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A26702 The best of remedies for the worst of maladies, or, Spiritual receipts and antidotes for the preservation of a plague-sick, sinfull soul wherein is shown, sin is the cause and repentance the cure of the pestilence / seasonably published by a lover of peace and truth ..., R.A. R. A. (Richard Alleine), 1611-1681. 1667 (1667) Wing A983; ESTC R10719 150,980 258

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treacherous and vile put up Davids prayer unto the Lord. in Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts And see if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting If there be any pernicious hurtful or oppressing way in me and lead me upod the way of eternity upon that way which may lead me to eternal life But know that if thou wilt be careless and neglectve still of this so necessary a work and put the Lord upon it he will then make a very strict and diligent search and see what will be the sad event and consequent of it Zeph. 1.12 And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their lees that say in their heart The Lord will not do good neither will he do evil And what follows Therefore their goods shall become a booty and their houses a desolation they shall also build houses but not inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards but not drink the wine thereof Then the mighty man shall cry bitterly And God wyll bring distress upon men that they shall walk as blind men because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung and at that time neither their their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wroth but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousie For he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land And when is this time that the Lord will make this strict and diligent search as with candles ver 7. declares it It is in the day of the Lord when he prepareth a sacrifice and shall bid his guests And in that day of the Lords sacrifice then will be punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are cloathed with strange apparel that leap on the threshold and fill their Masters houses with deceit O England then be exhorted to consider thy ways that thou mayst find out thy hideous provoking abominations before the Lord make a speedy riddance This is the first spiritual Receit I would prescribe unto thee The Second Receit Having made this diligent search lnto thine own heart and found out thy soul-pestilent sores then the next spiritual Receit I shall prescribe unto thee Is a good draught of a sound and sincere Repentance Which if sound and sincere will operate these four things in thee First A kindly mourning in secret before the Lord 1. For thine own iniquities 2. For the sins and abominations of the times Secondly It will breed a hatred and abhorrency in thy heart against those evils together with an humble confession and acknowledgement of them Thirdly A willing forsaking and renunciation of them Fourthly A returning unto the Lord with all thy heart Surely as to this Receit we may write a Probatum est it s a tried Receit a sure Remedy a soveraign Plaister for this running sore Repent and turn your selves from all your trangressions saith the Lord so iniquity shall not be your ruine Ezek. 18.30 So in v. 32. Turn your selves and live ye for why will ye die O house of Israel But more particularly to the several branches of Repentance as they are laid down First then see that the true sense of thy sin does work thy heart to a kindly mourning and sorrowing for the same in secret before the Lord. This sorrow and contrition for sin will I say evidence the soundness and sincerity of thy Repentance when thou canst mourn before the Lord not onely in respect of the danger which thou hast incurred by reason of thy sins to wit the curses of this life temporal death and eternal plagues and torments in another world but also that thou hast so unkindly grieved and provoked so good a God so compassionate a Father so gracious a Redeemer so blessed a Sanctifier and incurred the loss of so great a God even the favour of so good and gracious a God that taketh no pleasure in the death of the wicked Ezek. 33.11 This is that godly sorrow that the Apostle Paul speaks of 2 Cor. 7.10 11. that worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of the notable effects whereof are there also demonstrated and declared which will be of such singular efficacy and force to quench the fire of the Lords indignation and wrath now broken out among us In the seventh of Ezekiel the Lord threatning the final desolation of Israel telling her that her end was come and that he would judge her according to her ways and recompence upon her all her abominations That the Sword was without and the Pestilence and Famine within and that he that was in the field should die with the sword and that he that was in the City Famine and Pestilence should devour him In verse 16. he tells us That they that escape of them meaning those that should escape the common calamity of the Sword Pestilence and Famine they shall be on the mountains like Doves of the valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity that is for his own iniquity shall every one mourn as Doves of the valleys The word signifieth a making a stir by sighing whining and howling So Hezekiah in the time of his sickness tells us That he did mourn as a Dove Isa 38.14 Such will be the gratious temper and disposition of soul of the Lords escaped ones They shall mourn every one for his own iniquity as Doves in the Valleys in their secret retirements with the Lord the sence and remembrance of their sins in dishonouring and grieving so good and gratius a God will make them to sob and sigh and even to howl before the Lord. So did Ephraim when he repented and turned unto the Lord. I have surely heard Ephraim saith the Lord bemoaning himself Jer. 31.18 In this spirit and temper will the Loeds escaped remnant be found in So in Israels restauration when the Lord shall gather them from the Coasts of the Earth in what spirit shall they then be found They shall come with weeping saith the Lord and with supplications will I lead them as in the 9th vers of the same Chap. with weeping for their sins and with supplications or petitions unto the Lord for mercy and pardon And suitable to this is that in the 3d. of Zephan 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful saith the Lord for the solemn assembly to whom the reproach of it was a burden Those that are sad and sorrowful because they are obstructed and hindered from meeting in the Temple of God in the Assemblies of his Saints for the solemn worship and service of God when they must converse with and among such scoffing Companions which make but a mock and derision of God and his Word In this gratious temper
and frame of spirit was David in when he could not perform the fervent desire he had to serve God among the faithful How bitterly does he bemoan his being deprived of the comfort of the publick worship of God during his exile and the blasphemies of his enemies which caused his spirit even to be overwhelmed As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Meaning in the House of the Lord the Tabernacle where the solemn worship of God was celebrated and the Ark of the Covenant was where God dwelled 2 Sam. 6.2 or where the Lord gave visible signs of his presence And mark what follows My tears saith he have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God His tears were as his bread he fed and fillid himself with tears as if they were his onely food and sustenance according to that in the 80. Psal 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Meaning his own people oftentimes who are at his very foot praying and supplicating at the throne of grace And such a frame of spirit shall be found also in them as shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward They shall be going and weeping and in this spirit of mourning they shall go and seek the Lord their God All which doth evidently shews forth what will be the temper and spirit of all right-repenting souls and what a frame of spirit the Lord expects his people to be found in when his hand is lifted up even in this time when he sends the destroying Pestilence among us Now consider in what frame of spirit art thou before the Lord this day Hast thou found thy heart broken as it were into shivers for thy sins Has the sight of thy sins made thee to sigh for thy sins and to mourn kindly before the Lord for thine iniquities Hast thou ever shed a tear before the Lord for thy secret sins or thy more open and notorious abominations Surely if in such a day as this when the Arrows of the Lords Indignation are flying abroad if thou shalt be found in a Carnal Light Frothly Frolick Voluptuous Vain-spirit a lover of thy pleasures more then a lover of God putting far away from thee the evil day and causing the seat of violence to come near like those the Prophet Amos complains of Who were at ease in Sion and trusted in the Mountain of Samaria That lay upon Beds of Ivory and stretcht themselves upon their Couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall That did chaunt to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of Musick like David That drank wine in bowls and anointed themselves with the chief oyntment but were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph I say if in such a day as this under such a severe and sore visitation as this thou shalt be found in such a spirit and temper as this sad and deplorable will thy condition be For mark what the Lord threatned those carnal fleshly sensual rejoycing ones Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed Amos 6.1 to the 8. vers So dangerous and highly provoking a sin when the present dispensations of God together with thine own personal evils do call for a mournful frame of spirit that then thou shouldst be found in a spirit of carnal merriment and rejoycing As the Lord complained by the Prophet Isa Chap. 22.12 In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye This they spake in a scoffing manner as if they had said our Prophet tells us that we shall soon be destroyed and slain or carried into captivity let us then be jovial and merry as long as we may But mark how hainously did the Lord take it at their hands And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord of Hosts Meaning that it should never be forgiven unto them unless they did cease from sinning For so the word till or untill in Scripture phrase does usually hold forth Gen. 28.15 2 Sam. 6.23 Matth. 1.25 I shall add hereunto that in the Prophet Joel Chap. 2d where the Prophet setting forth the terribleness of Gods approaching Judgements in the 12th vers he exhorteth them to this repenting and relenting frame of spirit as the only means to pacifie the Lords wrath and indignation from breaking out against them or for the removal of it Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gratious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil So in the 15. vers Blow the Trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctifie the Congregation c. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach And mark what follows Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people This was that spirit also that was found in the people of Nineveh when destruction was threatned upon Jonahs preaching Jonah 3.5 6 7 8. It is said they believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least yea the King himself arose from his throne and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes and caused it to be proclaimed that man and beast should be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God and turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that was in their hands and saith he who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not See what signal demonstrations were there here of the inward sorrow and compunction of their hearts O how will this Example of Nineveh repenting and sorrowing for their sins rise up in judgement against the men of this generation Luk. 11 32. Where is the covering of sackcloth to be seen Any outward demonstrations of a relenting spirit to be discerned Where
not allow it self in any known sin though accounted never so little since the very least are committed against so great a God and bring upon us so great a danger It will not excuse extenuate mince or hide sin as Adam nor cast it off himself upon others shoulders as Saul 1 Sam. 15.21 But it would willingly be divorced and separated both in spirit conversation and affection from all and every the pollutions and defilements of sin which if wilfully and willingly lived in he knows will expose his soul to inevitable ruine and destruction Consider then hath the wrath of God Almighty and the everlasting wo denounced to all impenitent sinners made thee fear and tremble Have thy tremblings been seconded with a true and hearty sorrow for thy sins Hath thy sorrow been such as hath brought forth hate and loathing of sin so that sin hath appeared ugly and abominable unto thee Hath there then followed an humble confession and laying open of thy sins before God begging pardon and remission of them with a desire to be rid of them and a real purpose and resolution to abandon them and forsake them This will evidence that thy service of sin hath given up the ghost and that thou hast a firme resolution of leading a new life and returning unto the Lord with all thy heart which is the fourth and last particular to be insisted on in this subject of sound Evangelical repentance For what is Repentance indeed in the true definition of it but a change of the mind or a coming to a mans self again to a right understanding after a man hath erred consisting in a turning of the whole heart from Satan and Sin unto God that is to serve God in newness of Life because he that lives in sin serves the Devil and belongs to his jurisdiction This definition you shall find full and whole in our Saviours words to Saint Paul when he appeared to him going to Damascus Act. 26.18 as Paul himself reporteth them namely That he would send him to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified Which voice Paul theresaith he was obedient unto and thereupon went and shewed first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles That they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance So that according to the definition Repentance hath two parts An Aversion or turning away from Satan and Sin that is the first then a Conversion or turning unto God by Newness of Life that is the second part but I proceed Fourthly The last thing that will evidence the sincerity of that Repentance which will be prevalent with the Lord to avert his wrath and quench the fire of his indignation that is broken out among us is a returning unto the Lord with all the heart Jer. 3.12 Return thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Onely acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed and repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions saith the Lord so iniquity shall not be your ruine Ezek. 18.30 In the 2. of Joel the Lord threatning the terribleness of his Judgements in referenece to his great Army how that the Earth should quake before them and the Heavens should tremble the Sun and Moon should be dark and the Stars should withdraw their shining In the 12. verse the Lord exhorteth them to a thorough repentance as the only means to stop the currant of this devouring and sweeping Judgment Therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gratious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil And this Exhortation is urged by divers Arguments 1. By promise of temporal blessings namely plentiful fruits of the earth even to the reparation of all their former losses by the Famine and removal of the Northren Army from them vers 18. to 28. 2. Of spiritual Evangelical priviledges whereof those temporals were but an imperfect pledge viz. plentiful pourings out of his spirit and his gifts upon all flesh Gentiles as well as Jews ver 28 29. Salvation and deliverance of an elect remnant in his Church after the Lord hath manifested by dreadful signs the terrour of his coming vers 30 31 32. 2ly This Exhortation is urged by threatning of destruction against all the oppressing enemies of the Church These are the blessed fruits among others of that repentance that is a returning unto the Lord with all the heart Suitable to which is that of the Prophet Jeremy If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not remove Jer. 4.1 Then shalt thou not wander thou shalt not go into exile Which foregoing places do imply that God is not pleased with shews or flying thoughts or loose purposes or half a heart but requires an upright turning away from evil and a thorough conversion to himself and that which is good and not to idols or any other vanities whatsoever There is a special place to this purpose in Deut. 4.29 30. It speaks of the Lords scattering of them among the Nations and how they should be lest few in number among the Heathen whither the Lord should lead them But if from thence saith the Lord by his servant Moses thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn unto the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto his voice For the neglect whereof see what a bitter complaint the Lord took up against Israel Amos 4.6 How he had given them cleanness of teeth and want of bread in all places and had sent among them the Pestilence after the manner of Egypt and had overthrown some of them as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and they were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning yet did they not return unto the Lord. But mark what follows Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel And what did he threaten he would do unto them for their obstinacy and incorrigableness if they repented not The 2. verse declares it The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness that lo the days shall come upon you that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish-hooks What 's the meaning of that understand