Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	conscience_n	life_n	sin_n	4,202	5	4.3704	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01935	Certaine sermons preached upon severall occasions viz. The vvay to prosper. The vvay to be content. The vvay to vvell-doing. A summer sermon. A vvinter sermon. Vnknowne kindnesse. The poore mans hope. By Iohn Gore Rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to prosper.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to be content.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to well-doing.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Summer sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Unknowne kindnesse.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Poore mans hope.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Oracle of God.	1636 (1636)	STC 12071; ESTC S120526	199,234	334

his lading but still desires to take in more As a ship may be over laden with gold and silver even unto sinking and yet have compasse and sides enough to hold ten times more so a covetous man though he hath enough to sinke him he never hath enough to satisfie him As a dog may have his stomack cram'd usque ad vomitum till he cast it up againe and yet his appetite is stil unsatisfied for he presently returnes to his vomite againe so a covetous miser though he cramme his chests with gold his garners with corne his deskes with bils and bonds yet his lust is never satisfied his minde is never wearied which makes the Lord even to wonder at it and aske usque quo How long Ther 's no end of a covetous mans desires he never leaves clogging and lading himselfe till he and his load perish together Take heede therefore of ill gotten riches Quia onerant because they load the soule and hinder it in its passage to heaven and in that sence are an enemie to mans contentment 2 Quia corrumpunt because ill-gotten riches corrupt a mans conscience and make him worse than otherwise he would or could be 1 Tim. 6. 9. They that will be rich fall into many temptations snares and lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction Marke that he doth not say they that are rich for a man may be divinitùs dives divinely rich or rich to God I meane rich and godly too as Moses is said to be divinitus venustus divinely faire or faire to God Act. 7. 20. so the originall hath it Neither is it said They that would be rich if God so pleased to blesse them by just and honest wayes But they saith the Apostle that will be rich that set downe this for their resolution Rich they will be by right or by wrong they are those that corrupt themselves and runne the hazzard of their soules It is the conceit of Tertullian that even Iudas carried himselfe honestly and rightly Vsque ad loculorum officium till he came to carry the Bagge that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Evangelists word is the purse or tongue as it signifieth For Iudas thought as all covetous men doe that the purse is the best tongue a man can use to speak for himselfe upon any occasion when once he came to that to be a master of money he grew into such a devilish humour of covetousnesse that rather than h● would be out of takings he would sell his very Saviour and a faire match he made for as Austin saith Iudas sold his salvation and the Scribes and Pharisees bought their damnation and all for a little money No marvell the Apostle cals the love of money the roote af all evill t is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter of money but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of money that is the Roote of all evill And why the roote I thinke for two causes 1. Because a roote is of a spreading of a growing nature specially if planted in a fruitful soyle Such is the corrupt heart of man if Satan can but once fasten that wicked roote of covetousnesse in a mans heart water it as he will with suggestions t is wonderful how it wil spread and grow and encrease continually more and more Or secondly some say it is called the Roote because it is with a man as with a tree in winter ther 's sap and life in the roote when ther 's little or none to be seene in the branches So in old and frosty age when other vices and lusts decay then covetousnesse holds life in the roote and a man will be covetous when he hath not strength to be other wayes vitious But why is it called the Roote of all evill for t is not the roote of prodigality ryot c. I take it the meaning is of all gainefull evils if so be that ryot and prodigality were as gainefull evils as basenesse and misery a covetous man would be as inclineable to the one as to the other Labour then to pull up this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Roote of bitternesse and desire God to plant the sweete and comfortable grace of true contentednesse in your hearts that you may be so farre from being carried away with the love of money that you may account it as the Apostle speakes but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but drosse but dung but offall but filth and garbage in respect of Christ and a good conscience 3. Quia cruciant because they vexe and greeve and paine the soule Our Saviour Christ compares them to thornes thornes you know are painefull things painefull in the piercing but more painefull in the pulling out so are ill-gotten riches painefull in the getting but most painefull in the going out when these thornes come to be pluckt out by the hand of death that a man and his riches must part then is the paine then is the woe for now mens hearts are hardned their consciences seared they have as the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kinde of hornyhoofe growne over their soules like the brawny hardnesse that growes upon a labourors hands or a travellers feete that makes them insensible of any paine Oh but when death comes to pare off this crustinesse and leaves nothing to stand betwixt a mans soule and his sins then is the anguish of ill-gotten goods when he is searched to the quicke and his life lies a bleeding then let him say whether ungodly riches be not paineful things Zophar gives them a worse Epithet than thornes and likens them to poysons Iob 20. 12. Sugred poysons goe downe pleasantly Oh but when they are downe they gall and gnaw and gripe the very heart-strings asunder if there be not extraordinary remedy So do ill-gotten goods go downe like sugred poysons and so please the palats of covetous men that they cannot forbeare them nor will they Oh but there will come a time of wringing and ruing for all this They say the Italians will give a man a poyson that shall not kill him till a long time after such poysons are ill-gotten riches would you know the reason why they doe not trouble mens consciences now itis because the poyson doth not yet work when God in judgement sets this Poyson a working which they themselves have taken long agoe then as the Prophet Esay saith Chap. 3. 9. Woe be unto your souls for they have rewarded evill to themselves If a man should have a Diamond curiously cut into sharp angles in his body or in his bladder no man would account him a rich man but a miserable and a dead man even such is the state of him that hath swallowed downe the guilt of ill-gotten gaine it will one day torment him more than ever it enriched him so that the pleasure of the one shall never countervaile the paine of the other Take heede therefore and beware of ill-gotten riches Quia cruciant though

sinfull soules and bodies These thoughts came in upon the by and therefore I will not stand to enlarge them but hasten to the next general part of my text as it followeth in the next place Spargit pruinam sicut cinerē he scattereth or sprinkleth the hoary frost like ashes 2. This I termed the Diligence of God He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor ●leepeth but when we are a sleepe God is awake when we are at rest God is at worke when wee are taking our ease within then is our God taking paines abroad to sprinkle the hoary Frost in the evening for our health and welfare in the morning The consideration hereof should move us not onely to praise God for his Day-mercies as David did Seven times a day will I praise thee saith he Psal 119. because hee knew that so and more than so often he was beholding to God every day that came over his head but also wee have just cause to remember God for his Night-mercies for his preservation and protection for his custody and care that hee hath of us in the night as well as in the day time Have I not remembred thee on my bed saith David elsewhere and thought upon thee when I was waking Psal 63. 7. So if thou hast forgotten God at thy board remember him on thy bed if thou hast not thought upon him in the day thinke upon him the more in the night and when at any time God holdeth thy eyes waking as he did Davids often then consider and call to minde Gods mercies and thine owne sinnes be thankefull for the one be humbled for the other and then lie downe in the peace of Iesus Christ And in the morning when thou walkest a broad and seest the hoary frost lie upon the ground like ashes then thinke with thy selfe this is the worke of Gods owne hands God hath surely beene in this place and I was not aware of it Now marke the manner of Gods working Spargit pr●inam he sprinkleth the hoary frost that is hee doth it in such a secret insensible invisible manner that no man living can perceive it till God have done his worke and finished it and even so it pleaseth God to worke and bring to passe the regeneration of a sinfull soule my Father worketh saith our Saviour and I worke and yet both worke after such a secret way that untill a man be converted the worke of Gods grace cannot be imagined nor perceived as it was with our Saviour at his resurrection when he was risen he appeared and shewed himselfe but the manner of his rising or how or which way he arose and got out of the Sepulchre no man living saw or could conceive as Salomon saith that the way of a ship in the sea is not to be knowne or found a man may stand upon the shore and see the ship and the sea and the ship going on the sea but the way of a ship in the sea is unknowne and undiscernable even so the wayes of God in translating men out of the state of sin and death into the state of grace and life are sine vestigijs unsearchable and past finding out Many a one is troubled that he knowes not the very instant of his conversion and regeneration to God and therfore makes question of his Christian calling but you know there is great difference betwixt a man that is suddenly converted as Paul was like a brande snatcht out of the fire as Saint Iude speakes in the very heate of their sinnes and such as have the grace of God wrought in them by degrees as Timothy had sensim sine sensu now a little and then a little by the secret supplies of the Spirit of grace now it is an easie matter for the one to set downe the time and manner of their regeneration not so for the other But the effect of all is this if a man can finde in himselfe the markes of the Lord Iesus a● the Apostle speakeeth I meane the infallible signes and symptomes of grace as a desire to feare God a ●are to please him and a kindly repentance when he hath done amisse let him never make question of his owne conversion but take it as an undoubted evidence to his soule that God hath received him into the state of mercy wherein he will reserve him for ever unto Iesus Christ No man makes question how the frost is gendred when he sees it lie upon the earth because hee knowes it is the handy worke of God And so is this Againe ●parg●● pruinam Looke how God doth with the hoary frost how he scatters it upon the grasse that no one spot of ground hath it all but every pile of grasse hath some sprinkling of it so he doth with all his heavenly gifts and graces no man ever was so happy to have the fulnesse of grace save only our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ All we have but our sprinklings a sprinkling of faith a sprinkling of zeale a sprinkling of repentance and other graces some more some lesse as God is pleased to distribute it Hence the grace of God is compared unto two things in Scripture which are both things of sprinkling namely Salt and Seed Our Saviour compares it unto salt Marke 9 ult Have salt in your selves and be at peace one with another Now you know They that season meate doe not lay their salt all on a heape but scatter it and sprinkle it all over that every part may be made savoury by it So doth God distribute to every man a measure of grace that his soule may be seasoned and all his services be made savoury to the Lord that he may smell in them as he did in Noahs sacrifice Od●rem quietis a Savour of rest Saint Iohn compares the grace of God unto Seed 1 Ioh. 3. ● Hee that is borne of God cannot sinne meaning sinne unto death Why quia sem●n dei because the seede of God abideth in him Now you know no sower layes his seede all on a heape but scatters and sprinkles it all over his land that every furrow may have some part of the feed and yeeld him againe some fruite of increase Thus doth God sow the seede of eternall life in the mindes and hearts of all faithfull people there is no one that hath all grace and there is no one but hath some some sprinkling of every grace For this cause I suppose the bloud of Christ is called the blo●d of sprinkling Heb. 12. 24. in allusion to the Passeover where the bloud of the Pascall L●m●e was sprinkled on the posts of the doore to save the house from the deadly stroke of the revenging A●gel So is the bloud of Iesus Christ sprinkled as it were by the ●inger of God upon the soules and consciences of all peni●●nt sinners to save their soules from death and to take out the blots and staines of all our sinnes Looke how Aqua fortis takes out the blots of Inke out of a

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 facit exoriri no doubt there is many a one in the world that is such a Lueifuga a hater of light and lover of darkenesse whose deeds are so evill that the very Sunne in the heavens is even loth to cast his beames and shine upon him and there is many a plot of ground that is purchased and possessed by so wicked an owner that the very clouds of heaven are loth and unwilling to drop their fatnesse upon it but that God as it were makes them doe it Hence we see that God hath the disposing of all these temporall blessings if the Lord undertake to make a man all the world shall not marre him we may see it in Moses Exod. 7. 1. Pharaoh did what hee could to marre Moses and to expose him to ruine and obscuritie in his very infancie but God that undertooke to make him never left him nor gave him over till hee had made him a god to Pharaoh not a god whom Pharoah should worship but whom he should feare and stand in awe of a god to execute judgements and bring plagues upon him and to remove the same againe Hannah saith in her song 1 Sam. 2. 7. The Lord maketh poore and maketh rich it were as easie to God to make all rich as to make any poore againe it were all one with God to make all poore as to make any rich for he hath the making of both but in his providence and wisedome he hath made some of both sorts that the one might helpe themselves to heaven by supplying and relieving the necessities of the other And therefore for our owne parts if we have any making any promotion or prosperitie above our fellowes we must confesse with David That it is God that hath made us and not we our selves it is God that hath made us Men when hee might have made us Beasts it is God that hath made us Christians when he might have made us Infidels it is God that hath made us rich when he might have made us poore in a word it is God that hath made us to prosper when hee might have made us to perish Hee sought the Lord and God made him to prosper But that is not all the maine thing that I observe from hence is the benefit that ariseth to us by seeking of God namely that it turnes to our owne advantage our owne profit God hath onely the glorie but the gaine is wholly ours for it is a meanes to make us prosper as David speaking of the commandements Psal 19. saith that in keeping of them there is great reward no man shall be a loser by keeping of Gods commandements but a gainer and a great gainer too for in keeeping of them there is great reward if we be not rewarded on earth our reward shall be the greater in heaven In coelis reposita est major compensatio saith Calvin the greatest reward is reserved in the heavens Thus saith the Lord that teacheth thee to profit Esa 48. 17. Oh that thou haddest hearkened to my commandements then had thy prosperity beene as a floud and thy righteousnesse as the waves of the sea thy prosperity should have beene so large and plentifull that as a floud it should have run over the bankes and the reward of thy righteousnesse as the waves of the sea that is one reward should follow upon the necke of another as one wave followes upon the necke of another so Deut. 5. 29. Oh that there were a heart in this people to love me and feare me as they have said then should it goe well with them and their children after them not that I might be a gainer and you lose but that you and your children might reape the bene fit So that as our Saviour saith of the Sabbath that it was made for man not onely for Gods service but for mans profit so it is true of every Commandement it was made for mans that is for mans good and benefit therefore you have it so often repeated in Deuteronomy These are the Commandements that I have given thee for thy wealth and for thy good It is a pretty observation of Cajetan upon that saying of God to Moses Exo. 34. 1. Hew thee two Tables Dola tibi non mihi ego enim non indigio tua dolatione Hew to thy selfe not for me for I neede none of thy hewing nor yet any of thy tables it is for thy owne and thy peoples good that I bid thee hew them so it is for our good that God bids us seeke him God hath onely the glory of it but the benefit is our own for it is a meanes to make us prosper Therefore if we love our selves and desire to doe our selves good let us seeke the Lord. I know that naturally wee all love our selves too much but spiritually wee all love our selves too little for he that lives in sinne he doth not love himselfe for he goeth the way to undoe himselfe both here and ever 2 Chro. 24. 20. Why transgresse ye the Commandements of the Lord that ye cannot prosper We use to say of one that is of a good nature but an evill husband He is no mans foe but his owne and it is true of every one that lives in any knowne sinne not grieving for it nor striving against it not making conscience to reforme it he is his owne foe indeede for he doth not onely anger God but he hinders himselfe that hee cannot prosper Why transgresse yee the commandements of God that ye cannot prosper The like speech you have in Ezek. 18. Why will you die O house of Israel God doth not say Why will you sin O house of Israel but why will ye die O house of Israel as presupposing they might wel know if they wil needs sin they must needs die for death is the wages of sin and followes it as the shadow followes the bodie The Lord speaks it with indignation Why will ye die as wondring they should love themselves no better but even to seeke their own death by rushing into sinne as a horse rusheth into the battell that 's the expression that God useth Ier. 8. 7. They rush into sin as a horse rusheth into the battell And why as a horse rusheth into the battell and not as a man rusheth into the battell I will tell you what I thinke the reason is The horse when he rusheth into the battell doth not know that those whom he rusheth on be his enemies that they will hurt wound and kill him but he rusheth on them without feare or wit and rusheth upon his owne death so foolish men doe not know at least will not know This they willingly know not as Saint Peter speakes that sinne is such an enemie to them that it doth hurt kill and damne them thereupon they rush upon sinne without feare and so runne upon their owne destruction Therefore it is a good meditation of Saint Austin upon that prayer of David Deliver me O Lord

than so is he that is a servant of sinne My brethren saith S. Iames he not many masters Iam. 3. 1. every man naturally hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many masters in himselfe every temptation every sinne every lust is a wicked mans master pride comes and that masters him then comes anger and that masters him then comes covetousnesse or worldlinesse or filthy uncleannesse all these get the mastery of him and keepe them in subjection that he is not himself O quam multos dominos habet qui unum not habet Oh how many masters and Lords hath that man that hath not thee O God for his Lord and master the very devill himselfe is his master yea more than that he is his God therefore he is called the god of this world 2 Cor. 4. 4. And why the god of this world mee thinkes that should be too high too happy too honourable a title for so base a fiend doubtlesse the reason is this because as God at the beginning did but speake the Word and it was done Gen. 1. so if the devill doth but speake the word as it were but give the least hint of any sinne that hee would have committed and done presently they doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeke opportunity to bring it to passe at such a becke are wicked men to the mortall enemy of their soules Can any man say or doth any man thinke that these men are themselves or that they can enjoy true contentment Alas no for their case is just as the Israelites was in Aegypt who when they had wrought hard in the brick-killns all day were well whipt and beaten for their labours at night or as Sampson among the Philistims who after he had laboured and ground like a horse in the mill all day was put into the prison house at night And what content could either of these take in their worke or in their wages Thus will Sathan serve them that serve him after they have wrought hard in the workes of darkenesse the whole day of their lives when the night of death comes without great mercy on Gods part and great repentance on their owne part they shall be sure to be cast into the prison of hell and there whipt and tormented everlastingly for their paines And if there be any content in such worke or in such wages judge ye By this you perceive there is more belongs to selfe-sufficiency than perhaps you are aware of there may be self-love self-will or self-pleasing or self-conceit where there is no true grace nor feare of God but there wil be no self-sufficiencie no solid contentment till a man be delivered from Nabals drunkennesse from Nebuchadnezzars madnesse and from Satans villinage and so be truly converted and come to himselfe for there must be a conversion before there can be any contentation never looke to be contented till first thou be converted and come home to God and to thy selfe for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe before sufficient Hence then I observe foure corollaries or singular circumstances touching the nature and quality of this selfe-sufficiencie that it is 1. Res seria a serious thing as Seneca said of true joy mihi creds res severa est verum gaudium so may I say of true contentment it is not a light and frothy but a grave and weighty thing he that would be truely contented must sit downe and consider seriously with himselfe in what tearmes hee stands with God for such as a mans conscience is to God-ward such is his contentment to himselfe-ward There is no peace to the wicked saith my God Esay 57. 21. a wicked man can have no comfort nor content Why For hee is like the troubled sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt saith the Prophet in the same place and why like the troubleth sea and not like the troubled aire for the same wind troubles both The reason is because when the aire is troubled if the wind doe but cease it is presently calmed so is the heart of a godly man when his troubles are over his heart is presently at rest but a wicked mans heart is like the sea which when the winds are layed and there is no outward thing to trouble it it still workes and foames and troubles it selfe with its owne motion so though a wicked man have nothing outwardly to trouble him yet his owne unquiet heart troubles it selfe and will not suffer him to be at peace Take this for a Maxime that a wicked man can never be a contented man Try thy selfe therefore whether thou be filius pacis a sonne of peace or filius irae a child of wrath looke well into thy selfe to see how the case stands betwixt thy soule and thy God if upon inquiry thou findest that God and thee are friends then goe thy way as Solomon saith Eccles 9. 7. Eate thy bread with joy and drinke thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepteth thy workes if otherwise thou be one that livest at variance with God then change thy note and say Droope O my soule hang downe thy head and heart be in bitternesse of spirit Inhaere poenitentiae usque ad finem vitae Amb. repent and mourne to the very death never suffer one chearefull thought in thy heart one cheerefull looke in thy face one chearefull word in thy mouth till thou hast reconciled thy selfe to God and make thy peace with heaven never seeke to give thy selfe content till first thou hast given thy God content for all the sinnes wherewith thou hast grieved and discontented him Let no man therefore be mistaken in the matter of contentment to thinke that it is a wanton and a lascivious thing he that truely learnes it shall find that it is Res seria a weighty and a serious thing 2. It is Res sacra a holy thing therefore the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 6. joynes Godlinesse and contentment together to shew that none can be a contented man but hee that is a godly man A stranger saith Salomon doth not intermeddle with this joy Prov. 14. 10. he that is a stranger to God and a stranger to godlinesse hath nothing to doe with true contentednesse In which respect the Apostle saith that God giveth to the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things richly to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. 17. It is one thing to use a thing another to enjoy it a wicked man may use the creatures and the ordinances and bessings of God but he cannot be said to enjoy them for that imports a sweete and sanctified use of them which is the gift of God only to them that are godly and it is certaine no man in the world takes so much content in his meates and drinkes and lawfull recreations as a godly man doth for he enjoyes God in all these Contrarily The joy of the wicked saith Salomon elsewhere hath a snare in it i a secret guiltinesse of sinne that strangles all

downe into the soule Though we cannot command or forbid the raine to water the earth as Eliah did if we can water and mollifie the earthen hearts of men with the supernaturall raine of heavenly Doctrine and make a dry and barren soule beare fruit to God Is not this as great a wonder as the other Though we cannot cause nor command the thunder as Samuel did to terrifie the people for their sinnes yet God hath his Boanerges his sonnes of thunder still that by ratling from heaven the terrible judgements of God against sinne and sinners are able to make the stoutest and the proudest heart upon earth even tremble and quake and fall downe before the presence of God and is not this as great a miracle as that of Samuel to bring an unhumbled sinner upon his knees and make glad to cry God mercy for his sinnes In a word though wee cannot cast out devils out of mens bodies as the disciples of Christ could doe if we can cast the devill out of mens soules by the powerfull Gospell of Iesus Christ is it not as great a wonder Beleeve it brethren the conversion of a sinner to God and bringing of a soule to heaven is absolutely without comparison the greatest miracle the greatest wonder in the world And these be the miracles wherewith it pleaseth God to grace the Ministers of the Gospel therefore ye observe that the Collect for Ministers runnes thus Almighty God which onely workest great marvels c. When a soule is sicke to the death with a surfeit of sinne is recovered and revived againe by that same healthfull spirit of grace which God together with his Word doth breathe into the soule it is so great a marvell so rare a wonder that the Angels of heaven rejoyce to see it I have held you over-long in the former part of Eliahs prayer which brought the judgment heare now in a word or two the Reversing of the judgement and I have done And he prayed again the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her fruit It well becomes the Prophets of God to be mercifull Good Eliah had not the heart to hold the people too long under a judgement when hee saw hee had done enough to humble them he desires God to reverse the judgement As it is observed of the good Angels in the old and new Testament when they appeared to any either man or woman their method and manner was this Primò terrent deinde laetisica●t they first terrified them and put them into feare then presently comforted them and put them out of feare Thus did Eliah with this people thus did Moses with Pharaoh that good man had not the heart to hold wicked Pharoah alway under a judgement but upon the least entreaty made suit to God to reverse it So dealt the Prophet with Ieroboam 1 Reg. 13. 6. when he had smitten him with a judgment and had him at the advantage that his hand was withered Ieroboam was glad to submit and say Intreate now the face of the Lord thy God and pray for me that my hand may be restored me the man of God had not the heart to deny him but immediatly besought the Lord and the Kings hand was restored and became as it was before When a judgement comes then Prophets are in season Abraham is better than a King in this case Gen. 20. 7. 17. Restore the man his own for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and ver 17. Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimeleeh c. Goe to my servant Iob saith God to his friends Iob 42. 8. and my servant Iob shall pray for you for him will I accept So Act. 8. 24. When Peter had denounced a curse on Simon Magus he was glad to crouch and cry unto him Oh pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me Thus ye see that judgements and plagues will bring Prophets into request men commonly deale with their Ministers as boyes do by Walnut-trees and other fruit-trees in faire weather throw cudgels at us in foule runne to us for shelter In the dayes of peace and prosperity we are past over as superfluous creatures of whom there is little use and lesse neede but when the wrath of God falls on the naked soule when the conscience is wounded within and body pained without then the Minister is thought on I say no more if you desire their prayers and that God should heare them praying for you in your extremity do not slight them doe not wrong them in prosperity Remember how Ahab and all Israel were glad to be beholden to Eliah to reverse their judgment and you doe not know how soone the case may be your owne therefore as you love your soules love those that have charge of them And he prayed againe c. When I looke into the Story 1 Reg. 18. I can finde no direct prayer that Eliah made for raine But I ●iud there a twofold prayer that he made 1. A virtuall 2. A formall prayer 1. A virtuall prayer not for raine but for their conversion Oh Lord saith Eliah bring backe or b●ing home the heart of this people unto thee vers 73. and this includes all other prayers that can be made A prayer for Conversion is a prayer for every thing Ier. 31. 18. When Ep●ratm prayes for conversion Turne thou me and I shall be turned saith God I will surely have mercy upon him c. Such is the goodnesse of God that he will with-hold no good thing be it raine be it plenty be it any thing that is good for them from them that are converted and brought home by true repentance to him Therefore if thou standest in neede of any temporall mercy pray first for conversion and all other good things shall be super-added and throwne in unto thee or if thou prayest for any child or for any friend to doe him good indeed pray for his conversion and thou prayest for every thing that one prayer is instar omnium insteed of all the rest If hee be in an ill way desire God to bring him backe and for future things take no care 2 A formall prayer when he saw that the people were truely humbled and that their hearts were indeed brought home to God insomuch that they cried out with an ingemmination The Lord he is God the Lord he is God then hee buckles his head betweene his knees to shew the humble prostration of his soule and falls a praying to God for raine After humiliation any prayer comes in season Esay 1. Wash ye make ye cleane put away the evill of your doings c. And now come saith God and we will reason together now let us parle now let us confesse now pray and I will heare you Iud. 10. 17. When the Israelites put away their strange gods and turned themselves to the true God by sincere repentance and reformation the text saith

until that day This kindnes the Officers could afford our Saviour Iohn 18. when he had thus spoken one of the Officers which stood by smote Iesus on the face with the palme of his hand This kindnesse Zedech●ah could afford Michaiah 1 Reg. 22 He went neere and smote him on the checke Doubtlesse if one in anger had smitten Ahabs or the High-priests dogge in that place and in that presence he should have smarted for it but this they thought was kindnesse good enough for them that durst doe no other but take it So that as Absalom said to Hushai when to his thinking he had shewed him a plot how to undermine his father David 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend saith he so if this if smiting and baffling and backbiting be a friendly kindnesse a man shall have kindnesse and friendship enough as this world goes he shall never neede to begge for it he shall have it without asking but if he looke for any other friendship or kindnesse hee may chance to goe without it and fall short of his expectation such friends as Tacitus speakes of quibus deerat inimicus ab amicis sunt oppressi they that had no enemy to oppresse and abuse them were abused and oppressed by their friends such as these the world is full of and such kindnesse as Iul an shewed the poore Christians that would smite them on the one cheeke to see whether they would turne the other shall be offered a man whether hee will or no I say he that will take smiting kindly shall have kindnesse good store But that is not the meaning of my text The Originall is percutiat me in misericordia let him smite me in mercy or in compassion to my soule that would doe ill or worse if it were not smitten and well doth deserve to be accounted a kindnesse in many respects I will but touch them and passe them over 1 It is a kindnesse Reducere errantem if it be but a sheepe that is lost and gone astray he that will reduce it and bring it home to the Shepheard and to the fold it is a kindnesse you will say Now all we like sheepe have gone astray saith the Prophet and we acknowledge it daily to God in our publike confession We have erred and straied from thy wayes like lost sheepe Now the sheepe as the Philosopher saith is pecus erraticum a kinde of cattle that is given more to wandring and straying than any other whatsoever and besides that such is the simplicity and the foolishnesse of a sheepe that being once lost and gone astray it hath not the wit nor understanding of it selfe ever to returne and come home againe as a dogge or a spaniell will doe but wanders further and further unlesse some good body or other doe chance to seeke it up and find it and bring it home even such are we too apt to goe astray from God and to lose our selves in a labyrinth of sinne but have not the wit nor the grace of our selves ever to returne to the Shepheard and Bishop of our soules except some good body or other be a meanes under God to reduce to reclaime and bring us home to Christ Now hee that shall see his friend thus gone astray and shall by wholesome admonitions and friendly reprehensions endeavour to reduce him and bring him backe to God Is not this a kindnesse 2 It is a kindnesse Sanare aegrotum to recover on that is sicke and make one sound that is in a consumption such is a man farre gone in sinne as the Apostle saith of the Cretians Tit. 1. 12. they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evill beasts slow bellies alwayes liers a man would thinke it a vaine thing to meddle with such as were so farre gone in a spirituall consumption so sicke to the death with a surfeit of sinne yet saith the Apostle doe not dispaire of their cure but rebuke them sharply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuttingly that they may be sound in the faith A rotten Cretian by sharpe reproofe may be made a sound Christian Thus when a man is corrupt in his conscience and rotten in his communication as the Apostle calls filthy discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rotten cōmunication Eph. 4. 29. I say when a mans soule is almost consumed and dead and rotten to God-ward he that by wholesome advice and heavenly physicke can recover such a one and make him sound in his heart and in his faith to God Is not this a kindnesse 3 It is a kindnesse Suscitare lethargum when a man is in a lethargy where sleepe may be his death or if a man should sleepe on the top of a mast where every nod may endanger his life hee that shall awake such a one before any harme befall him it is a kindnesse even that And such is the case of all impenitent sinners Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life Beleeve it security is as dangerous a sleepe to the soule as lethargy is to the body now when a man shal lie in wickednes as a carrion lies in rottennesse and shall sleepe away his salvation though his damnation sleepeth not He that shall awake such a one by stirring reprehensions least if he were let alone he might sleepe as Sisera did which God forbid who slept but never waked againe Is not this a kindnesse 4 It is a kindnesse Ligare insanum to bind a mad man to chaine up one that is bereft of his sences and wits who if they were at liberty might endanger himselfe and others now Salomon tels us Eccles 7. that the heart of man is full of evill and madnes is in his heart while he liveth see how Bedlam-like some men are in their fury and passion sweare and curse and even worry their God and Saviour when they are provoked by man they right their spleene upon God Yea if their words were the same indeed that they are said to be in effect if they were but swords and arrowes and rasors indeed that would peirce and wound the body as they wound and peirce the soule nothing should satisfie them but the lives and bloud and death of those that have offended them such mischievous such murthering words doe they spit like venom out of their hellish mouthes now then he that can over awe such a one with grave and sober reprehensions that can over-come and over-power and over-rule him with good language and good perswasions Ne quid loquare durius as God said to Laban Gen. 31. 24. and smite him so as that he dares not smite againe but cry God and his neighbour mercy for what he hath spoken and done amisse Is not this a kindnesse 5 Lastly it is a kindnesse Liberare perditum to save a lost man that is in imminent danger of drowning and death if he have not speedy helpe it was Moses case when he was in the river had it not been for

the kindnesse of Pharaohs daughter it was Ieremies case when he was in the dungeon had it not bin for the kindnesse of his speciall friends and it is the case of many a man that is fallen from God into a gulfe into a whirle-poole of sinne that winds and drawes and suckes him in there is no possibility that his soule should scape drowning and death if mercy helpe not out It is said of the Prodigall child Luke 15. 13. that he wasted his substance with riotous living so we read it but the Originall is more significant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in proper termes He lived unsavingly as much to say as in that course that he tooke hee was a lost man and could not have beene saved had he not reverted and repented as hee did And such an unsaving life doth many a man lead in gluttony and drunkennesse in riot and prophanenesse c. that God cannot keepe his owne truth and save his soule Now he that shall see his friend in such a way of wickednesse that as he said Ipsa sicupiat salus c. if salvation it selfe should come downe from heaven and offer it selfe to such a one he would not hee were not in case to accept it Hee I say that by words of motion can worke upon such a mans heart can bring him to repentance that he may become salvabilis within the compasse and possibilitie of being saved Is not this a kindnesse If you will beleeve S. Iames Chap. 5. ult it is the greatest kindnesse in the world He that conver●●th a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sinnes Therefore as Saul said to the Ziphites when they came and told him where David was 1 Sam. 23. 21. Blessed be ye of the Lord for ye have had compassion upon me So he that hath any grace or but good nature in him will blesse God for such a Minister or neighbour or friend that will shew him the errour of his way that will tell him of his sinnes and take it as a mercie and a kindnesse and a compassion to his soule And so I come in the last place to the exaltation of this kindnesse above all that hath beene spoken It shall be Oleum capitis as the Originall hath it it shall be a soveraigne a precious and an excellent oyle that shall not breake my head When I first tooke this text in hand this seemed unto me a very strange and an uncouth expression if the Prophet had said It shall be a stone that shall not breake my head or a staffe or a club that shall not breake my head c. we had easily understood him but to speake of an oyle or a balme which we know to be so soft so supple so lith and gentle an oyntment that hee should speake of breaking his head with oyle it is strange I confesse it troubled me a while till at length I conceived it might be spoken by contraries as when a Physition gives a patient some pectorall or cordiall and saith Take this it will not hurt you his meaning is it will helpe and doe him good So this oyle shall not breake my head that is it shall heale it being broken by my owne corruption by Satans temptations and by the assention of such as flatter mee in my sinnes But why doth hee mention his head why doth he not say as well It shall not breake my arme or it shall not breake my legges c Answ The head you know is the principall part of man that which is neerest and gives life and influence to all the lower parts if that be broken all the body fares the worse It is a knowne place Matth. 10. Be wise as Serpents Now the wisedome of the Serpent they say consisteth chiefly in this that he will expose his body to any danger take any wound in his body so hee may but save his head because he knowes that his life lies in his head so is Christ our head and all our spirituall life lieth in him and floweth from him therefore our principall care should be what ever bodily danger wee expose our selves unto to hold life in the head hold faith and affiance in Iesus Christ But that is not all I take it when hee saith it ●●all not breake my head his meaning is It shall breake something else about him that shall be better for him as thus It shall not breake my head but it shall breake my heart hee that breakes a mans head doth him an ill office that may endanger his life but hee that breakes his heart with that same hammer that Ieremy speakes of Ier. 23. 29. by the powerfull subduing Word of God doth him a right good office that may be a meanes though Gods blessing to prepare his soule for grace and make him a vessell capable of mercy for Deus Oleum misericordiae non infundit nisi in vas contritum God never powreth the oyle of his mercy but into broken vessels that is into broken hearts that are rent and torne as it were with remorse and sorrow for sinne As God threatned Hos 13. 8. I will rend the kall of their hearts rather than he will suffer sinne to dwell where his throne should be So this smiting is not to breake heads but to breake hearts which is better Or thus It shall not breake my head but it shall breake my sinnes-head or the head of my sinnes as David saith Psal 74. 14. The heads of Dragons are broken in the waters what are these Capita Draconum these heads of Dragons but capitall crimes predominant and master-sinnes that doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speakes that usurpe authority and domineere in the soule and threaten to devoure the conscience if they be not taken down and broken in the waters of repentance in the teares of godly sorrow for sinne Now he that can be a meanes to save his friends head and breake his sinnes head to cherish the one and crush the other Is not this a kindnesse worth acceptation If a man have an enemy that doth him wrong the Apostle counsels him to heape coales of fire upon his head Rom. 12 20. what are these Carbones ardentes these burning coales or coales of fire which the Apostle would have a man heape on his enemies head Surely I thinke he meanes no other then those Rom ● 9. Tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath upon the soule of every one that doth evill upon purpose to vexe his neighbour Now thus stands the case Hee that revengeth his owne quarrell and recompenseth evill for evill hee heapes coales of fire on his owne head that is makes himselfe liable to the just revenge of God but hee that by patient forbearance commits his cause to God and renders good for evill he heapes coales of fire on his enemies head that is he saves himselfe from wrong and transferreth

the Righteous here spoken of and they are mercifull lenders that lend according to our Saviours counsell looking for nothing againe that is for nothing but their owne againe no advantage no gaine no use or their lending but they lend in meere compassion and mercie to releive their poore brethren in their need and necessitie He is ever mercifull and lendeth and marke what followeth His seede is blessed That which worldly-minded men thinke and imagine to be the onely meanes to make their children poore and miserable I meane liberalitie and sending to the poore that the Holy Ghost saith is the onely meanes to make them rich and blessed and is so farre from empoverishing and impairing their estates upon earth that it is the onely way to draw downe Gods blessing out of heaven upon them As the Prophet Ieremy told Iahojakin Ier. 22. 15. So long as thy father did helpe the oppressed and shew kindenesse to the poore and needy did he not prosper was it not well with him so that as Chrysostome saith We may not thinke that God made rich men onely for the profit of the poore but God made the poore as well for the profit of the rich Make yee friends saith our Saviour of the unrighteous Mammon as if rich men should one day finde that the poore were their best friends when they come to be received into everlasting habitations By these and the like examples and instances you may easily conceive who they be that are counted Righteous in Gods acceptation Therefore as Elisha spread himselfe upon the Shunamites child 2 Reg. 4. 34. and applied his mouth to the childs mouth his hands to the childs hands and his body to the childs body till the child began to neeze and to revive so you shall doe well to apply your selves to these patternes and presidents to see what correspondence and agreement there is betwixt 〈◊〉 lives and theirs and if your disposition be the same with 〈…〉 your acceptation shall be the same as theirs was and if you be partakers of the same righteousnesse you shall also be partakers of the same happinesse as it followeth in the text you shall never be deserted nor forsaken of God I never saw the righteous forsaken c. As for the unrighteous and ungracious that first forsake God no marvell if God in Iustice forsake them againe according to that anciently received rule Deus nunquam deserit hominem nisi prius ab homine deseratur God never forsakes any man till that man doe first forsake his God But for the righteous that cleave close unto the Lord and hold them fast by God as David speaketh and will not if they can possibly let go their holdfast beleeve it God will be a steadfast friend to them and will never faile them nor forsake them neither in life nor in death but while they live he will be with them and when they day they shall ●e with him 1 In life the righteous are never quite forsaken nor left utterly destitute of food provision and such other comforts which God in his wisedome seeth to be most expedient for them Thus saith the Lord Esay 65. 13. Behold my servants shall eate but you that is the wicked Idolaters for to them he speaketh you shall be hungry my servants shall drinke but you shall be thirsty my servants shall rejoyce but you shall be ashamed so that what ever be tide the wicked when the dayes of evill come God will take order for the righteous his servants shall be sure to be provided for In the dayes of famine they shall have enough Psa 37. 19. that is enough to content them though not enough to enrich them and if their own meanes chance to faile them at home God will provide them meanes and friends abroad as he told Elias 1 Reg. 17. when he was in great distresse at the river Besor and had neither meate nor drinke to sustaine him The Word of the Lord came unto him saying Arise get thee to Sareptah which is in Sidon and tarry there for behold I have commanded a widdow woman to sustaine thee there Elias knew not the widdow neither did the widdow know him but God who knew them both had given her a secret charge and commandement that shee should sustaine his Prophet and so she did Thus will God 〈…〉 than his owne shall want give secret charges to those we 〈◊〉 not aware of to sustaine and supply us at our need as in Pauls case Act. 17. when the ship was broken in peices which they thought should have carried them to land the Lord cast them and conveighed them safe to shore upon such boards and plankes as they did not nor durst not expect so when those helpes faile us which wee most relied upon God will so provide that somewhat else shall come in and bring us helpe which we never thought nor dreamt of Let the consideration of this teach us to take out that Lesson of the Apostle Heb. 13. 5. Let your conversation be without covetousnesse and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee If God have said it we may sweare it and pawne our lives and soules upon it that if wee live according to his will hee will never leave us nor forsake us while there is breath and life within us 2 As they are ever sustained in life so they are never forsaken in death but in their last extremity when their life is in extremis labris God is alwayes present with them either to relieve or to receive their soules 〈…〉 Iust man saith David and 〈◊〉 the upright for whatsoever 〈◊〉 beginning be yet the end of that ma● is peace And againe Follow after righteousnesse and doe the thing 〈…〉 for that shall bring a man peace at the last It was promised as a blessing to good Jasiah 2 Reg. 22. ult that he should be gathered to the grave in peace and yet we finde in the story that Iosiah died in warre How then was this promise made good I answer thus though he died in warre outwardly yet he died in peace inwardly his conscience was at peace with God and his soule was pacisied and discharged from the trouble of all his sinnes so that whatsoever his death was yet hee died in peace And such is the happinesse of all the righteous some die by fevers some by the sword some by the fire yet all through Gods mercy die in peace Therefore saith Balaam Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like unto his for though it be decreed in heaven that the Righteous must die as wel as the unrighteous yet there is as great a difference betwixt the manner of their dying as betwixt the passage of the Egyptians and the Israelites through the same red sea which was Alijs s●pul●hrum alijs vehiculum a sepulcher and a grave to the one to drowne them in perdition and

a chariot to convey the other Sicco pede without wetting their feete to the land of Promise This is that which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12. 11. the quiet fruit of righteousnesse for though the bud and blossome of Righteousnesse I meane the first beginning of Grace and Christianity may be troubled and assaulted with difficulties and doubts and feares yet the fruit is alwayes quiet and the end is alwayes peace so that the Righteous while the live they live to the Lord and when they die they die in the Lord so both in life and death the Lord is theirs and they are his they never forsake the Lord nor doth the Lord ever forsake them I never saw the Righteous forsaken Ob. No may some say Did David never see the Righteous forsaken as when he himself cried out Psal 22 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and art so far from my helpe And doth not Sion it selfe which is the Church of God and mother of the faithfull complaine in like manner Esay●9 ●9 14. The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten mee And did not our blessed Saviour who was Righteousnesse it selfe when he was in that bi●ter passion upon the Crosse and suffered those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those unknowne and unexpressible torments did not he crie out to the amazement of men and horrour of Angels My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How then can David say He never saw the righteous forsaken Ans I answer in the words of a Father Quosdam deserit Deus quosdam des●rere videtur some God doth indeede forsake as he did Saul and Iudas and such others because they had indeede and in earnest forsaken and cast off the Lord other some God doth but onely seeme to forsake as hee did David and Sion and his owne blessed Sonne our Saviour As when some tender mother will seeme to forsake her childe and goe aside and hide her selfe onely to trie whether the childe will moane after her or no and then hearing the childs moaning she is wont to make the more of it than she did before Thus it pleaseth God many times to hide himselfe as the Prophet speaketh Esay 45. 15. Thou O God hid●st thy selfe O God the Saviour of Israel but it is onely to see whether we will make any moane after him and lament after the Lord as the Israelites did and groane and grieve for his departure Therefore as our Saviour when he heard them say He whom thou lovest is sicke Iob. 11. 3. he answered This sicknesse is not unto death so when it may be said Hee whom God loveth is forsaken it may be answered This forsaking is not unto death but when they seeme in the sight of others and in their owne sence and feeling to be most rejected and least regarded of God then is God nearest to their helpe and succor In a word there is a twofold desertion the one in sinne the other in punishment God may leave the Righteous to either or both of these that is hee may suffer them to fall into some grievous sinne or he may suffer them to lie long under some grievous punishment and yet not forsake them neither 1. Desertion is sin is when God withdraweth the assistance of his grace and leaves the righteous to fall into some great offence as he did David and divers others and of Hezekiah it is said totidem verbis 2 Chron. 32. 31. That God left him to try out al that was in his heart not but that God knew all before but Hezekiah did not know so much by himselfe nor would not beleeve that he had so bad so base an heart till he tried it and found it by wofull experience therefore God left him to himselfe to pull downe the pride of his heart and to make him humble and vile in his owne eyes Thus God left Saint Peter as you know but wherefore did hee leave him Our Saviour saith it was but onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 22. to sift and winnow him as wheat Looke then what winnowing is unto the wheat a meanes to cleanse it and purge it from drosse and dust and chaffe the same is temptation and sinne to the righteous a meanes through Gods mercy and their owne repentance to make them more cleane more holy more humble in the sight of God And for this cause I suppose that God who if he pleased could easily withhold the righteous from sinne doth yet in his wisedome leave them to themselves and let them fall that by falling they may have experience of their infirmity their infirmitie may draw them to humility humility brings them home to God and in God they have their quietus est a free and full discharge from all their sinnes 2. Desertion in punishment is when God casts the righteous into tribulation and anguish and then seemes to leave them and neglect them and take no notice of the burthen that lies upon them as you read Judg. 6. 13. the Angel of the Lord came unto Gideon and said God is with thee thou mighty man of valour Gideon answered Alas Lord if the Lord be with us how then is all this evill come upon us that good man could not per●wade himselfe but that God had quite forsaken him when he saw there was so much evill come upon them he thought that Gods goodnesse and their evills his mercies and their miseties had beene incompatible and could not have consisted nor stood together But Gideon was mistaken in that and so are the Righteous many a time and oft when they measure Gods presence by prosperity and hi● absence by adversitie For God is not absent when hee punisheth but onely seemes to withdraw himselfe and his favour that the Righteous might draw nearer and creepe closer to God as one that shivers of an Ague drawes neerer and creepes closer to the fire Thus you have seene the priviledge of the Righteous that notwithstanding their sinnes and notwithstanding their punishments yet they are never wholly deserted nor forsaken of the Lord. I come now to the last part of my Text and that is The continuance and succession of Gods favour and mercy that it doth not rest onely upon the Righteous themselves but extendeth and enlargeth it selfe to their posterity and to their seed Nee semen ejus querens panem nor their seed begging their bread This shewes the gracious descent and propagation of Gods blessing when it alights Like the Oyle that was powred on Aarons head it wet not his head and his beard alone as David speaketh Psal 1 33. 2. but went downe to the skirts of his cloathing so the mercy and loving-kindnesse of the Lord doth not rest and remaine onely upon the head of the family upon the righteous parents but descends and runnes downe to the utmost of their posterity and is derived from them unto their ●eed Here then come in two Points worthy to be resolved First

am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes there 's a gratious promise but marke the condition in the next immediate words put me in remembrance saith God and I will doe it and not otherwise for though God remember all our sinnes and can tell them better than our owne soules yet he doth not remember them to our comfort but rather to our confusion unlesse we tell him and put him in remembrance of them so that the onely way to put our sinnes out of Gods remembrance is to put them into his remembrance the onely way to make God forget them is daily and hourely to declare them and put him in minde of them If therefore thou canst not be so good as thou wouldst be not ashamed be not afraid to tell God how evill thou art tell him how ungodly how unthankefull how unprofitable a servant thou hast beene unto him and desire God to mend thee and make thee such a one as he would have thee And as Ioseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and begged the body of Iesus so goe thou to God and begge the Spirit of Iesus even that spirit of Grace and Supplication which the Prophet speakes of Zach. 12. 10. which will come downe from heaven and bring into thy soule first Supplications to prepare thee secondly Grace to assure thee of the free and full forgivenesse of all thy sinnes And then let thy sinnes bee what they will be sinnes of death sinnes of blood sinnes of hell if thou canst finde in thy heart to pray God will finde in his heart to pardon for his Grace is sufficient to doe it That 's the first 2. The second thing whereto the sufficiency of Gods Grace doth belong is Adconsolandum to comfort those sad and heavy hearts that can no other way bee comforted I should have fainted saith David Psal 27. 13. for all my worldly comforts but that I steadfastly beleeved to see the Lords good grace in the land of living that is to see it before he dyed therefore we reade 1. Sam. 30. 6. when he was in great distresse had neither house nor home to shelter him neither wife nor child nor friend be any to comfort to him but his owne very souldiers began to takle of stoning him Then saith the text David comforted himselfe in the Lord his God Heare this thou poore disconsolate man that art as thy Saviour was said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sad round about thou that lookest into thy purse and there is no comfort money is gone that lookest into thy cubbord and there is no comfort provision is gone that lookest into thy barne and store-house and there 's no comfort corne and wares are gone that lookest in thy heart and ther 's no comfort cheerefulnesse and joy is gone Then looke up to God and there is comfort to bee had if there bee any water it is in the sea if there bee any light it is in the sunne if there be any comfort it is in God Therefore the Apostle justly calleth him The God of all consolation 2. Cor. 1. because when all other comforts faile theres's comfort to bee found in God For beleeve this for a truth there is no mans case no mans estate no mans soule is desperate to God but when they are at the lowest ebbe at the rest stay at the most forlorne hope then doth God speake peace unto their soules then doth hee draw out those same vbera consolationes those breasts or dugges of consolation which the Prophet speakes of Esay 66. 11. and drops downe that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sincere milke of heavenly comfort to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart The Hebrewes observe that one and the same word nakam signifieth first to repent and then to comfort and it may bee well applyed to this purpose that true comfort belongs to none but such are truly penitent So our Saviour tells us that the holy Ghost whom he calles the comforter when he commeth the first thing he will doe is to convince the world of sinne that is first put men quite out of comfort in themselves then put them into comfort by their Saviour In a word then forasmuch as comfort cannot be had without repentance nor repentance bee endured without comfort nor either of these bee attained without God it remaines that as the daughter of Caleb besought her earthly father Iud. 1. so we beseech our heavenly Father to give us the springs above as well as the springs beneath I meane that Irriguum superius the spring of grace comfort from above as well as that Irriguum inserius the spring of sorrow and repentance from beneath and then let our discomforts and discontents be what they will wee shall have grace sufficient from God to countervaile them al and as Philip said to our Saviour Iohn 14. 8. Lord shew us the father and it sufficeth us so though our sinnes confound us and our consciences condemne us Lord shew u● thy favour as t is sufficient for us 3. The third is Ad sanandum His Grace is sufficient to cure and heale us of all those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those bodily ailements and infirmities which God for sinne doth inflict upon us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from those scourges and roddes as the holy Ghost termeth sore diseases Luc. 7. 21. for indeed they are the very rods which God useth to chasten and correct us for our follies I say there is no rod so sharpe no disease so sore but Gods Grace is sufficient to heale it and to take it off I am Ropeca saith God Exod. 15. penult I am thy Physitian or I am the Lord that healeth thee and if God be the Phisitian his Grace is the Physicke for whosoever be the instrument of our health God is the Authour his Grace is it that doth the cure Therefore in common speech when any outward malady doth befall us whereof we know no second cause wee use to say and we say well that it came by the Grace of God now if thou beleevest that it came by Gods Grace beleeve this also that by the same Grace it shall in Gods good time be remedied and removed and done away for as S. Iames saith in another case God giveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 4. 6. He giveth more grace and sheweth more favour to heale those that are sicke and broken in heart than to breake their hearts with sickenesse that were well and whole both are from the same Grace but the one more especially the other But then the maine point for satisfaction will be this seeing it is in the power of Gods Grace to cure all infirmities and that in a moment with a word-speaking as the Centurion said Speake but the word and my servant shall be whole Why will God suffer so many of his owne Patients that have no Physitian but

desire of God as it is in the Collect That his speciall Grace may ever more prevent and follow us first that God would prevent us with his Grace to put into our hearts good motions good thoughts and good desires and secondly that it may follow us too as the water of the Rocke followed the Campe of the Israelites to the Land of Promise 1 Cor. 10. 4. so that Gods Grace may follow accompany and goe along with us in this world and never leave us never forsake us till it hath brought us to the end of our Faith which is the salvation of our soules according to that Psal 109. ult Dominus ad dextram c. the Lord is at the right hand of the poore to save him from all them that would condemne his soule where note that he doth not say the Lord is at their left hand which is as I may terme it the lazy hand to save men in their negligent and idle courses But hee is at their right hand which is the working hand to save all them that worke for their salvation and carefully use the meanes to save themselves which thing if thou make a conscience to doe though thy sinnes and thy enemies should conspire to condemne thee Thy God and his Grace will be sufficient to save thee And so at length I am come aboard the last and long-desired part of my text which containes the application of all in particular which hath beene spoken and delivered in generall drawne out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Grace is sufficient for thee so that as it is said of our Saviour Mat. 21. 45. that his doctrine was so punctuall and clapt so close to the consciences of his Auditors that the Pharises knew he meant them so by that time I have done with my text neither will I bee long in doing it I trust you shall perceive that Gods meaning was to you when hee spake to Saint Paul and told him that His Grace is sufficient for him Briefly than see what Paul was and say what thou art if your case bee the same your comfort is the same for God is no accepter of persons his Grace is as sufficient for the one as for the other 1. Saint Paul was Homo in Christo he was a man in Christ as you may see by the second verse of this chapter I knew a man in Christ that was taken up into the third heaven Art thou such a one I meane art thou regenerate and become a new creature for he that is in Christ is a new creature 2. Cor. 5. 17 dost thou daily renew thy repentance and renew thy obedience and renew thy duty and devotion to God and is it a griefe to thy soule that so much of the old leaven thy old corruption remaines still in thy heart Then take this holy Scripture to thy comfort and assure thy selfe though thy conscience disquiet thee Gods Grace will be sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest an old weather beaten sinner an old rusty drunkard swearer and that standest at a stay and gatherest sinne like an old tree that stands and gathers mosse I must say unto thee as Peter said to Symon Magus Act. 8. thou hast neyther part nor portion in this priviledge thou art not a man in Christ and consequently canst claime no interest in the grace and favour of God 2. Saint Paul was Homo in Cruce a man upon the crosse Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ and elswhere Colos 1. 24. I fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh whereupon saith a father quid deest passioni Christi nisi u● nos simil●a patiamur what is or what can be wanting to the sufferings of Christ but that as he tooke up his crosse so we take up ours and follow him for vae portantibus crucem non sequentibus Christum woe to them that are crucified not with Christ that bare the crosse and follow not Christ but turne from him cleane another way It is well knowne that afflictions go under the name of crosses now a crosse was a peece of wood for a malefectour to die on there was no other use of a crosse but that Affliction therefore is called a crosse because it should have the nature and power of a Crosse that is it should be a meanes to crucifie and mortifie all carnall lusts and affections in us that the more we are afflicted the more we should dye to sin and the lesse life and power should our corruptions have in us Thus it was with Saint Paul is it so with thee dost thou wish and desire the death of thy sinnes dost thou make this use of thy afflictions even to die daily as the Apostle speakes dost thou every day drive one naile into the body of sinne I meane one sigh or grone to God against it dost thou labour to draw blood of thy soule as they drew blood of thy Saviour I meane the teares of true repentance and is it a death to thy heart that thou canst not die unto sinne and live unto God as thou shouldest and oughtest to doe Then looke no further for Harts-ease but to the words of my text and assure thy selfe what ever Crosses be upon thee Gods Grace in Gods good time shall bee sufficient to ease thee Contrariewise if thou beest one that dost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Setphen speaketh Acts. 7. ●1 one that dost fall crosse and contrary to all but to thy sinnes and art indeede a very crosse to God himselfe and to his good Spirit by thy perverse ungodly courses I must say unto thee as the Prophet Esay saith Esay 3. 6. Woe bee unto thy soule for thou hast rewarded evill unto thy selfe thou forsakest thy owne mercy and deprivest thy selfe of the comfort of Gods grace in the time of neede 3. Saint Paul was Homo in negotiis a laborious man a man full of imployments 1. Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more then all my fellow Apostles saith hee yet not I but the grace of God which was with mee there 's an honest acknowledgement by whom he profited and elsewhere hee tells the Corinthians 2. Cor. 11. 9. When I was with you and wanted non obtorpui I was not chargeable nor burthensome to any man The learned observe that word hath his weight from Torpedo which signifieth a Cramp-fish a fish they say that hath such a benumming quality that the cold of it will strike from the hook to the lyne from the line to the goad from the goad to the arme from the arme to the body of the fisher and so benum him take away al use and feeling of his limmes His meaning is that he was none of those idle drones that by their lazinesse and lewdnesse doe even chill and benumme and dead the charity of well-disposed people but as he laboured in preaching so hee wrought in his calling too and put himselfe to any paines