vnder Gods in greatest perils The Lord is my Shepheard I shall not want Psalme 23.1.4 Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no euill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me And least it might be thought to be his case alone hee ioynes others with him that feare God Psam 46.1 2 3 God is our refuge and strength a very present helpe in trouble Therefore will wee not feare though the Earth bee remoued and though the Mountaines bee caryed into the midst of the Sea Though the waters thereof roare and bee troubled though the Mountaines shake with the swelling thereof Selah A very high straine indeed and worthy of a Musicall note of Eleuation Hence come S. Pauls triumphes He knew hee had enough within him to vphold him what euer outwardly happened in the world I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities Rom. 8 38.39 nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. An Apostolicall height yet such a pitch as may bee attayned by priuate Christians whom S. Paul ioynes with himselfe in the body of this triumph Many are the gifts and graces that God hath enriched a good mans soule withall Among those many diuers there are that are giuen him to giue satisfaction to his owne soule though I deny not but sundry other internall indowments are bestowed on him to enable him to honor God and to do good to men by his actions while the earth affords him a dwelling place and till heauen be ready to receiue him God deales with him as a father with his tender child whom he bestowes great breeding vpon to his no little cost partly to make his life profitable to others and partly to make it comfortable to himselfe Thus God furnishes his Children with abundance of graces that they themselues may haue cause to blesse God for such as giue satisfaction to their owne soules and others for such as bring profit and benefit to them Let vs now view the particulars and bring into a list such graces as shine inwardly and enable Gods seruant to satisfie himselfe Meanes of selfe satisfaction The first iewell that God bestowes vpon the soule of a good man is peace of conscience I put it in the first place because it yeelds most comfort Peace of conscience This can satisfie a man inwardly whatsoeuer befals him outwardly in the world His conscience being naturally vnsetled hath led him through all the conditions that euery man passed through in this world Hee lookes backe to the state of Creation Hee viewes it as a state of innocency and a condition of felicity But saith the conscience what is that to thee Adam was innocent and happy but by his fall hee hath made thee sinfull and miserable There is as little comfort in thinking of lost happines as in a staruing man ruminating vpon his lost Gold and perishing It doubles the greefe in our selues to thinke wee haue beene happy in our first parents Seeking rest in the state of Creation and finding none at length his thoughts fasten vpon the estate of corruption The former was a good but is a lost condition The latter is a bad one better lost then found yet easily found but not easily lost This is his naturall condition This makes him hang downe his head with heauinesse At length a third condition offers it selfe vnto his consideration a state of reconciliation to GOD by the blood of Christ His conscience cannot deny hee hath sinned but God in the Gospell offers him pardon for all his sinnes in Christ This Offer hee hath applyed to himselfe by a true faith Now the plaister applyed hath healed the wound His transgressions are remoued from him Psalm 103.12 as farre as the East is from the West His conscience now is at peace within him His soule is ioyfull It is secured from the wrath of GOD what need it feare the wrath of men Hee finds peace from Heauen hee feares not warres on Earth Rom. 5.1.3 Thus being iustified by faith hee hath peace with GOD through our Lord Iesus Christ And this peace makes him to glory in tribulation Psa 91.1.5.6 Now doth he dwell in the secret place of the most high and therefore shall abide vnder the shadow of the Almighty Now plagues and dangers are not so terrible to him as before because he knowes none can hurt him whom God loues and protects A ship at Sea playes it the midst of stormes there are no trees to shelter it no anchores can hold it Nothing cannot can secure it that is without it all the safety it hath is from within If it be well ballanced it may escape So is it with the shippe of mans conscience When GODS wrath smites vpon it like a storme and the world blowes vpon it like a tempest no honours can quiet it no tiches can pacifie it If any thing keepe it from sinking it must bee the inward peace of a good conscience this assures him of Gods loue and that giues him satisfaction The soule was made according to Gods Image nothing then can satisfie it but God himselfe according to whose Image it was created Take a seale and ioyne it to waxe the stampe or image that is left in the waxe cannot be filled but with the same seale againe Neyther can Gods Image in man be fully satisfied but by the fruition of God himselfe Mans nature sayth S. Augustine although it be mutable yet it may obtaine blessednesse by cleauing vnto the highest God who is the onely vnchangeable good To make it happy it must haue satisfaction for all the defects of it Aug. de ciu Dei lib. 12. cap. 1. Now all the world is not sufficient to satisfie the necessities of the soule God onely can doe it The same Father in his Confessions presseth the end of mans creation to shew what onely can giue him satisfaction Thou hast made vs sayth he O Lord Fecisti nos ad te et inquietū est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Aug. Coufess l. 1. c. 1. for thee and our heart is restlesse till it rest in thee This was Cyprians counsell to Donatus to seeke for satisfaction not from the world without him but from his owne conscience within him There is but one pleasing and sure tranquility one solid firme and perpetuall security if a man withdraw himselfe from the tempests of this disquieting world being surely setled in a safe hauen and lift vp his eyes from earth to heauen and being admitted to Gods fauour and in his mind now neerest to his God glories to find within his owne conscience whatsoeuer others deeme high or great among worldly commodities Nihil appetere tam nihil desiderare de saeculo potest qui
first vndone himselfe by his wickednesse There needes now no further search for the true beginning of defection from profession of piety It is not to be imputed to Gods permission nor to the worlds prouocation but the first beginning of the act of defection is in mans wauering inclination Satan should tempt in vaine and the world prouoke to no purpose if mans heart did not yeeld to the temptations of the one and the prouocations of the other And so much for the internall originall of apostacy The fourth thing is the patrimony of the backslider Hee shall bee filled with his owne waies No man else need worke him any mischiefe Backesliders patrimony he will bee sure to bring sorrow enough vpon his owne head Salomon was here no false Prophet for hee confirmed it afterwards by his owne woefull experience hee fell to idolatry but for a time but he wrought himselfe misery so long as hee liued 1 Kings 11.14.23.26 First Hadad the Edomite disturbes the peaceable gouernment of Salomon Next Rezon the sonne of Eliada of Damascus Lastly Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat lifts vp his hand against him Asa King of Iudah to preuent the plots of Baasha 2 Chron. 16.2 7.12 13. King of Israel commits sacriledge robs God and the Kingdome to haue Gold and Siluer to send to Benhadad the King of Syria to relieue him hee trusts not in God but trusts in Benhadad God layes a plague vpon him that Benhadad cannot heale that makes him sleepe with his fathers a disease in his feete Wee haue spoken of Kings let vs now speake of Kingdomes The Kingdome of Israel fals to idolatry they will not come to Ierusalem least they should returne to the house of Dauid they set vp calues in Dan 〈◊〉 1.3 in Bethel They haue gone a whoring from their God They shall no longer dwell in the Lords land but they shall eate vncleane things in Assyria They forsooke their God and the Assyrians carry them out of their land The Iewes transgresse after all the abominations of the heathen 2 Chron. 36 14 16 17. and pollute the house of the Lord. They despise Gods Words and misuse his Prophets Therefore God destroyes their City and sends them into Babylon to captiuity They that drinke poyson may please their palate but they drinke their owne death They that goe backe from Gods seruice runne forward to their owne ouerthrow Defection in the conscience is like dust in the eye it makes it foule it makes it vnseruiceable it makes it painefull The remembrances of backslidings are like skarres left when wounds are cured they trouble the owner with the sight of them The heathen man knew well the stinging force of a troubled conscience The greatest punishment Maxima peccantium est paena peccasse Nec illum saelus licet illud fortuna exoruet muneri◠bussuis licet tueatur ac vindicot Impunitum est quoniam sceleris in scelere supplicium est Senec. epist 97. saith hee of sinners is that they haue sinned Neyther is any sinne vnpunished although fortune adorne it with rewards although it defend and maintaine it because the punishment of wickednesse is within it selfe Their greatest enemy neede wish backsliders no greater punishments then their owne waies written in their owne consciences Many losses and crosses also doe Apostatas bring vpon themselues Sometimes God turnes their wealth vnto pouerty sometimes hee takes away their children or makes them greater crosses to them then if hee tooke them quite away from them for a crosse childe is worse then a lost childe the one is a temperary the other a perpetuall vexation 2 Sam. 12.10 Dauid goes backe but a little way but the sword neuer departs from his house for it Absolon troubles him while hee liues and grieues him when he dies Adoniiah will bee King in spight of him when his father growes old Adde vnto this the infamy that wicked men bring vpon themselues Thus Tamar foretels Ammon of the discredit that would follow vpon his incestuous violence I whither shall I cause my shame to goe 2 Sam. 13 13 and as for thee thou shalt be as one of the fooles in Israel So men by their folly make themselues iustly a table-talke to others and their very name to be abhorred And not their name alone while they are aliue but they make their memoriall also to stinke when themselues are dead and gone It is added in Scripture as a perpetuall monument of Ieroboams backsliding 1 Kings 16.29 Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat who made Israel to sinne God records the backslidings of vngodly men in Scripture to the worlds-end Math. 10.4 to their perpetuall disgrace Iudas treason is recorded and he himselfe not often named without that infamous addition Iudas Iscariot who also betrayed him The greatest Princes whose facts no man durst censure while they liued are by meane Historians chronicled for all posterity and their blemishes written with a penne of yron for all the world to peruse The proudest Popes that haue made Emperours to kisse their feete and turned Kingdomes topsituruy haue their sorceries their strumpets their bastards vpon recorde to make their sauour stinke in the eyes of all men Disgrace then attends vpon defection and neuer failes it Eccles 10.1 Dead Flies cause the oyntment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking sauour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdome and honour If the booke of Ecclesiastes be as it is thought to be Salomons recantation after his fall to idolatry no doubt hee found this dead flye at home and was a strange example of his owne precept The world had not such a paterne all things considered a man so famous for wisedome fall to so foule idolatry as Salomon did the wisest of men seduced by a company of foolish women No doubt Salomon knew what hee writ and laboured vnder the losse of his owne reputation and writ this for a warning to others out of his owne woefull experience Lastly defection brings eternall perdition of soule and body Heb. 10.39 Wee are not of them who draw backe to perdition but of them that beleeue to the sauing of the soule There are no doubt thousand thousands in hell who are more then filled with their owne waies and with the remedilesse yet insupportable troubles that their owne backeslidings haue brought vpon them Who if they might liue to vndoe what they haue done would bee patternes to others to auoyde Apostacy Yet so incredulous are wee that liue that wee neyther beleeue these miseries will come vpon vs though threatned in GODS Word Luke 16.31 neyther would wee repent if one should arise from the dead that had tasted of those woefull torments And no wonder if backsliders bring so many miseries vpon themselues when they prouoke so many heauy enemies against them God himselfe is become their enemy from whose seruice they are slidden God I say Deus a quo
while wee are busy with the world abroad wee bee not betryed by our owne flesh within In a besieged Citty it is not vnusuall while the besiged resist an assault made at one side of the Towne for some false traitour to let in the enemy on the other side and toruine the Citty So while wee thinke our selues safe against the allurements of the world wee are often betrayed by the corruption of our owne flesh They are fooles that worke themselues troubles yet whence come all our troubles but from our owne backeslidings and whence come our defections but from our carelesnesse Wee haue a vigilant enemy who neglects no occasion of aduantage let vs bee as watchfull for our owne preseruation least God being prouoked by our negligence giue vs ouer to our spirituall enemy to bee ruined A breach is not healed at that cost it might bee preuented Though there may be a recouery yet some skarres of infamy and infirmity will be remaining Fourthly it sounds terrour to them that after examination are forced to set downe for the summe of their accounts For consternation That they are backsliders Their owne waies will be their owne ouerthrow there is no neede of great Politicians to ouer reach them with some subtill deuise to the ouerthrow of their honours liues or estates they themselues will lay snares for themselues and digge pitts with their own wickednes to bury their fortunes in with themselues There needs no great and mighty men whose hatred and power may bring downe backesliders they fal with their owne waight We haue corrupted our selues internally by our defection and internall corruption workes externall destruction A rotten Apple needs not bee crushed the inward putrefaction will bring it to nothing though no hand touch it A wounded body needs no Sword to kill it nor no poison to destroy it it hath that within that will bring it to the graue A decayed House needs not bee pulled downe by the hands of worke-men it will fall of it selfe for want of reparation An high Empire ouergrowne in terme and territories needs no outward foes to put an end to it Ciuill warres and home bred vexations setled in the veines of it will lay it low enough So is it with Apostataes There needs no forraine art nor force to vndoe them they daily further their finall ouerthrow How euer it goe with them in this world their owne consciences can tell them it will neuer goe well with them in the world to come Goe to now yee backsliders weepe and houle for the miseries that shall come vpon you Iames 5.1 Fiftly finding our selues in so ill a condition let vs betimes recall our selues For reuocation It is not good to ride too farre out of the way It will aske the more labour to come in againe Wee doe not terrify men with their euill conditions to vexe them but to draw them out of it Let vs consider from whom wee are slidden it is from GOD to whom if wee doe not returne wee can neuer expect safety in any other Hee will destroy vs for fayling him others cannot saue vs for cleauing to them It is sufficient that others seeke our ouerthrow let vs not seeke our owne While we liue in this world we haue liberty to returne to God and opportunity to seeke the Kingdome of God But if we slide away more and more from God in this world we can haue no accesse to God in another world The traueller that knowes he is out of the way needes no great perswasions to goe in againe The sicke man that knowes his disease to be dangerous wants not many arguments to vrge him to bee studious of his owne recouery If wee were as sensible of spirituall errours and diseases as wee are of temporall small Rhetoricke would serue to draw vs backe from our backslidings Our estate is naught now but it is like to be much worse hereafter and which is no small addition to our misery we know not how soone we shall bee most miserable there may bee but a minute betweene vs and death there cannot bee aboue a minute more betweene death and hell How long then will you runne on toward your owne damnation Returne returne to Gods fauour least yee perish in his anger Remember whence yee are fallen and repent before the candlesticke of your life be remoued and ye left in perpetuall darknesse Reuel 2.5 Sixtly it is not sufficient for vs to recall our selues For reclamation but a needfull deede of charity when wee haue recalled our selues to reclaime others At least to endeauour to reclaime them for the successe is to be expected from God Wee see the danger of defection they see it not the sight of it makes vs to returne to God let vs striue to make others to see their misery too that they also may returne from their backslidings They that haue beene cured of the Goute or Stone are no niggards of their knowledge but easily communicate the same vnto others It is our blessed Sauiours command to S. Peter Luke 22.32 that when he should finde himselfe conuerted hee should strengthen his brethren It is Dauids promise Restore vnto mee the ioy of thy saluation Psa 51.12.13 and vphold me with thy free spirit Then will I teach transgressours thy way and sinners shall bee conuerted vnto thee Christianity teacheth vs to liue in a communion of spirituall and temporall comforts and counsailes Which communion requires not onely that we be liberall to them that want bodily meanes but also to aduise for the best such as want spirituall directions If wee haue erred and recalled our selues let vs not thinke all the worke done Wee are a Body the hand hath not done his owne part in pulling a thorne out of it selfe it must pull it out of the foote also Heauen is not prepared for vs alone we must endeauour to leade others thither with vs. And thus much for the first part of the Text the portion of backsliders The portion of obedient children followes in the conclusion of the Text. And a good man shall be satisfied from those things that are within himselfe Good men haue matter enough within their owne soules to giue satisfaction to themselues in the greatest dangers that can befall them Hence come those admirable boastings of Dauid Psalme 16.8 I haue set the Lord alwaies before mee because he is at my right hand I shall not be moued Though his owne strength might faile him yet he knew God could not The Lord is my light and my saluation Psalme 27.1 whom shall I feare The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I bee afraid His owne store might faile him in a famine though he had a kingdome his own art might disapoynt him though he were wiser then his enemies if the pestilence came As the silly sheepe then thinkes himselfe safe vnder the shepheards protection when the wolfe layes for him so doth hee