give than thou art to aske To hope well of my goodnesse Ibidem is a very token of true humilitie and of great faith What Ibid. looke you to bee all worthy before you make accesse unto mee And of your selfe when will you bee so If onely such as are good Ibid. and worthy and great and perfect should approach unto mee to whom should sinners and publicans approach So then Luke 15. what saith the Gospell Then drew neere unto him all the publicans and sinners for to heare him Therfore let the unworthy approach Kempis that they may become worthy let the wicked approach that they may bee made good let the weake and unperfect approach that they may prove strong and perfect yea let all and every one approach that they may receive from the abundant streames of the well of life Iohn 7. Hee which is a thirst let him come to me and drinke Isay 55. And he which hath nothing let him come and buy without silver and without money Mat 9. Hee that is sicke let him come to be healed Mark 9. Hee that is neither hot nor cold let him come to be inflamed Kempis Hee that is fearfull let him come to bee encouraged Hee that is sorrowfull let him come to bee comforted Idem Hee that is wearied with cares Idem let him come to be refreshed with joy Loe my delight is Idem to bee with the children of men And therefore bee ever mindfull both of your fraile condition Idem and of my glorious Majestie and so with humble reverence approach boldly into my presence For I am hee that putteth away thine iniquities Isa 43. and will not remember thy sins It is I that justifie the ungodly Rom. 4. and this I doe for my holy Name sake yea and I am still ready to minister greater gifts of mercy unto thee Because I doe ever chuse Kempis to shew favour rather than displeasure as one who had rather spare than punish 2 Cor. 1. Blessed bee God even the Father of our LORD JESUS CHRIST the Father of mercies and GOD of all comfort Death Heb. 13.14 HEre have wee no continuing City but wee seeke one to come Luk. 12.4 Be yee prepared for the Sonne of man will come at an houre that yee thinke not Aug. All men know that the day of death will come yet all or almost all doe notwithstanding labour to put it off yea even those who beleeve that after death they shall live more blessedly So great power hath the sweet fellowship of the flesh and soule Take heed watch and pray Mar. 13 33. for yee know not when the time is The last day of our life is unknowne August that all daies may be observed the remedies are too late provided when the dangers of death approach Plato his opinion is Hieron that the whole life of wise men is the meditation of death Wee ought therefore to premeditate what we shall be hereafter and that whether we will or not death cannot be longer from us Hee which is assured hee shall dye Gregor opposeth himselfe against all the desires of this life For the perfect life is a meditation of death which while just men doe performe they escape the snares of sin Aug. That death is not accounted evill which a good life hath gone before Colos 3.2 Set your affection on things above not on things of the earth Gregor If wee consider what and how great things are promised to us in heaven all things in earth will be vile and base in our estimation For earthly substance compared to the heavenly felicity is but an heavy burthen not an helpe and succour This temporall life compared to the eternall is rather to bee accounted a death than a life Eccl. 12.7 Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne unto God who gave it They which desire to bee dissolved Aug. and to bee with Christ doe live patiently and die cheerfully They are not lost Ambros but sent before whom eternity hath received All the daies of my appointed time will I wait Iob 14.14 till my change come For to me to live is Christ Phil. 1.21 and to die is gaine When Christ Colos 3.3 who is our life shall appeare then shall ye also appeare with him in glory The last Iudgement Heb. 9. IT is appointed unto men once to dye but after this the Judgement Rom. 14. Wee shall all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ Eccles 12. For GOD shall bring every worke to judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it bee evill Hieron It is not in us to know the day of Judgement but being alwayes uncertaine of the comming of the Judge let us so live as if we were to bee judged the next day Idem If there bee any joy in this present life let it be so used that the bitternesse of the Judgement to come do not at any time depart out of our memory Nothing doth more set forward an honest life Ambros than to beleeve he shall be judged whom hidden things doe not deceive evill things doe offend and good things doe delight That judge is not prevented by favour Aug. nor led now by mercy nor corrupted with money nor appeased by satisfaction or repentance let the soule while it hath time here labour for it selfe by repentance so long as here is place for mercy because there is the place of Justice God doth so behold our waies and number our steps Greg. moral that evē our smalest thoughts and least words remaine not unexamined in his Judgemēt Psal 37. The Lord knoweth the daies of the upright and their inheritance shall be for ever Ibid. But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of Lambs they shall consume into smoke shall they consume away Chrysost In that day wee have nothing to answer for our selves where Heaven and Earth the Aire and Water and the whole world shall witnesse our sinnes against us And if all else doe hold their peace our thoughts themselves and our works especially shall stand before our eies accusing us before God Bernard That day will come in which upright hearts shall more prevaile than eloquent words a good Conscience more than a full purse because that Judge will not bee deceived by words nor turned by gifts On the right hand Anselm will bee our sinnes accusing us on the left hand innumerable Divels underneath us the terrible deepnesse and darknesse of Hell above the Judge offended without the world burning within the conscience tormenting there shall the just scarce be saved Alas miserable sinner being thus taken unawares whither wilt thou fly for to hide thy selfe is impossible and to appeare
THE SINNERS Sanctuary ISA. 7.55 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him returne unto the Lord and hee will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will abundantly pardon HIERON The Lord doth neither performe the good things which he promised to the Saints if they returne to iniquities nor the evils which hee threatned to sinners if they returne unto salvation By THOMAS PACKER his Majesties Servant LONDON Printed by Iohn Haviland for Edward Blackmore and are to be sold at his shop in S. Pauls Church yard at the signe of the Angel 1638. TO THE CHILDREN of Men. ROM 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God COme now Isa 1.18 and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crymsin they shall be as wooll Have I any pleasure at Ezec. 18.23 all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that hee should returne from his waies and live 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby yee have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel 1 Sa. 12.23 I will teach you the good and the right way 24. Onely feare the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for cōsider how great things he hath done for you Wee must serve the Lord our God Deu. 28.47 with joifulnesse and with gladnesse of heart for the abundance of all things Trust in the Lord with all thine heart Pro. 35. and leane not unto thine owne understanding In all thy waies acknowledge him 6. and hee shall direct thy paths Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust Psal 40.4 And be not conformed to this world Rom. 12.2 but be yee transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God Augustin Doe not understand that thou maist beleeve but beleeve that thou maist understand understanding is the reward of Faith Iohn 11.40 Jesus saith unto Martha Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest beleeve thou shouldest see the glory of God Act. 18.27 When Apollos came into Achaia hee helped them much who had beleeved through grace Isa 7.9 If ye will not beleeve surely yee shall not bee established We beeleve and know Ioh. 6.69 that thou art Christ that Sonne of the living God Teach me good judgement and knowledge Psal 119.66 O Lord for I have beleeved thy Commandements It belongeth to every private man to judge of the doctrine of religion Brentius for satisfaction of his owne conscience and to discerne the truth from falshood That Religion which Lipsius is sincerely taken out of the holy Scriptures is the true and Christian Religion Andrad For they containe the most ample Canon that is the rule and square of Piety Faith and Religion August They have delivered unto us that there is but one God and one Christ one Hope and one Faith one Church and one Baptisme Ferus They are the sole rule of veritie and whatsoever differs or contradicteth the same it is error and cockle with what shew soever it commeth forth They are all plaine to him that understandeth Pro. 3.5 and right to them that finde knowledge All those things which appertaine to faith Aug. and direction of life are laid downe plainly in the holy Scriptures They are manifest to them Epiphan who repaire unto them with a religious heart Let not our Religion therefore consist in our fantasies for any truth Aug. whatsoever it be is better than any thing that can of our own head be devised Aug. Godly humility doth more easily finde out the Maker of the stars than proud curiosity the order of the starres Booke of nature into the book of Grace The depth of Predestination and the manner of Regeneration are difficult points of divine mysteries which a studious Divine an illuminated spirit cannot find out Ibidem Let us religiously adore these things by faith and not curiously search into them by reason further than Gods Word doth allow This is the perfection of the regenerate August If they acknowledge themselves to be imperfect The doctrine of the holy Ghost doth not encourage curiositie Bernard but inflameth charitie When the soule is overcome by the fever Chrysost or fiery heat of imaginations then it questioneth but when it is sound and in good temper it reasoneth not but faithfully beleeveth As zeale must erect our discretion Bernard that wee run not too slowly So discretion must direct our zeale that we run not too fast Aug. God will reveale wisdome onely to such as walke continually in the way of peace not in the way of precisenesse Harsnet Tell me what is not contained in the ten Cōmandements which of a Christian is to bee performed Lactant. When God opened his truth unto us he would have us know those things only which it behooved man to know for obtaining life But of those things which appertained to curious profane desires he spake not that they might bee hidden Why then doest thou seeke those things which thou canst not know neither art thou more blessed if thou knowest them Grace teacheth a man to put his knowledge in practice Harsnet He desires to be taught Idem that he may walke not that he may talke as too many doe Adde to your faith vertue 2 Pet. 1.5 and to vertue knowledge 6. And to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godlinesse 7. And to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse and to brotherly kindnesse charitie 8. For if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Luther in Luke 6. Let us first repose Faith in God alone and then let us direct our works to the benefit of our neighbour As many as will not follow God Idem in Ephes 5. and walke in love and I shew forth their faith by their works are neither the sons of God nor heires of his kingdom What doth it profit Ia. 2.14 my brethren though a man say hee hath faith can faith save him The end of the Commandement is Charity 1 Tim. 1.5 out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeined By faith which is conceived Haymo in the heart professed with the mouth and adorned with good works the just man liveth eternally Cyprian Life is here lost or wonne everlasting salvation is here provided for by the due worshipping of God and the fruits of faith Epiphan For in the age to come after a mans death there is
no more helpe by fasting no more calling to penance no more exhibition of Almes Epiphan It is as the corne that swelleth not after it is reaped neither can bee spoiled with the wind The garners are sealed up the time is past Idem the combat is finished the lists are voided and the garlands are given Aug. Let us therefore bee at one with the word of God while we are in this life for when we are gone out of this world there shall bee no more compunction or satisfaction there remaineth no more but the Judge the Gaolour and the Prison When wee were enemies Rom. 5.10 we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son Heb. 9.26 Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himselfe Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his name whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive remission of sinnes Bellar. Wee confesse that Christ hath truly yea most fully satisfied God the Father for us and for the whole world Aug. JESUS CHRIST taking upon him the punishment but not the fault hath therby blotted out both the fault and the punishment Let us hold fast the profession of our faith Heb. 10. without wavering for hee is faithfull that promised The rule of Catholike faith is certain known Bellar. There is nothing more knowne Idem nothing more certain than the holy Scriptures which are contained in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles They are Catholikes Aug. which be of sound Faith and good life Idem Hereticks doe violate faith by beleeving false things of God Tertul. Whatsoever favoureth against the truth is an heresie be it never so ancienta custome Aug. And schismatiks though they beleeve the same things with us yet doe fly from brotherly Charitie by their wicked divisions Idem Wherefore neither doth the Heretick belong to the Catholike Church because hee loveth not God Nor the Schismatike Idem because he loveth not his neighbour Pure Religion Ja. 1.27 and undefiled before GOD and the Father is this To visit the fatherlesse and the widowes in their affliction and to keepe himselfe unspotted from the world If true charity Casarius and humility be wanting we ought not to presume and trust to the habit only of Religion Let us search Lam. 3.40 and try our waies and turne againe unto the Lord. 25. The Lord is good to them that wait for him to the soule that seeketh him 30. For hee doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men. 1 PET. 2.17 Feare God Honor the King The contents are these viz. THe Sinners conversion Pa. 1 His godly desire 4 His comming unto God 7 His Repentance 10 His Confession 15 His Absolution 19 His amendment of life 23 His assurance of Salvation 30 Gods mercy 34 Death 40 The last Iudgement 44 4. Helps to the amendment of life 1. Prayer 51 2. Reading the Scriptures 55 3. Hearing the Word preached 59 4. Sacraments 62 The holy Eucharist or Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of our Lord. 64 A remembrance of the death and passion of our Saviour Christ 68 Worthy Receivers 70 Vnworthy Receivers 74 Transubstantiation 76 To be received in both kinds 80 The Prayer before receiving the Communion 83 The Prayer after receiving the Communion 85 A Prayer before reading the holy Scriptures 87 A Prayer for faith 88 For Repentance 89 A short and effectuall Prayer 90 The generall Confession 91 A Prayer for the Morning 93 A Prayer for all times 95 A Prayer before going to bed 96 A Psalme of contrition and confession 98 A Psalme for remission 100 A Psalme for mercy and direction 102 A Psalme of confidence in Gods mercie 104 A Psalme of praise 106 THE SINNERS Conversion O Israel Hos 14.1 returne unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Returne unto mee Malac. 3.7 and I will returne unto you saith the Lord of Hosts Our conversion will alwaies finde him prepared August Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God Iam. 4.10 that hee may exalt you in due time Lyra in Eph. Humility is the foundation of the spirituall building Iam. 4.8 Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Greg. Naz. O the readinesse of Gods gratious love O the easinesse of his exorable reconcilement Perkins A man beginning to bee converted is at that instant the childe of God Idem Inward motions and inclinations of Gods Spirit are the materiall beginning of a Sinners conversion Phil. 3.13 For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Luke 15. The prodigall son when he came to himselfe said I will arise and goe to my father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy sonne Ibidem make me as one of thy hired servants And he arose Ibidem and came to his father But when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him Though a man come to the height of vice Chrysost and yet be willing to returne into the way of vertue God receiveth and embraceth him willingly None ought therefore to despaire of pardon Greg. if about the end of their life they turne to repentance And although our conversion be good in our last sicknesse yet is that better Idem which is performed long before our death that wee may with more security passe out of this world Hieron God grant the sinner may be as soone turned to repentance as the Lord is ready to change his determined judgement Ezech. 33. Turne yee turne ye from your evill waies for why will ye dye O house of Israel Lam. 15. Turne thou us unto thee O Lord and wee shall bee turned His godly desire Psal 42. AS the Hart panteth after the water brookes so panteth my soule after thee O God 84. My soule longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God The more earnestly God is desired of us Gregor the more sweetly is hee delighted in us Our desires doe sound more powerfully in the secretest eares of God Idem than our words Hee that searcheth the heart Rom. 8. knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God God hath annexed a promise of blessednesse Perkins and life everlasting to the desire of grace Blessed are they which doe hunger Mat 5. and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be filled August The whole life of a good Christian is an holy will and desire