out of his Stewardship at death then he shall be received into the everlasting habitations When the more you prosper the better you desire and endevour to be and to doe more good this is an infallible proofe of true thankfulnes and is an evident signe that you walk with God in prosperity as he would have you Give all diligence therefore to learne this lesson how to be full and how to abound But know it can be learned no where but in Christs Schoole and can never be practised but by Christs strength This is it which the Apostle had learned and said he was able to doe it through Christ that strengthened him It is a most needfull and high point of learning to be instructed and to know every where and in every thing how to be full and to abound of the two it is more rare and more difficult then to know how to bee abased and to suffer want which shall be the subject of the next Chapter CHAP. XI How to walke as in Gods sight under crosses in all adversity SECTION 1. EVery day wil bring forth his evill and crosse whether lighter ordinary or more heavy and rare The first sort riseth partly from the common frailties of the perverse natures of theÌ„ with whom you shall converse and partly from your owne as from tetchinesse and aptnesse to take things in ill part Such are discourtesies from those of whom you looked for kindnesse Imperiousnesse and too much domineering of Superiours sullennesse negligence and disregard from inferiours an awkewardnesse and crossenesse in the persons and things with which you have to deale Touching these the Rule is Lay not these to heart too neare you Make them not greater than they be through your impatiency as many doe who upon every light occasion of dislike cast themselves into such an Hell of vexation and discontent that all the blessings they receive that day are scarce observed or can make their lives comfortable Whereas Wisdome should prevent and Love and Wisedome should cover and passe by most of these seeing as if you saw not or if you will give way to any passion at these let it be with hatred of their and your sin which is the cause of these and all other crosses These should occasion you to pitty and pray for them that give you this offence and for your selfe who many times without cause take offence You may if need require shew your dislike and admonish the offender if so bee you doe it with meekenesse of wisedome but learne hereby to warne your selfe that you give not the like offence But whether your crosses and afflictions be seeming onely and in conceit or indeed whether from God immediately or from man whether light or heavie follow these directions 1. Be not transported with passion and choler
like proud Lamech and froward Ionas 2. Be not overwhelmed or eaten up with griefe like covetous Ahab and foolesh Nabal But 3. Beare them patiently 4. Beare them chearefully and thankefully 5. Beare them fruitfully Now to helpe you that passion and heat of anger kindle not or at least breake not out or last not First Convince your judgement thorowly that passion and rash anger is forbidden and hated of GOD. It is a fruit of the flesh A worke of the Devill Bred and nourished by pride folly and selfe-love Also that it surpriseth all the powers of right reason putting a man besides himselfe causing him to abuse his tongue hands and the whole man making him like a foole to let flye and cast firebrands at every thing which crosseth him and that not onely against his neighbour and dearest friends but against God himselfe Consider likewise that it maketh a man out of case to pray heare the Word or to performe any worship to God and unfit to speak or heare reason or to give or receive good counsell God barreth such as are froward the company of good men and saith That such a one doth abound in transgression that there is more hope of a foole than of him Wherfore he must needs be exposed to all the just iudgements of God temporall and eternall By these and such like thoughts worke your selfe to an ill opinion of this vice and to such a loathing of it that you may beware and shun it Secondly Observe watchfully when anger beginneth to kindle and stirre in you and before it flame break forth into tongue or hand set your reason aworke let it step before it to hold it in and bridle it Nay set Faith aworke having in readinesse and calling to minde such pregnant Scriptures as these Be angrie but sinne not And Anger resteth in the bosome of fooles And say thus Shall I sinne against God Shall I play the foole Then you sinne and play the soole in your anger first when it is without cause as when neither GOD is dishonoured nor your neighbour or your selfe indeede injuried when it is for trifles and onely because you are crossed in your will and desire and the like but chiefly when you are angry with any for wel-doing Secondly though you have cause yet if it be severed from love to the person of him with whom you are angry so as you neglect the common and needful offices thereof Thirdly when it exceedeth due measure as when it is over-much and over-long Fourthly it is sinfull when it bringeth forth evill and unseemly effects such as neglect or ill performance of dutie to GOD or man also when it breaketh out into lowd clamorous reviling or sâ—appish peeches or into stamping staâ—ing flinging churlish sullen or dogged behaviour or when it breaketh out into any injurious act Thirdly If you cannot keepe anger from rising and boyling within you yet be sure that you binde your tongue and hand to the good behaviour Make a Covenant with them charge them not to shew it nor partake with it any farther then considerate reason and good conscience shall advise you Set a Law to your selfe that you will not chide nor strike while you are in your scalding heate of anger If there be cause of either deferre it untill you be your selfe If you say that if you doe them not in your heate you shall doe neither I answer that in saying so you discover a great deale of impotencie folly corruption I am sure you never doe them well in passion And conscience of dutie should lead you to chiding and correcting when there is cause not passion for in it you serve and revenge your selfe upon the partie but not God Fourthly Both before and when you are in a chafe See GOD by the eye of your Faith comming in hearing you and looking upon you This will make you whist and quiet causing you not onely to hold your hands and tongue as you finde by experience you use to doe when some reverend friend coÌ„meth in but this will coole and abate your very inward heate and passion Fifâ—ly if you feele your corruption and weakenesse to be such and the provocation to anger to be so great that you feare you cannot hold then if it be possible avoid all occasions of anger remove your selfe but in a peaceable and quiet manner from the person object or occasion thereof And at all times shunne the company of an angry man as much as your calling will give you leave lest you learne his wayes Sixthly Howsoever it may happen that anger doe kindle in you and breake out Be sure that youâ—uâ—dâ—e it before it grow into hatred of him with whom you are angry For this cause Let not the Sunne goe downe upon your wrath you know not what hatred it may hatch before morning And the best means which I know to subdue it is If you finde your heart to boyle against any pray heartily to God for him in particular for his good this you are commanded And be so farre from seeking revenge that you force your selfe to be loving and kinde shewing all good offices of love with wisedome as you shal have occasion overcome evill with good Pray also to God for your selfe that he would please to subdue this passion for you This act of love to him performed before God before whom you dare not dissemble will excellently quench wrath and prevent hatred aganist him with whom you were angry and will give proofe betweene God and your Conscience that you love him If pleading for your selfe you shall say It is my naturall constitution to be cholericke and flesh and bloud will have their course Know this is to nourish your passion Knowalso it is a wicked and hateful constitution of body which came in with the fall And flesh and bloud shall not inherite the kingdome of God Say not I am so crossed and provoked never any the like For Christ was more injured and more provoked yet was never in a chafe And you provoke God daily a thousand times more every day yet he is patient with you Say not It is such an head-strong passion that it is impossible to one who is of a cholericke nature thus to bridle and subdue it For I can assure you that by using the former meanes if a man also do oft and much shame and abase himselfe before God for his passion and folly and daily repent thereof and be watchfull over himselfe he may of a most cholericke man become most meeke before hee dye I have seene it in old men whose age in it selfe giveth advantage to tutchines and frowardnes who were exceeding passionat intheir youth yet through the grace of God by constant coÌ„flict against this vice have attained to an admirable degree of meeknesse Next as carnal anger so
worldly griefe must be avoided in all sorts of crosses For by it you repine against GOD fret against men and doe make your selfe unfit for naturall civill and spiritual duties and if it be continued it worketh death The best remedy against worldly sorrow for any crosse is to turn it into godly sorrow for sin which is the cause of the crosse This will cause repentance to salvation never to be repented of and will drive you to Christ in whom if you beleeve you shall have joy and comfort even such ioy unspeakeable which will dispell and drie up both this and all other griefes whatsoever For godly sorrow doth alwaies in due time end in spirituall joy SECTION 2. Of bearing all crosses patiently IN the third place I told you that you must beare all your afflictions and crosses patiently By Patience I doe not meane a Stoicall sensclesnesse or blockish stupiditie like that of Isachar Nor yet a counterseit patience like Esau's and Absaloms Nor a meere civill and morall patience which wise Heathen to free themselves from vexation and for-vaine-glorie and other ends attained unto Nor yet a prophane patience of men insensible of GODS hishonour Nor a patience-perforce when the sufferer is meerely passive But a Christ an holy patience wherein you must be sensible of Gods hand and when you cannot but feele an unwillingnesse in nature to beare it yet for conscience to Gods Commandement you doe submit to his will and that voluntarily with an active patience causing your selfe to be willing to beare it so long as God shall please like the patience of Christ Not my will but thine be done The excellencie of Christs suffering was not in that he suffered but in that he was obedient in his suffering He was obedient to the death So likewise no mans suffering is acceptable if he be not active and obedient in suffering This Patience is a grace of the Spirit of God wrought in the heart and will of man through beleeving and applying the Commandement and promises of God to himselfe whereby for conscience sake towards God he doth submit his will to Gods will willing quietly to beare without bitternesse and vexation all the labours changes and evill occurrents which shall be fall him in the whole course of his life whether from God immediately or from man as also to wait quietly for all such good things which God hath promised but yet are delayed and unfulfilled To induce you to get and to shew forth this holy Patience know that you have need of it and that in these respects 1. You are but halfe a Christian you are imperfect in your parts you want a principall part if you want patience thus S. Iames argueth implying that hee that will be entire and want nothing to make him a Christian man he must have patience This passive obedience is greater than active it is more rare and more difficult to obey in suffering than to obey in doing 2. You have not a sure possession of your soule without patience In your patience possesse yee your soules saith our Saviour A man without patience is not his own man hee hath not power nor rule over his owne spirit nor yet of his own body The tongue hand and feet of an impatient man will not bee held in by reason But he that is patient enjoyeth himselfe and hath rule over his spirit no crosse can put him out of possession of himselfe Thirdly There are so many oppositions and lets in your race and growth of Christianity that without patience to suffer and to wait you cannot possibly bring forth good fruit to God nor hold out your profession of Christianitie to the end but shall give off before you have enjoyed the promise Therefore you are bid to runne with patience the race which is set before you And the good ground is said to bring forth fruie with patience And the faithfull are said through Faith and Patience to inherite the Promises Fourthly Patience worketh experience without which no man can be an expert Christian this experieÌ„ce being of the greatest use to confirme a Christian soule in greatest difficulties This be said of the necessitie together with the benefit of patience that you may love it and may desire to have and shew it By what meanes you may attaine it followeth First you must be after a sort impatient and must spend your passion on your lusts which war in your members fall out with them mortifie them for nothing maketh a man impatient so much as his lusts doe both because they wil never be satisfied it is death to a man to be crossed in them and because the fulfilling of lusts doth cause a guilty conscience whence followeth impatience troublesome vexation upon every occasion like unto the raging Sea which with every wind dothâ—ome and rage and cast up nothing but filth and dirt And as Saint Iames saith Whence are warres and brawlings So I say of all other fruits of impatiencie But from your lusts that warre in your members Take away the causes of impatiency then you have made a good way for patience Secondly Lay a good soundation of patience you must be humble and low in your owne eyes through an appreâ—eÌ„sion that you are lesse then the least of GODS mercies and that your greatest punishments are lesse than your iniquities have deserved As any man hath abounded in humility so hath â—ee abounded in patience witnesse the examples of Abraham Moses Iob David and others Thirdly Store your heart with faith hope and love all these and either of these do calm â—he heart and keepe it â—eadie For besides that they quiet the heart in the maine giving assurance of Gods love in Christ For being iusâ—â—fied by faith we have peace with God reiâ—yce in hope whence joy and patience in tribulation And who can be impatient with him whom hee loveth with all his heart and strength These graces also doe furnish a man with an ability of spiritual reasoning and disputing with a disquieted soule whereby it may be quieted in any particular disquietment Wherefore the fourth meane of patience is to doe as Davâ— did whensoever you finde your heart begin to boyle and to be impatient you must before passion hath got the bit in the teeth and carried you out of your selfe into height of impatience aske your soule what is the matter and why it is so disquieted within you This do seriously and your heart will quickly represent to your thoughts such and such crosse or crosses stretched out upon the tenters of manifold aggravations All which you must answer by the spirituall reasoning of your faith grounded on the word of God whereby you may quiet your heart and put it to siâ—ence Whatsoever the affliction be that may trouble you you may â—e furnished with reasons why you
drawne and quartered for an offence against the King if the King will be so mercifull that he shall escape only with a severe whipping to remember him of his disloyaltie though he smart terribly with those lashes yet in his mind he can beare them patiently and gladly If you can thinke thus I deserve more punishment in this kinde nay in any other together with this inal other with this one or with these few my punishment is lesse than mine iniquities deserve for I might have beene frying in Hell long since and have beene past all meanes and hope of salvation but I live and have time and meanes to make a good use of my afflictions These thoughts will cause you to say Why am I Why is living man sorrowfull that is impatiently sorrowfull or why doth he complaine saith the Prophet what shall man who is punished for his sinne but not fully to his desert yet complaine for he yet liveth to search his wayes and turne to the Lord and seeke mercy Say with the Church in all your distresses Its Gods mercy it is not worse It is Gods mercy I am not utterly consumed Thirdly When your soule beginneth to bussle and bee out of quiet under afflictions whether inward in soule or outward in body or state consider the nature use of them to you-ward To the eye and touch of sense they are evill and as poyson things hurtfull and dangerous but to the eye and touch of faith they are good as good physicke most healthful to the soule and saving God the skilfull Physician hath quite altered the nature of crosses to his children he that bringeth light out of darknesse so tempers afflictions that they become good antidotes and preservatives against sinne and good purgatives of sinne The core sting and curse of the crosse which remaineth to a wicked man is by Christs patient suffering and Gods mercy taken quite away out of the afflictions of beleevers Afflictions to the godly are not properly punishments serving to pacifie GODS wrath for sinne but are onely chastisements to remove sinne and are exercises of graces and meanes of holinesse For they serve either to prevent evil or to reforme it either to make way for grace or to quicken and increase grace or to discover and give proofe of it God is as a wise and skilful Gold-smith he knowes how to purge his Gold by casting it into the fire of affliction which fire is not the same to the drosse which it is to the gold it consumes the drosse but refineth the gold that it may be fit to be made a vessell of Honour Fire serveth to trie gold as Well as to purge it for pure gold though it remain in the fire manie daies the fire cannot waste it when it is once pure it will hold its waight still for all the burning Hence it is that the Psalmist saith It is good for me that I have beene afflicted that I might learne thy statutes and the Apostle saith All things worke together for good to them that love God He is a froward foolish person who being sicke of a deadly disease doth not patiently and gladly endure the gripings extreame sicknes of stomacke and bowels when he knoweth that this his sicknesse caused by bitter physicke is for his health You will say If you could finde that your afflictions did you any good you should not onely be patient but glad under any afflictions I answer Whatsoever you feele faith in Gods Word will tell you that they both now doe you good and hereafter you shall feele the benefit of it The benefit of Physicke is not alwaies felt the day you take it but chiefly when the Physicke hath done working The chiefe end why GOD tryeth and purgeth you by afflictions is that he may humble you and prove you to doe you good at your latter end Reade Deut. 8. 15 16. You should therefore be patient in the meane time Fourthly If yet your heart begin to be disquieted because of such or such an affliction Consider with your selfe what harme impatience will doe you compared with the good that will follow a patient enduring of it For besides that it depriveth you of your right understanding and maketh you to forget your selfe as I have said even to forget your dutie both to God and man it is the readiest meanes to double and lengthen the affliction not to abate it and take it off That parent which intended to give a childe but light correction if this childe be impatient and catch at the rod and struggleth to get the rod or to get away by force from him is hereby more incensed and doth punish him more severely But if in any affliction you doe patiently submit your selfe under GODS mightie hand besides that ease and quiet it giveth to the soule and experience and hope which it worketh in you it is the readiest meanes of seasonable deliverance out of it for then GOD will exalt you in due time GOD is wise and too strong to be overcome by any meanes but by strong prayer and humble yeeldance to his will Fifthly If yet your soule be disquieted within you at anie crosses that you may quiet your soule you must not as most doe take onely into the one skale of your consideration the waight and number of your crosses together with such and such aggravations but withall put into the other skale the manifold mercies and favours of God both in the evils you have escaped and in the benefits which heretofore you have received and doe now enjoy and which you beleeving have cause to hope to receive hereafter But amongst all his mercies forget not this one which you have alreadie GOD hath given Christ unto you whereby he himselfe is yours is your portion Now if you have Christ you have with him all things also which are worth the having When you have thus weighed unpartially blessings mercies against crosses you will tell me that for one crosse you have an hundred blessings yea a blessing in your crosses and you will say that this one mercie of being in Christ it alone weigheth up all crosses and maketh them as light as nothing giving you so much matter of joy thankes even in the midst of affliction that you can neither have cause not time to be impatient or to repine at anie affliction but to reioyce even in your tribulations And as for the time to come when you thinke thereof you wil with the Apostle Paul when you have cast up all your crosses and sufferings of this presēt time yet reckon that they are not worthy to be compared with the Glorie that shall be revealed in you For they are but short for time and light for weight being compared with the everlasting weight of glorie which they will cause to you if you endure them patiently I will say nothing of
fruit and from love and feare of God and from conscience of the Commandement to doe the will of GOD. Not onely feare of wrath and hope of reward causeth him to abstaine from evill and doe good but chiefly love of God and conscience of duty Now if you would know when you obey out of conscience of the Commandement and from love of Christ consider 1. whether your heart and minde stand ready prest to obey every of Gods Cōmandements which you know as well as any and that because the same God which hath given one hath given all If yea then you obey out of Conscience 2. Consider what you doe or would doe when Christ and his true Religion and his Commandements goe alone and are severed from all outward credit pleasure and profit Doe you or will you then cleave to Christ and to the Commandement Then love of Christ feare of God and conscience of the commandement was and is the true cause of your wel-doing especially if you will and indev our all this when that all these are by the world cloathed with perill contempt 3. Consider whether you can goe on in the strict course of godlinesse alone and whether you resolve todoe it though you shall have no company but all or most goe in the way of sinne and withall perswade thereunto When you wil walke with God alone without ether company this sheweth that your walking with God is for his sake So walked Noah and Eliah as he thought But the cause of an hypocrites well-doing is onely goodnesse of nature or good education or meere civility or some common gifts of the spirit also selfe-love slavish feare onely or the like See this in Ahabs repentance in Iehu his zeale and Ioash his goodnesse Ahabs humiliation was only from a slavish feare of punishment The zeale of Iehu was only from earthly ioy and carnall policy for had it beene in zeale for God he would as well have put downe the Calves at Dan and Bethel as to stay the Priests of Baal And the goodnes of Ioash it was chiefly for Iehoiada's sake whom he reverenced and to whom he held himselfe beholding for his kingdome and not for Gods sake For the Scripture saith that after Iehoiadans death his Princes sollicited him and hee yeelded and fell to Idolatry and added this also he commanded Zechariah the High Priest Iehoiada's sonne to be slaine because hee in the name of the Lord reproved him for his sinne Secondly the upright mans actions as they come from a good beginning so they are directed to a good end he propoundeth the pleasing of God and the glory of his Name as the direct chiefe and utmost end not as if a man might not have respect to himselfe and to his neighbour also propounding to himselfe his owne and his neighbours good as one end of his actions somtimes but these must not bee propounded either onely or chiefly or as the farthest and utmost marke but onely as they are subordinate to these chiefe ends and doe lye directly in the way to procure Gods glory For so farre forth as a mans health and well-fare both of body and soule lyeth directly in the way to glorifie God hee may in that respect ayme at them in his actions Our Saviour Christ in an inferiour and secondary respect aymed at his owne glory and at the salvation of man in the worke of mans redemption When he said Glorifie thy Son and prayed that his Church might be glorified here he had respect unto himselfe and unto man But when he said that thy Sonne may glorifie thee here he made Gods glory his utmost end and the only marke which for it selfe hee aymed at The upright mans ayme at his owne and at his neighbours goods is not for themselves as if his desire ended there but in reference to GOD the chiefe Good and the highest end of all things Indeed such is GODS wisedome and goodnes that he hath set before man evill and good Evill that followeth upon displeasing and dishonouring him by sinne that man might feare and avoyd sinne Good and recompēce of reward that followeth upon faith and indevour to obey that he might hope and be better induced to beleeve and obey This GOD did knowing that man hath need of all reasonable helps to affright him from evill and to allure him to good Now God having set these before man man may and ought for these good purposes to set them before himselfe Yet the upright man standeth so straight and onely to God that so farre as he knoweth his owne heart he thus resolved that if there were no feare of punishment nor hope of reward if there were neither Heaven or Hell he would indevour to please and glorifie GOD even out of that duty hee oweth to him and out of that high and awful estimation which he hath of Gods Soveraigntie and from that entire love which hee beareth unto him He that ordinarily in doing of common and earthly businesse though they concerne his owne good hath a will to doe them with an heavenly mind and to an heavenly end principally certainly hee standeth well and uprightly resolved albeit intemptations and feares he doth not alwayes feele the said resolution But the hypocrite not so hee onely or chiefly aymeth at himselfe and in his aime serveth himselfe in all that he doth If he looke to GODS will and glory as sometimes he wil pretend he maketh that but the by and not the main he seeketh Gods will and glory not for it selfe but for himselfe not for Gods sake but for his owne Thus did Iehu Sixthly An upright man may know hee is upright by the effects that follow upon his well-doing First his chiefe inquiry is and hee doth observe what good commeth by it and what glory God hath had or may have rather then what earthly credit and benefit hee hath gotten to himselfe Or if this latter thrust in it selfe before the other as it will oft-times in the best he is greatly displeased with himselfe for it The hypocrit not so all that he harkeneth after is pleased with after hee hath done a good deed is what applause it hath amongst men c. Secondly when an upright man hath done a prayse-worthy action he is not puft up with pride and high conceit of his owne worth glorying in himselfe but hee is humbly thankefull unto God Thankefull that God hath enabled him to doe any thing with which he will be wel-pleased and accept as well done Humble and low in his eyes because of the manifold failings in that good worke and because he hath done it no better and because whatsoever good hee did it was by the grace and power of God not by any power of his own Thus David shewed his uprightnesse in that solemne thanksgiving when hee said But who am I and what is my people that wee should bee able to offer
exercises of Religion and the company of those that be religious ignorantly judging all of that Religion to be such Besides Hypocrisie is high treason against God for it is a guilding over and setting the Kings stampe upon base mettall It is tempting and mocking of God to his face A sinne so abominable that his holy justice cannot indure it Fourthly Gods judgements on such hypocrites are manifold For this cause God giveth them over to beleeve lyes even Popery or any other damnable error or heresie Hence it is that God giveth them over many times to fall from good in seeming to evill in profession and thence from evill to worse even unto finall Apostasie And at last when God taketh away an Hypocrites soule he is sure not onely to lose his Hope which addeth much to his Hell but to be made to feele that which he would not feare being ranked with those Sinners which shal be punished with the greatest severity in the eternall vengeance of Hell-five For after that an hypocrite hath played the civill and religious man for a while upon the Stage of this World his last Act when his life is ended is to be in deed and to act to the life the part of an incarnate and tormented Devill He shall have his portion with the Divell and his Angels When feare hath surprised the Hypocrites who shall dwell with devouring fire Who shall dwell with everlasting burning Saith the Prophet Happy were it for them if this warning might fright them out of this their sinne Consider likewise that Hypocrisie doth much harme even there where it doth not raigne and that more or lesse according as it is more or lesse mortified For first it bringeth the soule into a generall consumption of grace no sinne more Secondly it blindeth the minde and insensibly hardeneth the heart no sinne more Thirdly it maketh a man slight and overt in the best actions Fourthly it causeth fearefull declinations and falling backe Fifthly it deprives a man of peace of Conscience in such sort that a spirituall Physician can hardly fasten any hope or comfort upon him on whose Conscience doth lye the guilt of hypocrisie yea hardly upon him that doth but feare he is guilty For he putteth off al the remembrances of his good affections and actions saying all that I did was but in hypocrisie Sixthly and lastly Besides that it bringeth many temporall iudgements it causeth that a man loseth many of his good workes done in Hypocrisie though through Gods mercie hee lose not himselfe which not losing himselfe is because he is found in Christ Christs Spirit of uprightnesse raigning in him Now to induce you to love Vprightnesse and to labour to be upright Consider the good which accompanieth uprightnesse First temporall and outward but secondly and chiefly that which is spirituall eternall and inward Vprightnesse hath the promises of this life It is a meanes to keepe off Iudgements or in due time to remove them If affliction like a darke night overspread the upright for their correction and tryall for a time yet light is sowne for them and in due time will arise unto them The upright caÌ„not want health wealth friends or any thing that can be good for them Moreover this uprightnesse doth not onely provide well for a mans selfe but if any thing can leave a blessing and a good portion to his Children and to his Childrens Children Vprightnes will The holy Ghost saith the generation of the upright shall be blessed The spirituall blessings which belong to the upright are manifold The upright man is Gods faverite even his delight Hee is hereby assured of his Salvation For although an upright man may fall into many grievous sinnes yet presumptuous sinnes shall not reigne over him he shall be kept from the great transgression he shal never sinne the sinne unto death Yea hee shall be kept from the dominion of every sinne By uprightnes a man is strengthened in the inward man it being that Girdle that buckleth and holdeth together the maine peeces of the complete armor Nay it is that which giveth proofe to every piece of that armour it strengthneth the backe and loynes yea the very heart of him that is begirt with it Hee that is upright is sure to haue his prayers heard and to be made able to profit by the Word of God and by all his holy Ordinances Doe not my words saith God doe good to him that walketh uprightly The upright mans services to God in prayer hearing receiving Sacraments c. though performed with much weakenesse and imperfections shal through Christ bee accepted of God Nay where there is not power the will of an upright man is taken for the deed and where there is power and deed both even there the uprightnesse and readines of the will is taken for more than the deed according to that commendation of them who were said not onely to doe but to be willing a yeare agoe For many do good things which yet doe them not with an upright will and ready minde 6 The upright man hath alwayes matter â—f boldnesse before men He can make an Apologie and Defence for himselfe against the slanders of wicked men and against the accusations of Satan who are ready upon every slight occasion to hiâ— him in the teeth and say he is an hypocrite and that all which he doth is but in hypocrisie but hee can gave all them thelyâ— that charge him with dissimulation or hypocrisie He knoweth more of his hypocrisie than they can tell him he findeth fault with it and accuseth himselfe for it more than they can doe yet this he can say hee alloweth it not he hateth it and his hart is upright towards God He careth not though adversariâ—t write a booke against him Iob 19. 2â— 24 25. He hath his defence if men will receive it they may if not he dareth to appeale to Heaven For his Record is on high Hee hath alwayes a witnesse both within him and in Heaven for him 7. Vprightnesse is an excellent Preventer and Curer of despaire arising from accusations of Conscience even of a wounded Spirit of which Salomon saith Who can beare it For either it keepeth it off Iob 27 5 6. Or if it be wounded this Vprightnesse in beleeving and in willing to reforme and obey is a most soveraigne meanes to cure and quiet it or at least it will allay the extremitie of it Not but that an upright man may have trouble of minde and that in some extremitie but he may thanke himselfe for it because he will not see acknowledge that Vprightnesse which he hath and doth not apply it nor cherish it which if he wold doe there is nothing would answer the accusations of his accusing Conscience nor bring more feeling comfort to the soule soo ner or better than this will 8
fulfill their pennance injoyned if they be devout in certaine superstitions in their will-worship and voluntary religion their conscience is quiet for a time notwithstanding their soule and blacke sinnes even their abominable Idolatries I do these to wit that all this is but a blindfolding smothering and stupifying the conscience for a time laying a double and a farre greater guilt upon it it is farre from being any meanes truly to pacifie it For how can any man have true peace from any or from all such actions as are in themselves an actuall denying of the true head of the Church Iesus Christ and are a cleaving to a false head which is Antichrist And how can any man merit for himselfe when our Saviour saith when hee hath done all that is commanded hee is an unprofitable servant and hath done but his dutie which thing hee must say and acknowledge All these before mentioned build their hopes upon false grounds Those that follow build their presumptuous false hopes upon a misse-application of true grounds 7. Many acknowledge that they have sinned doe deserve eternall damnation but they say God is mercifull therefore their heart is quiet without all feare of Condemnation It is most true that God is most mercifull but how Know hee is not necessarily mercifull as if he could not choose but shew it to all men Hee is voluntarily mercifull shewing mercy onely to those unto whom he will shew mercie God could and did hate and in his justice comdemne Eâ—au notwithstanding his love and mercy to Iacob God is all iustice as well as all mercy but he hath his severall obiects of justice and mercy and hath his severall vessels of wrath and mercy into which respectively hee doth powre his wrath or mercy When God speaketh of obstinate sinners he saith that hee will not â—e mercifull to their iniquities and saith againe Hee that made them will not have mercy on them And David prayeth with a Propheticall Spirit saying to God Be not mercifull to wicked transgressours And who are these but such as hate to be reformed who are presumptuous and turne the grace of God into wantonnesse Now concerning them that alwayes erre in their heart hee hath in effect sworne that hee will shew them no mercy For hee hath sworne that they shall not enter into his rest 8. Some others goe farther they acknowledge that GODS Iustice must be satisfied and they thinke it is satisfied for them they dreaming of universall redemption by Christ who indeed is said to dye to take away the sinnes of the world This causeth their conscience to be quiet notwithstanding that they live in sinne It must be granted that Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all This ransome may be called generall and for all in some sense but how namely in respect of the common nature of man which he tooke and of the common cause of mankinde which hee undertooke and for that in it selfe it was of sufficient price to redeeme all men and it was paide in such sort that it is appliable to al without exception by the preaching and ministry of the Gospell And it was so intendedby Christ that the plaster should be as large as the sore and that there should be no defect in the remedy that is in the price or sacrifice of himselfe offered upon the Crosse by which man should be saved but that all men and each particular man might in that respect become saveable by Christ Yet doth not the salvation of all men necessarily follow hereupon nor doth it follow that all men may be saved if they will nor yet must any part of the price which CHRIST paid be held to be superfluous though many be not saved by it For it being of infinite value because he was the eternall son of God that suffered and so it was to be because he was to feele the wrath of an infinite God it receiveth not the consideration of more or lesse And the whole price and merits of Christ are not to bee applied by parts but the whole merit is to bee applyed to each particular maÌ„ that shal be saved But know that the application of the remedy and the actuall fruit of this all-sufficient ransom redoundeth to those which are saved onely by that way and meanes which God was pleased to appoint which for men of yeares iâ— faith by which Christ is actually applyed Which condition many to whom the Gospell doth come make impossibleto themselves through a wilfull refusing of the Gospell and saluation it selfe by Christ upon those termes which God doth offer it Vpon this sufficiency of Christs ransome and intention of God and Christ that it should be sufficient to save all is founded that generall offer of Christ to all and to each particular man to whom the Lord shall please to reveale the Gospell likewise that universall precept of the Gospell commanding every man to repent and beleeve in Christ Iesus as also the universall promise of salvation made to every one that shall beleeve in Christ Iesus Although in an orthodox sense â—ightly understood Christ may be said to have dyed for all yet let not every one nor any one presently presume he shall be saved For God did intend this all-sufficient price for all otherwise to his elect in Christ than to those whom he passed by not elected for he intended this not only out of a generall and common love to mankinde but out of a peculiar love to his Elect. He gave not Christ equally and alike to save all and Christ did not so lay downe his life for the Reprobate as for the Elect. Christ so dyed for all that his death might be applyable to all He so dyed for the Elect that his death might be actually applied unto them He so dyed for all that they might have an object of faith and that if they should beleeve in Christ they might be saved But he so died for the Elect that they might actually beleeve and bee saved Hence it is that Christs death becommeth effectuall to them and not to the other though sufficient for all Now that many beleeve not they having â—he means of saith the fault is in themselves through their wilfulnesse or negligence but that any beleeve to Salvation it is of Gods grace attending his Election and Christs dying out of his especiall love for them and not of the power of mans free will God sending his Gospell and giving the grace of faith new obedience to those whom of his free grace he hath ordained to eternall life both where he pleaseth and when he pleaseth Furthermore it must be considered that notwithstanding the all-sufficiencie of Christs death whereby the new Covenant of grace is ratified and confirmed the Covenant is not absolute but conditionall Now what GOD prodoundeth conditionally no man must take absolutely For God
strength and meanes be fully imployed in some lawfull businesse 5. Out of the fit the party thus affected must not oppresse his heart with feare of falling into it againe any more then to quicken him to prayer and to cause him to cast himselfe upon God 6. Out of the fits and in them also if the partie distempered be capable spirituall counsell is to be given out of GODS Word wisely according as the partie is fit for it whether to humble him if he hath not beene sufficiently humbled or to build him up and comfâ—â—â— him if he be already humbled 7. Lastly remember alwayes that when the troubled person is himselfe that he be moved to prayer and that others then pray much with him and at all times pray much for him When these troubles are mixt comming partly from naturall distemper and partly from spirituall temptation then the remedie must be mixt of helpes naturall and spirituall What the natural helps are hath bin shewne also what the spirituall in generall and shall be shewed more particularly in removing false feares rising from spirituall temptations The feares which rise for the most part from distemper of body may be knowne from those which for the most part or onely rise from the spirituall temptation thus When the first fort are clearely resolved of their doubts and brought unto some good degree of chearefulnesse and coÌ„fort they will yet it may be within a day or two sometimes within an houre or two upon every slight occasion and discouragement returne to their old complaints and will need the same meanes to recover them againe But those whose trouble is meerly out of spirituall temptation and trouble of conscience although for the time it is very grievous and hardly removed and sometimes long before they receive a satisfying answer to their doubts yet wheÌ„ once they receive satisfaction and comfort it doth hold and last untill there fall out some new temptation and new matter of feare This is because their Phantasies and memories are not disturbed in such sort as the others were The seeming grounds of feares that a man is not in state of grace when yet he is are for varietie almost infinite I have reduced them into this order and unto these heads First they who are taken with false feares will say their sinnes be greater than can be pardoned Secondly when they are driven from that they say then that they feare GOD will not pardon When they are driven from this by causing them to take notice of the signes of Gods actual love to them which give proofe that he will save them Then Thirdly they will question the truth of Gods love and favour But being put upon the ttyall whether God hath not already justified them and given them faith in Christ which are sufficient proofes of his love then Fourthly they will seeme to have grounds to doubt whether they have faith from which they are driven by putting them to the tryall of their Sanctification then Fifthly they doubt and will obiect strongly that they are not sanctified which being undeniably proved then Sixthly and lastly they feare they shall fall away and not persevere to the end Which feare being taken away also and all is come to this good issue they shall have no cause of disquiet feare This is the easiest most familiar and the most naturall method so farre as I can conceive both in propounding and in removing false feares SECTION 2. Removing false feare rising from thoughts of the greatnesse of punishment and sinne FIrst some in their fits of despaire speake almost in Cains words saying that their punishment which they partly feele and which they most of all feare is greater than they can beare or than can be forgiven I answer such If sense and feare of wrath and punishment be your trouble I would have you not to busie your thoughts about the punishment but divert them and pitch them upon your sinnes which are the onely cause of punishment for get your sinnes off and in one the same worke you get off and free your selfe from the punishment Labour therefore that your heart may bleed with godly sorrow for sin cry out as David did against his sinne so doe you against yours confesse them to GOD strike at the root of sinne at the sinne of your nature wherein you were conceived aggravate your actuall sinnes hide none spare none finde out arraigne accuse condemne your sinnes and your selfe for them grow first into utter detestation of your sinnes which have brought present punishment and a sense and feare of the eternall vengeance of hell fire then likewise grow into a dislike with your selfe for sinne loath your selfe in your owne sight for your iniquities and for your abominations Now when you are as a prisonerat the barre who hath received sentence of condemnation when you are in your owne apprehension a damned wretch fearing every day to be executed Oh then it concerneth you and it is your part and duty to runne to GOD the King of Kings whose name and nature is to forgive iniquity transgression and sinnes and that you may be accepted goe to him by Iesus Christ whose Office is to take away your sinnes and to present you without sinne to his father whose Office is also to procure and sue out your pardon Wherefore in Christs name pray and aske pardon of God for his Sonne Iesus Christs sake and withall bee as earnest in asking grace and power against your sinne that you may serve him in all well-pleasing Doe this as for your life with all truth and earnestnesse then you may nay must beleeve that God for Christs sake hath pardoned your sinne and hath done away the punishment of your sinne For this is according to the Word of Truth even as true as God is who hath Commanded you to doe thus and to beleeve in him But some will Reply this putting me unto a consideration of my sinnes breedes all my woe and feare for I finde them greater and more than can be pardoned Oh Say not so for you can hardly commit a greater sinne than indeed to thinke and to say so It is blasphemy against GOD yet this sinne if you will follow GODS Counsell and all other may and shall be pardoned I intend not to extenuate and lessen your sinne but you must give me leave to magnifie Gods truth and mercy and to extoll Christs love and merit Howsoever it is true that because sinne is a transgression of a law of infinite holinesse and equity in respect of the evil disposition of the heart is of infinite intention would perpetuate it selfe infinitely if it had time and meanes and because God the object and Person against whom sinne is committed is infinite therefore sinne must needes contract an infinite guilt and deserve infinite punishment which the very least sinne doth yet because the subiect of sinne the man that sinneth is
Ministers cannot say yea and that such an instruction and such a promise in the Word did helpe him then you conclude that you are incurable But last of all let it be supposed that your case is worse than any bodies else Is there not a soveraigne Balme in Gods Word a Catholicon that will heale all spirituall diseases Gods Word is like himselfe to a beleever an Omnipotent Word Is any thing too hard for the LORD Neither is there any spiritual disease too hard for his Word When Christ healed the people with his Word did it not heale even such the like whereof were never knowne to be cured before They made no question whether he cured the like before Indeede Martha failed in this for she said of her brother Lazarus being dead LORD he stinketh for he hath beene dead foure dayes she conceived her brothers case to be desperate and that none in his case could be raised But Christ did blame her for want of faith and by his Word hee did as easily raise Lazarus from being dead so long as hee did cure Peters wiues mother sicke but of an ague It is not greatnesse of any mans distres whatsoever that can hinder from helpe and comfort but onely as then in curing mens bodies so now in curing and comforting mens soules nothing hinders the cure but the greatnesse of the unbeliefe of the party to be cured for all things are possible to him that beleeveth You will yet Reply indeed here lyeth the difficultie in the unbelife Well be it so If unbeliefe be your disease and trouble doe you thinke that God cannot cure you of unbeliefe as well as of any other sinne But know that if with him in the Gospell you feele your unbeliefe and complaine of it and confesse it unto GOD saying Lord I have cause to beleeve Lord I doe I would beleeve helpe thou my unbeliefe if withall you will waite untill GOD give you power to beleeve and to enjoy comfort in beleeving for faith maketh no haste this same is both to beleeve in truth and is a certaine meanes to increase in beleeving Wherefore let not Sathan nor yet a fearefull heart make you to judge your case to be desperate and remedilesse either in respect of Gods power or will though you yet be in distresse and doe feele in you much feare and unbeliefe Seeke to God and with patience waite the good time of deliverance and comfort and in due time you shall have helpe and comfort as well as any other There are yet some that feare God doth not love them because they have prayed oft and much but God rejected their prayers and hath not heard them There are many just causes why God may reject or at least not grant your prayers and yet may love your persons For first It may be you aske amisse either asking things unlawfull or asking things inconvenient for the present or in asking to have good things temporall or spirituall in that quantity degree which GOD doth not hold fit for you as yet or you aske good things to an ill end as to satisfie some lust as pride voluptuousnesse covetousnesse or some other or it may bee you might aske onely with a naturall desire or if with spirituall yet you did it but faintly without fervor or lastly though you failed in neither of the former yet you failed in this you were doubtfull you did not aske in faith you did not beleeve you should have the things so asked Whosoever doe thus faile in asking let them not thinke ever to receive any thing in favour from the LORD And it is a fruit of Gods love when he doth not answer prayers so made For it will cause you to seeke him and to pray to him in a better manner that you may be heard Secondly God doth many times in love and mercy heare his childrens praiers when they thinke he doth not God heareth prayers many wayes you must observe this else you will judge that he doth not heare your praiers when yet indeed he doth Sometimes yea alwaies when it is good for you he giveth the vâ—râ— thing which you pray for Someâ—â—â—â—s hee giveth not that thing which you aske but some thingâ—s good nay much better As when you aske corporall and temporall good things he denyeth to grant them but in stead therof doth give you things spirituall and eternall likewise when you aske grace in some special degree such as joy or comfort in God or the like it may please him not to let it appeare that hee giveth the same unto you but in stead thereof he doth enlarge your desires and he giveth humility and patience to wait his leisure which will doe you more good than that which you prayed for So likewise when you pray that GOD would rid and ease you of such or such a temptation God doth not alwayes rid and ease you of it but he in stead thereof giveth you strength to withstand it and keepeth you that you are not overcome by it thus Christ was heard in that which he feared so he said to the Apostle My grace is sufficient for thee Which is better than to have your particular request For now GODS power is seene in your weakenesse and God hath the glory of it and you hereby have experience of GODS power which experienceis of excellent use Likewise you may desire to have such or such a crosse removed yet God may suffer the crosse to remaine for a time but he giveth you stâ—ength and patience to beare it wisedome and grace to be lesse earthly and more heavenly minded by reason of it There was never any that with an holy and humble heart made lawfull requests according to the wil of Christ beleeving he should be heard but though he were a man of many failings in himselfe and did discover many weaknesses in his prayer was heard in that hee prayed either in what he did ask or in what he should rather have asked either in that very thing or in a better I would have you leave objecting and questioning whether God love you Consider this Hath hee not loved you that hath given his onely be gotten Sonne for you and to you who hath washed you with his bloud having given him to dye for your sinnes and to rise againe for your iustification and hath hereby translated you into the kingdome of his deare Sonne having also given unto you to beleeve in his Name hereby making you his children inheritours with the Saints in light What greater signe can there be of greater love of God towards you And what better evidence can you have of Gods love in justifying of you then the evidence of your faith whereby you are iustified SECTION 5. A removall of false feares rising from doubtings whether they have faith and are Iustified ALL men will grant that if they were sure that they
joy and comfort if you would feele for them Amongst many I will reckon these First you may know you have Faith by your feeling and opposing of the contrary if you feele a fight and conflict betweene beleeving and doubting fearâ— and distrust and in that combat you take part with beleeving hope and confidence or at least desire heartily that these should prevaile and are grieved at heart when the other get the better If you feele this doe not say you haue no feeling Doe not say you have no faith This conflict and desire to have faith gaue proofe that the man in the Gospel who came to Christ to cure his child had faith I beleeve Lord saith hee Lord helpe my unbeliefe Doe not say as I have heard many this man could say I beleeve but we cannot say so I tell you if you can heartily say Lord helpe my unbeliefe I am sure any of you may say I beleeve For whence is this feeling of unbeliefe and desire to beleeve but from Faith Secondly You may know you have Faith I speake still to an afflicted soule which dareth not sinne wittingly for that you wil not part with that Faith which you have upon any termes I will aske you that have given hope to others that you doe beleeve that yet doubt you have not truth of faith hope in God only these questions and as your heart can answer them so you may judge Will you part with that faith and hope which you call none for any price Would you change present states with those that presume they have a strong Faith whose consciences do not trouble them but are at quiet though they live in all manner of wickednesse Or at best are meerely civilly honest Nay would you if it were possible forgoe all that faith and hope and other graces of the Spirit which you call none at all and returne to that former state wherein you were in the dayes of your vanity before you did indevor to leave sinne and to will to indevour to settle to Religion in earnest Would you lay any other foundation to build upon then what you have already layd Or is there any person or thing wheron you desire to rest for Salvation and direction besides Christ Iesus If you can answer no but can say with Peter To whom shall wee goe Christ onely hath the words of eternall life you know no other foundation â—o lay then what you have laid and have willed and desired to lay it right you resolve never to pull downe what you have built thogh it be but a little It is your griefe that you build no faster upon it By this answer you may see that your conscience before you are aware doth witnesse for you and will make you confesse that you have some true faith and hope in GOD or at least hope that you have For let men say what they will to the conttary they alwaies thinke they have those things which by no meanes they can be brought to part with Thirdly If you would have feeling and proofe of your faith and Iustification feele for it in the most certaine effect which is the exercise of your Sanctification Doe you feele your selves loaden and burthened with sinne Doe you feele your hearts â—ke with sorrow for sinne And with all do you feele your selves to be altered from what you were Doe you now beare good will to Gods Word and Ordinances And doe you desire the pure word of God that you may grow in grace by it Doe you affect Gods people therefore because you thinke they feare God Is it your desire to approve your selves to God in holy obedience And is it your trouble that you cannot doe it Then certainly you have Faith you have an effectuall Faith For what are all these but the very Pulse breath and motions of faith If you feele grace to be in you it is a better feeling then feeling of comfort for grace in men of understanding is never severed from effectuall Faith but comfort many times is for that may rise from Presumption and false Faith Grace onely from the Spirit and from true Faith SECTION 6. A removall of feares rising from doubting of Sanctification IT is granted by all that if they be truly Sanctified then they know that they have Faith anâ— are iustified But many feare they are not Sanctified and that foâ— these seeming reasons First some feare they are noâ— Sanctified because they doe noâ— remember that ever they fâ—â— those wounds and terrours of conscience which are first wroughâ— in men to make way to Conveâ—sion as it was in them who weâ—â— priâ—â—â— aâ— heart at Peters Seâ—… mon and in S. Paul and the Iaylor Or if they felt aâ—â— terrâ—… they feare they we but certaine flashes and for runners of Hellish â—â—â—ments liâ—â— those of Cain and Iudas As it is in the naturall birth with the mother so it is in the spirituall birth with the childe There is no birth without some travell and paine but not all alike Thus it is in the new birth with all that are come to yeares of discretion Some haue so much griefe feare horror that it is intolerable and leaveth so deepe an impression that it can never be forgotten others have some true sense of griefe and feare but nothing to the former in comparison which may easily be forgotten There are causes why some have or at least feele some more some lesse 1. Some have committed more grosse and more hainous sinnes than other therefore they have more cause and neede to have mâ—re terrour and heart-breaking than others 2. God doth set some apart for greater imployments than others such as will require a man of great trust and experience wherefore GOD to prepare them doth exercise such with greatest tryals for their deepe humiliation and for their more speedy and full reformation that all necessary graces might bee more deeply and more firmely rooted in them 3. Some have beene religiously brought up from their infancie whereby as they were kept from grosse sinnes so their sinnes were subdued by little and little without any sensible impression of horror Grace and comfort being instilled into them almost insensibly 4. Some by naturals constitution and temper of body are more fearefull and more sensible of anguish than others which may cause that although they may bee alike wounded in conscience for sinne yet they may not feele it all alike 5. There may be the like feare and terror wrought in the conscience for sinne in one as well as another yet it may not leave the like lasting sense and impression in the memory of the one which it doth in the other Because God may shew himselfe gracious in discovering a remedy and giving comfort to one sooner than to the other As two men may be in perill of their lives by enemies the one as soone as hee seeth his danger seeth an impregnable
they renew their griefe and repentance yet they doe not fall into an allowed course of sinne any more Thus much in answer to the first doubt of Sanctification Secondly There are many which doubt they are not sanctified because of those swarmes and multitude of evill thoughts which are in them some whereof which is fearefull for them to thinke or speake are blasphemous unnaturall and inhumane calling Gods being truth power and providence into question doubting whether the Scripture be the word of God and many moe of this nature having also thoughts of laying violent hands upon themselves and others with many moe of that and other sorts such as they never felt at all or not so much in their knowne state of unregeneracy before they made a more strict profession of godlinesse such as they thinke none that are truly sanctified are troubled withall To resolve this doubt know that evill thoughts are either put into men from without as when Satan doth suggest or men doe solicite evill thus Iobs wife Curse God and dye Or they doe arise from within out of the evill concupiscence of a mans owne heart And sometimes they are mixt comming both from within and without Those which come onely from Satan may usually be knowne from them that arise out of mans heart by their sodainenesse and uncessantnesse namely when they are repelled they wil somtimes returne againe an hundred times in a day Also they are unreasonable and unnaturall and withall are strange and violent in their motions taking no nay but by violent resistance Wheras those which altogether or in great part are from mans owne corrupt heart they usually arise by occasion of some externall object or from some naturall cause and are not so sudden and incessant nor are so unnaturall inhumane and violent Now all those evill thoughts or thoughts of evill rather which are from Satan or from mans putting them into you if you consent not unto them but doe abhorre and resist them with detestation they are not your sinnes but Satans and theirs that did put them into you They are your crosses because they are matter of trouble to you but they are not your sinnes because they leave no guilt upon you They are no more your sinnes then these thoughts Cast thy selfe downe headlong and fall downe and worship me viz. the Divell were Christs sinnes if you consent not but resist them as CHRIST did You should heedfully observe this For if the Divell was so malicious and presumptuous as to assault our blessed Saviour with such divellish temptations casting into his head such vile blasphemous notions and thoughts should you thinke it strange that he doth pester you with the like And if for all this you have no cause to doubt whether Christ were the Sonne of GOD or no though the Divell made an if of it and it was the thing the Divel aimed at why then should it be doubted that any of Christs members may be thus assaulted and yet have no cause for this to question whether they be sanctified or in state of grace For these in them are so far from being abhominable evils that being not consented to they as I said are not their sinnes It is a peece of the Divels cunning first to fill a man full of thoughts for matter abhominable and then to be the first that shall put in this accusation and doubt viz. Is it possible for any childe of God for any that is sanctified with Gods holy Spirit to have such thoughts But consider well that an innocent Beniamin may have Iosephs cup put into his sacks mouth without his privity or fault by him who for his owne ends intended to make matter thereof wherby to accuse Beniamin of theft and ingratitude Was Beniamin any whit the more dishonest or ingrateful for all this A malicious Cutpurse having tempted a neighbour to jayn with him in cutting of purses being denyed by him doth craftily plot how to doe him a mischiefe and meeting the said neighbor in a throng of people cutteth another mans purse and closely conveigheth it into his neighbours pocket and presently asketh if none have lost their pâ—â—se which being missed hee poâ—â—â—eth at his neighbour saying that â—e suspecteth him who being taken and searched the purse is found about him yet you will judge this neighbour to be innocent Sathan doth not want malice or craft in this kinde to play his â—â—ates Where he cannot corrupt men yet there he wil veâ— and perplexe them But let it be granted that these blasphemous and abhominable thoughts which trouble you are indeede your sinnes either because they arise from your owne evill heart or because you did consent to them they being cast in by others If so then you have much cause to grieve and to repent but not to despaire or to say you are not Gods childe For it is possible for a sanctified man to be made guilty either by outward act or by consent and approbation or by some meanes or other of any one sinne except that against the holy Ghost yea of any blasphemy except that now albeit a man be guilty of these vile or blasphemous thoughts and doubtings yet if he confesse and bewaile his sinne even his blasphemy if his heart ake at the thoughts thereof if hee repent beleeve and aske mercy it shall be forgiven him For he hath our Saviours word for it And whereas you say you were not troubled with such abominable thoughts before that you made profession of an holy life I answer this is not to be woÌ„dred at For before that time the Devil and you were friends then hee thought it enough to suffer you to be proud of your civill honesty or it may bee to content your selfe with a meere forme of godlinesse suppose that you were free from notorious crimes as adultery lying swearing c. For when hee could by these more plausible wayes lead you captive at his will he saw you were his sure enough already what need was there then that hee should solicite you any further or to disturbe your quiet But now that you have renounced him in earnest and that hee and you bee two you may bee sure that he will attempt by all meanes to reduce you into your old state or if he faile of that yet as long as you live so farre as God shall permit hee will doe what hee can to disturbe your peace by vexing and molesting you Moreover GOD doth permit this for divers holy purposes 1. To discover the Devils malice 2. To chastise his children and to humble them because they were too well conceited of the goodnesse of their nature in their unregeneracy or might be too uncharitable and censorious of others and too presumptuous of their owne strength since they were regenerate 3. God likewise permitteth these buffetings and winnowings of Satan as to prevent pride and other sinnes so to exercise and make
was felt witnesse your owne experience for before the hammer and fire of the Word was applyed to your hearts you had no sense of it and never complained thereof You must not call a heavie heart a hard heart you must not call a heart wherein is a sense of an indisposition to good a hard heart except onely in â—omparison of that softnesse which is in it sometimes and which it shall attaine unto when it shall bee perfectly sanctified in which respect it may bee called hard Whosoever hath his will so wrought upon by the Word that it is bent to obey GODS will if he knew how and if he had power this man whatsoever hardâ—esse hee feeleth his heart is soft not hard The Apostle had a heart held in and clogged with the flesh and the law of his members that it made him to thinke himselfe wretched because hee could not bee fully deliverd from it yet wee know his heart was not an hard heart Amongst those that are sanctified there remaineth more hardnesse in the heart of some than in others and what with the committing of grosse sinnes and a cursorie and slight doing of good duties and through neglect of meanes to soften it the same mens hearts are harder at one time than at another of which they have cause to complaine and for which they have cause to bee humbled and to use all meanes to soften it But it is false and dangerous hence to conclude that such are not in state of grace because of such hardnesse in the heart For as GODS perfectest Children on earth know but in part and beleeve but in part So their hearts are softened but in part SECTION 7. Removall of feares rising from doubts about falling from Grace THere yet remaine many who though they be driven up into so narrow a corner that they cannot reply to the answers given to take away their false feares and doubts but they are inforced to yeeld that they find that they now are or at least have beene in state of grace they now see they have beleeved and have beene and it may bee now are sanctified yet this they feare that they either are already fallen or shall not persevere but shall fall away before they dye Touching falling away from grace first know that of those that give their names to Christ in outward profession there are two sorts The first sort are such who have received onely the common gifts of the Spirit as first illumination of the mind to know the mystery of Salvation by Christ and truâ—y to assent unto it Secondly Together with this knowledge is wrought in them by the same spirit a â—â—â—hter impression upon the affections which the Scripture calleth a taste of the heavenly gift and of the good Word of GOD and of the powers of the world to come By these gifts of the Spirit the souâ—es of these men are raised to an abilitie to doe more than nature and meere education can helpe them unto carrying them further then nature or art can doe by working in them a kinde of spirituall change in their affections and a kinde of reformation of their lives But yet all this while they are not ingrafted into Christ neither are deepely rooted as the Corne in good grouÌ„d nor yet are throughly changed and renewed in the inward man they have at best only a formâ— of godlinesse but have not the power thereof Now these men may and oft doe fall away not onely into some particular grosse sinnes of which they were sometimes after a sort washed but into a course of sinning falling from the very forme of godlinesse and may so utterly loose thoâ—e gifts received that they may turne Papists Anabaptists or may fall into any oâ—her Heresie and in the end become very Apostates yet this is not properly a falling from grace It is onely a falling away from the common graces or gifts of the Sâ—irit and from those graces which they did seeme to have and which the Church out of her charitie did judge them to have but they fall not from true saving grace for they neuer had any For if ever they had beene indeed incorporated into Christ Iesus and had beene sound members of his body and in this sense had ever beene of us as the Apostle Iohn speaketh then they should never have departed from us but should no doubt have continued with us The second sort of such as have given their names to Christ are such as are indued with true iustifying faith and saving knowledge and are renewed in the spirit of their minde whereby through the gracious and powerful working of the sanctifying Spirit the Word maketh a deeper impression upon the will and the affections causing them not onely to taste but which is much more to feed and to drinke deepe of the heavenly gift and of the good word of GOD and of the powers of the world to come so as to digest them unto the very changing and transforming them by the renewing of their mindes and unto the sanctifying of them throughout in their whole man both in spirit soule and bodie so that CHRIST is indeed formed in them and they are become new creatures being made partakers of the divine nature Now concerning these It is not possible that any of them should fall away either wholly or for ever Yet it must bee granted that they may decline and fall backe so farre as to grieve the good spirit of GOD and to offend and provoke God very much against them and to make themselves guiltie of eternall death They may fall so farre as to interrupt the exercise of their faith wound their Conscience and may loose for a time the sense of Gods favour and may cause him like a wise and good father in his iust anger to chide correct threaten them making them beleeve hee will turne them out of doores never to receive them into his heavenly Kingdome untill by renewing their faith and repentance they returne into the right way and doe recover GODS lo-ving countenance towards them againe That you may understand and beleeve this the better consider what grace God giveth unto his elect and how and from what they may fill also you must observe well the difference that is betweene the sinning of the regenerate and unregenerate together with their different condition wherin they stand while they are in their sinnes In the first act of Conversion I speake of men of yeeres and discretion GOD by his Word through his holy Spirit doth infuse an habit of holinesse namely an habit of Faith and all other saving graces this every childe of GOD receiveth when he receiveth that holy annointing of the spirit that which the Scripture calieth the Seede remaining in him Secondly God by his gracious meanes and ordinances of the Gospell doth increase this habit and these graces Now because every man
which also doth minister unto you matter of assured hope and comfort Another will say I doe even faint in my troubles and in my feares and I am ready to give over all what shall I doe What would you have me to doe Your case is not singular many other have beene and are in this case It is no otherwise with you than it was with the Psalmist and Ionah Doe as they in that their fainting did First give not over but remember God call upon him give him no rest Secondly trust on him and wait untill you have comfort That holy man of GOD said My flesh and my heart faileth but GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Likewise Ionah â— said I am â—ast out of thy sight yet I will looke againe toward thine holy Temple And againe when my soule fainted within mee I remembred the Lord and my prayer came up unto thee into thine holy Temple that is as if he had said unto God I prayed unto thee in the name of Christ and thou didst heare me When you walke in the darkenesse of affliction and inward discomfort Hee to whom God gave the tongue of the learned to speake a word in due season to him that is wearie giveth you counsell and whose wil you in this state of yours follow if not his his counsel is this saying Who is among you that feare the Lord and obey the voyce of his servant that walketh in darkenesse and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God Marke it He that feareth and obeyeth yet may bee in darkenesse and have no light what darknesse is this but that spoken of vers 4. viz. an afflicted wearie soule without light of comfort And men thus distressed must trust in the Lord and stay on their God Yet these poore soules who whether they should be sharply reproved or pitied more is hard to say I am sure they deserve both will yet object strongly It is true they that feare God and obey him may trust in the Lord and stay upon God And he hath made most rich promises to theÌ„ that know him that doe feare and obey him See here is promise with condition saith one I must feare the Lord I must obey him I know God will doe his part if I could doe mine but these I doe not what warrant then or ground have I to looke for comfort or any thing at Gods hand for his promises belong not to me I know well that with this doubt the Devill doth much perplexe the afflicted soules of many of Gods dearest children and by it keepeth off all the remedies which Gods Word can afford so that they cannot fasten and doe them good For the propositions of the Word are easily assented unto but all the matter lyeth in the application of them to the wound It is still put off and keepe his Commandements there he promiseth with Condition here he absolutely promiseth those on whom hee intendeth to bestow these blessings that he will put his feare in their heart that they may be capable of them And which is more to the end that men might repent beleeve and live godly which is the Condition to which the promise of forgivenesse and Salvation is made God declareth that he hath raised Christ and exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give this faith and repentance that their sinnes may be forgiven and their soules saved by him I pray consider well whether al these promises of this sort be not made absolutely on GODS part and without any Condition on mans part Wherefore whereas God hath made many excellent promises of free and great rewards as to heare the prayers and to fulfill the desire of them that feare him and to give life and glory to them that beleeve obey him and that do hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing to the end you see that here are promises of the first sort made with a kinde of Condition But that GOD will give his people both to will and to doe these things required in the condition he hath absolutely promised as hath beene clearely proved If you yet reply and say are not these latter promises made under condition of our well using the outward meanes thereof such as hearing of the Word prayer c. GOD indeede commandeth these meanes to be used and if we performe them aright God will not faile to blesse the good use of these meanes but this well using them is not in our owne power neither is it a Condition for which God is necessarily bound to give Faith and to plant his feare in our harts any otherwise than by his promise but it is a Condition by which he hath ordained ordinarily to give these graces to al which in the use of them shall waite upon him for them For both the giving of his word and the giving us minds to heare the Word and the opening of the heart to attend and the convincing and alluring the heart to obey hang all upon those absolute promises They shall be all taught of God and the rest before mentioned Wherefore let none of yeares thinke that without hearing praying and the right using of Gods ordinances they shall ever have faith and the feare of God wrought in them or shall ever come to Heaven For wee are commanded to pray heare c. and that in Faith or else we can never looke to receive any thing of the LORD And doing what lieth in manspower in the right using the meanes of Saluation is of great consequence although it be not a sufficient cause to move GOD necessarily to give grace For I am perswaded that the best should have more grace if they would doe what in them lay continually to make good use of the outward meanes of grace and the worst should be guilty of lesse sinne if they would doe what in them lay to profit by the good use of the said meanes And the neglect or abusing of the means is sufficient cause why God should not onely withhold grace but condemn men for refusing it But some will yet say let all which hath beene said be granted I finde that God hath not fulfilled these his absolute promises to me for I doe not yet feare God and obey How can I hope How can I choose but feare my estate Let this for the time be granted that God hath not planted his feare in your heart c. as yet May hee not doe it hereafter Sith hee hath made unto you such excellent promises to fulfil them without condition on your part but that you should onely use the meanes and waite Will you not give him leave to fulfill them in his owne time And will you not waite and be glad if they may be fulfilled at any time Times and seasons of Gods communicating his graces are reserved
spirit of spirituall ioy Where it doth testifie that you are Gods children there it will give you new harts causing you to desire and endevour to live like Gods children in reverent feare and love leading you in the right way checking you and calling you backe out of the way of sinne stirring you up to prayer with sighes desires and inward groanes at least making you to coÌ„fesse your sinnes and to aske and hope for pardon in the name of CHRIST And will still be putting you on to live like obedient children giving you no quietif you doe not Thus much of the first and principall meanes of getting true peace and comfort Secondly If you would have the invaluable Iewell of pâ—ace then abstaine as much as is possible from the act of all grosse and from all presumptuous sins and from the allowance of any sinne For the more sin the more guilt and the lesse sin the lesse guilt Now the lesse guilt lyeth upon the Conscience the more peace of Conscience the more guilt the lesse peace Thirdly When you fall into sinne for who liveth and sinneth not then with all speed affect your heart with godly sorrow for it cause it to be a burden and a load and wearinesse to the Conscience but withall affect your heart wiâ—h hope of mercy forgivenes and grace through Christ. Then with all humble submission you must seeke unto GOD the God of peace but come to him by Christ Iesus the Prince of peace upon whom lay the chastisement of your peace Aske mercy and forgivenesse Aske repentance grace and new obedience Beleeve in Christ If you doe all this then you come unto Christ and unto God by Christ according to his Commandement and you have his sure promise that you shall have rest to your soules This doe for in Christ onely can you have peace This true application of CHRISTS bloud and satisfaction will so sprinkle the Conscience from the guilt of sinne that there shall remaine no more Conscience for sinne that is no more guilt which shall draw upon you the wrath of God and eternall punishment for sinne whence must needs follow peace of Conscience because the Conscience hath nothing to accuse you of guiltinesse being washed off by Christs bloud As soone as David after his foule sinnes could come thus to God his heart had ease But when you have thus gotten a good and cleare Conscience take heede of defiling it againe or giving it any matter of unrest Be as tender in keeping your Conscience unspotted and unwounded as you are of the apple of your eye Sin not against knowledge and Conscience and in any case smother not the good checks and watchwards of your Conscience For if being washed you doe againe defile it this will cause new trouble of heart and you must againe apply your selves to this last prescribed remedy In the fourth place CHRIST having taken upon him the burden of your sinnes which was intollerable you must take upon you and submit unto the yoke of Christs service which is light and easie You must indevour to doe whatsoever hee hath commanded in his Word and Gospell following his steppes in all his imitable actions in all humility and meekenesse in all spirituall and heavenly mindednesse When you can thus subject your selves to Christ in holinesse you shall have peace For the holy Ghost saith the worke of righteousnesse is peace and againe saith To be spiritually minded is peace that is bringeth with it peace I comprehend CHRISTS yoke of the Gospell in these three Faith Hope and Love As these three be in you and abound in the same degrees shall peace be in you and shall abound Having Faith in Christ saith the Apostle we have peace with God It is God that justifieth who shall lay any thing to your charge For justifying Faith is the ground and spring from which onely sound and true comfort doth flow Hope will make you wait and expect with patience for the accomplishment of GODS sure promises whereby it will hold you as steady and as sure from wracke of soule as any Anchor can hold a ship God doth therefore give hope that it may be as an Anchor sure and stedfast Though while you are in the Sea of this world it doth not keepe you so quiet but that you may bee in part tossed and disquieted with the waves and billowes of feare and doubt to try the goodnesse of your vessell and strength of your Anchor and tacklings Yet you shall be sure not to make shipwracke of Faith and a good Conscience if you shall lay hold upon this hope set before you And as for Love They that love the Lord shall have peace you must therefore love God love his ordinances and his people Love God with all your heart Love your neighbours as your selves love Gods Commandements For great peace shall they have saith the Prophet that love Gods Law and nothing shall offend them Whosoever doe thus take up Christs yoke and follow him shall find rest to their soules and peace shall be upon them as upon the Israel of God Fiftly If you would have peace use all good meanes whereby you may bee oft put in remembrance of the exhortations and consolations of God They in the Hebrewes were therefore out of quiet and readie to faint in their minds both because they forgat the exhortation which said My sonne despise not the chastening of the Lord c. And because they forgat the consolation which saith Whom the LORD loveth he chasteneth The principall meanes of being put in minde of GODS consolations are these following 1. You must be much Conversant in Scriptures by reading hearing and meditating thereon For they were all written to that end that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures you might have hope The Scriptures of God they are the very Wells and Breasts of consolation and Salvation The Law discovers sinne and by its threats against you and by relating judgements executed upon others doth drive you to Christ The promises of the Gospell made to you and the signification of the accomplishment thereof to others doe settle and confirme you in Christ whereby your heart is filled with joy and consolations The Gospell is called the Gospell of peace and the Ministers of the Gospell are said to bring glad tydings of this peace â—t is the bright shining light in the Gospel which will guide your feet in the way of peace 2. Be much in good Company especially in theirs who are full of ioy and peace in beleeving whose example and counsell will mind you of joy and comfort and will be of excellent use unto you to establish you in peace Sixtly and lastly Acquaint your selfe with God touching the course he useth to take with his children in bringing them to glory Acquaint your selfe with God