Divine grace applies a more virtuall medicine to thy conscience which shall revive either thy patience or thy repentance The soul shall argue with it self If these imputations be true here is work for my repentance I will weep in secret for my sins If false let them not trouble me It is the slanderers sin not mine neither am I bound to father anothers bastard But still upon this calumnie the world condemns me but thy faith and patience assures thee that thou shalt not be condemned with the world Yea there is yet a higher degree of honour belonging to thy patience Have not the best men been traduced Was not the best of men God and man blasphemed yea even upon the Crosse he was jeered when he dyed by some of them for whom he dyed Thus do the comforts of God requite thee that in all this thou art in thy measure conformable to the sufferings of Christ So dost thou allay all these furious tempests with one breath of faithfull ejaculation Thy comforts delight my soul Another complains I am fallen from an affluent estate to deep indigence I have kept hospitality to entertain friends and made charity the Porch of my house to relieve the needy ones The vessell of my meanes is now drawn out to the bottom there is not sufficient provision left for my own family Inquire of thy heart whether this decay did not come by thy own riot or through the vain-glorious affectation of an abundant hospitality If this or that or any other habituall sin were the cause of it begin with mortification there First mourne for thy sinnes then faithfully depend upon thy Creators providence and thou canst not faile of convenient sustenance But it may be that this is not the complainants case he is not taken with a tabe or wasting of his substance like a scarce sensible consumption of his bodily vitalls But his fall is with a precipice from a sublime Pinacle of honour to a deep puddle of penury Such was Jobs condition so did he fall from being rich and happy in the Adverb to be poor and miserable even to a Proverb He had not only abundance of good about him but Omnia bene all went well with him Yet how suddenly did he fall from this abundant prosperity to the depth of miserable poverty Did he now follow the suggestions of that corrupt nature which lay in his bosome and whispered to him on his pillow Curse God and die No but he apprehended the inspiration of grace Blesse God and live So his last dayes were better then his first That infinite mercy did so crown his patience with triumph that his temporall estate was doubled Yea but what posterity had hee left to enjoy it after him Yes for even the number of his children was doubled too For besides those seven Sons and three Daughters which were now with his Father in Heaven he had also seven Sons and three Daughters with himselfe upon Earth Piety and Patience cannot bee cast downe so low but that the hand of mercy can raise it up againe In the multitude of all my losses and crosses O Lord thy Comforts have delighted my soul But another that hath heard all this sad Story and seen the comfortable end sent of the Lord is not satisfied because himself is not redressed Like a coward in wars that looks for the victory before he gives one stroke in the battell What merchant looks to be landed in the place of traffick before he hath past his adventure upon the seas Still saith such a repiner I am in distresse and want even necessaries But still thou and we all must suffer much more before it can be said of us Here is the faith and patience of the Saints Still O my soul wait thou upon the Lord thy most faithfull Creator he will in his good pleasure open his hand and fill thee with plenteousnesse Be thou penitent before him patient under him confident in him and thou shalt have a bundant cause to bee thankfull to him Thy end shall bee peace and comfort in Jesus Christ Yea even now in this dead low waters of fugitive fortunes my soul confesseth that I have the highest wealth For Christs righteousnesse is my riches his merits is my inexhaustible exchequer his blood hath filld my veins with most lively vigour My treasure is in heaven where no violence can take it from me Stil and for ever O God thy comforts delight my soul It is anothers complaint I am shut up in a close prison where I can neither converse with others abroad nor let in others to communicate with me in this my confined home The sparrow on the house-top hath more freedome then I For that though wanting a mate hath an open aire to flie in and may so invite company to solace her I have no society but my disconsolate thoughts no friend to ask me so much as how I do Yet is thy soul at liberty no barricadoed walls no iron-gates or grates no darke dungeons can imprison that The Jail is a strong prison to thy body and thy body is but in a metaphoricall phrase a prison to thy soul Thy body may not walke abroad thy soul can Spite of all thy cruell creditors and some unmercifull Jailors she can break Prison She hath wings that can mount her through clouds and mountains through orbs and constellations and like to Enoch walke with God in a heavenly contemplation of his infinite goodnesse My ears cannot hear those airy Choristers singing their Creators praise in the groves my soul in speculation can hear the Anthems of Angels in heaven I may not hear the Hosanna's of the Church militant in our materiall Temples below I may conceive that my soul hears the Halleluiahs of the Church triumphant above I may not walk in the green pastures and flowry medows on earth my soul may move in the glorious and melodious galleries of heaven Thus O Lord though in my strictest confinement here below thou hast given me large liberty above Still I will glorifie thee for all thy mercies for thy comforts delight my soul Anothers complaint is I am vexed with a multitude of troubles Not the law of the sword but the sword of the law hath disquieted me Let thy soul aske thy conscience this question who did first breake the peace If thou hast first overwhelmed that truth which should bee apparent thou art thine own enemy For truth smothered in wet straw will at length overcome the danknesse of that suppression and set on fire the smotherers Thou hast forsaken the truth and art therefore forsaken of peace There bee two chief preservers of the soul under the Almighty Creator of it Truth and Peace How invaluable are they together Parted how miserable truth is the precious stone Peace the gold wherein it is both set and preserved Truth is the glorious light of the Sun Peace a clear and serene heaven Peace is a most beautifull body
all sorrowes and God shall fill them with his sweet comforts Then shalt we sing with chearfull voices Blessed be the Lord that hath not turned away our praier from him nor his mercie from us Amen FINIS MAN'S COMFORT PSALM 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul HEaven is a place of infinite glory and joy yet is there little joy or glory in the way thither The passage rather lies through much tribulation so trouble some a gallery leads to so happy a bed-chamber There is not a soul in the cluster of mankind exempted from sorrow much lesse shall those grapes escape pressing which God hath reserved for his own cup All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution Not all that live but all that live godly nor all that live godly in respect of outward form but th it live godly in Christ Paul his Atturney pleads their afflictions with an Oportet and lest some should look for a dispensation he backs it with an Omnis The Saints that have overcome the hill be singing above we that are climbing up must be groaning all the way The Anthems in-the up per Quire the Church Triumphant are all Hymns of joy the militant part must bee content with sad tunes in this valley of tears Not that the blessednesse of Immortality is no more perfect but that it needs a foil of perplexity to set it off Not that the joy of heaven is no more sweet but that it needs the sowreness of the world to give it a tast Not that the peace and plenty of Canaan required the wants and molestations of this wildernesse to commend it But so it pleaseth the Almighty King who of his own free grace doth give the preferment to interpose the conditions that the sorrow and ingloriousnesse of this world should be the throughfare to the glories and joyes of his Kingdome For if it pleased him to consecrate the Prince and Captaine of our salvation through sufferings what priveledg can the common souldiers and subjects expect Deus Filium habuit unum sine peccato nullum sine flagellâ— Wee that hold our inheritance in Capite have no other title to it then Christ had before us by suffering When we consider David and his troubles we say Ecce dolores viri behold the sorrowes of a man But when we consider the Sonne of David and his passion we say Ecce vir dolorum Behold the man of sorrowes Indeed if the one ballance were full of sorrows and the other quite empty of comforts there were an unequall poise They that do not finde some joy in their sorrows some comfort in their dejections in this world are in a fearfull danger of missing both in the next But as it is said in case of bodily sicknesse If the patient and the disease joyne then in vaine is the Physician if the disease and the Physician conspire then wo be to the patient but if the patient and the Physician accord then vanisheth the disease So we may observe in spirituall distempers if the soul and sorrow desperately combine then the Spirit departs the Physician is grieved if God and sorrow joyne in anger in anguish the former justly the other sharply then wo to the soul for that cannot be comforted but if the soul by faith and God by grace unite themselves then away flies sorrow for that is expelled Here Davids soul joynes it self with the spirit of consolation and sorrow loseth the day the end is comfort In the multitude of my thoughts within mee thy comforts delight my soul Here is a twofold Army one marching against another Seditio and Sedatio an insurrection and a debellation a tumult and the appeasing of it a band of thoughts assaulting and an Host of comforts repelling resisting protecting There is a multitude of those thoughts and no lesse is the number of these comforts Those troublous thoughts have got into the citadel of the heart Apud me within me and these consolatory forces have entred as farr even into the soul They delight my soul Those thoughts fight under the colours of flesh and blood but these comforts under the Banner of God They are My thoughts but Thy comforts the cogitations of man the consolations of Jesus Christ 1. Look upon the adversary power In the multitude of my thoughts within me 1. O that they were some externall grievances a forraign warr no domestick intestine civill broiles not turbulent thoughts 2. Or if they be thoughts rebellious heart-breaking cogitations yet that there were but some few of them that they might be sooner suppressed not so numerous not a multitude of thoughts 3. Or if they must bee thoughts and a multitude yet that they had chosen some other place to rise in not my Heart the Fort or Court or Bedchamber of my spirit that they had not presumed unto so bold approaches as to mutine Apud me within my heart nearer and closer to mee then mine owne bowels But now to bee Thoughts of so tumultuous a nature Multitudes of so mighty a number Within me of so fearfull a danger without vent composition or quiet here is a ful anxiety 2. View the defensive forces and in the midst of this conspiracy make room for preservation Thy comforts delight my soul 1. They are comforts against litigions and unquiet thoughts a work of peace Comforts 2. They are not scant niggardly but against amultitude of thoughts many Comforts and every one able to quell a whole rout of distractions 3. They are thy comforts not proceeding men or Angels but immediately from the Spirit of consolation against My sorrows Thy comforts 4. They do not onely pitch then tents about me or like a subsidiary guard environ me but they take up their residence in the heart of my heart In my soul These refresh more then the other can offend against the thoughts in my heart thy comforts delight my soul Thus if we be not entred into Aceldama a field of blood yet we are got into Meribah a field of strife or the mountains of â—ether a field of division not unlike that of Rebecca's womb where Jacob strove with Esau for the victory We have seen both the Armies now let us martiall them into their proper ranks setting both the squadrons in their due stations and postures and then observe the successe or event of the battell And because the malignant Host is first entred into the ground of my text consider with me 1. The rebells or mutiners Thoughts 2. The number of them no less then a multitude many thoughts 3. The Captain whose colours they bear a disquieted mind My thoughts 4. The field where the battel is fought in the heart Apud me within me In the other Army we find 1. Quanta how puissant they are Comforts 2. Quota how many they are indefinitely set down Abundant comfort 3. Cujus whose they are The Lords he is their generall Thy comforts
enjoy the company of morall and harmless friends with delight I can pray with confidence to be heard and satisfied I do hope with some assurance of salvation I sleep upon a peacefull pillow Thus far I am in a calm and serene hemisphere and quiet be all my thoughts But after all this Sunshine there ariseth a tempest When I do recollect or be represented unto my conscience my innumerable incomparable intollerable sinnes the remembrance of them is so frightfull the burden of them is so unsupportable that I dare not even look up unto Heaven Faith lies fainting hope is in a swoon fear stands by the bed side despaire lies gaping at the chamber door my soul is in an extasie I am weary of all company but those that speak of mercy I sit mourning all the day long Sorrow and solitude are my associates I do shed some tears and would weep tears of blood for my sins I lament because my sorrows are not greater for offending my God Well yet hear the Physician of souls speaks to thee from Heaven Weep on bleed on this bleeding shall not be unto death Jesus Christ hath a Balsome that shall not onely stanch thy bleeding but fill the veins of thy soul with comfort His blood is an Antidote for thine One drop of that shall satisfie for more sins then ever thou hast committed Weep on for thy Transgressions Those flouds of tears shall not drown thee Yea rather like the waters of that universall Deluge in that saving Arke Christ Jesus they shall bear up thy soul higher towards Heaven They shall not drowne thee yea they shall rather save thee from being drowned This is that Secunda Tabula after shipwrack the main plank that shall preserve thee from perishing emergent repentance There be two most Valiant and Puissant souldiers that are the Souls Champions Faith and Repentance They fight not only against lust and sin those Gyants of the world but even against Principalities and Powers those infernall spirits of darknesse Faith hath her weapons and Forces but Repentance hath many disadvantages 1. Other Souldiers fight standing she kneeling They in a posture confronting their enemies she in humiliation though not tergiversation from her opposites They send forth their messengers of death in thundring ordnance all her thunder is sighs and groans sent up to Heaven for mercies They let flie their fiery Engines of destruction she hath only her ejaculations Her most piercing darts be broken hearts Their shafts are winged with fire her arrows are feathered with water her own soft tears They swallow up the hope of victory with insulation she in an humble prostration expects pity Yet the God of all power and mercy whom she beleaguers in Heaven yeilds her the conquest He comes from his inpregnable Throne by his most gracious favour and insteed of confounding her as a Rebel he useth her as a Friend or Daughter He takes her up from her knees he wipes away all her tears he folds her in his armes he seals her a pardon of all sins and assures her of an everlasting Kingdom in Heaven O victorious Repentance yea rather O triumphant Goodnesse O God Teipsum vincis thou even overcomest thy self that thy Comforts may delight our souls It is reported of Alexander that when he thought and did but think so he had conquered all this world he fell a weeping that there were no more worlds to conquer But there was remaining another world a better then ever Alexander discovered But this was not for an Alexander by force of Armes but for a Mary Magdalen by force of tears to overcome It is true that the Kingdome of Heaven suffers violence but the way of Conquest is not through the blood of bodies but through a floud of tears gushing out for our sins This is such a stratagem of war such a policy of Conquest as the great Monarchs of the world never understood Yet even this through faith overcomes the world Faith hath a plot which shee hath taught her daughter Repentance Concedendo superare to overcome by yeilding It is a stratagem among Wrastlers that if a man can get himself under his antagonist he lifts him up the sooner to cast him down yea to give him the greater fall Repentance stoops as low as she can she lies like Joshuah upon the bare earth yea wollowes in dust and ashes She holds her self not worthy to be Gods foot-stool let him trample upon her and tread her under his feet she still holds him by the feet washeth them with her tears and wipeth them with the hairs of her head and kisseth them though she be spurned by them Doth this humble prostration provoke fury No it rather invites mercy Parcere prostratis scit nobilis ira Leonis The Lyon of the Tribe of Judah will spare such Lambs of humiliation and in the pastures of consolation he will both feed and preserve them That thunder which dissolves the stubborn mettall yet spares the yeilding purse When power and policy have spent their spirits submission is found the only way of Conquest The feafull thunder of vengeance is resisted by the soft wool of repentance 2. Yet hath this blessed grace another disadvantage Faith the chief of all the Forces may be somtimes benighted through the conglomeration of the clouds condensed by our sins Hope may be eclipsed by the interposition of the earth our worldly imaginations betwixt us and that great luminary of heaven the Sun of righteousnesse The century of watchful conscience may be overcome with security Sin is a subtile enemy and his father the Divel wil shew him the opportunity Now is the time of invasion seise on them and cut all their throats What shal repentance now do when faith the great Lady general droops and Hope her Lieutenant general is fainting when the whole century is overcome with slumber Yes there is a watchman in the tower of the soul that doth seldom sleep holy Fear He wakens conscience conscience cals up faith faith rouzeth hope hope cryes aloud to repentance repentance troops all the spiritual forces the martial musick gives the alarm the souldiers are in battel-array the enemies flie the mind is at peace because Gods comforts have delighted the soul 3. One disadvantage more makes dangerous work for repentance The troops of faith are routed one wing of hope is cut off Yet this conquering Queen of the Viragines or maiden-graces alwayes bears up the Rear and never appeares till the day be almost lost When those great Commanders Innocency and Righteousnesse are foiled and beaten and have their Queen the soul in danger to bee taken and slain by sin and Satan her old adversaries Then this Virgo Virago that all this while lay in expectation of the event this martiall Maid victorious Repentance comes in with her Reserve sets upon the conquerors with her fresh forces rescues the Queen our soul puts the great generall Satan to flight and does impartial execution upon all his souldiers which be our