Booke of God and by consequent un-acquaintednesse with the sinfulnesse and cursednesse of their spirituall state revealed thereby This is the very case of a world of poore ignorant besotted Soules amongst us more is the pitty especially now when the glorious Sunne of Christs Gospell shines so faire and fully in many places For want of light in Gods Law they looke upon their sinnes as wee doe upon the Starres in a cloudy night see onely the great ones of the first magnitude and here one and there one But if they were further illightned and informed aright they might behold hem as those infinite ones in the fairest frosty winters Mid-night A worthy Divine sets out excellently the quietnesse of this ignorant conscience by a very fit resâ—mblance thus Men iudge of their ignorant consciences saith Hee as they doe of their blinde dumbe and ignorant Ministers Such neither doe nor can preach can neither tell men of their sinnes nor of their duties Aske such a blind-guides people what their conceite is of him and what a kind of Man their Minister is and you shall have Him magnified for a passing honest harmelesse man wondrous quiet amongst his neighbours They may doe what they will for Him Hee is none of these troublesome fellowes that will bee reproving their faults or complaining of their disorders in the Pulpit Oh such an one is a quiet good Man indeed Thus iudge many of their consciences If their consciences bee quiet and lye not grating upon them and telling them that their courses are sinfull and damnable and that thâ—ir persons are in a dangerous condition but rather by their silâ—nce ignorance and vaine pretences doe justifie them and tell them all will bee well enough Oh then what excellent consciences have these men They make no conscience of Family-duties once in the yeere to come to the Sacrament serues the turne they are common swearers in their ordinary communication make no conscience of sanctifying Sabbaths c. And their consciences let them alone in all these doe not give them one syllable of ill language Oh what gentle and good-natured consciences thinke these men they have But alas what evill consciences have they 2. Nor others by reason of a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell Such as those Isai. 28 15. who negotiate by their plausible Agents Ease pleasures prosperity and conclude some kind of concord and composition for a time with Satan sinne and their owne consciences But to tell you the truth it is no true peace but a politicke truce For these implacable desperate spirituall enemies of theirs are ever in the meane time preparing Armes Ord'nance and many fiery darts still levying of fresh forces whole armies of fiery Scorpions and flaming terrours with which as soone as the truce is ended they will set upon them with more violence fury and fiercenesse then ever before 3. Nor others By reason of an insensible Brawnednesse growne over and a desperate searednesse imprest upon their consciences by extraordinary villany and variety in sinne Such as those Isai. 5 19. By drawing iniquity a long time with cords of vanity and sinne as it were with a cart-rope by waving the glorious light of the Word under which they sit and which shines on their faces as a foolish thing by villanously trampling under foote the power of it with despite and scorne many times against that light which stands in their consciences like an armed man Nay and by treading out with custome in sinne the very notions that nature hath engraven in their hearts as Men doe the ingravings of Tombe-stones which they walke upon with foule shoes I say thus at length their consciences become so utterly remorselesse and past all feeling so brawned so seared so sealed up with a reprobate sense that with an audacious and Giant like insolency they challenge even God Almighty Himselfe to draw His sword of vengeance against them Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sinnes as it were with a cart-rope That say Let him make speede and hasten his worke that wee may see it and let the counsell of the holy one of Israel draw nigh and come that wee may know it These Roarers and swaggering Belials in this respect have consciences worse then the Divell himselfe For Hee beleeves and trembles Even those already desperate and damned spirits tremble at the fore-thought of that fuller wrath which is to come and yet further-deserved damnation 4. Nor others who when it begins ever and anon to grumble mutter and make a noise lull it asleepe agâ—ine with songs of pleasures and still the cries of it with outward mirth as Saul was wont to lay the evill spirit with Musicke These mens consciences are qujet not because they are savingly appeasde but because they are sensuâ—lly pleasâ—e Not because they want matter to trouble and terrifie but because they will give them no leasure to set their sinnes in order before them For this purpose and to keepe these furious Mastives musl'd in the meane time they have recourse unto and improove both variety of delights and multiplicity of imployments For the first This is the reason as one saith wittily that many are so eager in the pursuits of their pleasures because they would make Gods Sergeant their owne conscience that pursues them drunken with these pleasures just as many men use to doe getting the Sergeant that comes to arrest them into the Taverne and there making him drunke that so they may escape For the second How was it possible that Ahitophel should hold out so long from hanging himselfe and horrible confusion of spirit especially sith Hee harbour'd in His bosome such a false rotten abominable heart as appeared by that villanous counsell Hee gave Absalom to lye with His Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel except Hee had been a Counseller of State and so necessarily taken up continually with extraordinary variety vicissitude and succession of most waighty and important affaires which would wholly possesse His minde with an un-interrupted attention agitation and exercise and not give it any leave to reflect upon it selfe with those severer cogitations in cold blood which are woont to correct and condemne the enormity of exorbitant courses And thus in all ages many great Men of great wisedome beeing great offenders purposely put and plunge themselves into multitude of businesses that they may have no leasure to listen unto that which their consciences would secretly tell them in their eare of their Machivellian plots prodigious lusts and plausible cruelties The noise of attendants visitants Dependants and great imployments drowne the voyce of conscience in such Cases as the Drummes in the sacrifices to Moloch the Cry of the Infants But while the Men of the world are thus wholly detain'd and doe so greedily upon purpose entertaine the time with cares of this life and dealings in the world their consciences deale with them as Creditors with their
there must bee a third thing To take them to our selves to beleeve they are ours and there needes a worke of the Spirit for this For tho the promises bee never so cleare yet having nothing but the promises you shall never bee able to apply them to your selves But when the holy Ghost shall say Christ is thine All these things belong to Thee and God is thy Father when that shall witnesse to our spirit by a worke of His owne Then shall wee beleeve c This is the order observed in our iustification 1. First There is a sight of our misery to which wee are brought by the Law 2. Secondly There is by the Gospell an holding forth of Christ as our redemption from sin and death 3. Thirdly there is a working of Faith in the heart to rest on Christ as the ransome from sinne and death Now when a man is come hither Hee is truly and really iust Wee teach that in trve conversion a man must bee wounded in his conscience by the sense of his sinnes His contrition must bee compungent and vehement bruising breaking renting the heart and feeling shee throwes as a woman labouring of Childe before the new-Creature bee brought forth or Christ truly formed in Him It is not done without bitternesse of the Soule without care indignation revenge 2. Cor. 7.11 But as some Infants are borne with lesse paine to the mother and some with more so may the new-man be regenerated in some with more in some with lesse anxiety of travell But surely grace is not infused into the heart of any sinner except there bee at least so great affliction of Spirit for sinne foregoing that He cannot but â—eele it c. This bruising is required before conversion 1. That so the Spirit may make way for it selfe into the heart by levelling all proud high thoughts c 2. To make vs set an high price upon Christs death This is the cause of relapses and Apostasies because men never smarted for sin at the first They were not long enough under the lash of the Law Hence this inferiour worke of the Spirit in bringing downe high thoughts is necessary before conversion By this time it doth most clearly and plentifully appeare what a foule and fearefull fault it is for men either in the managing of their Publike ministery or more private Passages of conference visitations of the sicke consultations about a good estate to Godward and other occasions of like nature to apply Iesus Christ and the promises to promise life and safety in the evill Day to Soules as yet not soundly illightned and afflicted with sight of sinne and sense of Gods wrath to consciences never truly wounded and awaked I insisted the longer upon this Point because I know it full well to bee a most universall and prevailing Policy of the Devill whereby hee keepes many thousands in His cursed slavery and from salvation To confirme as many Pastours as Hee can possibly willing enough to drive their Flocks before them to damnation in an ignorant or affected Preiudice and forbearance of that saving method of bringing Soules out of Hell mentioned before and made good with much variety of evidence And to nourish also in the hearts of naturall men a strong and sturdy disconceite opposition raging against downe-right dealing and those men of God able as they say but falsely and furiously against their owne Soules by their terrible teaching to drive their hearers to distraction Selfe-destruction or despaire who take the only right course to convert them and to bring them to Iesus Christ as Hee Himselfe invites them to wit labouring and heauy laden with their sinnes Matth. 11.28 Dawbers then who serue Satans craft in this kinde and all those who dispence their ministery without all spirituall discretion and good conscience of whom there are too many as great strangers to the right way of working grace in others as to the worke of grace in themselves I say they are a generation of dangerous men Old excellent as they say in an accursed Art of conducting poore blinded Soules merrily towards everlasting miserie and setting them downe in the very midst of Hell before they bee sensible of any danger or discovery of their damnable state Great men they are with the men of this world with al those wise fooles and sensuall great ones who are not willing to bee tormented before their time or rather who desire impossibly to live the life of pleasures in the meane time and yet at last to die the death of the righteous They have still ready at hand hand over head mercy and pardon Heaven and salvation for all commers and all they come neere without so much as a desire to put any difference or divide the pretious from the vile Which is a prodigâ—â—usly-arrogant folly pernicious in the highest degree both to their own soules and those they delude Heâ—â—e 〈◊〉 they are branded in the Booke of God calling them 〈◊〉 Sâ—wers under mens elboes Ezek. 1â— 1â— That 〈◊〉 laid soft and lockt fast in the Cradle of security thâ—â— may sinke suddenly into the Pit of destruction before they be aware Criers of peace peace when no peace is towards Ier. 6.14 but horrible stirs tumbling of garments in bloud burning and devouring of fire A â—â—n-pleasers â—alat 1.10 who chuse rather to tickle the itching eares of their carnall hearers with some fâ—othy Frier-like conceits out of Dung-hill 〈◊〉 And so smooth Great Ones in their humours by their cowardly flatteries especially if they any waies depend upon them for countenance rising and preferment rather then conscionably to discharge that trust 〈◊〉 upon them by their great Lord and Master in Heaven upon answerablenes for the bloud of those Soules which shal perish by their temporizing silence and flattering vnfaithfulnesse Healers of the hurt of their Hearers with 〈◊〉 words Ier. 6.14 while their Soules are 〈◊〉 by the wounds of sinne unto eternall death Preachers of smooth things Isa. 30.10 which kinde of Men the greatest part and all worldlings wonderfully affect and applaud tho to their owne everlasting vndoing They swell under such Teachers with a Pharisaicall conceite that they are as safe for salvation as the precisest of them all but alas their hope is but like a hollow wall which beeing put to any stresse when the tempest of Gods searching wrath begins to shake it in the time of a finall triall of it's truth and soundnesse it shatters into pieces and comes to naught Heare the Prophet Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a booke that it may bee for the time to come for ever and ever That this is a rebellious people lying children children that wil not heare the Law of the Lord which say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not unto us right things speake unto us smooth things prophesie deceits Get you out of the way turne aside out
refreshing which sprung out of that promise upon her forlorne and fearefull soule or the excesse of that love which shee bore ever after to those blessed lines to the mercy that made them and to the blood that sealed them An other terrified in conscience for sinne resolves to turne on Gods side but the crie of his good-fellow companions strength of corruption and cunning of Satan carrie him backe to his former courses A good number of yeares after hee was so throughly wounded that whatsoever came of him he would never returne againe unto folly Then comes into his minde the first of the Proverbes whence hee thus reasoned against himselfe So many yeares agoe God called and stretched out his hand in mercy but I refused and therefore now thâ— I call upon him hee will not answer though I seeke him early I shall not finde him Whereupon was his heart filled with much griefe terrour and slavish feare But the Spirit of God leading him at length to that place Luke 17.4 If thy brother trespasse against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turne againe to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgiue him He thence happily argued thus for himselfe Must I a silly sinnefull man forgive my brother as often as hee repents and will not then the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort entertaine mee seeking againe in truth his face and â—avour God forbid From which hee blessedly drew such a deale of divine sweetnesse and secret sense of Gods love that his trembling heart at first received some good satisfaction and afterward was setled in a sure and glorious peace An other godly man passing through his lâ—st sicknesse with such extraordinary calmâ—nesse of conscience and absolute freedome from temptation that some of his Christian friends observing and admiring the singularity of his soules quiet at that time especially questioned him aboue it He answered that he had stedfastly fixed his heart upon that sweetest promise Isa. 26.3 Thou wilt keepe him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because hee trusteth in thee And his God had graciously made it fully good unto his soule And so must every Saint doe who would sound the sweetnesse of a promise to the bottome make it the arme of God unto him for sound thorow-comfort Even settle his heart fixedly upon it and set his Faith on worke to broode it as it were with it's spirituall heate that quickenesse and life may thence come into the soule indeed For God is woont to make good his promises unto his children proportionably to their trust in them and dependance upon his truth and goodnesse for a seasonable performance of them Now all these promises in Gods blessed Booke which addes infinitely to their sweetnesse and certainty are sealed with the blood of Iesus Christ Heb. 9.16 and confirmed with the Oath of Almighty God Heb. 6.17.18 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the immutability of his counsell confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie wee might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Oh what a mighty and pretious invitation is this to beleeve perfectly The speciall Aime of Gods oath whereas his promise had been more then infinitely sufficient was to strengthen our consolation And therefore every heart true unto Christ ought hence to hold fast not a faint wavering inconstant but a strong stedfast and unconquerable comfort Otherwise it sacrilegiously as it were robs God of the glorious end for which hee swore 5. The free love of God Which how rich and glorious how bottomlesse and boundlesse a treasure it is of all gracious sweetnesse abundant comfort and endlesse bounty appeares in this that Iesus Christ blessed for ever that unvalew-able incomparable Iewell came out of it For God so loved the World that hee gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Ioh. 3.16 And therefore every syncere servant of Christ when upon a serious and sad survay of his Christian waies finds himself to come so far short of that which God requires and himselfe desires That his prayers are very faint his sorrow for sinne very scant his love unto the brethren too cold His spending the Sabbaths very unfruitfull His spirituall growth since he gave his name to Christ very poore His profiting by the meanes hee enjoyes most unanswerable to the power and excellency thereof His New-obedience almost nothing c. For so hee is wont to vilifie himselfe Whereupon hee is much cast downe and out of this apprehension of his manifold unworthinesse concludes against himselfe that hee hath little cause to bee confident in the promises of life or to presume of any part and interest in Iesus Christ and so begins to retire the trembling hand of his already very-weake Faith from any more laying-hold of comfort I say in such a Case being true-hearted he may safely and upon sure ground have recourse to this ever-springing Fountaine of immeasurable mercy and raise up his drooping soule against all contrary oppositions with unspeake-able and glorious refreshing from such places as these Hos. 14.4 I will love thee freely Isai. 55. Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and hee that hath no money come yâ—e buy and eate yea come buy wine and milke without money and without price And Chap. 43.25 I even I am hee that blotteth one thy transgressions for my owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Revel 21.6 I will give unto him that is athirst of the Fountaine of the water of life freely c. God never set the Promises on sale or will ever sell his Sonne to any Hee never said Iust so much sorrow so much sanctitie so much service or no Christ But Hee ever gives Him freely Every truly humbled heart which will take him at the hands of Gods free love as an Husband to bee saved by him and to serve him in truth may have him for nothing Yet I must adde this there was never any who received the Lord Iesus savingly but hee laboured syncerely to sorrow as much for sinne to bee as holy to doe him as much service as hee could possibly And when hee reflected upon his best hee ever desired it had been infinitely better 6. The sweete Name of the Lord. Which hee proclaimes Exod. 34.6.7 wherein he first expresseth his essence in one word The Lord The Lord. Which doubled is effectuall to stirre up Moses attention Secondly three Attributes first His power in one word Strong Secondly His justice in two formes of speech not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon childrens children unto the third and fourth generation Thirdly but his speciall goodnesse and good affection towards repentant and beleeving sinners in seven
to forsake not some but every sinne every corruption every breach of the will of God whatsoever Hieron in his third Sermon upon Matth. 13 44. What must the sinner sell All that Hee hath What is that His Goods Lands Children No These bee none of His owne God hath but lent him these to use and some that would haue Christ and shall have no goods to sell What then is our owne Our sinnes and nothing else Hee that will have part in Christ must part with his sinnes Hee cannot have Christ and keepe any One of them Rogers in his Doctrine of Faith p. 171. c. Qui volit pro dignitate suâ astimare donum hoâ— quod ossert Christus quantum sit necesse est jam primum de peccatis suis miseriâ cogitet sic enim siâ—t ut pluris â—aciat Christum quam uniâ—ersum 〈◊〉 mundum eumque avide ad se cripiaâ— ad justificationem Salutem suam aeternam Rolloc in Ioan. cap. 6. pag. 376. t Though a Man dares not apply the promise to One onely terrified by the Law yet to One truly thus humbled by the Gospell and contrite hearted wee doe no other Rogers Ibid pag. 141. * Heb. 5.9 u Hâ—c ad exilium Babilonicum restringenda non esse dixi quia patent latissimè et doctâ—inam Evangelij comprehendunt In qua pâ—â—ecipuè est vis iâ—â—a coâ—solandi Ejus enim â—st erâ—gâ—re â—fflictos prostiatos â—â—ctios serè mortuos recreare maesâ—os 〈◊〉 tristitià Calvin Quia Captivitas liberatio illa corporalis 〈…〉 captivitatis liberationis spiritâ—â—â—is non in literâ— haerendum nobis sed ad â—â—pliâ—itatis spiritualis sub peccati â—ugo aeternâ—e mortis metu itemque redemptionis sempiternae per Christum factae cogitationem assargendum erit Scult x De spirituali Ierosolymâ loquitur cujus fundamentum Christus 1. Cor. 3 11. Scult in locum * In that sense as I teach in my Exposition of the last article of the beliefe Faith in the first act maketh us Christs reconciles us to him makes us one with him and by Him with God the Father D.D. y Rogers of Dedham in his Doctrine of Faith pag. 63. z Hee makes contrition to foâ—low Legall terrour and precede that repentaÌ„ce which is the Daughter of Faith and in order of nature followes after it See ibid. pag. 121.122 123.124 See also Master Hookers Preface to His Booke added in the second Edition a If any bee troubled because hee talkes of hope joy c. before Faith let Him seeke satisfaction Ibid pag. 161.162 and weigh well His distinction of the Gifts of God pag. 125.126 where Hee tells us of three kinds of them First some common to Elâ—ct and Reprobate as knowledge in Scripture Prophecy Tongues Miracles and such like Secondly some speciall belonging to the Elect onely as Faith by which wee are justified a renewed heart a good conscience the feare of God and such like graces Thirdly some middle ones wrought in the heart of those that bee not yet actually the children of God yet certainely shall bee And which whosoever have wrought in them shall surely have Faith and cannot goe long without it Such is this contrition and such dispositions as bee in men before Faith which yet are wrought by the Gospell These are better then common Gifts yet not actuall Graces and yet gracious inclinations to Faith which are in those that are to bee justified and which if wee speake properly cannot bee wrought in any that shall perish See Master Hooker in the Preface to the same Booke b As a great Divine saith of Faith Non ex gradu aut mensurâ— fidei dependet justificatio sed ex verâ—â—aâ—e IustificatioÌ„ depends not upon the degree but the truth of Faith Davenantius in Expos epist. ad Coloss. pag. 21. So may wee say proportionably of other graces in respect of comfort froÌ„ them and yet that of Austin is most true Si dixisti sufficit perijsti If any say hee hath grace enough hee hath just none Minimè certè bonus est qui melior esse non vult Bernard c Sunt quaedam effecta interna ad conversionem sive regenerationem praevia quae virtute verbi spiritusque in nondum justificatorum cordibus excitantur qualia sunt notitia voluntatis divinae Sensus peccati timor poenae cogitatio de liberatione spes aliqua veniae Ad statum justificationis in quo pacem habemus apud Deum per D.N. Iesum Christum non solet gratia divina homines perducere per subitum Enthusiasmâ— sed multis praevijs actionibus ministerio verbi subactos preparatos Hoc videre licet in illis qui audiâ—á Petri Concione peccati â—nus sentiunt timent dolent liberationem desiderant spem aliquam ventae concipiunt quae omnia exillis verbis colligi possunt Act. 2.37 Quùm haec audivissent compuncti sunt corde suo dixerunt ad Petrum reliquos Apostolos Virisratres quid saciemus Hoc ipsa rei natura requirit Nam sicuti in generatione hominis naturali multae sunt praeviae dispositiones quae formae inductionem praecedunt ita in spirituali per multas antecedaneas gratiae actiones ad spiritualem Nativitatem pervenitur Hoc denique apparet ex instrumentis quibus utitur Deus ad homines regenerandos Vtiturenim ministerio hominum instrumento verbi 1. Cor. 4.15 Per Evangelium ego vos genui Quod si Deus immediatè vellet hominem impium regenerare justificare nullà cognitione nullo dolore nullo desiderio nullâ veniae spe praeparatum nec hominum ministerio nec verbo praedicato hanc ad remopus esset nec ministris verbum Dei rectè secantibus cura incumberet apte prudenterque auditorum conscientias primò legis terroribus sauciandi Deinde Evangelicis promissis erigendi ac eosdem hartandi ad poenitentiam fidemquâ— Ã Deo per preces lachrymas petendam Suffrag Colleg. Theologorum Magnae Britanniae de quinque controversis remonstrantium Articulis de antecedaneis ad conversionem Thes. 2. d Yates in his Modell of Divinity lib. 2. ca. 26 c Neither let any dreame that these are any Productions of free will I heartily abhorre Popery Pelagianisme and all enemies to the Grace of God But know that they are the Effects of the Word and Spirit Sunt quaedam effecta interna ad conversionem sive regenerationem praevia quae virtute verbi Spiritusque in nondum justificatorum cordibus excitantur qualia sunt notitia voluntatis divinae sensus peccati timor poenae cogitatio deliberatione spes aliquâ veniae Suffrag Colleg. Theologorum Mag. Britan. c. De anticedanâ—is ad conversionem Thesi. 2. * Quod nam sit hoc donum ipse exponit verbis sequentibus quis sit qui dicit tibi Donum igitur est ipse Christus silius quem dedit nobis Pater Rolloc in Iohan. pag. 196. Zach. 13.1 f Vidisti
have parted with the magnificent state and pompe of Pharaohs Court where Hee might have wallowed in varietie of all worldly delights and to take part with His afflicted Brethren of a world of miseries in a vast and roaring Wildernesse There was never carnall man since the Creation but in such a Case would have followed the Court and forsaken Gods people Hester a weake Woman could never possibly have holden out against the fury of so mighty a Favourite the hazarding of Her high Place the favour of so great a King and even life it selfe had She not been upholden by an extraordinary strength from Heaven No great Woman in the World wanting Grace would ever have runne such an hazard but have suffered the servants of God to sinke or swimme so that She might swimme downe the Current of the times without crossing and enjoy the present without perill It was a 〈◊〉 temptation 〈◊〉 â—â—nathan and a very 〈…〉 Dilemma Either leave to adhere to David or resolve to lose a Kingdome But the hope of an earthly Crowne could not hire Him to hold His peace and betray the innocency of His heavenly Friend And Ionathan answered Saul his Father and said unto Him Wherefore shall Hee bee slaine What hath Hee done The dread of dis-countenance from two angry Kings whose indignation is as the roaring of a Lyon was a terrible Motive to have made Michajah temporize not a Server of the Times and His owne turne in the World but would in this Case have tuned His Pipe to Ahabs pleasure especially encouraged by the flattering concurrence of so many false prophets But the sight of the mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth sitting upon His Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by Him infused such an holy fortitude into the spirit of this Man of God that no greatnesse terrour or Majesty of any crowned Potentate could possibly daunt His courage or dash Him out of countenance And therefore Hee answeres with a resolution as high as Heaven and out of a sacred pang of seraphicall zeale As the Lord liveth whatsoever the Lord saith unto mee that will I speake So that Hee may discharge a good conscience and doe as God would have Him Hee is at a Point That Message which thâ—â—lmighty had put into His mouth must 〈…〉 Him to a centur◠〈…〉 from so 〈…〉 owne Coate to a suspicion of dis-loyalty for crossing so peremptorily the Kings Plot to smiting both with the fist of wickednesse and taunts of the tongue from His fellow Seers Nay tho His faithfull dealing throw Him into a Dungeon there to bee fed with the Bread of affliction and Water of affliction untill the full wrath of an enraged prophane King fall upon Him to the uttermost Thus let the World say what it will whatever flesh and blood suggest to the contrary Howsoever unsanctified great Ones storme and disdaine yet assuredly every true Friend to Iesus Christ must bee content farre rather to bee dis-courted then desert a good cause or not to defend the innocency of a gracious Man tho in disgrace and to speake for Gods people tho Haman rage to roote them out quite as a company of singular exorbitant fellowes who serve God as they list and keepe not the Kings Lawes As is unanswerably evident by the precedency of these newly named noble and holy Saints I confesse this may seeme precise Doctrine and a divine Paradox to all the great Masters of pleasure and Minions of luxury and pride whose blood runnes fresh in their veines and marrow is yet strong in their bones Nay who having attained the height of their ambitious aimes sit now aloft in the very top of their un-blessed bravery and greatnesse drunke with the pleasant wine of worldly prosperitie and holding in scorne the holy preaching of the good way the syncerity of the servants of Christ and society of the Brotherhood Yet I can assure them in the Word of Life and Truth the now embracement and practise of precise walking will incomparably more comfort them upon their Dying-Beds in that great and last encounter with all infernall powers about the immortality blisse and glory or the endlesse and unsupportable paines and misery of their Soules then if they had been the sole and soveraigne Commanders of all the Kingdoms of the Earth all their life long But no marvell in the meane time that as the Spirit of truth tells us and punctually to my purpose Not many Wise men after the flesh nor many Mighty not many Noble are called Not for any impossibility For the irresistable might of the Spirit worketh upon whom it will and some Great Men are good but by reason of the difficulty Being beset with such variety and strength of temptations they are rarelier and hardlier wrought upon by the Word and woone out of Satans en-snarements High roomes temporary happines abilities above ordinary so puffe them up and transport them beyond themselves with such a deale of Selfe-love Selfe-opinion Self-prizing that their proud and obstinated spirits will by no meanes stoope to the simplicity of the Gospell â—â—gularitie of the Saints and the foolishnesse of preaching But if at any time they heare of a Nathan Ieremy Amos Chrysostome Latimer c. They are very loth to lend their attention lest thereby they should bee made Melancholike put in mind of the Evill day tormented before their time But if they have the patience They are ready to startle in their seates and whisper One to an Other You see now these preciser Fellowes would damne us all to Hell Let us breake their bonds asunder and cast away their Cordes from us Such adoe there is and a world of worke to bring such noble Bedlams into their right minds and to fright such Idolizers of their owne sufficiencies and wilfull graspers of their gilded Fetters from their admired follies and honorable servitude 3. Thirdly a gracious Man about a Royall Person is a goodly Sight full well worth even a Kings Ransome For never any except himself truly feare the great God of Heaven can possibly bee cordially and conscionably serviceable to any of our earthly Gods A Principle so cleare and unquestionable that no Man of understanding and Master of his owne Wits except himselfe be notoriously obnoxious can have the face to deny it Please they may bee politically plausible flatter extremely and represent themselves to ordinary observation as the onely Men for loyalty and love But if wee could search and see their hearts wee should find them then most laborious to serue themselves and advance their owne ends when they seeme most zealous for their Soveraignes service Ahitophel in the Sunne-shine of peace and calmenesse of the Kingdomes time did accommodate himselfe to the present both in Consultations of State and religious conformitie But no sooner had this hollow-hearted man espied a dangerous tempest raysed by Absoloms un-naturall treachery but Hee turned Traytor to his naturall Lord when Hee
this World or the World to come But here bee tossed continually and torne in peeces like the raging Sea with restlesse distractions carking discontent And hereafter roare everlastingly in Hell with unknowne horrours and for the irrevocable exclusion from the supreme and soveraign Good the ever-springing Fountaine of all peace and pleasure and His glorious presence even for ever ever If the Soule of man saith Hooker did serve onely to give Him Beeing in this life then things appertaining unto this life would content Him as wee see they doe other Creatures Which Creatures inioying what they live by seeke no further but in this contentation doe shew a kinde of acknowledgement that there is no higher Good which doe any way belong unto them With us it is otherwise For altho the beauties riches honours sciences vertues and perfections of all men living were in the present possession of One yet somewhat beyond and above all this would still bee sought and earnestly thirsted for It is no marvell saith Greenâ—ham if riches fill not the Soule for they were all made for man His Soule for God Whatsoever is capable of God that can never bee satisfied with any thing else All riches all preferments can not satisfie one soule But when God is come it is full whatsoever is added more it runneth over These and the like are the mighty Works of Faith And even so let this Princely and victorious Grace attended with all Her heavenly traine tread down triumphantly before you still the painted Bables and Babels of al transitory glory and ungodly greatnesse hold still fresh and flourishing in your â—ie the immortality and blisse of a never-fading Crowne and shine faire and fruitfully in your Soule untill it set you downe safe in the midst of the most glorious and ever-during Kingdome of Heaven and having there finished her blessed Task resigne you up and leave you for ever to the Beatificall vision and full fruition of Iehovah everlastingly blessed and to the endlesse enioyment of fulnesse of ioy and pleasures at His right hand even thorow all eternity Your servant for the salvation of your Soule ROBERT BOLTON SOME INSTRVCTIONS FOR A RIGHT COMFORTING AFFLICTED Consciences with Antidotes against some speciall temptations PROV 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmitie but a wounded spirit who can beare MY Text lies as you see in a sacred Cabinet of richest Iewels I meane the most selected and wisest Aphorismes or Proverbs that ever issued out of mortall braine Every one of them for the most part especially from the tenth Chapter independant entire and absolute in themselues cleare and manifest by their owne native brightnesse not needing such reciprocall light and lustre for each others mutuall discouery and interpretation And therefore they are naturally not capable of any coherent Logicall Analysis and other circumstantiall expositions ordinarily incident to other parts of Scripture Whence it is that this Booke of Proverbs is compared to a great heape of gold rings rich and orient severally and every one shining with a distinct sense by it selfe but other contexts of holy Writ to gould chaines so interwoven and enlinked together that they must upon necessity for the rendring unto us aright and fully their severall senses be illightened and receive mutuall illustration one from another This present Proverbe doth represent unto us the extremest Hell upon earth the greatest misery and most un-supportable that can possibly befall a Man in this life I meane the horror of a guilty and enraged conscience Which is set out First by the excellency of it's opposite the invincible ability and mighty strength of that truly stoute and heroicall heart which is happily upholden with the heavenly refreshing influence of grace Gods favour and a good conscience The spirit of a man will sustaine his â—firmity Whence take this first note Doctr. The spirit of a man furnished with grace and fortified with the sense of Gods favour is able to passe thorow the pikes and conquer all commers Reas. 1. For what and why should that man feare or faint on whose side the mighty Lord of heaven and earth doth stand If God be for us who can be against us Whose mercy to his is without all stint and limit like himselfe infinite so immeasurable that it reacheth from everlasting to everlasting so tender that it suâ—passeth incomprehensibly the compassionate meltings of the lovingest mother and spared not the dearest blood of his onely Sonne Who hath ever in a readinesse for the recovery of his children out of the most desperate danger and to rescue them out of the hands of the deadliest enemy besides his owne omnipotent arme the least finger whereof can beate the greatest mountaine to powder and â—end the hardest rocke in peeces innumerable hosts of Angels one of which killed an hundred foure score and five thousand in one night charets of fire even a thousand charets in the whirlewind that faire glorious Giant which with incredible sâ—iftnesse runs post as it were thorow the skye to stand still or râ—tore the impetuous current of the raging Sea to recoyle the merciles slames of the hungry fire to become a soft and refreshing aire the â—â—placable fury of the most enraged Lions to couch at first word for his servants sake and safety Nay if need bee hee hath Caterpillers and Frogges Wormes and Lice even the most impotent and vilest vermiâ—e to fetch blood and take downe the heart of the proudest Tyrant upon earth carry he his head neveâ— so high to eate out the bowels of the bloodiest Nimâ—od or mightiest Monarch that weares a crowne upon his head if hee oppose his people He hath the very hands and consciences of all that rise up against them to bring their owne blood upon theâ—r owne heads and even Hell and extreamest horror upon their hearts in this life What then so dreadfull a face of present confusions or fore-imagined formes of future troubles aâ—e able or ought slavishly to deâ—ect and terrifie that holy heart which with a sweet and safe repose is happily and everlastingly hid under the wings of that mighty God who for the deliverance of his can worke 1. By weake meanes See Iud. 7. 1. Sam. 14. Genes 14. 1. Sam. 17. Iud. 4.21 and 9.53 2. Without meanes See 2. Chron. 20. Exod. 14. Iosu. 6. 2. Kings 19. 2. Chron. 14. 3. Contrary to meanes See Dan. 6.22 Ios. 3.16 Dan. 3.25.26 Ionah 2.6 Iosu. 10.12 13 14. 2. When the heavenly beames of Gods pleased countenance begin to breake out upon a man thorow the darke and Hellish mist of his manifold and hainous sinnes the unquenchable heate of His everlasting love thorow Christ dissolving them into nothing and fairely shine with a comfortable aspect upon His humbled Soule ipso facto as they say Heaven and Earth and all the Hosts of both are everlastingly reconciled unto him and become his friends the stormes and
the Lord Iesus so sweetly offering himselfe in that pretious promise Matth. 11.28 resoluing to take him for an everlasting husband and ipso facto as they say it might be put into a very Heaven upon Earth For this glorious grace of Faith the Prince of all spirituall light and lightsomnesse in the truely humbled Soule thus shed into such a darke and grieved spirit doth enkindle and set on shining all those gracious heavenly Starres that are woont to beautifie the hearts of holy men hope love zeale son-like feare humility patience selfe-deniall vniversall obedience fruitfulnesse in all good workes c. Which make them light it selfe to walke in the light towards the infinite and unapproachable light And therefore they never neede to want lightsomnesse but have perpetuall pregnant matter of spirituall mirth and mightinesse of spirit The point appeares and is further prooved by manifest and manifold experience David having bin formerly wofully wasted with great varietie and extremitie of dangers and distresses was at last plunged into a most desperate perplexity 1. Sam. 30 6. Which had bin able to have swallowed up into despaire the manliest vigour of the greatest spirit upon earth not supported with grace The like or a lesse caused King Saul to fall upon his owne sword yet He blessed man by the power of his spirituall peace and the beames of Gods pleased face-shining upon his Soule did patiently and sweetly comfort Himselfe in the Lord His God and stood like an impregnable Rocke unshaken with the raging assaults of any tempestuous sourges He was at this time hunted by Saul like a Parâ—ridge in the Mountaines cashierd by the Princes of the Philistines as a fâ—llow of suspected fidelity robd by the Amalekites of His wiues His sonnes and His daughters The Towne to which He returned for safety was burnt with fire And to make his calamity compleate and most cutting even His owne men were ready to stone Him Now in this great distresse upon the first apprehension whereof He wept as the story saith untill He had no more power to weepe yet comming to Himselfe and recollecting His spirituall forces His heavy heart ready to sinke and fall asunder in His bosome did fetch by the hand of faith comfortably fortified by sense and experience of former fauours such heavenly strength from Iehova whom He had made His portion that thereupon His courage was revived and raised to that height that He presently pursued his enemies with extraordinary valour and resolution cut them off quite and recovered all And David saith the text was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning Him because the Soule of all the people was grieued every man for His sonnes and for His daughters but David encouraged Himselfe in the Lord his God c. What a bitter Sea of unmatched miseries did breake out upon blessed Iob which with a sudden unexpected violence bearing downe that Hedge of protection which God had set about Him the raines purposely let loose by divine dispensation to Sathans malice in the meane time did fearefully overflow him to that height and horrour that He stands registred in Gods Booke as an unparalled Instance of extraordinary sufferings and sorrowes calamities and conflicts to all succeeding ages no story being able to afford the like The naturall death of one deare childe strikes sometimes so heavy to a mans heart that for griefe he growes into a consumption but all Iobs children were suddenly taken away at once by a violent stroke some petty crosse upon his outward state and cutting off but part of his goods causes sometimes a couetous worldling to cut his oÌ„wne throate But Iob was robd of all so that it is a prove be to this day As poore as Iob Many wives are passionate and peevish in time of prosperity whose hâ—arts notwithstanding will melt in compassion and kindenesse over their husbands in any kinde of misery but Iobs wife tho dearely intreated by Her most distressed Husband even for their childrens sake the mutuall common pledges of sweetest loue yet would not come neare Him My breath saith He is strange to my wife though I entreated for the childrens sake of mine owne body Chap. 19.17 Satan I confesse is woont to roare and rage fiercely enough about Gods blessed Oâ—es to doe them all the mischiefe Hee can possibly but rarely hath hee so large a reach and his chaine so lengthned as he had against Iob. The painefull anguish of some one part would not onely deprive a Man of the pleasure of the worlds Monarchy if he had it in possession but also make Him weary of His life In what a taking then was Iob who from the sole of his foote unto his Crowne had no part free from â—ore bâ—les and horribly iâ—flâ—med ulcers exasperated and enraged with the stiâ—ging smart of Satans extremest malice who had power given Him to inflict them God himself frownes many times and withdrawes beames of His pleased face from the soules of His seruants to their great griefe tho for their spirituall good But seldome doth he set them up for His Marke hunt them as a fierce Lion set His terrours in array against them and command the poyson of his arrowes to drinke up their spirit as Iob complaines It is no strange thing neither should it much moove but only make us walke more watchfully to heare men of the world and drunken Belialls to belch out from their rotten hearts upon the Ale-bench such base slanders as these These Professors for all their faire shewes are certainely all of them notorious Hypocrites Tho they looke never so demurely they are not the men they are taken for c. But to have a Mans nearest familiar understanding Christian friends to charge Him with Hypocrisie is a most cruell cut to a troubled conscience And this was Iob. case So thus as â—ob was singular in the universality of His afflictions so there was a singularity of bitternesse above ordinary in eâ—very particular aâ—fliction And what of all this And yet for all this this holy man by the helpe of that pretious hoard of grace which his heavenly heart had treasured up in the time of prosperitie out of that spirituall strength which He had gotten into His soule by his former humble acquaintance and conversation with His God and knowing full well that tho all was gone yet He still possessed Iesus Christ as fully if not more feeliâ—gly as ever before He becomes hereupon as rare and admirâ—ble a Patterne of Patience to all posterity as He was an extraordinary astonishing speâ—â—acle of adversitie and woe Consciousnesse of His fore-spent righteous life which he peruseth Chap. 31. The clearenesse of a good conscience Chap. 16 19 Behold my witnesse 〈◊〉 in heaven and my record is on high And his invincible faith Chap. 19.23 24 25 Oh that mâ— words were now written Oh that they were priâ—ted in a hunke That they were graven with an Iron pen
and lead in the rocke for ever For I know that my Redeemer liveth c. chap. 13. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him did so strengthen and stay his spirit with a divine might that he bore valiantly and stood upright under the heaviest weight and greatest variety of extreame afflictions that ever were laid upon any meere man But now on the other side the tyth nay the tenne hundreth part of Iobs troubles caused graâ—elesse Achitophell to saddle his Asse get himselfe home put his houshold in order and hang himselfe So true is that which the blessed Prophet tels us Ier. 17.5 c. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For Hee shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good commeth but shall inhabite the parched places in the Wildernesse in a saltland and not inhabited Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is For hee shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her rootes by the river and shall not see when heate commeth but her lease shall be greene and shall not be carefull in the yeere of drought neither shall cease from yeelding fruite This impregnable comfort springing from grace and a good conscience even in evill times did steele the spirit of blessed Luther with such spirituall stoutnesse and so hardened his fore head against a world nay an horrible hell of most reproachfull and raging oppositions that he became a Spectacle a Miracle of rarest Christian fortitude and invincible courage to the whole world and to all posterity I am perswaded that holy truth of God which hee so gloriously proâ—est and that power of godlinesse which hee so faithfully practised did infuse into the heart of that Man as much unconquerablenesse of resolution and fearelesnesse of the face of Man as ever dwelt in any mortal brest since the Apostles time Witnesse amongst the rest that one extraordinary expression of His imcomparable magnanimity when his friends were earnest and eager upon Him not to venture Himselfe amongst a number of Perfidious Papists and bloud-thirsty Tigers He replied thus As touching mee saith He since I am sent for I am resolved and certainly determined to enter Wormes in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ yea tho I knew there were as many Divells to resist me as there are tiles to cover the Houses in Wormes This Man of God did upon the two Pillars of His Heroicall heart courage and patience most nobly sustaine the malice and hatred almost of the whole world The Divell and the Pope did concurrently countermine with all their cruelty and cunning against this victorious Champion of Heaven and mighty underminer of their darke and damned kingdomes Almost all the Princes Priests and people of Christendome did breed breathe out nothing but thoughts of indignation and threats of Death against Him Millions of lasie and lustfull Monkes having like so many pestilent Locusts of the infernall Pit seizd upon the face of Europe with their envenomed swarmes and lying at ease encloistered in Sodomy and bloud gnashed their teeth at Him with Hellish fury and like true Frends spet fire in His face And yet for all this this holy Saint which I more admire and prize higher then the victories of a thousand Caesars or the most renowned valour of the greatest Alexander having so many incarnate Divels continually roaring about Him with open mouth ready every houre and enraged with implacable thirst to drinke up His bloud and swallow Him up quicke yet I say enioyed such a triumphant tranquillity of minde and unshaken presence of spirit that like a mightie Son of thunder by His constant and powerfull preaching for the space of nine and twenty yeares so shooke the pillars of Popery that I am perswaded the Beast will never stand upon His foure legs any more And writ eloquently and excellently almost if not as many volumes as Austin did that great glory of the Christian World in former times A petty crosse many times will so emasculate and weaken the elevations of the greatest Wit that His conceite invention stile will fall to a farre lower streine then ordinary which contentment calmnesse would raise to their highest pitch possibility But the terrible earthquake as it were of all Europe and contrary commotions of Christendome some did never a whit dis-animate or shake the heart of this heavenly man fitly honoured by the name of a third Elias But now Francis Spira on the other side having out of his inordinate love to the things of this life wofully wounded his conscience by that infamous 〈◊〉 of the blessed Truth which He formerly professed became a spectacle of such spirituall misery and woe to the whole world that there is not any thing left unto the memory of man more remarkeable Vpon the very first revise of his recantation and serâ—ouâ— consideration in cold bloud what he had done he acknowledged himselfe utterly undone and for ever His spirit suddenly smitten with the dreadfull sense of divine wrath for his Apostasie and split in pieces as it were with so grievous a bruise fainted fearefully faild him quite and fell a sunder in his brest like drops of water Heare some rufull expressions of his desperate state from his owne mouth Oh that I were gone from hence that some body would let out this weary Soule I tell you there was never such a Monster as I am never was man alive a spectacle of such exceeding misery I now feele Gods heavy wrath that burnes like the torments of hell within me and afflicts my soule with pangs un-utterable Verily desperation is Hell it selfe The gnawing worme of unquenchable fire horrour confusion and which is worst of all desperation it selfe continually tortures me And now I count my present estate worse then if my soule separated from my body were with Iudas and therefore I desire rather to be there then thus to live in my body The truth is never had mortall man such experience of Gods anger and hatred against him as I have If I could conceive but the â—east sparke oâ— hope in my heart of a better state hereafter I would not refuse to endure the most heavy wrath of the great God yea for 2000. yeeres so that at length I might attaine out of misery He professed that his pangs were such as that the damned wights in Hell indure not the like misery That his state was worse then that of Cain and Iudas and therefore desired to die O that God would let loose his hand from me and that it were with me now as in times past I would scorne the threats of the most cruell Tyrants beare torments with invincible resolution and glory in the outward profession of Christ till I were choaked in the flame and my body turned into ashes Vses 1. If it be so then that
an heavenly hoard of grace good conscience Gods favour c. happily treasured up while it is called Today hath the sole and sacred property and priviledge to hold up our hearts In times of horrour inabling us in the meane time patiently and profitably to master all miseries passe thorow all persecutions conquer all Commers and at length by the helpe of God to pull the very heart as it were out of Hell with confidence and triumph to looke even death and the Divell in the face and to stand with boldnesse before the terrour of the last Day like an unmooveable Rock when the Sonnes and daughters of confusion who have slept in harvest and mispent the gratious Day of their visitation shall intreate the mountaines and Rockes to fall upon them I say it being thus let every one of us like Sonnes and daughters of wisedome in this short Sommers Day of our abode upon earth and in this glorious Sun-shine of the Gospell and pretious seasons of grace imploy all meanes improove all oportunities to gather in with all holy greedinesse and treasure up abundantly much spirituall strength and lasting comfort against the evill Day To which let us be quickned by such considerations as these 1. This wise and happy treasuring up of heavenly hoards and comforts of holinesse afore hand will sweetely mollisie and allay the bitternesse and smart of that heavinesse and sorrow of those fearefull amazements and oppressions of spirit naturally incident to times of trouble and feare which ordinarily doe very grievously sting and strike thorow the hearts of carnall and secure Worldlings with full rage and the very slashes and fore-tastes of Hell Of all other passions of the Soule sadnesse and griefe grates most upon the vitall spirits dries up soonest the freshest marrow in the bones and most sensibly suckes out the purest and refinedst bloud in the heart All the Obiects of lightsomnesse and ioy are drowned in an heauy heart even as the beauty of a Pearle is dissolved in vineger Now the onely Cordiall and Counter-poyson against this dampe of light-heartednesse and Cut-throate of life is the secret sweetenesse and shining pleasure of that One pearls of great price three orient raies whereof are righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost treasur'd up in the Cabinet of a good conscience The glory pretiousnesse and power of which hidden treasure purchased with the sale of all sinne doth many times shine faireliest upon the Soule in the saddest times inspires for the most part into the hearts of the owners the greatest courage and constancy of spirit even in the dayes of adversity and vexation inables them to digest and beare without any great wound or passion those crosses and cruelties which would breake the backe and crush the heart of the stoutest Temporizer Was there not a great deale of difference thinke you betwixt the heart of Hezekiah who had walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart when He heard the newes of death from the mouth of the Prophet and the heart of Belshazzar when he saw the hand-writing upon the wall Giue me a great man who carries a way the credit and current of the times with all bravery and triumph wallowes and tumbles himselfe in the glory and pleasures of the present Throw Him from the transitory top of His heaven upon earth upon His last bed present unto His eye at once the terrible paÌ„gs of approaching death the ragefull malice of the powers of Hell the crying wounds of His bleding conscience the griesely fourmes of His innumerable sinnes His finall farewell with all worldly delights the pit of fire and brimstone into which He is ready to fall And I tell you true I would not endure an houres horrour of His wofull heart for His present Paradise to the worlds end But on the other side let me be the man whom the corruptions of the time confine to obscuritie who mournes in secret for the horrible abominations and crying sinnes that raigne amongst us who thinkes that day best spent wherein Hee hath gathered most spirituall strength against that last and sorest combate and by the mercies of God and humble dependance upon His omnipotent arme I will looke in the face the cruellest concurrence of all those former terrors with â—â—â—fidence and peace 2. Secondly By this spirituall hoarding of comfortable provision against the Evill day we may prevent a great deale of impatiency dependance upon the Arme of flesh base feares sinkings of heart un-manly deiections of spirit desperate resolutions and many passionate distempers of such raging and distracted nature which are woont to seize upon and surprise unholy and unprepared hearts when the Hand of God is heavy upon them How bravely and Heroically did patient Iob beare and breake thorow a matchlesse variety and extremity of calamities and conflicts The softest of whose sufferings would have strucke full cold to the heart of many a Carnalist and made it to dye within Him like a stone as Nabals did One of the least the losse of His goods I am perswaded would have caused many covetous worldlings to have laid violent and bloudy hands upon themselues For instance Ahitophel onely because the glory of his state-wisedome was obscur'd and overtopt at the counsell-Bord sadled His Asse gate Him Home put His houshold in order and hanged Himselfe The onely cause of His fainting in the day of disgrace and dis-acceptation was His false and rotten heart in matters of religion While the Crowne sate with security and safety upon Davids head He walked with Him as a companion unto the House of God But when the winde begun to blow a little another way and upon Absoloms side like a true Temporizer He followes the blast and turnes his sailes according to the weather And therefore His hollow heart having made the Arme of flesh His Anchor and a vanishing Blase of honour His chiefest blessednesse shrinkes at the very first sight and suspition of a tempest and sinkes this miserable Man into a Sea of horrour But now on the contrary what was the cause that Iobs heart was not crusht into pieces under the bitter concurrence of such a world of crosses of which any one severally was sufficient to have made a Man extreamely miserable The true reason of His patient resolution amid so many pressures was the spirituall riches He had hoarded up in the time of His happines Amongst which the divinest and dearest Iewel lay nearest unto His heart as a counterpoyson to the venome and sting of the Divels deadliest malice I meane a sound and strong faith in Iesus Christ the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world which now began to shine the fairest in the darkest Midnight of His miseries and sweetly to dart out many heavenly sparkles of comfort and such glorious eiaculations as these Though he slay me yet will I trust in Him Cap. 13.15 And that cap. 19 23 c. Oh that my words were
now written oh that they were printed in a Booke That they were graven with an iron pen and leade in the rocke for ever For I know that my Redeemer liveth c. There were two cutting and cruell circumstances largely insinuated Cap. 29. and 30. which did keenely sharpen the edge and mightily aggravate the weight of Iobs miseries The one was this He had bin happy Now as that mans happines is holden the greatest who hath bin in miserable condition for He tasteth the double sweete of remembring his forpassed misery and enioying his present felicity So on the contrary It is the greatest misery they say to haue bin happy The other was that which most nettles a generous nature He being a Man of so great honour and worth whose rare and incomparable wisedome even the Princes and Nobles adored as it were with a secret and silent admiration as appeares Cap. 29.9.10 was now contemned of the most contemptible The children of fooles and the children of base men that were viler then the earth make him their song and their By-word cap. 30.8.9 For when true noblenes and worth is downe and any one of the Lords Champions dejected it is ordinary with all those dunghill dispositions to whom His sincerity was an Eie-sore His power and authority a restraint to their lewdnesse the glory of His vertues fewell to their envy to run as a Raven to the fallen Sheepe to picke out His eyes I meane which yet â—asts of a truly cowardly and mercilesse constitution to wound his very wounds and to vexe his vexations This was Iobs case But what now ministers comfort to Iobs heart against these corrosiues Euen consciousnesse of His graces and integrities treasur'd up and exercisde in the dayes of His peace He reckens up fourteene of them Chap. 31. From consideration hereof Hee gathers towards the end this triumphant resolution against the â—orest of His sufferings I would even crowne mine head with the bitterest Invective of my greatest adversary whence it is cleare that the two potent pillars of Iobsâ—â—rong â—â—rong and strange patience which all generations will admire to the worlds end were a sound faith and the sanctified fruits thereof prepared and practised in the time of his prosperity 3. Thirdly by fore-provision of Gods favour grace good conscience and such spirituall store wee shall be able worthily to grace and honour our profession truly to enoble and winne a great deale of glory and reputation to the state of Christianity when the ambitious Rufflers and boisterous Nimrods of the world shall see and observe that there is a gratious invisible vigour and strength of Heaven which mightily supports the heart of the true Christian in those times of confusion â—eare when theirs shall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs fall asunder in their breasts even like drops of water That He is as bold as a Lyon and unmooveable like Mount Zion in the Day of distresse and visitations of God when they shall tremble at the shaking of a leafe call upon the Mountaines to cover them That He shall be able then to say with David Psal. 46.1.2 The Lord is my refuge and my strength c. Therefore will I not feare thâ— the earth be remooved and tho the mountaines be carried into the middest of the Sea But they shall cry out of the bitternes of their spirits with the hypocrites Isai. 33.14 Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings God is much honoured and His truth glorified when it appeares in the face of men that a poore neglected Christian or in the worlds language a precise foole is able by the power of grace and influence of his favour to affront and out-face all the frownings and malignant aspects of the proud Giants of the world And he is the Lords noblest Champion and a Professour of the truest and heavenliest dye that holds out in the wetting and shrinkes not in the Day of adversitie Chrysostome speakes to the people of Antioch like himselfe a Man of an invincible spirit against the tyrannies of his times In this saith He should a gracious differ from a gracelesse man that hee should beare his crosses couragiously and as it were with the wings of Faith outsoare the height of all humane miseries He should be like a Rocke being incorporated into Iesus Christ inexpugnable and unshaken with the most furious incursions of the waves and stormes of worldly troubles pressures and persecutions And blessed bee God that even here upon earth in this vale of teares there is such a visible and vast difference betwixt a wicked and godly man The one is like the raging Sea that cannot rest the other stands fast like a Rocke which shall never bee remooved An unregenerate heart is ever restlesse commonly in these three regards at the least First by reason of an endlesse and unsatisfiable appetite after pleasures riches honours revenge or what other Darling delight it hath singled out and made speciall choice of to follow and feede upon with greatest contentment and sensuall sweetnesse God hath iustly put that property or rather poison into all earthly things doted upon and desired immoderately that they shall plague the heart which so pursues them by filling it still with a furious and fresh supply of more greedinesse iealousies and many miserable discontentments so that they become unto it as drinke unto a man in a Dropsie or burning Fever serve onely to inflame it with new heate and fiery additions of insatiable thirst and iâ—ordinate longings Secondly because of the many secret grumblings and stinging reclamations of a gauled conscience against its present guilty courses and forbidden pleasures Thirdly in respect of a continuall ebullition as it were of confused and contrary lusts out of the empoysoned Fountaine of originall corruption which fill it with many damnable distractions and tumultuations of Hell But now if besides this inward boyling it bee also tossed with outward troubles what a miserable Creature is a carnall Man Euen as the Sea if besides its internall agitations by the restlesse motions of estuation descention revolution and reflection it be also outwardly turmoyl'd with stormes and tempestuous winds How ragefull roaing wil it be But the other is like a strong unmoveable mountaine that stands impregnable against the rage of winde and weather And all the cruell incursions and ungodly oppositions made against it either by men or Divels are but like so many proud and swelling waves which dash themselves against a mighty Rocke The more boysterously they beate against it the more are they broken and turned into a vaine foame and froath Come what come will His heart is still in His breast and His resolution as high as Heaven Pestilent then is that Principle of Machiavel a Fellow not to bee named but by way of detestation and savours rankely of cursed Atheisme Whereby He teaches in sense and summe
ever the Obiect Now what a miraculous mercy was this that passing by such an un-numbred variety of incomparably inferiour creatures He should make Thee an everlasting Soule like an Angell of God capable of grace and immortality of incorporation into Christ and fruition of Iehova Himselfe blessed for ever Nay and yet further tho thou wast to haue the Being of a reasonable creature yet there was not an houre from the first moment of time unto the worlds end but God might have allotted that to Thee for thy comming into this world And therefore Thy time might have bin within the compasse of all those foure thousand yeares or there abouts from the Creation untill the Comming of Christ in the flesh when as all without the Pale and Partition-wall were without the Oracles and Ordinances of God and all ordinary meanes of salvation Or since the Gospell revealed under the raigne of Anti-Christ And then a thousand to One thou hadst beene choakt and for ever perisht in the damned mists of his Devillish Doctrines What an high honour was this to have thy birth and abode here upon earth appointed from all eternity in the very best and blesseddest time upon the fairest Day of peace and which is infinitely more in the most glorious Light of Grace that ever shone from Heaven upon the Children of men And so of the place Bee it so that Thou must needes bee in this golden Age of the Gospell and gracious Day yet thy lot of living in the world at this time might have lited for any part of the earth might have received Thee where Thou couldest have set but thy two feete amongst Turkes Pagans Infidels a whole world to Christendome Or if thine appearing upon Earth must necessarily bee within the confines of Christendome yet Thou mightest have sprung up in the Popish parts of it or in the scismaticall or persecuted Places of the true Church in it It was a very singular favour That thou shouldest be borne and bred and brought up in this little neglected Nooke of the world yet very illustrious by the presence of Christ in a mighty Ministry where Thou hast or mightest have enioyed in many Parts thereof the glorious Gospell of our blessed God and all saving Truth with much purity and power Now put all these together and tell me in cold bloud and after a sensible and serious ponderation thereupon Doest thou thinke that all this adoe was about Thee all this honour done unto Thee and when all is done Thou art to doe nothing but seeke Thy selfe serve Thine owne turne and live sensually Camest Thou out of Nothing into this world to doe iust nothing but eate and drinke and sleepe to game goe in the fashion and play the good fellow to laugh and be merry to grow rich and leave tokens of thy pleasure in every place c. If any after so much illightning bee so prodigiously mad as to continue in such a conceite I have nothing to say to Him but leave Him as an everlasting Bedlam abandon'd to that folly which wants a name to expresse it Turne then thy course for shame nay as Thou hast any care to be saved and to see the glory of the new Ierusalem as Thou desirest to looke the Lord Iesus in the face with comfort at that great Day as Thou fearest to receive thy portion in Hell-fire with the Devill and His Angells even most intolerable and bitter torments for ever and ever at least in this thy day in this heate and height of Thy spirituall Harvest awake out of thy sensuall sleepe come to thy selfe with the Prodigall strik◠upon thy thigh and for the poore remainder of a few and evill dayes addresse thy selfe with resolution and constancy to pursue the One necessary Thing and to treasure up much heavenly strength and store against thine ending houre Get thee under conscionable Meanes and quickning Ministery and there gather grace as greedily as the most gryping Vsurer graspeth gould contend with an holy ambition as earnestly for the keeping of Gods favour and an humble familiarity with His heavenly Highnesse by keeping faith and a good conscience as the proudest Haman for an high Place and pleased face of an earthly Prince And why not infinitely more This was the end for which thou wast sent into this World This onely is the way to endlesse blisse And this alone will helpe us and hold out in the Euill day 2. That upon the little ynch of time in this life depends the length and breadth of all eternity in the World to come As we behave our selves here we shall fare everlastingly hereafter And therefore how ought we to ply this moment and prize that eternity To decline all entanglement in those inordinate affections to the possessions and pleasures of the Present which hinder a fruitfull improovement of it to the best advantage for the spirituall good of our Soules Let us be mooved with such reasons as these which may be collected from the words of a worthy Writer which run thus with very little variation 1. If we could afford our selues but so much leasure as to consider That he which hath most in the world hath in respect of the world nothing in it and that he which hath the longest time lent him to live in it hath yet no proportion at all therein setting it either by that which is past when we were not or by that time in which we shall abide for ever I say if both to wit our proportion in the world and our time in the world differ not much from that which is nothing it is not out of any excellency of understanding saith Hee but out of depth of folly say I that we so much prize the one which hath in effect no being and so much neglect the other which hath no ending coveting the mortall things of the world as if our Soules were therein immortall and neglecting those things which are immortall as if our selues after the world were but mortall 2. Let adversity seeme what it will to happy men ridiculous who make themselves merry with other mens miseries and to those under the crosse grievous yet this is true That for all that is past to the very instant the portions remaining are equall to either For be it that we have lived many yeeres and according to Salomon in thē all we have reioyced or be it that we have measured the same length of time and therein have ever-more sorrowed yet looking backe from our present being we finde both the one and the other to wit the joy and the woe sayled out of sight and death which doth pursue us and hold us in chace from our infancy hath gathered it Whatsoever of our age is past death holds it So as whosoever he be to whom Prosperitie hath bin a servant and the Time a friend let him but take the accompt of his memory for we haue no other keeper of our pleasures past
kinde of voluptuousnesse shalt most certainely very shortly lie upon thy Bed of death like a wilde bull in a net full of the fury of the Lord either sealing thee up finally in the desperate senselessenesse of thine owne dead heart with the spirit of slumber for everlasting vengeance even at the doore or else exemplarily enraging thy guilty conscience upon that thy last bed with hellish horrour even before hand For ordinarily the more notorious servants of Satan and Slaves of lust depart this life either like Nabal or Iudas Tho more by many thousands die like hard-hearted sots in security then in despaire of conscience If it bee so with thee then that thine heart when thou shalt have received the sentence of death against thy selfe die within thee as Naballs And most commonly saith a worthy Devine Conscience in many is secure at the time of death God in his iustice so plaguing an affected security in life with an inflicted security at death I say then thou wilt become as a stone most prodigiously blockish as tho there were no immortalitie of the Soule no losse of eternall blisse no Tribunall in Heaven no account to bee made after this life no burning in Hell for ever Which will make the never-dying fire more scorching and the ever-living worme more stinging by how much thou wast more senselesse and fearelesse of that fiery lake into which thou wast ready to fall Death it selfe saith the same Man cannot awaken some consciences but no sooner come they into hell but conscience is awakened to the full never to sleepe more and then she teareth with implacable fury and teacheth forlorne wretches to know that forbearance was no payment But if it please God to take the other course with thee and to let loose the cord of thy conscience upon thy dying Bed thou wilt be strangled even with Hellish horrour upon earth and damned above ground That Worme of Hell which is a continuall remorse and furious reflexion of the Soule upon its owne willfull folly whereby it hath lost everlasting ioyes and must now lie in endlesse easelesse and remedilesse torments is set on worke whilest thou art yet alive and with desperate rage and unspeakeable anguish will feede upon thy Soule and flesh The least twitch whereof not all the pleasures of ten thousand Worlds would ever bee able to countervaile For as the peace of a good so the pangs of a guilty conscience are unspeakable So that at that time thou maist iustly take unto thy selfe Pashur's terrible name Magor-Missabib Feare round about Thou wilt be a terrour to thy selfe and to all thy friends And that which in this wofull case will sting extremely No friends nor Physicke no gould nor silver no height of place nor favour of Prince not the glory and pleasures of the whole World not the crownes and command of all earthly kingdomes c. can possibly give any comfort deliverance or ease For when that time and terrour hath overtaken thee which is threatned Prou. 1.24 Et seq Because I have called and yee refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But yee have set aâ— naught all my counsell and would none of my reproofe I also will laugh at your calamity and will mocke when your feare commeth When your feare commeth as desolation and your destruction commeth as a Whirlewinde when distresse and anguish commeth upon you Then shall they call upon Me but I will not answere they shall seeke mee earely but they shall not finde mee for that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the feare of the Lord. They would none of my counsell they despised all my reproofe Therefore shall they eate the fruitâ— of their owne way and be filled with their owne devises I say when this terrible time is come upon thee then will the mighty Lord of Heaven and earth come against thee as a Beare that is bereaved of her whelpes and will rent the caule of thy heart and will devoure thee like a Lion He will come with fire and with His charets like a Whirle-winde to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire All his terrours at that houre will fight against Thee and that unâ—quenchable anger that burnes to the very bottome of Hell and sets on fire the foundations of the mountaines The empoysoned arrowes of His fiercest indignation shall be drunke with the bloud of thy Soule and sticke fast in it for ever In a word the fearefull armies of all the plagues and curses sorrowes and un-sufferable paines denounc'd in Gods Booke against finall Impenitents shall with un-resistable violence take hold upon thee at once and pursue thee with that fury which thou shalt never bee able either to avoide or abide And who is able to stand before this holy Lord God who can abide in His sight when He is angry who can deliver out of His hand what man or Angell what arme of flesh or force of Armes what creature or created power what Cherub or which of the Seraphins is able to free a guilty conscience from the ever-knawing Worme and an impenitent wretch from eternal flames Oh Me thinkes a sensible fore-thought of these horrible things even at hand should make the hardest heart of the most abominable Behall to tremble at the roote and fall asunder in His brest like drops of water To haue his end in his eye and seriously to remember the tribulation and anguish that shall shortly come upon His Soule the affliction the Worme wood and the gall should fright and fire Him out of all His filthy gracelesse good-fellow courses 3. Thirdly Let them consider what horrour it will bee in evill times I meane not onely at death and the last Day which are the most terrible of all but also In times of disgrace and contempt of common feare and confusions of the state of sickenesse crosses restraint banishment temptations or any other dayes of sorrow I say at such times to finde in stead of peace fiery scorpions in their consciences innumerable sins graven there with an iron pen un-repented of Heare how excellently Austin foretels forewarnes them into what a forlorne and fearefull state they shall most certainely fall when after a short gleame of worldly glory they fall into tempestuous and troublesome times Of all afflictions incident to the Soule of man there is none more grievous and transcendent then to have the Conscience enraged with the guilt of sinne If there bee no wound there if all bee safe and sound within if that bird of the bosome sing sweetely in a Mâ—â—s brest it is no matter what miseries be abroad in the World what stormes or 〈◊〉 be raised against Him What arme of flesh or rage of foes beset Him rouâ—d For Hee in this are hath presently recourse unto His conscience the safest Sanctuary and Paradise of sweetest repose and finding that sprinkled with the bloud of the Lambe filled with abundance of peace
and God Himselfe there reconcil'd unto Him in the face of Christ He is couragiously fearelesse of all both mortall and immortall adversaries and oppositions Tho the earth be remooved and the mountaines carried into the middest of the Sea tho all the creatures in the world should bee turned into Beares or Devils about Him yet His conscience being comfortable hee is undaunted and confideâ—t and more then conquerour over the whole world and ten thousand Hells But on the other side if by reason of the raigne of sinne there be no rest there if God be not there because of the abounding of iniquity what shall a man doe then Whither shall hee flye when the hand of God hath found Him out and the swift Arrow of the Almighty stickes fast in his side Hee will flie saith that auncient Father out of the Countrey into the Citie out of the streets into his House out of his House into His chamber horrour still dogging Him at the heeles And from His chamber whither will hee goe but into the inmost Cabinet in his bosome where his Conscience dwelleth And if hee finde there nothing but tumult and terrour but guiltinesse confusion and cries of despaire which way will hee then turne himselfe Or whither will hee fly then He must then either flie from Himselfe which is utterly impossible or else abide that torment which is beyond all compasse of conceite or expression of tongue For all the racks saith another wheeles wilde horses hot pincers scalding lead poured into the most tender and sensible parts of the body yea all the mercilesse barbarous and inhumane cruelties of the holy house are but flea-bitings meere toyes and May-games compared with the torment that an evill conscience will put a man to when it is awakened 3. A third sort the worst of all and most pestilent are those who doe not onely not labour in the time of harvest to treasure up comfortable provision against dayes of dread and mispend the Day of their visitation wickedly but also out of a transcendent straine of impiety labour might and maine to put out and utterly extinguish the heavenly Sunne that creates this blessed day and makes the season of our spirituall harvest most glorious and incomparable I meane to suppresse and quench the saving light of a powerfull Ministry wheresoever planted and prevailing under the sacred influence and soveraigne heate whereof all Gods hidden Ones are woont to gather that heavenly stocke of grace Comforts of godlinesse and good conscience which is able to hold up their heads invincibly in heavy times These are the vilest of men and of the most forlorne hope for they are unhappily transported with extremest malice and storme against the very meanes which should sanctifie them and Men which should save them They doe not onely make their owne soules sure for damnation but also hinder the power of the Word all they can lest others should bee saved Whatsoever thou doest doe not become one of this damned crue who heartily desire that the Sun of sincere preaching were quencht and put out tho it were with the bloud of Godâ— faithfullest Messengers as did the Mâ—n of Anathoth in Ieremies time Ier. 11.19 21. Herodias in Iohn Baptist time and that other Herodias improperly called Eudoxia in Iohn Chrysostomes time and many thousands even within the Pale of the Church at all times Above all I say Beware of that crying sinne of persecuting the power of godlinesse without which never any heart knew what true comfort meant Profession of the truth without which Christ will not owne us at the last day conscionable Ministers under Whose painefull labours we gather our spirituall and heavenly Store against evill times in this harvest of grace And that either with thine heart by hatred malice heart-burning with thy tongue by slanders scoffs rash censures with thine hand by supplanting oppression wrong with thy purse policy power mis-informing or any other way of vexing or violence If thou wilt needes bee wicked bee so more moderately If there be no helpe but thou Wilt to Hell post not so furiously If nothing will-worke but thou art wilfully bent to bee damned bee damned more tolerably For Persecutours are transcendents in sinne and shall hereafter bee paid home proportionably Be none of them for such reasons as these 1. All their malice and rancour all their bitter words and scornefull iests all their bloudy mercilesse mischiefes and machinations against the power of preaching and Gods people strike immediately at the face of Iesus Christ. Acts. 9.5 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And at the pretious Ball and Apple of Gods owne eye Zech. 2 8. For he that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of His eye God is our Shield Psal. 84.11 Now the Shield takes all the blowes 2. They are hunted many times with furies of conscience and extreame horrour even in this life Pashur put blessed Ieremie in the stockes but thereupon He had a new name given Him Magor-Missabib Feare round about Hee became a terrour to Himselfe and to all his friends Zedechiah smote faithfull Micaiah upon the face but afterward according to that Propheticall commination Hee was faine to run from chamber to chamber to hide himselfe Iohn Baptists head which Herod cut off sate in the eye of the Tyrants conscience with such griesly formes of guiltinesse and bloud that when hee heard of the great things done by Christ hee was perplexed and no doubt afraid that Iohn Baptist was risen from the dead to bee revenged upon Him I have heard of a Man who for a time did furiously and desperately set Himselfe against a Minister of God labour'd might and maine by all meanes to disgrace and vexe him both by power and policy by slanders oppressions malice contempt But at length the Word so got within Him and hamperd Him and the terrours of the Almighty tooke hold upon Him with such un-resistable rage that he came trembling and quaking unto that man of God whom he had so wickedly wrong'd and durst not steere a foote from him for feare the Devill should take him away alive or the earth open her mouth and swallow him up quicke or some other strange remarkeable iudgement seize upon Him suddenly and brand Him for a notorious Beast cursed Cast-away So or to such sense hee spoke 3. Many of them come to very horrible exemplaâ—y and wofull ends Pharaoh long since by a dreadfull confusion at the red Sea was as it were hangd up in chaines a spectacle of terrour for Persecutors to all posterity Antiochus swelling with anger and breathing out fire in his rage against the people of God did proudly protest that He would come to Ierusalem and make it a common Burying place of the Iewes But the Lord Almighty the God of Israel smotâ— him with an incurable and invisible Plague for as soone as hee had spoken these words a paine of the bowels that was remedilesse came upon
of his pride vers 23. The Ecclesiasticall story reports that the loathsome and dreadfull end of Arrius that execrable enemie to Iesus Christ was hastned by the prayers of the good and orthodoxe Bishop Alexander who wrastled with God in earnest deprecations against him all the night before Doe you not thinke that Gardiner went sooner into his Grave for his cruelty towards Professours of the truth by their groanes against him and by the cry of the bloud of that glorious Paire of Martyrs at Oxford which hee so insatiably thirsted after Let all those then that tread in these mens paths tremble at their ends And if no better motive will mollifie their doggednesse yet at least let their love unto the world themselves and sensuall waies take them off and restraine them from this persecuting rage least it set on worke the prayers of Gods people and so they bee taken away before their time and cut off from a temporary supposed heaven of earthly pleasures to a true everlasting Hell of unspeakeable torments sooner then otherwise they should 13. The hearts and tongues of all good men and friends to the Gospell are fill'd with much glorious joy and heartiest songs of thankesgiving at the downefall of every raging incurable Opposite when the revenging hand of God hath at length to the singular advancement of the glory of his justice singled out and paide home remarkeably any impenitent Persecutour and implacable enemie See for this purpose The song of â—oses Exod. 15. Of Deborah Iudges 5. The Iewes feasting after the hanging of Haman Esther 9 17. Psa. 52.6.9 And 58.10 And 79.13 1. Macca 13.51 Onely let the heart of Gods childe be watchfull over it selfe with a godly jealousie in this Point That His reioycing bee because Gods justice is glorified His Church delivered Satans kingdome weakened c. not onely for his owne ease and end for any personall or particular by-respect Now it is an heavy case A man in His short abode upon earth to behave himselfe so like a dogged Curre and incarnate Divell that all good men are and ought to bee passingly glad when hee is gone In this Point I comprise and conclude all sorts of Persecutours Of which some are profest and open as Bonner and Gardiner and many such morning Wolues Some Politicke and reserved who many times are the more pernicious For of all manner of malice and ill will that is most execrable deadly and doth the most hurt which like a Serpent in the faire greene grasse lies lurking in the flatterings and fawnings of a sleering countenance Which kisses with Iudas and kills with Ioab entertaines a man with outward formes of complement and curtesie but would if it durst or might stabbe Him in at the fifth rib that hee should never rise againe When a mans words to thy face are as soft as oyle or butter but his thoughts towards thee composed all of bloud and bitternesse of gall and gunpowder Some are notorious villaines as many times in many places the most desperate blasphemers stigmaticall Drunkards rotten whore mongers cruell usurers and fellowes of such infamous ranke are as so many bloudy Goades in the sides of Gods servants and the onely Men to pursue all advantages against the faithfullest Ministers Some are of more sober carriage faire conditions and seeming devotion Act 13.50 Some are the basest fellowes the most abiect and contemptible vagabonds and the very refuse of all the Rascalls in a Countrey This we may see by Iobs complaint Cap 30. But now saith Hee they that are younger then I have mee in derision whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flocke They were children of fooles yea children of base men they were viler then the earth And now am I their song yea I am their By Word And in Davids Psa. 35. Yea the Abiects gathered themselves against mee c. and I was the song of the drunkards Psal. 69.12 And in the Persecutours of Paul Act. 17. But the Iewes which belâ—eved not mooved with envie tooke unto them certaine lewde fellowes of the baser sort c. Some againe are men of place and parts As the same David complaines in the same place They that sit in the gate speake against mee That is men in high roomes and of great authoritie And as all sorts of Persecutours so I comprehend all kindes of persecution 1. By hand as did Herod Act. 12. Iulian Bonner c. 2. With tongue by mocking Galat. 4.24 compared with Gen. 21.9 See also Psal. 69.20 Hebr. 11.36 By slandering even in reporting true things maliciously to the prejudice of Gods children Psalm 52. By reproaching and reviling Zeph. 2.8 By insulting with insolent speeches Ezech. 36.2 and 26.2 3. In heart by hatred Ezech. 35.5 By rejoycing in the downefall or disgrace of the Saints Ezech. 35.6 4. In gesture Ezech. 25.6 Because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with the feete c. Behold therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee c. Take heede of so much as looking sowre upon or brow-beating a servant of Christ lest thou smart for it Looke upon the quoted Places and you shall see Offenders in any of these kindes plagued and paide home as Persecutours of Gods people And thus let such extremely Wicked men be frighted from persecuting any way those Men or Meanes which are appointed and sanctified to furnish us with spirituall store and strength against the dayes of evill Ob. But against that which hath beene said in this Point for the singularity and soveraignty of grace and good conscience to support the Spirit of a Man in evill times to keepe it calme in the most tempestuous assaults and conquering over all commers it may bee objected and some may thus cavill Men who never were or ever did desire to bee acquainted with Gods grace or good men expresse sometimes and represent to By-standers an invincible stoutnesse much boldnesse and bravenesse of minde in times of greatest extremitie and under most exquisite tortures and therefore it seemes not to be peculiar to the Saints and the priviledge of Gods Favourites alone to stand unshaken in stormy times undaunted in distresse and comfortable amidst the most desperate confusions Answ. I answere Such confidence is onely in the face not in the heart enforced not kindly affected not effectuall not springing from the sole Fountaine of all sound and lasting comfort in humane Soules sense of our reconciliation to God in Christ but from some other odde accidentall Motives from Weake and unworthy grounds 1. In some from an ambitious affectation of admiration and applause for extraordinary undauntednesse of spirit and high resolution It is reported of an Irish Traitour that lying in horrible anguish upon the Wheele an Engine of cruellest torture with his body bruis'd and his bones broken asked his friend standing by whether he changed countenance at all or no. Affecting more as it seemes an Opinion of prodigious manlinesse and
calmnesse of a good conscience is grounded upon a Rocke upon which tho the raine descends the floods come the windes blow the tempests beate yet it stands like Mount Zion sure sober strong lasting impregnable Nay it is of that heavenly metall and divine temper that it ordinarily gathers vigour and puissance from the worlds rage and growes in strength and resolution together with the encrease of all iniust oppositions Persecutions and resistance serue as a provocation and seasoning to it's sweetnesse It is not enforced formall artificiall affected furious desperate misgrounded ambitious upon an humour in the face onely onely in hot blood out of a vaine-glorious pang c. Such may bee found in Aliens and resolute reprobates It were nothing worthy if strangers might meddle with it If Men or Divels or the whole World could take it from us If it were sustained onely by any created power or arme of flesh This Pearle that I praise and perswade unto is of an higher price and more transcendent power then any unregenerate Man can possibly compasse or comprehend It hath for it's seate a sanctified Soule for the Fountaine of it's refreshing the Spirit of all comfort for it's foundation the favour of God for it's Warrant the promises of Amen the faithfull and true Witnesse for it's object an immortall Crowne for it's continuance the prayers of all the Saints for it's companions inward peace invincible courage an holy security of minde for it's end and perfection fulnesse of ioy and pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore In a word this couragious comfort and true noblenesse of spirit which dwells in the heart of the true-hearted Christian doth differ as much from and as farre surpasses all the groundlesse confidences of what carnall men or religious counterfeits soever as the reall possession of gold an imaginary dreame of gold as the true naturall lively Grape which glads the heart a painted juycelesse Grape which onely feedes the eye as a strong and mighty Oake rooted deepely in the earth which no storme or tempest can displant or overthrow a Stake in a dead hedge or Staffe stucke lightly into the ground which every hand may snatch away or blast of winde supplant and overthrow Secondly the trouble of a wounded conscience is further amplified by it's Attribute intolerablenesse But a wounded Spirit who can beare Whence note Doctr. That the torture of a troubled Conscience is intolerable Reas. 1. In all other afflictions onely the Arme of flesh is our adversary wee contend but with Creatures at most wee have to doe but with Man or at worst with Divels but in this transcendent misery wee conflict immediately with God Himselfe Fraile Man with Almighty God sinfull Man with that most holy God Whose eyes are purer then to behold evill and who cannot looke upon iniquity Who then can stand before his indignation Who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger When his fury is powred out like fire and the Rocks are throwne downe by Him When hee comes against a man as a Beare that is bereaved of her Whelpes torent the very caule of His heart and to devoure him like a Lion No more then the driest stubble can resist the fierest flame the ripe Corne the Mowers sharpest sythe or a garment the Moath no more nay infinitely lesse can any power of Man or Angell withstand the mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth when Hee is angry for Sinne. When thou saith David with rebukes correctest man for iniquity thou as a Moath makest his beauty to consume Alas when a poore polluted wretch upon some speciall illumination by the Word or extraordinary stroke from the rod doth once begin to behold Gods frowning face against Him in the pure Glasse of His most holy Law and to feele divine iustice by an invisible hand taking secret vengeance upon his conscience His heavy heart immediately melts away in his brest and becomes as water Hee faints and failes both in the strength of his body and stoutnesse of his minde His bones the pillars and Master-timber of his earthly Tabernacle are presently broken in pieces and turn'd into rottennesse His spirit the eye and excellency of his Soule which should illighten and make lightsome the whole Man is quite put out and utterly overwhelm'd with excesse of horrour and flashes of despaire O this is it which would not onely crush the courage of the stoutest sonne of Adam that ever breath'd upon earth but even breake the backe of the most glorious Angell that did ever shine in Heaven should Hee lift up but one rebellious thought against his Creatour This alone is able to make the tallest Cedar in Lâ—banon the strongest Oake in Basan I meane the highest looke and the proudest heart the most boisterous Nimrod or swaggering Belshazzar to bow and bend to stoope and tremble as the leaves of the forrest that are shâ—ken with the winde 2. In all other adversities a man is still a friend unto himselfe favours himselfe and reaches out his best considerations to bring in comfort to his heavy heart But in this Hee is a scourge to Himselfe at warre with Himselfe an enemy to Himselfe Hee doth greedily and industriously fetch in as much matter as hee can possibly both imaginary and true to enlarge the rent and aggravate his horrour Hee gazes willingly in that false glasse which Satan is woont in such Cases to set before Him wherein by his Hellish malice Hee makes an infinite addition both to the already un-numbred multitude and to the too true hainousnesse of his sinnes and would faine if Hee will be lead by his lying cruelty mis-represent to his affrighted imagination every Gnat as a Camell every Moate as a Mole-hill every Mole-hill as a Mountaine every lustfull thought as a Sodomiticall villany every idle word as a desperate blasphemy every angry looke as an actuall bloody murder every intemperate passion as an inexpiable provocation every distraction in holy duties as a damnable rebellion every transgression against light of conscience as a sinne against the holy Ghost c. Nay in this amazednesse of spirit and disposition to despaire Hee is apt even of his owne accord and with great eagernesse to arme every severall sinne as it comes into his minde with a particular bloody sting that it may strike deepe enough and sticke fast enough in His already grieved Soule Hee imployes and improoves the excellency and utmost of His learning understanding wit memory to argue with all subtilty with much Sophistry against the pardonablenes of his sins and possibilitie of salvation Hee wounds even his wounds with a conceit they are incurable and vexes his very vexations with refusing to bee comforted Not onely crosses afflictions temptations and all matter of discontentment but even the most desirable things also in this life and those which minister most outward comfort Wife Children Friends Gold Goods Great mens favours Preferments Honours Offices even Pleasures themselves every
the covetous Dwell in a cruell and crafty worldling doth sucke out of the single-heartednesse plaine dealing un-suspiciousnesse of conscionable men for their rising enriching if God crosse it not 3. Hee drawes them by all the baites Hee can devise to all the incentives and preservatives of carnal contentment as to Tavernes Ale-houses Play-houses Whore-houses Gaming-houses to May-games Morrice-dances Church Ales to Cardes to Dice to Dancing to Feasts Wakes Mis-rules Drinking-matches revelliuâ—s and a world of such sinfull haunts Bedlam-fooleries and Good-fellow-meetings Wherein He is mightily furthered by Wicked Mens impatiency of solitarinesse and their enraged eagernesse of carrying with them to Hell as many as may bee For the first Tho a good man as Salomon sayes bee satisfied from Himselfe dare full well and desires full often to bee alone because the bird of the bosome sings sweetely to His Soule in solitarinesse yet all the Sonnes and Daughters of pleasure have no pleasure at all nay ordinarily are most loth to bee by themselves Solitarinesse puts them into their dumps makes them extremely melancholike and weary of themselves They would rather bee any where in any company any wayes imploide then alone Mistake mee not they can walke by themselves to feede upon contemplative filth speculative wantonnesse adulteries of the heart to plot revenge preferment enlargement of their estate to renew upon their sensuall hearts their youthfull pleasures c. But to bee alone purposely to deale with God and their owne 〈…〉 about their spirituall stare they abhorre 〈…〉 endure it is to them a torâ—ure a Racke the very beginning of Hell And that is the reason to decline the tings of guiltnesse and torment before their time why they have so often recourse unto the arme of flesh for refreshing to the mirth and madnesse of wine pleasures and many other fugitive follies That they cast themselves into such knots of good-fellowship appoint so many set-matches of joviall meetings and hunt after such variety of the times entertainment as they call it which they account the very life of their life and without which they would rather bee under ground then aboue it For the second Heare How swaggeâ—ingly they cry unto their companions in iniquity to make haste with them towards Hell Come with us let us lay waite for blood let us lurke prâ—vily for the innocent without causâ— Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that goe downe into the pit wee shall finde all pretious substance wee shall fill our houses with spoile Cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse Prov. 1.11 c. Come on therefore let us enjoy the good things that are present and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth Let us fill our selves with costly wine and ointments and let no flower of the Spring passe by us Let us crowne our selves with Rose buds before they bee withered Let none of us goe without His part of our voluptuousnesse let us leave tokens of our ioyfulnesse in every place for this is our portion and our lot is this c. 4. And in all these cursed conventicles of good-fellowship and furious combinations for prophanenesse and against Piety the Divell himselfe is ever present amongst them in His Pontificalibus as they say And there disposeth enclines manageth and accommodates all opportunities circumstaâ—◠〈…〉 mens severall corruptions and 〈…〉 wicked wits to make their meetings as merry as may bee and to put all possible sensuall sweetnesse into their carnall delights 5. Lastly That which is principally for my purpose Besides that like a crafty Iugler Hee casts a mist before the eyes of His slaves and like a false Merchant puts a counterfeite glosse upon the face of sinne Hee also hides away the sting from them and withholds the horrour untill afterward Every sin in it's own nature ever lookes fouler then the Divell Himselfe O that the ougly fearefull and filthy shape of it could bee seene with bodily eyes that thereby it might provoke all men to a mortall and immortall hate and detestation of it The sting is pointed with the keene unquenchable wrath of God the horror is heated with the very fire of Hell And yet ordinarily Satan takes an order by His craft and industry that these never appeare untill it appeare unto Him that in all probability the sight of them will sinke their Soules into irrecoverable woe The not feeling then of their spirituall misery is so farre from making them not miserable that it ministers occasion to the Divels malice mightily to aggravate their misery both present and future 2. An other reason why many are not troubled in the meane time tho there bee infinite cause and a world of woe to come is because their consciences by reason of surfet in sinne and beeing drunke with worldly delights as with sweet wine are cast into a dead sleep And there lulled still and lockt full fast in an imaginary Paradise of golden dreames and transitory fancies by the charmes and enchantments of earthly pleasures And if at any time any noyse of terrour sound in their eares from the Lords Trumpeters in the Ministry of the Word so that they begin to stirre then the Divell begins to be stirre Himselfe and to rocke them fast againe with His Syren-songs in the Cradle of security Here therefore wee may take notice of a fourefold conscience 1. That which is both good and quiet when it hath peace with God and with it selfe so that the happy Soule may sweetly sing in it's owne bosome My belovâ—d is mine and I am His. 2. That which is neither good nor quiet when it lyes forlorne under the sense of Gods wrath and full of horrour in it selfe As that of Iudas Latomus c. 3. That which is good but not quiâ—t when the pleased face of God doth shine upon it thorow the blood of Christ and yet it feeles not the comfort of that blessed reconciliation As in many new Converts who beeing truly humbled for all sinne cast themselves upon the Lord Iesus and his sure promises for spirituall and eternall life and yet are not as yet sensible of any assurance 4. That which is quiet but not good when it is as full of sinne as a Toade of venome as Hell of darkenesse and all those innumerable sinnes unrepented of unpardoned like so many mad Ban-dogs and fell Mastives tho asleepe for the present will in the evill day especially of sicknesse death iudgement flye in the face of the proudest Nimrod ready to plucke out his very throate and heart and to torment with unspeakeable horrour and yet for all this it is untroubled senselesse and secure This kind of conscience is to bee found I feare mee in the most that heare mee this day and so generally over the Kingdome It doth not in the meane time trouble and terrifie 1. A great number by reason of their ignorance in the
in that sweetest well-spring of life and immortality then enjoy the riches pleasures and glory of the whole World everlastingly For a bitter-sweet taste of which for an ynch of time Hee villanously trampleth under-foote as it were that blessed blood by wilfully cleaving to His owne wayes and furious following the swinge of His owne sensuall heart even against the check and contradiction of His grumbling conscience 3. Of the most blissefull presence freedome and communication of the Holy Ghost and all those divine illuminations spirituall feastings sudden and secret glimpses and glances of heavenly light sweeter then sweetnesse it selfe wherewith that good Spirit is woont to visit and refresh the humbled hearts of holy men 4. Of the fatherly providence and protection of the blessed Trinity the glorious guard of Angels the comfortable communion with the people of God and all the happy consequents of safety deliverance and delight that floweth thence 5. Of the unknowne pleasures of an appeased conscience a Iewell of dearest price to which all humane glory is but dust in the balance Not the most exquisite extraction of all manner of Musicke Sets or Consorts vocall or Instrumentall can possibly conveigh so delicious a touch and taste to the outward eare of a Man as the sound and sense of a Certificate brought from the Throne of mercy by the blessed Spirit seal'd with Christs blood to the eare of the Soule even amidst the most desperate confusions in the evill Day when Comfort will bee worth a World and a good Conscience ten thousand earthly Crownes 6. Of all true contentment in this life of all Christian right and religious interest to any of the Creatures For never was any sound ioy or sanctified enjoyment of any thing in the world found in that Mans heart which gives allowance to any lust or lyes delightfully in any sinne 7. Of an immortall Crowne the un-speakeable ioyes of Heaven that immeasurable and endlesse comfort which there shall be fully and for ever enioyed with all the children of God Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs Christian friends yea with the Lord Himselfe and all His Angels with Christ our Saviour that Lambe slaine for us the Prince of glory the glory of Heaven and Earth the brightnesse of the everlasting Light c. In a word of all those inexplicable nay unconceiveable excellencies pleasures perfections felicities sweetnesses beauties glories eternities above 2. It doth every houre expose Him to all those evils which a Man destitute of grace divine may commit and unprotected from above endure It brings all plagues 1. Internall Blindnesse of minde Hardnesse of heart deadnesse of affection searednesse of conscience a reprobate sense strong delusions the spirit of slumber slavery to lust estrangednesse from God bondage under the Divell desperate thoughts horrour of heart confusion of spirit c. And spirituall mischiefes in this kind moe and more dreadfull then either Tongue can tell or heart can thinke Least of which is farre worse then all the plagues of Egypt 2. Externall See Deut. 28.15 c. 3. Eternall See my Sermon of the foure last things 3. By it 's pestilent damning Property and poyson it turnes Heaven into Hell Angels into Divels Life into death Light into darknesse sight into blindnesse Faith into distrust hope into despaire Loue into hate humility into pride mercy into cruelty security into feare liberty into bondage health into sicknesse plenty into scarcenesse a Garden of Eden into a desolate Wildernesse a fruitfull Land into barrennesse Peace into war quietnesse into contention Obedience into rebellion Order into confusion vertues into vices blessings into curses c. In a word all kind of temporall and eternall felicities and blisse into all kinds of miseries and woe 7. What heart except it bee all Adamant and turn'd into a Rocke of flint but possessing it selfe with feeling thoughts and a sensible apprehension of the incomprehensible greatnesse excellency and dreadfulnesse of the mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth would not tremble and bee strangely confounded to transgresse and breake any one branch of His blessed Lawes especially purposely and with pleasure or to sinne against Him willingly but in the least ungodly thought For alas Who art thou that liftest up thy proud heart or whettest thy prophane tongue or bendest thy rebellious course against such a Majesty Thou art the vilest wretch that ever God made next unto the Divell and His damned Angels A base and an unworthy Worme of the Earth not worthy to licke the dust that lyeth under His feete A most weake and fraile creature Earth ashes or any thing that is naught the dreame of a shadow the very Picture of change worse then vanity lesse then nothing Who when thy breath is gone which may fall out many times in a moment thou turnest into dust nay rottennesse and filth much more loathsome then the Dung of the Earth and all thy thoughts perish But now on the other side if thou cast thine eyes seriously and with intention upon that thrice glorious and highest Majesty the eyes of whose glory thou so provokest with thy filth and folly thou mayest most justly upon the commission of every sinne cry out with the Prophet O Heavens bee astonished at this bee afraid and utterly confounded Nay thou mightest marvaile and it is Gods unspeakeable mercy that the whole frame of Heauen and Earth is not for one sinne fearefully finally dissolued and brought to nought For He against whom thou sinnest inhabiteth eternity and unapprochable light The Heauen is His Throne and the earth his footstoole Hee is the euerlasting God mighty and terrible the Creatour of the ends of the earth â—c The infinite splendour of his glory and maiesty so dazles the eyes of the most glorious Seraphims that they are glad to adore Him with couered faces The Diuell and all the damned spirits those stubborne Feinds tremble at the terrour of His countenance All the Nations before Him are but as the drop of a bucket but as the small dust of the balance nay they are nothing to Him saith the Prophet yea lesse then nothing Hee fitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers The Iudges and Princes when Hee blowes upon them are but as stubble before the Whirle-winde And Hee taketh vp the Iles as a very litle thing At His rebuke the Pillars of Heauen doe shake the Earth trembleth and the foundations of the hills are mooued His presence melts the mountaines His voice teares the Rocks in pieces The blast of the breath of His nostrils discouers the chanells of waters and foundations of the world when Hee is angry His Arrowes drinke bloud His sword deuoures flesh and the fire of his wrath burnes unto the lowest Hell The Heauen is but His span The Sea His handfull The wings of the wind His walke His garments are light His Pauilion darknes His way in the whirlewind and in the storme and
thirsty desire earnest entreaty is that every one into whose hands by Gods providence this Book of mine shall fall after the perusall of them would pause a while upon purpose that Hee may more solemnly vow and resolve that ever hereafter when he shal bee set upon and assaulted by allurement to any sinne Hee wil first have recourse unto these twenty Considerations I have here recommended unto Him to helpe in such cases and with a punctuall seriousnesse let them sinke into His heart before Hee proceede and pollute Himselfe I could bee content if it were pleasing unto God that these lines which thou now readest were writ with the warmest blood in mine heart to represent unto thine eie the deare affectionatenesse of my Soule for thy spirituall and eternall Good so that thou wouldest be throwly perswaded and now before thou passe any further sincerely promise so to doe 3. Thirdly The point may serve to set out the excellency of that high and heavenly Art of coÌ„forting afflicted consciences The more dangerous and desperate the wound is the more doth it magnifie and make admirable the mysterie and method of the Cure and recovery Which were it wel knowne and wisely practised what a world of vnnecessary slavish torture in troubled minds would it prevent So many thousands of poore abused deluded Soules should not perish by the damning flatteries and cruel mercies of unskillfull Dawbers what an heaven of spirituall light-somnesse and ioy might shine in the hearts and shew it selfe in the faces of Gods people Vntill it please the Lord to mooue the hearts of my learned and holy Brethren in populous Cities and great congregations who must needs have much imploiment and variety of experiments this way or some speciall men extraordinarily endowed and exercised herein put to their hâ—lping hands and furnish the Church with more large and exact discourses in this kinde take in good part this Essay of mine Wherein I first desire to discover and rectify some ordinary aberrations about spirituall Cures Which fall out when the Physition of the Soule 1. Applies unseasonably the Cordials of the Gospell and coÌ„forts of Mercy when the Corrosives of the Law and comminations of Iudgement are convenient and sutable Were it not absurd in Surgery to poure a most soveraigne Balâ—am of exqvisite composition and inestimable price upon a sound part It is farre more unseemely and senselesse of an infinitely more pestilent consequence in any Ministeriall passages to profer the blood of Christ and promises of life to an unwounded conscience as belonging unto it as yet It is the onely right everlasting Method to turne men from darknes to light from the power of Satan unto God and all the Men of God and master-Builders who have ever set themselves sincerely to serve God in their Ministery and to save Soules have followed the same course to wit First to wound by the Law and then to heale by the Gospâ—ll Wee must bee humbled in the sight of the Lord before Hee lift us vp Iam. 4.10 Wee must bee sensible of our spirituall blindnesse captivity poverty before wee can heartily seeke to bee savingly illightned enlarged from the Devils slavery and enriched with grace There must bee sense of misery before shewing of mercy Crying I am uncleane I am uncleane before opening the Fountaine for vncleannesse stinging before curing by the Brasen Serpent smart for sinne before a Plaister of Christs blood Brokennesse of heart before binding up God himselfe opened the eies of our first Parents to make them see and bee sensible of their sinne and misery nakednesse and shame c. Gen. 3.7 Before Hee promised Christ. vers 15. Christ Iesus tells us that Hee was annointed by the Lord to preach good tydings But to whom To the poore To the broken hearted To the captives To the blind To the bruised Isai. 61.1 Luk. 4.18 That the whole neede not the Physition but they that are sicke And Hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Matth. 9.12.13 That is poore Soules sinners with a witnesse even in their owne apprehension and conceit And not selfe-conceited Pharisees who tho they bee meere strangers to any wound of conscience for sinne yet they will not be perswaded that they shall bee damned but in the meane time contemne and condemne all others in respect of themselves sinfull Publicanes are to grosse sincere Professours are too godly Whereas notwithstanding in true iudgemeÌ„t Harlots are in a farre happier case then they Math. 21.31 That Hee will give rest but to whom To those that labour and are heavy laden Matth. 11.28 That the Spirit which Hee would send should convince the world First of sinne and then of righteousnesse to wit of Christ It is ordinary with the Phrophets First to discover the sinnes of their people and to denounce iudgements And then to promise Christ upon their comming in to illighten and make them lightsome with raising their thoughts to a fruitfull contemplation of the glory excellency and sweetnesse of His blessed kingdome Isaiah in his first chapter from the mouth of God doth in the first place behaue Himself like a Son of Thunder pressing vpon the consciences of those to whom Hee was sent many hainous sinnes horrible ingratitude fearefull falling away formality in Gods worship cruelty and the like afterward vers 16.17 He invites to repentance And then followes vers 18. Come now and let us reson together saith the Lord Though your sins bee as scarlet they shal bee as white as snow though they bee red like crimsin they shal bee as wooll Nathan to recover even a regenerate man convinceth Him first soundly of His sin with much aggravation and terrour and then upon remorse assures Him of pardon 2. Sam. 12.13 Consider further for this purpose the Sermons of our blessed Saviour Himselfe who taught as one having authority and not as the Scribes With what power and piercing did our Lord and Master labour to open the eies search the hearts and wound the consciences of His Hearers to fit them for the Gospell and His owne deare Hearts blood See Mat. 5. c. And 23. And 25 c. Of Iohn Baptist who by the mightinesse of His Ministerial spirit accompanied with extraordinary strength from Heaven did strike thorow the hearts of those that heard Him with such astonishment about their spirituall state with such horrour for their former waies and feare of future vengeance that they came unto Him thicke and threefold as they say And the people asked Him saying what shall wee doe then Then came also Publicans to be baptized and said unto Him Master what shall wee doe And the Souldiers likewise demanded of Him saying And what shall wee doe Luk. 3.10.12.14 Of Peter who Act. 2. beeing now freshly inspired and illuminated from aboue with large and extraordinary effusions of the holy Ghost shadowed by cloven fiery tongs in the very prime and flower
many respects 1. In respect of Gods word and messages first not dividing it and dispensing them aright Secondly Dishonouring the Majesty and weakening the power of them many times with the vnprofitable mixture of humane allegations ostentations of wit fine frier-like conceits digged with much adoe out of Popish postills c. Even as wee may see at haruest time a land of good corne quite choaked up with red blew and yellow flowers As King Iames doth excellently allude in the forecited place Thirdly Fearefull prophaning them by mis-application against Gods will Making the heart of the righteous Sad whom God would not have made Sad and strengthening the hands of the wicked that hee should not returne from his wicked way by promising him life Fourthly Villanous perverting and abusing them to their owne advantage applause rising revenge and such other private ends 2. In respect of the flattering and unfaithfull Ministers themselves First Extreme vilenesse Isa. 9.15 Secondly Guiltinesse of spirituall bloudshed Ezech. 3.18 Thirdly Liablenesse to the fierce wrath of God in the Day of visitation Ier. 14.15 1. King 22.25 3. In respect of their hearers who delight in their lies in their smooth and silken sermons Suddaine horrible and unavoidable confusion Isa. 30.13.14 4. Burning both together in hell for euer without timely and true repentance banning there each other continually and crying with mutuall hideous yellings O thou bloody Butcher of our Soules hadst thou bin faithfull in thy Ministery wee had escaped these eternall flames O miserable man that I am Woe is mee that ever I was Minister for now besides the horrour due unto the guiltinesse of mine owne damned Soule I have drawen vpon mee by my unfaithfull dealing the cry of the bloud of all those soules who have perished under my Ministery to the everlasting enraging of my already intollerable torment Give mee leave to conclude this point with that patheticall and zealous passage of reuerend and learned Greenham against negligent pastors amongst whom I may justly ranke and reckon also all Dawbers for as well never a whit as never the better Men-pleasers For selfe preachers are for the most part seldom-preachers Heare His words Were there any love of God from their hearts in those who in stead of feeding to salvation starve many thousands to Destruction I dare Say and say it boldly that for all the promotions under Heaven they would not offer that iniury to one Soule that now they offer to many hundred Soules But Lord how doe they thinke to give up their reckoning to thee who in most strict account will take the answere of every Soule committed unto them one by one Or with what eares doe they often heare that vehemâ—nt speech of our Saviour Christ Feede Feede Feede with what eyes doe they so often readâ— that piercing speech of the Apostle Feede the slocke committed unto you But if none of these will move them then the Lord open their eyes to heare the grievous groanes of many Soules lying under the griefly altars of destruction and complaining against them O Lord the revenger of blood behold these men whom thou hast set over us to give us the bread of life but they have not given it us Our tongues and the tongues of our children have stucke to the roofe of our mouths for calling and crying and they would not take pitty on vs Wee have given them the tenths which thou appointedst us but they have not given us thy truth which thou hast commanded them Reward them O Lord as they have rewarded us Let the bread betweene their teeth turne to rottennesse in their bowells Let them be clothed with shame and confusion of face as with a garment Let their wealth as the Dung from the earth bee swept away by their executours And upon their gold silver which they have falsely treasured up let continually bee written the price of blood the price of blood For it is the value of our blood O Lord. If thou didst heare the blood of Abel being but one man forget not the blood of many when thou goest into judgement I now returne to rectify and tender a remedy against the first aberration Which I told you was this When mercy Christ the promises salvation heaven all are applied hand overhead and falsely appropriated to vnhumbled sinners whose Soules were never rightly illightened with sight of sinne and waight of Gods wrath nor afflicted to any purpose with any legall wound or hearty compunction by the Spirit of bondage In whose hearts sense of their spirituall misery and want hath not yet raised a restlesse and kindly thirst after Iesus Christ In this case mine advise is that all those who deale with others about their Spirituall states and undertake to direct in that high and waighty affaire of mens Salvation either publikly or privatly in their ministry visitations of the sicke or otherwise that they would follow that course of which I largely discoursed a little before taken by God himselfe his Prophets his Sonne the Apostles and all those men of God in all ages who have set themselves with Sincerity faithfulnesse and all good Conscience to seeke Gods glory in the salvation of mens Soules to discharge aright their dreadfull charge and to keepe themselues pure from the blood of all men To wit That they labour might and maine in the first Place by the knowledge power and application of the Law to illighten convince and terrify those that they have to doe with concerning conversion with a sensible particular apprehension and acknowledgement of their wretchednesse and miserable estate by reason of their sinfulnesse and cursednesse To breake their hearts bruise their Spirits humble their Soules wound and awake their Consciences c. To bring them by all meanes to that Legall astonishment trouble of minde and melting temper which the Ministry of Iohn Baptist Paul and Peter wrought upon the Hearts of their hearers Luk. 3.10.12.14 Act. 16.30 And 2.37 That they may come crying feelingly and from the heart to those Men of God who happily fastened those keene arrows of compunction and remorse in the sides of their Consciences and say Men and Brethren what shall wee do Sirs what must wee doe to bee saved c. As if they should have said Alas wee see now wee have bin in Hell all this while and if wee had gone on a litle longer wee had most certainely lien for ever in the fiery Lake The Devill and our owne lusts were carrying us hood-winkt and headlong towards endlesse perdition Who would have thought wee had bin such abominable beasts and abhorred Creatures as your Ministry hath made us and in so forlorne wofull estate Now you blessed Men of God helpe us out of this gulfe of spirituall confusion or wee are lost everlastingly By your discovery of our present sinfull and cursed estate wee â—eele our hearts torne in pieces with extreme and restles
set upon the right object might serve to drive us unto Christ and afterwards in Gods gracious acceptation for saving repentance Mee thinkes it should bee a very quickning motive to make a man bee sorry for nothing but sin and to turne all his griefe and groanes sighs and teares upon his transgressions onely To wit To Consider that an impenitent carnall worldling doth passe thorow even in this life where hee hath all the heaven hee is ever like to have incomparably more comfortlesse hearts-griefe slavish torment of minde and heavinesse of Spirit towards endlesse paines then the strictest Christian and most mortified Saint doth endure in his passage to everlasting pleasures Fourthly That besides many other pestilent properties worldly sorrow doth also double nay multiply and mightily enrage the venome bitternesse and â—ting of every crosse accident losse disgrace c. When Ahitophel was disgraced by neglect of his counsell which was in those dayes as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God carnall griefe so grew upon him that hee gate him home to his house put his household in order and hanged himselfe What was the disgrace to this desperate end Haman beeing crossed by Mordecaies discourtesie and contempt did so trouble himselfe and take on that having told his wife and freinds of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children and all things wherein the King had promoted him and how hee had advanced him above the Princes and servants of the King c. Yet professeth unto them that all this availed him nothing so long as hee saw Mordecai the Iew sitting at the Kings gate Now whether doe you thinke was the most greivous thing to beare the bare omission of a meere complement or an universall distaste and dis-injoyment of all outward comforts heaped upon Him to the height and in excellency The hundreth part of Iobs losses and lesse hath many times since made many a covetous worldling to cut his owne throat I have knowne some for the losse of an over-loved child to have languished fallen into a consumption and lost their owne lives But now on the other side besides many other gracious effects sorrow according to God is more delicious and sweeter then any worldly delight As Chrysostome truly tells us in many places To whom Moderne Divines accord The very teares that a good Conscience sheds saith one have more joy and pleasure in them then the worlds greatest joyes This is certaine saith another that there is more lightnesse of heart and true delight in the sorrow of the Saints then in the lowdest laughters of the world For unspeakeable joy is mingled with un-utterable groanes 2. When it is not any kindly touch of conscience for sâ—â— wrought by the ministry but terrours and affrighting distempers arising from the darke mists of a melancholicke humour in the braine which cause a man to complaine In this blacke and sad humour Satan God suffering him and of it selfe also it is pregnant enough this way hath great advantage to raise and represent to the Phantasie many fearefull things terrible objects griesly thoughts hideous injections and temptations to despaire selfe-destruction c. Whereupon the party so affected and afflicted is wont out of impatiency of such uncouth horrours and heavines to addresse himself and have recourse to some man of God some noted Physitian of the soule not from any purpose and resolution to become a new man and alter his courses but only for hope of ease enlargement froÌ„ the tyranny of that ferall passion and recovery to wonted quietnesse of mind not expecting or aiming at all at any other change but from present melancholy to former mirth from this abhorred irkesome insupportable state of sadnesse to his accustomed sensuall or civill contentment at least In this case let the art and aide of physicke bee improou'd to abate and take off the excesse and phantasticalnesse of this horrible humour and then let the party bee advised to imploie and spend the native and kindly sadnesse of that uncomfortable constitution in sorrowing for sinne in trembling at the threats of Gods judgements in fearing to offend and flying under the wings of Christ for sanctuary that so hee may happily bring supernaturall and heavenly lightsomnesse into his soule by pardon from God peace of conscience and evangelicall pleasures It is incredible to consider what assistance and advantage a gracious man hath by his sweete communion with Iesus Christ and those refreshing beames of comfort which shine from his face to confine and conquer those many impertinent irkesome and vexing vagaries of this wild humour which with much folly and fury tyrannise in the feareful phantasies of gracelesse men and make their life very disconsolate and abhorred I am perswaded the very same measure of melancholicke matter which raises many times in the heads and hearts of worldlings having besides the guilt of their unforgiven sinnes staring with griesly representations in the face of their consciences and acquainted with no comfort but that which comes from carnall joyes continuall clouds of many strange horrours and gastly feares nay and sometimes makes them starke mad I say the very same in a sanctified man may bee so mollified and moderated by spirituall delight and soveraignty of grace that he is not onely preserved from the sting and venome of them but by Gods blessing from any such desperate extremities violent distempers and distractions which keepe the other in a kinde of hell upon earth If the very darkenesse of the hellish dungeon were in the heart yet reaching out the hand of faith and receiving Christ that blessed Sun of righteousnesse would dispell and disperse it to nothing Much more mee thinkes the light of grace and heavenly wisedome may in some good measure dissolve and maister the mists and miseries of this earthly humour Religion then and religious courses and conformities doe not make melancholike men mad as the great Bedlams of this world would beare us in hand For you must know that besides Belials and debosht companions there are a generation of worldly wise men also right brave and jolly fellowes in their owne conceits and in the opinion of some flattering clawbacks But by testimony of the Truth it selfe starke mad about the service of God and there owne salvations who cursedly â—eare their owne consciences with the hottest iron in the Divels forge by breaking out into such blasphemies as these when they heare or see any extraordinarie heavie-heartednes temptation distraction or spirituall distemper to have seizd upon any that desires to bee saved You see now what becomes of so much reading the scriptures of plying prayer and private duties with so much adoe of medling with mysteries of religion of meditating so much of heavenly things Of taking sinne so deeply to heart and holding such strict conformity to Gods word c. Blessed God! Is thine holy booke become execrable blasphemy a perverter distracter and
the damnation of Hell In a true Penitent there ought to bee an utter cessation from all grosse abandonable sinnes and at least dis-allowance dis-affection and all possible opposition even to un-avoidable infirmities and inseparable frailties of the flesh 5. Fiftly when the Physition of the Soule promiseth mercy and pardon hand over head without that spirituall discretion which is convenient for a matter of so great consequence and requiring such a deale of dexterity in discerning to a man upon His Bed of death who hath formerly bin notorious or onely civill howsoever a meere stranger to the power of godlines and the truth of Profession because now in the evill Day He takes on extremely by reason of His extremity cries out of his sins O I am an hainous horrible and grievous sinner If I were to live againe what would not I doe A World for comfort now and to die the death of the righteous because Hee Howles vpon His bed as the Prophet speaketh and breakes out oftentimes into a roaring complaint of sinne and cry for pardon by reason Hee now begins to feare and feele the revenging hand of God ready to seize upon Him for his former rebellions c. Or when Hee assures Him having been a formall Professour onely and foolish Virgine of blisse and glory because out of a former habituated spirituall Selfe-deceite Hee cries Lord Lord seemes to by-standers very confident that He shal presently receive a Crowne of life thankes God that nothing troubles Him Professes to every one that comes to visite Him that Hee believes and repents with all His heart forgives all the world makes no doubt of Heaven c. Here by the way wee must take notice that many having out-stood the day of their gratious visitation having neglected so great salvation forsaken their owne mercy and iudged themselues unworthy of everlasting life all their life long by standing out against the Ministry of the Word in respect of any saving worke upon their soules and now at length beeing overtaken after the short gleame of worldly prosperity with the boysterous winter-night of death and darkenesse of the evill day may keepe a great stirre upon their dying-Beds or in some great extremity with grievous complaints of their present intolerable misery and former sinfull courses procuring it with incessant cries for ease and deliverance being now caught like wilde Bulls in a Nâ—t full of the wrath of God with earnest and eager â—uing and seeking for pardon and salvation now when worldly pleasures are past and yet bee not truly penitent not soundly and savingly humbled not rightly fitted for Christ and comfort Consider for this purpose Prov. 1.24.28 In the day of visitation God called upon them and stretched out His hands but they refused did not regard set at naught all His counsell and would none of His reproofe And therefore in the Day of vexation when extremity and anguish shall come upon them like a Thiefe in the night a whirle-winde travaile upon a woman suddenly extremely un-avoidably Hee professeth before-hand that then they shall call upon Him but Hee will not answer They shall seeke Him early but they shall not find Him Psal. 78.34.35.36.37 When Gods hand was upon them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God c. Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto Him with their tongues For their heart was not right with Him c. Hos. 7.14 They howled upon their Beds Will not a Dog or a Beast or any unreasonable creature when they are pinched when they are in extremity will they not cry will they not mourne for helpe c. Their cries in the evill Day were not hearty prayers but Howlings upon their Beds Their earnestnesse in such a case is ordinarily like the teares prayers and cryes of a malefactour newly condemned Hee is very earnest with the Iudge to spare Him Hee roares out sometimes and takes on extremely yet not heartily for his former lewdnesse but horribly because Hee must now loose His life Hee seemes now when Hee sees His misery to relent and to bee toucht with remorse but it is onely because hee is like to bee hanged Againe many there are who satisfying themselves and others with a goodly shew of a Forme onely of godlines may upon their last Bed discover and represent to By-standers a great deale of fearelesnesse about their spirituall state much confidence many ostentations of Faith and full assurance and behave themselves as tho they were most certainely going to everlasting blisse when as God knowes their Answer at His just Tribunall must bee I know you not And in truth and triall they have no more part in Christ nor other portion in Heaven then the foolish Virgins and those Luk. 13.26.27 They are so confident not because they have escaped the danger but because they never saw the danger And hence it is that many of them die with as much confidence as the best Christians they have no more trouble then holy men To bee sure I am free from danger and not to know it may beget equall confidence Now concerning the present Case I must tell you that for my part I would not much alter my censure and conceite of a Man's spirituall state whom I have thorowly knowne before for the manner of His death The end of Gods dearest servant after an holy life and unblame-able conversation may not appeare in the eye of man so calme and comfortable as was expected by reason of much tendernesse of conscience some strong temptation spirituall desertion violent distemper of Body or because God would have the manner of His death serue the glory of His justice in hardning those about him who were so farre from being won by His godly life that they heartily hated it or for some other secret and sacred end seene and seeming good to Divine wisedome who ever disposeth every circumstance even of the least affaire most sweetly and wisely And yet this as it doth not prejudice His salvation neither should it His Christian reputation Heare that great Doctor in the Art of rightly comforting afflicted consciences But what if you should die in this discomfort For my part as I my selfe looke for no great things in my death I would not thinke more hardly of you neither would I wish any to iudge otherwise of Gods Childe in that state of death For wee shall not bee iudged according to that particular instant of death but according to our generall course of life not according to our deede in that present but according to the desire of our hearts ever before And therefore wee are not to mistrust Gods mercy in death bee wee never so uncomfortable if so bee it hath been before sealed in our vocation and sanctification On the otherside a notorious wretch which hath swumme downe the current of the times and wallowed in worldly pleasures all his life long may seeme to die
penitently and resoluedly to bee reformed if Hee recover and yet His sorrow of minde but such onely as the terrours of an awaked guilty conscience produce and His resolution to cast away His sinnes onely such as a man hath in a storme to cast away His goods not because hee doth not love them but because hee feareth to loose his life if hee part not with them Or a meere civill Man or formall Professour may upon His Bed of death bee very confident and seeme to bee full of comfort and yet that confidence no other then the strong imaginary ioyfull conceit of a covetous man grasping a great deale of gold in his dreame but when Hee awaketh behold his hands are empty For a more full and cleare apprehension of my meaning and iudgement in the Point let us take a survay of the different and severall kinds of death which ordinarily befall the Godly and the wicked The death of Gods Children are divers 1. Some of their holy and zealous lives doe determine and expire sweetly fairely and gloriously even like a cleare Sunne in a Summers evening without any storme or cloud of temptation and discomfort The darkesome and painefull passages and pangs of death are illightened and sweetned with the shining beames of Gods glorious presence and fast embracement of Iesus Christ in the armes of their Faith So that to them the very ioyes of Heaven and exultations of everlasting rest mingle themselues with those last agonies and expirations of death Their heads are as it were crowned with immortality and endlesse peace upon their beds of death Luther that blessed Man of God died sweetly and triumphantly over Hell the Pope and the Divell My heavenly Father said Hee at his death eternall and mercifull God thou hast manifested unto me thy deare Son our Lord Iesus Christ. I have taught him I have knowne him I love him as my life my health and my redemption whom the wicked have persecâ—â—ed maligned and with iniury afflicted Draw my Soule to Thee After this Hee said as insued thrice I commend my spirit into thine hands thou hast redeemed mee O God of truth God so loved the world that hee gave his onely Sonne that all that beleeve in Him should have life everlasting Ioh. 3. Heare how another blessed Saint of God ended his dayes Having the day before hee died continued his meditation and exposition vpon Rom. 8. for the space of two houres or more on the sudden Hee said O stay your reading What brightnesse is this I see Have you light up any candles To which I answered No It is the Sun-shine for it was about five a clocke in a cleare Summers evening Sun-shine saith Hee nay my Saviour-shine Now farewell world welcome heaven The Day-starre from on high hath visited my heart O speake it when I am gone and preach it at my Funerall God dealeth familiarly with man I feele his mercy I see his Maiesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God hee knoweth but I see things that are un-utterable So ravished in spirit Hee roamed toward heaven with a chearefull looke and soft sweete voyce but what Hee said wee could not conceive With the Sunne in the morning following raising himselfe as Iacob did upon his staffe hee shut up his blessed life with these blessed words O what an happy change shall I make From night to day From darkenesse to light From death to life From sorrow to solace From a factious world to an heavenly beeing O my deare brethren sisters and friends It pittieth mee to leave you behind yet remember my death when I am gone and what I now feele I hope you shall finde ere you die that God doth and will deale familiarly with men And now thou fiery Chariot that came downe to feth up Eliah carry mee to my happy Hold And all yee blessed Angels who attended the Soule of Lazarus to bring it up to heaven beare mee O beare mee into the bosome of my Best beloved Amen Amen come Lord Iesus come quickly And so hee fell asleepe That this is true the reporter and By-stander that ancient learned reverend Minister of God Master Leygh addeth I say the truth my Brethren I lie not my conscience bearing mee witnesse in the holy Ghost c. 2. Others may end their dayes very uncomfortably in ravings impatiencies and other strange behaviours Nay the fiery distempers of their hot diseases may sometimes even in the Saints of God produce furlous carriages fearefull distractions and some despairefull speeches But these being the naturall effects and issues of melancholike excesses Phrensies and burning Fevers are sins of infirmity in sanctified men For which if they come againe to themselves they actually repent if not they are all undoubtedly by a generall habituall repentance and Gods gratious acceptation thereof pardoned by the Passion of Christ and buried for ever in his bloody death That last and unreversable doome at the dreadfull Tribunall of the ever-living God must passe upon us not according to the violent and unvoluntary distempers at our last houre but according to the former Passages of our life the sinfull or sanctified expense of the daies of health Heare that other great Artist in the Mysterie of dealing with trouble consciences The common opinion is that if a man die quietly and goe away like a Lambe which in some diseases as consumptions and such like any Man may doe then hee goes straight to heaven but if the violence of the disease stirre up impatience and cause franticke behaviours then men use to say there is a judgement of God serving either to discover an Hypocrite or to plague a wicked man But the truth is otherwise For indeede a man may die like a lambe and yet goe to Hell and one dying in exceeding torments and strange behauiours of the body may goe to heaven 3. The death of some others is mixt to wit of fearefull tempestuous stormes and almost if not altogether despairefull agonies in the beginning of their last sicknesse and a faire refreshing glorious calme and ioyfull triumphs over temptations and feare towards the conclusion of their life For some secret end and holy purpose seeming good to his heavenly wisedome God suffers sometimes even his dearest servants to taste as it were of the fire of Hell and for a while to feele in their consciences those damned flames as a preparative to drinke more sweetly of the Well of life and Rivers of endlesse pleasures So himselfe is most honoured by helping when all hope is past The heart of his Child more ravisht with the first sight of those un-utterable joyes beeing suddenly rais'd to the height of happinesse from the depth of horrour The enemies to the narrow way dasht and confounded by observing his deliverance whom out of prophane blindnesse they deemed an Hypocrite Godly Christians gratiously reviv'd when they see That tho the Lord hide His face from his Childe for a moment
provision for his soule untill his last sicknes should for that sin alone bee snatcht out of the world in great anger even suddenly so that there bee scarce a moment betwixt the height of His temporall happinesse and depth of his spirituall misery That His foolish hope may bee frustrated and His vaine purpose come to nothing Hee may bee cut off as the Top of an care of corne and put out like a candle when hee least thinkes of death and dreames of nothing lesse then departure from His earthly Paradise They are exalted for a little while saith Iob but are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all other and cut off as the tops of the eares of corne Fifthly a long continued custome is not woont to bee shaken off in an instant Is it like that a Blackamore should change his skinne and a Leopard his spots in three or foure dayes which they have contracted in forty or threescore yeeres Therefore I marvell that any should bee so blindfolded and baffeld by the Divell as to embolden Himselfe to drive off untill the last by that Place before Confession At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinne from the bottome of his heart I will put all his wicked out of my remembrance saith the Lord Especially if Hee looke upon the Text from whence it is taken which Mee-thinkes beeing rightly understood and the conditions well considered is most punctuall and precise to fright any from that desperate folly The words runne thus Ezech. 18.21.22 But if the wicked will turne from all his sinnes which hee hath committed and keepe all my Statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right hee shall surely live hee shall not die All his transgressions c. Hence it appeares that if any man expect upon good ground any portion in this pretious promise of mercy and grace Hee must leave all his sinnes and keepe all Gods Statutes Now how performest thou the condition of leaving all thy sinnes when as in this last extremity having received the sentence of death against thy selfe Thy sinnes leave Thee and not Thou thy sinnes that I may speake in the Phrase of an ancient Father And what space is left to come to comfort by keeping all Gods Statutes when thou art presently to passe to that highest and dreadfull Tribunall to give an exact and strickt account for the continual breach of all Gods Lawes all thy life long Sixthly many seeme to bee passingly penitent and promise exceeding faire in the evill day and upon their sicke Beds who beeing recovered and restored to their former state are the very same they were before if not worse I never knew nor heard of any un-wrought upon under conscionable meanes who after recovery performed the vowes and promises of a new life which Hee made in his sicknesse and times of extremity For if Hee will not bee mooved with the Ministry God will never give that honour unto a crosse to doe the deede Nay Father Abraham saith the rich Glutton but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent And hee said unto him If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they bee perswaded the one rose from the dead Luke 16.30.31 It would amaze thee much if one of thy good-fellow companions should now rise from the dead and tell thee that Hee who was thy Brother in iniquity is now in Hell and if thou follow the same sensuall courses still thou must shortly most certainely follow Him to the Place of torment And yet even this would not worke at all if thou bee a despiser of the Word It may bee while the dead Man stood by Thee Thou wouldst be extraordinarily mooved and promise much but no sooner should He bee in His Grave but thou wouldst bee as gracelesse as thou wast before Seventhly what wise man seeing a fellow who never gave his name to religion in his life time now only troubled about sinne when hee is sure Hee must die will not suspect it to be wholly slavish and extorted for feare of Hell My sentence is saith Greenham that a man lying now at the Point of death having the snares of death upon him in that straite of feare and paine may have a sorrow for His life past but because the weakenesse of flesh and the bitternesse of death doth most commonly procure it wee ought to suspect c. Eighthly painefull distempers of body are wont to weaken much and hinder the activenes and freedome of the Soules operations nay sometimes to distract and utterly over-throw them Many even of much knowledge grace and good life by reason of the damp and deadnesse which at that time the extremity and anguish of their disease brings upon their spirits are able to doe no great matter if anything at all either in meditation or expression How then doest thou thinke to passe thorow the incomparably greatest worke that ever the Soule of Man was acquainted with in this life I meane the new-birth at the Point of death It is a wofull thing to have much worke to doe when the power of working is almost done When wee are come to the very last cast our strength is gone our spirits cleane spent our senses appalled and the powers of our Soules as numbe as our senses when there is a generall prostration of all our powers and the shadow of death upon our eyes then something wee would say or doe which should doe our Soules good But alas How should it then bee 3. When the spirituall Physition powres the baulme of mercy and oyle of comfort into a wounded conscience 1. Too soone The Surgeon that heales up a dangerous Sore and drawes a skinne over it before His corrosives have consumed the dead flesh before Hee hath opened it with his Tents ransackt it to the roote and rent out the Core is so farre from pleasuring that hee procures a great deale of misery to His Patient For the rotten matter that remaines behind will in the meane time rankle and fester underneath and at length breake out againe perhaps both with more extremity of anguish and difficulty of cure They are but Mountebankes as they call them Smatterers in Physicke and Surgery upon the matter but plaine Cheaters and Couseners who are so ready and resolute for extemporary and palliate Cures Sudden recoveries from rooted and old distempers are rarely sound If it be thus in bodily Cures what a deale doe you thinke of extraordinary discretion heavenly wisedome precise and punctuall ponderation of circumstances well-advised and seasonable leasure both speculative and experimentall skill heartiest ejaculations wrastlings with God by Prayer for a blessing is very convenient and needfull for a true and right methode in healing a wounded conscience Which doth passe immeasurably all other maladies both in exquisitenesse of paine tendernesse of touch deceitfulnesse of Depth and in highest and greatest consequence either for the
bee said Hee died in a Ditch They are Desolators not Consolators as Austin somewhere calls them Not sound Comforters but true Cut-throates Besides that which I have said before of the precedency of the working of the Law and of the spirit of bondage to make way for Christ let mee further tell you upon this occasion that it may appeare that much more is to bee done herein then is ordinarily imagined before comfort may upon good ground and seasonably bee applied to the Conscience awaked what an excellent Divine both for depth of learning and height of holinesse delivered somewhere in this Point to this purpose No man must thinke this strange that God dealeth with men after this strange manner as it were to kill them before Hee make them alive to let them passe through or by as it were the gates of Hell to Heaven to suffer the spirit of bondage to put them into a feare into a shaking and trembling c. For Hee suffers those that are his to bee terrified with this feare 1. First in respect of His owne glory For the magnifying both of His iustice and of His mercy 1. Hee glorifies His iustice when lessening or altogether for the time abstracting all fight of mercy Hee lets the Law Sinne Conscience and Satan loose upon a Man to have their course and severall comminations and sets the spirit of bondage on worke c. Thus as in the great worke of redemption Hee would have the glory of His iustice appeare so would Hee have it also in the application of our redemption that iustice should not bee swallowed up of mercy But even as the Woman 2. King 4. who had nothing to pay was threatned by Creditours to take away her two sonnes and put them in prison so wee having nothing to pay the Law is let loose upon us to threaten imprisonment and damnation to affright and terrifie and all this for the manifesting of His iustice Furthermore the Booke of God is full of terrible threatnings against sinners Now shall all these bee to no purpose The wicked are insensible of them to them therefore in that respect they are in vaine Some there must needs bee upon whom they must worke Shall the Lion roare saith the Prophet and no man bee affraide Sith then they who should will not Some there bee who must tremble This the Prophet excellently setteth â—orth Isai. 66.2 where the Lord sheweth whom Hee will regard But to this man will I looke even to Him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word Neither is it without good cause that God dealeth thus with his owne in this manner tho it bee sharpe in the experience First wee must feare tremble and bee humbled and then wee shall receive a spirit not to feare againe 2. His mercy also is thereby mightily magnified Which would never bee so sweet nor relish so well nor bee so esteemed of us if the awfull terrour of iustice had not formerly made us smart A King sometimes doth not only suffer the Law to passe upon some grievous malefactor for high treason but also causeth him to bee brought to the place of execution yea and lay downe his head upon the blocke ere Hee pardon and then mercy is mercy indeed and melts the heart abundantly with amazâ—mâ—nt and admiration of it So God dealeth with us many times Le ts the Law loose against us puts us in feare casts us into Prison and threatneth condemnation in Hell for ever so that when mercy commeth to the Soulâ— beeing now lost in it selfe and at the Pits brinke it appeares to bee a wonderfull mercy the riches of exceeding mercy most seasonable most sweet most ravishing Why doe so many find no savour in the Gospell Is it because there is no matter of sweetnesse or delight in it No it is because they have not tasted of not been soundly toucht and terrified by the Law and the spirit of bondage They have not smarted nor as yet been afflicted with a sense of the bitternesse of sinne nor of iust punishment due unto the same God therefore sends into our hearts the spirit of feare and bondage to prepare us to rellish mercy And then the spirit of adoption not to feare againe And thus by this order the one is magnified and highly esteemed by the fore-going sense of the other 2. Secondly for our good and that two waies first in Iustification secondly and in Sanctification 1. For the first wee are such strangers unto God that wee will never come unto Him till wee see no other remedy being at the Pits brinke ready to starue hopelesse c. Wee see it in the prodigall Sonne He would never thinke of any returne unto his Father till all other helpes failed Him money friends acquaintance all sorts of food Nay if Hee might have fed upon huskes with the Swine Hee would not have thought of returning any more to his Father This beeing denied him the Text saith Hee came to Himselfe shewing us that when Men runne on in sinfull courses they are mad men out of themselves even as wee see thâ—se in Bedlam are beaten kept under denâ—ed comforts till they come to themselves And what faith Hee then I will arise and goe to my Father and will say unto Him Father I have sinned against heaven and against Thee c. So it is with us untill the Lord humble and bring us low in our owne eyes show us our misery and spirituall poverty and that in us there is no good thing that wee bee stript of all helpeâ— in and without our selves and see that wee must perish unlesse wee beg His mercy I say untill then wee will not seeke his face and favour nor have recourse to Iesus Christ the rocke of our salvation It is with us in this Case as it was with the Women whom Christ healed of the bloody issue How long was it ere shee came to Christ She had been sicke twelve yeeres She had spent all her living upon Physitions neither could she bee healed of any Now this extremity brought Her to Iesus Christ. This then is the meanes to bring to Christ To bring us upon our knees to drive us out of our selues hopelesse as low as may bee To shew us where helpe is onely to bee found and make us runne unto it The hunted Beast flies unto his Den The Israelites being stung by fiery Serpents made hast to the Brazen Serpent a Type of Christ for helpe The Man-killer under the Law chaced by the avenger of blood ranâ—e a pace to the City of refuge Ioab being pursued for his life fled to the Tabernacle of the Lord and laid fast hold upon the horneâ— of the Altar A wounded man hies unto the Surgeon Proportionably a poore Soule broken and bruised with the insupportable burden of all his abominations bleeding at heart-roote under sense of Divine wrath by the cutting edge of the Sword of the Spirit managed
most compassionate and tender-hearted to others afflicted with the same wofull terrours and troubles of conscience A woman which hath herselfe with extraordinary paine tasted of that exquisite torture of child birth is wont to bee more tenderly and mercifully disposed towards another in the like torment then she that never knew what that miserie meant And is more ready willing and skillfull to relieve in such distresses It is proportionably so in the present Case But the Alien beeing tainted in some measure with the Divels hatefull disposition is by the heate of his slavish horrour rather enraged with malice then resolved into mercy Hee is rather tickled with a secret content then touched with true commiseration to see and heare of others plunged into the same gulphe of misery and plagued like Himselfe Hee is much troubled with his solenesse in suffering and the singularity of any sorrowfull Accident Companion-ship in crosses doth something allay the discomforts of carnall men So that sometimes they secretly but very sinfully reioyce such is their dogged divelish disposition even to see the hand of God upon their neighbours Neither can hee in such extremeties minister any meanes of helpe or true comfort at all either by prayer counsell or any experimentall skill because the evill spirit of his vexed conscience was not driven away by any well-grounded application of Gods mercies and Christs blood but as Saules was by Musicke worldly mirth carnall advise Soule-slaying flatteries of Man-pleasing Ministers plunging desperately into variety of sensuall pleasures c. 7. Hee which after the boisterous tempest of Legall terrours hath happily arrived at the Port of Peace I meane that blessed peace which passeth all understanding made with God himselfe in the blood of his Son enters presently thereupon into the good way takes upon Him the yoke of Christ and serues him afterward in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of his life And ordinarily His deeper humiliation is an occasion of his more humble precise holy and strickt walking and of more watchfulnesse over his heart and tendernesse of conscience about lesser sinnes also all occasions of scandall appearances of evill even aberrations in his best actions holiest duties c. But Aliens whē once they bee taken off the Racke and their torture determine either become just the same men they were before or else reforme onely some one or other grosse sin which stuckē most upon their consciences but remaine unamended and unmortified in the rest or else which often comes to passe grow a great deale worse For they are as it were angry with God that hee should give them a taste of Hell fire before their time and therefore knowing their time but short fall upon earthly delights more furiously engrosse and graspe the pleasures of the World with more greedinesse and importunitie These things thus premised I come to tell you that for the rectifying of the fore-mentioned Errour and prevention of the danger of dawbing and undoing for ever in a matter of so weighty importance I would advise the Spirituall Physition to labour with the utmost improovement of all his divine skill heavenly wisedome best experience heartiest praiers most piercing persuasions prest out of the word for that purpose wisely to worke and watchfully to observe the season when hee may warrantably and upon good ground apply unto the woundedst soule of his spiritually-sicke Patient assured comfort in the promises of life and that soveraigne blood which was spilt for broken hearts and assure him in the Word of truth that all those rich compassions which lie within the compasse of that great Covenant of everlasting mercy and love sealed with the painefull sufferings of the Sonne of God belong unto Him Which is then when his troubled heart is soundly humbled under Gods mighty hand and brought at length to first a truly penitent sight sense and hatred of all sinne secondly a sincere and unsatiable thirst after Iesus Christ and righteousnesse both imputed and inherent thirdly an unfained and un-reserved resolution of an universall New-obedience for the time to come c. Here I had purposed to have been large but I am prevented by that which hath been said already and therefore to avoide repetition I must remit you to the consideration of those Legall and Evangelicall preparations for the entertainement of Christ and true comfort which I handled before which may give some good direction and satisfaction in the Point Yet take notice that in the meane time before such fitnesse bee fully effectuated I would have the Man of God ply his Patient with his best perswasions and Proofes seasonably mingled with motives to humiliation of the pardonablenesse of his sinnes possibility of pardon damnablenesse of despaire danger of ease by outward mirth c. And to hold out to the eye of the troubled conscience as a prize and Lure as it were the freenesse of Gods immeasurable mercy the generall Offer of Iesus Christ without any exception of persons times or sinnes the pretiousnesse and infallibilitie of the promises in as faire and lovely a fashion in as orient and alluring formes as Hee can possibly But it is One thing to say If these things bee so I can assure you in the Word of life of the promises of life and already-reall right and interest to all the riches of Gods free grace and glorious purchase of Christs meritorious blood Another thing to say If you will suffer your understandings to bee illightened your consciences to bee convinced your hearts to be wounded with sight sense and horrour of sin If you will come-in and take Iesus Christ His Person his Passion his yoke If you will entertaine these and these affections longings and resolutions c. Then most certainely our mercifull Lord will crowne your truly humbled soules with his dearest compassions and freest love Lastly bee informed that when all is done I meane when the Men of God have their desire That the Patient in their perswasion is soundly wrought upon and professeth understandingly and feelingly and as they verily thinke from His heart first that Hee is heavy laden with the grievous burden of all His sinnes secondly That Hee is come by his present spirituall terrour and trouble of minde to that resolution to doe any thing which wee find the Hearers of Iohn and Peter Luk. 3. Act. 2. Thirdly That Hee most highly prizeth Iesus Christ farre above the riches pleasures and glory of the whole earth thirsts and longs for Him infinitely Fourthly That Hee is most willing to sell all To part with all sinne with His right eye and right hand those lusts and delights which stucke closest to His bosome Not to leave so much as an hoofe behind Fifthly That hee is content with all his heart to take Christ as well for a Lord and Husband to serue love and obey Him as for a Saviour to deliver Him from the miseries of sinne To take upon Him His yoke To enter into the narrow
bee tho I hope better things of Thee The truth as I said both of thy heart and these affectionate promises will appeare when the storme is over and this dismall tempest which hath over-cast and shaken thy spirit with extraordinary feare and astonishment is overblowne Thy course of life to come will proove a true Touch-stone to try whether this bee the kindly travaile of the New-birth or onely a temporary taking-on during the fit by reason of the uncouthnesse and exquisitenesse of this invisible spirituall torture without true turning to Iesus Christ. If when the now-troubled powers of thy soule which the wound of thy conscience hath cast into much distracted and uncomfortable confusion shall recover their wonted calmenes and quiet thou turne unto thine old bias humour company and conversation it will then bee more then manifest that this Furnace of terrour and temptation wherein thou now lies and languishes was so far from working thine heart to heavenlinesse and grace that it hath hammered it to more hardnesse and ungraciousnesse from purging and refining that it hath occasioned more earthlinesse epicurisme and raging affections in sensuality and sinfull pleasures But if when thou art up againe and raised by Gods mercifull hand out of the Depth of this spirituall distresse into which the horrible sight and heavy waight of thy sinnes have sunke thee if then thou expresse and testifie thy true-heartednesse in these present solemne protestations made now as it were in thy hot blood I meane of thy hatred against sinne by an earnest opposition watchfulnesse and striving against all especially that which in thine unregenerate time stucke closest to thy bosome of thine hunger and thirst after a comfortable fruition of Gods face and favour by a conscionable and constant pursuit and exercise of all good meanes and opportunities of all his blessed ordinances appointed and sanctified for groath in grace and bringing us nearer unto Him of thy future New-obedience and Christian walking by plying industriously and fruitfully with thy best endeavour and utmost ability those three glorious workes of Christianity Preservation of purity in thine owne Soule and Body righteous dealing with all thou hast to doe-with Holy carriage towards God in all religious duties In a word by denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and living soberly righteously and godlily in this present world of which the grace of God teacheth every true Convert to make Conscience I say if upon thy recovery this bee thy course Thou art certainely New-created Such blessed behaviour as this will infallibly evidence these present terrours to have been the Pangs of thy New-birth and thy happy translation from death to life from the vanity and folly of sin into the light and liberty of Gods Children 2. Secondly say unto Him When once that blessed Fountaine of Soule-saving blood is opened upon thy Soule in the side of the Sonne of God by the hand of Faith for sinne and for uncleannesse then also must a Counter-spring as it were of repentant teares bee opened in thine humbled heart which must not be dried up untill thy dying Day This is my meaning for every Christian hath not teares at command the heart sometimes may bleed when the eyes are dry Thou must bee content to continue the current of thy godly sorrow upon that abominable Sinke and Sodom of all the lusts vanities and villanies of thy darke and damned time and also upon those frailties infirmities imperfections defects relapses back-slidings which may accompany thy regenerate state even untill that body of sinne which thou carries about Thee bee dissolved by the stroke of death As concerning thine old sinnes and those that are past it is not enough that now the fresh horrour of them and those grissely affrighting formes wherein they have appeared to the eye of thy wounded conscience have wrought upon thy heart by Gods blessing some softnesse heart-rising remorse and hatred But thou must many and many a time hereafter in the extraordinary exercises of renued repentance presse thy penitent spirit to bleede afresh within thee and draw water againe out of the bottome of thy broken heart with those Israelites and poure it out before the Lord in abundāce of bitter teares for thy never sufficiently sorrowed-for abominations and rebellions against so blessed and bountifull a God Now the solemne times and occasions when wee are called to this renued Repentance are such as these 1. When wee are to performe some speciall services unto God because then out of a godly jealousie wee may feare lest the face and favour of God the love and light of His countenance may not lie so open unto us by reason of the cloudy interposition of our former sinnes 2. When wee seeke for any speciall blessing at Gods mercifull hands because then out of a gracious feare we may suspect that our old sinnes may intrude and labour to intercept and divert from our longing Soules the sweet and comfortable influences of the Throne of grace It may seeme that David in the current of his prayer saw His old sinnes charge upon Him and therefore cries out by the way Remember not the sinnes of my youth 3. In the time of some great affliction and remarkeable Crosse when upon a new search and strict examination of our hearts and lives we humbling our selves more solemnely againe in the sight of the Lord and mourning afresh over Him whom wee have pierced with our youthly pollutions and provoke daily with many wofull failings are wont to seeke Gods pleased face and our former peace sanctification of it unto us in the meane time and the remoovall of it from us in due time in the name of Iesus Christ. 4. After relapse into some old secret lust or fall into some new scandalous sinne Davids remorse for adultery and murder brought his heart to bleede over his birth-sinne Psal. 51.5 Above all upon all those mighty Dayes of humiliation by prayer and fasting publike private or secret wherein Gods people wrastle with God by the omnipotency of prayer and worke so many wonders from time to time 6. Some there are also who setting apart some speciall times to conferre with God in secret lay together before Him the glorious Catalogue of the riches of His mercy reaching from everlasting to everlasting all his favours preservations deliverances protections c. from their first beeing to that time and the abhorred Catalogue of all their sinnes from Adam to that houre Originall both imputed and inherent actuall both before and since their calling and this they doe with hearty desire of such different affections as they severally require A serious and sensible comparing of which two together makes sinne a great deale more loathsome and the mercies of God more illustrious and so prooves effectuall many times by the helpe of the Holy Ghost to soften their hearts extraordinarily to make them weepe heartily and fils their Soules with much joyfull sorrow and humble thankefulnesse 7. Vpon our Beds
prest upon us by the holy Prophet Psal. 32. Bee glad Reioyce and shout for ioy all yee that are upright in heart 4. Conceive that hypocrisie may lurke in very goodly outward formes and fairest promises and protestations of Selfe-seeming earnest humiliation Looke upon Ahab 1. King 21.27 upon the Israelites Psal. 78 3â— 35. I meane not onely grosse Hypocrisie whereby mens false hearts teach them to deceive others but also that which else-where I have stiled Formall Hypocrisie whereby mens owne hearts deceive even their own selves For I make no question but the promises of amendment which many make when they are pressed and panting under some heavy crosse or grievous sicknesse proceede from their hearts I meane they speake as they thinke and for the present purpose performance who notwithstanding upon their recovery and restitution to former health and wonted worldly happinesse returne with the dog unto the vomit and plunge againe perfidiously into the cursed current of their disclaimed pleasures But by the way and in a word to illighten a perplexed Point and prevent a scruple which may trouble true hearts indeed who hold truth of heart in their repentances services and duties towards God to bee their Peculiar and a speciall Touchstone to trie and testifie the soundnesse of their sanctification the truth of their spirituall states and a distinctive Character from all sorts of unregenerate men and all kindes of Hypocrisie I say purposes and promises made from the heart in the sense I have said with earnest eager protestation while they are in angvish and extremity and yet after deliverance and ease melt away as a morning cloud and like the early deaw proceede from hearts rather affected onely with sting of present horrour naturall desire of happinesse mis-conceite that it is a light thing to leave sinne and the like then truly broken and burdened with sight of their owne vilenesse sense of Gods displeasure hatred of wickednesse and former sensuall waies or enamoured with the sweetnesse of Iesus Christ amiablenesse of grace and goodnesse of God c. Howsoever for my purpose certaine it is and too manifest by many wofull experiences that as it often falles out and fares with men in their corporal visitations outward crosses to wit That while the storme and tempest beates sore upon them they run unto God as their Rocke and enquire early after Him as it is said of the Israelites Ps. 78.34 But when once an hot gleame of former health and prosperitie shines upon them againe they hie as fast out of Gods Blessing into the warme Sunne as they say from sorrow for sinne to delight of sense from seeking God to security in their old waies I say even so it is sometimes also with men in aflictions of Soule and troubles of conscience while the agony and extremity is upon them they take on as though they would become trve Converts both promise and purpose many excellent things for the time to come and a remarkeable change But if once the fit be cover they start aside like a broken Bow and fearefully fall away from what they have vowed with horrible ingratitude and execrable villany having been extraordinarily schooled and scorched as it were in the flames of horrour and warned to take heed by the very vengeance of Hell For the former heare the experience of reverend Divines Many seeming saith One to repent affectionately in dangerous sicknesse when they have recovered have been rather worse then before I would have thought my selfe saith another that many monstrous Persons whom I have visited when Gods hand upon them caused them to cry out and promise amendment would have prooved rare examples to others of true conversion unto God But to my great griefe and to teach â—ee experience what becommeth of such untimely fruits they have turned backe againe as an arrow from a stone wall and as the dog to His owne vomit c. For the latter I could here make it good also by too many experiences were it convenient But I forbeare for some reasons to report them at this time I publish this Point and speake thus Not to trouble any true Converts about the truth of their hearts in their troubles of Conscience consciousnesse unto themselves of their New-birth already happily past their prizing and cleaving to the Lord Iesus unvalewably unvincibly their present New-obedience new courses new company new conversation c. makes it more then evident that they were savingly mollified and melted in the furnace of their spirituall afflictions fashioned and framed by the hand of the Holy Ghost to bee Gods Iewels But to terrifie those miserable men who having tasted that transcendent torture of a wounded conscience dare upon any termes look-backe againe upon the world with delight and doting and againe commit those sinnes which have already stung their hearts with the very terrours of Hell Or rather at this time to teach and tell the afflicted in conscience that when the rich treasures of Gods free mercy and the unsearchable riches of Christ are opened and offered unto Him Hee drinke not so undiscreetly at first of that immeasurable Sea as presently to fall into a surfet of security But to prevent mis-carriage in a matter of so unvalew-able moment let him rather mingle Motives to humiliation with his Medicine of mercy Let Him looke well to the grounds and good speeches upon which the spirituall Physition is encouraged to comfort Him that they shrinke not in the wetting as they say Let him feare and attend his owne deceitfull heart withall narrow watch and a very jealous eye Otherwise that false heart of his may proove a Depth to drowne His owne deare Soule in the Pit of endlesse perdition For in time of extremity and terrour especially of conscience it may seeme pliable and promise faire and yet when it comes to performance and practise either impudently and perfidiously wallowes againe in open wickednesse or rests onely in a Forme of godlinesse at the best Let Him bee stedfast in the Covenant and then Hee may bee sure that his heart was upright and that Hee did not flatter with His mouth or lye unto God with his tongue 5. Sith Thou art now upon termes of turning unto God taking Profession upon Thee and giving up thy Name unto Christ the blessedest businesse that ever Thou went'st about Be well advised consider seriously what thou undertakest and cast deliberately before-hand what it is like to cost Thee Thou must make an account to become the Drunkards Song and to have those that sit in the Gate to speake against Thee The vilest of Men to raile upon thee and the wisest of the World to laugh at Thee Thou must bee content to live a despised Man to bee scoft-at to bee hated of all men To crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts To looke upon the world set out in the gaudiest manner with all her baites and Bables of riches honours favours greatnesse pleasures c.
as upon an unsavoury rotten Carrion Thou and the World must bee as two dead carcasses upon one Beere without any delightfull mutuall commerce or enter-course strangers and starke dead one unto another in respect of thy any further trading with the vanities thereof For keeping a good conscience standing on Gods side and Christs sake Thou must deny thy Selfe Thy worldly wisedome carnall reason corrupt affections Thy acceptation with the World favour of great Ones credit and applause with the most Thy passions profit pleasures possibility of rising and growing great Thy nearest friends dearest companions ease liberty life and grow by little and little into Hesters most noble and invincible resoluâ—ion ever when doing Gods will threatneth any earthly danger And if I perish I perish But not to perish so is everlastingly to perish and so to perish is to bee saved for ever Thou must thus resolve upon this Selfe-deniall when Thou first enters into Profession or else thou wilt never bee able to hold out in thy spirituall Building or conquer in the Christian Warfare See and consider the occasion and how earnestly Christ enioynes it Matth. 16.24 c. Luk. 14.24 c. and presses it with two Parables But all will come to naught and thou cursedly conclude in open Aposâ—acy grosse Hypocrisie or Selfe-deceiving Formalitie Consider the young Man in the Gospell Hee came hastily unto Iesus Christ and would needs bee His Disciple and follower upon the sudden But alas Hee did wofully mistake Little did he know neither indeed would know what belonged unto it That the servant of such an heavenly Master must bee no earth-worme That every one of his Disciples must take up their crosse and follow him For his sake part with any thing every thing bee it riches honours credit pleasures c. And therefore when once Christ for the triall of his heart had bid Him go and sell that he had c. Hee had soone done Hee was quickly gone Now had this young Man gone away without this Lesson Hee had gone away a Disciple as well as any other and perhaps as iolly a Professour as the forwardest of them all and that both in his owne strong opinion and charitable mis-conceite of the rest who were true of heart As Iudas did a long time and the foolish Virgines all their life long Too many such Professours as Hee would have prooved are to bee found even in this Noone-tide of the Gospell abroad in the World who beeing at their first entrance into Profession not soundly humbled nor laying a sure foundation not resolved upon an universall Selfe-deniall nor weighing with due fore-cast what it will cost them doe afterward behave themselves thereafter upon any gainefull occasion greater triall and temptation or beeing put to it indeed They are wont from time to time to discover their rottennesse open the mouthes of the prophane and shame all They are like unto Reeds which in a calme stand bolt upright and seeme stiffe and strong but let a tempest breake-in upon them and they bend any way While their temporall state is untoucht their outward happinesse unhazarded they seeme resolute thorow and couragious but let a storme of persecution bee raised against them Let them bee put into a great fright that if they stand to it they may bee undone c. And then they cowardlily hide their heads pull in the hornes as they say and shamefully shrinke in the wetting unhappily holding it better to sleepe in a whole skinne then with a good conscience Like the Eagle they soare aloft with many goodly religious shewes and representations but they still keepe their eye upon the Prey and therefore when advantage is offered they will basely stoope from forwardnesse honesty generosity humanity any thing to seize upon a worldly commodity office honour some earthly pelfe and transitory Nothing Some of these after Profession for some time fall quite away from it and turne Epicures or Worldlings if not Scorners and Persecutors Others hold-on in a plodding course of formall Christianity all their life long and at last depart this life like the foolish Virgins and in that formall manner I told you of before Neither be thou dis-heartned with this counsell of leaving all for Christ. For thou shalt bee no loser but a great gainer thereby Besides eternall life in the World to come Thou shalt receive an hundred-fold now in this time as Christ Him selfe tells thee Mark 10.30 If thou part with worldly ioies thou shalt have quiet in the holy Ghost spirituall joy unspeakable and glorious neerer familiarity with God deerer coÌ„munion with Iesus Christ c. To which the pleasures of ten thousand Worlds were they all extant were but extremest paine If thou lose thine Husband He that made thee will be in his stead unto Thee Thy Maker is thine Husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name If thou lose thy Father The Al-sufficient Iehouah blessed for ever will pitty thee as a Father pittieth his Children If thou lose thy friends and the worlds favour Thou shalt have all and the onely excellent upon earth to love Thee dearely and to pray heartily for Thee In a word If thou lose all for Christs sake Hee will bee unto Thee All in All And in Him all things shall be thine in a farre more sweet and eminent manner All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come All are yours and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods 6. When the spirituall Physition shall see the soile of his Patients heart well softned with sorrow for sinne comfortably warmed with refreshing beames of fauour from the face of Christ and so seasonably fitted for to enter a Christian course and to bring forth fruits meete for repentance let him throw-in some timely seedes of Zeale holy precisenesse undaunted courage and unshaken resolution about the affaires of Heaven and in the cause of God from such quickning Scriptures and excellent examples as these Luk. 13.24 Rom. 12.11 12. Ephes. 5.15 Phil. 1.10.11 Matth. 11.12 Revel 3.16 Ruth 4.11 Esth. 4.16 Nehem. 6.11 1. King 22.14 Heb. 11.24.25 1. Sam. 20.32 Acts 21.13 c. That it may bee happily preserved from the ranke and flourishing but rotten and fruitlesse weede of formality and luke-warmenesse Which pestilent Canker if it once take roote in the heart it will never suffer the Herbe of grace if I may so speake the heavenly unfading flowers of saving grace to grow by it while the world stands Nay and will proove one of the strongest bolts to barre them out and the most boysterous cart-rope to pull-downe extraordinary vengeance upon the head of the Party For as a loathsome vomite is to the stomacke of him that casts it out so are luke-warme Professours to the Lord Iesus Reuel 3.16 I marvaile many times what such men meane and what worship service and obedience they would have the
mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth to have Hee offers to us in the Ministry His owne blessed Sonne to be our deare and everlasting Husband His Person with all the rich and royall endowments thereof the glory and endlesse felicities above His owne thrice glorious and ever-blessed Selfe to bee enjoyed thorow all eternity which is the very soule of heavenly Blisse and life of eternall life c. Doe you thinke it then reasonable or likely that Hee will ever accept at our hands an heartlesse formall outwardnesse a cold rotten carcasse of religion That wee should serve our selves in the first Place and Him in the second That wee should spend the prime and flower of our loues ioyes services upon some abominable bosome-sinne and then proportion-out to the everlasting God mighty and terrible Creator and Commander of Heaven and Earth only some outward religious formes and conformities and those also so farre onely as they hurt not our temporall happinesse but may consist with the entier enjoyment of some inordinate lust pleasure profit or preferment Prodigious folly nay fury to their owne soules This very one most base and unworthy conceit of so great a God and His due attributions meriteth justly exclusion from the Kingdome of Heaven with the foolish Virgins for ever My Counsell therefore is when the spirituall Patient hath passed the tempestuous Sea of a troubled conscience and is now upon termes of taking a new course That by all meanes Hee take heed that Hee runne not upon this Rocke It is better to bee key-cold then luke-warme and that the milke boile over then bee raw 7. Tho it bee an ordinary yet it is a dangerous and utterly un-doing errour and deceite To conceive that all is ended when the afflicted Party is mended and hath received ease and enlargement from the terrible pressures of his troubled conscience To thinke that after the tempest of present terrour and rage of guiltinesse bee allayed and over-blowne there needes no more to bee done As tho the New-birth were not ever infallibly and inseparably attended with new-obedience As tho when once the soule is soundly and savingly strucke thorow humbled and prepared for Christ by the terrifying power of the Law revealing the foulenesse of sinne and fiercenesse of divine wrath which set on by the spirit of bondage is able like a mighty thunder to breake and teare in pieces the iron synewes of the most stubborne and stony-heart there followed not hearty shewers of repentant teares never to bee dried up untill our ending houre as I taught before when all teares shall bee everlastingly wiped away with Gods mercifull hand And that the Sunne of righteousnesse did not presently breake forth upon that happy Soule to dispell the Hellish clouds of sensuality lust lying in sinne c. and to illighten inflame and fill it with the serenity and cleare sky as it were of sanctification and purity a kindly fervour of Zeale for Gods glory good causes good men keeping a good conscience and fruitfull influence of sobriety righteousnesse and holinesse for ever after And therefore if upon recovery out of trouble of conscience there follow not a continued exercise of Repentance both for sinnes past present and to come as you heard before an universall change in every power and part both of Soule and Body tho not in perfection of degrees as the Schooles speake yet of Parts an heart-rising hatred and opposition against all sinne a shaking-off old companions brethren in iniquity all Satans good-fellow Reuellers a delight in the word waies services Sabbaths and Saints of God a conscionable and constant endeavour to expresse the truth of protestations and promises made in time of terrour as I told you before c. In a Word if there follow not a new life if all things doe not become new there is no New-birth in truth all is naught and to no purpose in the Point of salvation They are then miserable Comforters Physicions of no value nay of notorious spirituall blood-shed who having neither acquaintance with nor much caring for the manner meanes methode any heavenly wisedome spirituall discretion or experimentall skill in managing aright such an important businesse if any waies they can asswage the rage and still the cries of a vexed guilty Conscience they thinke they have done a worthy worke Tho after their dawbing there bee nothing left behind in it but a senselesse skarre Nay and perhaps more brawnednesse benummednesse brought upon it because it was not kindlily wrought-upon in the furnace of spirituall affliction and rightly cured I feare mee many poore soules are fearefully deluded who beeing recovered out of terrours of Conscience too suddenly unseasonably or one way or other unsoundly conceive presently they are truly converted tho afterward they bee the very same men of the same company and conditions they were before or at best blesse themselves in the seeming happinesse of an halfe conversion For a more full discovery of this mischiefe and prevention of those miseries which may ensue upon this last miscarriage Let mee acquaint you with foure or five Passages out of Pangs of Conscience which still leade amisse and leave a man the Divel 's still And for all his faire warning by the smart of a wounded spirit drowne Him in the workes of darkenesse and waies of death 1. Some when by the piercing power and application of the Law their consciences are prest with the terrible and intolerable waight of their sinnes and the worme that neuer dies which hath been all this while dead-drunke with sensuall pleasures is now awaked by the hand of divine justice and begins to sting They presently with unspeakeable rage and horrour fall into the most abhorred and irrecoverable Dungeon of despaire The flames of eternall fire seize upon them even in this life They are in Hell upon Earth and damned as it were above ground Such they are commonly who all their life long have been contemners of the conscionable Ministry Scorners of the good way Quenchers of the Spirit Revolters from good beginnings and Profession of grace Harbourers of some secret vile abominable lusts in their hearts against the light of their conscience close Agents for Popery and Prophanenesse plausible Tyrants against the power of godlinesse and such other like notorious Champions of the Divell infamous Rebels to the highest Majestie Whom sith they have bin such and have so desperately and so long despised the riches of His goodnes and forbearance and long-suffering leading them to Repentance God most justly leaves now in the evill day when once the hot transitory gleame of worldly pleasures is past and His judgements begin to grow upō their thoughts like a tempestuous storme and death to stand before them unresistable like an armed Man and sinne to lie at the doore like a Bloodhound and the guilty conscience to gnaw upon the heart like a Vulture c. I say then Hee leaves them in His righteous iudgement
undiscreet heaping a great deale of comfort there where as yet a good ground-worke of true humiliation is not soundly laid Many and lamentable are the spirituall miseries in those Places where such Dawbers with untempered morter domineere who never passed thorow the Pangs of the New-birth themselves were never feelingly acquainted with the wonderfull dealings of God in that great Miracle of a Mans conversion nor trained up experimentally in the Schoole of temptations painefull exercises of mortification and counter-minings against the Depths Wiles Devises and stratagems of the Divell The blessed Prophet paints them out to the life and denounces a dreadfull woe against such flattering and foolish Prophets Ezech. 13. A Ship-Master skilfull onely in Astronomy and other speculative Passages of the Art of Navigation is no body in conducting Men safely over some dangerous Sea to Him that besides sufficiencies of Art is furnisht also with experimentall skill in those Parts by passing formerly that way Himselfe and having discovered those dangers of ruine and hidden Rockes which the other Man might easily runne upon Give me a Man in whom variety and profoundnesse of best learning doth concurre in the highest degree of excellency yet if his owne heart bee not soundly wrought upon and seasoned with saving grace Himselfe experimentally seene into the Mystery of Christ and Secrets of sanctification as Hee shall bee hardly able to wound other mens consciences and pierce them to the quicke so Hee will bee found very unfit to manage aright the spirituall miseries of a troubled Soule and to transport it savingly thorow the tempestuous terrours and temptations incident to the New-creation into the Port of true peace and Paradise of the blessed Brother-hood A right dreadfull and tender Point it is to deale with distressed consciences so many depths of Satan and deceits of Mans heart mingle themselves with businesse of so great consequence Even a well-meaning Man without much heedfulnesse and good experience both in the Point and the Party may erre dangerously and bee much deceived herein I have heard from a Man of conscience and credit besides many and many in the same kind of a fearefull imposture to this purpose A man who for the world was well enough visited with some trouble of minde for his sinnes sent for a Minister to minister comfort Hee it seemes not sounding Him to the bottome or searching to the quicke heaped upon Him unseasonably and too soone mercies and hopes of spirituall safety Amongst other things Hee asked Him whether formerly Hee had ever felt testimonies and refreshings of Gods favour and love Yea answered the Party and here take notice of a notorious depth of the Divell Once riding alone upon the way in such a Place I grew upon the sudden very lightsome and light-hearted c. This was but a flash of Satans Angelicall glory cunningly to lighten and leade him the way to further confusion Why then replied the Minister you may build upon it God is constant in His favours and whom Hee loves once Hee loves for ever Hereupon the Patient was presently healed of his wounded heart and after fell unto his former courses and grew fully as prophane as Hee was before Amongst the many important Passages of our Ministeriall imployments I feare mee this waighty affaire of visiting the sicke is passed-over also more is the pitty with much ignorance slightnesse and neglect It is incredible to consider how fearefully many offend and what a deale of hurt they doe by observing one plodding generall forme and that a poore one too towards all Patients promiscuously without any judicious discretion in distingvishing the variety of spirituall states the different degrees of unregeneratenesse former courses of life c. Commonly their carriage in such Cases is the same to the notorious sinner the meere civill Man grosse Hypocrite carnall Gospeller formall Professor Back-slider the weake and strong the tempted and untempted Christian. If they but heare from the sicke Man a generall acknowledgement of his sinnes formall cries for mercy and pardon earnest desires to die the death of the righteous c. which may bee easily and ordinarily found in a Pharisie or foolish Virgine as you have heard before they will presently needs threape Him downe that He is as sure a saved Man as if Hee were in Heaven already Herein resembling saith Marbury a foolish Shepheard who wanting skill to helpe his poore sheepe out of the ditch is driven to play the miserable comforter and to take some other indirect course as many use to doe in such case to cut the sheepes throate in time to make him Mans meate left it should bee said Hee died in a ditch Many and many a time doe such fellowes as these empty and discharge their common-Place Bookes of all the Places of mercy and comforte collected curiously and industriously for that purpose upon those Men who were never acquainted with the waies of God in their life-time nor with the truth of humiliation or truly with the great worke of Repentance upon their Beds of death Those formall Church-men who stood about Marshall Biron that great Peere and Pillar of France at his death did in this respect very ill offices of Ghostly Fathers unto Him in his greatest neede and last extremitie For when Hee behaved himselfe more like a furious Divel already amongst the damned spirits in blasphemies impatiencies and most raging passions then a meeke and humble Saint of God ready to passe into everlasting Mansions of peace they notwithstanding out of their Popish divinity gave him this absolution assuring Him that His soule was ready to see God and to bee Partaker of his glory in Heaven When it had been farre fitter to have driven him to the sight of his sinnes sense of that dreadfull houre terrour of that strict Tribunall to which hee was ready to passe and fearefulnesse of that infernall fiery Lake from which no greatnesse can priviledge gracelesse Men. I feare me there are many Trencher-Chaplaines of the true Religion also who are ready to doe proportionable service to ungodly great Ones upon whom they depend by promising them life But many and dreadfull are the mistakings and miseries which fall upon the Soules of Men both Patients and By-standers by these flattering formall visitations and Funerall Panegyricks which ordinarily follow after Happy then and hopefull is that Man who in the troubles of His Soule meetes with that One of a thousand Iob 33.23 with those Sonnes both of Consolation and thunder who are as able ready and willing rightly to binde up a bruised spirit with the Baulme of mercy and promises of life as to breake in pieces a stubborne heart with the terrours of the Law Who as they labour in the first Place to fright and fire men out of their sinfull courses into penitent dejections of Conscience a needfull preparative to a saving conversion so they have learned both speculatively and experimentally to conduct them thorow the Pangs of the
conscience with putting forth his hand to some outward workes of Christianity and some kinde of conversion which may yet well enough consist with the secret enjoyment of his bosome-sin Or by some other such indirect course unsound cure But now the Other whom the Lord doth purpose to prepare for himselfe by this first worke and to call effectually doth entertaine at the same time by the helpe of God a strong invincible resolution not only never more to returne unto foolishnes whatsoever comes of him never upon any termes to fall back again into his former sinfull pleasures which have now fastned so many fiery Scorpions stings in his conscience but also never to admit of any cure recovery and comfort to his afflicted soule but only by Iesus Christ never to have the bleeding wounds of his bruised spirit bathed bound up and healed but in that Fountaine opened to the house of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for sinne and for uncleannesse Nay rather then he will doe the one or the other hee will abide upon the Racke of his spirituall torture unto his ending houre Whereupon he directly addresseth and applies himselfe to the only meanes appointed and sanctified by God for working a sure kindly and lasting cure in such a case I meane the Ministery of the Word And if hee may have his will he would hit upon the most skilfull experienced searching and sound-dealing Man amongst all Gods faithfull Messengers 2. And so in a second place without all reservation or any purpose ever to returne or divert hee comes unto the Ministers of God in the same minde and with the same meaning that Peters hearers did Act. 2.37 having his heart pricked and rent in peeces with legall terrour as theirs were Men and bretheren what shall wee doe if there bee any Instruction direction or duty which upon good ground out of Gods blessed Booke you can enjoyne we will willingly follow it embrace it and rather die then not doe it Prescribe any course whereby wee may have the boyling rage of our guilty consciences some what asswaged we wil blesse God that ever we saw your faces Nay that ever hee made you the happy instruments to fasten these keene arrowes of truth and terrour in our amazed and afflicted spirits Alas we see now c. See before p. 135. c. And now here the Ministers of God have a strong seasonable calling to set out in the height the excellencie amiablenes and soule-saving sufficiency of Iesus Christ blessed for ever To amplifie and magnifie to the life the heavenly beauty unvaluablenesse and sweeetnesse of his person passion promises No sinne of so deepe a die bee it scarlet or crimson but his pretious blood can raze it out No heart so darke or heavy but one beame shining from his pleased face can fill it as full of spirituall glory and joy as the Sunne is of light or the Sea of waters No man so miserable but if hee will goe out of himselfe and the Devills slavery quite and come-in when hee is dearely invited he will advance him without money and without price from depth of horrour to height of happinesse c. 3. By this time being thus told and truly informed in the mystery and mercy of the Gospell the poore wounded and weary soule begins to bee deepely and dearely enamored of Iesus Christ. To advance him highest in his thoughts as the only jewell and joy of his heart without which hee hath been heretofore a deade man and shall here after bee a damned miscreant to preferre and prize him farre aboue the pleasures riches and glory of the whole earth to set his eye and longing so upon him as to hold himselfe lost for ever without his love Nay in the case hee now stands hee is most willing for a sound and saving cure to passe through a peece of hell if need were to such a heavenly physition in whose blessed person alone as hee heaâ—es all the riches of mercy goodnesse compassion and comfort is to bee found and in whom are hid and heaped up the fullnesse of grace and treasures of all perfection So that now the current of his best affections and all the powers of his humbled soule are wholly bent and directed toward him as the Sun-flower towards the Sun the iron to the load-stone and the load-stone to the Pole-star To whom the nearer hee drawes the more heartily it grieves him that ever he pierced so sweet and deare a Saviour with such a former impure loathsome life so many abominable now most abhorred provocations 4. Vpon this discovery survay and admiration of this pearle of great price this rich treasure the now truly broken and contrite heart doth cast about by all meanes how to compasse it O! what would he now giue for the sweete fruition and ravishing possession of it Hearts-blood life lying in Hell for a season were nothing in this case The imperiall crownes and command of tenne thousand worlds were they all extant would bee in his conceit but as dust in the Ballance layd in the scale against Iesus Christ c. But these things are not required at his hands At last he happily hitt's upon that which God would have him he even resolves to sell all that he hath to part with all sinne tho it should bee as deare and as much doted upon as that compared to a right eye or right hand bee it that which hath kept him longest in hell most wasted the conscience and stuck closest to his bosome I meane his Captaine corruption Master-lust or Minion-delight he will spare none he will quite out of Sodome hee will not leave so much as an hoofe behind For hee well now remembers what hee hath often heard heretofore tho then hee tooke no heed That the Lord Iesus and any one allowed Lust are never woont to lodge together in the same Soule 5. Fifthly To the party thus legally afflicted evangelically affected and fitted savingly now doe all the promises of life in Gods blessed Booke offer themselves as so many Rockes of eternitie in faithfulnesse and truth for his wearied soule tossed with tempest and full sorely bruised with stormes of terrour sweetly to rest upon with everlasting safety God the Father his bowells of tenderest compassion and bounty already stirring within him runnes that I may so say as the Father in the Gospell to fall upon it's necke and to kisse it with the kisses of his sweetest mercy Iesus Christ opens himselfe as it were upon the Crosse to receive it graciously into his bleeding wounds all which hee beholding with a spiritually illightned eie admiring and adoring can not chuse but subscribe and seale unto them that they are true and so by the helpe of the Holy Ghost casts himselfe with all the spirituall strength hee can at least with infinite longings most thirsty desires and resolution never to part into his blessed bosome saying secretly to himselfe
desert to what Christ hath done for thee and to the Almightinesse and All-mercifullnesse of him that promiseth consider with all that God is also abundant in truth Every promise in his Booke is as sure as Himselfe sealed with his Sons Blood and confirmed with his owne Oath Hee must sooner cease to bee God and deny himselfe which is more then infinitely impossible and prodigious blasphemie to imagine then faile in the least circumstance or syllable of his immeasurable love and promises of life to any one that heartily loves him and is true of heart And therefore when thy thirsty soule makes towards the Well of life by vertue of that promise Rev. 21.6 I will give to him that is athirst of the fountaine of the water of life freely And upon survey of the overflowing Rivers of pleasures and blisse which everlastingly spring thence begins to retire from it as too-good newes to bee true I say then steele thy Faith and comfort thy selfe gloriously by consideration of that abundant truth with which hee hath crowned every word of His stronger then a Rocke of brasse far surer then the Pillars of the Earth or Poles of Heaven Nay I speake an admirable thing and of unutterable consolation which cannot bee violated without Destruction of the Deity most blessed and glorious for evermore And let this ever banish and beat backe all scruples doubtes seares which at any time offer themselves and oppose thy unspeakeable joy and peace in believing 6. Well saith an other I easily acknowledge the incomprehensible goodnesse in this Name of God and hold them most blessed who have their part and portion therein But for my part I am affraid I come too late For I have observed the course of the Ministery amongst us and the dispensation of Gods mercy in it At first comming our Towne being full of Ignorance prophanesse and much superstitious follies having never before injoyed the Word with any life or power wee all stood amazed a good whle at the Majesty and Mysterie of this new heavenly Light The first messages of the Ministry sounded in our eares as the voyce of many waters mighty and great but confused not working in us either joy or terrour but onely an extraordinary wonder and secret acknowledgement of a strange force and more then humane power But afterwards when our Watchman was better acquainted with our waies and had more fully discovered the state of our soules the Word was unto us as a voice of a great thunder more distinct and particular breeding not only admiration but feare also not filling our eares onely with an uncouth sound but our hearts also with a terrible searching For the Sermons of every Sabbath came-home to our consciences singling out our severall reigning corruptions beating punctually upon our bosome-sinnes manifesting clearely our spirituall misery and certaine liablenesse to the extremest wrath of God and endlesse woe Whereupon wee were all at our wits end what to doe grew weary of our lives wished with all our hearts that such a Puritane-Preacher had never come amongst us told every man almost wee met that wee had a Fellow at our Towne would drive us all to despaire distraction selfe-destruction or some mischiefe or other That wee heard nothing from him but of damnation and hell and such horrible things c. Now in this second worke of the Word there was a good number even some out of that cursed crue and knot of Good-fellowship wherein I have been insnared so long wonne unto Iesus Christ. For beeing illightned convinced and terrified in conscience for their former sinfull courses the continued piercing of the Word and worke of the spirit of bondage keeping them upon the Racke under the dreadfull sense of divine wrath and their damnable state a good while at last they happily resolved without any more delay diversion by-path or plunging againe into worldly pleasures to passe on directly by the light and guidance of the Gospell into the holy path And so undertooke and hitherto have holden out in Profession and a blessed conformity to the better side But I and the greater part a great deale more was the pitty hating heartily to bee reformed and abhorring that precise way so much spoken against every where into which woe conceived such severe Ministeriall counsell would have conducted us I say wee wickedly wrested out of our vexed consciences those keene arrowes of truth and terrour with great indignation wee unhappily hardned our hearts and foreheads against the power of the Word which particularly pursued us every Sabbath Nay alas we persecuted the very meanes which should sanctifie us and men which would have saved us Here then is my Case and complaint neglecting that blessed season when I was first terrified and troubled in minde when the Angell from Heaven as it were troubled the water and when some even of mine owne Companions in iniquity were converted I am affraid I now come too late that the mercy of God to doe mee spirituall good is already expired and that the Ministry which I have so wretchedly opposed is the very same to mee that it was to the obstinate Iewes Isa. 6.9.10 Nay but yet say not so though it bee with thee as thou hast sayd For our gracious God keepeth mercy for thousands Here you must know that a finite number is put Synecdochecally for an infinite and an infinite indeed And therefore if thou now bee in earnest and willing to come-in in truth and those thine other brethren in Good fellowship and hundreds thousands millions moe or any whosoever to the worlds end God hath mercy in store for you all and being all weary of all your sinnes unfainedly thirsting for the Well of life resolving for the time to come upon new courses company and conversation you shall all be most welcome to Iesus Christ. Even the last man upon earth bringing a truly broken heart to the Throne of grace shall bee crowned as richly and with as large a portion of Gods infinite mercy and Christs un-valew able merit as Adam and Eve or whosoever layd first hold of that first promise The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head 7. Yea but alas I have been no ordinary sinner My corruptions have carried mee beyond the villanies of the vilest you can name Not only variety but the notoriousnesse also and enormity of my wicked waies have set an infamous brand upon mee even in the sight of the world beside those secret pollutions and sinfull practices which no eie but that which is ten thousand times brighter then the Sun ever beheld Had I not been extremely outragious stayned with abominations of deepest die and gone on thus with a high hand I might have had some hope But now I know not what to say Take notice then to the end that nothing at all may possibly hinder or any way discourage any poore soule that syncerely seekes for mercy desires to turne truly on Gods side from assurance of
refresht with that pretious blood of His c. 6. It is growing from appetite to endeavour from endeavour to action from action to habite from habite to some comfortable perfection and tallnesse in Christ. If it bee quite quencht and extingvished when the spirituall angvish and agony is over or stand at a stay never transcending the nature of a naked wish it is to bee reputed rootelesse heartlesse gracelesse There are Christians that lie as yet as it were strugling in the wombe of the Church who for a time at the least live spiritually onely by grievings and groanes by hearty desires eager longings affectionate stirrings of spirit c. There are also Babes in Christ young men in Christ strong men in Christ old Christians A perpetuall infancy argues a nullity of sound and saving Christianity The Childe that never passeth the stature and state of an Infant will proove a Monster Hee that growes not by the syncere milke of the Word is a true Changeling not truly changed Hee that rests with contentment upon a desire onely of good things never desired them savingly But here lest any tender conscience bee unnecessarily troubled I must confesse It is not so growing as I have said or not so sensibly at certaine times as while the pangs of the New-birth are upon us in times of desertion temptation c. Tho even then it growes in an holy impatiency restlesnesse longing c. Which is well-pleasing unto the Father of mercies in the meane time and which Hee accepts graciously untill Hee give more strength The Point thus cleared is very sweet and soveraigne but so that no carnall Man must come neere it no stranger meddle with it much lesse Swine trample upon it It is a Iewell for the true-hearted Nathanaels wearing alone Nay the Christian himselfe in the time of his Soules health height of feeling and flourishing of His Faith must hold off His hand Onely let Him keepe it fresh and orient in the Cabinet of His memory as a very rich Pearle against the Day of spirituall distresse As pretious and cordiall waters are to bee given onely in swounings faintings and defection of the spirits so this delicious Manna is to bee ministred specially and to bee made use of in the straits and extremities of the Soule At such times and in such Cases as these In 1. The strugglings of the New-birth 2. Spirituall Desertions 3. Strong temptations 4. Extraordinary troubles upon our last Bed 1. For the first When thou art once come so farre as I intimated before To wit that after a thorow conviction of sinne and sound humiliation under Gods mighty hand upon a timely and seasonable revelation of the glorious Mystery of Christ His excellencies invitations His truth tender-heartednesse c. For the desire I speake of is an effect and affection wrought ever immediately by the Gospell alone I say when in this Case thine heart is filled with vehement longings after the Lord of life If thou bee able to say with David My soule thirsteth after thee as a thirstie Land If thou feele in thy selfe an hearty hunger and thirst after the favour of God that Fountaine opened for sinne and for uncleannesse and fellow-ship with Christ Assuredly then the Well of life is already opened unto thee by the hand of thy faithfull Redeemer and in due time thou shalt drink thy fill He that is Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End the eternall and unchangeable God hath promised it And amid the sorrowes of thy trembling heart and longings of thy thirsty soule thou mayst even challenge it at His hands with an humble sober and zealous confidence As did that Scottish Penitent a little before his Execution Hee freely confessed his fault to the shame as Hee said of Himselfe and to the shame of the Divell but to the glory of God Hee acknowledged it to bee so hainous and horrible that had hee a thousand lives and could he die ten thousand deaths Hee could not make satisfaction Notwithstanding said hee Lord thou hast left mee this comfort in thy Word that thou hast said Come unto mee all ye that are weary and laden and I will refresh you Lord I am weary Lord I am heavily laden with my sinnes which are innumerable I am ready to sinke Lord even to Hell without thou in thy mercy put to thine hand and deliver mee Lord thou hast promised by thine owne word out of thine owne mouth that thou wilt refresh the weary soule And with that Hee thrusts out one of his hands and reaching as high as Hee could with a louder voyce and a strained cryed I challenge thee Lord by that Word and by that Promise which thou hast made that thou performe and make it good unto mee that call for ease and mercy at thine hands c. Proportionably when heavy-heartednesse for sinne hath so dryed up thy bones and the angry countenance of God so parched thine heart that thy poore soule begins to gaspe for grace as the thirsty Land for drops of raine thou mayst tho dust and ashes with an holy humility thus speake unto thy gracious God O mercifull Lord God thou art Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end Thou sayest It is done of things that are yet to come so faithfull and true are thy decrees and promises And thou hast promised by thine owne word out of thine owne mouth that unto Him that is athirst thou wilt give of the Fountaine of the water of life freely O Lord I thirst I faint I langvish I long for one drop of mercy As the Hart panteth for the water brookes so panteth my soule after thee O God and after the yerning bowels of thy woonted compassions Had I now in possession the glory the wealth and the pleasures of the whole World Nay had I ten thousand lives ioyfully would I lay them all downe and part with them to have this poore trembling soule of mine received into the bleeding armes of my blessed Redeemer O Lord and thou onely knowest it my spirit within me is melted into teares of blood my heart is shivered into peeces Out of the very place of Dragons and shaddow of death doe I lift up my thoughts heavy and sad before Thee the remembrance of my former vanities and pollutions is a very vomite to my soule and it is full sorely wounded with the grievous representation thereof The very flames of Hell Lord the fury of thy just wrath the scorchings of mine owne conscience have so wasted and parched mine heart that my thirst is insatiable My bowels are hot within mee my desire after Iesus Christ pardon and grace is greedy as the grave the coles thereof are coles of fire which hath a most vehement flame And Lord in thy blessed Booke thou calls and cries Ho every One that thirsteth come yee to the waters c. In that great day of the Feast Thou stood'st and cryed'st with thine owne mouth saying
and upon good ground invite thee as it were to repose upon it as upon a sure Word of God with everlasting rest and safty But thou giving too much way to the Divels lies and the dictates of thine owne distrustfull heart keepes off and retires as tho they were too weak to support thy now troubled and trembling Soule especially loaden with so many and hainous sinnes Whereby consider how great indignity thou offers to such pretious promises and Places as these Isa. 1.18 Ezek. 36.25 Isa. 55.7.8.9 And 57.15 Especially beeing so strongly backt by Gods blessed Oath God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the immutability of His counsell confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie wee might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6.17.18 What a mighty strength may that most glorious speech of our all-mercifull God infuse into our Faith Ezek. 36.11 As I live c. As if Hee should have said As sure as I am the True Eternall Living and Omnipotent God c. so certainely I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked But I have pleasure that Hee should come in take my Sonne and bee my servant Vnderstand the same proportionably of every promise As sure as I have an eternall Essence and Beeing of a God-head c. So certainely will I give freely to every One that is truly weary of all His sins and thirsts unfainedly for mercy and grace eternal rest and refreshing in the ever-springing Fountaine of all spirituall and heavenly pleasures And so of the rest In a word what an unworthy thing is this That all the pretious promises in the Booke of God confirmed with his owne Oath and sealed with His Sonnes blood should suffer dishonour and disparagement as it were by thy distrust As tho so many mighty Rocks of mercy and truth were not able to susteine a poore bruised Reede 5. By disabling and dis-honouring 1. Gods free love See Hos. 14.4 Ier. 31.3 Ezech. 16. Deut. 7.7.8 Ioh. 3.16 Eph. 1.5 If God would not give us Christ without some matter and motives in us without something done by our selves first it were something to stand out in such a case But he gives him most freely without any respect or expectation at all of any precedent worke or worth on our part Onely there is required a predisposition in the Partie to take Christ legall dejection sight sense and burden of sinne we must bee truly wounded sensible of the Divels yoke feele our owne misery wee must prize Him above and thirst for Him more then the whole world c. A man will not seriously seeke after a Physition before Hee feele Himselfe to be sicke for ease before Hee bee prest with the waight of His burden for a plaister before Hee bee wounded for heavenly riches before Hee bee sensible of His spirituall beggery for enlargement and pardon before Hee finde himselfe in prison for mercy before Hee smart with sense of His misery Such dispositions then as these serve onely to drive us unto Christ and to let us see and feele a necessity of Him But they are infinitely with more then an utter impossibility disabled by any worthinesse to draw on Christ. Hee is a Gift Rom. 5.16 Ioh. 3.16 And what is freer then Gift Nothing is required at our hands for receiving Him but emptie-handednesse and sensiblenesse of our owne nothingnesse Our Heavenly Father never did or ever will fell His Sonne unto any Iustitiarie or any that will needes bee something in Himselfe Hee ever did and ever will give Him to every poore Soule thas is vile in His owne eyes nothing in himselfe labours and is heavy laden and willing to take Him as a Saviour and a Lord. A full hand can hold nothing Either it must bee empty or wee cannot receive Christ. First thirst and then buy without money and without price Isa. 55.1 Mee thinkes Chrysostome doth somewhere set out sweetly the admirable and adored frankenesse of this divine bounty b If thou wilt be adorned with my comlinesse or bee armed with my weapons or put on my garments or bee fed with my dainties or finish my iourney or come into that City whose Builder and Maker I am or build an House in my Countrey Thou maist so doe all these things that I will not onely not exact of thee any price or paiment for any of these things but I my selfe would bee a Debtour unto thee of a great Reward so that thou wouldest not disdaine to use my things my strength gifts graces What can be ever found equall to this bounty If God then bee so infinitely good as to offer His Sonne so freely And thou so fitted to receive Him by sensiblenesse of thy spirituall miserie thirsting for his blood resolving upon His service for the time to come c. How unad-visedly cruell art thou to thine owne conscience and unmannerlily proud that wilt needs stand off still from taking the Lord Iesus and suffer still thy poore trembling Soule to lie unnecessarily upon the Racke of terrour Sith thou gets and gaines nothing thereby but first Gods dishonour secondly Thine owne willfull torture thirdly Gratification of Satans malicious cruelty Obiect 1. But were it not fitter for mee maist thou say first to amend my life to doe some good workes to have experience of the Change of my conversation to grieve legally longer c. Before I bee so bold as to lay hold upon Christ and apply the Promises Answ. Thou must first bee alive before thou canst worke Thou must have spirituall ability inspired before thou canst walke in the good way Thou must be justified before thou bee sanctified Now spirituall life is onely then and never before or by any other meanes infused but when wee reach out an empty hand and take Iesus Christ into our humbled Soules When a 〈…〉 wearie of all sinne according to His Call Commandement and counsell roles itself as it were and â—â—anes upon the Lord Iesus then is spirituall life first breaâ—hed into it The vitall operations of grace in â—ll holy duties good deeds amendment of life holy walking universall obedience c. must appeare afterward Zacheus received Iesus Christ first into His heart and house before Hee was able to restore and distribute Casting ouâ— selves upon that Lord of life with truth of heart as our onely Iewell and Ioy we have in heaven or in earth 〈◊〉 whom we are resolved to live and die drawes frâ—m Him into our soules that heavenly vertue and vigour whereby we are afterward inabled to exercise all the functions of spirituall life and to die to the world and all wordly pleasures for ever Herein is thy fault and failing thou conceives not a right of Gods free grace but thinkes thou shalt not bee welcome except thou
stampt upon His Soule by an Almighty hand A worke for wonder and power answerable if not transcendent to the Creation of the World To the production whereof the infinite mercies of the Father of all mercy the warmest hearts-blood of His onely Sonne the mightiest Moouing of the blessed Spirit were required Now what an indignity and disparagement is offered unto so glorious a Workeman and blessed a worke to assent and subscribe unto the Divell a knowne Liar that there is no such Thing 4. To double and aggravate upon the Christian the grievous sinne of unbeliefe Not to believe the Promises as they lie in His Booke is an unworthy and wicked wrong unto the Truth of God But for a Man to draw backe and deny when they are all made good upon His Soule makes Him worse then Thomas the Apostle For when He had thrust His hand into Christs side Hee believed But in the present Case a Man is ready to renounce and disclaime Tho Hee have already graspt in the armes of His Faith the crucified bleeding Body of His blessed Redeemer The sacred and saving vertue whereof hath inspired into the whole Man a new spirituall sanctifying life and a sensible un-deniable change from what it was 5. To discontinue or detaine the heart lock't up as it were in a perpetuall barrennes from giving of thanks which is one of the noblest and most acceptable Sacrifice and service that is offered unto God Now what a mischiefe is this that an upright heart should bee laced up and His Tong tied by the Divels temptation from magnifying heartily the glory of Gods free grace for such a worke I meane the New-Creation at which Heaven and Earth Angels and Men and all Creatures may stand everlastingly amazed So sweet it is and admirable and makes an immortall Soule for ever But to keepe my selfe to the Point Those who complaine as I have said That because the pangs of their New-birth were not in that proportion they desire answerable to the hainousnesse of their former pestilent courses and abominablenesse of their beastly life before many times suspect themselves and are much troubled about the truth of their conversion may have their doubts and scruples encreased by taking notice of such propositions as these which Divines both ancient and moderne let fall sometimes in their Penitentiall Discourses Ordinarily men are wounded in their Consciences at their conversion answerably to the wickednesse of their former conversation Contrition in true Converts is for the most part proportionable to the hainousnesse of Their former courses The more wicked that thy former life hath been the more fervent and earnest let thy Repentance or returning bee Sorrow must bee proportionable to our sinnes The greater our sinne the fuller must bee our sorrow According to the waight of sinne upon the conscience ought penitent sorrow to bee waighty He that hath exceeded in sinne let Him exceede also in sorrow Looke how great our sinnes are let us so greatly lament them Let the minde of every One drinke up so much of the teares of penitent compunction as Hee remembers Himselfe to have withered from God by wickednesse Grievous sinnes require most grievous lamentations The measure of your mourning must bee agreeable and proportionable to the sinne And wee may see these rules represented unto us in the practise of Manasses who beeing a most grievous sinner 2. Chron. 33.6 Humbled Himselfe greatly before the God of His Fathers vers 12. In the Woman who is called a Sinner Luk. 7.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they say by a kinde of singularity and therefore takes on extraordinarily vers 38. So that she wipes Christs feete with teares In the idolatrous Israelites upon their turning unto the Lord 1. Sam. 7.4.6 who drew water and poured it out before the Lord. In the Hearers of Peter who having their consciences all bloody with the horrible guilt of crucifying the Lord of life Act 2.33.36 were pricked in their hearts vers 37. with such horrour and raging angvish as tho so many empoisoned daggers and Scorpions stings stucke and were fastned in them punctually In Paul who having been an hainous offender a grievous Persecuter Act. 9. whereas the other Apostles as One sayes had been honest and sober fisher-men tasted deeper of this cup then they For Hee tells us Rom. 7.11 That the Law slew Him Hee was strangely amazed with a voyce from Heaven strucke downe to the earth and starke blinde He trembled and was astonished For three daies Hee did neither eate nor drink c. Act. 9. And there is good reason for it For ordinarily the newly-illightened eye of a fresh-bleeding Conscience is very sharpe and cleare piercing and sightfull greedy to discover every staine and spot of the Soule To dive even to the heart-roote to the blackest bottome and ougliest nooke of a Mans former Hellish courses to looke backe with a curious survay thorow the pure Perspective of Gods righteous Law over his whole life to His very Birth-sinne and Adams rebellion And in this sad and heavy search it is very inquisitive after and apprehensive of all circumstances which may adde to the hainousnesse of sin and horrour to his heart It is quick-sighted into all aggravating considerations and quickly learnes and lookes upon all those wayes degrees and circumstances by which sins are made more notorious and hatefull And what the spirit of bondage in a fearefull heart may inferre hereupon you may easily iudge Now to the Case proposed I say first 1. That betweene sinne and sorrow wee cannot expect a precise adequation not an Arithmeticall but a Geometricall proportion Great sinnes should bee greatly lamented yet no sinne can bee sufficiently sorrowed for Tho it may bee savingly When wee say the pangs of the New-birth must bee answerable to our former sinnefull provocations wee meane not that wee can mourne for sinne according to it's merit that is impossible But great sinnes require a great deale of sorrow Wee must not thinke that wee have sorrowed enough for any sinne tho wee can never sorrow sufficiently Before I proceede to a further and fuller satisfaction in the Point let mee tell you by the way how discomfortable and doubtfull the Popish doctrine is here about that the truth of our Tenet may appeare the more pretious and taste more sweet Their Attrition and Contrition as I take it differ as our Legall and Evangelicall repentance 1. In respect of the object Contrition as they say is sorrow for sinne as an offence to God Attrition is a griefe for sinne as liable to punishment 2. In respect of the cause Contrition ariseth from sonne-like Attrition from servile feare See Valent. Disp. 7. Q. 8. De contrit punct 2. This Contrition is the cause of the remission of sinnes Bellar. lib. 2. de poenit cap. 12. Arb. At Catholici alij passim Well then thou art a Papist and troubled inconscience Thou knowest well that without
contrition no remission But when comest thou to that measure and degree which may give thee some contentment about the pardon of thy sinnes Goe unto them in this Point for resolution and reliefe and thou goes unto a Racke Consult with their Chapters de quantitate contritionis of the muchnesse of sorrow and they are able to confound thee with many desperate distractions 1. Looke backe upon the elder Schoolemen and you shall have Adrian Quaest. de poenit Quodlib 5. Artic. 3. and others tell you of a Contrition intensivè summa in the highest sâ—reine and to which nothing can bee added as Valent. reports it This opinion Vega refutes de iustif lib. 13. cap. 14. ad princ And Bellarmine dislikes it De poenit lib. 2. cap. 11. Art denique si summus Note by the way how sweetly they agree our concord is Angelicall in respect of their confusions 2. Goe to Scotus In 4. Sent. Dist. 14. Q 2 and his Followers And you shall finde him to talke of a certaine intension of contrition which is soli Deo cognita onely knowen unto God but this Greg. de Valent. censures as very false Tom. 4. Col. 17.24 You see againe as there is no truth in their Tenets so no constancy no concord and by consequent no comfort to a truly troubled spirit 3. Come at length to the latter Locusts some Moderne Iesuites dawbers over of their superstitious ruines with many rotten distinctions I meane Bellar. Greg. de Valent. and their fellowes And they dare not stand either to the unknowne intension of Scotus nor that of highest pitch which Hadrian holds But come in with a sorrow for sin appreciativè summus And what is that thinke you Hence Bellarmine for Valent. speakes more warily in the quoted place Art Neque verò Yet very weakely too for in such Cases the troubled minde is not woont to rest upon generalls onely but will will wee nill we bring us to particular howsoever Scotus Navar and Madinâ— advise the contrary Sorrow for sinne saith hee is then summus appreciativè when the will doth more esteeme the detestation of sinne then the attainement of any good or escaping any ill And so by consequent for as I intimated a troubled conscience in such a Case is very curious and inquiâ—itive and will not stay onely upon confused and generall notions of good and ill but easily descend to Particulars to know it's state more perfectly especialy in a Point of so great importance A man must finde his heart first to prize the hatred of sinne before the happinesse of heavenly joyes or avoiding hellish paines before hee can come to comfort of the remission of his sinnes What a torture were it to a troubled spirit to fall into the hands of such true Pharisies who lay heavy burdens upon others but will not touch them themselves with the least of their fingers But blessed bee God! wee truly teach that it is not so much the measure and muchnesse as the truth and heartinesse of oâ— sorrow which fits for the promises of life and pardon of sinne Yet I must say this also Hee that thinkes hee hath sorrowed sufficiently never sorrowed truly And I like Bellarmines last Proposition well in the fore-â—â—â—ted place If it bee thus understood That wee must desire aime and endeavour after the highest pitch of godly sorrow which can possibly bee attained But 〈◊〉 is one thing to say either just so much measure of sorrow or no mercy such a quantitie of contrition or no remission An other thing to say wee must long and labour to bring our naughty hearts to this Even to bee willing rather to lie in Hell then to live in sinne Perfections of grace are aimed at in this life not attained 4. I confesse some of them sometimes by reason of freedome in their Schooles over-ruled like Caiphas or over-mastered by the clearenesse and invinciblenesse of the truth c. speake something more orthodoxally As in this Point Vega. lib. 13. cap. 24. Art Ad qua accedit Ibid. Art Et Sacerdotes Tolet. Instruct. Sacerd. Lib. 2. cap. 5. Art Quartum dubium Navar. Cap. 1. Num. 18. Estius In 4. Sent. dist 16. § 7. Art Adde quòd fi summus Gratians Mothers Confessour But you see them still like the foure windes blow in one anothers faces Hereupon I have many times marvailed that understanding Papists looking into the Point are not plunged into desperate perplexities considering the varietie of opinions and uncertainety of the degree of sorrow required to their ContritioÌ„ But when I reflected upon another rotten dawbing tricke of theirs I rather wonder at the depths of their Anti-Christian craft in so politikly and plausibly patching together their Popish Paradoxes that they may still keep their damnably-deluded Disciples in contentment and please them still at least with some palliate cures It is this I meane They hold also prodigious infatuation it is impossible that the learned on the Popes side but that that curse is justly upon them 2. Thes. 2.10.11 Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God sends them strong delusion that they should believe a lie should ever bee so grosely blinded I say they hold that a man ex attrito by the power of the priestly absolution is made contritus and that ex opere operato as Valent. affirmes Which upon the matter is thus much That having but only Attrition Legall repentance that fruitlesse sorrow which may be found in a Iudas a Latomus and which a reprobate may carry with him to hell is by the vertue of their sained Sacrament by the Sacrâ—mentall act of Abâ—olution as they call it made truly and savingly Contrite put into a state of justification Heare it in the words of that great famous light of Ireland and for ever abhorre all such Popish impostures When the Priest with his power of forgiving sins interposeth himselfe in the businesse they tell us that Attrition by vertue of the Keyes is made Contrition that is to say that a sorrow arising from a servile feare of punishment and such a fruitlesse repentance as the reprobate may carry with them to hell by vertue of the Priests absolution is made so fruitful that it shall serve the turâ—â— for obtaining forgivenesse of sinnes as if it had been that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation not to bee repented of By which spirituall cousenage many poore soules are most miserably deluded while they perswade themselves that upon the receit of the Priests acquittance upon this carnall sorrow of theirs all skores are cleered untill that day and then beginning upon a new reckoning they sinne and confesse confesse and sinne a fresh and tread this round so long till they put off all thought of saving repentance and so the blind following the blind both at last follow into the pit Or thus a little after It hath been
alwayes observed for a speciall difference betwixt good and bad men that the one hated sinne for the love of vertue the other only for the feare of punishment The like difference doe our Adversaries make betwixt Contrition and Attrition That the hatred of sin in the one proceedeth from the love of God and of righteousnesse in the other from the feare of punishment And yet teach for all this that Attrition which they confesse would not otherwise suffice to iustifie a man being ioyned with the Priests absolution is sufficient for that purpose Hee that was attâ—ite being by vertue of this Absolution made contrite and iustified that is to say hee that was led only by a servile feare and consequently was to bee ranked among disordered and evill persons being by this meanes put in as good a Case for the matter of the forgivenesse of his sinnes as hee that loveth God syncerely For they themselves doe grant that such as have this servile feare from whence Attrition issueth are to bee accounted evill and disordered men c. But leaving these blind Pharisies in the endlesse Maze of their inextricable errours untill it please the Lord to illighten them and by a strong hand pull them out which I heartily desire and will ever pray I come to prosecute mine owne Point 2. Secondly If you aske mee when trouble for sinne is saving I would answer when it is true If you further demand when it is true I would say when it drives Thee utterly out of thy Selfe and to sell all in the sense I have said before and brings thee with a syncere thirst and setled resolution to Iesus Christ to live and die with Him as a Saviour and a Lord and is accompanied with an universall change in Body Soule and Spirit 3. Thirdly take notice of such considerations as these 1. God beeing a most free Agent doth not tie Himself constantly unvariably to ordinary expected set and the same formes measures times proportions of his waies and workings upon his Children For Hee is wise without limit and above measure and therfore hath many secret and glorious ends and aimes which according to His good pleasure much diversifie the meanes serviceable and subordinate thereunto From whence may spring these three Conclusions 1. Hee may for the most part create in the heart of the true Convert terrours and troubles of Conscience amazements and mourning answerable in some good measure to the varietie vanity and villany of His former wicked waies and lewd life As appeares before in Manasses the sinnefull Woman Idolatrous Israelites Hearers of Peter and many in these dayes if it were convenient to name them For the most part saith a great Divine the violence of humiliation in the Calling of a sinner is according to the continuance and greatnesse of His actuall transgressions According to the same is the rent in the conscience and Soule Therefore if there bee any who hath been a great and grievous sinner and hath not with violence been pulled from his sinne Hee may doe well to suspect and search Himselfe soundly 2. Hee may sometimes suffer a notorious sinner â—â— passe something more easily and unterribly thorow thâ— Pangs of the New-birth But then such a One is woont to walke more humbly before God all His life after for that Hee was not humbled with more remarkeablenesse of penitent remorse and spirituall angvish in His conversion And so extension and continuance of Godly griefe that Hee was not more grieved makes up as it were that desired intension and extremity of pangs which might justly have pained Him in His passing from death to life Every hearty and sensible complaint that the Pangs of the New-birth were not more painefull and proportionable to the pollutions of His youth is as it were and in the sense I have said a Pang of the New-birth Or else upon some occasion afterward in His Christian course Hee may bee revisited and vexed afresh with more terrour and trouble of conscience then in His first change As in such Cases as these first If Hee should which God forbid by some volent enticement and snaring opportunity bee entangled againe and re-infected with any former sensuall pleasure of His unregenerate time or by neglect of His care and watchfulnesse over His waies bee suddenly surprised with some new scandalous sin Secondly upoÌ„ the assault of some extraordinary frighting temptation or pressing of hideous thoughts upon his melancholick imagination Thirdly when some heavy crosse or sicknesse after many prosperous daies shall seize upon Him which may lye sore and long Fourthly upon His Bed of death especially if Hee fall upon it immediately after some relapse backsliding or new wound of Conscience There is a kinde of naturall power besides Gods speciall hand in sicknesse sorrow darknesse melancholy the night extraordinary crosses the Bed of death to represent the true number and hainousnesse of sinnes with greater horror and more unto the life Whereas prosperity health and daies of peace doe rather delude the eyes of the conscience and like false and flattering glasses make those foule Fiends seeme fairer then they are indeede And therefore the christian especially that I speake of beeing outwardly distressed cast upon His Bed of death or any waies extraordinarily visited by Gods hand seeing his sinnes upon the sudden marshalled and marching against Him moe in number and more fiercely then heretofore may for the while bee surprised and exercised with unexpected terrour untill by meditation upon Gods former speciall mercy unto Him in spirituall things upon the markes and effects of His Change upon the uprightnesse of His heart towards God in the daies of health upon those testimonies and assurances which His ChristiaÌ„ friends can give Him of His beeing in a gracious state with such like holy helpes And so in cold blood and above all resolving to sack so ever fast to the Lord Iesus tho He kill Him Hee bee raised againe from such dejections of spirit to the â—oonteâ— confidence and comfort of His interest in Christ and salvation of His Soule Here by the way let none think it strange that even the dearest servants of Christ may bee re-visited with more horrour of conscience afterward then at their first turning on Gods side As appeares in Iob Ezechiah David in Miâ—â— Brettergh Mr. Peacock c. See before pag. 84. l 21. 31. Besides the proposed Cases this revisitation may befall them also Fifthly For their owne triall This was the end as it may seeme why Iob was set up as a marke for the envenomed Arrowes of the Almighty to aime at and whole armies of terrours to fight against Hee approoved Himselfe to be steele to the backe as they say by that victorious ejaculation Cap. 13.15 Though He slay mee yet will I trust in Him Whereby God was mightily honoured Satan utterly confounded that controversie whether Iob feared God for nought or no gloriously ended on Gods
the Christian for the present into a most dark and dis-cōfortable condition I meane when the most wise God for some holy ends seeming good unto Himself retires for a time with-holds from the heart of his Childe the light of His countenance the beames of His favour and sense of His love Whereupon tho the roote of spirituall life the Habite of Faith and fundamentall power of salvation and eternall safty remaine still and sure in His Soule never to bee shaken or prevailed against no not by the very gates of Hell or concurrent forces and fury of all the powers of darknesse yet for the time Hee findes and feeles in Himselfe a fearefull deprivation and dis-continuance of the feeling and fruition of Gods pleased face exercise of Faith pardon of sinne inward peace joy in the holy Ghost cheerefulnesse in wel-doing and godly duties confidence in praier assurance of beeing in a saving state c. So that Hee may judge Himselfe to have been formerly an Hypocrite and for the present can very hardly or not at all difference and distinguish His wofull condition from that of a Cast-away This secret and wonderfull work of spirituall desertion doth God much exercise and practise upon His Children in many Cases for many Causes 1. Sometimes upon a re-ensnarement in some secret bosome-lust which was their Darling and delight in the daies of their rebellion Relapse into which Satan labours industriously to procure with much adoe by all His Devises For Hee gaines greatly thereby For so the New-Convert considering in cold blood what Hee hath done may be cast upon such complaints as these Alas what have I done now This pestilent old pollution which so wofully wasted my conscience in time past hath fearefully re-infected my newly washed Soule I have againe Woe is mee fallen into the abhorred Sodome of this foule sinne I have grieved that good spirit which was lately come to dwell in me All the former horrours charge afresh upon my heart from which I was happily freed even by some glimpses of heavenly joy I have wretchedly let goe my hold lost my peace broke my vowes and blessed communion with my God c. Ah! wretch that I am what shall I now doe And thereupon may fall upon a temptation of returning to His dis-avowed sensuall Delights out of this conceit As well over bootes as over shoes Doe what I can I see I can never hold out c. Or Hee may plunge into this slavish perplexity I dare not goe to God I have used Him so villanously after such immeasurable kindenesse and provoked the eies of his glory with such prodigious impurity after I was purged I dare not fall againe to good-fellowship and former courses lest I draw some remarkeable vengeance upon mee in the meane time and bee certainely damned when I have done So that Hee can neither take pleasure upon the right hand or the left Or which is most for my purpose and that which the Divell specially desires God therefore may hide His face from Him and leave Him to the darknesse of His own spirit so that He may for a long time walke on heavily starke lame in respect of those comfortable supporters of the Soule affiance hope spirituall joy peace of Conscience sense of Gods favour boldnesse in His waies courage in good causes delight in the company of the Saints c. Such a dampe also and desertion may come upon the Soule especially after a Fall into some new open scandalous sinne whereby not onely their owne Consciences within are grievously wounded but also for their sakes and sinne the Profession of Gods truth abroad scandalized and disgraced the common state of goodnesse questioned and traduced the heart and glory of Christianity hurt and distained David was thus dealt with in Gods just judgement after His monstrous and matchlesse fall Gods good Spirit had richly crowned His royall heart with abundance of sanctification and purity and had graciously filled Him aforetime with the fruits and feeling thereof and thereupon many heavenly deawes no doubt of spirituall joyes had many times sweetly refreshed His blessed Soule But by the hainous scandalousnesse of His hatefull fall Hee so grieved that good Spirit and turned the face of God from Him that Hee had neither sense of the comforts of the one nor of the favour of the other The spirituall life of his Soule the eie of His judgement light of conscience lightsomnesse in the holy Ghost and the whole grace of sanctification were so wasted dazeled confounded weakened raked under the ashes as it were and runne into the roote that hee speakes as if He had utterly lost them and so stoode in neede of a new infusion and creation thereof Psal. 51.10 But by the way conceive aright of Davids spirituall condition at this time Tho in his owne feeling and present apprehension Hee so complaines and cries out for a New creation as tho all were gone yet even when Hee was at the lowest and worst the Soule and substance that I may so speake of saving grace and salvation did abide still rooted and resident in his heart Which once emplanted by Gods omnipotent mercifull hand in an humble Soule and taking roote it there sticks fast for ever far more un-mooveable then a thousand Mount Zyons The blossoms buds and fruits may sometimes bee fouly cankerd as it were by our owne corruptions shrewdly nipt by the frost of some earthly affections blasted by sharper tempests of Satans temptations But the foundation standeth sure grounded and founded upon the unchangeable Nature of God and immutability of His counsell and therefore mauger the malice of all both mortall and immortall rage there is still life in the roote which in due season will spring out againe and grow up unto everlasting life To the present Instance All purity and cleannesse of heart was not utterly extinguisht and abolisht in David For 1. Some little at least was left which descried and discovered those spots and pollutions of filthinesse and impurity which had lately over-growne it For grace discovers corruption not nature A sensible complaint of hardnesse of heart and an earnest desire after softnesse is a Signe that the heart is not wholly hard A syncere crying out against impurity and hearty endeavour after purity argues the presence of the purifying Spirit 2. And how was this holy ejaculation Create in mee a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within mee created but by the Spirit of grace and supplications Which blessed sanctifying Spirit was all the while rooted and resident in Davids heart by a saving existence there tho not so fully by an effectuall operation and exercise Divines about this Point consider First The infinite free and eternall love and favour towards His Childe with which whom Hee loves once Hee loves for ever The gifts and calling of God that is as best Interpreters affirme the Gifts of effectuall calling effects of His free
feriunt 〈◊〉 verberant Ergo tanquam â—â—elerum malitia suâ—â—tesâ—es extirpare funditùs nituntur tollere grauesque sibi putant tanquam vita eorum coarguatur Lactant. Lib. 5. cap 9. d Iob 20. a Caeterum vultu facie satis valens mente intellectu constantissimus memorià potentissimus nunquam eadem verba bis repetit venientes omnes ad se recipit sermones doctos graves ac maturos profert se iusto Dei judicio damnaâ—â—â— se jam in inferno esse inde inenter cruciari Optare se in loco Iudae Caini esse Gribaldi epist. de tremendo divini judicij exemplo c. pag. 38. Immisit Deus ex illà horâ in cor ejus vermem corrodentem ignâ—m inextinguibilem ut horrore Confusione desperatione subitò repleretur Qui vermis ignis nunquam exinde illum dereliquerunt ut se longè deteriâ—ri in statu testetur quà m si separatâ à corpore animà cum iuda Cain caeteris damnatis esset desiderans se loco cujusvis mortui damnati esse pottus quà m si in corpore vivere Ibid pag. 43. b Tom. 5. Serm. contra Gulam caeteras corporis volupt Producamuâ— homines duos in medium quorum alier lasciviae sit voluptatibus deditus alter verò prorsus sit his rebus demortuus c. Adeamus istorum domos Inveniemus certe alterum libris incumbentem vacantem rei divinae abstinentiae vel rebus necessarus incumbentem habentemque cum Deoser â—onemâ— de rebâ—s coelestibus dissâ—rentem Angelum potiùs agentem quà m hominem Alterum verâ— madentem mero-dantem operam lasciviae-debacchantem delicijs incumbentem non solùm vivendo 〈◊〉 mortem sed esse mortuis longè inferiorem perniciosioremque Daemone agitato furijs Vbi verò dies illuxit amâ—ttit omnem quam ex lasciviâ ceperat voluptatem si â—â—dem Familiam ob muâ—murantem insectantem se â—urgio conjugem objurgantes amicos â—â—â—micos ludibrio se habentes recognoscit * Quis igitur qui mentis sit compos non potiùs optet mille obire mortes quà m diem unum hanc vitam degere * I say Ordinarily 1. First because Sometimes 〈◊〉 notorious Ones and yet without all 〈…〉 may represent to the eye of un-judicious By-standers whereby they are 〈…〉 fearefully hardened a notable shew of dying well In my time saith the French Aâ—thor of Essaies Three of the â—ost exercrâ—ble persons that ever I knew in all 〈…〉 and the most infamous have been seene to die very orderly and quietly c. I have also my selfe oâ—served some of higher place notorioâ—sly wicked who by their cariage in their last sicknesse have suggested conceits especially to those who were willing to be hardned by their deaths that they made a good end as they say whereas they had no true touch in Conscience at all or feeling remorse for their former extreamely sinfull life Which is occasioned sometimes by the un-skilfulnesse of some spirituall Physitions about them who are ready to dawbe and draw a skin only over their un-searched sinfull sores now at their death as they were to play the Men-pleasers and Sow-pillowes under 〈…〉 in their life time Fellowes as excellent in palliate Cures as utterly un-acqâ—ainted with the mystery of comforting afflicted Consciences aright and speaking seasonably to such as lie upon their last Bed Heare Master Marburies censure of such Mountebaâ—ks This intolerable defect saith He meaning of experimentall knowledge in Ministers 〈…〉 it selfe more shamefully or with greater hurt then when Men have 〈…〉 death or in time of great affliction for at such times 〈…〉 want shall to helpe their poore sheepe out of the ditch are 〈…〉 and to take some other indirect course as many use to 〈…〉 in time to make him Mans meate lest it should be said He 〈…〉 2. Secondly because Some One of them perhaps I know not amongst how many thousands may be â—â—ke the Thiefe upoÌ„ the Crosse. 3. Thirdly because Tho meete civil 〈◊〉 utterly estranged from the life of godlinesse all their life long for the most part may make a calme quiet and peaceable end in the eye and estimate of the world which was never able to distinguish a secure blockishnesse from an holy security Observation whereof hardeneth a world of people in their unsaving state Heare Greenâ—ams doome of such a death They dye saith He like blockes And yet the ignorant 〈…〉 such fearefull deaths sayâ—â—â— he departed as meekely as a Lambe he went 〈…〉 shall when they might as well say but for their fether-bed and their 〈…〉 and perâ—shed like an Oxe in a ditch I say tho this sort of Men for the most part die so yet I have knowne some such upon the very first thought they should certainely die to have fallen into desperation and could never be recovered And altho many fâ—rmaâ—l Professours may goe to Hell with many gâ—od speeches and Lord Lord in them 〈…〉 appeares in the fâ—â—lâ—sh Virgins and those in the seuenth of Mattheww yet I â—ave â—nowne of some of them who have died very fearefully indeede and full of cruely desperate horrour Hos. 13.8 Isa. 66.15 Deut. 32.22 * Inter omnes tribulationes humanae animae nulla est major tribulatio quà m conscientia delictorum Namque si ibi vulnus non sit sanumqâ—e sit intus hominis quod conscientia vocatur ubicunque alâ—bi passus fuerit tribulationes illuc confugiet ibi inveniet Deum Si autem ibi requies non est propter abundantiam iniquitatum quoniam ibi Deus non est quid facturus est homo Quò confâ—giet cum caeperit patitribulationes Fugiet â—bâ—gro ad civitatem à publico ad domum à domo ad cubiculum sequitur tribulatio A cubiculo jam quò fugiet non habet nisi interius ad cubile suum Porrò si ibi tumultus est si fumus iniquitatis si sâ—aâ—nmasceleris non illuc potest confugâ—re Pellitur enimâ—nâ—e cum inde pellitur à seipso pellitur Et ecce hostem suum invenâ—â— quò confugerat seipsum quò fugiturus est Quocunque fugerit se talem trohit post se quocunque talem traxerit se cruciat se. In Psalm 46. p. 502. Poena autem vehemenâ— multò saevior illis Quaâ— Coeaitius gravis invenit Roadamanthus Nocte â—iâ—que suum gestare in pecture teâ—â—em * Let us not bee Scotners lesters and Deriders for that is the uttermost token and shew of a Reprobate of a plaine enemy to God in his wisedome Hom. Of some places of Scriptures by which some take offence P. 2. ** 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thâ—ssal 2.16 a Shee prefer'd Iohn Baptâ—stâ— head before the halfe of Herod's kingdome Mark 6 2. b 〈…〉 rursâ—s haec in seâ—psam trâ—nssert â—llius verba quasi ad ejus ignominâ—am â—lâ—ta exissimans aliud conetlium Episcoporum contra eum cogendum curat Quâ re intellectâ