when their outward condition is troubled their inward state and frame is full of perplexities and fears David found it so Psalm 116.3 The sorrows of death compassed me and then also the pains of hell got hold on me I found trouble and sorrow i. e. very much perplexity both inward and outward at once So again Psalm 31.22 1 Sam. 23.26 Psal 42.7 In my hast i. e. when I was flying for my life before the face of Saul and hard put to it then I said I am cut off from before thine eyes Thus it was with Jona 2.4 in the depth of his distress saith he I am cast out of thy sight sad conclusions touching not only Gods providential care over them but his love towards them Thus with Paul 2 Cor. 7.5 without were fightings within were fears i. e. Spiritual conflicts We find the whole Church in the Lam. at the same passe Lam. 3.17.18 Thou hast removed my Soul far from Peace I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord alike sad is that Ezek. 37.11 Swoon of Israel's Faith when they were in the Captivity You 'l ask what the reason and cause of this should be 1. It arriseth from their ignorance especially in the fundamental Reas 1 Points of Religion as touching our disease and the remedy and way of cure the tehour of the Covenant of Grace according to which God exactly proceeds in all his dealings with us and we should ever carry it towards God If a man be taken with a fit of sickâ—esse knows not what he ailes nor what to take nor how to apply that which is prescribed nor how to order himself is unsatisfied touching the way skil and faithfulnesse of his Physitian by his ignorance he is put to a sad plague and at his wits ends ready to sink and welter thus t is in our Spiritual condition David Plam 73.12 16. is dangerously tossed in his Spirit upon waves of temptations and much staggared about his condition his feet were almost gone he almost wrackt and cast away See the reason veis 22. of Psalm 73. So foolish was I and ignorant ignorance is darknesse 't will either find fears or make them 2. This ariseth from the ill and imprudent carnal management of a Reas 2 more prosperous state 't is rare to receive much of this World Luke 15.12 13. and not as the Prodigal to go afarr off 't is hard to keep close to God in prosperity when we have much of this World to live upon and content our selves with to live upon God and make him our content and stay as if we had no other life nor livelyhood but in him we are very apt in such a case to contract a carnal frame let go our hold of God discustome our selves to the exercise of Faith abate and estrange our affections from God See how it was with David Psalm 30.7 I said I should never be moved thou hast made my mountain so strong I solaced my self in these outward accommodations as if I needed no other support strength or content and there were no fear of a change no care now to make God my constant joy and stay and reckon upon God only for my portion and that I must follow him with a Crosse and be conformed to my Saviour in being crucified to the World what comes of this v. 7. Thou hidest thy face and I was troubled viz. because he had too much indulged a life of sense Children that are held up by their Nurses hand and mind not to feel their feet and ground when the Nurse lets them go they fall as if they had no feet or ground to stand upon Or thus we are like Children which playing in the golden Sun-shine and following their sport stray so far from their Fathers house that night coming upon them ere they are aware they are as it were lost and full of fears not knowing how to recover home the World steals away our hearts from God gives so few opportunities for the exercise of the life of Faith and such advantages to a life of sense wears off the sense of our dependance on God and need thereof so that when we are put to it by affliction we are ready to miscarry ere we can recover our weapon or hold Faith is our cordial Psalm 27.13 now if it be not at hand as in health when we have no need of it it use to be we may faint ere we recover the use of it Reas 3 3. It ariseth from the shortnesse and dimnesse of our Spiritual Evidences our Evidence you know are great matters in point of estate and livelyhood and in affliction we are put to prove them at which time if they be either not clear or not at hand we are at a great losse and plunge a good man makes alwaies Conscience of making his calling and election sure but he is especially put upon this work in affliction then he considers then searches more then in his ordinary course Afflictions are as sharp searching winter-weather will search whether your house be tite or no those garments walls and windows that will serve in Summer of prosperity will be found defective in Winter of adversity then how stands the case between God and me what ground of my confidence what evidence that I am in Christ c. though the least degree of Faith will save the house from falling yet 't will be a poor cold uncomfortable dwelling in Winter unlesse you mend the cracks and flaws to defend you against driving pierceing winds and storms Reas 4 4. It ariseth as it did here from the remembrance of some sin unmortified and therefore it may be for ought we know unpardoned Affliction puts upon the remembrance of sin with more circumstances and aggravations and to more purpose then ordinarily even the best which make most conscience hereof attend to it in time of freedom Job 36.8 9 10. If they be bound in fetters and held in the cords of affliction then he shews them their work and their transgressions wherein they have exceeded 1 Kings 17.18 Dost thou come to call my sin to remembrance in slaying afflicting me with the losse of my son In stormy change of weather when clouds gather black over us and it begins to drop then we feel it in our bones what bruises or aches we have gotten When a man is arrested by one Crediâ—or all his debts come in upon him Even so when a man is arrested with sicknesse or some other outward distresse then come in upon him the debts wherein he is bound over unto the Divine Law when all is well with us we can easily cast these debts on the score of Christ but now 't is hot work Affliction is the glasse of sin and the opening and awakening the Conscience to see it and thence comes the Trouble upon the Spirit It is not all the stormy winds upon the face of the earth but some generated in the bowels thereof which
clear 2 Tim. 3.4 they loved God who loved pleasures more than God They may have Faith Simon Magus believed they may hate sin in others Acts 8.13 2 Sam. 13.22 if not in themselves Absalom hated Amnons uncleannesse they may delight in God and in his wayes Isa 58 2. They may have a zeale for God and such a a zeale as may prevail more with them than temporall things The Jewes were so zealous of the Law Rom. 10.2 and for the traditions of the Elders that they would have ventured their lives for them so Paul before his conversion how zealous was he Acts 22.3 4. Gal. 1.14 To come more particularly and closely to the question Though Conversion be wrought in an instant yet men have some praevious dispositions thereunto who live under the sound of the Gospel and obtain such knowledge as worketh in them several things which I shall shew unto you from Acts 2.37 38. v. And when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said men c. Many preparative dâ—spositions or qualifications they had unto repentance or conversion but they had not yet repented for Peter saith notwithstanding these repent 1. Men may be convinced of sin as these were they found they had transgressed the law of God and were guilty before him for they were pricked in their hearts Men may have strong convictions of sin and not converted from sin 2. They may mourn for sin and grieve that they have done such and such things These men had crucified the Lord Christ put an innocent person to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acutum animi dolorem significat Piscat saw themselves in an ill condition and thereupon mourned and grieved sorely as the word pricked intimates they had such grief as pained and afflicted their hearts There 's a How set upon Ahabs humiliation by the Lord himself Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself 1 King 21.29 3. They may be fil'd with fear and dread the threatnings and punishments of God due to sin This was the case here they had provoked the Lord against their soules felt their consciences condemning of them apprehended the judgements of God near unto them and so were possest with much fear lest the Lord should destroy them and therefore say Men and brethren what shall we do We know not whither to go where to hide our selves or what to do that we may escape the things we have deserved and fear 4. They may confesse their sin renounce it and reform much these Auditors of Peter being pricked in their hearts said What shall we do We have sinned and that greatly we confesse and acknowledge it before God and you it was a cursed act of ours we abhor it we will never do so hereafter They were sick of sin and vomited it up as they in Peter 2 Pet. 2.22 and would change their minds and manners walke in any way the Apostles should direct them The Merchant Mat. 13.46 sold all that he had for the pearle before he bought it This selling all is made by som Interpreters to be his restraint from all inward sin and his conformity to all outward duties This was much and yet not more than unconverted persons may attain unto Herod reformed many things the foolish Virgins went far as was said before they were Virgins free from spot and pollution they had Lamps visible professions they went forth to meet the Bridegroom they had some faith in him and affection to him else they would not have gone forth 5. They may justifie the Law and the Lord should he condemn them deal severely with them what shall we do say these persons we are guilty we have broken the Law which is holy righteous and good and so is God likewise who is the Author thereof if therefore we be condemned and must bear the curse and punishment of the law we must both justifie the Lord and it Men may accept the punishment of their iniquity and justifie the inflictors thereof man hath no cause to complain of the punishment of his sins It 's brought in by way of objurgation Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain for the punishment of his sins He may complain of his sins not of his punishment Many Malefactors after sentence passed on them do justifie both Judge and Law 6. Men may seriously consider the nature of their sin what circumstances it is cloathed with what aggravations it admits what crimson and skarlet is in it what light love mercies means ingagements it is against What shall we do say these troubled souls We have sinned against the light of nature the Law of Moses our own consciences the love of God and Christ towards sinners in that we have crucified Christ a man approved of God whom we knew had done many miracles wonders and signes Acts 2.22 and deserve not death oh what shall we do our sins are so dreadful It 's in mens power to lay to heart what wrong an infinite blessed holy God hath by their sins what mercies they keep from them how greatly they defile them what miseries and mischiefs they bring upon them what a weight of wrath hangs over their heads for them They may consider what checks of conscience they have stifled what motions of the Spirit they have withstood what precious seasons of grace they have neglected and slighted what paines they have taken to satisfie a lust how dear it hath cost them how carelesse they have been of their soules what a separation their sins have made between God and them They may mind and meditate on it that mans life is short the pleasures of sin but for a season that there is absolute necessity of turning to God Except you repent you shall all perish That turning is acceptable to God else he would not call for it nor make such gracious promises to it as are in holy Writ 7. They may come to it to see no help in themselves or in any creature whatsoever What shall we do say these wounded men we cannot help our selves we have no playsters that will stick no medicines which will heal we are wounded in our Consciences and as our hands so theirs are too short to help us it s not in humane power to bind up our breaches What shall we do men may see themselves helpless that they are without strength shut up under sin guilt and unbelief children of wrath and in a lost condition the Law cursing them and sentencing them to suffer 8. They may arrive to a resolution of doing or suffering any thing to be saved What shall we do we are resolved if we may find mercy and live to do whatever shall be commanded to suffer whatever shall be imposed The pride of their spirits was broken their hearts become teachable and tractable and their resolutions high for any thing to be done or suffered so was it with the Jaylor Act. 16.30 when men are in storms at sea or
cannot passe away now he hath said it Exod. 24.7 he will by no means acquit the guilty i. e. Unlesse the blood of sprinkling for repentance and remission be applied said again Plalm 68.21 I will wound the head and again Esay 65.20 The sinner an hundred years old is accursed Now as the Godly look to have God as good as his word for good Zach. 1.6 so the wicked must look to have God as good as his word for evil Did not my Word take hold of your Fathers 5. No time can remit Gods anger if you offend a man and he Reas 5 be angry you may get out of the way and time will waer off the memory of the offence or at least asswage his passion but 't is not so with God but if he be once angry he is for ever angry the same cause which is sin unrepented remaining Psal 7.11 God is angry with the wicked every day for the sins he commits one day the Anger of the Lord unlesse he works a change in us abides upon us burning to the bottome of Hell Psal 90.11 O! as his fear is so is his wrath and a thousand times more 6. Lastly the sinner is as much under the power of God at one Reas 6 time as at anoâ—her forty a hundred a thousand years after a sin is committed as when the sin was first done As the People of God are born up with that word Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortned that he cannot save Es 59.1 So the wicked sink under the terror of that word Ezek. 22.14 Can thy heart hold and thine hands be strong when I shall visit when I shall deal with you saith the Lord This is the first Reason from God Reas 2. From Sin In a Two-fold Consideration of every sin wherein there are two things which make sin unrepented sure to be called back 1. There is in every sin a breach of the eternal rule of Righteousnesse Reas 1 1 John 3.4 Now the breach of an Eternal Law must needs be Eternal unlesse he which is Eternal make it up i. e. Christ in giving repentance and remission Make a breach in a stone wall you may come many years after and find it as you left it and it must hold as long as the wall holds if it be not made up even so it is in this case Let one come from the dead and warn us those poor cursed castaways are still and must be still and ever crying out under the wrath of God What is the reason I pray verily not only because they sinned out of an affection and spring to sin for ever but also because every sin is objectively infinite and eternal being against the Infinite Eternal Law of the Eternal God now the Law being wronged by the sinner demands and solicits the Justice and Vengeance of God against him till it be satisfied to the utmost farthing therefore till then i. e. for ever must the wrath of God abide upon him and if time wears not out the breach of the Eternal Law in Hell much lesse doth it make any alteration therein here while thou doublest and treblest thy sin by going on with an impenitent heart Reas 2 2. There is also in every sin a spot stain or brand whereby the sinner is marked out for Judgment and Condemnation as we say of a Murtherer as to man Deu. 32.5 Jer. 13.23 Jer. 17.1 so we may say of every sin which is hatred and so murther of the Blessed God as to God there is alwayes some mark or token whereby he is known and that is the macula which sin doth impresse upon him now this also is an indelible Character as the former of Guilt was save only when upon the penitent heart-changing application of the blood of sprinkling there is made an alteration of the case It is plain Jer. 17.1 It is written with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond Jer. 2.22 Though thou take thee much nitre and wash thee with much sope yet thine iniquity is marked before me saith the Lord. David cries out so Psalm 51. O! wash me purge me c. this is the second reason from sin The third is from the sinner himself i. e. from his own Conscience There is in every rational Creature a certain thing called Conscience upon the account of which also sin must needs be kept upon the file for a back-blow Know here that There are divers acts of Conscience and all of them unavoidable 1. Directive as to that which is to be done it being the Law written in the heart it points to all the duties and sins whereby that Law is kept or broken warning from the one and putting on to the other Gen. 39.9 How shall I do this and sin c. Psalm 119.59 I considered my wayes and turned my feet into thy testimonies thus Conscience is a Monitor 2. Reflexive both gratulatory and reprehensive as to all that which is doing or done 1. Considering observing and recording whether it be done or no the matter of fact simply with the natural Circumstances of action negative and positive both in the point of Omission and Commission Item this is done or not done 2. Taking notice and recording the quality of the fact in a comparative act comparing it with the rule together with the moral Circumstances thereof thus Conscience is a surveyer witnesse Register Item in the doing or omitting of this and this the Law is broken and the forfeiture and penalty is incurred 3. It applies this and sets it home upon the sinner thou art the man This thou hast done verily thou art guilty c. thus Conscience is a Judge also and gives sentence touching both the sin and sinner pro or â—on as the Case is 4. It never leaves nor gives over these acts of warning observing recording witnessing and judging till Judgment take place and the Law and sentence be fulfilled upon the sinner Verily I am guilty c. thus Conscience is Tormenter and Executioner also executing its own Sentence by affecting the heart and moving the affections as of joy and boldnesse if the Case be good so of horrour and fear shame and sorrow if the Case be bad c. Now these acts of Conscience though happly for a time suspended as it were are unavoidable upon a double account and Conscience cannot be bribed 1. Because of that relation that Conscience hath to God it ever takes God's part and God it 's it is Gods deputy and Viceroy and so it 's voice and judgment is the very Voice and Judgment of God himself who can and will maintain it in its office till he brings forth Judgment unto victory 2. Because of it's relation to a mans self it is Sensus prejudicium Judicii Divini Nothing so intimate to a man and inseparable from life as this bosome Judge and God's Court within a man 't is a part of a mans Soul and self as subordinate to
naturall lust 2. unnaturall and 3. of all unrighteousness Custome of sinning takes away conscience of sinning For Cure Cure Seriously set your selves against those peculiar wayes of sinning which have brought you to this You know them there 's not any one that hath a seared Conscience but he doth or easily may know how it came so your work in some respect is not so large as in case of the sleepy Conscience 't is but one or two sorts of sins that are eminently mischievous to your souls in this case though a seared Conscience is worse then a sleepy Conscience yet as 't is more easily discernable so 't is but reasonable you should more speedily and vigorously set upon the cure take heed of accounting any sin small k Cum coeperit quis dicere quid est si verbulum hâ—c unicum locutus fuero Ex hoc quid id quid illud Sensim incipit quis pedetentim in majora graviora prolabi sic deinceps in perfectam insensibilitatem decidit curate levia quoad levia sunt virtutes peccâ—ta à parvis incipiunt c. Dorotheus B. P. T. 4 p 769. lest at last you account not any sin great I will commend one Text to you and close this particular Ezek. 24.13 14. In thy filthiness is lewdness because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee I the Lord have spoken it it shall come to passe and I will do it I will not go back neither will I spare neither will I repent c. Sirs God hath been your Physitian hath used l Instar medici qui putridis non parâ—it cornibus non parcit ut parcat crudelis est ut misereatur Hieronym in loc variety of remedies if nothing will prevail but you will industriously singe your Consciences to make them senseless as sure as God is true he will m My fuâ—y to rest i. e. non habeat quod amplius faciat c. Sanctius in loc make you sensible of your sin by everlasting burnings I forbear inlargement because in the following cases about the Mortification of beloved lusts about relapses and how to check the first risings of sin you will have suitable directions to make your brawny Consciences tender I proceed therefore to those kinds of Consciences none else will speak to viz. III. The Erring Conscience An erring Conscience n Ames de cons l. 1. c. 4. p. 8 is that which judgeth otherwise then the thing is Conscience is sometimes deceived through ignorance o Dickson Therap Sac. l 1 c. 1. p. 3. §. 8. of what is right by apprehending a false rule for a true an errour for the will of God Sometimes through ignorance of the fact by misapplying a right rule to a wrong action Conscience evill informed tâ—kes humane traditions and false doctrines proposed under the shew of divine authority to be the will of God a famous instance you have of this in Jeroboams p Beâ—gins Prax cath dissert 3. p. 244. § 27. case he fears that if the people should go up to sacrifice at Jerusalem then he should lose his kingdom this puts him upon enquiry whether there should not be a double Sanctuary as well as a double Kingdom hereupon a Council is called flattering Prophets come they have dreams and visions worthy of their affections suitable to their purpose A decree is made q.d. 't is sufficient that you have hitherto gon up to Jerusalem now behold your Gods these calves are like the cherubims of the Sanctuary which are as ministring Spirits before the face of God that these calves had the shape of the Cherubims you may gather by comparing of Scriptures that which is called the face of an q Ezek. 1.10 Oxe in one place is called the face of a r Ezek. 10.14 Ezek. 1.7 Cherub in the other This seems to the people a satisfying warrant for them readily s Hos 5.11 to follow the Kings commandment I might add another instance of the good old Prophet who was plausibly seduced to his bodily t 1 Kings 3.8 18 19 2â— 26. destruction Now 't is a great question among the Papists especially whether and how far an erring Conscience binds One of their most learned Casuists that I meete with peremptorily determines that the law of an erring Conscience is not dispensable by u Ne quidem à Deo multo minâ—â— ab homine Bresser de Consc l. 5. c. 22. p. 555. § 212. God himself Others w Vt igitur bonum sit agere secundum Conscientiam errantem voluntariè vitiosè oportet existimationem Conscientiae bonam esse câ—a recta ratione congrisenteÌ„ Azorius Moal Instit l. 2. p. 104. that 't is good to follow an erring Conscience when it hath the credit of a good Conscience and is agreeable to reason Others x Sayrus Clav. Reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 8 § 13. that a right and an erronious Conscience both bind though in a different respect a right Conscience as it is conformable to the Law of God an erring Conscience as it is thought to be the Law of God a right Conscience binds simply an erronious upon a supposition Some distinguish ignorance into y Quando Conscientia erronea invincibili ignorantia judicat al quâ—d honestum esse quod honestum non est tunc actus voluntatis qui conformis est tali judicio bâ—nus honestus est etiamsi contingat objectum esse â—urpe ita passim Theologi probatur quia tunc est conformis suae regulae nam illud judicium est proxim a regula quam sequi debet vâ—luntas Becan T 1. Theol. Schol. pt 2. Tract 1. c. 4. q. 7 p. 219. vincible and invincible and say that when an erronious Conscience through invincible ignorance judgeth that to be honest which is not so yet that judgement is the next rule which the will is to follow Others distinguish where all men are not able to discern the difference between z Neminem obligat tamen ligat Durand lib. 2. dist 39. q. 5. p 443. §. 7. binding obliging But in short they generally determine the questioÌ„ in the affirmative Though some grant that though a Sylvestranus in l. 1. Seat p 239. we must do nothing against a true Conscience yet we must depose an erroneous one and go contrary to it And Others b Nihil licet contra Conscientiam agere in aliquo casu nec tumen tenetur quilibet sequi Conscientiam suam in quolibet casu Gul. Parisiensis de vitiis pec p 280. though we must do nothing against Conscience in any case yet we must not follow Conscience in every case The plain truth is Errour cannot bind us to follow it c Harris works pt 4. p. 28. an erring Conscience may so bind
5. To make us strive to be more spiritual 6. To little lesse then force us to live more upon Christ but you must take the other rule if you would have these benefits 2. Do what possibly you can to get z Vide Bress l. 6. c. 2-5 rid of your scruples but if you cannot get rid of them act against them 'T is not only lawfull but necessary to go against a scrupulous Conscience or you will never have neither grace nor peace Should a Christian forbear praying or receiving the Sacrament every time his scrupulous Conscience tells him he had better wholly omit the duty then perform it in such a manner you would soon find to your sorrow the mischief of your scruples but grace will not leave him to his scrupulous humour Be resolute therefore and tell the Devil that as you do not perform your duty at his command so neither will you omit it at his bidding Do by religious duties as they that are afraid to go by water or to go over a narrow bridg they cease to fear when they have gone often over so by the performance of duties your scrupulous fears will vanish Act against your scruples 1. Positively by disputing them down and opposing their reasons 2. Negatively by slighting of them and not hearkning to them In short In all necessary known duties alwayes do what you can when you can't do what you would VI. The trembling Conscience is that which is disquieted a Dorotheus compares our consciences to those pits that Abraham digged and the Philistines stopped them with earth Gen. 26.50 Ob peccatum ut in aqua caenosa turbida nemo potest in ea vultum suum contemplari B. P. T. 4. p. 769. The trembling Consc and distressed with the apprehended hazard of the Soul's condition that doth nothing but accuse and condemn affright the Soul This of any needs least enlargement for every one that feels it is rhetoricall enough in expressing it There 's a twin-cause of a trembling Conscience viz. Sense of sin b Psalm 51.3 Psalm 40 12. Cause fear of wrath c Psal 38.2 8 Psal 88.3 c. Never sin like mine never heart like mine never case like mine Such are the constant complaints of a troubled spirit I meddle not now with that horrour of Conscience that follows prostigate d Nèmo a se extra se curret nullus sui asylum habet Eus Nieremberg de a t. vol. l. 2. p. 158. wretches I shall speak something of it toward the close nothing now For cure Cuâ—e I can give but hints Never keep the Devils counsell Break through all carnall reasonings to acquaint your selves with some faithfull spirituall Physitian or experienced Christian that may shew you the methods of divine grace and what others e 1 Cor. 10.13 have successfully done that have been just in your condition This premised 1. Notwithstanding yea in the midst of your saddest complaints Blesse God for an awakened conscience while there 's hopes of cure It is a good rule Be not too quick in administring comforts but we cannot be too quick in provoking f Read 1 Thes 5.18 with the verses next before and after to thankefulnesse If you can at present be thankfull that you are out of hell you shall e're long be thankfull for assurance of heaven This rule may seem strange but upon experience it's practice will discover it's excellency 2. Observe 't is Gods usuall method to bring the soul through these perplexities to the most solid spirituall peace Augustine g Instabas tu in occultis meis Domine severa misericordia flagella ingeminans timoris pudoris ne rursus cessarem jaÌ„ penè faciebam non faciebam sentiebam me ab iniquitatibus teneri jactabam voces miserabiles quamdiu quamdiu cras cras quare non modo quare non hac hora finis turpitudinis meae Aug. Conf. l. 9. c. 11 12. excellently expresseth his spirituall conflict how God followed him with severe mercy till he made him instant for thorow-holinesse God kept him trembling that he might leave dallying in soul-concernments Believe it Christian God is now storing thee with experiences which will be a usefull treasury throughout thy life Therefore 3. Do but hold on h 1 Cor. 15 8. Nihil tibi utiliuifâ—re scias quaÌ„ ut cum profunda quadam ac forti resignatione teipsum deo humiliter resignes in omnibus quae tibi evenerint Sive dulcia ea fuerint sive amara sive delectent sive crucient ita ut dicere possis O deus adorande etiamsi in hac viâ—a istaque pressura ad extremum usque judicij diem permanendum mihi foret te tamen haudquaquam deserere vellem sed constanter perpetuóque tibi adhaererem c. Thauler in histor vit p. 16. in the vigorous use of all means of Grace and reckon Gods keeping thee from turning thy back upon his ways when thou hast no comfort in them the secret supports he gives which thou tak'st no notice of count these for evidences that the Spirit is at work in thy heart and for pledges that he will perfect his own work e g. Count thy growing importunity in prayer or sorrowful complaint for the want of it a gracious answer of that prayer which thou thinkst is disregarded Count thy watching for a word to direct and support thee a notable efficacy of that word which thou countest doth thee no good Count thy restless dissatisfaction with every thing on this side God to be a love-token from God to assure thee that God will be thy satisfying portion and in the interim aske those well-grown christians that are now in the spiritually-sensible embraces of divine love whether they are not glad that God formerly took that course with them which he now takes with thee to bring them to these joyes Be encouraged therefore though thou hast a sorrowfull i Psal 126.5 6. seed-time thou shalt have a joyfull harvest Thus having spoken of those kinds of Conscience that are either evill or troublesome and how to cure them I now come to those desirable kinds of Conscience that next to Deity and heavenly Glory admit no hyperbole in their commendation viz. the good honest Conscience and the good peaceable Conscience and how to obtain them VII That Conscience is good in respect of its integrity The good honest Consc which gives a right judgement of every thing according to the word of God I grant that the law of Nature binds k Rom. 2.14 Ecclesiastical laws binde l Mat. 23.2 3. and Politicall laws binde m Rom. 13.5 but the Word of God is the principall rule n Norma principalissima c. Konig p. 3 4. which precisely binds the conscience in regard of it's Author o James 4.12 There is one law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Feare p Mat. 10.28 not them
other reason but because they will consequently rendring that yoak a hard one which Christ left easie and that burthen a heavy one which he would have light But now morall Good and Evil are not only such because God commands the one and forbids the other but because the things themselves are so essentially and unalterably As Mathematical truths and proportions are not such only because God will have them so but because the nature of the things cannot be otherwise Almighty power it selfe reveâ—ently be it spoken cannot make two parallel lines or surfaces meet though extended infinitely or the three angles of any straight-lined triangle amount to any lesse or more then two right angles in Geometry or in Arithmeticke alter the proportions between two and four to any other then that of double and half or between three and nine then that of a root and square or to name no more is it possible that a Seventh in Musique should ever become a Concord or a Vnison fifth or eighth a Discord for these things are in their very nature fixed and unchangeable they must be what they are or not be at all Thus there is an eternal Reason why that which is good should be so and commanded and why that which is evill should be so and forbidden which depends not so much on Gods wiâ—l as on his nature For if God could will that good should be evil and evill good he could deny himself and change his own unchangeable Divinity which is impossible And therefore I look upon that opinion of a modern ‖ Ziglovius Dutch Author though I would be so charitable as to believe he knew not and therefore meant not what he said as overthrowing all Religion The thing is this That God may if he please out of the vast soveraignty of his Will command all that wickednesse which he hath forbidden and make it out duty also forbid all that holinesse which he hath commanded and make it become sinne to us For my part I would choose rather to be an Atheist than to believe there is such a God as this in the world But I am sure the holy One of Israel cannot do so not through any defect but through infinite plenitude and redundance of all perfection Ex. Gr. There is an eternall fitnesse and comeliness that a reasonable creature should love and honour and obey it's Creator and contrarily an eternal horridness and indecencie that an immortal soul should forget contemn and affront the Father of spirits Now to affirm that God can dispence with the former nay make our fear of him or delight in him to be a sin and punish it with everlasting torments and to affirm that God can wink at or allow the latter much less command Atheism Blasphemy Pride Unthankfulness c. or make Hypocrisie Covetousness Revenge Sensuality to become duties and graces and reward them with everlasting happiness this were to utter the most hellish blasphemy and the most impossible contradictions in the world The heathen Plato in those divine discourses of his his Eutyphro and Theaetetus and otherwhere may well rebuke the madness of such Christians as this bold and vain speculator The sum of this Rule then is deeply possess and dye thy soul all over with the representation of that eveâ—lasting beauty and amiableness that is in holiness and of that horror and ugliness and deformity that eternally dwells on the forehead of all iniquity Be under the awe and majesty of such clear convictions all day long and thou shalt not fulfill the lusts of the flesh For the mind of man is wont to conceive before it 's own apprehensions and Ideas of good and evil as Jacobs sheep did before the Rods in the Gutter If thy notions of good and evil be right and clear thy lustings and desires will be from evil towards good all the conceptions of thy soul and their births will be fair and unspotted But if thy apprehensions be speckled confused and ring straked like his Rods the conceptions of thy mind thy lustings will be so too so great a truth is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that dark ignorance and folly lies at the bottom as the root and foundation of all wickedness * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plato in Theateto every immoral man is a fool even when he commits a known sin yet then he may be said not to know what he doth Luk. 23.34 All the Reason in the world takes the part of holiness and sin hath not one jot of true Reason to plead or alledge in its own behâ—lf Understand thy self be no stranger to thy own breast know the Rule 3 frame and temper and constitution of thy mind The wise man's eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darkness Eccles 2.14 it is a true and sober maxim of the Platonist Demophil in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as far as a man is ignorant of himself so far forth he is to reckon himself guilty of madness and distraction The Satyrist complains of this Vt nemo in sesè tentat descendere Juvenal nemo Dare to unlock thy bosom to ransack every corner of thy heart let thy Spirit accomplish a diligent search Feel the pulse of thy soul visit it often ask it how it doth Survâ—igh thy self and blush to leave any terra incognita any region of thy mind undiscovered God hath charged and entrusted every man with his own soul and what folly is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be busie in what doth not concern thee and neglect what chiefly doth so the affairs of thy own mind is any thing neerer thee or of such consequence to thee as thy self O let thy charity then begin at home Thou owest this duty to thy self to take an exact account daily of the posture and order of thy inward man With how great confusion doth the Spouse acknowledge this neglect Cant. 1 6. They made me the keeper of the vineyards but my own vineyard have I not kept If ever thou wouldst be dextrous in suppressing the first risings of sin enquire what advantages the tempter hath against thee where that nescio quid tenerum molle lieth in thy soul as Cicero calls it against which temptation plants it's chiefest battery and artillery what thine own iniquity is Psal 18.23 which is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin that doth so easily beset thee Heb. 12.1 See what grace is principally wanting in thee which is weakest in what instances thy greatest failleur betrays it self in which of thy passions and affections thou art most peceable and what lustings of the flesh they are which give thee the frequentest alaâ—mb and threaton the greatest dangers be making these researches and explorations daily compare thy heart with the Law of the eternal God and with the dictates and maxims of thine own conscience See where thy greatest discrepancy and non conformity to these from time to time ariseth
to reprove a man for every cause no the Disciples were quite out in reproving the children for coming to Christ in this chapter when it was not their sin but their duty vers 13 14. Quakers make a stir about Cuffs and Bands and Ribbons and Laces and such like minute trifles of Pharisaical Humility if they can prove these sins let them reprove them in Gods Name but if they are indifferent things it is censoriousness uncharitableness and pragmaticalness to rail at them and not Christian Reproof 3. Hee must manage his Reproof to sincere ends must take heed that his aims and intentions bee upright and honest in reproving Take heed of mingling any wilde-fire of pride and vain-glory and ambitious humour of contradicting and controuling others with thy zeal of Reproving This heat must bee holy heat a fire of the Sanctuary as free from the smoak of by-ends and self-interest as may bee purely for Gods glory and out of hatred unto sin and out of love to the salvation of thy Brothers soul Diogenes it is storied reproved Plato's pride by trampling upon his Velvet Chair and Cushion but saies the Author Majori fastu superbum Platonem Diogenes saperbior 4. Hee must manage his Reproof in fit season There is a time to speak and a time to bee silent Reproof is a duty grounded upon an Affirmative Precept Now 't is well observed by Divines that Affirmative Precepts binde semper but not ad semper wee must alwaies reprove but wee must not reprove alwaies it is a constant duty but it must bee done in a seasonable opportunity There are certain mollia Tempora fandi words upon the wheels as Solomon calls them that are like Apples of Gold and let mee tell you Christians one word spoken in season is worth a thousand other words Now it is impossible to define and determine all the nicks of time wherein a man should strike in with a Reproof for this must bee left to the wisdome and experience of every Christian that makes it his business to bee his Brothers keeper and let him assure himself hee must expect to lose many an admonition shoot many an Arrow of Reproof as Jonathan did his under and over on this side and tother side before hee hit the mark Rules 1. Hee must take a season wherein the offender is capable of Reproof If a man bee drunk wee must stay till hee bee sober as Abigail 1 Sam. 25.36 37. So if a man bee aâ—l in a heat of passion we must stay and come to him as God did no Adam in the cool of the day when the fit was over 2. Wee must take a season wherein wee have occasion to commend a man for his virtues and then rub him up for his faults Sir you are thus and thus oh but if you would but mend this and that how excellent it would bee So St. Paul 1 Cor. 11.2 17. 3. Wee must do it as soon as ever wee can and the sooner the better a green wound is easier healed than an old sore Levit. 19.17 4. If wee have long waited for fit seasons and yet cannot finde them you had better make a breach upon ones prudence than ones conscience discretion then must give place to necessity out with it and leave the success to God 5. Hee must manage his Reproof with due conditions and qualification And beloved there are seven properties of that Reproof that will in all likelihood both benefit and better our Brother and also secure our selves from participation of his sins 1. Wee must reprove seriously and in good earnest so as to knock the nail up to the head in the conscience of the sinner Psal 50.21 So should wee in our Reproofs of our Brother charge him home these things hast thou done there is no denying thou art the man saies Nathan to David before hee was in his parable but now hee speaks plain English as wee say This Jesus whom yee have crucified saies Peter to the â—ews and thus wee should set things in order before him Sir is not this and that highly to dishonour God and to crack your credit and to shame your profession and to impair your body and to waste your estate and to wound your conscience and to dâ—mn your precious and immortal soul and therefore for the Lords sake think on it and amend it A loose and squibbing kinde of Reproof is like an ignis Lambens as soon off as on and does the man more hurt than good As Elies careless and loose reproving of his lewd Sons did rather harden them in their villany than any way reform them As it is with weak Physick administâ—ed to a sick man if it doth onely stir the humours but not purge them away it leaves the body in a greater and worse distemper than it was before So 't is here therefore saies the Apostle Titus 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cuttingly A finger that is but just prickt and no more it is apt to wranckle and fester and bee worse but let it bleed and there is no danger it will then soon bee healed 2. Wee must Reprove impartially and without respect of Persons Good men if they miscarry must bee reproved as well as bad men If Peter temporize Paul will not spare him nor Barnabas neither they shall hear on 't Gal. 2. Again great men bee they never so great they should bee admonished as well as others so long as they are under the great God and subject to great failings and miscarriages Kings and Nobles and Magistrates as well as meaner and inferiour persons Nathan reproved David though a King and so did Elijah Ahab and Nehemiah reproved the Nobles and Rulers for Usury and Sabbath-prophanation Certainly if any bee fit to teach great men they are as fit to reprove them for both must go together 2 Tim. 4.2 That 's but a drone-like Preaching that hath lost the sting of Reproving It is the great unhappiness of Princes and Nobles that they have so many flatterers about them and so few Reprovers Carneades in Plutarch was wont to say that great mens Sons learned nothing well but to ride horses for men would be sure to flatter them If they run they would lag behinde that they might out-run them if they wrestled tâ—ey would fall on purpose that they might seem to cast them c. But a Horse not knowing a Prince from a Peasant would down with him if hee could not rule him Just so 't is now let great men do what they will both against Scripture and Reason and Law and Conscience they will not want their Parasites both to encourage them and applaud them If there bee not a Law for Cambyses to marry his Sister tush what of that there is a Law for Cambyses to do what hee pleases and thus men out of cowardize and fear of frowns and wrath dare not reprove guilty Greatness Oh but if a man be a faithful Monitour hee must bee impartial in his reproofs Agag
towards the poor and necessitous ingenuity towards the ignorant and unskilful moderation towards all men 7. Where you have any doubt about the equity of your dealings chuse the safest part and that which will certainly bring you peace For not only a good conscience but a quiet conscience is to bee valued above gain Therefore in matters of duty do the most in matters of priviledge and divisions of right and proportions of gain where there is any doubt chuse the least for this is alwaies safe Thus I have layed down the Rule and explain'd it and have given as particular directions as I could safely adventure to do I must now leave it to every man to apply it more particularly to himself and to deal faithfully with his own conscience in the use of it Circumstances which vary Cases are infinite therefore when all is done much must bee left to the Equity and Chancery of our own breasts I have not told you how much in the Pound you may gain and no more nor can I A man may make a greater gain at one time than another of the same thing hee may take those advantages which the change of things and the providence of God gives him using them moderately A man may take more of some persons than of others provided a man use all men righteously hee may use some favorably But I have on purpose forborn to descend to too many particularities among other reasons for the sake of Sir Thomas Mores observation concerning the Casuists of his time who hee saith by their too particular resolutions of Cases did not teach men non peccare not to sin but did shew them quà m prope ad peccatum liceat accedere sine peccato how near men might come to sin and yet not sin The Uses I shall make of all this are these two 1. Use Let us not revenge our selves The rule is not wee should do to others as they do to us but as wee would have them to do to us as if it were on purpose to prevent revenge Saint Luke forbids revenge from this rule Luke 6.31 32. For if you love them that love you c. But love your enemies Revenge is the greatest offence against this rule for hee that revengeth an injury hath received one hee that hath received one knows best what that is which hee would not have another to do to him the nature of evil and injury is better known to the patient than to the agent men know better what they suffer than what they do hee that is injur'd feels it and knows how greivous it is and will hee do that to another 2. Use Let mee press this rule upon you Live by it in all your carriage and dealings with men let it bee present to you Aske your selves upon every occasion would I that another should deal thus with mee and carry himself thus towards mee But I shall press this chiefly as to justice and righteousness in our Commerce It is said that Severus the Emperour caused this Rule to bee written upon his palace Lampridius and in all publick places let it bee writ upon our houses and shops and exchanges This exhortation is not altogether improper for this Auditory you that frequent these exercises seem to have a good sense of that part of Religion which is contain'd in the first Table do not by your violations of the second marre your obedience to the first do not prove your selves Hypocrites in the first Table by being wicked in the second give not the World just cause to say that you are ungodly because they finde you to bee unrighteous but manifest your love to God whom you have not seen by your love to your Brother whom you have seen and if any man wrong his Brother hee cannot love him Do not reject or despise this exhortaton under the contemptuous Name of Morality Our Saviour tells us this is a cheif part of that which hath ever been accounted Religion in the World It is the Law and the Prophets and hee by injoyning it hath adopted it into Christianity and made it Gospel Wee should have an especial love to this precept not only as it is the dictate of nature and the Law of Moses not only as it is a Jewish and Gentile principle but as it is of the household of Faith When the young man told Christ that hee had kept the Commandements from his youth it is said Jesus loved him Mark 10.20 21 where-ever wee have learned to despise morality Jesus loved it when I read the Heathen writers especially Tully and Seneca and take notice what precepts of morality and Lawes of kindness are every where in their writings I am ready to fall in love with them How should it make our blood to rise in many of our faces who are Christians to heare with what strictness Tully determines Cases of conscience Offic. Lib. 3. and how generously hee speaks of equity and justice towards all men Societatis arctissimum vinculum est magis arbitrari esse contra naturam hominem homini detrahere sui commodi causâ quà m omnia incommoda subire This is the strongest bond of society to account it to bee more against nature for any man to wrong another for his own advantage than to undergoe the greatest inconveniences And again Non enâ—m mihi est vita mei utilior quam animi talis effectu neminem ut violem commodi mei gratiâ Nor is my life more dear and profitable to mee than such a temper and disposition of minde as that I would not wrong any man for my own advantage Again Tollendum est in rebus contrahendis omne mendacium No kinde of lying must bee used in bargaining And to mention no more Nec ut emat melius nec ut vendat quicquam simulabit aut dissimulabit vir bonus A good man will not counterfeit or conceal any thing that hee may buy the cheaper or sell the dearer And yet further to check our proneness to despise moral Righteousness I cannot but mention an excellent passage to this purpose which I have met with in a learned man of our own Nation Two things saith hee make up a Christian a true faith and an honest conversation Mr. â—ales and though the former usually gives us the Title the latter is the surer for true profession without an honest conversation not only saves not but increaseth our weight of punishment but a good life without true profession though it brings us not to Heaven yet it lessens the measure of our Judgement so that a moral man so call'd is a Christian by the surer side And afterwards I confess saith hee I have not yet made that proficiency in the schooles of our age as that I could see why the second Table and the Acts of it are not as properly the parts of Religion and Christianity as the Acts and observations of the first if I mistake then it is St. James
God and his Judgment So that if a man can run away from God or himself then he may escape the reflection of his sin upon him but if not then know Jer. 2.19 it must be an evil and bitter thing that thou hast departed from God in any known sin either to thy penitent amendment or penal condemnation and confusion and that upon all accounts 1. In respect of God 2. Of Sin 3. Of the Sinner himself Jer. 2.19 Thine own wickednesse shall reprove thee thine own iniquity shall correct thee all the time thou abidest in sin thou art gathering either Hemlock to poyson thee or Wormwood to make thy life bitter 1. Instruction 1. See then the malignity and danger of sin Fools Use 1 make a mock of sin 2. See the vanity sinfulnesse and desperate danger of presuming upon any bottom of peace and satisfaction or security whilst sin remains of a truth thy peace and hope thereof shall be as a Spiders web and as the giving up of the Ghost and thy presumption must end in despair bribest thou thy self with a perswasion of peace presuming and leaning 1. Upon Gods Patience remember forbearance is no payment or forgivenesse nor sign thereof 2. Upon outward Priviledges Matth. 7.21 God knows thee not whilest thou art a worker of iniquity 3. Upon the Mercy of God He is holy and therefore must be just and because just angry and because angry ever angry unlesse Christ be thy Peace upon Faith and a through change 4. The Blood of Christ though it be an ocean yet not a drop of it can do thee good unlesse it turn thee from all thine iniquity Acts 3.21 all this is but Physick in thy pocket 5. The Promises of the Gospel they are sweet but poyson to the impenitent as bread to a dying man 6. Upon thy Faith in all this whilest impenitent all 's but notional and imaginary and so thy peace and happinesse is but a notion Use 2 2. Therefore be Exhorted to get thy sin off I shall here do two things 1. Give you some directions how to put you in the way to escape this doom 2. To awaken my self and you to the serious use of them by some Motives 1. Then if you ask how I Answer Direct 1 1. Attend to and comply with the Word and Spirit therein in summoning thy self to Gods and thine own Barr of Conscience suffer thy self to be stopt as a loose and sculking malefactor seize and sequester thy self to hearken to the call and treaty of the Word about thy condition the Hue and Cry of the Word is after thee to apprehend thee Direct 2 2. Let Inquisition and diligent search be made into the matters between God and thy Soul this is the way Lam. 3.20 Let us search our wayes and turn c. this the miscarriage Jer. 8.6 No man considered and said what have I done the first step to peace with God is Enquiry Es 21.12 If ye will enquire Enquire Return Come Direct 3 3. Declare against thy self turn Gods faithful Pleader against thy own Soul accuse thy self in free and particular confession whereof thou art guilty with all the killing Circumstances thou canst find out This will prevent the Accuser of the Brethren Direct 4 4. Condemn thy self charge thy self with fault guilt punishment Lev. 26.41 So shalt thou prevent the Condemnation of the Lord though thou canst not satisfie the Justice of God in the least 1 Cor. 11.31 yet thou must glorifie it to the utmost thou canst Direct 5 5. Be thorow and to purpose and constant herein for if thy sense of thy condition be not real thy cure will not be real there will be no more reality in the application of the Word for the one then there is for the other to no more purpose wilt thou apply the Word to thy self then thou applyest thy self to the Word therefore give thy self to it to dwell upon thy Case hold the object close to the faculty till it make some impression and thy heart yield 6. Fly to the Lord Jesus and the mercy-seat in his blood 1. For Direct 6 repentance 2. For remission He is exalted to give both Acts 5.31 none can take up the quarrel between God and thee save only Christ alone he he is the way God's way to thee for grace and mercy 1 Sam. 2.25 and thy way to God for Faith Lord I am a guilty helplesse creature but thou hast laid help upon one that is mighty to save from the utmost to the utmost 7. In him therefore cry to God for mercy and grace with thy whole Direct 7 heart O mercy mercy Lord I have wronged thee Lord forgive me Psal 51. I have defiled my Soul Lord wash wash me I have wounded and cast away my Soul Lord heal me Lord save me c. 8. Cry for mercy till God have mercy upon thee Psalm 123.2.3 Direct 8 take heed thou be not temporary for a fit but set thy self in an habitual tenour restlesse after Interest in Christ and the great work till it be done 9. Accept of Christ upon the terms of the Gospel not thine own or Direct 9 picking and chusing but as he Lord what wouldest thou have me to do Consent and resign thy self stooping to his Articles of Peace Acts 9.6 to deny thy self of the dearest bear the heaviest do the strictest as he shall call not that thou canst do any thing but upon these terms if he will receive thee and furnish thee with grace thou wilt follow and cleave to him with full purpose of heart 10. Cashier and discharge in thy purpose and endeavour in dependence Direct 10 on this Christ in the Promise what ever thou knowest offends in heart and life what ever belongs to a carnal mind which is enmity to God and addict thy self to the pleasure of God in all known commands and whatever savours of the Spirit and the Kingdom of God 11. Upon these terms consenting to embrace Christ in the offer of Direct 11 grace rest upon Christ who is assuredly thine and will never be otherwise 2. The motives 1. The comfort of this way 1. Now then there is no condemnation Motive 1 to them that are in Christ c. their iniquities shal never be remembred Rom. 8.1 Psalm 32. God sees no iniquity in Jacob there 's no fury in God O! Blessed is the man to whom God imputes not his sin c. now Christ is Jehova thy Righteousnesse Thy Judge is thy Advocate thy God reconciled Thy Comforter is come to apply Christ in all that he is for thee to thee and shall abide for ever with thee he is thy seal unto the purchased possession the Law is satisfied the curse is removed all the Promises thine and the Spirit of Promise to confirm thy title thine the stain or mark of sin washed off quite as to Justification and present acceptation and in part begun as to Sanctification and purity of heart and life Thy
Conscience is pacified with the blood of sprinkling as to what the Word declares concerning thee though not as to what thou feelest and where the Judge acquits there Conscience which is the Serjeant cannot condemn but that 't is not alwaies set right according to the Word Motive 2 2. But O! the terrour of having sin upon the file against us and doest thou remain in sin unrepented The terrour of being yet and going on in sin Doest thou go on to adde sin to sin not caring how many sins thou loadest thy Conscience withall as if there were no time of reckoning Numb 32.23 Be ye sure your sins will finde you out Sic mihi semper contingat tractare beare amicos non dulcibus verbis sed sanis terroribus Bern. Do not say Hast thou found me O my enemy or as the wicked one Art thou come to torment us before our time But as thou lovest thy soul take all I say in good part for God knows I speak out of tender respect to your eternal good Consider then 1. The innumerable number of sins thou standest guilty of Ps 19.12 Who knows the errors of his life Methinks there is no sad sight in the world but the sinner in his sins Suppose you had seen Herod covered over with worms alas what is this to one worm of Conscience Suppose you had seen every member in the Senate run upon Caesar to give him a stab would not you have given him over for dead a thousand times Brethren every sin you commit is an envenomed knife to stab you at your very heart Suppose again you should see a malefactour at the Bar for a Capital crime the evidence clear O! you will say 't will go hard with him but when you see another and another and many other Indictments sworn home against him and every one touching his life will you not say there is no hope he is a dead man and all the world cannot save him Remember this is thy case and it will be certainly called over If one poyson be enough to dispatch a man without an antidote what doth that man mean that drinks off a thousand poysons and refuses the antidote of the blood of Christ If one sin â—e as a thousand milstones to sink all the world into the bottom of hell what doest thou mean to tye so many thousand milstones about thy own neck 2. Old debts vex most the delay of payment increases them by Use upon Use and the return of them being unexpected a person is least provided for them We count old sores breaking forth incurable Augustus wondered at a person 's sleeping quietly that was very much in debt and sent for his pillow saying Surely there is some strange vertue in it that makes him rest so secure My brethren if one debt unto Gods Law be more then the whole Creation can satisfie what do any of us mean to rest secure with so vast a burden upon our Consciences and account O! take heed thou beest not surprized and arrested with old Debts O! thou remembrest former iniquities against us Psal 79.8 3. God will call over and charge thy sins upon thee when all the sweet is gone Thou makest a shift to swallow the hook with pleasure when 't is covered with the sweet bait O! but when that 's digested or disgorged and the naked hook piercing and raking thy heart what wilt thou do then O! how bitter is the Pill when all the sugar is melted off Now this will be thy case Job found but a taste of it and O! how he cries out Job 13.26 Thou writest bitter things against me i. e. bitternesses 4. With old sins must come old wrath Rom. 2.4 5. Thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgement of God What and despisest the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance not knowing that the goodnesse of God doth not only give thee a space of but leadeth thee to repentance But after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest tunnest up against thy self wrath against the day of wrath c. There be three sorts and degrees of wrath will come with old sins 1. Wrath for old sins 2. Wrath for the forbearance of that Wrath. 3. Wrath for the abuse of that forbearance O! what wilt thou do in the day of thy visitation 5. The former admonitions c. nips of Conscience will come again and they with the present will be unsufferable beyond all that can be expressed This is their terrour here say they he besought us and we would not hear and saith Reuben Said I not to you did I not tell you warn you what it would come to and ye would not hear O! he which hardens his neck to reproof shall surely be destroyed O! timely and fair checks and warnings obstinately rejected are the wracks of Conscience the sharp sting and teeth of the worm thereof 6. And what will now become of thee as the Lord lives thou wilt come to thy distracting misgiving thoughts Yea but and verily we are guilty c. Methinks saith Luther every cloud is loynd with thunder against me Thou wilt take every visitation from God as a messenger of death nay that God himself sets in against thy life Suppose you saw two desperate enemies grapling closing in upon each other O! account for every particular God comes to the sinner as to Adam in the cooll of the day in his cold sweat Gen. 3.8 when his Sun is setting and he is going to make his bed in the dark his life and Soul sits on his pale trembling lips ready to take her flight inâ—o Eternity and whereas thou wert before as the deaf Adder or the wild Asse snuffing up the wind or the Dromodary traversing his way without all regard of any check now taken in thy month Oh! my contempt of the means of Grace Oh! my prophaning Sabboths Sacraments Oh! my breaking bonds of Oaths Covenants Promises and casting away cords of discipline and government Oh! my malice against God's People Oh! my hardening my heart against the Word and the Rod c. as the rankling thorn in the flesh pains most when thou goest to bed 5. Before this in a time of outward Calamity and distresse and this is the second Doctrine from the special Circumstance when they were troubled And now Direct 2 2. This Inward horrour and trouble of mind falls in even to Gods People with outward Trouble This is the Case here the Patriarchs the children of the Promise are in distresse and danger by their Brother Josephs seeming severity toward them And they said one to another we are verily guilty c. with the pressure on the outward man comes a snare upon the Conscience If any find it oâ—herwise as there are some with whom when there is a storm without there is a calm within and when a storm within there is a calm without let them blesse God but in the experience of Gods People it is often found that
professed he would love God dearly Psal 18.1 because he had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies 3. Eminent readinesse to hear prayer when God doth as to Jephthah speedily hear or as to Jacob continue still to hear for many years together 4. More than ordinary obliging considerations to draw forth our obedience too such Providences have tongues to call for our faith our love our prayers our obedience and our praises What shall I render to the Lord is the serious well advised votaries enquiry 5. A most undoubted evidence appropriating this to the Lord that the expecting Christian can truly say it was the Lord's doing and his onely none bore part in the work none shall bear away share of his trust love prayer or observant obedience due to him from me Now if these particulars be considered it cannot sure be doubted longer whether well composed vowes do promote Religion when they do so engage and quicken those who vow to such Acts of Duty to such exercise of Grace to such opposition of sinne to such improvement of providence for the increase of Grace And what is Religion but all these in one word and what is the promoting of Religion but the facilitating continuing and perfecting of all these which is not a little furthered by such Vowes It yet remains to shew Whence these well composed Vowes have Generall 5 such influence on Religion what have they in them more than ordinary thus to promote it To this I will answer as briefly as I may There is in such Vowes a most notable awakening and quickeng power which sets all a mans care wisedom truth and strength on work to do the things whereby Religion is so much promoted 1. A deep rooted naturall reverence and awe of a serious Vow which makes the man who hath so much sense of Religion as to make a Vow to have as much care of performing it Man is readier to cast off the reverence he owes to Gods Law than to cast off the regard he hath to his own Vow so that many times it is very expedient to engage by Vow to do what is our duty by the Law of God The bond of naturall conscience is very strong and Vowes have much of their strength from it and thereby become great supporters of Religion 2. To this the Christian hath a superadded strict command and prescript of the Law of God indispensably requiring the performance of that Vow which is lawfull and possible I have opened my mouth and I cannot go back Judg. 11.35 It is the unalterable Law if you vow you must pay Psal 76.12 God did indulge the Jews so farre as to redeem some of their vowes but he allowed none to break them Read that Deut. 23.21 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee And ver 23. That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform Now when so much of Religion lieth in and dependeth on such Vowes and these Vowes are such inviolable ties that God will wink at none who break them they cannot but have such influence and strong operation on persons to the advantage of Religion 3. Gods severe judgments on contemners of their Vowes adde much to their influence I will not mention examples of vengeance on Heathens for breach of their vowes though the Idol deserved not better yet God who is the true God would have men know such sacred bonds as Vowes should not be profaned by sleight performing or contemned by a totall neglect of them The Jewish Rabbies tell us that God punished Jacob for neglecting his Vow by Dinah's miscarriage However it is enough God hath threatned the falsifier of his vowes with no lesse than a destruction of the works of his hands if not with the ruin of his person God will not let such one go unpunished Ne sacrum ejus nomen ludibrio exponeretur neve populus assaesceret ad impium ejus contemptum si fraudator impunè negaret quod Deo promiserat Bucanus loc com 45 de Vol. lest his holy Name should be scorned lest the people should be accustomed to an impious contempt of him if the falsifiâ—r of his Vow should deny what he had promised to god â—nd go unpunished In one word that which stands thus on the unchangeable Law of Nature and is written on the conscience what is confirmed and ratified by the peremptory positive Law of God what is yet further armed with the terrible threat of the God of Heaven must needs have a mighty binding strength in it obliging men But now all these concurre in Vowes well composed and hence they have such influence on Religious persons You may adde the 4th viz. The gratious acceptance that God gives to persons so vowing and performing their Vowes With 5ly The signall Blessings crowning Religious persons in due performance â—f their Vowes All which make them carefull to vow so that they may say they will pay their Vowes and in paying them render to the Lord for all his benefits 6. Gener. viz. Vse I am come now to the last thing I intended the practicall application of this Practicall Case And here Reader I shall be briefer than I first purposed because I was enforced by the undiscerned speed of the time outrunning me in preaching it to contract much more than I was willing to have done The first Vse then 1Vse Informs if well composed Vowes do indeed much promote Religion it will teach us how carefull we should be in making our Vowes to the greatest advantage of Religion If you look to the necessary requisites of such Vowes it will appear to you that you need a great care and diligence in making them if you look to Religions losse in breach of Vowes or its gain in a faithfull performance of them the care will appear double if you look to your obligation under which you are to performe them it will appear yet further needfull that you be very wary and circumspectly carefull how you make them the rash and inconsiderate person who cares not how he makes will not care whether he performe his Vowes And what a reproach is this to his Religion what a provocation is this to his God to destroy either him or the works of his hand And all these bespeak your care and advise you to circumspection in this case Do you not find it hard enough to discern what is daily and ordinarily to be done under daily and ordinary occurrences are you not in great care to frame your selves fitly and comely to every dayes businesse you have to do among men especially when you come within the tye of a promise to them How solicitous are you what and when and on what terms you promise How you shall performe and so keep your word and credit Any competent measure of honesty and regard to reputation will