for fond credulity Had I to doe with no greater power then thine or then any Angels in heaven that is meerely finite I might well be censured for too light beleefe in giving my assent to so difficult a truth but now that I have to doe with omnipotence it is no lesse then blasphemie in thee to talk of impossibility Doe not thy very Mahumetan vassals tell thee that the same power which made man can as well restore him and canst thou be other then apposed with the question of that Jew who asked whether it were more possible to make a mans body of water or of earth All things are alike easie to an infinite power It is true The resuscitation of the body from its dust is a supernaturall work yet such as whereof God hath beene pleased to give us many images and prefigurations even in nature it selfe In the face of the earth doe we not see the image of death in winter season and in the spring of a cheerfull resurrection Is not the life of all herbs flowers trees buried in the earth during that whole dead season and doth it not rise up againe with the approching Sun into stemmes and branches and send forth blossomes leaves fruits in all beautifull variety What need we any other then the Apostles instance Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare graine it may chance of wheat or of some other graine but God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him and to every seed his own body Lo it must be rottenesse and corruption that must make way for a flourishing increase If I should come to a man that is ignorant of these fruitfull productions of the earth and shewing him a little naked grayne should tell him This which thou seest shall rot in the ground and after that shall rise up a yard high into divers stalkes and every stalk shall beare an eare and every eare shall yeild twenty or thirty such graines as it selfe is or shewing him an akorne should say this shal be buried in the earth and after that shall rise up twenty or thirty foot high and shall spread so far as to give comfortable shade to an hundred persons Surely I should not win beleefe from him yet our experience daily makes good these ordinary proofes of the wonderful providence of the Almighty Or should I shew a man that is unacquainted with these great marvells of nature the small seed of the Silk-worme lying scattered upon a paper and seemingly dead all winter long and should tell him these little atomes so soon as the mulberry tree puts forth will yeild a worme which shall work it selfe into so rich a house as the great Princes of the earth shall be glad to shelter themselvs with after that shall turn to a large flye and in that shape shall live to generate then speedily die I should seem to tell incredible things yet this is so familiar to the experieÌ„ced that they cease t owoÌ„der at it If from these vegetables we shall cast our eyes upon some sensitive creatures Do we not see snayles and flyes some birds lye as senslesse and livelesse all the winter time yet when the spring comes they recover their wonted vivacity Besides these resemblances have we not many clear instances and examples of our resurrection Did not the touch of Elishaes bones raise up the partner of his grave Was not Lazarus called up out of his sepulcher after four daies possessâ—ion and many noysome degrees of rottenesse Were not the graves opened of many bodies of the Saints W ch slept Did not they arise and come out of their graves after my Saviours resurrection and go into the holy city and appeare unto many Besides examples have we not an all sufficient pledg of our certaine rising againe in the victorious refurrection of the Lord of life Is not he our head Are not we his members Is not he the first fruits of them that slept Did not he conquer death for us Can the head be alive and glorious whiles the limmes doe utterly perish in a finall corruption Certainely then if we beleeve that Iesus dyed rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus wil God bring with him And if there were no more that one argument wherewith my Saviour of old confounded thy Sadduces lives still to confound thee God is the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob But God is not the God of the dead but of the living The soule alone is not Abraham whole Abraham lives not if the body were not to be joyned to that soule Neither is it onely certain that the resurrection will be but also necessary that it must be neither can the contrary consist with the infinite wisdome goodnesse justice mercy of the Almighty For first how can it stand with the infinite goodnesse of the all-wise God that the creature which he esteemes dearest and loves best should be the most miserable of all other man is doubtlesse the best piece of his earthly workmanship holy men are the best of men Were there no resurrection surely no creature under heaven were so miserable as the holiest man The basest of brute creatures find a kind of contentment in their being and were it not for the tyranny of man would live and dye at ease And others of them in what jollity and pleasure do they wear out their time As for wicked men who let the reynes loose to their licentious appetite how doe they place their heaven here below and glory in this that they are yet somewhere happy But for the mortifyed christian were it not for the comfort and amends of a resurrection who can expresse the miserie of his condition He beates down his body in the willing exercises of sharp austerity and as he would use some sturdy slave keeps it under holding short the appetite oftentimes even from lawfull desires so as his whole life is little other then a perpetuall penance And as for his measure from others how open doth he ly to the indignities oppressions persecutions of men how is he trampled upon by scornful malignity how is he reputed the off-scouring of the world how is he made a gazing stock of reproch to the world to Angels and to men Did there not therefore abide for them the recompence of a better estate in another world the earth could afford no match to them in perfect wretchednesse which how far it abhorreth from that goodnesse which made all the world for his elect and so loves them that he gave his owne Son for their redemption let any enemy besides thine accursed selfe judge How can it stand with the infinite justice of God who dispenseth due rewards to good and evill to retribute them by halves The wages of sin is death the gift
safe for this though more uncomfortable wait thou upon Gods leisure with all humble submission the event shall be happy when the distemper is once over thou shalt returne to thy true relish of Gods mercy when thine heavenly father shall smile upon thee and take thee up in his armes thou wilt see love in his late stripes when those dead ashes shall be removed and the gleeds of grace stirred up againe in thee thou shalt yeild both light and warmth when the Sun of righteousnesse shall approch to thee and with his comfortable beams draw up the sap into the branches thou shalt blossome and flourish In the meane time feare nothing only believe and thou shalt see the salvation of the Lord Thy soule is in surer hands then thine owne yea then of the greatest Angel in heaven far out of the reach of all the powers of hell For our life is hid with Christ in God Hid not lost not laid open to all eyes but hid hid where Satan cannot touch it cannot find it even with Christ in the heaven of heavens Feare not therefore O thou feeble soule any utter dereliction of thy God Thou art bought with a price God paid too deare for thee and is too deeply ingaged to thee to lose thee willingly and for any force to be offered to the Almighty what can men or Devils do And if that malignant spirit shall challenge any forfeiture plead thou thy full redemption It is true the eternall and inviolable law hath said Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them and the soule that sinneth shall die Death and curse is therefore due to thee But thou hast paid both of these in thy blessed redeemer Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Where sin abounded grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace raigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by Iesus Christ our Lord It is all one to pay thy debt in thine owne person and by thy surety Thy gracious suerty hath staked it down for thee to the utmost farthing Be confident therefore of thy safe condition thou art no lesse sure then thine adversary is malicious X. TEMPTATION Had God ever given thee any sure testimonies of his love thou might'st perhaps pretend to some reason of comfort and confidence But the truth is God never loved thee he may have cast upon thee some common favours such as he throwes away upon reprobates but for the tokens of any speciall love that he bears to thee thou never didst never shalt receive any from him Repelled THis is language well-befitting the professed make-bate betwixt God and man but know O thou false tempter that I have received sure and infallible testimonies of that speciall love which is proper to his elect First then as I have to do with a bountiful God who where he loves there he inriches so I have received most precious gifts from his hands such as do not import a common and ordinary beneficence w ch he scatters promiscuously amongst the sons of men but such as carry in them a dearnesse and singularity of divine favour even the greatest gifts that either he can give or man receive For first he hath given me his spirit the spirit of Adoption whereby I can call him Father for the assurance whereof The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Deny if thou canst the invaluablenesse of this heavenly gift and if thy malice cannot detract from the worth but from the propriety yeelding it to be great but denying it to be mine know O thou envious spirit that here is the witnesse of two spirits combined against thine Were the testimonies single surely I had reason to believe my owne spirit rather then thine which is a spirit of errour but now that the spirit of God conjoines his inerrable testimony together with my spirit against thy single suggestion how just cause have I to be confident of my possession of that glorious and blessed gift Neither is that good spirit dead or dumb but vocall and operative it gives mee a tongue to call God Father it teacheth me to pray it helpeth mine infirmities and maketh intercession for me with groanings which cannot be uttered It worketh effectually in me a sensible conversion Even when I was dead in sins and trespasses God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved me hath by this spirit of his quickned me together with Christ and hath raised me up together with him By the blessed effects therefore of this regenerating Spirit happily begun in my soule I find how rich a treasure the Father of mercies hath conveighed into my bosome Besides my life shows what is in my heart it was a gracious word that God spake to his people of old and holds for ever I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes I will also save you from all your uncleannesses The spirit of God can never be severed from obedience If the heart be taken up with the holy Spirit the feet must walke in Gods statutes both heart and life must be freed from all wilfull uncleannesses I feel that God hath wrought all this in me from him it is that I do sincerely desire indevour to make straight steps in all the ways of God and to avoid and abhor all those foule corruptions of my sinfull nature Flesh and bloud hath not would not could not work this in me The Spirit therefore of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwels in me And if this be not a pledge of his dearest love heaven cannot yeeld one Moreover he hath bestowed upon mee another gift more worth then all the world his own son the son of his love the son of his nature by eternall generation Whom he hath not only given for me in a generality with the rest of mankind but hath by a speciall donation conveighed unto me and as it were put into my bosome in that he hath enabled me by a lively faith to bring him home unto my soule and hath thus by a particular application made him mine so as my soule is not more mine then he is my soules And having given me his son he hath with him given me all things If there can be greater tokens of love then these let me want them Besides his gifts his carriage doth abundantly argue his love were there a strangenesse betweene God and my soule I might well feare there were no other then overly respects from him towards me but now when I find he doth so freely and familiarly converse with his servant and so graciously imparts himself to me renuing the daily testimonies of his holy presence in the frequent motions of his good
disciple My Lord and my God Malignant spirit thou dost but set a face of checking me by my Saviours Crosse thou knowest and feel'st that he was the Chariot of his Triumph whereupon being exalted he dragged all the powers of hell captive after him making a show of them openly to their confusion and his glory Thou knowst that had it not been for that Crosse those infernall regions of thine had been peopled with whole mankind a great part whereof is now delivered out of thy hands by that victorious redemption Never had heaven been so stored never had hell been so foyled if it had not been for that Crosse And canst thou think to daunt me with the mention of that Crosse which by the eternall decree of God was determined to be the means of the deliverance of all the soules of the elect Dost thou not hear the Prophet say of old He was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he striken And he made his grave with the wicked and the rich in his death He hath poured out his soule unto death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he â—arâ— the sin of many Didst thou not hear my Saviour himself after his glorious resurrection checking Cleopas and his fellow-traveller for their ignorance of this predetermination O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory Yea lastly when had my Saviour more glory then in this very act of his ignominious suffering and crucifixion It is true there hangs the Son of man despicably upon the tree of shame He is mocked spit upon buffered scourged nail'd revil'd dead now have men and Devils done their worst But this while is the son of God acknowledged and magnified in his almighty power both by earth and heaven The Sun for three hours hides his head in darknesse as hating to behold this tort offered to his Creator the earth quakes to bear the weight of this suffering The rocks rend in peeces the dead rise from their graves to see and wonder at and attend their late dying and now risen Saviour The vayle of the Temple tears from the top to the bottome for the blasphemous indignity offered to the God of the Temple And the Centurion upon sight of all this is forced to say Truly this was the son of God And now after all these irrefragable attestations his Easter makes abundant amends for his passion There could not be so much weaknesse in dying as there was power in rising from death His resurrection proves him the Lord of life and death and shews that he died not out of necessity but will since he that could shake off the grave could with more ease have avoided death Oh then the happy and glorious conquest of my blessed Saviour declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead Go now wicked spirit and twit me with the Crosse of my Saviour That which thou objectest to me as my shame is my onely glory God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of my Lord Jesus Christ whereby the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world II. TEMPTATION Still thou hast upon all vocasions recourse to the Scriptures as some divine Oracles and think'st thou maist safely build thy soul upon every Text of that written word as inspired from heaven whereas indeed this is nothing but an humane devise to keep men in awe and never came neerer heaven then the brains of those Politicians that invented it Repelled WIcked Spirit when thou presumedst personally to tempt my Saviour and hadst that cursed mouth stopped by him with an It is written thou daredst not then to raise such a blasphemous suggestion against this word of truth Successe in wickednesse hath made thee more impudent and now thou art bold to strike despitefully at the very root of religion But know that after all thy malicious detractions this word shall stand when heaven and earth shall vanish and is that whereby both thou and all thy complices shall be judged at that great day It is not more sure that there is a God then that this God ought to be served and worshipped by the creature Neither is it more sure that God is then that he is most wise most just most holy This most wise just and holy God then requiring and expecting to be served and worshipped by his Creature must of necessity have imparted his will to his creature how and in what manner he would be served and what he would have man to believe concerning himselfe and his proceedings Else man should be left to utter uncertainties and there should be a failing of those ends which the infinite wisdome and justice hath proposed to it selfe There must be therefore some word of God wherein he hath revealed himselfe to man and that this is and must be acknowledged to be that onely word it is clear and evident for that there neither was nor is nor can be any other word that could or durst stand in competition or rivality with this word of the Eternall God and if any other have presumed to offer a contestation it hath soone vanished into contempt and shame Moreover this is the only word which God ownes for his under no lesse stile then Thus saith the Lord which the son of God hath so acknowledged for the genuine word of his eternall Father as that out of it as such he hath pleased to refell both thy suggestions and the malicious arguments of his Iewish opposites It drives wholly at the glory of God not sparing to disparage those very persons whose pens are imployed in it in blazoning their owne infirmities in what they have offended which could not have been if those pens had not been guided by an higher hand It discovers and oppugnes the corruptions of nature which to meer men are either hid or if revealed are cherished and upheld it laies forth the misery and danger of our estate under sin and the remedies and means of our deliverance which no other word hath ever pretended to undertake Besides that there is such a Majesty in the stile wherein it is written as is unimitable by any humane author whatsoever the matter of it is wholly divine ayming altogether at purity of worship and integrity of life not admitting of any the least mixture either of Idolatry superstition or of any plausible enormities of life but unpartially laying forth Gods judgements against these and whatever other wickednesses This word reveals those things which never could be known to the world by any humane skill or industry as the Creation of the world and the order and degrees of it and the course of Gods administration of it from the beginning thousands of years before any records of history
of God is eternall life both these are given to the man not to the soule The body is copartner in the sin it must therefore share in the torment it must therefore be raysed that it may be punished Eternity of joy or paine is awarded to the just or to the sinner how can the body be capable of either if it should finally perish in the dust How can it stand with the infinite mercy of God who hath given his Sonne intirely for the ransome of the whole man and by him salvation to every beleever that he should shrink in his gracious performances making good onely one part of his eternall word to the spirituall halfe leaving the bodily part utterly forlorne to an absolute corruption Know then O thou wicked one that when all the rabble of thine Athenian scoffers and Atheous Sadduces and carnall Epicureans shall have mis-spent all their spleene my faith shall triumph over all their sensuall reason and shall afford me sound comfort against all the terrors of death frō the firme assurance of my resurrection and shall confidently take up those precious words which the mirror of patience wished to be written in a book and graven with an iron pen in the rock for ever I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God and my soule shall set up her rest in that triumphant conclusion of the blessed Apostle This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortall shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ VI. TEMPTATION If the soule must live and the body shall rise yet what needest thou to affright thy selfe with the terrours of an universall judgement Credulous soule when shall these things be Thou talkest of an awfull Judge but where is the promise of his comming These sixteene hundred yeares hath he beene lookt for and yet he is not come and when will he Repelled THy damned scoffers were betimes foreseene to move this question even by that blessed Apostle whose eyes saw his Saviour ascending up to his glory and who then heard the Angell say Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven What dost thou and they but make good that sacred truth which was delivered before so many hundred generations Dissemble how thou wilt That there shall be a generall assise of the world thou knowest and tremblest to know what other couldst thou meane when thou askedst my Saviour that question of horror Art thou come to torment us before the time That time thou knowest to be the day in which God will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead How clear attestation have the inspired Prophets of God given of old to this truth The ancientest Prophet that ever was Henoch the seventh from Adam in the time of the old world foretels of this dreadful day Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him From the old world is this verity deduced to the new and through the succession of those holy Seers derived to the blessed Apostles and from them to the present generation Yea the sacred mouth of him who shall come down and sit as Judge in this awfull tribunall hath fully laid forth not the truth onely but the manner of this universall judicature The Sonne of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepheard divideth his sheep And if this most sure word of the Prophets Apostles yea and of the eternall son of God be not enough conviction to thee yet to my soul they are an abundant confirmation of this main point of my Christian faith that from heaven he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead Indeed thus it must be How many condemned innocents have in the bitternesse of their souls appealed from that unrighteous bar of men to the supreame Judge that shall come those appeals are entred in heaven and sued out how can it stand with divine Justice that they should not have a day of hearing As for mean oppressors there are good laws to meet with them and there are higher then the highest to give life of execution to those lawes but if the greatest among men offend if there were not an higher then they what right would at last be done Those that have the most power and will to doe the greatest mischiefe would escape the fairest And though there be a privy Sessions in heaven upon every guilty soule immediatly upon the dissolution yet the same justice which will not admit publique offences to be passed over with a private satisfaction thinks fit to exhibite a publique declaration of his righteous vengeance upon notorious sinners before men and Angels So as those very bodies which have been ingaged in their wickednesse shall be in the view of the whole world sent downe to take part of their torment and indeed wherefore should those bodies be raised if not with the intent of a further disposition either to joy or paine Contrarily how can it consist with the praise of that infinite justice that those poore Saints of his which have been vilified and condemned at every barre persecuted afflicted tormented and have passed through all manner of painful ignominious deaths should not at the last be gloriously righted in the face of their cruell enemies Surely faith the Apostle it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels What is it O thou wicked spirit whereto thou art reserved in chaines of darknesse Is it not the judgement of the great day what is it whereto the manifestation of all hidden truthes and the accomplishment of all Gods gracious promises are referred Is it
in his resolution to sin If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgivenesse with thee that thou maist be feared I know therefore whither to have my recourse when I have offended my God even to that throne of grace where there is plenteous redemption free and full remission I heare the heavenly voice of him that saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins but I dare not offend because his grace aboundeth justly doth the Psalmist make the use and effect of his mercy to be our feare we must feare him for his mercyes and for his judge ments love him so far am I from giving my selfe leave to sin because I have to doe with a mercifull God as that his judgements have not so much power to drive me as his mercies have to draw me from my dearest sinnes As therefore my greatest sinnes are not too bigge for his mercy to remit so my least sinnes are great enough to deserve his eternall displeasure He that shal come to be Judge at those great Assises hath told us that even of eve ry idle word that men shal speak they shal give an acccount What can be sleighter then the wind of our words and what words more harmelesse then those which have no evill quality in them though no good such are our idle words yet even those may not passe without an account and if our thoughts be yet lesse then they even those must so try us as either to accuse or excuse us and if evill may condemne us Think not therefore to draw me into sin because it is little The wages of sin is death here is no stint of quantities If sin be the work death is the wages Perswade me now if thou canst that there is a little death for a little sin perswade me that there is a lesser infinitenesse and a shorter eternity til the great Judge of the world reverse his most just sentence I shall looke upon every sin as my death and hate thee for the cause of both But as thy suggestion shall never move me to take liberty to my selfe of yeilding to the smallest sin so the greatnesse of my most hainous sin shall not daunt me whiles I rely upon an infinite mercy even my bloodiest sinnes are expiated by the blood of my Saviour that my all-sufficient surety hath cleared all my scores in heaven In him I stand fully discharged of all my debts and shall after all thy wicked temptations hold resolute as not to commit the least sin so not feare the greatest VIII TEMPTATION What a vaine imagination is this wherewith thou pleasest thy selfe that thy sins are discharged in another mans person that anothers righteousnesse should be thine that thine offences should be satisfied by anothers punishment Tush they abuse thee that perswade thee God is angry with mankind which he loves and favours or that his anger is appeased by the bloody satisfaction of a Saviour that thou standest acquitted in heaven by that which another hath done and suffered These are fancies not fit to find place in the heads of wise men Repelled NAy rather these are blasphemies not fit to fall from any but a malignant Devill what is this but to flatter man that thou maist sclander God Is not the anger of a just God deservedly kindled against man for sin Do not our iniquities separate between us our God Do not our sins hide his face from us that he will not hear Are we not all by nature the childrē of wrath Doth not the wrath of God come for sin upon the children of disobedience Doth not every willing sinner after his hardnesse and impenitent heart teasure up unto himself lest he should not have enough wrath against the day of wrath the revelation of the just judgment of God why do not thy Socinian clients go about to perswade us as wel that God is not angry with thee though he torment thee perpetually and hold thee in everlasting chaynes under darknesse what proofes can we have of anger but the effects of displeasure was it not from hence that man was driven out of Paradise was it not from hence that both he and we in him were adjudged to death as it is written By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned yea not only to a temporal death but By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation Thou who art the dreadfull executioner knowest too wel who it is that had the power of death over those who through the feare of death were all their lives long subject unto bondage Under this wofull captivity did we lye sold under sinne vassals to it and death and thee till that one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus was pleased to give himselfe a ransome for all that he might redeem us from all iniquity who by his owne blood entred in once into the holy place making an eternall redemption for us Lo it is not doctrine and example it is no lesse then blood the blood of the Sonne of God shed for our redemption that renders him a perfect Mediator and cleanseth us from all sin He hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law from the power of darknes hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death to present us holy unblameabl unreproveable in his sight He it is that bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinnes should live unto righteousnesse So abundant and cleare testimony hath God beene pleased to give to the infinite merit and efficacy of the bloody satisfaction of his Sonne Iesus made for us that wert thou not as unmeasurably impudent as malicious thou couldst not indeavour to out-face so manifest a truth Thinke not to beate mee off from this sure saving hold by suggesting the improbability of anothers satisfaction and obedience becomming mine what is more familiar then this Our sins are debts so my Saviour hath styled them how commona a thing is it for debts to be set over to anothers hand how ordinary for a bond to be discharged by the surety If the debt then be paid for me and that payment accepted of the Creditor as mine how fully am I acquitted Indeed thou dost no other then sclander our title The righteousnesse wherby wee stand just before our God is not meerly anothers it is by application ours it is Christs and Christ is ours He is our Head we as members are united to him and by vertue of this blessed union partake of his perfect obedience and
Spirit of Truth taught me that in these externall matters All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and cleane and to the uncleane to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath But if there were any judgement to be passed upon these grounds the advantage is mine I smart yea I bleed under the hand of my heavenly father Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Lo there cannot e so much paine in the stripes as there is comfort in the love of him that layes them on He were not my father if he whip't me not Truth hath said it If ye be without chastisements ye are bastards and not sonnes He cannot but love me whiles he is my father and let him fetch bloud on me so he love me After all thy malice let me be a bleeding son to such a father whiles thy base-borne children enjoy their ease Impudent tempter how canst thou from my sufferings argue Gods disfavour when thou knowest that he whom God loved best suffered most The eternall Sonne of his love that could truly say I and the Father are one indured more from the hand of that his heavenly Father then all the whole world of mankind was capable to suffer Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows He was wounded for oue transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisements of our peace were upon him the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all What poore flea bitings are these that I am afflicted with in respect of those torments which the Sonne of God under went for me Thou that sawest the bloudy sweat of his agony the cruell tortures of his crucifixion the pangs of worse then death the sense of his Fathers wrath our curse dost thou move me whom he hath bought with so dear a price to murmur and recoyle upon divine providence for a petty affliction Besides this is the load which my blessed Saviour hath with his owne hands laid upon my shoulders If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse daily and follow me Lo every Crosse is not Christs each man hath a crosse of his owne and this crosse he may not think to tread upon but he must take up and not once perhaps in his life but daily and with that weight on his neck he must follow the Lord of life not to his Tabor only but to his Golgotha And thus following him on earth he shall surely overtake him in heaven for if we suffer with him we shall also reigne with him It is still thy policy O thou envious Spirit to fill mine eyes with the crosse and to represent nothing to my thoughts but the horror and paine of suffering that so thou may'st drive me to a languishing dejectednesse of spirit and despaire of mercy But my God hath raised and directed mine eyes to a better prospect quite beyond thine which is a crowne of glory I see that ready to be set upon my head after my strife and victory which were more then enough to make amends for an hell upon earth In vaine should I hope to obtaine it without a conflict how should I overcome if I strive not These struglings are the way to a conquest After all these assaults the foyle shall bee thine and mine shall be the glory and triumph The God of Truth hath said it Be faithfull to the death and I will give thee a crown of life Thine advantage lies in the way mine in the end the way of affliction is rugged deep stiffe dangerous the end is faire and greene and strewed with flowers No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby What if I be in paine here for a while The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us It is thy maliciousnesse that would make the affliction of my body the bane of my soule but if the fault be not mine that which thou intendest for a poyson shall prove a cordiall Let patience have her perfect work and I am happy in my sufferings For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Lo it doth not only admir of glory but works it for us so as we are infinitely more beholden to our paine then to our ease and have reason not onely to be well apayd but to rejoyce in tribulations knowing That Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed Tell mee if thou canst which of those Saints that are now shining bright in their heaven hath got thither un-afflicted How many of those blessed ones have indured more then my God wil allow thee to inflict upon my weaknesse Some more and some lesse sorrowes all some yea many so true is that word of the chosen vessell That through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdome of God By this then I see that I am in my right way to that blessednesse I am travelling towards Did I find my self in the smooth pleasant and flowry path of carnall ease and contentment I should have just reason to think my selfe quite out of that happy road Now I know I am going directly towards my home the abiding City which is above So far therefore are my sufferings from arguing me miserable that I could not be happy if I suffered not V. TEMPTATION Foolish man how vainly dost thou flatter thy selfe in calling that a chastisement which God intends for a judgment in mistaking that for a rod of fatherly correction which God laies on as a scourge of just anger and punishment Repelled IT is thy maliciousnesse O thou wicked spirit ever to mis-interpret Gods actions and to sclander the footsteps of the Almighty But notwithstanding all thy mischievous suggestions I can read mercy and favour in my affliction neither shall it be in the power of thy temptation to put me out of this just construction of my sufferings For what Is it the measure of my smart that should argue Gods displeasure How many of Gods dearlings on earth have indured more What say'st thou to the man with whom the Almighty did once challenge and foyle thee the great patterne of patience was not his calamity as much beyond mine as my graces are short of his Dost thou not heare the man after Gods owne heart say Lord remember David and all his troubles Dost thou not hear the chosen vessell who was rapt up into the third heaven complaine We are troubled on every side yet not distressed perplexed but not
an actuall conveyance of this mercy to me in that here is an Earnest given me before-hand of a perfect accomplishment An earnest that both binds the assurance and stands for part of payment of that great sum of glory which abides for me in heaven This seale I shew this earnest I produce so as my securance is unfailable And that thou maist not plead this Seale to be counterfeit set on only with a stamp of presumption and self-love know that here is the true and cleare impression of Gods spirit in all the lines of that gracious signanature a right though weak illumination of mind in the true apprehension of heavenly things sincerity of holy desires truth of inchoate holiness unfainedness of Christian charity constant purposes and indeavours of perfect obedience And as for my earnest it can no more disappoint me then the hand that gave it My soule is possessed with true how ever imperfect grace and what is grace but the beginning of glory and what is glory but the consummation of grace What should I regard thy cavils whiles I have these pledges of the Almighty It is not in thy power malicious spirit to sever those things which Gods eternall decree hath put together Our calling and election are thus conjoyned from eternity All the craft and force of hell cannot divorce them Whom he did predestinate them also he called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justifieth them also he glorifieth It is true that outwardly many are called but few chosen but none are inwardly called which are not also chosen in which number is my poore soule whereto God hath shewed mercy in singling it out of this wicked world into the liberty of the sons of God For do not I find my selfe sensibly changed from what I was am I not evidently freed from the bondage of those naturall corruptions under which thou heldst mo miserably captiv'd Do I not hate the courses of my former disobedience Do I not give willing eare to the voice of the Gospel Do I not desire and indeavour to conforme my selfe wholly to the will of my God and Saviour Do I not heartily grieve for my spirituall faylings Do not I earnestly pray for grace to resist all thy temptations Do not I cordially affect the means of grace and salvation Do I not labour in all things to keep a good conscience before God and men Are not these the infallible proofs of my calling and the sure and certaine fruits of mine election Canst thou hope to perswade me that God will bestow these favours where he loves not that he wil repent him of such mercies That he will lose the thanks and honour of so gracious proceedings Suggest what thou wilt I am more then confident that he who hath begun this good work in me will perform it untill the day of Jesus Christ Do not I heare the chosen vessel tell his Thessalonians that he knows them to be elected of God And upon what grounds doth he raise this assurance For saith he our Gospel came not to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost That which can assure us of another mans election may much more secure us of our owne the entertainment successe of the Gospel in our souls Lo that blessed word hath wrought in me a sensible abatement of my corrupt affections and hath produced an apparent renovation of my mind and hath quickned me to a new life of grace and obedience this can be no work of nature this can be no other then the work of that Spirit whereby I am sealed to the day of redemption My heart feels the power of the Gospel my life expresses it maugre all thy malice therefore I am elected When the gates of hell have done their worst none of Gods children can miscarry For if children then they are heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ Now as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God and this is the direction that I follow There are but three guides that I can be led by my own will thy suggestions the motions of Gods spirit For my owne will I were no Christian if I had not learn'd to deny it where it stands opposite to the will of my God as for thy suggestions I hate and defie them they are onely therefore the motions of that good Spirit which I desire to follow and if at any time my owne frailty have betraied me to some aberrations my repentance hath overtaken my offence and in sincerity of heart I can say with an holier man I have gone astray like a sheep seek thy servant for I do not forget thy commandements All thy malice therefore cannot rob me of the comfort of mine adoption It is no marvell if thou who art all enmity canst not abide to heare of love but God who is love hath told me that love is of God and that every one that loveth is borne of God and that by this we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren now my heart can irrefragably witnesse to me that I love God because he is good infinitely good in himself and infinitely good to me and that I love good men because they are his sons my brethren I am therefore as surely passed from death to life as if I had set my foot over the threshold of heaven VIII TEMPTATION Alas poor man how grosly deludest thou thy selfe thou talk'st of thy faith and bearest thy selfe high upon this grace and think'st to doe great matters by it whereas the truth is thou hast no faith but that which thou mis-callest so is nothing else but meer presumption Repelled IS it any wonder that thou should'st sclander the graces of God who art ever ready to calumniate the giver No tempter Canst thou challenge this faith of mine which thou censurest to be thine owne worke such it should be if it were presumption Were it presumption would'st thou oppose it would'st thou not foster and applaud it as thine The presumption is thine who darest thus derogate from the gracious work of the Almighty and fasten sin upon the holy Spirit Mine is faith yet so mine as that it is his that wrought it There is not more difference betwixt thee and an Angel of light then betwixt my faith and thy presumption True faith such is mine after all thy sclanderous suggestions is grounded upon sound knowledge and that knowledge upon an infallible word Whereas presumption rests only upon opinion and conceit built upon the sands of self-love Whence it is that the most ignorant are ever the most presumptuous when the knowing soule sees what dangers it is to encounter and provides for them with an awfull resolution True faith never comes without carefull and diligent use of meanes The word sacraments praier meditation are but enough with their conjoyned forces to produce
so divine a work whereas presumption comes with ease it costs nothing no strife no labour to draw forth so worthlesse and vicious a disposition yea rather corrupt nature is forward not only to offer it to us but even to force it upon our admission and it is no small maistery to repell it True faith struggles with infidelity this Iacob is wrestling with this Esau in the womb of the soule and if at any time the worse part through the violence of a temptation get the start of the better the hand laies hold on the heel and suffers not it selfe to be any other then insensibly prevented but recovers the light ere the suggestion can be fully compleated and at last so far prevails that the elder shall serve the younger This is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith Whereas presumption is ever quiet and secure not fearing any perill not combating with any doubt pleasing it selfe in its owne ease and safety and in the confidence of a perpetuall prosperity can say I shall never be moved True faith wheresoever it is purifieth the heart and will not suffer any known sin to harbour there and is ever attended with care awfulnesse love obedience Whereas presumption impures the soule and works it to boldnesse obduration false joy security senslesnesse True faith grows daily like the graine of mustard-seed in the Gospel which from small beginnings arises to a tall and large-spreading plant presumption hath enough and sits down contented with its own measure applauding the happinesse of its own condition True faith like gold comes out pure from the fire of Temptation and like to sound friendship is most helpfull in the greatest need Presumption upon the easiest triall vanisheth into smoak and drosse and is never so sure to faile us as in the evill day So then this firme affiance of mine being grounded upon the most sure promises of the God of Truth upon frequent use and improvement of all holy means after many bickerings with thy motions of unbelief being attended with holy and purifying dispositions of the soule and gathering still more strength and growing up dayly towards a longed-for perfection and which now thy experience convinces thee to be most present and comfortable in the hour of Temptation is true faith not as thou falsly suggestest a false presumption It is true my unworthinesse is great but I have to do with an infinite mercy so as my wretched unworthinesse doth but heighten the glory of his most mercifull pardon and acceptation Shortly then where there is a divine promise of free grace and mercy a true apprehension and embracing of that promise a warrant and acceptance of that apprehension a willing relyance upon that warrant a sure knowledge and sense of that relyance there can be no place for presumption This is the case betwixt God and my soule His word of promise and warrant that cannot deceive me is He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and He that believes in him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life My owne heart irrefragably makes out the rest which is the truth of my apprehension relyance knowledge Mine therefore is the faith the presumption in casting sclander upon the grace of Gods spirit is thine owne IX TEMPTATION Thou thoughtest perhaps once that thou hadst some tokens of Gods favour but now thou canst not but find that he hath utterly forsaken thee and withdrawing himself from thee hath given thee up into my hands to which thy sins have justly forfaited thee Repelled BE not discouraged O thou weak soule with this malicious suggestion of the enemy Thou art not the first nor the holiest that hath been thus assailed So hard was the man after Gods owne heart driven with this Temptation that he cries out in the bitternesse of his soul Will the Lord cast me off for ever and will he be favourable no more hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Is his mercy cleane gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Thy case was his for the sense of the desertion why should not his case be thine for the remedy Mark how happily and how soon he recovers himself And I said This is my infirmity But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember the wonders of old I will meditate of all thy works Lo how wisely and faithfully David retreats back to the sure hold of Gods formerlyexperimented mercies and there finds a sensible reliefe He that when he was to encounter with the proud Giant could before-hand arme himselfe with the proof of Gods former deliverances and victories Thy servant slew both the lyon and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistim shall be as one of them now animates himself after the temptation against the spirituall Goliah with the like remembrance of Gods ancient mercies and indearments to his soule as well knowing that what ever we are God cannot but be himself God is not as a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end Hast thou therefore formerly found the sure testimonies of Gods favour to thee in the reall pledges of his holy Graces live thou still whiles thou art thus besieged with temptations upon the old store know that thou hast to do with a God that can no more change then not be Satan cannot be more constant to his malice then thy God is to his everlasting mercies He may for a time be pleased to withdraw himself from thee but it is that he may make thee so much more happy in his re-appearance It is his owne word For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer In the case wherein thou now art thou canst be no meet Judge either of Gods respects to thee or thine owne condition Can the aguish palate passe any true judgement upon the tast of liquors Can the child entertaine any apprehension of his parents favour whiles he is under the lash Can any man looke that the fire should give either flame or heat whiles it lies covered with ashes Can any man expect fruit or leaves from the tree in the midst of winter Thou art now in a fit of temptation thou art now smarting under the rod of correction thy faith lies raked up under the cold ashes of a seeming desertion the vegetative life of thy soul is in this hard season of thy triall drawne inward and run downe to the root thine estate is never the lesse