anguish of some severâ— application I have known a very good Phisitian that when he could not cure the palsie any other way would cast his Patient into a Burning Fever and then he knew what he had to do with him It is necessary that the whole man be distempered and disordered that the mind may be the better brought into an Evangelical frame and teâ—per Agreeable to this method sure was S. Peters practise in the recovery of the 3000. souls we read of Act 2 41 Ye men of Israel hear these words Jâ—sâ—s of Nazareth a man approv'd of God among â—ou by miracles wonders and signes which Gâ—d did by him in the middest of you as ye your selves also know him ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up c. Here was a word of no small terror a word able to break a Jewiâ—h heart in pieâ—es The blood of the Son of God is brought home unto them and laid at their own doors And see what a kind and piercing operation this bitter potion had upon their minds it is said when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and they said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren What shall we do And what â—oes S. Peter prescribe unto them in such aâ— affrighted trembling condition whilst this Ague fit was on them No more but Repentance and Baptisme and then immediatly applies an Evangelical Cordial Repent and be Baptized and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children c. Thus the converted Jaylour being first awakened by an Earthquake that shook the very foundation of the prison and being at his wits end as well as at his swords point upon a supposition his prisoners were escaped he came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said Quid faciam ad Salutem Sirs what must I do to be saved I refuse not to do any thing that may bring me into a Salvable Condition Certainly those hearts are wisely and seasonably broken that are moulded into a present Complyance with any thing that may tend to their comfort and Conversion and the way to have a cleer and a Saving Interest in Christ is to see our selves irrecoverably lost without him There are some dâ—seases in the body contractâ—d with no lesse guilt of conscience then blemish of reputation wherein the patient must be brought as low in his constitution as possibly can be and yet Live his spirits must be exhausted his blood evacuated and changed and the nearer he is brought to the gates of Death the better hopes there is of life and a safe recovery And there are some diseases in the Soul wherein the unseasonable application of Cordials strengthens the peccant humour making it mortal and irrecoverable We read of a sort of Divels that were not to be cast out but by prayer and fasting And there are sins which for their long possession in the soul are not to be ejected but by strong cries and teares by much self denyal and great maceration of Spirit Cordials are then seasonable when the malignity of the disease is killed Healing plaisters are then to be applied when thy wound hath been throughly searched and clensed The Apostles rule is that the old Leven be so purged out that the regenerate man may become a new Lump There were some in the Prophet Jeremies time that thought themselves perfectly clensed and cured when there was no such matter for God tels them that though they washed themselves with nitre and much Sope yet their iniquity was marked out before him Ier. 2. 22. Where let us pause a little and enquire what these spots might be that were so hard to be gotten out and they are expresly set down vers 34. In thy skirts is found the blood of the Souls of the poor Innocents yet thou sayest because I am innocent surely his anger shall turn from me Behold I will plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way So that the Spots which nitre and much Sope will not get out are these Three which I shaâ—… leave our Ierusalem to enquire after withâ—… her own walls There is first the deep scarlet spot of Blood-guiltiness especially if it be Sanguis Animarum the blood of souls that perish for want of sharp and sincere reproofs Secondly there is the white spot of pretended sanctity and impunity notwithstanding all their guilt and Thirdly there is the changeable spot of gadding Inconstancy when men reel too and fro and stagger from one extream into another and without fixing upon any certain principles Act and drive on furiously like Jehu according as necessity or advantage shall direct them And would you know the reason how the disease in this people came to be thus desperate the same Prophet will inform ye Jer. 6. 14. They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace peace when there is no peace They skinned the wound without searching it to the quick and lest the corruption in the bottom which made the wound to fester inwardly and to grow desperate and incurable So that the first step to the cure of the infatuated spirit is to deal impartially with the disease The best expedient to bring a man to believe and rely on Christ for life and salvation is to represent cleerly his condition out of Christ to be an estate of death and damnation And the more we are ashamed and confounded at the sight of our own ugly selves the more amiable and acceptable we shall appear in the sight of our Redeemer God hath erected two Tribunals unto which all men living are summoned to appear there to give an account of themselves The one is within our own wals as I may so speak within our own Souls and that is the Tribunal of Conscience In which Tribunal there is an undoubted power of acquitting and condemning as the Delinquent shall be found more or lesse guilty Which I take to be very cleer from that of S. John If our Heart Condemn us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things that is he knoweth more by us then we do or can know by our selves But if our Heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Ioh 20. 21. The other is that grand Tribunal of Iudgement whereunto all the world shall be summâ—nâ—d at the General Resurrection which shal be in that place which God shall chuse for the manifestation of his mercy and Justice upon all men according as their works shall be Now in secular and Iudicial Proceedings for a man to have leave to make choice of his own Iudicatory his own Iudge his own Iury witnesses is so high an Indulgence advantage that it cannot be expected from any earthly power yet the great Iudge of Heaven and Earth men
theames it is but in order unto this end which is the grand designe of our profession And therefore if there be here any drooping or dejected Soul that groanes and labours under the weight of any burthen either of Guilt or misery I shall say unto that Soul as was said to blind Bar timeus Be of good Comfort rise Iesus thy Saviour calleth thee His invitation is most Gracious and Pathetical Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy ladenâ— and I will refresh yee Come unto me all yee that have hitherto rejected my messages of peace and Love minding your faâ—mes your oxen your wives that is your pleasure and your profit more then my seasonable invitations Yee that have forgotten me in the day of your peace and prosperity and denyed and abjured me and my Gospel in the day of your Tryal and persecâ—tion Come unto me all yee that have wearied me with your Iniquities â—…de me to serve with your sins yee that have peirced and scourged and crucified me again afresh by your backâ—…iding and impenitency yee that have so often grieved my good spirit that would have sealed you unto the day of your Redemption Come unto mee all yee that have mangled and torn the seamlesse coate of my Church to carve unto your selves your own base ends and advantages yee that have made my house of pray'r a den of thievs yee that have persecuted and wounded me in my poor members yee that have imprisoned and impoverished my Embassadours and dethroned and murthered mine own Anointed yet come unto me however you shall not be upbraided with the foulnesse of your sins only come with broken hearts with bleeding Souls with the sighs and groanes of Labouring and heavy laden Consciences and I will refresh you If you shall still obscure and justify your sins you shall not prosper but if you shall Confesse and for sake them you shall find mercy Are you stung with the guilt you have Contracted by your voluntary presumptuous sins Behold I am that brazen Serpent that healeth all that look up unto me He that believeth in me shall not perish but have life everlasting Are your souls full of Leprosy and uncleaness your vital spirits surprized by the plague of the Heart your Consciences stabbed to death by your own deliberate wounds Behold I am that Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world My blood is that fountain which was opened purposly for sin and for uncleanesse That Bethesda pool that cureth all diseaâ—es whatsoever Are your hearts as hard as the nether milstone or as the Adamant It is said that the Adamant it self is broken â—…th goates blood Behold I am that Scape Goate that â—ear on my head alone the iniquites and transgressions of the whole world I never did reject any that came to be healed of their bodily infirmities and I never will reject any that shall come to me for any Spiritual Cure But the wounded spirit will perhaps reply Tistrue I know I am fairely Invited by my Saviour but with this proviso that I bring a true saith a sincere repentance along with me And these jewels are not lodged within my Cabinet These flowers grow not within the garden of my Soul I desire to repent with all my heart but I cannot and I would gladly believe but I find I am not able Well however be not discouraged There is some life even in this deadnesse of spirit There is some secret sparke of Grace even in this smoaking flaxe which hath a promise it shall not be quenched He that hath promised to accept of a willing mind according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not will entertain and reward even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple He that had respect unto the short prayer of the poor dejected Publican will have respect aâ—…o unto thee if thou be but as humble as that Publican He that raiseth in the Soul a blessed hunger and thirst after righteousness hath also 〈◊〉 sed that Hunger and Thirst shal not be 〈◊〉 but that he will give to him that is a thirst to drink of the water of life freely He that gâ—veth both to will and to perform according to his own good pleasure will in his own good time fulfil the desire of those that fear him So that let this be layd for a solid ground and foundation of Christian Comfort That the Desire of mercy in the want of mercy is a real mercy and the desire of Grace in the want of Grace is Grace it self And if thou do not quench these inchoations of Grace and obstruct its operation and progresse whensoever the spirit of God shall blow upon these little sparks thou shalt find them grow and increase into a Coale into a flame enough to chear and warm the soul with Celestial Comfort Hence it is that the Kingdom of God is compaâ—ed to a grain of mustard seed which is reputed to be one of the least of all seeds and yet the Kingdom of God is entirely contained in this single Grain Hence it is that Grace is compared to a little leven in three mâ—asures of meal which in time will leven the whole lump There is a time when Holy purposes are taken and accepted for good performances I wâ—ll go unto my father saith the prodigal and behold his father comes out to meet his son I said I will confesse my sin unto the Lord said David and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin And the same good King did but purpose in his heart to build God an House and it was accepted as well as if it had been done and in acknowledgement hereof God promised to establish his house and his Kingdom upon his posterity for ever God accepts of such payment as we are able to make though it be in small pieces or perhaps in coyn that is cracked or clipped and wants its full weight yet if it be not false and counterfeit it shall not be turned back upon us And truly he that grieves and bemoanes himself because he cannot grieve for his sins or because he cannot grieve so much as he dâ—sires is in a Certain way unto that repentâ—nce which is never to be repented of Nay give me leave to go one degree farther Doest thou find thy soul ensnared with the Cords and Customes of thine own twisting or art thou so much a stranger to thy self that thou darest not look into thy dangerous and suspected Condition doest thou feel the throbs and horrors of a wounded Conscience the pangs of Hell and Despair growing upon thy Soul yet give me leave to aske thee this one Question Doest thou notwithstanding thy present fear and horror Love thy Lord and maker or if thou canst not cleerly reply to that Canst thou but resolve me of thy Love to thy neighbour not because he is thy neighbour or thy friend or perhaps thy Companion in evil wayes but because he
be where in it is sown The Doctrine of the scripture is alwaies sin ere Heb. 5. 14. milk what ever the stomack be wherein it is received The mysteries of the Gospel are alwaies strong meat what ever the constitution be that should digest it and what ever may be inferred either from the doctrine and practise of the Church of Rome to draw contempt upon that Sacred ordinance of preaching or from the vilany and infelicity of these times wherein all Religion seems to be resolved into hearing and our English Nation without the hands of a Bishop turned all into Ecclesiasticks Yet I dare affirm the natural life may as well be sustained without the supply of our daily bread as that Grace the life of the soul can without a miracle either increase or be preserved without the constant nourishment of this Heavenly manna S. Paul makes the preaching of the word one of the main hinges whereupon our Salvation depends First he lays this down for a ground which he derives from the Prophet Ioel. Whosoever shall Call on the name of the Lord shall be saved And from thence he argues thus How then shall they call on him iâ— whom they have not believed and how shall they believe on him of whom they Ioel 2 32. Rom 10. 13. 14. have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent that is lawfully and Ecclesiastically ordained and appointed thereunto The Gospel of Christ is the great Eph. 1. 13. power of God unto Salvation The businesse of our ministry is nothing else but a spiritual negotiation for your peace and atonement and the word we preach when we speak as we ought to speak is a word of truth wherein you cannot be deceived in us you may in it you Eph. 1. 13. Act. 14. 3. cannot It is a word of Grace not only Originaliter as descending unto you from the fountain of all Grace but Effective a fruitful word in begetting Grace in the heart It is a word of promise Rom 9. 9 wherein you have the richâ—s of Gods mercy like unto a cabinet of invaluable jewels laid open and presented to your own choise and acceptation and it is a word of faith too that helps you to an hand whereby you are able to lay hold on those precious and soul saving promises It is a word of Reconciliation 2. Cor. 5. 19. when you are at variance with God when you have sinned your selves out of his favour and protection and want an expedient to take up the difference It is a word of Salvation when Act. 13. 26. you are ready to sink under the burden of your own guilt and desperation It is a word of comfort and assurance of Gods favour in the most tempestuous and stormy weather of affliction 〈◊〉 word of Consolation in the houre oâ— death and when this bubble life shalâ— expire you shall then find it by expâ—… riâ—nâ—e to be a word of Eternal life So that as S Paul reasons in anotheâ— Ioh. 6. 68 case concerning the Law That thougâ— the law might be the Instrument of sin and of Death and Condemnation yeâ— God forbid saith he that I should conclude any otherwise but that thâ— law is blamelesse and the Commandmeâ—… holy and just and good so God forbid Rom. 7. 12. we should complain of the good word of God as of a killing letter becausâ— some hearts are already dead in trespasses and sins God forbid we should complain of the light of the sun because some mens sore eyes are ofsended at its brightnesse and luster God forbid we should complain of the wholson favour of this Celestial salt because some mens wounds and galled Con. sciences cannot endure the sharp and searching quality of it But as it fared with the Christians in some persecutions when ever the Heathens were oppressed with any calamity the general clamour and vogue oâ— the people was presently Christianoâ— ad Leones away with the Christians to the Lyons or as it was the blind and Bedlam clamour of the bewitched multitude at Westminster to cry out for Iustice and Execution against his Sacred Majesty of incomparable memory as if his innocent and pious life which now too late they see was under the Divine goodnesse the life of the Kingdoms peace and felicity had been the obstruction of it So is it very usual with Tom fool and Tom a Bedlam being smitten or angred by another to strike him that stands next to him or like peevish and crazy patients who are wont to cry out upon the physitian and medicaments because they themselves are perverse and will not take them or their stomacks crude and corrupt that they cannot digest them Thus we have seen a wicked and adulterous Generation from some errors in some Bishops conclude that excellent and Apostolique order to be Antichristian Thus we see men daylie rave in their mad fits and cry out with the priest and the Iesuite ye see what comes of so much preaching as if the errors and exorbitancies of some preachers could with any reason or Iustice be fastned upon that Sacred ordinance of preaching Certainly there could be no religion left remaining in the world if the bare abuse of what is Sacred and Salubrious should take away the lawful use of it then muâ—… we discard our Sacraments as well 〈◊〉 Sermons and our Bible as well as both for these God help us are day lie mucâ— abused by Hypocrites and profane persons No let us evâ—r blesse God for this and all other means of Grace and spiritual advantage and let it be our wisdom and care to make such use of them whilst we have them as that we nevâ—… provoke him to deprive us of them how severly soever the word of God or his ministers may deal with us oâ— our dearest sins yet let us ever give 〈◊〉 old Elys esteem and entettainment Gooâ— is the word which the Lord hath spokeâ— though it should bring a Curse upoâ— our selves or families We are now in the next place to look upon the different operation aâ—… effect which the good word of God produceth in the hearts of men We read in Ezra 3. that when the Iews returned from Babylon by the favour and permission of Cyrus to build again thâ— Temp'e at Ierusalem it is said thaâ— many of the standers by wept with 〈◊〉 loud voyce when the foundation wâ—… layd and many shouted aloud for joy Thâ— Ezra 3. 12. act of Building was the same and thâ— persons were all equally concerned iâ— it as in the restauration of their religion and yet see what contrary passions in their extremities are derived from the same object The Crucifixion of our blessed Saviour was so sad a spectacle that the Sun in the Firmament seemed to turn away from beholding it and yet its observable what a strange and different operation this dismal object wrought in the minds of the two
is a Christian a Child of God a member of Christ one that makes Conscience of his wayes Doest thou love him for the pious and gracious Enclinations thou findest in him if thou doest Be of good Comfort Here is a Comfortable testimony that God hath set his Love upon thee though thou discern it not Hereby saith S. John do we know that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren Where Love is not the cause but the Evidence and reflection of Gods favour and Benignity towards us And Certainly this tribute of Love whether it be to God or our neighbour is but Leve onus facile jugum There is nothing more easie then Love nothing more acceptable then love nothing more ample difusive in its dilating and spreading Quality then Love It wil obscure and hide a multitude of sins from the severe wrath of God It is the fulfilling of the Law It beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things Endureth all things It hath a flame that neither men nor Divels neither Sin nor Death is able to extinguish A wicked world may strip me of my Estate Imprison Confine my person Take away my Life It cannot take away my Love Without Love were I furnished with Angelical knowledge and expression Had I faith enough to remove mountaines Compassion enough to sell all I had to feed the poor and Constancy enough to endure the flames of Martyrdome yet without Love all this would profit me nothing Nay when other Graces shall expire and be no longer serviceable unto me my Love shall last and abide wâ—th me for ever For when my saith shall be resolved into vision my Hope into fruition my Love shall follow me beyond the gates of Death and be my Companion unto all Eternity So that Love being the pulse that represent us spiritually alive or dead The Crisis that determines of our diseases whether they be Curable or not let us ever have a wary eye upon all such things as eject and destroy Love and therefore as grievances unto the Holy spirit of Love Let all bitternesse and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away with all malice Eph. 4. 31. For sins of Ignorance or sins of Infirmity a pardon of Course may be easily obtained from the Throne of mercy but for sins of malice and perversnesse mercy is restrained and shut up God will not â—e mercifull unto such as ofâ—end of malicious wickednesse He that will not pay so easie a Tribute as that of Love is an irrecoverable rebel and not fit to be owned for a subject of Christs Kingdom Secondly whilst the soul is upon its recovery from a disease of Senslesnesse and stupidity let us ever have an especial care to avoid those sins which do Devastare Conscientiam demolish dismantâ—e and make Shipwrack of Conscience For Conscience is both the eye and the Awe of the Soul the Monitor in the School of the inward man the Superintendent or supervisor of thoughts words and actions without which the Soul is like a Ship without its Rudder that cannot put to Sea without ineviâ—able losse and hazard Great sins like Davids murther and Adultery cast a man into a deep sleep or rather into a Swoon They deprive a man of all sense and motion There is nothing so peâ—nicious as a Relapse to a mâ—n that is in a hopeful way of recovery Thirdly being recovered into some reasonable degree of Health and strength Let us be sure to have a constâ—nt recourse application to those meanes of Grace whereby the inward man receives his dayly growth and nourishment We read Mark 5. That when our Saviour had recovered the ruler of the Synagogues daughter from death to Life he Commanded that somthing should be given her to eate Sure I am â—he â—oul that is once recovered from the death of sin to the life of Grace hath great need of Spiritual nourishment of Sermoâ—s and Sacraments of Ministerial Aâ—solution and all Evangelical heâ—pes and comforts that may promote the assurance oâ— our Election and may enable us to work out our Salvation with fear and Trembling Lastly To these give me leave to recommend to your Care and practise those grand helpes aâ—d assistances of Prayer and Almes giving which are as the props and buttresses whereon the Soul stands firme and unshaken in the day of her visitation It is said of Zacheus the Publican that he stood forth and said unto Christ Behold Lord the halfe of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him soure fold A resolution doublesse of one that had entertained Christ in his Heart as well as in his House And upon the growth of the Gospel in the Apostles Times we read of divers which formerly used Curious Arts that brought their books together and burned them before all men to the value of fifty thousand pieces of Silver When the Artists of this jugling Age will diâ—claime before all men the Curious and fine spun Arts they have used for the gaining of their ends and advantages I know not Or when the Publicans and notorious Sinners of our Nation will have so much Charity as to give the halfe of their goods to those poor which themselves have made or so much Honesty to restore in any proportion what they have taken from their brethren by false acousation I cannot say Sure I am a day will come when they shall not carry all things by voting as they please when all their usurped power and greatnesse will but encrease the stink and nastinesse of their unsavory Memory when the Spirits which these Chymists have extracted from Sacriledge Rapine and Innocent blood will serve only to put them into a Condition to be more Capable and sensible of Torment In the prevention of which all that can be done by them or further advised by me is but this That they would seasonably entertain that councel which the prophet Daniel gave to King Nebuchadnezzar when a judgement was gone out against him namely To break of their sins by righteousnesse and their Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor That they would according to our Saviours advice make themselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse That they would not think it a piece of Popery to demonstrate their Repentance by Restitution and Satisfaction as farre as may be And if a Compensation cannot be made in Specie as to particular injuries and oppressions yet they have an object large enough if they please to look upon it Indeed I know not well how they should be able to look of it Sure they cannot but understand their brethren whom they have driven into exilement and extremities abroad are ready to starve in the streets of strangers They cannot remove themselves I me sure from the Cries and Complaints of the fatherlesse and widdow at home The Sorrowful sighing of poor prisoners cannot but come before them And if all these could he obscured yet I shall desire them to believe That I do not remember them of these objects and inducements unto Charity out of any other respect more then out of pitty and Charity to their immortal Souls Let them therefore render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods and unto themselves and their own Conscâ—ences the Care that belongs to their eternaâ— pâ—eservatâ—on I shall Close up this discourse with the observation of a Command which I find in the Levitical law And it is thâ—… Whatsoever uncleanesse it be that a man is defiled withal and it be hid from him when he knoweth of it then he shall be guilty Or if a soul swear pronouncing with his lips to do evil or to do good whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath and it be hid from him when he knoweth of 〈◊〉 thâ—n he shall be guilty in one of these And it shall be when he shall be guilty in one of the things that he shall Confesse that he hath sinned in that thing What pollution and defilement of miâ—… and Conscience the world is guilty 〈◊〉 in its present General Defection from the Gospel or how far mens souls are â—ainâ—ed with this Diâ—…aâ— of spiriâ—ual Infatuation I know 〈◊〉 What Oâ—thes and engageâ—…nts â—…n haâ—…â—…ke◠〈◊〉 God and their King and â—ith 〈◊〉 Conscience and Intâ—grity they have 〈…〉 shall 〈◊〉 all men to know from themselves into whose â—anâ—s thâ—se papers of mine shall come Is this Treatise by the good blessing of God shall be so fortunate as to shew unto any the errors and iniquities of their Blind and Bedlam wayes I shall humbly and earnestly desire that I may reape the benefit of their prayers and God the Honour of their Conversion FINIS Soli Deo Gloria
in the robbing of a glorious Church in the deliberatâ— breaking of so many sacred Oaths and Engagements in the ruine of so many thousand families in the â—nsnaring so many thousand souls by irreligious engagements to maintain these men in their wickedness but must all this be disguised with pretensions of piety and reformation Can they find no other answer for themselves when they are pressed with arguments drawn from Reason Law Scripture but must they father all their wickedness upon God himself â—y deriving it from the direction of his sacred Spirit Mâ—st the Dove of peace and love be entitled to their â— erciless bloody executions Must the Spâ—rit of meekness and condescertion be made the Patron of their Tyrannie and Ambâ—tâ—on The spirit that worketh sorrow and reluctancy for sin be brought to countenance their justification and perseveranâ—e in sin Oh let it never be told in Gath nor published in the streets of Ascalon Let â—ot the unbelieving Jews nor the sons of Mahoâ—er nor the Savage Indians ever come to hear what a generation of vipers and prodigious monsters hath been hatched and fomented under the sunshine of the Gospel How will our Enemies abroad reproach and Blasphemâ— our Religion when these shall be underâ—…ood to be the fruits of it in its faâ—sly pretended puritie and Reformation Whether that Blasphemy which the scribes that came from Ierusalem were guilty of in attributing the dispossession of unclean spirits which they saw our Saviour did by the finger of God to be done by Beelzebub were specifically that irremisâ—ible Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost I will not determine But this I will say That to Attribute the works of the most high God to Beelzebub and to attribute the works of Beelzebub to the most highGod are Blasphemies of the same Parallel if any thing make the difference it s the Quo animo of the iniquity For men to say when they have nothing else to say in defence of their Enormities that what they do they do by the dictate and direction of Gods holy spirit is so bold and fearful a Blasphemy that I am ready to tremble at the naming of it But whether these pretences derive from malice or obstinacy or a dissembled Iustification of what they know to be Guilt of an high nature I cannot possibly determine I shall from hence admire only the power and prevalency of this charm of Infatuation that will neither suffer men to look upwards towards their God nor inwardly upon themselves nor backwards upon their guilty actions but hurries them on with Corah Dathan and Abiram into a Justification of their Rebellion against Moses and Aaron and God himself so long till they are swallowed up quick of Death Desperaâ—ion And therefore my advise shall be the same that Moses gave the rest of the people that were not of that Conspiracy Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs or touch not with them lest yee be Consumed in their sins And let every man that would preserve the life of his Happinesse in the comfort and cleernesse of his conscience say with good old Jacob O mâ— soul come not thou into their secret mine honor be not thou engaged or do not subscribe their engagement lest thou eate of such things as please them and thy mind and thy Conscience be defiled and ensnared to thine inevitable ruin And this I conceive may not be propounded unseasonably unto such as either have twisted with these men without repenting all this time of the error of their doings or such as are at present their secret friends and Agents or such as may hereafter be tempted into a Compliance either for fear of their present power or which is worse for filthy Lucre sake And for our brethren and friends of the Scottish Natâ—on I could wish they would seriously consider of this one thing That the best way to satify the fears and jealousies which are at present upon them and their councelâ— and the best assurance they can give his Majesty of their sincerity unto him in all respects must be taken from the sight and the Sorrow and the humble owning of those errors wherein they were unfortunatly engaged against his Royal Father I shall not hunger after any of their Confessions whether Publike or private nor will I adventure to Censure their intendments Only I hope I may have leave to entertain some fears that they will not set this King upon his Fathers Throne till themselves have set themselves in the stool of repentance on another score then what hath been lately practised in Scotland The best way I can proâ—ound for them to set a Crown of gold on this Kings head is to have their hearts thoroughly pricked with those thornes they platted in his Fathers Crown if they are really ambitious of the honour of restoring the rights of the Crown and revenging the blood of their martyred Soveraign upon his cruel enemies they need not be ashamed in some measure to begin with themselves But if a professed Recantation be too severe a pennance for men that would be thought they cannot err yet let their hearts â—e but affected with such a close and inward sorrow as that The searcher of all hearts may accept of it and let their resolutions for the time to come be such as that the God of Truth and mercy may blesse and prosper them into on ample ripe harvest of true Christian Honour and that the world may read the disavowing of their former errors if in no other character yet in the sincerity and gallantry of their future actions and atchievements Having shewed the Nature Causes and Symptomes of Spiritual Infatuation and with a faithful and impartial hand searched this wound unto the bottom shall I now with the Priest and the Levite passe by and leave a soul stript and robbed and wounded unto death and take no care no Compassion upon so sad a spectacle What Is there no Balme in Gilead for this deadly wound Is there no oyl of mercy to be applyed to the obstinate and obdurate sinner Doubtlesse so long as there is life there is Hope and so long as theâ—e is Hope the Physitian cannot fairely desert his Patient And because it is safer erring with too much Charity then with too little Because it is an inconsiderate Temerity to confine the boundlesse Ocean of Gods mercy to the narrow mouthed bottles of our own uncertain fallible Conception I shall open a door of Hope as far as the unerring Oracles of God shall authorize me and the first thing I shall pâ—opound to the Inâ—atuated spirit is That there is a possibility of being Cured I know well there is a Iudâ—cial kind of Hardnesse when God withdrawes the sweet influence of his Grace and delivers a man up unto himself without ever looking more after him That there is a sin unto Death â—hat strikes the Church with Dumbnesse that sâ—e cannot pray for it