there is not only the visible reception of the outward Signs but an invisible reception of the thing signified There is far more than a shadow than a type than a figure Christ did not only propose a Sign at that hour but also he gave us a Gift and that Gift really and effectually is Himself which is all one as you would say Spiritually himself for Spiritual Vnion is the most true and real union that can be That which is promised and Faith takes it and hath it is not fiction fansie opinion falsity but substance and verity Being strengthened with power by the Spirit in the inward mind Christ dwelleth in our hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 As by a Ring or a meaner instrument of conveyance a man may be setled in Land or put into an Office and by such conveyances the Ratification of such Grants are held to be real How much more real is the gift and receipt of Christ's Body and Bloud when conveyed unto us by the confirmation of the Eternal Spirit For observe it is the same Spirit that is in Christ and that is in Us and we are quickned by one and the same Spirit Rom. 8.11 Therefore it cannot chuse but that a real Union must follow between Christ and Us as there is a Union between all the parts of a Body by the animation of one Soul But Faith is the mouth wherewith we Eat his Body and Drink his Bloud not the mouth of a man but of a Faithful man for we hunger after him not with a Corporal appetite but a Spiritual therefore our Eating must be Spiritual and not Corporal Yet this is a real a substantial partaking of Christ crucified broken his flesh bleeding his wounds gaping so he is exhibited so we are sure we receive him which doth not only touch our outward senses in the Elements but pass through into the depth of the Soul For in true Divinity real and spiritual are aequipollent although with the Papists nothing is real unless it be corporal which is a gross way to defraud us of the Sublime and Soul-ravishing vertue of the mystery A mystery neither to be set out in words nor to be comprehended sufficiently in the mind but to be adored with Faith says Calvin lib. Instit c. 17. Sect. 5. But herein we pledge Christ in the Cup of love herein we renew the Covenant of forgiveness strongly assured by the sprinkling of Bloud the life is in the Bloud and without shedding of Bloud is no remission of sins Because death is the wages of sin Sin is the greatest dishonour that can be done to God and death in Christ's person is the greatest satisfaction that can be made He died and gave himself for me he died and gave himself to me as he was dead in his gored and pierced body that his sacrifice might be in me and in all those that are redeemed by it We read of some Mothers that in a great famine have eaten their own Children 2 Kings 6. but what Mother in the time of famine did ever give her own flesh to save the life of her Child But Christ hath given himself for us that we might not perish O Lord I owe all my life to thee because thou hast laid down thy life for me O let me bleed out my sins that thy Bloud may fill all the veins of my Spirit O let my Body be transfigur'd to be Heavenly by cleanness and chastity by being used only for thy worship and service that the Body of my Saviour may come under the roof of it Then when the King shall let forth his Table and give himself to me in his wonderful Feast my Spicknard shall send forth a sweet smell Cant. 1.12 My Soul shall magnifie the Lord and my Spirit shall rejoyce in Christ my Saviour We have found the Messias says Philip to Nathaniel And where have we found him at a Feast a Feast of his own Body and Bloud but set out with no more cost and shew than a piece of Bread and a sip of Wine In this manner it is brought to pass by the Omnipotency of God's pleasure to institute it with the efficacy of a strong Faith concurring to receive it The Church had done very ill if of its own head it had made so mean a representation of Christ but the Lord must be obeyed and ought to be admired in the humility of his Ordinance who hath not given us rich Viands and full Cups but made the Feast out of the fragments of the meanest Creatures Let them understand this that will make themselves fit to be his guests bring a preparation of humility suitable to the exility of those oblations The meek shall Eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord and seek him Psalm 22.26 And at that season let the riotous remember his fulness of Bread and excess of Wine God is honour'd in a little and his liberality is abused in the excess of his creatures And it is worth the noting that the Elements which we are invited to take are of fruits that grow out of the Earth to shew that the Earth which was cursed for Adam's sake is blessed for Christ's sake As it brings forth Thorns and Thistles to call to mind our rebellion so it brings forth Bread and Wine to call to mind our redemption Neither doth God supply us with Bread only out of the furrows of the Earth but sometime it hath fallen out of the clouds of Heaven Behold says God I will rain Bread from Heaven for you Exod. 16.4 This was Manna called the Corn of Heaven Psalm 78.24 This was the Spiritual meat or Angels food in which the old believers in the Wilderness did Eat Christ with an implicit Faith Our outward Sign is the Bread of the Earth true Bread that grows in the Fields yet the Bread signified is that which the Father hath given us from Heaven Jo. 6.31 Bread is a great part of mans nourishment so Christ crucified is the sole refection of Faith Bread is champed in the mouth to make it fit for the stomach so the Body of Christ was ordained to be slain before it could profit us If the Corn of Wheat fall not into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth sorth much fruit Jo. 12.24 By his life we learn to live and by his death we are made alive Bread when it is grounded between our teeth and eaten is turn'd by concoction into the substance of our Body which explains our mystical union with Christ that we are made one Spirit with him by Faith as this sensible food is converted into our flesh and bone Beside in the several parts of the outward Signs it is God's meaning we should conceive how he loves the gathering together of many into one which is thus to be qualified At a common Supper or any Meal all that are at the Board feed of the same Meats yet every one feeds to himself and to none beside So
fear to do evil because of wrath to come which grows out of love to themselves The second is fit for the best Christians that are led by the Spirit of love who endeavour to do righteousness because they love righteousness and to be like unto God who they know is only good which grows out of the spirit of adoption and obey as sons and daughters and not as servants Our Saviour and his Apostles insist sometimes upon the former way threatning the impenitent yet qualifying it with tidings of peace if they return and amend their lives For sharpness must be applied according to the power which the Lord hath given for edification and not for destruction 2 Cor. 13.10 The same Apostle propounds both in the former Epistle Chap. 4. Verse 21. Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness Which latter is most suitable to the Gospel to proclaim peace on earth and good will towards men And when James and John would have had fire to come down from Heaven upon the Samaritans Christ reproved them saying The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Luke 9.56 and St. Paul 1 Thess 5.9 God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ And surely there is cause to apply a cluster of consolation against a few grains of terror 1. Because we are all concluded under sin and the guilt is ever present unto us 2. Because of the weakness of the Graces that are in us not that they are weak but that humane corruption is mixt with them 3. Because of the strength and manifoldness of temptations 4. Because we are to be exercised with the sufferance of the Cross and we are infirm to bear it Lastly Because little is communicated to us at the present of that Reward we look for least of all is any share of it present and before our eyes Forasmuch then as there are so many in-draughts that break into our heart to make us sick of sorrow and fear let us seek comfort from God who hath left no disease without a remedy to cure it who healeth all thy diseases Psalm 103.3 I say it is to be sought from God lest we light upon them that tell false dreams and comfort in vain Zach. 10.2 The right place for it must be the Word of God as it is Rom. 15.4 That we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope Which comfort scatter'd up and down in that Holy Book and not cast all into a lump together by searching it diligently we may draw our Consolation out of five things Faith Hope The in-dwelling of the Spirit Prayer and the Sacraments Coronata Fides Dux viae prudens simplicitas CHAP. I. That Faith is the Ground and Foundation of a Christian's Comfort Several doubts and scruples about believing answered FAITH is the Root of all blessings Believe and you shall be saved Believe and you must needs be sanctified Believe and you cannot chuse but be comforted Believe that God is true in all his promises and you are the seed of faithful Abraham and shall inherit the promises made to Abraham Believe that you are Christs and Christ is yours and then you are sure that none can perish whom the Father hath given to him There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And as Martha said Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died Jo. 11.21 So let all say that groan and pine away in sorrow Lord if thou hadst been here if thou hadst appeared to my soul in thy goodness I had not fainted in my trouble Isaiah foretells Chap. 61.3 that it should be Christs office to give the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness For St. John saw in the spirit that they that follow Christ are cloathed in white garments in garments of joy in the livery of gladness Solomon describing the provident Mistress of a Family Prov. 31.21 says She is not afraid of the snow for her houshold for all her houshold are cloathed with scarlet So the houshold of Christ are not afraid of frost and snow nor of any bitter blast they have put on the garment of dependence on Christ which protects them and do resolve never to put off their privy-coat of confidence in their Saviour With this did Christ encourage the poor woman being under confusion who had secretly toucht the hem of his garment Be of comfort thy Faith hath made thee whole Matth. 9.22 The first time that the word Comfort is found in Scripture is Gen. 5.29 upon the birth of Noah his Father says This Son shall Comfort us so when God did give Christ to be made man he did as it were say unto us This Son shall Comfort you for his name is Jesus and he shall save his people from their sins He that gave us him hath given us all things with him As it is true to say that Matthew left all to follow Christ so it is as true that he got all that can be wisht by following him It is the Chymistry of Faith let me use that word to turn all things into good and precious Ore It is Abraham's Country in a strange land Jacob's wages when Laban defrauded him Moses's honour when he refused to be the son in law of Pharaoh's daughter Rahab's security when all Jericho beside did perish David's rescue when there was but a step between him and death The power of the Apostles to be able to cast out Devils Mary Magdalen's sweet ointment to take away the ill savour of her sins Plead therefore with the Oratory of Faith and say Lord I have no life but in thee I have no joy but in thee no salvation but in thee but I have all these in thee and then how can my Soul refuse to be Comforted But some will say perhaps Faith is a powerful Comforter but I poor wretch had need to be Comforted concerning my Faith I find the pulse of it weak and sometimes it intermits as if it beat not at all Methinks I am not drawn near to Christ or that I am so far off that I cannot embrace him Some such infirmity may seem to have been in the Thessalonians and therefore St. Paul says I have sent Timotheus to establish you and to comfort you concerning your Faith 1 Epist Chap. 3. Ver. 2. Now to turn this water into wine and the trembling of this Objection into peace and joy in the Holy Ghost conceive as if these questions were put to you Do you often accuse your self of a weak Faith in secret unto God I like it for a good symptome for an hypocrite doth not use to accuse himself And do you bewail your want to the Lord because you would have it better supplied that 's a good sign too for it is the same as to thirst for the living God They that
Faith is drawn through these narrow and abject means that like himself have no comeliness in specie and when we see them there is no comeliness that we should desire them Isa 53.2 Nevertheless it is fit we should be well taught in the Contemplation of the hidden vertue inclosed in Baptism or else we could never think it worth our labour and obedience Our Common-Prayer-Book a store-house of rare Divinity tells us what is to be expected at that Laver for them that come to be Baptized 1. That God hath promised to be the Father of the faithful and of their seed and will most surely perform and keep his promise with them and by this introduction we are incorporated into the holy Congregation Behold they whom we love above all others by nature our Children are naturalized to be the Citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and enter into it through this door of Grace 2. Secondly As God did save Noah and his Family from perishing by water and safely led the Children of Israel through the Red Sea while their enemies were drowned so the millions of the Nations whom God hath not given to Christ for his inheritance are drowned in their own lusts and corruptions But O what a priviledge it is to be among those few that are received into the Ark of Christs Church to be exempted from the common deluge and to be the faithful seed of Abraham led through the Chanel of the Sea and Baptized in the Cloud that went along with them when the Armies of the mighty are mightily consumed 3. Thirdly We may gather out of our Church-office for Baptism that the everlasting benediction of Heavenly washing affords two Comforts it signifies the bloud of Christ to cleanse us Per modum pretii as the price that was paid to ransom us from death and the sanctifying of the Holy Spirit to cleanse us per modum habitûs by his In-being and Celestial infusion and both are put together in one Collect That all that are Baptized may receive remission of sins by spiritual regeneration There is no remission of sin without bloud says the Apostle Heb. 9.22 meaning the invaluable bloud of the Lamb of God Verse 14. And the Heavenly thing is represented by the visible Element of Water for there must be some aptitude between the Sign and the Thing signified else it were not a Sacrament that as Water washeth away the filth of the body so the Bloud of Christ delivereth our Souls from the guilt and damnableness of sin The Bloud of Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Epist Jo. 1.7 The metaphor of cleansing must have respect to Baptismal-water Again Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his Bloud Revel 1.5 Where the Scripture speaks of washing from sin it must be taken from the water of Baptism figuring the vertue of Christs Bloud that in the sight of his Father makes us white as Snow The Scriptures indeed strike most upon the other string and more directly as Ephes 5.25 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word Titus 3.6 He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost And in many other places Therefore our Liturgy falls most upon the purifying operation of the Spirit to be shadowed in the outward washing of water As when it prays Send thy Holy Spirit to these Infants and grant that they may be Baptiz'd with Water and with the Holy Ghost And Grant that all that are Baptized may receive the fulness of thy Grace Spiritual Regeneration is that which the Gospel hath set forth to be the principal correlative of Baptism O happy it is for us to be born again by Water and the Holy Ghost For better it were never to be born than not to be born twice God put a good mind into us and reform one great fault in us which is that our Baptism being past over a great while ago we cast it out of our memory and meditate but little upon the benefits and comforts of it We are got into the Church and do in a sort forget how we got in Whereas the whole life of a Christian man and woman should be a continual reflection how in Baptism we entred into Covenant with Christ to believe in him to serve him to forsake the Devil the vanities of the world and the sinful desires of the flesh Water is a pellucid Element to look through it to the bottom So look often through the sanctified Water to see what Christ hath done for you and what you have engaged to do for Christ And there is no heart so full of blackness and melancholy but will recover upon it and be as fresh in sound health as if it were filled with marrow and fatness Well did St. Paul put Baptism among the principles and foundations of Christian doctrine Heb. 6.2 For all the weight of Faith Sanctification and Mercy doth lie upon it Recount this by particulars 1. The first thought that my Soul hath upon it is That I am no longer a stranger and foreigner but a fellow-Citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God Ephes 2.19 I am no more a-far off but made nigh by the Bloud of Christ partaker of the priviledges of the Church and called by the new Name which the mouth of the Lord shall name a Christian Isa Chap. 62. Verse 2. 2. Secondly I find that I have gained to have the highest point of Faith unfolded to me which was but darkly discerned in the Old Testament to confess the Holy Trinity in which Faith I was Baptized For because that mystery was revealed at Christs Baptism it goes ever along with this Sacrament All Nations being Baptized in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 3. Thirdly I observe that my Christian engagement allows me not the liberty of sinning after the custom of the world but obligeth me to the strict discipline of my Lord to live holily justly and soberly to walk in newness of life as planted into the likeness of Christs death so to die unto sin for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 In every thing and at all times I must remember what the Sureties at the Font called Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for me in my Name which the Liturgy of Geneva retains in these words Do you promise to warn this Child to live according to God's Word and make the Law of God the square of his life to live by 'T is a binding Ceremony and we are brought up from our tender years in the knowledge of it that we continually may feel the work of the Ordinance to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washt with clean Water Heb. 10.21 22. And as many as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 To put on Christ is to follow Christ in the Law of a
1. the Angels desire to look to give us redemption and forgiveness of sins through the bloud of Christ according to the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 We have trespassed against our God but there is hope concerning this thing Ezra 10.2 Forgiveness of sins is put into our Creed he that doth not believe it hath no Creed nor Christianity in him Do you believe a Catholick Church that 's the dowry of that Church which Christ espoused to him in his bloud Do you believe a Communion of Saints this is it in which we are baptized in which all our communion doth joyn That through Christ is preached forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13. verses 38 39. So also it is put into our prayer as well as into our Creed And he that taught us to pray Forgive us our sins hath taught us this comfort that sins are pardonable Yet an afflicted Conscience will receive suggestion that some sins indeed are pardonable but not all not the sin of the evil Angels not the sin against the Holy Ghost and there is a sin unto death I do not say ye should pray for it says St. John 1 Ep. 5.16 These verily are set out for instances of irreversible judgment to deter us from committing crimes of a vast magnitude But mark the Holy Scriptures have not unfolded it clearly and explicitly wherein the hainousness of these sins did consist that we may not accuse our selves of them and fall into despair as if we had committed them Since you know not expresly what these are how can you lay them to your own charge Nay if you lay them to your own charge you must be mistaken for he that condemns himself shall not be condemned of the Lord. Such incurable cast-aways have their Consciences seared and are not sensible of their guilt Who more like to be of that number than the Pharisees who justified themselves saying Are we also blind Well says a forlorn sinner my sins then are not the fore-named nor out of possibility of mercy but it is almost as bad that they are in an unlikelihood to mercy for they are very hainous As unto that confession that your trespasses are very hainous conceive so of them and spare not true repentance thinks no sin to be a little one So St. Hierom spake to the commendation of the Lady Paula in her Funeral Sermon that she was wont to bewail every fault she had committed as if it were one of the most presumptuous crimes But be it so really that God hath let you incur no small delinquencies as Aaron was not free from idolatry nor David from adultery nor Peter from abjuration of Christ nor Paul from persecuting the Church nor Manasses from witchcraft nor Mary Magdalen from indefinite scandal well I know not what who yet all obtained mercy for a pattern to them who hereafter should believe in Christ to everlasting life 1 Tim. 1.18 They were called Novatians who blotted out the beginning of the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel because the story tells us that Christ dismist the woman taken in adultery with a gracious gentleness Why should not his procedure in judgment be like his doctrine did he not preach that Publicans and Harlots should go into Heaven before proud Justiciaries Be merciful unto my sin for it is great says David Psalm 25.11 This is not the way to deal with mortal Judges when we stand at their bar but this is the way to obtain propitiation from our God Heal me for I am sore wounded cure me for I am very sick be merciful to my sin for it is very great Zozimus a Pagan that envied the honour of Constantine the Great makes this tale to discredit him in his History that Constantine had put his wife Fausta and his son Crispus to death after which being haunted with an ill Conscience that gave him no quiet he sought among the Heathen Priests for expiation and they could give him no peace but he was told that the Religion of Christians was so audacious as to promise pardon to all sins were they never so horrible Is not this to commend the Emperor and his Religion under the form of a dispraise for what rest could a troubled mind attain to from the Rites and Superstitions of Idol-gods But in the immense value of the price of the bloud of Christ there is redemption for every sinner that repents and believes Whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven says Christ to his Apostles Matth. 18.18 O lose not a syllable of such comfort in this discomfortable world Quodcunque is all manner of sin great and little And if Christ hath given such commission to men on Earth to unloose every sin by the power of their office and the word of consolation then how unbounded is his own clemency No sins can super-abound his grace if we do not sin presumptuously because grace abounds Yet the poor Publican will beat his breast and cry out dolefully My sins are many they are more in number than the hairs of my head The bill of endictment is a true bill who can tell how oft he offendeth Scarce any sin we act but hath a nest of sins in it then think we what a heap will they make when they are put all together Peter it seems misdoubted that if a man were forgiven that had trespast often it would be scandalous and encourage the offender therefore he thought it fit to stint indulgence to some mediocrity as it is Matth. 18.21 Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him until seven times Jesus answereth I say not unto thee Vntil seven times but until seventy times seven times so that Christ commends a boundless forgiveness in a finite number for an infinite And doubtless himself would not stick with us for the same number God forbid we should think he taught to be more merciful or of greater perfection than himself Her sins which are many are forgiven Luke 7.47 Be thankful and admire the mercies of our Father both for nailing our great sins to the Cross of Christ and for acquitting us from the innumerable fry of Minim-sins those of daily incursion because when one of the least is remitted all are remitted together Mark that considerately One that committed some soul and leprous sin goes mourning upon the deep sense of it and especially the horror of it makes him fear damnation yet he greatly deceives himself if he think his other sins are past over and this great one or a few such do remain to his perdition For do you hope comfortably that some faults of omission some idle words some garish and customary fashion of pride are remitted to you with the same affiance leaning on Christ you may hope that you are discharged from your greatest enormities For all unrighteousness is covered at once to
them with whom God is well pleased No sin is forgiven to him that is not in Christ and against him that is in Christ there is no condemnation They are the sons of God to whom the Lord doth graciously remit any fault but where any fault is not remitted they are his enemies He that is justified from any sin must be truly penitent but a true penitent is sorry for all sins together hates them eschews them all alike Then follows a plenary absolution from all iniquity through Christ our Lord. And beware that you over-look not these multitudes of sins of the under size as if little grief or anxiety would serve for them are they not numberless corns of sand and may not a weight of too much sand sink a ship as soon as a burden of too much iron The dailiness of sin must be bewailed with the dailiness of sorrow And then when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Prov. 3.24 Now tell me if this balm be not enough to heal the bleedings and bruisings of despair Talents of sin and sins in small mony you may hide them all in the wounds of Christ It is possible for God to do the benefit and possible for thee to receive it Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psalm 130. verse ult 3. It must now be added how that which Hope waits for is possible since it may find satisfaction from long and constant experience In the yonger days of the world somewhat might be said to excuse the backwardness of Hope they wanted proof and demonstration in those times Even Cain was the sooner overtaken with despair crying out My sin is greater than can be forgiven me He had not lived so long to be taught the contrary by experience But every age hath given advantage to Hope to be satisfied better and better O God we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Psalm 44.1 The records of God do tell us how the Armies of aliens have been discomfited before his Children how the rocks have given them drink and the barren wilderness bread how the Church hath been scattered and recollected the righteous continually supported either with deliverance or patience that the dead have been raised up to life nay that Enoch and Elias were taken up alive into Heaven to implant into our minds that both they that are in the graves shall hear the voice of Christ and come forth and that such as shall be found living at that day shall be caught up in the clouds and be translated into Heaven And I challenge Hope to instance if it can surmise that any thing is impossible to be brought to pass since there is a president in every thing to demonstrate that the right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass There is one thing I confess for which there is no example neither can be evidenced till all things be accomplisht that is the coming of the Lord Christ with the new Heavens and the new Earth and yet to confirm us in that mystery to come St. John did see the Idea or glimpse of it in his Revelation The use of all this is to remember the transactions of God in the times that are gone before Who ever saw the righteous forsaken or the wicked flourish long was there ever any persecution of the Church which hath not ended in its triumph But stay for it and pray for it and condole for the delays of God's providence till you may say in earnest My soul fainteth for thy salvation Psalm 119.31 How easie is it for a Christian that hath any nostril to run after God in the odour of his sweet ointments and trace his steps from point to point and then to say with David I have remembred thy judgments of old O Lord and have comforted my self Psalm 119.52 and from another Prophet Ezek. 14.22 Ye shall see their way and their doings and shall be comsorted concerning all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem The great store-house of Consolation is Hope therefore all this and more must be said to keep it fresh like a green Olive-tree having never a sear or withered bough upon it I come now to complete it I have shewn it aims only at good and that which is only and excellently good at such a good whose harvest is not brought in all in a year but still there is more and more to be had and the most to come It is possible through the greatness of Gods power and mercy as all ages have witnessed IV. But lastly that which may seem to pinch is that it is Bonum arduum a good not easily attained but with great labour and diligence to give warning against sloth and security It were not worth our longing to say we hope for petty things easie and at hand but for things of value for which we must struggle with many lets and impediments to possess them No man need to hope to find Cockle-shells on the shore but to find Pearls in the Sea that 's an object for the adventure of a Jeweller Neither is the Jewel of Christian Hope easily purchast But as Elijah said to Elisha Thou hast asked a hard thing nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee 2 Kings 2.10 Much after that sort I commune with my heart and say It is good to seek for eternal life pursue it as the Hart brayeth after the rivers of waters there will be much a-do to get it for many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13.24 Nevertheless if thou canst see the Lord as if he were continually before thee thou shalt not miss of that thou desirest for all things are possible to him whose eyes are ever toward the Lord. These difficulties upon which I strike are either in our selves or in our adventure in our selves partly through natural imbecillity partly through contracted impotency 1. Our natural languor is that of original contagion which makes us so weak that there is none that doth good no not one Which is not to be extenuated as if the malignity of it might be supprest with a little resistance It is good to know the power of so strong an enemy that we may be fortified against it It is a root of bitterness never to be digg'd up out of corrupt nature a coal of fire spitting out sparks of temptations continually as inward to us as the marrow is in our bones Yet there is hope in Christ to slake this fire though not utterly in this life to quench it It is a body of death a whole body consisting of all the members of sin yet a body is but
flesh and a Spirit is mightier than flesh Apply that of the Prophet Zachary to it as we may read it by the direction of our Margent and keep to the Original Chap. 8. Verse 6. If it be difficult in the eyes of this people shall it be difficult in mine eyes saith the Lord Therefore since God is our help against the insurrection of this rebellious sin let us be comforted in his help and not in excuses For we must not plead our personal maladies and natural inclinations and think that God will take it for an answer and ask no more I am dull of understanding says one and what I am taught I cannot bear it away I am suddenly transported with indignation and cannot chuse but break out I am retentive of an injury and cannot easily be reconciled All this and the like is no better than the answer of those ill manner'd guests in the Gospel which were invited to a Feast made by a King We cannot come I pray you have us excused which sounds like confession and humility but it is denial and defiance Spend your breath in a better way and cry out often and affectionately Give me not over to my self O Lord take away from me my stony heart and give me an heart of flesh Drop down upon this barren earth and it shall bring forth quite against the byass of nature The high minded will grow meek as a Lamb the covetous will begin to disperse and scatter abroad the lying lips will confess the truth bitter cruelty will melt into pity new-fangled braveries will be laid aside and blush at vanity To what purpose are the pourings in of the Spirit but that what is wickedly in-bred from our conception should be shaken off from the tree and a better fruit spring up in the place from the increase of God Mark the rain that falls from above and the same shower that dropt out of one cloud increaseth sundry plants in a garden and severally according to the condition of every plant in one stalk it makes a Rose in another a Violet divers in a third and sweet in all So the Spirit works its multiformous effects in several complexions and all according to the increase of God Is thy habit and inclination cholerick why try thy self if thou be very apt to be zealous in a good cause and it turns thy natural infirmity into holy heat Is melancholy predominant the grace of God will turn that sad humor into devotion prayer and mortifying thy pleasures to die unto the world Is thy temperature sanguine and chearful the goodness of God will allow it unto thee in thy civil life in a good mean but over and above it will make thee bountiful easie to pardon injuries glad of reconciliation comfortable to the distressed always rejoycing in the Lord. Is a man phlegmatick and fearful if this freezing disease which is in thee from thy mothers womb be not absolutely cured yet the Holy Ghost will work upon it to make thy Conscience tender wary to give no offence to make thee pitiful penitent contrite ready to weep for thy transgressions There are two handles to take hold of every thing says a Heathen A dissolute man takes hold of original frailties and makes them Serpents a holy man declines their Serpentine nature and catcheth them by that part which may conduce to all manner of vertue This is the comfort of Hope against original inquination that this great enemy by the operation of the Spirit shall be made our friend or our foot-stool O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 What is stronger than a Lion yet if the Lion be kill'd out of the strong comes forth sweetness Jud. 14.14 For all this the worst is not past beside natural pronity to sin we have contracted much more evil by custom education strong habits noxious examples bad enticements and infusions The Cockatrice-egge was laid when we were in our mothers womb but it proves more venemous being hatcht and grown able to flye abroad There are seventy sons of Ahab who shall kill thee Even the sword of the Spirit There is none like it as David said of that of Goliah 1 Sam. 21.9 This is sufficient not merely to cut down grass and briars but to hew down the tree to cut off the branches to shake the leaves to scatter the fruit to fright away the fowls from the branches and the beasts from grazing under it Dan. 4. verse 14. or as the Apostle comforts us in plain words without a Parable I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 If you be over-toiled and heated too much you know how to cool cast off some garments wipe away the sweat sit still and stir not lest you enflame your self with motion Follow the same method lay aside the burden of sin that enflames you cast off the weight and the superfluity of naughtiness bear in mind that Christ sweat drops of bloud in his Agony to make you ashamed of toiling and sweating in Satan's drudgery Take ease in a Sabbath of holy rest and moil not in the unprofitable works of darkness Try what refrigeration this will give unto your Conscience else take heed that you be not put to a terrible sweat of fear lest God take you away in his wrath and give you up for ever to Satan whom you have served so willingly To the Law and to the Testimony mind no examples but when they are wrapt up therein Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12.2 What a case had Noah been in if he had framed his life by common practice when all flesh had corrupted their way Chuse better company as Enoch did to walk with God Gen. 5.24 And can two walk together unless they be agreed Amos 3. verse 3. It is more than agreement it imports endearment benevolence friendship with God No title can be greater or sweeter what can match that honour of Abraham and the Apostles to be called the friends of God and Christ No league in the world more sought for or more willingly accepted no amity less burdensom or more beneficial St. Austin 8. Confess Cap. 6. brings in a couple that served the Roman Emperor thus debating upon it What can we look for in this Palace more than to be call'd the friends of our Soveraign When we have got this it is no sure and unchangeable favour And how long shall we attend before we be promoted to it But let us turn to God in this hour and sue to be his friends and it shall be done instantly and remain eternally Ask and it shall be given seek and we shall find And as we trespass by sins of daily prevention there is a dailiness of mercy to comfort us But as you love Christ and would be beloved struggle with temptations do not yield upon
unthankfulness will undo us if we take not heed of it O rub over your memory and consider the noble works of the Lord especially this great work how he suffered for us unto Death Remember seriously this one thing as you ought and God will let you forget nothing that will do you good There is no grievous sin which we incur but for the present Christ is forgotten as if he had never come to charge us to keep our selves unspotted from the world But look upon his wounds which bleed for our transgressions and it will stanch the flux of sin and make our hearts bleed because we have forgotten obedience In our distresses our sickness and losses we cry out that God hath forgotten us he hath forgotten to be gracious and shuts up his loving kindness in displeasure But distrust him not a Mother cannot forget her Child much-less such a Father Every tribulation which he inflicts is but a Thorn in our sides to prick us and awake us because we have forgotten God And remember the Death of Christ not only casting your eyes back to the large Histories of it in the Gospels as if that would suffice but affectingly practically zealously and then every thing else will come to mind to perfect holiness When we remember his Death we are sure he is past Death and Risen again now to Die no more and that he is Ascended into Heaven and makes Intercession for us We have obtained that Faith that we partake in the New Testament of his Bloud and that our Names being found in the Testament we are heirs of God co-heirs with Christ The custom of the world will teach us that an Heir is bound to execute the Will of the Testator to see every thing perform'd that he hath charg'd and bequeathed Do your part like a true Executor with a righteous Administration in remembrance of him But forgetfulness cannot creep upon us when there is so visible a Monument before us to bring it often into our thoughts Luther says it will help a man more in the study of Piety to meditate profoundly upon Christ's Passion one day than to read over all the Psalms of David A bold comparison It will indeed ravish the Soul with trembling to consider how much Christ loved us by how much he suffered for us it will make us look upon sin with horror which begat such torment and ignominy to the innocent Lamb of God it will Comfort our weak Faith that he who hath done so great things for us will not abandon us and having subdued our Enemies will not let them renew the Battel to overcome us it will encourage us to lay down our life for him who hath laid down his life for us My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psalm 104.34 He hath drunk up the Cup of sorrow that I might drink of nothing but the Cup of Salvation This is the Wine Prov. 31.6 which being given unto him that hath a heavy heart confutes all the objections of Infidelity Despair an evil Conscience or whatsoever the tempter can suggest against the Hope of my Glorifications Says the Son of Syrach Chap. 49.1 The remembrance of Josias was sweet as Hony in all mouths and as Musick at a Banquet of Wine If the Name of Josias was so precious for restoring Religion what melody is there in the remembrance of Christ's Name what Musick in his Banquet which is the very Mercy-seat from whence the voice of the Lord gives the principal Oracles of Consolation Whose Definition I have reserved to be the last words of all Consolatio est conveniens Vnio potentiae cum Objecto as our best Scholars have it Consolation is a convenient Vnion of any Faculty with its Object As when the Eye meets with light it is the Comfort of the Eye When the Ear meets with harmony it is the Comfort of the Ear. What is the most transcendent Consolation therefore but the Union of the Soul with God the best Object in a real and most significative manner the Union of the Spirit with Christ in the Sacrament of his Holy Supper To whom be Praise and Glory and Thanksgiving Amen ERRATA PAge 39. line 21. read taught us p. 54. l. 18. r. these p. 59. l. 18. r. wherefore p. 146. l. 5. r. God that p. 187. in the Title read the Sacrament of Baptism THE END Some Books Printed for R. Royston since the Fire A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament The third Edition by H. Hammond D. D. Ductor Dubitantium Or the Rule of Conscience in Four Books Folio The second Edition by Jer. Taylor Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Conner The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court The third Edition Whereunto is now added The love of Christ planted upon the very same Turf on which it once had been Supplanted by the extream Love of Sin in 4o. A Collection of Sermons upon several occasions by Tho. Pierce D.D. and President of St. Mary Magdalen-Colledge in Oxon. A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lords Supper to which are added two Sermons by R. Cudworth D. D. in 4o. The Vnreasonableness of the Romanists requiring our Communion with the present Romish-Church in 8o.