Lord than to put any confidence in man yea that it is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes With whom did the Lord euer make a couenaÌ„t broke it To whom did the Lord euer make a promise and fulfilled it not Call to mind all the promises of God made in former times in the ages that are past and see if euer he failed in any one iote of his promises He promised to giue vnto Abraham a son and by him a seed that should be multiplyed as the starres as the sand by the sea shore How hard a matter was this and in reason impossible to be performed For if wee consider either the body of Abraham it was dead he being almost an hundred yeares old or rhe deadnes of Saraes womb with whome it ceased to be after the manner of women we shal see the accomplishing hereof to be in the iudgement and opinion of flesh and bloud impossible And therefore howsoeuer Abraham being stronge in faith staggered not through vnbeleefe at the promises of God but laughed for ioy yet Saâ—a laughed them to scorn as things not to be hoped for and thereby might through her vnbeliefe haue depriued her selfe of the blessing of God yet the Lord would rather worke miracles alter the course of nature than he would not accomplish that promised seed that he promised vnto Abraham Insomuch that neither Abrahams dead bodie nor Saraes dead wombe no nor Saraes dead faith for so in this regard I may call it could make the promise of God of none effect Again he promised vnto the same Abraham to giue vnto his seed after him the land of Canaan for their possession Now doe but consider with thy selfe how many lets there might haue seemed to haue hindered this that was promised Abraham himselfe had no possession therin at all as Stephen mentioneth no not the bredth of a foot his seede consisted onely in one Isack Those that should be borne of him must be in bondage foure hundred yeares to a strange nation and there they must be euilly intreated The Aegyptians were more in number than they were and therefore able by violence to keepe them in bondage still Pharaoes hart was hardened so that he would not let them goe The redde sea might haue stopped their passage the long and barren wiâ—dernesse might haue consumed them and beene their graue the fierie Serpents might haue deuoured them the Amalakites might haue ouercome them in battell hunger and thirst might haue pined them away their rebellion against Moses their murmuring against Aaron their idolatrie against God their whoredome with the daughters of Moab might haue razed them out of the face of the earth The townes of the land of Canaan were mightie and walled vp to the heauens The people thereof were of the sonnes of Anaâ—k euen giants and of a tall stature The people of the Iewes were weake vnarmed not exercised in the warres and that which is more full of vnbeleefe and of a hard heart All these might haue mooued the Lord to haue broken his promise if any thing possible could procure him therevnto but none of all these neither the hardnes of Pharaoes heart nor the power of the Aegyptians nor the depth of the sea nor the barrennesse of the wildernesse nor the sting of the Serpents nor the force of the Amalakites nor the strength of the Cities nor the might of the Gyants no nor the sinnes of the seede of Abraham could make the Lord to chaunge his promise or alter that which hee had spoken with his lipps Moreouer the Lord promised to send his sonne into the world made of a woman of the seede of Abraham and of the stocke of Dauid and by him to redeem mankind Now how many things might haue mooued the Lord to haue broked his promise God himselfe must make himselfe voyde and emptie as the Apostle speaketh he must take vpoÌ„ him the shape of a seruant and be made the creature he must be a man that should haue good experience of infirmities bee counted so vile that all his people should hide their faces from him he must be subiect to cold heat hunger thirst nakednesse and pouertie he must be tempted by Sathan despised of men tormented of God he must bee whipped and scorned yea hee must bee hanged vpon the crosse and die a most shamefull death he must be made sinne the curse of God for vs he much descend into hell and haue the portion of the reprobate and damned soule for to redeeme vs. All these might haue moued the father to haue pitied and so to haue spared his onely son especially they might haue moued God not so to haue abased himselfe but to haue continued in his owne glory and blessednes But most especially might that prayer that Christ the sonne of God made to his father in the garden where hee intreated him in the bitternes of his soule to remoue if it were possible that cup away from him that is that he might not indure those tormentes and suffer that death together with the contempt and infidelitie of the Iewes haue caused the father either for his sonnes request or the peoples desert to haue repented him and so to haue changed his promise with his purpose But neither the regard of Gods owne glorie in his son nor the abasing nor the abusing nor the miserie nor the torments nor the curse nor the death no nor the damnation as it were I meane the portion of the damned allotted vnto his son nor yet his intreatie nor mans infidelity could bring that to passe What should I stand in repeating of the promise of God made to Noah which was no more to destroy the world with water although no doubt the sins since the flood haue ouerpassed all that euer went before The promise made to Dauid which was that he would giue him the kingdome of Israell which he brought to passe notwithstanding the might the malice the rage of Saule The promise that he made to the Iewes concerning their returne out of the captiuitie of Babilon which when they saw effected they were as it wete one that dreamed and their mouth was filled with laughter What shall I need to repeat euery one when it is manifest that neuer a one euer failed or came to naught Let these suffice to assure thee that that Lord whose promises haue bin euer euen as himselfe immutable and vnchangeable notwithstanding all lets and hinderances will not now begin with thee either by reason of the monstrousnes or multitude or manner of thy sinnes or weakenesse of thy faith to breake his promises and to retaine thy sinnes which he promised to forgiue I do not denie but that thy sinnes might be monstrous and many yea and malicious also and therfore they might seeme to bee great reasons to stay the accomplishment of these forenamed promises but if thou compare them with those mountaines which the Lord ouerpassed and
THE Comforter OR A COMFORTAble Treatise wherein are contained many reasoÌ„s taken out of the word to assure the forgiunes of sinnes to the conscience that is troubled with the feeling thereof Together with the temptations of Sathan to the contrarie taken from experience written by IOHN FREEMAN sometime minister of the word in LEWES in SVSSEX AT LONDON Printed for Edw. VVhite and are to be sold at his shop at the little North dore of Paules at the signe of the Gun 1606. To the Worshipfull and his very good friends Maister George Goring the elder M. George Goring the younger his son M. Harbart Pelham M. William Morley M. Iohn Shurley M. Robert Chester M. Richard Shelley M. Henry Bowyer together with the whole congregation of Lewis Iohn Freeman wisheth grace peace from God the Father and from our Lord Iesus Christ TVllie hauing intreated much of old age knew not what fitter man to chuse to commit his writings vnto than Titus Pomponius Atticus a man well striken in age And hauing compiled a treatise of friend ship he picked out the same Atticus a man full of friendship to send the same vnto alwaiâ— chusing pratrons according to the matter Not much vnlike vnto Luke the Euangelist who writing of the things of God chose out Theophilus that is a freÌ„d of God as a most meet man to write vnto So I hauing according to my weaknes written somthing of comfort haue found none more meet vnto whoÌ„e to dedicate my writings thaÌ„ your worships at whose hands my self haue receiued as I must still acknowledge exceeding much comfort For who ought to haue more interest in comfort than the comforters And what fitter patrones of comfort can a man imagin to find than the authors fathers thereof For this cause therefore haue I made choise of your Worships and of your brethren beloued in the Lord as of all men most meet to commit these my writings vnto And this the rather haue I done as on the one side in regard of my selfe to whom there is nothing more deare or more due than to recompence spiritual for temporall things that you which haue sowne temporall might if there be any in mee receiue from mee spirituall comforts that thus you seeing a haruest of your corne fruit of your labor comforts to spring of your comfort mercies of your mercies that is the riches of the treasures of the mercies of God opened vnto you for the mercifull vse of your riches might not think that either you plowed the barren sand or sowed in a reproued field which bringing forth nothing but thorns or briars is therefore as some thought neere to the fire so on the other side in a more especiall regard of your selues to whom the Lord hath in a more plentiful manner opened the treasures of his hidden riches insomuch that you are filled therwith I therefore haue laboured it lieth in you that I may say I hope not in vaine that you might also abound with spirituall and inward comforts That thus you being comforted in bodie and comforted in soule comforted outwardly and comforted inwardly abounding in heauenly and earthly comforts in the honest comforts of the flesh and the glorious comforts of the spirit might want nothing that might be for your sound comfort especially for your spiritual comfort without the which all earthlie comforts are vaine and fruitles For what shall it profit a man to bee comforted in body afflicted in soule To haue the comforts of the flesh and to want the comforts of the spirit To liue as Diues deliciously and be cloathed in purple if after this life hee should be tormented with Diues in that flame What should it benefit a man to eat the fat and drinke the sweet to be fed with the kidneis of the wheat to eat the honie of the rocke the calfe of the stall the Lambe of the fold to drinke wine in bowles to haue instruments of musicke like vnto Dauid to stretch himselfe vpon his Iuorie beds and after this life to haue fire brimstone storme and tempest for to drink to haue his portion in that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death What shall it profit a man to haue Achabs life with Achabs death Hamans glory with HaÌ„ans shame Dauids musicke with Saules misery Salomons prosperity with Cains aduersity Darius his kingdoms with Iudas hellish paines Nay how is it possible that that man should haue much comfort in bodie that hath none in soule And what sound comfort can a man take in this life euen in the middest of his cheare his wife and his women his vessels of gold and of siluer if he should with Baltasher Dan. 7. see the hand of God writing against him that fearfull sentence Mene Mene Tekel Vphursin that is the Lord hath weighed thee in the ballance hath found thee too light And therefore should hea e as the rich man in the Gospell that saying of the Lord vnto him Thou foole this night shall they that is the Deuils fetch away thy soule from thee then whose shall these bee that thou possessest My labor therefore is that with a good feast you might haue a coÌ„tinual feast that is a good conscience that in youâ— good cheere you might bee of good cheere in the Lord that you might eate of the fatted Calfe that immaculate and paschall lambe Iesus Christ that his blood might be your drinke and his bodie your meat that his righteousnes may be put vpon you as that armour of light that wedding garment full of glorie that you might eate that hidden Manna and drinke those waters of life of which whosoeuer drinketh shall neuer hunger nor thirst more that Christ that knocketh at the dores be not shut out of the gates but that he may come in and sup with you so that you eating with him of his mirrhe with his spices of his hony combe with his honie and drinking his wine with his milke may heare those often cheerings and welcomes of the Lord being at one table with him saying Eat oh my friends drinke be drunken oh my beloued That so you may not see the hand writing against you vpon the wall but fastened on the crosse may not heare that fearefull voice Thou fool this night shall they fetch away thy soule from thee but that comfortable saying of Christ Sonne thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Without the fâ—ll perswasion whereof I doe not a little marâ—ell how it is possible for any man to take plesure comfort in any eaâ—thly thing For euen this one bone to gnaw vpon might occupy them so that they should haue little pleasure or leisure to eate of their dainty dishes this one doubt of the mercy of God might bee like vnto Damacles sword which hanging ouer their heads as by a horse haire might make them to take little pleasure in the variety of their meats in the points of musicke in the
if there were that he was but a deceiuer a iugler a false Christ sent into the â—orld to seduce the wicked and them that are appoynted to reprobation as shall more at large appeare in another place But if this will not serue the turn he will perswade vs that Christ came to be a iudge to condemne the world and to leaue them without excuse as he did Martine Luther and so will he set him frowning vpon vs as a Iudge that is displeased with vs. Or if this will not serue hee will tell vs that Christ came not to die for vs but for Peter Paule Dauid and such like but as for vs hee knew vs not we were not then and therfore he could not then die for vs. But yet if this will not suffice hee will euen chide with the soule and ask him whether hee will make Christ a bawd for his sinnes And this especially he vrgeth while wee seeing our own nakednes do seeke and sue for the righteousnes of Christ to put vpon vs as a white garment to couer vs so as our nakednesse the filthinesse of our sins be not seene For then hee will stil vrge this one thing saying Oh thou wouldest haue Christ to be a couer a cloake yea a bawd for thy sin but all in vaine will he say And for the proofe hereof he wil straight alledge the saying of the Lord in the 70. psalme which is to be applied to the obstinate and such as hate discipline and cast the wordes of God behind their back as there plainely appeareth where he saith As soonâ— as thou seest a theefe thou consentest vnto him and thy portion is with the adulterers Thou openest thy mouth to euill and with thy toong thou framest deceit Thou sitting speakest against thy brother slaunderest thy mothers son While thou didst these things because I made my selfe as it were deafe thou thinkest me to be such a one as thy selfe is but I will reproue thee and set before thine eies thy sins in order as they were done And herby he excedingly trobleth the conscience and filleth it with feare and dispaire vntill such time as we feele our selues verely and indeed to be couered ouer with the righteousnes of the son of God Iesus Christ who is made vnto vs of God the Father wisedom holines righteousnes and redemption If this reason will not preuaile against vs he wil reason as wel as we from the holy Ghost and will tell vs that the feare that is bredde in our conscience for our sinnes is not the worke of the spirit of God to frame vs vnto repentance and to breed in vs a godly sorow to amendment of life but rather that it is a seruile fear such as Iames saith is in the deuils who fear tremble yea a doubting such as is in the infidels of whome the same Iames speaketh saying Let not the maÌ„ that doubteth think he shal receiuâ— any thing yea that it is a fore-tast of the displeasure of God and of the fearefull estate of the reprobat And as touching the peace of conscience albeit we haue aboundantly felt the same yet hee wil perswade vs that it was not the peace of conscience but rather an illusion of the deuill sent vnto him by the Lord to deceiue him and so to destroy him by a false flattering of himselfe And for the better perswasion hereof he will tell vs that the diuell can change himselfe into the image of an Angell of light and by that meanes so deceiue vs as that we cannot as he will say discerne the worke of the spirit from the illusion of the deuill To whom if we shal answer that albeit hee can change himselfe into thâ— image of an Angel of light yet not into the like working of the spirit of God for that he cannot create either ioy or peace of conscience or the spirit of adoptioÌ„ in vs. For these are proper works of the spirit yea euen in them that haue a temporarie faith and fall away againe vnto perdition his mouth is stopped he will leaue this reason and come vnto our naturall inclination to sin from thence he will reason after this manner saying Thou knowest that the Lord wil forgiue the sinnes only of the penitent and them that doe repent that leaue their sinnes and neuer commit them againe for that will he say is true repentance But thou ceasest not to sinne for as thou wert conceiued in sinne so thou continuest in sin and then continuing in thy sin how doest thou repent thee of thy sinne and then thou not repenting thee of thy sinne how canst thou looke that thy sinne should be pardoned And thus by a false perswasion that repentance consisteth in a cleane abolishing of sinne and not in the amendment of life as the truth is that it doth hee deceiueth the conscience and perswadeth it that therefore their sinnes are not pardoned because they are not for euer abandoned And vnto this perswasion he addeth diuers other reasons taken from sinne it selfe and first from the greatnes thereof which hee amplifieth and increaseth very artificially shewing himselfe herein a Grammarian that can frame of the positiue which is the lowest the superlatiue which is the highest degree a Rhethoritian that hath a notable facilitie grace in Hyperbole a Logitian that can reason from the lesser to the greater as also if occasion serued froÌ„ the greater to the lesser an Arithmetitian that hath skill in multiplying a Musitian that can make the lowest cord accord and sound equallie wâ—th the highest a Geometritian who as he can describe the whole world in a little paper so infect much paper with the description of a little countrie and to speake in a word a right deuill that make a mountaine of a moule hill For these are the arts or rather deceits of Sathan whereby hee can notably increase the greatnes of our sin If it be but in consent he will perswade vs that it is all one as if it were done And to this purpose he will alledge the saying of Christ in the fift of Mathew where he saith that the that looketh on a woman to lust after her in his hart hath committed adultery with her alreadie If it be committed after grace receiued of knowledge he will perswade vs that it is the sin against the holy Ghost which shall neuer bee pardoned in this world nor in the world to come If it were committed before our calling grosse also he wil tell vs that our sins are greater then that they can be pardoned as he perswaded Cain that his were And for the better perswasion hereof he addeth the testimonie of the law which confirmeth as he pretendeth that which he himselfe affirmeth As for example if a man haue with Salomon committed idolatry or with Dauid adulterie or with Peter apostacie here the law saith that adulterers idolaters fornicators such like the lord wil iudge Sathan saith so the conscience knoweth
so The law saith no idolater nor fornicator nor vnclean person shall enter into the kingdome of God or Christ the deuil saith so the conscience saith so The law saith the Lord hateth such the deuil saith the Lord hateth such and the consciece feareth that the Lord hateth such and it knoweth it selfe to bee such So that Sathan affirming the lawe confirming the conscience consenting sinne is made out of measure sinfull by the law and the art of Sathan and so it seemeth to be so great immeasurable as that it exceedeth the greatnes of the mercie of God the value of the bloud of Iesus Christ And yet further the more to increase the greatnes of our sin he willeth vs to weigh the weight therof which we feel sensibly to lie verie heauy on our souls after we haue coÌ„mitted the same And therefore is it that Dauid counteth him happy that is lighted of his sin and Christ willeth theÌ„ that are heauie laden to come vnto him he will case them Now SathaÌ„ by â—â—e heauy weight of our sin perswadeth the hâ—inous work in sinning and concludeth that because our fin is intollerable it is immeasurable therefore that as it presseth vs vnto the earth so it will into hell as it casteth vs vpon our face so it will cast vs from the face presence of the Lord. Vnto this weight of sin he addeth the monstrousnes that is in the same For as righteousnes is a most glorious vertue so is sinne a most vglie deformed and monstrous thing and so as it is Sathan maketh it appeare to the soule For howsoeuer before when Sathan inticeth vs to sin wee are blinded that we cannot behold the monstrousnes thereof because he couereth it ouer with a pleasant and delightful cloake yet after that the fact is committed he openeth our eyes to that the flithines and monstrousnes thereof appeareth at large vnto the soule Out of which as Sathan reasoneth that therefore sith sin is a monster it is moÌ„strous sith it is monstrous in shape it is monstrous in shew measure So the soule easilie is resolued thereof and that so much the rather because it is an eie witnesse of that which Sathan saith And yet the more to increase the horror and greatnes of our sins he addeth the multitude therof which are more in number than either the haires of our head or the starres of the skie or the sands of the sea shore which are innumerable that thereforâ— albeit our sins were not mightie as we would beleeue yet in so much as they are so many he will easily infer that they are exceeding great For that which wanted in the greatnesse is â—ecompenced in the multitude and that which wanted in the weight is repaired with the number wherby our sins haue ben so exceedingly multiplied as that what with the greatnes and what with the multitude our measure of iniquitie is fulfilled our viall full and the treasurie and hoord of our sinnes filled to the top that therefore the wrath of God must needs immediatly smoke against vs. And thus partly by the law partly by the weight partly by the monstrousnes and partly by the multitude of our sins he by this his art so increaseth our sins that he decreaseth our faith and maketh them to be so great that our faith is little or none at all he so filleth our Lord with sins that hee emptieth the heart of hope and maketh vs readie to thinke indeed with Cain that our sins are greater than that they can be forgiueÌ„ Thus as Sathan reasoneth from sin in the first place from the greatnes thereof to disswade the forgiuenes thereof so in the second place he reasoneth from the presence therof which by the force work of Sathan euen after the forgiuenesse therof and the peace of conscience and the righteousnesse of Christ giuen vnto the soule is put in the memorie and represented vnto the soule and that in such a liuely shape idea and forme as they are and were in their owne nature And this made Dauid complaine in his 51. psalm that his sins were continually before his eies yea after that the Prophet Nathan hath told him that his sins were taken away and that he should not die therefore And this made the same Prophet count him happie whose sins were couered Psal 32 namely that they were no longer present before the eie of his conscience as well as the eies of the lord And this is that that maketh the godly at the hour of their death or the day of their triall to doubt to feare and to tremble because they see their sins stil before their face fresh in their conscience which of it self were enough to make them doubt of the forgiuenes of their sins How much more when Sathan shal reason froÌ„ thence and perswade them that therefore their sinnes are not done away sith they are still as fresh in their coÌ„science as if they were but now done that therefore they are not blotted out sith they are imprinted in their consciences that they are not defaced sith they are before their face and that they are not taken out of their soul sith they are still therin And wheras before they were couered he will tell vs that that was but with forgetfulnes or with securitie or hardnes of hart or pleasure or some other fancies that crept into the soule in stead theâ—of But now when these things were gone he might see as Sathan will say that the guiltines of his sin still guilded ouer his conscience and the deformitie and filthines therof was but stubbered ouer with vntempered morter and not washed cleane out by the bloud of Iesus Christ and the spirit of our God And by this meanes how he troubleth feareth casteth downe the soule and beateth downe faith no man knoweth but he that feeleth he that feeleth it knoweth the strenght of Sathan of this reason against the forgiuenes of our sin And yet further because he would leaue no stone as the Prouerbe is vnremoued he reasoneth from the name as before he did froÌ„ the nature of sin And he telleth vs that our sins are our debts which we must make paiment of for the Lord will not as Sathan wil tell vs be any looser by vs. And here when he hath told vs. that we are not able to satisfie the debt he will tel vâ— withall that he is the Lords attorney to arrest vs his man of law to wage the law against vs. his laylor to take vs into hell which is his prison And herein indeed he wil begin to execute his office to lay the law to vs to sue vs to implead vs wil bring the matter to an execution or a Nisi prius For if we haue not before a quittance to shew sealed and written with his owne finger against this debt he will make vs glad to keepe our houses yea our beds or els to run away if we can to hide