Proposition It is safer to exceed then to come short it is safer to extend you selves by over-abounding then to c◠short it savours of a better spirit wh◠a man is free though in excesse the when he is slack and back ward and is not so much evil by abounding so◠what to pinch the flesh as by abating suffer losse in the spirit the things the concern the body are not of such va◠as those that concerne the soule 〈◊〉 so much the more cause you have 〈◊〉 ther to leane to the right hand because as there is a greater worth in the w◠on the right hand so there is usually disposition inclining rather to the 〈◊〉 hand Few men offend in passing their bounds More men are found defective in giving almes then excessive and so where one is in any way of piety carried with too full a gale an hundred lye becalmed where one piece is more than weight many are found too light 4 Proposition Fourth Proposition A man must not make his disposition a rule alway Which in three cases is hardly bounded That a man must not be ruled by his own disposition but must seek arule to walk by for in some men the heart hangs with perpetuall hungring after converse with God that if there were nothing to limit them they would scarce doe any thing else and there are three things draw the heart still unto God 1 Great comforts in meeting God in duty Great comforts these make the soule to say as David It is good for me to draw neare to God Psal 73.28 When God opens himselfe and his treasures and lets in his people to his presence and feasts them with spirituall and joyfull sights and tasts this makes them loath to leave but they hang unto duties as the child to the breast and finding so sweet a conjunction of plenty and sweetnesse are filled with delight and are ready to say to all things else as Abraham to his servant when he went up to the mount Stay thou in the valley the spouse vns with her beloved and found him as a apple tree among the trees of the forrest whose fruit was sweet unto her taste hee led her into his wine-cellar and she was ravished with his love and greatly solaced in his sweet embraces and now see what care shee takes to keep that which she joyed to have and feared to lose I charge you oh ye daughters of lerusalem that ye stir not up nor wake my beloved till he please Cant. 2.7 But in such a case it is a point of obedience and self-deniall for a man to leave his banquet to do that which he is called to and we should so prefer God to all our comforts as to bee content to come downe with Moses from the Mount when he hath businesse for us below 2 Love to God Great love this is of a living and large disposition and apt to draw the heart much out he that loves come as a friend he loves to come and converse with God and even then when his necessities are not urgent yet his heart is drawing heaven-wards as the wife loves to be with her husband c. 3 Necessitousnesse of spirit Great necessities when one is sensible of great wants great corruptions tentations feares then he is apt to be over-solicitous and active especially when such an afflicted spirit hath either both of these two things 1 An opinion that all good lyeth in duties When men thinke that a hard heart may be softned a stiffe heart bowed a corrupt heart changed and all good attained by labour and sweate men that know what it is to want these will worke even their soules out of breath and are so carried with desire of the good that they are not sensible of the labour But remember all lyeth in Christ and therefore you must seek it from Christ by the meanes if you make duty and endeavour your refuge you are deceived 2 If there be an opinion that God will not accept lesse this is the case of many they have been at prayer and that not only in sincerity but with importunity and with a full tyde of spirit and yet they are afraid to betake themselves to their employments out of opinion that they have not done that which is sufficient but that their occasion and necessity cals for more still but herein men have under-thoughts of God as if he were like the gods of the heathen that did not heare or as if hee were hard to be entreated For a close of this businesse I will in a briefe view present some things that are considerable in way of satisfaction in such cases Farther considerations to cleare the question 1 Distinguish between occasions and duties ordinary and extraordinary Distinguish betwixt duties ordinary and extraordinary for as when an extraordinary or great person comes all stand by and give him place which we will not if an ordinary and common man come so affaires and things of the world and nature doe stand for their own and will not be set aside for ordinary duties to waite at the closet dore as when an extraordinary service is performed Your time is divided betwixt heaven and earth therefore you must not only give to both but with equality each must have his owne 2 There is a time to waite as well as to work Know there is a time to waite as well as to work when you have presented your suites with what strength you are able now faith must come in and lay hold upon the promise and you ought to beleeve that God heareth for you have his word The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their prayers Psal 34.15 Remember you come not to God to obtain a promise and grant but it is obtained in Christ you must only sue it out by prayer and whatsoever you aske in Christs name beleeving you shall receive it Mat. 21.22 so Davids practise he begins often with prayer but ends with praise it is want of faith that causeth unquietnesse though you should not rest in your duties yet you should rest in the promise if God heare not at first yet he will heare at last yea he heares when you thinke hee heares not But you must give God time that is all he requires the thing shall be yours but the time is his doe with your prayers as with your seed be patient til God come Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it untill he receive the early and the latter rain Ja. 5.7 Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the comming of the Lord draweth nigh When you have preferred a petition to the King you do not fall presently to write another but you waite a time convenient and then you move again so doe with God the doore is open you may come again in due time but live by faith and
this is continued pag. 481 CHAP. 36. 3. The effects of this sad condition these are expressed according to the quality of the persons thus Deserted 1. As they are sleeping Christians and they are 1. Careless pag. 483 2. Declining in affection pag. 484 3. Apt to he drawne to evill ibid. 2. As they are awakened in these there are different workings 1. Evill effects as 1. Heartless complaints pag. 485 2. Fruitless complaints pag. 486 3. Great unquietness expressed in three things pag. 487 2. Good effects as 1. Sorrow pag. 490. 2. Longing desires pag. 491 3. Repentance ibid. 4. Subjection pag. 492 4. The cause of the restlesness of the soule without God pag. 492 1. From the condition of the subject expressed in five things pag. 492 2. From the object in respect of 1. The quality of it pag. 498 There are three things in God which cause the wound to bleed much ibid. 2. The relation in which God stands to a beleiver pag. 503 3. The operation of God pag. 504 CHAP. 37. 2. The causes for which God deales thus with his people pag. 506 1. To put a difference betwixt Heaven and earth ibid. 2. In judgement to the world pag. 510 3. To establish the godly in more full comforts pag. 512 Affliction of the soule doth advantage much to further establishment foure reasons of it pag. 513 4. The correcting and healing of some evill in his people 517. These evils are 1. Deadness and dulness of heart ibid. 2. Fearelesness of God pag. 519 3. Slightness of heart 521. expressed in three things ibid. 4. Living too much upon the creature expressed in three things pag. 525 5. Intractableness and stifness of heart pag. 528 6. Rigidness and unmercifulness to the spirituall estate of others pag. 530 7. Some great transgression pag. 533 5. To shew that God is the God of all comfort pag. 534 6. To revive their esteeme of mercy pag. 536 7. That others may be instructed pag. 538 8. To fit them for speciall service pag. 539 2. The cure of this sad condition pag. 542 1. In those in whom the cause is naturall pag. 543 2. In those in whom the cause is spirituall and it is applyed 1. To those that have slumbring and drowsie spirits pag. 544 2. To those that are awakened and see their losse to these are propounded 1 Perswasives 1 Comfort is their strength pag. 546 Three great assaults that a man is exposed unto ibid. 2. Sadness doth much hurt both to themselves and others pag. 549 3. Recovery is possible proved by five things pag. 550 2. Directives 1. Seeke the Father in the Son pag. 551 2. Seeke peace much pag. 555 3. Come in much love to God pag. 556 Love shews it self in two things pag. 557 Decemb. 4. 1638. Imprimatur THO WYKES THE DESERTED SOULES Case and Cure CHAP. I. That the godly are sometimes deserted THough most men since God and they parted in Adam live without God in the world Eph. 2.12 13. and are so far from him that they neither enjoy him nor know him yet there is a generation of men whom God hath made nigh by the bloud of Christ with whom he hath renewed that old acquaintance and amity which at the first he had with them Heu Domine Deus rara hora brevis mora Bern. in Cant. 13. and they with him which blessed estate as it is not here perfected so it 's often interrupted their comforts are sweet alwayes but short often there are but few if any whose joyes in a comfortable communion with God are not sometimes clouded with sorrowes in a dolefull elongation from him so that if you lay but your eare to the doore of their closets you shall often heare the daughters of Sion as heires of their mothers miseries complaining in their mothers language The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Esay 49.14 If you six your eyes upon them you shall see Sions teares in their eyes her palenesse in their faces her sorrowes in their soules in consideration of and compassion to these mourners I spent some thoughts upon this sad subject Desertions then are either Common or Special These which I call common are such as all men share in by nature God having forsaken and withdrawne himselfe from Adam and all his posterity with Apostate Angels The speciall I shall handle as they concerne Godly The speciall I shall handle as they concerne Hypocrits Desertions as they concerne men truly regenerate are Gods withdrawing himselfe In respect of quickning quicting or cōforting of the soul Desertions as they concerne men seemingly regenerate are Gods withholding of those influences by which they had a kinde of life comfort spirituall To begin then with desertions as they concerne the godly I shall first speake something in generall of them and then descend to the more specials That which I shall say in the generals I will comprize in two things 1 That there is such an evill as spirituall desertion 2 How they are deserted That there is such an estate That the godly may be deserted proved it s almost lost labour to prove yet because as all in Christians is hidden and secret so nothing more than their comforts and discomforts I will and that in two words make it good we will call in two witnesses to give evidence to the truth The experience of the Saints Aske Sion By experience you have her verdict Esay 49.14 And Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me You see here the Church clad all in blacke bewailing her widowhood as one bereft of her dearest husband every word of her speech is bedewed with teares b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. l. de consolat ad Apol. and beareth a drop from her bleeding soule The Lord Iehovah he whose power and fidelity hath been to me as the pillars of the earth he hath forsaken me he hath cast me off My Lord he who was mine in covenant mine in communion he who was the joy of my life the life of my joy the strength the stay the spring of my life he hath forgotten me he hath cast me not onely out of his armes but out of his heart I am quite out of his love not onely forsaken but forgotten And in this Sion is not alone Aske David and you shall heare him as soon as you come neare him sighing sobbing crying soaring but what saith he what ailes him he telleth you Psal 22.1 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me See how well their testimonie agreeth how can a man looke upon David and not count him as a poore Orphan that is left in woe case friendlesse helplesse comfortlesse a but yet we will heare a greater than David that is the Captaine of our salvation the first head of the whole order c Christus Primicerius q. in primâ cerâ vel primus in cerâ antiqu s◠ilicet cereis is ebanturtabulis
primus in tabula vocabatur Primicerius sic Aug. appellat Stephanum Primicerium martyrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phavorin what he saith and we will goe no further to aske of others David was here a type of Christ and as himselfe was but the shadow of Christs person so was his sorrow but a shadow of Christs sorrow David did but taste of the cup which Christ afterward drank more deeply of when in the anguish of his souler upon the Crosse he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 And this Cup hath gone round ever sinder so that few have ever tasted of the wateâ—s of life but they have drunke also of these waters of Marah d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Plut. l. de consolat ad Ap. The experience of all the Saints almost contributes to the evidence of this truth where shall we finde a man that hath not met with these rocks and sands and hath not seen some gloomie dayes winter storms passing through many changes sometimes rejoycing as the plants in the Spring e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss 8. in the sight and sense of Gods gracious presence sometimes again mourning for his losse of God sometimes lift up to heaven in his soule and mounting as it were on Eagles wings sometimes again depressed to the deeps of hell held as with chains of brasse or iron now quickned but growing dull again f Aliquando infirmior fit regenitus regeneratione progrediente quam ineuate Camer amic Coll. p. 289. few can say they have once found God but may say they have often lost him Adde to the experience of the Saints the witnesse of God himselfe Divine testimony David and Heman and Iob and Zion might speak much out of distrust impatience passion c. but when God himselfe shall come in and confirme their evidence it is past doubt But God doth so for doth Sion bewaile herselfe as a widow forlorne without an husband God saith it was so The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God Esay 54.6 God saith he had in a sort divorced her from him yea and whereas Sion complained that God forsooke her it s no more than God saith himselfe vers 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee so that this is sometimes the sad portion of the Saints to be deserted And this I have the rather spoken that the mourners in Sion may see this uncomfortable state may consist with grace it is a comfort to know that thy deeps are passeable and thy case cureable others have walked in this heavy way and are now in heaven others have beene in these stormes yet have safely arrived at the land of promise None other affliction hath befallen you but that which is common to men therefore be not overwhelmed in griefe give not thy selfe for lost disquietnesse will hurt but it cannot helpe rather stir up thy selfe to take hold of God repent pray beleeve wait for God is faithfull and will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to beare it 1 Cor. 10.13 CHAP. II. How or in what sense the godly are said to be deserted THe second thing followes how or in what sense they are said to be deserted First Sometimes in appearance only sometimes onely in appearance g Quosdam deserit quosdam deserere videtur Ambr. in Psal 118. Aug. in Ps 44. Obscuris super nos dispositionibus Deus saepe unde nos astimatur deserere inde nos recipit unde nos recipere creditur inde derelinquit ut plerunque hoc fiat gratiâ quod ira dicitur hoc aliquando ira sit quod gratia putatur Greg. mor. l. 5. c. 5. not in truth men are in nothing so much deceived as in themselves mans heart and wayes yea his judgement and thoughts are subject to many variations and frequent mistakes are found in mens opinions about these great questions am I truly changed or am I an hypocrite doe I beleeve or not is God my God or not c And the errors of mens judgements arise from ignorance unbeliefe passion false rules of judgement c. of which principles of errour I shall speake hereafter but through such impediments men are often puzled and thinke they are evill when they are good and worst when best and furthest from God when nearest to him But as desertions are sometimes in appearance onely Sometimes really so sometimes they are reall God truly withdrawing himselfe and denying that fulnesse of communion which his people were wont to have with him But though he desert them really yet not totally The Lord will not forsake his people for his great Names sake 1 Sam. 12.22 his truth is engaged in it For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 the words are emphaticall h Est negationis conduplicatio ut sit vehementior pollicitatio Estius in locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is to be observed a duplication of the subject of the Promise I will not leave I will not forsake and a multiplication of negatives there are five negatives in the promise by which he intimateth that he will not yea he will not surely he will not forsake his servants hee will never wholy reject them nor utterly leave them To clear this point a little Yet with limitation I will lay down three limitations or distinctions by which we may the better understand in what sense this is a truth that the godly are sometimes forsaken of God God leaves them for a season not for ever Not for ever If he goe from them it is but as one that goeth from home to returne againe I will not leave you comfortlesse or as Orphans But I will come againe Joh. 14.18 i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When Sion was in this uncomfortable case God said unto her For a moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee in a little wrath have I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Esay 54 7 8. He may frown but he will smile againe though his compassions may be restrained yet they cannot be extinguished his anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but In the morning joy comes Psal 30.5 in his favour is life k In benevo lentia ejus vita i. e. diu durat contrarium ejus quod praecessit momentum in ira ejus Drus quaest Ebraic l. 1. q. 49. weeping may endure or lodge as a passenger to be gone in the morning but joy comes in the morning as an inhabitant and enjoyeth his habitation to himselfe As the Sun sets
the sweete gust and taste of those things which did refresh the heart are cut off if God put forth himselfe in a way of help the thirst and labour of the heart will bee much after God Psal 63.8 but if God withdraw his hand either the heart lyeth sleeping and feeding upon inferiour things like the Prodigall who when he had not bread fed upon chaffe and draffe or else it faints in discouragement hangs the wing and lyeth in fruitlesse and mournfull dejectment either fearing to draw neare so great a God or thinking it in vaine to stir It is hard to live by faith when all sense faileth and to retain a living hope when feares break in like a flood All these things considered doth it not much concern us to endeavour to keep the good hand of God with us in all our wayes Let this suffice for perswasion CHAP. XIX Directions how to retaine a divine quickning presence with us THe next thing is directions how we retaine the happinesse of divine assistance 1 When you have it Direct Acknowledge it acknowledge it 1 With thankfulnesse prize it for it is a precious mercy it is a multiplyed favour With thankfulnesse how much have you in this one thing All the comfort and sweetness of duties the quietnesse and liberty from lusts the fruit and efficacy of ordinances depends upon this if God hold back this one mercy all these are gone consider what a difference is in your selves and wayes when you are carried in the gracious armes of God your helper and when you are left to walk in your own strength Oh how great is Gods goodnesse to you hee calls upon others for the same things and Conscience stands as Pharaohs task-masters requiring the tale of bricks but not allowing straw it impels and presseth but gives no enlargement of heart and buffets and wounds them for neglect as the hard Creditor that taking the poore debtor by the throat saith Pay me that thou owest me but yeelds him no power to do it thus God might deale with you also for he oweth not assistance to us but we owe obedience to him remember we had power and it is just to demand what we cannot doe because the weaknesse that is in us is of our selves we have impoverished our selves Therefore when in much mercy he puts forth his hand into the work with thee be very thankfull If the work be not done he is no loser if done and well done he is no gainer Iob 22.2 Chap. 35.6 7 8. Psal 16.2 But the gaine is all to thee all the good that comes by it is to thy selfe And this also take into thy thoughts it is a signe of great loving-kindnesse consider the infinite distance betwixt thee and the great God would a King sit downe to worke for and with a mean man in his trade to help to maintaine him one thing more I adde that you have cause to be thankfull because by this God testifieth his acceptance of thee and of thy way or else his hand would be farre from thee get therefore and keepe thy heart in a thankfull plight this is one way to continue it 2. With faithfulnesse With faithfulnesse take heed of taking from God to set up thy self u Iovi custoditemplum seque in sinu Dei sacravit Domitianus quod ipsum in se ditione Vitelliana conser vasset Sueton. in Domitiano Huc omne principium huc reser exitum Horat. l. 3. od 6. put not that to thy account which belongs to him take heed of sacrificing to thy strength or parts acknowledge that all the excellency of all thy actions is of him God is very jealous of his honour x Agasi cles extorris est sactus quod tripodem quem ipse ludis obtinuerat non dedicasset Deo Herod l. 1. and as I have said oftentimes leaves his people to feele their owne weakenesse because they honoured not his strength If the faculties of thy soule bring in willingly and plentifully offerings unto God say as David when so much store with much freenesse was brought in by the people to build the Temple Now our God we thanke thee and praise thy glorious name for who am I and what is my people that we should bee able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things are of thee and of thine owne we have given thee O Lord our God all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thy name commeth of thine hand and is all thine 1 Chro. 29 14.16 So the Apostle when in that distresse before Nero he was so couragious did not ascribe it to his owne strength but acknowledged that it was the Lord. The Lord stood by me and strengthened me 2 Tim. 4.17 It was his way to strip himselfe and to cast the honour of all his ministery and actions upon God By the Grace of God I am that I am 1 Cor. 15.9 10. y Si quid enim recti gerimus Domine auxiliante te gerimus tu corda moves c. Prosper and you see with how full a gale of Divine grace he was carryed in all his way Learne therefore in all things wherein the excellency and life of grace shines forth to know that as the starres shine not by their owne light alone but by a light which they have from the Sun so thy lustre and vigour in thy way is not of thy selfe but from him who is thy life that thou mayest not draw downe that to the feeding of thy pride which should be to the glory of God z Si aquam hauris puteum corona Fontinalia festus erat Dies Romae quo in foutes coronas projiciebant puteosque coronabant Varro l. 5. de lingu lat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what ever thou dost when ever thou art carryed through any service still say as the Apostle Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 I may say in a spirituall sense as Solomon in a naturall Honour the Lord with thy substance and the first fruits of all thine encrease so shall thy barnes be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine Prov. 3.9 10. As by the first fruits they acknowledged that all was his and that it was not their tillage and labour but the influence of his blessing which caused the fields to be clad with grasse and stored with corn so doe thou acknowledge that it is not any thing in thee but all of God that thou bringest forth the fruits of righteousnesse and then his promise is to be with thee and to make thee to abound still and to bring forth more fruit Psal 73.23 24. 2. Use his help when he comes with excitements and enlargements of heart Direct Vse it when you have it turne not back the inspiration of the Almighty quenching the spirit is often the cause why God shuts in
hearts to himselfe and the Saints doe not rest in these they doe not match with the handmaides the fruits of Gods love are sweet When for losse not onely as bitter but as a signe of Gods displeasure and because they are sweet therefore God is precious Christ is pretious to them that beleeve 1 Pet. 2.7 4. When your sorrow is not onely for the losse as it is your evill but also as it betokeneth displeasure in God a true friend is grieved when his friend leaves him and casts him off not onely for his owne great losse but for his friends anger he can as well be without his friend as without his love and is as loath his friend should be displeased as himselfe endammaged 5. When because by this losse you are disabled to serve him When your sorrow is that you have lesse strength to serve him grace hath a great recompence in it selfe but can you grieve that by bringing your selves into this state of deadnesse you have lived to little honour to your God When you can submit to all tearmes of reconcilement and are not now able to doe much for him this is ingenuous sorrow 6. When you can gladly submit to all conditions of reconcilement and of restauration though God require much or impose much yet you count all nothing in comparison of God can you say Lord command me chide rebuke smite doe what thou wilt ſ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquit Themistocles Eurybiadi plagasque minanti dum sanum in praelio cōsilium decerit Plut. though it be through a desart yea through a Sea of straits and troubles yet I am content to goe so I may arrive at last at my desired end if I may have thy good presence it shall be enough if thou wilt come to me if I may come to thee every way shall be sweet though I goe thorow thornes and bryars to the raking of my flesh and the effusion of my blood yet this shall be nothing to me if I may enjoy my God who is all in all to me When your sorrow is ingenuous then you will find God yea indeed he hath found much whose frozen heart begins to thawe and to dissolve it selfe in showres of teares for the return of God unto his deserted soule the Lord hath looked upon thee if with Peter thou weep bitterly t Tunc peccator visitatur a Domino quando compungitur ad lacrymas nam et Petrus tunc flevit quando in eum Christus respexit Bern. de mod bene viv ser 10. Secondly bewaile the cause this is part of that cure which the great Physitian of soules prescribed to Ephesus languishing in a like disease I have somewhat against thee Bewaile the cause of the losse because thou hast left thy first love remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent Apoc. 2.4 5. Quest Whether the substraction of the quickning influences of the spirit be alway for sinne Ans 1 Answ 1. Sometimes it is like he doth it not because his people have sinned but for higher ends as Peter was left to be strangely foyled with fears of suffering falling exceedingly beneath his former spirit and resolution yet not for any particular sin of his but as it is likely that he might see how unable he was of himselfe that so all the glory of his future heroick acts and sufferings might come not to himselfe but unto Christ and so Paul was buffetted that he might not be exalted God let loose Satan not to punish but to prevent his sin 2 Cor. 10. so the case stood with the blinde man John 9.3 Ans 2 2 There is also cause in us though God make it not a cause to himselfe and to his action therefore your way is to consider your wayes Ans 3 3 God usually doth it for sin and if you search the Scriptures they testifie that sin is the usuall spring of this evill Sin separates betwixt us Esay 59.2 he bath threatned If we forsake him he will forsake us 2 Chron. 15.3 Quest Quest How a man may finde out what sin is the cause Answ Answ First sometimes the cause 〈◊〉 visible and a man can scarce look besides it 1. When upon some particula◠grosse failing a damp hath fallen upon him in such a case God points at the sin and discovers the cause of his displeasure by this sudden punishment inflicted on him Scriptures afford man◠instances of discovering the sin by th◠time of the punishment 2 It may be there hath been an eminent neglect of those meanes by which life was upheld and grosse carelesnesse in omission or palpable remissenesse is duties vanity of minde sinfull affections and other evils connived at have so broken in that a man may plainly se◠the time when his fall began and whe◠his sun began to set Secondly Upon consideration 〈◊〉 though the cause be not transparent i◠may be discovered and for help in this I will propound foure rules 1 Pursue your losse and sad condition to the birth of it consider how long this night of darknesse hath been upon you look back to the dayes in which you were happy in a living communion with God if a man have lost a thing hee bethinkes himselfe when he had it and where and so as much as may be pursueth his losse to the very time and place It may be when you come to this you will have much light to finde out how you lost your treasure God goeth not away upon small offences you will by searching finde the gap that let in these floods 2 Consider what things have beene most pressed by God from time to time upon you for though the whole law and all righteousnesse be enjoyned to all yet there are some things more especially pressed so Iosuah was much pressed to courage so much as if it had been his only taske Be strong and of a good courage only be thou strong and very couragiou◠Josh 1.6 7 9. The Israelites were mightily among other things called on to take heed of forgetting God and what he had done when they should possesse the land of promise Deut. 4.9 Only take heed to thy selfe and keep thy soule diligently least tho◠forget c. Chap. 8.2 5 10 11 14 18. And after their returne from Babylon some things especially were againe urged as not to mixe themselves with the heathen which things Ezra Neh laboured much in and to build the temple which the Prophet Haggai againe and againe enforceth c. So every Christian according to his station temper measure of gifts and graces relation age course c. is put upon some things in a speciall manner heare what the spirit saith the voice cals upon you it may be for more humiliation or more meditation or more thankfulnesse prayer reading zeale mortification of particular lusts now if you have been deafe to these cals it is like here grew the difference betwixt God and you for here is great