hee was upon the earth called thy blessed Lord and Saviour Divell See Matth. 10.25 Ioh. 7.20 which passeth all I am perswaded that any drunken Belial ever yet fastned upon thee Contemne thou therefore for ever and trample upon with an humble and triumphant patience all their contumelies and contempts Passe-by nobly without touch or trouble without wound or passion the utmost malice of the most scurrill tongue the basest gibe of the impurest Drunkard Doth the World carnall men thine owne friends ormall Teachers suppose and censure thee to be a dissembler in thy Profession and will needes concurrently and confidently yet falsely fasten upon thee the imputation of hypocrisie An heavy charge Yet for all this Let thy truly-humble heart conscious to it selfe of it's owne syncerity in holy services like a strong pillar of brasse beate backe all their impoysoned arrowes of malice and mistake this way without any dejection or discouragement Onely take occasion hereby to search more thorowly and walke more warily Iob may bee a right noble patterne to thee in this point also He had against him not onely the Divell his enemy pushing at him with his poysoned weapons but even his owne friends scourging him with their tongues His owne wife a thorne pricking him in the eye yea his owne God running upon him like a Gyaâ—â— and his terrours setting themselves in aray against himâ— Powerfull motives to make him suspect himselfe of former halting and hollow-heartednesse in the wayes of God yet notwithstanding his good and honest heart having been long before acquainted with and knit unto his God â—â— truth makes him breake out boldly and resolutely protest Till I die I will not remove my integrity from mee My righteousnesse I hold fast and will not let it goe Chap. 27.5.6 Behold my Witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high Cap. 16.19 Art thou a loving and tender-hearted mother unto thy children and hast thou lost the dearest The greatest outward crosse I confesse that ever the sonnes and daughters of Adam tasted and goeth nearest to the heart Yet thy sorrow is not singular but out-gone in this also For the blessed Mother of Christ stood by and saw her owne onely deare innocent sonne the Lord of life most cruelly and villanously murdred upon the Crosse before her eyes Ioh. 19.25 Hast thou lost thy goods or children Doth thy wife that lies in thy bosome set her selfe against thee Doe thy nearest friends charge thee falsely Art thou pained extremely from top to toe Doe the Arrowes of the Almighty sticke fast in thy soule Thy affliction is grievous enough if thou taste any of these severally But doe they all in greatest extremity concurre upon thee at once Hast thou lost all thy children and all thy goods Doth thy wife afflict thy afflictions c. If this bee not thy Case and rufull condition thou commest yet short of Iob a most just man and one of Gods dearest Iewels 4. The exceeding greatnesse and pretiousnesse of the promises In every one of which it is incredible to consider what abundant matter of unspeake-able and glorious joy lies wâ—rpâ— up Oh how sweet are they to a thirsty soule in the â—â—me of angvish and trouble They are like a cloud of raine that commeth in the time of a drought They are very glimpses of Heaven shed into a heart many times as darke as hell They are even rockes of eternity upon which every bruised reed may sweetly repose with impregnable safety A truly humbled spirit relishing spirituall things would not exchange any one of them for all the riches and sweetnesse of both the Indies Tell me deare heart thou that in thy unregenerate time though now happily changed lay soaking in sinnes of cruelty and blood whether that mercifull promise Isai. 1.18 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord Though your sinnes bee as skâ—rlet they shall bee as white as snow though they bee red like crimson they shall bee as wooll bee not farre dearer unto thee then thousands of gold and silver Or thou who formerly pollutedst thy selfe villanously with such secret execrable lusts which now thou canst not remember without horrour tell mee if it were utterable by the Tongue of man with what dearest sweetnesse and blessed peace thy broken heart was bound up and revived when thou cast thine eye considerately and beleevingly upon that pretious place Ezech. 36.25 I will sprinkle water upon you and you shall bee cleane and from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you c. There was beyond the Seas as my Author reports Christian Matrone of excellent parts and piety who langvishing long under the horrible pressure of most furious and fiery temptations wofully at length yeelded to despaire and attempted the destruction of her selfe After often and curious seeking occasion for that bloody fact at last having first put off her apparrell threw her self head-long from an high Promontory into the Sea But having received no hurt by her fall shee was there by a Miracle and extraordinary mercy strangely preserved for the space of two houres at the least though all the while shee laboured industriously to destroy her selfe Afterward drawne out with much adoe and recovered shee yet still did conflict with that extremest desperate horrour almost a whole yeere But by Gods good providence which sweetly and wisely ordereth all things listening on a time though very unwillingly at first to her husband reading amongst other places that Isa. 57.15 Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever neither will I bee alwaies wroth for the spirit should faile before mee and the soules which I have made I say listening to these words the Holy Ghost drawing her heart shee begun to reason thus within her selfe God doth here promise to revive and comfort the heart of the contrite and spirit of the humble and that hee will not contend for ever neither bâ— alwayes wroth But I have a very contrite heart and a spirit humbled 〈◊〉 to the dust one of the acknowledgement and sense of my sinnes and divine vengeance against them Therefore peradventure God will vouchsafe to revive and comfort my heart and spirit and not contend with 〈◊〉 for ever nor bee wroth against mee still c. Hereupon by little and little there flowed by Gods blessing into her darke and heavy heart abundance of life lightsomnesse spirituall strength and assurance In which she continued with constancy and comfort many a yeere after crowned those happy dayes and a blessed old age with a glorious and triumphant death and went to Heaven in the yeere 1595. What heart now but Hers that felt it can possibly conceive the depth of that extraordinary un-utterable
talionis God himselfe answers them Nay their owne hearts answere themselves Go whom you haue spent your life in seeking seeke to them now Let them save you at this whom yee sought at all other times As for mee it shall come to passe as I cryed and you would not heare So you shall cry and seek and shall not find or bee heard saith the Lord Yes they found Him but with a dore shut betweene Him them But what found they The Parable of the ten Virgins tells us a Nescio vos Hoe knoweth them not they tooke too short a time to breede acquaintance in Nescio vos they find that so seeke Profectò ad hoc tonitru c. At this clap Hee that waketh not is not asleepe but dead Winchesters Sermons pag. 181. I demand Will any time serue to seeke God Is God at all times to bee found It is certain Not The very limitation of Dum inveniri potest sheweth plainely that other times there bee wherein Seeke Him you may but find him you shall not Idem Ibid. pag. 178. d Quanquam Deus ipsos mundavit hoc est tum verbo suo praecepit ut se mundarent toties ac tamdiu per prophetas imperavit 2. Cro. 36.15 Iesa 1.16 tum aquâ sapone afflictionum abluere baculo calamitatum sordes excutere studio habuit tamen impuri manserunt Iesa 1.5 sequentibus Polan in Locum e 2. Cor. 7.10 f Quid autem est seclidiâ—m mundum Quandò contristaris propter divitias propter gloriam propter mortuum omnia haec secundum munduâ— idâ—ò mortem faâ—â—t Nam qui propter gloriam contristatur inviâ—et saepe perire cogitur Qualis erat tristitia Cain Esau hanc tristitiam voâ—at secundum mundum quae trisiibus perniciosa Chrysost. in 2. Cor. cap. 7. Sicut tinea comedit vestimentum sicut vermis rodit lignum ita tristitia nocet cordi Bern. de modo benè vivendi cap. 11. It pierceth even to the marrow of the bone it maketh bitter our whole life and poysoneth all our actions Char. lib. 1. cap. 31. Worldly sorrow worketh a change in the body it brings gray haires on the head and furrowes and wrinkles in the face It turnes youth into old age and strength into weakenesse and so causeth death Dike of repentance cap. 1. g Tristitia enim sic est quomodo stercus Stercus non loco suo positum immunditia est Stercus non loco suo positum immundam facit domum loco suo positum fertilem facit agrum Inveni nescio quem tristem stercus video locum quaero Dic amice unde tristis es Perdidi inquit pecuniam Locus immundus fructus nullus Audiat Aposiolum Tristitia mundi mortem operatur Non solum fructus nullus sed magna pernicies Sic de caeteris rebus ad gaudia secularia pertinentibus quas res longum est enumerare Video alium tristantem gementem flentem multum stercorâ—s video ibi locum quaero Et cum viderem tristem flentem inspexi orautem Orans nescio quid mibibonae significationis ingessit Sed adhuc locum quaero Quid enim si iste oraus gemens magno fletu mortem roget inimicis suis. Etiam sic jam plorat jam rogat jam orat Locus immundus fructus nullum Inspexialium rursus gementem flentem orantem stercus agnosco locum quaero Intenâ—di autem orationi ejus audito dicentem ego dixi domine miserere mei sana animam meam quia peccavi tibi Geâ—it peccatum agnosco agrum expecto fructum Deo gratias Bono loco est stercus non ibi vacat fructum parturit August de temp Serm. 151. h Tristitia illa solùm ad peccata utilis est quod hinc manifestatur Qui pro amissis divitijs contristatur damnum non solvit Qui pro mortuo contristatur jacentem non excitat Qui propter morbum contristatur non solùm non curatur sed etiam auget morbum Qui verò in peccatis contristatur hîc solùm utilitatis aliquid ampliùs à tristitiâ accepit absumit enim evanescere facit peccata Chrysost. in 2. Cor. cap. 7. Mortem lugere omittens luge peccata ut ipsa deleas propter hoc enim tristitia facta est non ut in morte nec in vllâ aliâ re tali doleamus sed ut ipsâ ad delenda ut amur peccata Et quòd hoc verum sit exemplosacio manifestum Remedia medicinalia propter illos tantùm morbos facta sunt quos tollerâ— possunt non propter illos quos nihil ad juvare possunt c. Mulctatus est quispiam pecunijs tristatus est mulctam non emendavit silium amisit doluit mortuum non resuscitavit nec defuncto prâ—fuit Flagellatus est quis alapis caesus contumelijs affectus doluit non revocavit contumcliam c. Vides horum nulli prodesse tristitiam Peccavit quis tristatus est peccatum delevit Idem ad Popul Antiochenum Hom. 5. i I meane both repentances Legall which is bred by beleeving the threats of the Law and by accident leades unto Christ. Evangelicall which springs from Faith in the promises of the Gospell after wee have taken Christ. For Faith must goe before this repentance as the ground and roote thereof In time Faith and Evangelicall repentance are both together but in the order of nature Faith is first k Quid enim quispiam sacere possit quo genero sum virum cogat contristari Auseret pecunias Sed habet in Coelis divitias Patriâ eijciet Sed in coelestem civitatem mittet Vincula inijciet Sed habet Conscientiam solutam exteriorem non sentiet catenam Sed interficiet corpus At iterum resurget Et sicut cum umbrâ pugnans aërem verberans perculere poterit neminem Sic cum justo pugnans cumumbrâ tantùm pugnat vires suas dissolvit nullam illi plagam valens infligere Itaque da mihi de Coelorum râ—gno confidere sâ—vis me hodie jugula caedis gratias tibi habeo quòd me celeriter ad illa hona transmattis Chrysost. ad Pop. Antioch hom 5. l Igitur postquà m manifestè oratio demonstravit quòd neque pecuniarum mulctam neque contumeliam neque calumniam neque flagella neque valetudinem neque mortem neque aliud quid talium inducta tristitia iastaurare posset sed solùm delere peccatum bujus est destructiva certum quò à propter hanc solam causam facta est Ne amplius igitur pecuniarum jacturam doleamus sed cum peccamus tantùm doleamus multa enum hic exâ—riâ—â—â—iâ utilitas Mulâ—laâ—us es ne doleas neque enim proderit Peâ—cuâ—â—â— Dole utile namque est Ibid. m 2. Sam. 17.23 Achitophel ita ratiocinatur Absolom aut vincet auâ— non sinoâ— vincat incidam in manus Davidis Si vicerit adhuc ego inglorius vivam Chusat
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
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
unconquerablenesse in torment then affected with the raging paines of a most terrible execution 2. In others from a strong stirring perswasion and consciousnesse of the honesty and honour of some civill cause for which they suffer But fortitude in this case doth not arise from any inspired religious vigour or heavenly infusions but from the severer instigations of naturall conscience and acquired manhood of a meere morall Puritane Many such morall Martyrs have beene found amongst the more generous and well-bred heathen It is storied of a brave and valiant Captaine who had long manfully and with incredible courage with-stood Dionysius the elder in defence of a Citie that Hee sustained with strange patience and height of spirit the mercilesse fury of the Tyrant and all his barbarous cruelties most unworthy of Him that suffered them but most worthy him that inflicted the same First the Tyrant told him how the day before hee had caused his son and all his kinsfolkes to be drown'd To whom the Captaine stoutly out staring Him answered nothing but that they were more happy then himselfe by the space of one day Afterward hee caused him to be stripped and by his executioners to be taken and dragged through the Citty most ignominiously cruelly whipping Him and charging Him besides with outragious and contumelious speeches All which notwithstanding as One no whit dismaide Hee ever shewed a constant and resolute heart And witâ—â— cheerefull and bold countenance went on still lowdly recounting the honourable and glorious cause of His death which was that Hee would never consent to yeeld his Countrey into the hands of a cruell Tyrant With such stoutnesse did even meere morall vertue steele the antient Romane spirits that in worthy defense of their liberty for preservation of their Countrey or other such noble ends They indifferently contemned gold silver death torture and whatsoever else miserable worldlings hold deare or dismall 3. In some from an extreme hardnesse of heart which makes them senselesse and fearelesse of shame misery or any terrible thing This wee may sometimes obserue in notorious malefactours A long rebellious and remorselesse continuance and custome in sinne raging infections from their roaring companions a furious pursuite of outrages and blood Satans hoâ— iron searing their consciences and Gods iust curse upon their fearefull and forlorne courses so fill them with foole-hardinesse and with such a ferall disposition that they are desperately hardned against all affronts and dis-asters So that tho such savage-minded and marble-hearted men be to passe thorow the streetes as spectacles of abhorrednesse and scorne as hatefull monsters and the reproach of Mankind to be throwne into a Dungeon of darknesse and discomfort and there to be loaden with cold irons coldnes and want from thence to bee hurried to that loathed Place of execution and there to die a Dogs death as they say and finally to fall immediately and irrecoverably into a Lake of fire yet I say for all this out of a desperate hard-heartednesse they seeme still to bee in heart and to represent to the beholders a great deale of undauntednesse and neglect of danger in their carriage and countenances O the prodigious Rocke into which the stone in a gracelesse heart may grow both in respect of desperatenesse in sinning and sense-lesnesse in suffering 4. In others from an enraged thirst after humane praise and immortall fame as they call it Which may be so prevalent in them and transport them with such a vaine-glorious ambition this way that it may carry them with much seeming insensibility affected patience and artificiall courage thorow the terrors and tortures of a very violent and Martyr like death Heare what Austin saith to this Point Thinke yee there never were any Catholikes or that now there may not bee some that would suffer onely for the prayse of men If there were not such kind of men the Apostle would not haue said Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity I am nothing Hee did know right well that there might bee some which would doe it out of vaine-glory and selfe-love not for divine love and the glory of God O the bottomlesse depth of Hellish Hypocrisie which lyes hid in our corrupt hearts O the blind and perverse thoughts of foolish men O the murderous malice of that old red Dragon which exerciseth such horrible crueltie both upon our bodies and soules 5. In some from false grounds of a supposed good estate to Godward from an unsound perswasion of their present spirituall well-beeing and future wellfare Such Pharisies foolish Virgines and formall Professours are to bee found in all Ages of the Church especially in the fairest and most flourishing daies thereof and when the Gospell hath the freest passage who thus many times in the greate it of all earthly extremities even upon their Beds of death represent to all about them from a groundlesse presumption of being reconciled unto God a great deale of confidence resolution and many glorious expectations Vpon a partiall survay and perusall of their time past not stain'd perhaps with any great enormities notoriousnesse or infamous sinne out of a vaine-glorious consciousnesse unto themselues of their many good parts generall graces good deedes and plausiblenesse with the most by reason of a former obstinated distaste and prejudice against sincerity and the power of godlinesse as tho it were unnecessary singularity and peevishnesse and it may bee confirmed also unhappily in their spirituall selfe-cousenage by the unskilfull and unseasonable palliations I meane mis-applications of some abused promises unto their un-humbled Soules from some dawbing Ministers a generation of vilest men excellent Ideots in the mystery of Christ and mercifull Cut-throates of many miserable deluded Soules to whom they promise life and peace when there is no peace towards but terrible things even at hand tumbling of garments in blood noise of damned Soules and tormenting in Hell for ever I say from such false and failing grounds as these they many times in that last extremity the Lord not revealing unto them the unsoundnesse of their spirituall estate and rottennesse of their hopes demeane themselues chearefully and comfortably as tho they were presently to set foote into Heaven and to lay hold upon eternall life but God hee knowes without any iust cause or true ground For immediately upon the departure of the Soule from the Body shall they heare that wofull doome from Christs owne mouth as Himselfe hath told us before-hand Depart from mee I never knew you Such men as these having been formerly acquainted with and exercisde in the outward formes and complements of Religion are woont at such times to entertaine their visitants and By-standers with many goodly speeches and Scripture-Phrases representing their contempt of the World Willingnesse to dye readinesse to forgive all the World Hope to bee saved desire to bee dissolved and bee in Heaven c. They may cry aloude with much formall confidence Lord Lord open to
our owne wee shal bee Pastours feeding our Selves not our flocke The Authour of the imperfect commentary in Chrysostome sorted by some Body into Homilies upon Matthew seemes to intimate that the cause of the overflowing and rankenesse of iniquity is the basenesse of these Self-preaching men-pleasers Tolle hoc vitium de Clero saith Hee Take this fault from the Clergy to wit that they bee not men-pleasers and all sinnes are easily cut down But if they blunt rebate the edge of the Sword of the Spirit with dawbing slattery temporizing or strike with it in a scabberd garishly and gaudily embroiderd with variety of humane learning tricks of wit frier-like conceits c. it cannot possibly cut to any purpose it kills the Soule but not the sinne They are the onely men howsoever worldly wisedome raue and unsanctified learning bee besides it selfe to beate downe sinne batter the Bulwarks of the Deuill and build vp the Kingdome of Christ who setting aside all private ends and by-respects all vaine glorious covetous and ambitious aimes all serving the times proiects for preferment hope of rising feare of the face of Man c. addresse themselves with faithfulnesse and Zeale to the worke of the Lord seeking sincerely to glorify Him in converting mens Soules by the foolishnesse of that Preaching which God hath sanctified to save them that beleeve In a word who labour to imitate their Lord and Master Iesus Christ and His blessed Apostles in teaching as men having authority in demonstration of the Spirit and power And not as the Scribes By embroidered Scabberd I meane the very same which King Iames not long before His Death did most truly out of His deepe and excellent wisedome conceive to bee the Bane of this Kingdome To wit A light affected and unprofitable kinde of preaching which hath been of late yeeres taken up in Court Vniversity City and Country Heare something more largely what reason led His royall iudgement to this resolution and desire of reformation His Maiesty beeing much troubled and grieved at the heart to heare every day of so many defections from our religion Both to Popery and Anabaptisme or other Points of separation in some parts of this Kingdome And considering with much admiration what might bee the cause thereof especially in the Raigne of such a King who doth so constantly professe Himselfe an open adversary to the superstition of the One and madnesse of the other His Princely wisedome could fall upon no One greater probability then the lightnesse affectednesse and vnprofitablenesse of that kind of preaching which hath been of late yeares too much taken up in Court Vniversity Citty and Country The usuall scope of very many Preachers is noted to bee a soaring vp in Points of Divinity too deepe for the capacity of the people or a mustring vp of much reading or a displaying of their own wits c. Now the people bred up with this kinde of teaching and never instructed in the catechisme and fundamentall grounds of religion are for all this aiery nourishment no better then abrasae Tabulae meere Table Bookes ready to bee filled up either with the Manualls and Catechismes of the Popish Preists or the Papers and Pamphlets of Anabaptists c. In another place hee resembles with admirable fitnesse the vnprofitable pompe and painting of such Selfe-seeking discourses patched together and stuft with a vaineglorious variety of humane allegations to the redde and blew flowers that pester the corne when it stands in the fields where they are more noysome to the growing crop then beautifull to the beholding eye They are King Iames his owne words Whereupon a little after hee tells the Cardinall That it was no decorum to enter the Stage with a Pericles in his mouth but with the sacred Name of God Nor should his Lordship Saith his Maiesty have marshalled the passage of a Royall Prophet and Poet after the example of an heathen Oratour These things being So how pestilent is the Art of Spirituall Dawbing What miserable men are Men-pleasers who being appointed to helpe mens Soules out of hell carry them headlong and hoodwinkt by their vnfaithfulnesse and flatteries towards euerlasting miseries Oh how much better were it and comfortable for every man that enters upon and undertakes that most waighty and dreadfull charge of the ministery a burden as Some of the Ancients elegantly amplify it able to make the shoulders of the most mighty Angell in heaven to shrinke under it to tread in the steps of blessed Paul by vsing no flattering words nor a cloake of covetousnesse nor seeking glory of men but preaching in season and out of season not as the Scribes but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power Keeping nothing backe that is profitable declaring unto their hearers all the counsell of God holding the Spirituall children which God hath given them their glory ioy and crowne of reioycing still watching for the Soules of their flocks as they that must giue account Heb. 13.17 The terrour of which place Chrysostome professeth made his heart to tremble I say by such holy and heavenly behaviour as this in their ministery To be able at least to say with him in sincerity not without vnspeakeable comfort I take you to record this Day that I am pure from the blood of all men Let us bee moved to this course and frighted from the contrary by consideration of the different effects and consequents of plaine dealing and dawbing in respect of comfort or confusion Faithfulnesse this way 1. Begets those which belong unto God to grace and new obedience See Peters piercing Sermon Act. 2.23.37 2. Recovers those Christians which are fallen by remorse and repentance to their former forwardnesse and first loue See Nathans downe-right dealing with David 2. Sam. 12.7.13 3. Makes those which will not be reformed inexcusable See Pauls Sermon to Foelix Act 24.26 How strangely will this fellow be confounded more then vtterly without all excuse when hee shall meet Paul at that great Day before the highest Iudge 4. It is right pleasing and profitable to vpright hearted men and all such as happily hold on in a constant and comfortable course of Christianity Doe not my words do good to him that walketh vprightly Micah 2.7 It makes them still more humble zealous watchfull heavenly minded c. 5. Hardens the rebellious and contumacious See Isa. cap. 6. In which faithfull ministers are also unto God a sweet savour of Christ 2. Cor. 2.15 6. And the Man of God himselfe shall hereafter blessedly shine as the brightnes of the firmament and as the Starres for ever and ever And all those happy Ones which hee hath puld out of Hell by his downe-right dealing shall raigne and reioyce with Him in unknowne and vnspeakeable Bliste through all eternity But now on the otherside the Effects of Dawbing and men-pleasing are most accursed and pestilent in
cause of damnation is their false persuasion and groundlesse presumption of salvation Of all the foure kindes of death which ordinarily befall such as are not saved this is the fairest in shew but yet of greatest imposture to those about them and of most pestilent consequence to harden especially all of the same humour that heare of it 4. Some die Penitently But I meane seemingly so not savingly Many having served their appetites all their lives and lived in pleasure now when the Sun of their sensuall delights begins to set and the darke midnight of misery and horrour to seize upon them would very gladly bee saved And I blame them not If they might first live the life of the wicked and then die the death of the righteous If they might have the earthly Heaven of the worlds Favourites here and the Heauen of Christs Martyrs in the world to come These Men are woont in this last extremity to take on extremely But it is but like their Howling upon their Beds Hos. 7.14 Because they are pinched with some sense of present horror and expectation of dreadful things They cry out mightily for mercy But it is no other then their early seeking Prov. 1.28 Because distresse and anguish is come upon them They enquire eagerly after God and would now bee gladly acquainted with Him But just like them Psal. 78. When Hee slew them then they sought Him and they returned and enquired early after God And they remembred that God was their Rocke and the high God their Redeemer Neverthelesse they did flatter Him with their mouth And they lyed unto Him with their Tongs For their heart was not right with Him They promise very faire and protest gloriously what mended men they will bee if the Lord restore them But all these goodly promises are but as a morning cloud and as the early dew They are like those of a Thiefe or murtherer at the Barre which beeing now cast and seeing there is now no way but one O what a reformed man would Hee bee if Hee might bee reprieved Antiochus as the Apocryphall Booke of the Maccabees reports when the hand of God was upon Him horribly vowed excellent things O what Hee would doe so and so extraordinarily for the people of God! yea and that He Himselfe also would become a Iew and goe through all the world that was inhabited and declare the power of God But what was it thinke you that made this raging Tyrant to relent and thus seemingly repent A paine of the bowells that was remedilesse came upon Him and sore torments of the inner parts So that no man could endure to carry him for His intolerable stinke And He himselfe could not abide His owne smell Many may thus behaue themselves upon their Beds of death with very strong shewes and many boisterous representations of true turning unto God whereas in truth and triall they are as yet rotten at heart roote And as yet no more comfort upon good ground belongs unto them then to those in the fore-cited Places And if any spirituall Physition in such a case doe presse it hand over head or such a Patient presume to apply it it is utterly misgrounded mis-applied Heare what One of the worthiest Divines in Christendome saith Now put case One commeth to His ghostly Father with such sorrow of minde as the terrours of a guilty conscience usually doe produce and with such a resolution to cast away His sinnes as a Man hath in a storme to cast away his goods not because Hee doth not love them but because Hee feareth to lose His life if Hee part not with them doth not hee betray this mans soule who putteeh into His head that such an extorted repentance as this which hath not one graine of love to season it withall will qualifie Him sufficiently for the receiving of an absolution c. And another excellently instructed unto the Kingdome of Heaven Repentance at death is seldome sound For it may seeme rather to arise from feare of iudgement and an horrour of Hell then for any griefe for sinne And many seeming to repent affectionately in dangerous sicknesse when they have recovered have been rather worse then before It is true that true Repentance is never too late but late Repentance is seldome true For here our sinnes rather leave us then wee them as Ambrose sayes And as Hee addes Woe bee unto them whose sinne and life end together This received Principle among the ancient Fathers That late Repentance is rarely true implyes that it is often false and unsound and so by consequent confirmes the present Point Too manifold experience also makes it good Amongst many for my part I have taken speciall notice of two The one beeing laboured-with in prison was seemingly so extraordinarily humbled that a reverend Man of God was mooved thereby to bee a meanes for his reprive whereupon a Pardon was procured And yet this so extraordinary a Penitent while death was in his eye having the terror removed returned to His vomit and some two yeeres after to the same Place againe as notorious a Belial as Hee was before Another having upon His Bed of sicknesse received in His owne conceite the sentence of death against Himselfe and beeing pressed to humiliation and broken-heartednesse for Hee had formerly been a stranger and enemy to purity and the power of godlinesse answered thus My heart is broken and so broke out into an earnest confession of particular sinnes Hee named uncleannesse stubbornnesse obstinacy vaine-glory hypocrisie dissimulation uncharitablenesse covetousnesse luke-warmenesse c. He compared himselfe to the Thiefe upon the Crosse. And if God saith Hee restore mee to health againe the world shall see what an altered man I will bee When hee was prest to syncerity and true-heartednesse in what hee said Hee protested that hee repented with all his heart and Soule and minde and Bowels c. And desired a Minister that stood by to bee a witnesse of these things betweene the world and Him And yet this Man upon His recovery became the very same if not worse then Hee was before Now sith upon this Perusall of the different deaths incident to the godly and the wicked it appeares that some men never soundly converted may in respect of all outward representations die as confidently and comfortably in the conceite of the most as Gods dearest Children and that Christs best servant sometimes may depart this life uncomfortably to the eye and in the opinion of the greatest part And wee heard before that our last and everlasting Doome must passe upon us according to the syncerity or sensuality the zealous forwardnes or formality of our former courses and not according to the seeming of our last carriage upon Bed of death and enforced behaviour in that time of extremity I say these things beeing so I hold my conclusion still and resolution not much to alter my censure and conceit of a mans spirituall state for
the manner of His death I except the Thieves upon the Crosse My meaning is that there may bee some I know nor how few but I am sure there is none except Hee have in Him the perfection of the madnesse of all the Bedlams that ever breath'd would run that hazard who formerly out of the way and unreformed may now at last being very extraordinarily and mightily humbled under Gods mighty hand cleaving to the Lord Iesus with truly broken hearts indeede follow by a miracle as it were the Thiefe upon the Crosse to an everlasting Crowne And here now I require the care conscience heavenly wisedome experimentall skill and all His ministeriall dexterity in the Physition of the Soule to discerne aright betweene these and seeming Penitents and then to apply Himselfe proportionably with all holy discretion and seasonablenesse to their severall different estates But to fright and fire every One for ever from that extremest folly of hoping to follow that miraculously penitent Thiefe and from going on in sinne and deferring Repentance upon such a deceiving and desperate ground let us consider 1. First what an holy and learned Man of God saith to this Point In great wisedome that men at the last gaspe should not utterly despaire the Lord hath left us but one example of exceeding and extraordinary mercy by saving the Thiefe on the Crosse. Yet the perversenesse of all our nature may bee seene by this in that this one serveth us to loosenesse of life in hope of the like whereas wee might better reason That it is but one and that extraordinary and that besides this One there is not one moe in all the Bible and that for this One that sped a thousand thousands have missed And what folly is it to put our selues in a way where so many have miscarried To put our selves into the hand of that Physition that hath murthered so many going cleane against our sense and reason whereas in other wee alwaies leane to that which is most ordinary and conclude not the Spring of one Swallow It is as if a Man should spurre His Asse till Hee speake because Baalams Asse did once speake so grossely hath the Divell bewitched us 2. Secondly the singularities about the good Thiefe first His heart was broken with one short Sermon as it were but thou hast or mightest have heard many and art yet hard-hearted Secondly the other Thiefe saw also that soveraigne Soule-healing blood gush freshly and abundantly out of His blessed side and yet was not strucke or stird at all Thirdly His example is onely for true Penitents but Thou upon this presumption despising in the meane time the riches of Gods goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering leading Thee to repentance hardenest thy heart that thou canst not repent Fourthly His case was singular and such that the like is not to bee found in the whole Scripture A King sometimes pardons a Malefactour at the Place of execution wilt thou therefore runne desperately into some horrible villany deserving death hoping to bee that One amongst many thousands Fifthly It was a miracle saith an excellent Divine with the glory whereof our Saviour would honour the ignominy of the Crosse we may almost as well expect a second crucifying of Christ as such a second Thiefe Christ then triumphing on the Crosse did as Princes doe in the triumph of entring into their Kingdomes they pardon grosse offences before committed such as they pardon not afterwards 6. Having an eye upon this Thiefe that thou mayest more fully and freely follow thy pleasures Thou makest a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell and puts the evill Day farre from Thee But the Lord hath professed That thy covenant with death shall bee dis-annulled and thy agreement with Hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorow then shalt thou bee trodden downe by it 3. Thirdly the ordinary impossibilities of following the blessed Thiefe in His miraculous Repentance First thou art cryed unto continually by Gods Messengers to come in now while it is called to Day yet thou standest out still out of this conceite onely or rather deceite to take thy fill of pleasure in the meane time and to seeke God sufficiently upon thy Bed of death by repenting with the Thiefe at last But know for thy terrour and timely turning that the longer thou puts off and deferres the more unfit thou shalt be to repent Thy custome in sinning will exercise more Tyranny over Thee The curse of God for thy going on still in thy trespasses will bee more heavy upon Thee The corruptions that lurke in thine owne bosome will be more strengthened against thee And this threefold cord is hardly broken These three Giants will be maistered with very much adoe The further thou walkest in the wayes of death the more unwilling and more unable wilt thou bee to returne and bee reformed Thine understanding will be more darkened with Hellish mists thy judgement more perverted thy will more stubborne thy memory more stuft with sensuall notions thine affections will become more rebellious thy thoughts more earthly thine heart more hardened thy conscience more feared thy selfe more sold to sinne and every day that comes over thine head in this state of darkenesse much more the Child of the Divell then thou wast before To refuse Christ upon this Point so freely and fairely offered is to receive Gods curse under Seale and to make sure thy covenant with Hell and League with death untill thou bee slaine by the one and swallowed up of the other without all mercy or recovery For in this time of delay God growes more angry Satan more strong thy selfe more unable to repent sinne more unconquerable thy conversion more hard thy salvation more impossible A ruinous house the longer thou lettest it run the more labor charge will it require in repairing If thou drive a naile with an hammer the more blowes thou givest to it the more hard will it bee to plucke it out againe It is just so in the Case of continuing in â—inne and every new sin is a new stroke with an hammer that drives the naile in further Secondly with what possibility art thou like to passe thorow the great work of saving repentance or with what heart canst thou addresse thy selfe unto it when upon thy sicke Bed thou art set upon at once if thy conscience bee waking with the ugly sight of all thy sinnes charging upon thee with insupportable horrour with the pangs of death with Satans utmost malice and His very Powder-Plot and with the terrour of that approaching strickt Tribunall Which dreadfull encounter is able to put to it the spirituall strength of many yeeres gathering Thirdly Resolution to deferre Repentance when grace is offered doth justly merit to bee deprived for ever after of all oportunity and ability to repent Fourthly it is just with God that that man who doth purposely put off repentance and