thou and thy money perish Thou wouldest go the naturall Way to work What shall I do to inherit eternall life but it is impossible to inherit it by any thing that wee can do for all our righteousnesses are as filthy ragges Isa. 64. 6. Yea if our doings could have done it Christ dyed in vain whereas if Christ had not died wee had perished every mothers child of us 1 Cor. 15. 22. and 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Ephes. 2. 1. Colos. 2. 13. Ezek. 18. 4. Job 11. 50. Rom. 5. 6. 8. and 14. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 3. Matth. 18. 11. O fool dost thou not know that our sins are his sins and his righteousness our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Psal. 4. 1. and that God esteems of Faith above all other graces deeds or acts of thine as what did our Saviour answer when the people asked him What shall wee do that wee might work the works of God The work of God is that yee beleeve on him whom hee hath sent Joh. 6. 28 29. and yet thou talkest of thy worthiness and thou takest this for humility too but it is pride for if thou wouldest deny thy self and bee nothing in thine own eyes renounce thine own righteousness and wholly and onely rest on thy Saviour Jesus Christ for thy salvation thou wouldest not hope the more in regard of thine own worthiness nor yet doubt in respect of thine own unworthiness But thou wouldest first bee worthy and deserve of God and then accept of Christ and deserve Christ at Gods hands by thy good works and graces which pride of thine and opinion of merit is a greater sin then all thy other sins which thou complainest of and except you do abandon it and wholly râ—…ly upon the grace and free mercy of God for salvation Christ shall profit you nothing Gal. 2. 16. and 5. 1. to 7. Colos. 3. 11. for nothing is available to salvation but faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. whence it is called righteousness through faith ver 5. Faith is the staffe whereupon wee stay our selvs in life and death by saith wee are blessed Gal. 3. 9. by faith wee rejoice in tribulation Rom. 5. 2. by faith wee have access unto God Ephes. 3. 12. by faith we overcome the world 1 Joh. 5. 4. the flesh Gal. 5. 24. and this is the shield whereby wee quench the fiery darts of Satan and resist his power Ephes. 6. 16. Yea whosoever seeks to bee justified by the Law they are abolished from Christ and â—…aln from grace Gal 5. 4. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and bee not tangled again with the yoke of bondage And say Lord wee are not worthy to bee servants and thou makest us sons nay heirs and co-heirs with thee of everlasting glory Objection I grant the Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin but hee is just aswell as mercifull and therefore hee will not acquit the wicked Exod. 34. 6. 7. but reward them according to their works Revel 20. 12. 13. and 22. 12. Answer Hee will therefore pardon all thy sins if thou unfainedly â—…pent and wholly rely upon Christ for thy salvation by a lively saith because hee is just for as the Lord cannot in justice let sin go unpunished for the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. Death in the person if not in the surety and therefore hath punished the sins of all men either in his Son or will throughly punish them in the parties themselvs so the same justice will not admit that the same fins should be twice punished once in our Saviour and again in the faithful or that a debt once paid should be required the second time 1 Joh. 1. 9. Now that Christ hath sufficiently satisfied for all the sins of the faithful and paid our debt even to the utmost farthing it is evident by many places of Scripture as Isa. 53. 4. 5. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Heb. 9. 26. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Rom. 3. 25. 26. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 9. and sundry others Are we bound to perform perfect obedience to the Law hee performed it for us were wee for disobedience subject to the sentence of condemnation the curse of the Law and death of body and soul hee was condemned for us and bore the curse of the law hee died in our stead an ignominious death did wee deserve the anger of God hee indured his fathers wrathfull displeasure that so he might reconcile us to his father and set us at liberty Hee that deserved no sorrow felt much that wee who deserved much might feel none and by his wounds wee are healed Isa. 53. 5. Adam eat the Apple Christ paid the price In a word whatsoever wee owed Christ discharged whatsoever we deserved he suffered if not in the self same punishments for hee being God could not suffer the eternall torments of Hell yet in proportion the dignity of his person being God and Man giving value unto his temporary punishments and making them of more value and worth than if all the world should have suffered the eternall torments of Hell for it is more for one that is eternall to die than for others to die eternall Therefore was the Son of God made the Son of man that the Sons of men might bee made the Sons of God and therefore was hee both God and man lest being in every respect God he had been too great to suffer for man or being in every respect man hee had been too weak to satisfie God Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ hath fully discharged our debt and made full satisfaction to his Fathers justice God cannot in equity exact of us a second paiment no more than the Creditor may justly require that his debt should bee twice paid once by the Surety and again by the Principall Again secondly it is the Lords Covenant made with his Church and committed to writing Jer. 31. 34. Heb. 10. 16 17. Psal. 32. 10 Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 21 22 23. and 33. 11. Mal. 3. 17. Confirmed and ratified by his seals the Sacraments together with his Oath that there might be no place left for doubting for God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of promise the stableness of his counsell bound himself by an oath that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible that God should lie we might have strong consolation as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 17. 18. And â—…est the affâ—…icted conscience should object that hee entred into covenant and made these promises to the Prophets Apostles and holy men of God but not to such hainous and rebellious sinners who have most justly deserved that God should pour out upon them the Vialls of his wrath and those fearfull punishments threatned in the Law All the promises made in the Gospel are generall indefinite and universall excluding none that turn from their fins by unfained repentance and beleeve in Christ
bee raised up by the Gospell that wee must dye unto sin before wee can live unto righteousness and become fools before wee can bee truly wise In the work of Redemption hee gives life not by life but by death and that a most cursed death making that the best instrument of life which was the worst kind of death Optimum fecit instrumentum vitae quod erat pessimum mortis genus In our effectuall vocation hee calls us by the Gospell unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the world meer foolishness And when it is his pleasure that any should depend upon his goodness and providence hee makes them feel his anger and to bee nothing in themselvs that they may rely altogether upon him Thus God works joy out of fear light out of darkness and brings us to the Kingdom of heaven by the Gates of hell according to that 1 Sam. 2. ver 6. 7. And wherein does thy case differ Hee sends his Serjeant 〈◊〉 arrest thee for thy debt commands thee and all thou hast to bee 〈◊〉 But why onely to shew thee thy misery without Christ that so 〈◊〉 maist seek to him for merby for although hee hides his fatherly 〈◊〉 as Joseph onoe did his brotherly his meaning is in conclusion to forgive thee every farthing Matth. 18. 26 27. And dost thou make thy slight sufferings an argument of his displeasure for shame mutter not at the matter but bee silent It is not said God will not suffer us to bee tempted at all but that wee shall not bee tempted above that wee are able to bear 1 Cor. 10. 13. And assure thy self what ever thy sufferings bee thy saith shall not fail to get the victory as oil over-swims the greatest quantity of water you can powr upon it True let none presume no not the most righteous for hee shall scarcely bee saved 1 Pet. 4. 18. yet let him not despair for hee shall bee saved Rom. 8. 35. Onely accept with all thankfulness the mercy offered and apply the promises to thine own soul for the benefit of a good thing is in the use wisdom is good but not to us if it bee not exercised cloth is good but not to us except it be worn the light is comfortable but not to him that will live in darkness a preservative in our pocket never taken cannot yield us health nor baggs of money being ever sealed up do us any pleasure no more will the promises no nor Christ himself that onely summum bonum except they are applied Yea better there were no promises than not applied The Physician is more offended at the contempt of his Physick in the Patient than with the loathsomness of the disease And this I can assure thee if the blood of Christ bee applied to thy soul it will soon stanch the blood of thy conscience and keep thee from bleeding to death 1 Joh. 1. 7. But secondly instead of mourning continually as the tempter bids thee rather rejoice continually as the Apostle bids thee 1 Thes. 5. 16. Neither think it an indifferent thing to rejoice or not to rejoice but know that we are commanded to rejoice to shew that wee break a commandement if wee rejoice not Yea wee cannot beleeve if wee rejoice not for faith in the commandements breeds obedience in the threatnings fear in the promises comfort True thou thinkest thou dost well to mourn continually yea it is the common disease of the innocentest souls but thou dost very ill in it for when you forget to rejoice in the Lord then you begin to must and after to fear and after to distrust and at last to despair and then every thought seems to be a sin against the holy Ghost Yea howmany sins doth the afflicted conscience record against it selfe repenting for breaking this commandement and that commandement and never repenteth for breaking this commandement rejoice evermore But what 's the reason Ignorance thou thinkest thy self poor and miserable and onely therefore thinkest so because thou knowest not thy riches and happiness in Christ for else thou wouldest say with the Prophet Habbakuck in the want of all other things I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Habbak 3. 17 18. Thou wouldest rejoice that thy name is written in the book of life as our Saviour injoines Luk. 10. 20. though thou hadst nothing else to rejoice in But it is nothing to be blessed untill we understand ourselvs to be so wherefore Thirdly wait Gods leisure with patience and hold fast to him in all pressures Time saith Seneca is the best Physick for most diseases for the body and so likewise for the soul if it bee an afflicted conscience waiting Gods leisure for the assurance of his love is the best remedy and so in all other cases Section 10. Ob. But when will there bee an end of this long disease this tedious affliction this heavie yoake of bondage c. Answ. It is a signe of cold love scarce to have begun to suffer for Christ and presently to gape for an end It was a far better speech of one Lord give mee what thou wilt as much as thou wilt when thou wilt Thou art Gods Patient prescribe not thy Physiâ—…ian It is the Gold-Smiths skill to know how long his gold must bee in the Crusible neither takes hee it out of that hot bath till it bee sufficiently purified What if the Lord for a time forbear coming as Samuel did to Saul that hee may try what is in thee and what thou wilt do or suffer for him that hath done and suffered so much for thee as why did God set Noah about building the Ark an hundred and twenty years when a small time might have finished it It was for the triall of his patience Thus hee led the Israelites in the desarts of Arabia forty years whereas a man may travell from Ramesis in Egypt to any part of Canaan in forty days this God did to prove them that hee might know what was in their hearts Deu. 8. 2. Hee promised Abraham a son in whom hee should bee blessed this hee performed not in thirty years after Hee gave David the Kingdom and anointed him by Samuel yet was hee not possessed of it in many years in so much that hee said Mine eyes fail for thy Word Psal. 119. 123. Joseph hath a promise that the Sun and Moon should do him reverence but first hee must bee bound in the Dungeon This God doth to try us for in these exigents we shew our selvs and our dispositions What saith God to his people in their misery Psal. 75. When I see convenient time I will execute judgment ver 2. hee doth not say when you think the time convenient Let us tarry a little the Lords leisure deliverance will come peace will come joy will com in mean while to 〈◊〉 â—…nt in misery makes misery no misery Again secondly hee may delay his coming for other ends of greater consequence Martha and
the Divel that we would abuse all thy gifts so fast as they come thy blessings make us proud thy riches covetous thy peace wanton thy meaâ—…s intemperate thy mercy secure and all thy benefits serve us but as weapons to rebell against thee We have prophaned thy daies contemned thy ordinances resisted thy Word grieved thy Spirit misused thy Messengers hated our Reprovers slandered and persecured thy people seduced our friends given ill example to our Neighbours opened the mouths of thine and our adversaries to blaspheme that glorious Name after which we are named and the truth we professe whereas meaner mercies and far weaker means have provoked others no lesse to honour thee and the Gospel who may justly rise up in judgmeâ—…t against us Besides which makes our case far more miserable we can scarce resolve to amend or if we do we put off our conversion to hereafter when we were children we deferred to repent till we were men now we are men we defer untill we be old men and when we be old men we shall defer it until death if thou prevent us not and yet we look for as much at thine hands as they which serve thee all their lives Thou might'st have said before we were formed let them be Toads Monsters Infidels Beggers Cripples or Bondslaves so long as they live and after that Cast-awaies for ever and ever but thou hast made us to the best likenesse and nursed us in the best Religion and placed us in the best Land and appointed us to the best and onely Inheritance even to remain in blisse with thee for ever so that thousands would think themselvs happy if they had but a piece of ouâ—… happinesse Perhaps we have a form of godlinesse but thou who searchâ—…st the heart and triest the reins knowest that too often we deny the power of it and that our Religion is much of it hypocrisie our zeal envie our wisedom policie our peace security Why shouldest thou give us thy Son for a ransome thy holy Spirit for a pledge thy Word for a guide thy Angels for our guard and reserve a Kingdom for our perpetual inheritance Why shouldest thou bestow health wealth rest liberty limbs senses food raiment friends and the means of salvation upon us more then upon others whom thou hast denied these things unto We can give no reason for it but that thou art merciful and if thou shouldest draw all back again we had nothing to say but that thou wert just which being considered why should any serve thee more then we who want nothing but thankfulnesse Why should we not hate the Way to Hell as much as Hell it self and  why should we not make every cogitation speech and action of ours as so many steps to Heaven yet 〈◊〉 thoâ— shouldst now ask us what lust is asswaged what affection qualified what passion expelled what sin repented of what good performed since we began to receive thy blessings to this day we must needs confesse against our selvs that all our thoughts words and works have been the service of the World the Flesh and the Dâ—vel yea it hath been the course of our whole life to leave that which thou commandest and to do that which thou forbiddest yet mâ—serable wretches that we are if we could give thee our bodies and souls they should bee saved by it but thou wert never the richer for them our life rebellion our devotion deadâ—esse and that we live so securely as if we had no souls to save Thus while we look upon our selvs we are ashamed to lift up our eies unto thee yea we are ready to despair wâ—th Cain yet when we think upon thy Son and the rich promises of the Gospel our fear is in some measure turned into joy while we consider that his righteousnesse for us is more then our wickednesse against our selvs onely give us faith we beseech thee and settle it in thy beloved that we may draw virtue from his death and resurrection whereby we may be enabled to die unto sin and live unto righteousnesse and it sufficeth for all our iniquities necessities and infirmities Indeed thy Word and Spirit may work in us some flashes of desire and purposes of better obedience but we are constant in nothing but in perpetual offending onely therein we cease not for when we are waking our flesh tempts us to wickednesse if wee are sleeping it sollicites us to filthinesse or perhaps when we have offended thee all the day at night we pray unto thee but what is the issue of our praying First we sin and then we pray thee to forgive it and then return to our sins again as if we came to thee for no other end but to crave leave to offend thee Or of thy granting our requests we even dishonor thee and blaspheme thy name while thou do'st support and relieve us run from thee while thou do'st call us and forget thee while thou art feeding us so thou sparest us we sleep and to morrow we sin again O how justly mightest thou forsake us as we forsake thee and condemne us whose consciences cannot but condemne our selvs But who can measure thy goodnesse who givest all and forgivest all Though we be sinful yet thou lovest us though we be miserably ingrateful yet thou most plentifully blessest us What should we have if we did serve thee who hast done all these things for thine enemies O that thou who hast so indeared us to serve thee wouldest also give us hearts and hands to serve thee with thine own gifts It is true O Lord as wee were made after thine own Image so by sin we have turned that Image of thine into the Image of Satan but turn thou us again and we shall bee turned into the Image and likenesse of thy Son And what though our  sins be great yet thy mercie is far greater then our sins either are or can be we cannot be so bad as thou art good nor so infinite in sinning as thou art in pardoning if we repent O that we could repent O that thou wouldest give us repentance for we are weak O Lord and can no more turn our selvs then we could at first make our selvs yea we are altogether dead in sin so that we cannot stir the least joint no not so much as feel our deadnesse nor desire life except thou be pleased to raise and restore our souls from the death of sin and grave of long custome to the life of grace Apt wee are to all evil but reprobate and indisposed to all grace and goodnesse yea to all the means thereof Wee are altogether of our selvs unable to resist the force of our mighty adversaries but do thou free our wills and set to thy helping hand in casting down by thy Spirit our raging lusts and by thy grace subdue our untamed affections and we shall henceforth as much honor thee as by our wickednesse we have formerly dishonored thee  Wherefore
then conquerours through him that loved us and so goeth on even to a challenge of our worst enemies Death Angels Principalities and Powers things present and to come height depth and what other creature besides should stand in opposition What voluminous waves be here for number and Power and terrour yet they shall not separate the Ark from Christ nor a soul from the Ark nor a body from the soul nor an hair from the body to do us hurt What saith David Mark the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal. 37. 37. Mark him in his setting out he hath many oppositions mark him in the journey he is full of tribulations but mark him in the conclusion and the end of that man is peace In Christ all things are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. How is that Why we have all things because we have the Haver of all things And if we love Christ all things work together for our good yea for the best Rom. 8. 28. And if all things quoth Luther then even sin it self And indeed how many have we known the better for their sin Mary Magdalen had never loved so much if she had not so much sinned had not the incestuous person sinned so notoriously he had never been so happy God took the advantage of his humiliation for his conversion Had not one foot slipt into the mouth of Hell he had never been in this forwardness to Heaven Sin first wrought sorrow saith Saint Augustine and now godly sorrow kills sin the daughter destroyes the mother neither do our own sins onely advantage us but other mens sins work for our good also Objection But may some say Can any good come out of such a Nazarite Answer Yes The advantage we have by Christ is more then the loss we had by Adam If Arrius had not held a Trinity of Substances with a Trinity of Persons and Sabellius an Unity of Persons with an Unity of Essences the Mysteries of the Trinity had not been so clearly explâ—…ned by those great Lights of the Church If Rome had not so violently obtruded her Merits the doctrine of Justification onely by faith in Christ might have been less digested into mens hearts We may say here as Saint Augustine doth of Carthage and Rome if some enemies had not contested against the Church it might have gone worse with the Church Lastly suppose our enemies should kil us they shall not hurt but pleasure 〈◊〉 yea even death it self shall work our good That Red-sea shall put us over to the Land of Promise and we shall say to the praise of God we are delivered we are the better for our enemies the better for our sins the better for death yea better for the Davil and to think otherwise even for the present were not onely to derogate from the wisdom power and goodness of God but it would be against reason for in reason if he hath vouchsafed us that great mercy to make us his own he hath given the whole army of afflictions a more inviolable charge concerning us then David gave his Host concerning Absalom See ye do the youngman my son Absalom no harm Now if for the present thou lackest faith patience wisdom and true judgement how to bear and make this gain of the cross Ask it of God who giveth to all men liberally and reproacheâ—…h no man and it shall be given thee Jam. 1. 5. For every good giving and every perfect gift is from above and commeth down from the Father of lights Verse 17. 6 use 6 Sixthly for this point calling more for practice then proof it behoves us to be larger here briefer there If that which is one mans meat proves another mans poison let it be acknowledged that the fault is not in the meat but in the stomach and that it is the wickedness of our hearts want of a sincere endevour to make good use of Gods corrections which causeth him to withdraw his blessing from them Wherefore let it provoke us as we love our selves as we love our souls through all the transitory temporary moment any passages of this World first to strive after and then to preserve the life of our lives and soul of our souls sincerity and integrity Again if afflictions which are in their own nature evil and unto others strong temptations to sin by the goodness of God do make so much for our advantage and benefit here and hereafter If our Heavenly Father turns all things even the malice of Satan and wicked men yea our own sins to our good Rom. 8. 28. If for our sakes and for his Names sake he even changeth the nature and property of each creature rather then they shall hurt us as it is the nature and property of fire to burn yet that vehement fire in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace did not burn the three servants of God It is proper to the Sea to drown those that be cast into it yet it did not drown the Prophet in the very depth of it It is proper for hungry ravenous Lions to kill and devoure yet they did Daniel no harm And the like when we need their help It is proper for the Sun to move yet it stood still at the prayer of Joshua proper for it to go from East to West yet for Hezekiahs confirmation it went from West to East It is proper for Iron to sink in the water yet it swom when the children of the Prophets 〈◊〉 need of it In like manner It is proper for affliction to harden and 〈◊〉 worse as well as for riches and prosperity to ensnare But as some Simples are by Art made medicinable which are by nature poisonable So afflictions which are in nature destructive by grace become preservative And as evil waters when the Unicorns born hath been in them are no longer poisonable but healthful or as a Wasp when her sting is out may awaken us by buzzing but cannot hurt us by stinging so fares it with affliction when God pleaseth to sanctifie the same as he doth to all that love him Rom. 8. 28. For of God it is without thanks to Affliction or our selves or our sins that we are bettered by them All the work is thine let thine be the glory But lastly for though we can never be thankful enough for this yet this is not all that we should finde him a Saviour whom our enemies sinde a just revenger That we should be loosed from the chains of our sins and they delivered into the chains of Plagues That the same Christ should with his precious blood free us that shall with his Word sentence them Again if we were by nature the Seed of the Serpent children of the Devil and Subjects to that Prince which ruleth in the air even that spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes. 2. 2. We may learn by it to be humble and thankful if changed to be the womans seed children of God and members of Christ
our learning and recorded by the holy ghost to the end that wee may gather unto our selvs assurance of the same pardon for the same sins upon the same repentance and beleeving Are thy sins great his mercies are infinite hadst thou committed all the sins that ever were committed yet in comparison of Gods mercy they are less than a more in the Sun to all the world or a drop of water to the whole Ocean for the Sea though great yet may bee measured but God's mercy cannot bee circumscribed and hee both can and will 〈◊〉 easily forgive us the debt of ten thousand millions of pounds as one penny and assoon pardon the sins of a wicked Manasses aâ—… of a righteous Abraham if wee come unto him by unfaigned repentance and earnestly desire and implore his grace and mercy Rom. 5. 20. The Tenure of our salvation is not by a covenant of works but by a covenant of grace founded not on our worthinesâ—…s but on the free mercy â—…d good pleasure of God and therefore the Prophet well annexeth blessedness to the remission of sins Blessed is bee whose transgression is forgiven Psal. 32. 1. Yea the more miserable wretched and sinfull wee are the more fit objects wee are whereupon hee may exercise and shew the infinite riches of his bounty mercy virtue and all-sufficiency And this our spirituall Physitian can aswell and easily cure desperate diseases even the remediless Consumption the dead Apoplex and the filthy Lâ—…prosie of the soul as the smallest malady or least faintness Yea hee can aswell raise the dead as cure the sick and aswell of Stones as of Jews make Abrahams children Did hee not without the Sun at the Creation cause light to shine forth and without rain at the same time make the earth fruitfull why then should you give your self over where your Physitian doth not Besides what sin is there whereof wee can despair oâ—…â—…e remission when wee hear our Saviour pray for the forgiveness of his mâ—…rtherers and blasphemers And indeed despair is a sin which never knew Jesus It was a sweet saying of one at his death When mine iniquity is greater than thy mercy O God then will I fear and despair but that can never bee considering our sins bee the sins of men his mercy the mercy of an infinite God Yea his mercies are so great that among the thirteen properties of God mentioned Exod. 34. almost all of them appertain to his mercy whereas one onely concerns his might and onely two his justice Again shall it ever enter into our hearts to think that God gives us rules to keep and yet break them himsef Now his rule is this Though thy brother sin against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying it repenteth mee thou shalt forgive him The son angers his father he doth not straight dis-inherit him but Gods love to his people exceeds a fathers love to his son Matth. 7. 11. and a mothers too Isa. 49. 1â—… I hear many menaces and threats for sin but I read as many promises of mercy and all they indefinite excluding none whose impenitency and infidelity excludeth not themselvs every sin deservs damnation but no sin shall condemn but the lying and continuing in it Wherefore if our clamorous conscience like some sharp fang'd officer arrests us at Gods suit let us put in bail two subsidue virtues Faith and Repentance and so stand the triall the Law is on our side the Law of grâ—…ce is with us and this Law is his that is our Advocate and he is our Advocate that is our Judge and hee is our Judge that is our Saviour even the head of our selvs Jesus Christ. For the first of these do but repent and God will pardon thee hee thy sins never so many and innumerable for multitude never so hainous for quality and magnitude Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 33. 17. Yea sins upon Repentance are so reâ—…itred as if they had never been committed I have put away thy transgressions as a cloud and thy sins as a mist Isa. 44. 22. and what by corruption hath been done by repentance is undone as the former examples and many other witness Come and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Isa. 1. 18. yea whiter for the Prophet David laying open his blood-guiltiness and his originall impurity useth these words Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Psal. 51. 7. And in reason did hee come to call sinners to repentance and shall he not shew mercy to the penitent Or who would nor cast his burthen upon him that doth desire to give ease As I live saith the Lord I would not the death of a sinner Ezek. 18. 32. and 33. 11. Section 5. Ojection Yea but I cannot Repent Answer In time of temtation a man is not a competent Judge in his own case In humane Laws there is a nullity held of words and actions extoâ—…ted and wrung from men by fear because in such cases a man is held not to bee a free-man 〈◊〉 to have power or command in some sort of himself A troubled soul 〈◊〉 like troubled waters wee can discern nothing clearly in it wherefore if thou canst lay aside prejudice and tell mee in cold blood how it fares with thee at other times though indeed thy words at present are enough to convince thee For first thou findest sin a burthen too heavy for thee to bear which thou didst not formerly what 's the reason are thy sins more and greater No but the contrary for though they appear more yet they are less for sin thé more it is seen and felt the more it is hated and thereupon is the less Motes are in a room before the Sun shines but they appear onely then Again secondly the very complaint of sin springing from a displeasure against it shews that there is somthing in thee opposite to sin viz. that thou art penitent in affection though not yet in action even as a child is rationall in power though not in act Yea more thou accusest and condemnest thy selfe for thy sins and by accusing our selvs wee prevent Satan by judging our selvs wee prevent God Neither was the Centurion ever so worthy as when hee thought himself most unworthy for all our worthiness is in a capable misery nor does God ever thinke well of him that thinkes so of himself But to let this passe Are not your failings your grief are they not besides your will are they not contrary to the current of your desires and the main bent of your resolutions and indeavours Dost thou determine to continue in the practice of any one sin Yea dost thou not make conscience of all Gods Commandements one aswell as another the first table aswell as the second and the second aswell as the first Matt. 5. 19. Dost thou
when God said unto her My fury shall depart from thee I will bee quiet and no more angry Ezek 16. 42. Thus not to bee angry was the greatest anger of all Never were the Jews more to bee pitied than when their Prophet delivered these words from the Lord why should yee bee stricken any more Isa. 1. 5. Not to be afflicted is to be sorsaken And as the sick man is in small hope of his life when the Physitian giveth him over so his soul is in a desperare case whom God forbeareth to chastise for his sins As many there be who never knew what any sorrow meantâ—…nless it were such as Amnons such as Ahabs when they are crossed in their corruptions curbed in their lewd courses or restrained of their wicked wills But let them take it for a fearfull signe of som sore judgement to come Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millain as Paulinus relates took into a Rich mans house as hee travelled who that he might bid him throughly welcom entertained him both with great cheer and curteons discourses and amongst other matters told of his continued happiness and that hee never suffered any ill all his days but had all things as hee would and happiness so flowing in upon him that hee knew not what calamity meant which conference did so startle Saint Ambrose that presently hee took his leave telling his company that hee feared to stay in that place which never felt any disaster and was no sooner gon thence but suddenly the house fell down and proved a grave to all her inhabitants Polycrates King of the Samians never felt any ill all his life his hopes never fell short of his expectation he could not wish for the thing which was not fulfilled what hee willed hee did Yea having but once a Ring of excellent rarity that fell into the water this loss was recovered for the Fish was taken which had swallowed it and was presented to Polycratus but at length all this his happiness epilogized in a galloâ—…es None more happy than great Pompey all his life yet at last hee was made to drink his own blood by the hands of the Executioner Who but Andronicâ—…s Emperour of the East for many years but at length hee was see upon a scabbed Chamell with a Crown of Onions platted on his head and in great mockery carâ—…ed in triumph through the City And does nor sacred Writ certifie how Haman whose command ere while almost reached to Heaven was instantly adjudged by the King to the Gibbet while Mordecai who was condemned to the balter was all of a suddain made second in the Kingdom Nevertheless as Haman rejoiced in his preserment to the Queens Banquet which was the path way to his destruction so many think it the onely argument of Gods love and that they are in favour with him because they prosper in all their ways which would mâ—…e a wise man the more suspicious for as Seneca that wise Roman saith he that hath been longest happy shall at length have his portion of misery and who so seemeth to bee dismissed is but deferred And commonly their change is not more dolefull than sudden for as it often hapneth that in very fair weather a storm doth arise and as I have read of certain Trees which on Munday have been growing in the Forrest and before Sunday following under sail on the Sea so the same hour hath seen the knee bowing to the head and again the head stooping and doing reverence to the knee as every age gives instance for else I might muster up a multitude of examples for proof of the point Or in case it seems better yet it is worse with them when their life and happiness shall end together as it fared with Belshazzar who was sitting at a Feast merry while on a sudden Death came like a Voyder to take him away And Pope Adrian who when hee was to dye brake out into this expression Oh my soul whither art thou going thou shalt never bee merry again Neither are men of this world whose bellies God filleth with his hid treasure upon occasion of their outward prosperity onely apt to bee brought into a fools Paradise of thinking themselvs to bee the speciall darlings of God but even the godly themselvs have oftentimes their eyes so dazled with the outward glittering and flourishing estate of the wicked that thereupon they are ready to say of them The generation of Gods children as it fared with David Psal. 73. 15. But these are not sober thoughts yea they are rather the dreams of men drunk with the love of the World for although it bee as common a phrase as it is foolish when any great matter falls to a man O he is made yet experience proves that it rather marrs than makes him for not seldom do men possess riches as sick men do fevers which indeed rather possess them And certainly if riches were such pearls as most men esteem them it is not likely the Lord would cast them to suh Swine as mostly hee doth If such happy things hee would not throw them to such Dogs As what saith Luther of the whole Turkish Empire it is but a crum of bread which the master of the house throweth to his Dogs And the truth is what men think most pleasing viz. to have their wills and their lusts granted is most plaguing Psal. 81. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels so that the greatest temtation is to bee without temtation and the greatest affliction not to be afflicted 2 Cor. 12. 7. Wherefore lift up your hands which hang down because of some sore affliction and your weak knees Heb. 12. 12. and know that the worst of temporall afflictions are an insufficient proof of divine displeasure yea that stripes from the Almighty are tokens of his love and seals of his Son-ship Yea fince hee that hath most grace commonly complains of most discomfort confess that the palate is but an ill Judge of the favours of God as it is in great love no doubt however it bee taken that the tender Father medicines his Child for the â—…orms gives him Aloâ—…s or the like the Child cries and sputters and keckes as if it were poisoned yet still the Fathers love is never the less say it be bitter yet bitter potions bring sweet health and who will not rather take a vomit then hazard life In the Sweating sickness in England their friends would stand by them and strike them over the faces with sprigs of Rosemary to keep them awake the poor souls faint and full of pain would cry out you kill mee but yet they must do it or else they kill'd them indeed for all that slept dyed Look wee saith Saint Ambrose with the eyes of our body upon Lazarus estate and wee think it miserable but if with the eyes of the mind it will bee otherwise for how did the Angels do by him but as Nurses are
the Fathers think so that in his own apprehension God was his mortall enemy as hear how in the bitterness of his soul hee complains of his Maker saying Hee teareth mee in his wrath hee hateth mee and gnasheth upon mee with his teeth he hath broken mee asunder taken mee by the neck and shaken mee to pieces and set mee lip for his mark his Archers compass mee round about he cleaeth my reins asunder and doth not spare to pour out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth upon me like a Giant Job 16. Now when so much was uttered even by a none-such for his patience what may we think he did feel and indure Look upon Abraham thou shalt see him forced to forsake his Countrey and Fathers house to go to a place he knew not to men that knew not him and after his many removes he meets with a famine and so is forced into AEgypt which indeed gave relief to him when Canaan could not shewing that in outward things Gods enemies may fare better than his friends yet he goes not without great fear of his life which made it but a dear purchase then he is forced to part from his brother Lot by reason of strife and debate among their Heardsmen after that Lot is taken prisoner and he is constrained to wage Warre with sour Kings at once to rescue his Brother then Sarah his wife is barren and he must go childlesse untill in reason he is past hope when he hath a Son it must not onely die but himself must stay him Now if that bosom wherein we all look to rest was assaulted with so many sore trials and so diverse difficulties is it likely we should escape Look upon Jacob you shall see Esau strive with him in the wombe that no time might be lost after that you shall see him flie for his life from a cruel Brother to a cruel Uncle with a staffe goes hee over Jordan alone doubtful and comfortlosse not like the son of Isaac In the way he hath no bed but the cold earth no pillow but the hard stones no sheet but the moist air no Canopy but the wide Heaven at last he is come fat to finde out an hard friend and of a Nephew becomes a servant aafter the service of an hard Appronticeship hath earned her whom he loved his wife is changed and he is not onely disappointed of his hopes but forced to marry another against his will and now he must begin another Apprenticeship and a new hope where he made account of fruition all which fourteen years he was consumed with heat in the day with frost in the night when he hath her whom he loves she is barren at last being grown rich chiefly in wives and children accounting his charge his wealth he returns to his Fathers house but with what comfort Behold Laban follows him with one troop Esau meets him with another both with hosile intentions not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dieth his children the staffe of his age wound his soul to death Rouben proves incestuous Judah adulterous Dina is ravished Sime on and Lovi are murtherous Er and Onan are stricken dead Joseph is lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin his right hand endangered Himself driven by famine in his old age to die among the AEgyptians a people that held it abomination to eat with him And yet before he was born it was Jacob have I loved and before any of this befell him God said unto him Bee not afraid I am with thee and will do thee good Gen. 28. 15. And did so even by these crosses for that 's my good saith the Proverb that doth me good Now what Son of Israel can hope for any good daies when he heats his Fathers were so evill It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise Again hear what David saith of himself Thy arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Psal. 38. 2. And see what cause he had so to say what were these Arrows To let passe those many that Saul shot at him which were sharp and keen enough and those other of Doeg when he flew fourscore and five of the Priests and the whole City of Nob both man and woman child and suckling for shewing him kindness Likewise Shimei's carriage towards him also his distresse at Ziglag and those seventy thousand which perished by the Pestilence upon his numbering the people and the like First Nathan tells him from the Lord that the sword should never depart from his house and that he would raise up evil against him out of his own loins here were as many Arrows as words Again the child which he had by Bathsheba was no sooner born but it died there was another Arrow Tamar his daughter being marriageable was destowred by his own Son Amnon there was two more Amnon himself being in drink was kill'd by Absalom at a Feast there was another This Absalom proves rebellious and riseth in Arms against his own Father makeshim fly beyond Jordan there was one more He lieth with his Fathers Concubines in the fight of all Israel there was another And how much do you think did these Arrows wound the Kings heart and pierce his very soul Lastly look upon Lazarus though Christs bosome friend Joh. 11. thou shalt see him labour under a mortaldisease c. though many souls were gained to the Gospel and cured by his being sick Si amatur saith Saint Austin quomodo infirinatur Thus it were easie to shew the like of Joseph Jeremy Daniel John Paptist Peter Paul and all the generaton of Gods Children and servants For as the Apostle giveth a generall testimony of all the Saints in the Old Testament saying That some endured the violence of fire some were rack'd others were tried by mockings and scourgings bonds and imprsonments some stoned some hewen in sunder some slain with the sword some wandred up and down in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented some forced to wander in Wildernesses and Mountains and hide themselvs in Dens and Caves of the earth being such as the world was not worthy of Heb. 11. So Ecclesiasticall History gives the like generall testimony of all the Saints in the New Testament and succeeding ages for we read that of all the Apostles none dyed a naturall death save onely Saint John and hee also was banished by Domitian to Pathmos and at another time thrust into a Tun of seething Oil at Rome as Tertullian and Saint Jerome do report As for other beleevers there was such a multitude of them suffered Martyrdom for professing the Gospel whereof some were stoned som crucisied som beheaded some thrust through with spears some burnt with fire and the like for wee read of twenty nine severall deaths they were put unto that Ecclesiasticall History makes mention of two thousand which suffered the same day with Nicanor
other rebellions when we rightly consider them makes us even speechless like him in the Gospell as neither expecting mercy nor daring to ask it  Howbeit when wee call to mind thy manisold mercies shewed to Manasses Paul Mary Magdalen the Thief and the Prodigall Son with many others who were no less vile then wee and who notwithstanding found thee more ready to hear then they were to ask and to give above what they durst presume to beg wee stay our selves and receive some incouragement from the application of the merits of Christ Jesus which thou hast promised shall bee a sufficient satisfaction for all our sins and the rather for that then caâ—…est all that are weary and heavie laden with the burthen of their sins unto thee with promise that thou wilt ease them and hast promised that though our sins be as red as scarlet thou wilt make them white as snow and that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turn from his wickedness and live and that if a sinner doth repent him of his sins from the bottom of his heart thou wilt blot out all his wickedness out of thy remembrance And lest wee should yet be discouraged thou who didst no less accept the will of David then the act of Solomon hast further promised that if there be but first a willing mind thou wilt accept of us according to that which we have and not according to that which wee bave not But forasmuch O Lord as thou knowest that is not in man to turn his own heart unless thou dost first give him grace to convert for thou O Lord must work in us both the will and the deed and being that it is as easie with thee to make us righteous and holy as to bid us bee such O our God give us ability and willingness to do what thou commandest and then command what thoâ—… wilt and thou shalt find us ready to do thy blessed will Wherefore give to us and increase in us all Christian graces that wee may know and believe and repent and amend and persevere in well doing Create in us O Lord a new heart and renew a right spirit within us take away from us our greedy desire of committing sin and enable us by the powerfull assistance of thy grace more willingly to obey thee in every of thy commandements then ever wee have the contrary Be favourable to thy people every where look down in much compassion upon thy Militant Church and every severall member thereof blesse it in all places with peace and truth hedge it about with thy providence defend it from the mischievous designs and attempts of â—…hine and her malitious enemie let thy Gospell go on and conquer maugre all opposition that Religion and uprightness of heart may bee highly set by with all and all prophaneness may be trod under foot More particularly be mercifull to this sinfull Land the civill Magistrates the painful Ministers the two Universities those people that sit yet in darkness all the afflicted members of thy Son Lord comfort the comfortless strengthen the weak bind up the broken hearted make the bed of the sick be a father to the fatherless and Yea let thy Spirit bear such rule in every one of our hearts that neither Satan that forrain enemy and roaring Lyon which seeketh to devour us may invade us nor our own concupiscence that home-bred traytor may by conspiring with the world work the ruine and overthrow of our poor souls but that all our wills which have been altogether rebellious our hearts which have been the receptacles of unclean spirits our affections which are altogether carnall may be wholyframed according to thy holy heavenly will and that we may the better know how to avoyd the evill and do the good let thy word as a light discover unto us all the sleights and snares of our spirituall adversaries yea make it unto us as the Star which led unto Christ and thy benefits like the Pillar which brought to the Land of Promise and an husband to the widdow cloath the naked feed the hungry visit the prisoners relieve the oppressed sanctifie unto them all their afflictions and turn all things to the best to them that fear thee thy Cross like the Messenger that compelled guests unto the Banquet Prosper the Armies that fight thy battells and shew a difference between thy servants and thine enemies as thou did'st between the Israelites and the Egyptians that the one may bee confirmed and the other reclaimed Give us O Lord to consider that although sin in the beginning seem never so sweet unto us yet in the end it will prove the bane and ruine both of body and soul and so assist us with thy grace that wee may willingly part with our right eyes of pleasure and our right hands of profit rather then sin against thee and wrong our own consciences considering that it would bee an hard bargain for us to win the whole world and lose our own souls These Blesse preserve and keep us from all the temptations of Satan the world and our wicked hearts from pride that Lucifer-like sin which is the fore-runner of destruction considering that thou resistest the proud and givest grace to the humble from covetousnesse which is the root of all evil being taught out of thy word that the love of money hath caused many to fall into diverse temptations and snares which drown them in perdition and destruction from cruelty that infernal evil of which thou hast said that there shall be judgment mercilesse to him that sheweth not mercie from hypocrisie that sin with two faces whose reward is double damnation and the rather because wickednesse doth most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled and for that in all the Scriptures we read not of an hypocrites repentance from whoredom which is a sin against a man's own body and the most inexcusable considering the remedy which thou hast appointed against it for the punishment whereof the Law ordained death and the Gospel excludeth from the Kingdom of Heaven from prophanation of thyday considering thou hast said that whosoever  sanctifieth it not shall bee cut off from thy people and did'st command that he should be stoned to death who only gathered a sew sticks on that day from swearing which is the language of hell considering that because of oaths the Land doth mourn and thou hast threatned that thy curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer from drunkenness that monster with many heads and worse than beast like sin which in thy Word hath many fearfull woes denounced against it and the rather for that it is a sin like the pit of Hell out of which there is small hope of redemption  Finally O Lord give us strength to resist temptation patience to endure affliction and constancie to persevere unto the end in thy truth that so having passed our pilgrimage here according to thy will we