life and consequently rejected Christ as a Saviour and the Holy Ghost as a sanctifier and all the mercy which he offered you on these terms Quest. 8. If this hath been your case are you now unfeignedly grieved for it Not only because it hath brought you so near to Hell but also because it hath displeased God and deprived you of that Holy and comfortable life which you might all this while have lived and endangered all your hopes of Heaven Do you so far Repent as that your very Heart and Love is changed so that now you had rather have a Holy life on earth and the sight and enjoyment of God in the Heavenly Joyes for ever than to have all the pleasure and prosperity of this world Do you hate your sins and loath your self for them and truly desire to be made Holy Are you firmly Resolved that if God do recover you to health you will live a new and Holy life that you will forsake your fleshly worldly life and all your wilful sins and will set your self to learn the will of God and call upon him and live in the holy Communion of Saints and make it your chief care to please God and to be saved Quest. 9. Are you willing to these ends to Give up your self absolutely now to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your Reconciled Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier to be sanctified and Iustified and saved from your sins and from the wrath of God and live to God in Love and Holiness And are you willing to bind your self to this by entring into this Covenant with God renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil Either your Heart is willing and sincere in this Resolution and Covenant or it is not If it be not there is no hope that your sin should be pardoned and your soul be saved upon any other or easier terms And for all that God is merciful and Christ died for sinners it was never his intent to save one impenitent unsanctified soul But if your Heart unfeignedly consent to this I Matth. 28. 19 â—0 2 Cor. 6. 10 17 18. have the commission of Christ himself to tell you that God will be your Reconciled God and Father and Christ will be your Saviour and the Holy Spirit will be your Sanctifier and Comforter and your sins are pardoned and your soul shall be saved and you shall dwell in Heaven with God for ever God did consent before you consented He shewed his Consent in purchasing and making and offering you this Covenant Shew your unfeigned Consent now by accepting it and giving up your self unreservedly to him and you have Christs Blood and Spirit and Sacrament to seal it to you The flesh and the world have deceived you but Trust in Christ upon his Covenant terms and he will never deceive you And now alas what pity is it that a soul that is in so miserable a case and is lost for ever if it have not help and speedy help should be deprived of all this Grace and Glory and only for want of Repenting and Consenting What pity is it that a soul that is ready to go into another world where mercy shall never more be offered it should rather go stupidly on to hell than Return to God and Accept his mercy Do but truly Repent and Consent to this Covenant and all the mercies of it are certainly yours God will be your God and Christ and the Spirit and pardon and Heaven and all are yours The Lord open and perswade your heart that you may not be undone and lost for ever for want of accepting the mercy that is offered you And now I know it would be comfortable to you if you could be fully assured that you are forgiven and shall be saved In a matter of such unspeakable moment how jâ—yful would a well-grounded certainty be to any man that hath the right use of his understanding I tell you therefore from God that there is no cause of your doubting on his part but only on your own There is no doubt to be made whether God be merciful nor whether Christ be a sufficient Saviour and sacrifice for your sins nor whether the Covenant be sure and promise of pardon and salvation to all true penitent believers be true All the doubt is whether your faith and Repentance be sincere or not And for that I can but tell you how you may know it and I shall open the Truth to you that I may neither Deceive you nor causlâ—sly Discomfort you If this Repentance and Change which you now profess and this Covenant which you have made Matth. 13. 19 20 21 22 23. Rom. 8. 7 8 9. Heb. 12. 14. Joh. 3. 3 5 6. Matth. 18. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Eph. 6. 24. 1 Cor. 16. 22. Luk. 14. 26 27. with God 1. Do come only from a present fear and not from a changed renewed heart 2. And if your Resolutions be such as would not hold you to a holy life if you should recover but would die and fade away and leave you as were before when the fear is past then is it but a forced hypocritical Repentance and will not save you if you so die Though a Minister of Christ should Absolve you of all your sins and seal it by giving you the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for all this you are lost for ever if you have no more For Absolution and the Sacrament are given you but on supposition that yâ—ur faith and Repentance be sincere And if this Condition fail in you the Action of the holiest Minister in the world will never save you But 1. If your Repentance and Covenant come not only from a present fear but from a Renewed Heart which now Loveth God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness better than all the Honours and Riches and Pleasures of the flesh and world and had rather have them even on Gods terms 2. And if this change be such as if you should recover would hold you to a Holy Life and not die or dwindle into hypocritical formality when the fright is over then I can assure you from the word of God that if you die in this Repentance you shall certainly be saved And though Late Repentance have so many difficulties that it too seldom proveth true and sound and it is an unspeakable madness to cast our salvation on so great a hazard and to defer that till such a day as this which should be the principal work of all our lives and for which the greatest care and diligence is not too much Yet for all that when Conversion is indeed sincere it is alwayes acceptable how late soever And a returning prodigal shall find Luk. 15. 19 20 21 22. Joh. 6. 37. better entertainment with God than he could possibly expect And never will Christ cast out one soul that cometh to him in sincerity of heart The Lord give you such a Heart and all is yours Amen
us Q. 9. May be pray for Grace who desireth it not Q. 10. May he pray that doubteth of his interest in God and dare not call him Father as his Child Q. 11. May a wicked man pray or is he ever accepted Q. 12. May a wicked man use the Lords Prayer Q. 13. Is it Idolatry or sin alwayes to pray to Saints or Angels Q. 14. Must the same man pray secretly that hath before prayed in his family Q. 15. Is it best to keep set hours for prayer Q 16. May we joyn in family prayers with ungodly persons Q. 17 What if the Master or speaker be ungodly or a Heretick Q. 18. May we pray absolutely for outward mercies or only conditionally Q. 19. May we pray for all that we may lawfully desire Q. 20. How may we pray for the salvation of all the world Q. 21. Or for the Conversion of all Nations Q. 22. Or that a whole Kingdom may be converted and saved Q. 23. Or for the destruction of the enemies of Christ or the Kingdom Q. 24. What is to be judged of a particular faith Q. 25. Is every lawful prayer accepted Q. 26. With what faith must I pray for the souls or bodies of others Q. 27. With what faith may we pray for the Continuance of the Church or Gospel Q. 28. How to know when our prayers are heard Q. 29. How to have fulness and constant supply of matter in our prayers Q 30. How to keep up fervency in prayer Q 31. May we look to speed ever the better for any thing in our selves or our prayers Or may we put any trust in them Q. 32. How must that person and prayer be qualified which God will accept to p. 598 Tit. 3. Special Directions for family prayer ibid. Tit. 4. Special Directions for secret prayer p. 599 CHAP XXIV Directions fâ—r families about the Sacrament of the Lords Supper p. 600 What are the Ends of the Sacrament What are the Parts of it Q. 1. Should not the Sacrament have â—â—â—â— preparation than the other parts of worship Q 2. How oft should it be administred Q. 3. Must all members of the visible Church communicate Q. 4. May any man receive it that knoweth himself unsanctified Q. 5. May an ungodly man receive it that knoweth not himself to be ungodly Q. 6. Must a Christian receive who doubteth of his sincerity Q. 7. What if Superiours compell a doubting Christian to receive it by excommunication or imprisonment What should be choose Q. 8. Is not the case of an hypocrite that knoweth not himself to be an hypocrite and of the sincere who knoweth not himself to be sincere all one as to communicating Q. 9. Wherein lyeth the sin of an ungâ—dly person if he receive Q. 10. Doth all unworthy receiving make one lyable to damnation or what Q 11. What is the particular preparation needful to a fit Communicant p. 653. Marks of sincerity ibid. Preparing duties Q 1. May we receive from an ungodly Minister Q 2. May we communicate with unworthy persons in an undisciplined Church Q. 3. What if I cannot communicate unless I conform to an imposed gesture as sitting standing or kneeling Q. 4. What if I cannot receive it but as administered by the Common Prayer Q. 5. If my conscience be not satisfied may I come doubting Obj. Is it not a duty to follow conscience as Gods Officer What to do in the time of administration 1. What Graces must be exercised 2. On what objects 3. The Season and Order of Sacramental duties ad p. 610 CHAP. XXV Directions for fearful troubled Christians who are perplexed with doubts of their sincerity and justification Causes and Cure p. 612 CHAP. XXVI Directions for declining back-sliding Christians about perseverance p. 616 The way of falling into Sects and Heresies and Errors And of declining in Heart and Life Signs of declining Signs of a graceless state Dangerous signs of impenitency False signs of declining Motives against declining Directions against it p. 616 Tit. 2. Directions for perseverance or to prevent back-sliding p. 618 Antidotes against those doctrines of presumption which would binder our perseverance p. 623 CHAP. XXVII Directions for the poor The Temptations of the poor The special Duties of the poor p. 627 CHAP. XXVIII Directions for the Rich. p. 632 CHAP. XXIX Directions for the weak and aged p. 634 CHAP. XXX Directions for the sick p. 637 Tit. 1. Directions for a safe death to secure salvation I. For the unconverted in their sickness A sad case 1. For Examination 2. For Repentance 3. For faith in Christ 4. For a new heart love to God and resolution for obedience Q. Will â—ate Repentance serve the turn in such a case II. Directions to the Gâ—dly for a safe departure Their Temptations to be resisted p. 637 Tit. 2. How to profit by our sickness p 642 Tit. 3. Directions for a comfortable or peaceable Death p. 644. Directions for resisting the Temptations of Satan in time of sickness p. 648 Tit. 4. Directions for doing good to others in our sickness p. 651 CHAP. XXXI Directions to the friends of the sick that are about them p. 653 Q. Can Physick lengthen mens lives Q. Is it meet to make known to the sick their danger of death Q Must we tell bad men of their sin and misery when it may exasperate the disease by troubling them Q. What can be done in so short a time Q. What to do in doubtful cases Q. What order should be observed in counselling the ignorant and ungodly when time is so short Helps against excessive sorrow for the death of friends Yea of the worst A Form of Exhortation to be read in Sickness to the Ungodly or those that we justly fear are such p. 657 A Form of Exhortation to the Godly in Sickness For their comfort Their dying groans and joyes p. 662 TOME III. Christian Ecclesiasticks PART I. CHAP. I. OF the Worship of God in General The Nature and Reasons of it and Directions for it How to know right Ends in worship c. p. 673 CHAP. II. Directions about the Manner of worship to avoid all corruptions and false unacceptable worshipping of God p. 680. The disadvantages of ungodly men in judging of holy worship Q. How far the Scriptures are the Rule or Law of Worship and Discipline and how far not Instances of things undetermined in Scripture What Commands of Scripture are not universal or perpetual May danger excuse from duty and when Rules for the right manner CHAP. III. Directions about the Christian Covenant with God and Baptism p. 688. The Covenant what The Parties Matter Terms Forms necessary Modes Fruits c. External Baptism what Compleat Baptism what Of Renewing the Covenant CHAP. IV. Directions about the Profession of our Religion to others The greatness of the duty of open Profession VVhen and how it must be made p. 692 CHAP. V. Directions about Vows and particular Covenants with God p. 694 VVhat a Vow is The sorts of
thou but say This man is more powerful than God Or God cannot deliver me out of his hands If it be want or sickness or death which thou fearest what dost thou but say in thy heart that God either knoweth not what is best for thee so well as thou knowest thy self or else is not Powerful or Gracious enough to give it nor true enough to keep his promise He that believeth not makes God a lyar 1 Iohn 5. 10 11. § 13. Direct 6. Remember that Trusting God doth as it were oblige him and distrusting him doth Direct 6. greatly disoblige him especially when any thing else is trusted before him If any man trust you upon any encouragement given him by you you will take your selves obliged to be trusty to him and not to fail any honest trust But if he trust you not or trust another you will turn him off to those that he hath trusted God may say to thee Let them help thee whom thou hast trusted Thou trustedst not in me and therefore I fail not thy trust when I forsake thee § 14. Direct 7. Remember that thou must trust in God or in nothing For nothing is more sure Direct 7. nor more frequently experienced than that all things else are utterly insufficient to be our help Shall we choose a broken reed that we know before hand will both deceive and pierce us Wo to the man that hath no surer a foundation for his Trust than Creatures The greatest of them are unable and the Best of them are untrusty and deceitful How sad is thy case if God turn thee off to these for help in the hour of thy extremity Then wilt thou perceive that it is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes Psal. 118. 8 9. The righteous shall see and fear and laugh at him Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned himself in his wickedness Psal. 52. 6 7. But they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion that cannot be removed but abideth for ever Psal. 125. 1. Creatures will certainly deceive thy trust but so will not God § 15. Direct 8. Believe and remember the particular providence of God which regardeth the falling Direct 8. of a Sparrow on the ground and numbereth the very hairs of your heads Matth. 10. 30. And can you distrust him that is so punctually regardful of your least concernments that is alway present and watcheth over you You need not fear his absence disregard forgetfulness or insufficiency Doth he number your hairs and doth he not number your groans and prayers and tears How then doth he wipe away your tears and put them all as in his bottle Psal. 56. 8. Rev. 7. 17. § 16. Direct 9. Compare God with thy dearest and most faithful friend and then think how boldly Direct 9. thou caust trust that friend if thy life or wellfare were wholly in his hand and how much more boldly thou shouldst trust in God who is more wise and kind and merciful and trusty than any mortal man can be When thou art in want in prison in sickness and in pain expecting death think now if my life or health or liberty were absolutely in the power of my surest friend how quietly could I wait and how confidently could I cast away my fears though I had no promise what he would do with me For I know he would do nothing but what is for my good And is not God to be trusted in much more Indeed a friend would ease my pain or supply my wants or save my life when God will not But that is not because God is less kind but because he is more wise and better knoweth what tendeth to my hurt or good My friend would pull off the Plaister as soon as I complain of smart but God will stay till it have done the cure But sure God is more to be trusted for my real final good though my friend be forwarder to give me ease All friends may fail but Gâ—d 〈◊〉 faileth § 17. Direct 10. Make use of the natural Love of quietness and thy natural weariness of tormenting 〈◊〉 10. câ—res and feaâ—â— and sâ—rrows to move thee to cast thy self on God and quiet thy soul in trusting on him For God hath purposely made thy self and all things else insufficient unsatisfactory and vâ—xatious to theâ— that thou mightst be driven to rest on him alone when nothing else affords theâ—â—â—st Cares and fears and unquietness of mind are such Thorns and Bryars as nature cannot love â—â— be content with And you may be sure that you can no way be delivered from them but by trusting upon God And will you choose care and torment when so sure and cheap a way of case is sâ—t before you Who can endure to have fears torment him and cares feed daily upon his heart that may safely be delivered from it An ulcerated fâ—stered pained mind is a greater calaâ—ity than any bodily distress alone And if you be cast upon your own care or committed to the trust of any creature you can never rationally have peace For your own ease and comfort then betake your selves to God and cast all your care and burden on him who careth for you and knoweth perfectly what you want 1 Pet. 5. 7. Matth 6. 32. Read often Matth. 6. from â— 2â— How sweet an â—ase and quietness is it to the mind that can confidently trust in God How quiet is he from the storms of trouble and the sickness of mind which others are distressed with Isâ— 26. 3 4. Thou wilâ— keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thâ—e Trust â—â— in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jâ—hovah is everlasting strength Psal. 112. 7 8. He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord His heart is established â—e shall not be afraid Psal. 31. 19 20. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast lâ—id up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the Sons of men Thâ—u shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in thy pâ—viliâ—n from the strife of tongues 24. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart â—â— ye that hope in the Lord Psal. 56. 3 4. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In God I will prâ—ise his word In God have I put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me How easie and sweet a life is this § 18. Direct 11. Remember that Distrust is a pregnant multiplying sin and will carry thee to all iniquity Direct 11. and miseâ—y if thou suffer it to prevail Distrusting God is but our entrance upon a life of error sin and wo It presently sets us on idolatrous confidence on
and all the secrets of the heart Psalm 44. 21. 94. 11. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world Acts 15. 18. His understanding is infinite Psalm 147. 5. What praise doth that Goodness and Mercy deserve which is diffused throughout all the world and is the life and hope and happiness of men and Angels His Mercy is Great unto the Heavens and his Truth unto the Clouds Psalm 57. 10. O how great is his Goodness to them that fear him Psalm 31. 10. and therefore how great should be his Praise Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord and who can shew forth all his Praise Psalm 106. 2. For great is the Glory of the Lord Psalm 138. 5. § 15. 2. It is the end of all Gods wondrous works and especially the end which man was made for that all things else might Praise him Objectively and men and Angels in estimation and expression that his Glorious excellency might be visible in his works and be admired and extolled by the rational creature For this all things were created and are continued For this we have our understanding and our speech This is the fruit that God expecteth from all his works Deny him this and you are guilty of frustrating the whole creation as much as in you lieth You would have the Sun to shine in vain and the Heavens and Earth to stand in vain and man and all things to live in vain if you would not have God have the praiâ—e and Glory of his works Therefore Sun and Moon and Starrs and Firmament are called on to Praise the Lord Psalm 148. 2 3 4. as they are the matter for which he must by us be praised O praise him therefore for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Psalm 150. 2. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works for the children of men Psalm 107. 8 c. Yea it is the end of Christ in the Redemption of the world and in saving his elect that God might in the Church in Earth and Heaven have the praise and glory of his grace Ephes. 1. 6 12 14. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that iâ— the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb. 13. 15. And let the redeemed of the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever Psalm 107. 2. For this all his Saints are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that they should shew forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 5 9. § 16. 3. The Praise of God is the highest and noblest work in it self 1. It hath the highest object even the glorious excellencies of God Thanksgiving is somewhat lower as having more respect to our selves and the Benefits received But Praise is terminated directly on the perfections of God himself 2. It is that work that is most immediately neerest on God as he is Our end And as the end as such is better than all the means set together as such so are the final duties about the end greater than all the mediate duties 3. It is the work of the most excellent creatures of God the holy Angels They proclaimed the coming of Christ by way of Praise Luke 2. 13 14. Glory to God in the highest on earth peace Good-will towards men Psalm 103. 20. 148. 2. And as we must be equal to the Angels it must be in equal Praising God or else it will not be in equality of Glory 4. It is the work of Heaven the place and state of all perfection And that is best and highest which is nearest Heaven Where they rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Allmighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 8. 10. Rev. 19. 5. A voice came out of the throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Allelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready § 17. 4. It beseemeth us and much concerneth us to learn and exercise that work which in Heaven we must do for ever and that is to Love and joyfully Praise the Lord. For earth is but the place of our apprentiship for Heaven The preparing works of mortifying repentance must in their place be done but only as subservient to these which we must ever do When we shall sing the new song before the Lamb Thou art worthy For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto our God Rev. 5. 9 10. Therefore the Primitive Church of believers is described as most like to Heaven Luke 24. 53. with great joy they were continually in the Temple Praising and blessing God O Praise the Lord therefore in the congregations of the Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psalm 149. 1 2. Let the Saints be joyful in glory Let the high praises of God be in their mouths verse 5 6. § 18. 5. Though we are yet diseased sinners and in our warfare among enemies dangers and perplexities yet Praise is seasonable and suitable to our condition here as the greatest part of our duty which all the rest must but promote Pretend not that it is not fit for you because you are sinners and that humiliation only is suitable to your state For the design of your redemption the tenour of the Gospel and your own condition engage you to it Are they not engaged to Praise the Lord that are brought so near him to that end 1 Pet. 2 5. 9. that are reconciled to him To whom he hath given and forgiven so much 1 Tim. 1. 15. Tit. 3. 3 5. Psalm 103. 1 2 3. that have so many great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. that are the Temples of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in them and sanctifieth them to God That have a Christ interâ—â—ding for them in the highest Rom. 8. 33 34. That are allways safe in the arms of Christ that are guarded by Angels and Devils and enemies forbidden to touch them further than their father sâ—eth necessary for their good That have the Lord for their God Psalm 33. 12. 4. 8. That have his Saints for their companions and helpers That have so many ordinances to help their souls And so
have a higher birth than they and higher hopes and higher hearts by setting light by that which their hearts are set upon as their felicity When seeming Christians are as worldly and ambitious as others and make as great a matter of their gain and wealth and honour it sheweth that they do but cover the base and sordid Spirit of worldlings with the visor of the Christian name to deceive themselves and bring the faith of Christians into scorn and dishonour the holy name which they usâ—r◠§ 35. Dirâ—ct 4. It much hâ—noureth God when his servants can quietly and fearlesly trust in him Diâ—â—ct 4. iâ— the â—â—ce of all the dangers and threatnings which Devils or men can cast before them and can joyfully sufâ—er pain or dâ—ath in obedience to his commands and in confidence on his promise of everlasting happinesâ— This sheweth that we believe indeed that there is a God and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. and that he is true and just and that his promises are to be trusted on and that he is able to make them good in despight of all the malice of his enemies and that the threats or frowns of sinful Worms are câ—ntemptible to him that feareth God Psal. 58. 11. Sâ— that men shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous Verily there is a God that judâ—eth in the earth and that at last will judge the world in righteousness Paul glâ—ried in the Thâ—ssal â—iaâ—s for their faith and paâ—ience in all their persecutions and tâ—ibulations which they endured as a mâ—nifest tâ—ken â—f the righteous judgement of God that they might be accounted worthy of the Kingdâ—m 〈…〉 God fâ—r which they suffered Seeing it is a righteous thing with Gâ—d to recompence tribulation to them that trouble us and rest with his Saints to those that are troubled 2 Thess. 1. 4 5 6 7. If ye be rep 〈…〉 d for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you â—â— their part he is evil spâ—ken of but on your part he is glorified 1 Pet. 4. 14. If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalf Vers. 16. When confidence in God and assurance of the great reward in Heaven Matth. 5. 11 12. doth cause a believer undâ—untedly to say as the three Witnesses Dan. 3. We are not careful O King to answer thee in this mâ—tter The God whâ—m we serve is able to deliver us when by faith we can go through the tryal of carnal mâ—ckings and scourgings of bonds and imprisonment to be destitute and afflicted yea and toâ—tured not accepting deliverance upon sinful terms thus God is glorified by believers List up your voices O ye afflicted Saints and sing fâ—r the Mâ—jesty of the Lord Glorifie ye the Lord in the fires even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the Islâ—s of the Sea Iâ—a 24. 14 15. Sing to his Praise with Paul and Silas though your feet be in the stocks Iâ— God call for your lives remember that you are nâ—t your own you are bought with a price therefâ—re glorifie God in your bodies and Spiâ—its which are his 1 Cor. 6. 20. Rejoyce in it if you bear in your bodies the marks of the Lord Iesus Gal 6. 17. And if you alwayes bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be manifested in your bodies 2 Cor. 4. 10. And with all boldness see that Christ be magnified in your bodies whether it be by life or death Phil. 1. 20. Hâ— dishonoureth and reproacheth Christ and faith that thinks he is not to be trusted even unto the death § 36. Direct 5. It much honoureth God when the hopes of everlasting joyes do cause believers to Direct 5. liâ—e much more jâ—yfully than the most prosperous worldlings not with their kind of doting mirth in vain sports and pleasures and foolish talking and uncomely jests But in that constant cheerâ—ulness and gladness which beseemeth the heirs of glory Let it appear to the world that indeed you hope to live with Christ and to be equal with the Angels Doth a dejected countenance and a mournâ—ul troubled and complaining life express such hopes or rather tell men that your hopes are small and that God is a hard Master and his service grievous Do not thus dishonour him by your inordinate dejectedness Do not affright and discourage sinners from the pleasant service of the Lord. § 37. Direct 6. When Christians live in a readiness to dye and can rejoyce in the approach of death Direct 6. and lâ—ve and long for the ay of Iudgement when Christ shall justifie them from the slanders of the woâ—ld and shall judge them to eternaâ— joyes this is to the glory of God and our profession When death which is the King of fears to others appeareth as disarmed and conquered to believers when Iudgement which is the terror of others is their desire this sheweth a triumphant faith and that godliness is not in vain It must be something above nature that can make a man desire to depart and be with Christ as best of all and to be absent from the body and present with the Lord and to comfort one another with the mention of the glorious coming of their Lord and the day when he shall judge the world in righteousness Phil 1. 21. 2 Cor. 5. 8. 1 Thess. 4 18. 2. 1 10. § 38 Direct 7. The Humility and Meekness and Patience of Christians much honour God and their Direct 7. holy faith as Pride and Passion and Impatience dishonour him Let men see that the Spirit of God doth cast down the devillish sin of Pride and maketh you like your Master that humbled himself to assume our flesh and to the death of the Cross and to the contradiction and reproach of foolish sinners and made himself of no reputation but endured the shame of being derided spit upon and crucified Phil. 2. 7 8 9. Heb. 12. 2. and stooped to wash the feet of his Disciples It is not stoutness and lifting up the head and standing upon your terms and upon your honour in the world that is the honouring of God When you are as little children and as nothing in your own eyes and seek not the honour that is of men but say Not to us O Lord not to us but to thy Name be the glory Psal. 115. 1. and are content that your honour decrease and be trodden into the dirt that his may increase and his name be magnified this is the glorifying of God So when you shew the world that you are above the impotent passions of men not to be insensible but to be angry and sin not and to give place to wrath and not to resist and avenge your selves Rom. 12. 19. and to be meâ—k and lowly in heart Matth. 11. 29. It will appear that
are Christians but it is with a Mock-Christianity while their souls are strange to the true esteem and use of Christ. They are Believers but with a mock belief described Iames 2. They believe God should be loved above all but they love him not They believe that Holiness is better than all the pleasures of sin yet they choose it not but hate it They are Religious with a seeming vain Religion which will not so much as humble them nor bâ—idle their tongues Iam. 1. 26 They are wise with a mock-wisdom They are wise enough to prove their sins to be all lawfull or but venial sins And wise enough to cast away the Medicine that would â—eal them and to confuâ—e the Physicion and to answer the learnedst Preacher of them all and to scapâ— salvation and to secure themselves a place in Hell and keep themselves ignorant of it till they are there They are converted but with a mock-conversion which leaveth them as carnal and proud and worldly as before being born of Water but not of the Spirit and being sensual still Iohn 3. 5 6. Iude 19. They Repent but with a mock-repentance They Repent but they will not leave their sin nor confess and bewail it but hate reproof and excuse their sin They are Honest but with a mock honesty Though they swear and curse and rail and slander and backbite and scorn at piety it self yet they mean well and have honest hearts Though they receive not the Word with deep roâ—â—ing in their hearts but are abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate they are honest for all that â—uâ—e 8. 15. Tit. 1. 16. They Love God above all though they love not to think or speak of him seriously but hate his Holiness and Justice his Word and holy wayes and servants and are such as the Scripture calleth hâ—ters of God and keep nor his Commandments nor live not to his glory 〈…〉 â—5 4 6 â— 8 20 â— 3. Matâ—h 10 37. They Love the servants of God but they care not if the world were rid of them all and take them to be but a company of self conceited troublesome fellows and as very hypocrites as themselves And the poor Christians that are cruelly used by them think they are neither in good sadness nor in â—east when they profess to love the worshippers of God They love not their money nor lands noâ— lusts with such a kind of love I am sure They have also alwayes good desires but they are such mock-desires as those in Iames 2. 15. that wished the poor were sed and clothed and warmed but gave them nothing towards it And such good desires as the sluggard hath that lyeth in bed and wisheth that all his work were done Prov. 21. 25. The desire of the sluggard killeth him because his hands refuse to labour They pray but with mock-prayers you would little think that they are speaking to the most holy God for no less than the saving of their souls when they are more serious in their very games and sports They pray for grace but they cannot abide it They pray for Holiness but they are resolved they 'll have none of it They pray against their sin but no entreaty can perswade them from it They would have a Mock-ministry a Mock-discipline a Mock-Church a Mock-Sacrament as they make a Mock-profession and give God but a Mock-obedience as I might shew you through all the particulars but for being tedious And all is because they have but a Mock-faith They believe not that God is in good earnest with them in his commands and threatnings and fore-telling of his judgements As Lâ—t to his Sons-in-law Gen. 19. 14. He seemeâ—â— to them as one that mocked and therefore they serve him as those that would mock him O wretched hypocrites Is this agreeable to your holy profession You call your selves Christians and profess to believe the doctrine of Christ Is this agreeable to Christianity to your Creed to the ten Commandments to the Lords Prayer and to the rest of the Word of God Had you none but The similitude of â—uperstition to Religion maketh â—t the more dâ—â—ormed And as who som meat corrupteth into little Worms so good forms and orders corrupt into a number of pâ—tty observances Lord Bacon Essay of Supeâ—st the holy Jealous God to make a mock of Had you nothing less than Religion and matters of salvation and damnation to play with Do you serve God as if he were a child or an Idol or a man of straw that either knoweth not your hearts or is pleased with toyes and complements and shews and saying over certain words or acting a part before him as on a stage Do you know what you offer and to whom His Power is Omnipotency his Glory is ten thousand fold above that of the Sun his Wisdom is infinite Millions of Angels adore him continually He is thy King and Judge he abhorreth hypocrites If thou didst but see one glimpse of his glory or the meanest of his Angels the sight would awake thee from thy dreaming and dallying and frighten thee from thy canting and trifling into a serious regard of God and thy everlasting sâ—ate Mal. 1. 8. Offer this now to thy Governour Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hâ—sts If your servants set before you upon your Table the Feathers instead of the Fowl and the Hair and Wooll instead of the Flesh and the Scales instead of the Fish would you not think they rather mockt than served you How dear have some paid even in this life for mocking God Let the case of Aarons Sons Lev. 10. 1 2 3. and of Ananias and Saphira Acts 5. inform you If with the big-tree Matth. 21. 19. you offer God Leaves only instead of fruit you are nigh unto cursing and your end is to be burnt Do you not read what he saith to the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. 15 16. I would thou were cold or hot Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth that is either be an open Infidel or a holy downright zealous Christian But because thou callest thy self a Christian and hast not the life or zeal of a Christian but coverest thy wickedness and carnality with that holy name I will cast thee away as an abominable vomit It would make the heart of a believer ake to think of the Hypocrisie of most that usurp the name of Christians and how cruelly they mock themselves What a glory is offered them and they lose it by their dallying What a price is in their hands What mercy is offered them and they lose it by their dallying What danger is before them and they will fall into it by their dallying Doth not the weight of your salvation forbid this trifling You might better set the Town on fire and make a jeast of it than jeast your souls into the fire of Hell Then you
wood and yet is afraid of the shaking of a leaf You dwell among a world of ulcerated selfish contradictory mutable unpleasable minds and yet you cannot endure their displeasure Are you Magistrates The people will murmure at you and those that are most incompetent and uncapable will be the forwardest to censure you and think that they could govern much better than you Those Socrates dicenâ—â— cuidam Nonne tibi â—â—â—â—e maledicit Non inquit mâ—hi enim â—â—â—â—a non aâ—â—uâ—t that bear the necessary burdens of the common safety and defence will say that you oppress them and the malefactors that â—re punished will say you deal unmercifully by them and those that have a cause never so unjust will say you wrong them if it go not on their side Are you Pastors and Teachers You will seem too rough to one and to smooth to another yea too rough to the same man when by reproof or censure you correct his faults who censureth you as too smooth and a friend to sinners when you are to deal in the cause of others No sermon that you preach is like to be pleasing to all your hearers nor any of your ministerial works Are you Lawyers Dicebat â—xpâ—dire ut sâ—se ex induâ—â—ria com â—â—s exponerâ—â— Nâ—m si ea dixerin quae in nâ—bâ— corrigenda sint emâ—ndâ—bunt sin aâ—iaâ— nihil ad nâ—s The Clyents that lost their cause behind your backs will call you unconscionable and say you betrayed them And those that prevailed will call you covetous and tell how much money you took of them and how little you did for it So that it s no wonder that among the vulgar your profession is the matter of their reproach Are you Physicions You will be accused as guilty of the death of many that die and as covetous takers of their money whether the Patient die or live For this is the common talk of the vulgar except of some few with whom your care hath much succeeded Are you Trades-men Most men that buy of you are so selfish that except you will begger your selves they will say you deceive them and deal unconscionably and sell too dear Little do they mind the necessary maintenance of your families nor care whether you live or gain by your trading But if you will wrong your selves to sell them a good penny-worth they will say you are very honest men Dicenti Alâ—â—bâ—adâ— non esse toleâ—abâ—lâ—m Zantippen adeo morosam Atqui ait ego ita hisâ—e jampâ—idem assuetus sum ac si sâ—num trochearum audiam miâ—i post Zantippes uâ—um relâ—quorum mortalium facilis â—â—leratio est Laâ—â—t iâ— Socr. And yet when you are broken they will accuse you of imprudence and defrauding your creditors You must buy dear and sell cheap and live by the loss or else displease § 59. Direct 11. Remember still that the Pleasing of God is your business in the world and that in Direct 11. Pleasing him your souls may have safety rest and full content though all the world should be displeased Hoc habeo fâ—â—e refugii praesidii in meâ—â—aeruâ—ni sermones cum Deo cum amicis verâ—â— cum multâ—s magistrâ—s Buâ—holtzâ—â— with you God is enough for you And his approbation and favour is your portion and reward How sweet and safe is the life of the sincere and upright ones that study more to be good than to seem good And think if God accept them that they have enough O what a mercy is an upright heart Which renounceth the world and all therein that stands in competition with his God And taketh God for his God indeed even for his Lord his Judge his Portion and his all Who in temptation remembreth the eye of God and in all his duty is provoked and ruled by the will and pleasure of his Judge And regardeth the eye and thoughts of man but as he would do the presence of a bird or beast unless as piety justice or charity require him to have respect to man in due subordination to God Who when men applaud him as a person of excellent holiness and goodness is fearful and sollicitous lest the all-knowing God should think otherwise of him than his applauders And under all Nemo alâ—oâ—um sâ—nâ—u miser est sâ—d â—â—â—â— â—deâ— non possunt â—â—â—â— usquam fâ—â—â—â— judicio esâ—e misâ—ri qui sunt vere â—uâ— conscient â— bâ—ati Salvi 〈…〉 Gubâ—râ— l 1. the censures roproaches and slanders of man yea though through temptation good men should thus use him can live in peace upon the approbation of his God alone and can rejoyce in his justification by his righteous judge and gracious redeemer though the inconsiderable censures of men condemn him Verily I cannot apprehend how any other man but this can live a life of true and solid peace and joy If Gods approbation and favour quiet you not nothing can rationally quiet you If the pleasing of him do not satisfie you though men though good men though all men should be displeased with you I know not how or when you will be satisfied Yea if you be above the censures and displeasure of the profane and not also of the godly when God will permit them as Iobs wife and friends to be your trial it will not suffice to an even contented quiet life And here consider § 60. 1. If you seek first to please God and are satisfied therein you have but one to please instead of Philosophi libertas 〈…〉 a est omnâ—bus P. Sâ—asig mulâ—o maâ—is fidelis Pastor is multitudes And a multitude of masters are hardlier pleased than one 2. And it is One that putteth you upon nothing that is unreasonable for quantity or quality 3. And one that is perfectly wise and good not liable to misunderstand your case and actions 4. And one that is must Holy and is not pleased in iniquity or dishonesty 5. And he is one that is impartial and mâ—st just and is no respecter of persons Acts 10. 34. 6. And he is one that is a competent Iudge that hath fitness and authority and is acquainted with your hearts and every circumstance and reason of your actions â— And he is one that perfectly agreeth with himself and putteth you not upon contradictions or unpossibilities 8. And he is one that is constant and unchangeable and is not pleased with one thing to day and another contrary to morrow nor with one person this year whom he will be weary of the next 9. And he is one that is merciful and requireth you not to hurt your selves to please him Nay he is pleased with nothing of thine but that which tendeth to thy happiness and displeased with nothing but that which hurts thy self or others as a father that is displeased with his children when they defile or hurt themselves 10. He is gentle though just in his censures of thee judging truly but not with unjust rigor nor making your actions worse
the final obstinate refusers of Christ and life 4. That he that so far believeth the truth of the Gospel as to Consent to the Covenant of Grace even that God the Father be his Lord and Reconciled Father and Christ his savior and the Holy Ghost his sanctifier hath true saving faith and right to the blessing of the Covenant 5. That the day of Grace is so far commensurate or equal to our Life time that whosoever truly Repenteth and Consenteth to the Covenant of Grace before his death is certainly pardoned and in a state of life and that it is every mans duty so to do that pardon may be theirs 6. That Satans temptations are none of our sins but only our yielding to them 7. That the effects of natural sickness or diseasedness is not in it self a sin 8. That those are the smallest sins formally and least like to condemn us which we are most unwilling of and are least in Love or liking of 9. That no sin shall condemn us which we hate more than love and which we had rather leave and be delivered from than keep For this is true Repentance 10. That he is truly sanctified who had rather be perfect in Holiness of heart and life in Loving God and Living by Faith than to have the greatest pleasures riches or honours of the world taking in the Means also by which both are attained 11. That he who hath this Grace and desire may know that he is elect and the making of our Calling sure by our Consenting to the holy Covenant is the making of our Election sure 12. That the same thing which is a great duty to others may be no duty to one who by bodily distemper as Feavors Phrensies Melancholy is unable to perform it § 6. Direct 2. Take heed of worldly cares and sorrows and discontents Set not so much by earthly things as to enable them to disquiet you But learn to cast your cares on God You can have less peace in an affliction which cometh by such a carnal sinful means It s much more safe to be distracted with cares for Heaven than for Earth § 7. Direct 3. Meditation is no duty at all for a melancholy person except some few that are able to Direct 3. bear a diverting meditation which must be of something farthest from the matter which troubled them Or except it be short meditations like ejaculatory prayers A set and serious meditation will but confound you and disturb you and disable you to other duties If a man have a broken leg he must not go on it till it s knit lest all the body fare the worse It is your Thinking faculty or your Imagination which is the broken pained part and therefore you must not use it about the things that trouble you Perhaps you 'll say That this is to be prophane and forget God and your soul and let the tempter have his will But I answer No It is but to forbear that which you cannot do at present that by doing other things which you can do you may come again to do this which you now cannot do It is but to forbear attempting that which will but make you less able to do all other duties And at the present you may conduct the affairs of your soul by holy Reason I perswade you not from Repenting or Believing but from set and long and deep Meditations which will but hurt you § 8. Direct 4. Be not too long in any secret duty which you find you are not able to bear Prayer Direct 4. it self when you are unable must be performed but as you can Short confessions and requests to God must serve instead of longer secret prayers when you are unable to do more If sickness may excuse a man for being short where nature will not hold out the case is the same here in the sickness of the brain and spirits God hath appointed no means to do you hurt § 9. Direct 5. Where you find your selves unable for a secret duty struggle not too hard with your Direct 5. selves but go that pace that you are able to go quietly For as every striving doth not enable you but vex you and make duty wearisom to you and disable you more by increasing your disease Like an Ox that draweth unquietly and a Horse that chaseth himself that quickly tireth Preserve your willingness to duty and avoid that which makes it grievous to you As to a sick stomach it is not eating much but digesting well that tends to health and little must be eaten when much cannot be digested So it is here in case of your meditations and secret prayers § 10. Direct 6. Be most in those dutys which you are best able to bear which with most is Prayer Direct 6. with others hearing and good discourse As a sick man whose stomach is against other meats must eat of that which he can eat of And God hath provided variety of means that one may do the work when the other are wanting Do not misunderstand me In cases of absolute necessity I say again you must strive to do it whatever come of it If you are backward to believe to Repent to Love God and your neighbour to live soberly righteously and godly to pray at all here you must strive and not excuse it by any backwardness for it is that which must needs be done or you are lost But a man that cannot read may be saved without his reading and a man in prison or sickness may be saved without hearing the word and without the Church-communion of Saints And so a man disabled by melancholy may be saved by shorter thoughts and ejaculations without set and long meditations and secret prayers And other duties which he is able for will supply the want of these Even as nature hath provided two eyes and two ears and two nostrils and two reins and lungs that when one is stopt or faulty the other may supply its wants for a time So is it here § 11. Direct 7. Avoid all unnecessary solitariness and be as much as possible in honest chearful company Direct 7. You have need of others and are not sufficient for your selves And God will use and honour others as his hands to deliver us his blessings Solitariness is to those that are fit for it an excellent season for meditation and converse with God and with our hearts But to you it is the season of temptation and danger if Satan tempted Christ himself when he had him fasting and solitary in a wilderness much more will he take this as his opportunity against you Solitude is the season of musings and thoughtfulness which are the things which you must fly from if you will not be deprived of all § 12. Direct 8. When blasphemâ—us or disturbing thoughts look in or fruitless musings presently meet Direct 8. them and use that authority of Reason which is left you to cast them and command them out If you
read Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law And the command of Authority is not a contemptible obligation § 7. 6. It is granted by all that more than this is due to God and the life that is in every Christian telleth him that it is a very great mercy to us not only to servants but even to all men that one day in seven they may disburden themselves of all the cares and business of the world which may hinder their holy communion with God and one another and wholly apply themselves to learn the will of God And nature teacheth us to accept of mercy when it is offered to us and not dispute against our happiness § 8. 7. Common experience telleth us that where the Lords Day is more holily and carefully observed Knowledge and Religion prosper best and that more souls are converted on those dayes than on all the other dayes besides and that the people are accordingly more edified And that where ever the Lords Day is ordinarily neglected or mispent Religion and Civility decay and there is a visible lamentable difference between those places and families and the other § 9. 8. Reason and experience telleth us that if men werâ— leâ—t to themselves what Time they should appoint for Gods publick Worship in most plâ—â—es it would be so little and disordered and uncertain that Religion would be for the most part banished out of the now Christian world Therefore there being need of an Universal Law for it it is probable that such a Law there is And if so it can be by none but God the Creator Redeemer and Holy Ghost there being no other Universal Governour and Law-giver to impose it § 10. 9. All must confess that it is more desirable for Unity and Concord sake that all Christians hold their holy Assemblies on one and the same day and that all at once through all the world do worship God and seek his Grace than that they do it some on one day and some on another § 11. 10. And all that ever I have conversed with confess that if the holy spending of the Lords Day be not necessary it is lawful and therefore when there is so much to be said for the Necessity of it too to keep it holy is the safest way Seeing this cannot be a sin but the contrary may And Licâ—nce is encouragement enough to accept so great a mercy All this set together will satisfie a man that hath any spiritual sense of the concernments of his own and others souls § 12. Object But you will say That besides the name it is yet a controversie whether the whole day Object should be spâ—nt in holy exercises or only so much as is meet for publick communion it being not found in antiquiâ—y that the Churches used any further to observe it Answ. No sober man denyeth that works of necessity for the preservation of our own or other mens Answ. lives or health or goods may be done on the Lords Day so that when we say that the whole day is to be spent holily we exclude not eating and sleeping nor the necessary actions about Worship as the Priesâ—s in the Temple are said to break the Sabbath that is the external rest and to be blameless But otherwise that it is the whole day is evident in the Arguments produced The antient Histories and Canons of the Church speak not of one part of the day only but the whole All confess that when Labour or sinful sports are forbidden it is on the whole day and not only on a part And for what is alledged of the custome of the antient Church I answer 1. The antienâ—est Churches spent almost all the day in publick Worship and Communion They begun in the morning and continued without parting till the evening The first part of the day being spent in teaching the Catechumens they were then dismissed and the Church continued together in preaching and praying but especially in those laudatory Eucharistical Offices which accompany the celebration of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. They did not then as Gluttons do now account it fasting to forbear a dinner when they supped yea feasted at night It being not usual among the Romans to eat any dinners at all And they that spent all the day together in publick Worship and Communion you may be sure spent noâ— part of it in Dancing nor Stage-playes nor worldly businesses 2. And Church History giveth us but little account what particular persons did in private nor can it be expected 3. Who hath brought us any proof that ever the Church approved of spending any part of the day in sports or idleness or unnecessary worldly business Or that any Churches or persons regardable did actually so spend it 4. Unless their proof be from those many Canons of our own and other Churches that command the holy observation of it and forbid these playes and labours on it which I confess doth intimate that some there were that needed Laws to restrain them from the violation of it 5. Again I say that seeing few men will have the faces to say that playes and games or idleness are a duty on that day it will suffice a holy thankful Christian if he have but leave to spend all the day for the good of his soul and those about him and if he may be reading and meditating on the Word of God and praying and praising him and instructing his family while others waste that time in vanity especially to servants and poor men that have but little other leisure all the year to seek for knowledge or use any such helps for their salvation As to a poor man that is kept hungry all the Week a bare liberty of feasting with his Landlord on the Lords day would satisfie him without a Law to constrain him to it so is it here with a hungry soul. § 2. Direct 2. Remember that the work of the day â—â— in general to keep up knowledge and Religion Direct 2. in the world and to own and honour our Creater Redeemer and Regenerater openly before all and to have communion with God through Christ in the Spirit by Receiving and Exercising his Grace in order to our Communion with him in Glory Let these therefore well understood â—e your Ends and in these be you exercised all the day and stick not hypocritically in bodily rest and outward duties Remember that it is a day for heart-work as well as for the exercise of the tongue and ear and knees and that your principal business is with Heaven Follow your hearts therefore all the day and see that they be not idle while your bodies are exercised Nothing is done if the Heart do nothing § 3. Direct 3. Remember that the special work of the day is to celebrate the memorial of Christs Direct 3. Resurrection and of the whole work of mans Redemption by him Labour therefore with all diligence
words of the Institution are read and the Bread and Wine are solemnly Consecrated by separating them to that sacred use and the acceptance and blessing of God is desired admire the mercy that prepared us a Redeemer and say O God how wonderful is thy Wisdom and thy Love How strangely dost thou glorifie thy mercy over those sins that gave thee advantage to glorifie thy justice Even thou our God whom we have offended hast out of thy own treasury satisfied thy own justice and given us a Saviour by such a Miracle of Wisdom Love and Condescension as men or Angels shall never be able fully to comprehend so didst thou love the sinful world as to give thy Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life O thou that hast prepared us so full a remedy and so pretious a gift sanctifie these creatures to be the Representative Body and Blood of Christ and prepare my heart for so great a gift and so high and holy and honourable a work § 53. 5. When you behold the Consecrated Bread and Wine discern the Lords Body and reverence it as the Representative Body and Blood of Iesus Christ and take heed of prophaning it by looking on it as common Bread and Wine Though it be not Transubstantiate but still is very Bread and Wine in its Natural Being yet it is Christs Body and Blood in representation and effect Look on it as the consecrated Bread of life which with the quickning Spirit must nourish you to life eternal § 54. 6. When you see the Breaking of the Bread and the Pouring out of the Wine let Repentance and Love and Desire and Thankfulness thus work within you O wondrous Love O hateful sin How merciful Lord hast thou been to sinners and how cruel have we been to our selves and thee Could Love stoop lower Could God be merciful at a dearer rate Could my sin have done a more horrid deed than put to death the Son of God How small a matter hath tempted me to that which must cost so dear before it was forgiven How dear payed my Saviour for that which I might have avoided at a very cheap rate At how low a price have I valued his blood when I have sinned and sinned again for nothing This is my doing My sins were the thorns the nails the spear Can a murderer of Christ be a a small offendor O dreadful justice It was I and such other sinners that deserved to bear the punishment who were guilty of the sin and to have been fewel for the unquenchable flames for ever O pretious Sacrifice O hateful sin O gracious Saviour How can mans dull and narrow heart be duly affected with such transcendent things or Heaven make its due impression upon an inch of flesh Shall I ever again have a dull apprehension of such Love Or ever have a favourable thought of sin Or ever have a fearless thought of Iustice O break or melt this hardned heart that it may be somewhat conformed to my crucified Lord The tears of Love and true Repentance are easier than the flames from which I am redeemed O hide me in these wounds and wash me in this pretious blood This is the Sacrifice in which I trust This is the Righteousness by which I must be justified and saved from the Curse of thy violated Law As thou hast accepted this O Father for the world upon the Cross Behold it still on the behalf of sinners and hear his blood that cryeth unto thee for mercy to the miserable and pardon us and accept us as thy Reconciled Children for the sake of this Crucified Christ alone We can offer thee no other Sacrifice for sin and we need no other § 55. 7. When the Minister applyeth himself to God by Prayer for the efficacy of this Sacrament that in iâ— he will give us Christ and his Benefits and pardon and justifie us and accept us as his reconciled Children joyn heartily and earnestly in these requests as one that knoweth the need and worth of such a mercy § 56. 8. When the Minister delivereth you the consecrated Bread and Wine look upon him as the messenger of Christ and hear him as if Christ by him said to you Take this my broken body and blood and feed on it to everlasting life and take with it my sealed Covenant and therein the sealed testimony of my Love and the sealed pardon of your sins and a sealed gift of life eternal so be it you unfeignedly consent unto my Covenant and give up your selves to me as my Redeemed ones Even as in delivering the possession of House or Lands the deliverer giveth a Key and a twig and a turfe and saith I deliver you this house and I deliver you this land so doth the Minister by Christs authority deliver you Christ and pardon and title to eternal life Here is an Image of a sacrificed Christ of Gods own appointing which you may lawfully use And more than an Image even an Investing instrument by which these highest mercies are solemnly delivered to you in the name of Christ. Let your hearts therefore say with Ioy and Thankfulness with faith and Love O matchless bounty of the eternal God! what a gift is this and unto what unworthy sinners And will God stoop so low to man and come so neer him and thus reconcile his worthless enemies Will he freely pardon all that I have done and take me into his family and love and feed me with the flesh and blood of Christ I believe Lord help mine unbelief I humbly and thankfully accept thy gifts Open thou my heart that I may yet more joyfully and thankfully accept them Seeing God will glorifie his Love and mercy by such incomprehensible gifts as these behold Lord a wretch that needeth all this mercy And seeing it is the offer of thy Grace and Covenant my soul doth gladly take thee for my God and Father for my saviour and my sanctifier And here I give up my self unto thee as thy Created Redeemed and I hope Regenerate one as thy Own thy Subject and thy Child to be saved and sanctified by thee to be beloved by thee and to Love thee to everlasting O seal up this Covenant and pardon by thy Spirit which thou sealest and deliverest to me in thy Sacrament that without reserve I may be entirely and for ever thine § 57. 9. When you see the Communicants receiving with you let your very hearts be united to the Saints in love and say How goodly are thy tents O Jacob How amiable is the family of the Nâ—â—b 24. 5. Psal 13. 15. 4. 16. 2 3. Iuk 19 8. Psal. 84. 10. Lord How good and pleasant is the unity of brethren How dear to me are the pretious members of my Lord though they have yet all their spots and weaknesses which he pardoneth and so must we My goodness O Lord extendeth not unto thee but unto thy Saints the excellent ones on earth in
whom is my delight What portion of my estate thou requirest I willingly give unto the poor and if I have wronged any man I am willing to restore it And seeing thou hast loved me an enemy and forgiven me so great a debt I heartily forgive those that have done me wrong and love my enemies O keep me in thy family all my days for a day in thy Court is better than a thousand and the door-keepers in thy house are happier than the most prosperous of the wicked § 58. 10. When the Minister returneth Thanks and Praise to God stir up your souls to the greatest alacrity and suppose you saw the Heavenly hosts of Saints and Angels Praising the same God in the presence of his Glory and think with your selves that you belong to the same family and society as they and are learning their work and must shortly arrive at their perfection Strive therefore to imitate them in Love and Ioy and let your very souls be poured out in Praises and Thanksgiving And when you have the next leisure for your private thoughts as when the Minister is exhorting you to your duty exercise your Love and Thanks and faith and hope and self-denyal and Resolution for future obedience in some such breathings of your souls as these O my gracious God thou hast surpassed all humane comprehension in thy Love Is this thy usage of unworthy prodigals I feared leâ—t thy wrath as a consuming fire would have devoured such a guilty soul and thou wouldst have charged upon me all my folly But while I condemned my self thou hast forgiven and justified me and surprized me with the sweetest embracements of thy Love I see now that thy thoughts are above our thoughts and thy wayes above our wayes and thy Love excelleth the Love of man even more than the Heavens are above the earth With how dear a price hast thou Redeemed a wretch that deserved thy everlasting vengeance with how pretious and sweet a feast hast thou entertained me who deserved to be cast out with the workers of iniquity Shall I ever more slight such Love as this shall it not overcome my rebelliousness and melt down my cold and hardened heart shall I be saved from Hell and not be thankful Angels are admiring these miracles of Love and shall not I admire them Their love to us doth cause them to rejoyce while they stand by and see our heavenly feast And should it not be sweeter to us that are the guests that feed upon it my God how dearly hast thou purchased my Love How strangely hast thou deserved and sought it Nothing is so much my grief and shame as that I can answer such Love with no more fervent fruitful Love O what an addition would it be to all this pretious mercy if thou wouldst give me a Heart to answer these thine invitations That thy Love thus poured out might draw forth mine and my soul might flame by its approaching unto these thy flames and that Love drawn out by the sense of Love might be all my life O that I could Love thee as much as I would Love thee Yea as much as thou wouldst have me Love thee But this is too great a happiness for earth But thou hast shewed me the place where I may attain it My Lord is there in full possession who hath left me these pledges till he come and fetch us to himself and feast us there in our Masters joy O blessed place O happy company that see his Glory and are filled with the streams of those rivers of consolation yea happy we whom thou hast called from our dark and miserable state and made us heirs of that felicity and passengers to it and expectants of it under the conduct of so sure a guide O then we shall Love thee without these sinful pâ—wses and defects in another measure and another manner than now we do when thou shalt reveal and communicate thy attractive Love in another measure and manner than now Till then my God I am devoted to thee By Right and Covenant I am thine My soul here beareth witness against my self that my defects of Love have no excuse Thou deservest all if I had the love of all the Saints in Heaven and Earth to give thee What hath this world to do with my affections And what is this sordid corruptible flesh that its desires and pleasures should call down my soul and tempt it to neglect my God What is there in all the sufferings that man can lay upon me that I should not joyfully accept them for his sake that hath Redeemed me from Hell by such unmatched voluntary sufferings Lord seeing thou regardest and so regardest so vile a worm my heart my tongue my hand confess that I am wholly thine O let me live to none but thee and to thy service and thy saints on earth And O let me no more return unto iniquity nor venture on that sin that killed my Lord And now thou hast chosen so low a dwelling O be not strange to the Heart that thou hast so freely chosen O make it the daily residence of thy spirit Quicken it by thy grace adorn it with thy gifts employ it in thy Love delight in its attendance on thee refresh it with thy joyes and the light of thy countenance and destroy this carnality selfishness and unbelief And let the world see that God will make a Palace of the lowest heart when he chooseth it for the place of his own abode § 59. Direct 8. When you come home review the mercy which you have received and the duty Direct 8. which you have done and the Covenant you have made And 1. Betake your selves to God in Praise and Prayer for the perfecting of his work and 2. Take heed to your hearts that they grow not cold and that worldly things or diverting trifles do not blot out the sacred impressions which Christ hath made and that they cool not quickly into their former dull and sleepy frame 3. And see that your Lives be actuated by the grace that you have here received that even they that you converse with may perceive that you have been with God Especially when Temptations would draw you again to sin and when the injuries of friends or enemies would provoke you and when you are called to testifie your love to Christ by any costly work or suffering remember then what was so lately before your eyes and upon your heart and what you resolved on and what a Covenant you made with God Yet judge not of the fruit of your Receiving so much by ☜ feeling as by faith for more is promised than you yet possess CHAP. XXV Directions for fearful troubled Christians that are perplexed with doubts of their sincerity and justification § 1. HAving Directed Families in the Duties of their Relations and in the right Worshipping of God I shall speak something of the special duties of some Christians who in regard of their state
5. 9 10. Rev. 4. 11 8. Rev. 15. 3. Heb. 12. 9. Matth. 6. 13. thâ—u not said Behold I come quickly Even so Come Lord and let the great Marriage day of the Lamb make haste when thy Spouse shall be presented spotless unblamable and glorious and the glory of God in the New Jerusalem shall be Revealed to all his holy ones to delight and glorifie them for ever In the mean time Remember Lord thy promise Because I live therefore shall ye live also And let the dead that dye in thee be blessed And thou that art made a quickning Spirit and art the Lord and Prince of life and hast said that not a hair of our heads shall perish Gather our departing souls unto thy self into the Heavenly Jerusalem and Mount Zion the City of the living God and to the Myriads of holy Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the first born and to the perfected Spirits of the just where thou wilt make us Kings and Priests to God whom we shall See and Love and Praise for ever For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things and for his pleasure they are and were created And O thou the blessed God of Love the Father of Spirits and King of Saints receive this unworthy Member of thy Son into the heavenly Chore which sing thy Praise who rest not saying night and day Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who Is and Was and Is to Come For Thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen The End of the Second TOME A Christian Directory The Third Part. Christian Ecclesiasticks OR DIRECTIONS TO PASTORS PEOPLE About Sacred Doctrine Worship and Discipline and their mutual Duties With the Solution of a multitude of Church-Controversies and Cases of Conscience By RICHARD BAXTER 1 Cor. 12. 25 27 28. That there should be no Schism in the body but the Members should have the same care one for another Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular And God hath set some in the Church first Apostles c. Eph. 4. 3 4 12 c. Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the SPIRIT in the bond of Peace There is one Body one Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism Not One Ministerial Head one God * And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ That we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of doctrine by the cogging or sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive But keeping the Truth in Love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ From whom the whole body compacted and cemented together by every joynt of supply according to its power in proportion of each part worketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in Love 1 Tim. 3. 15. That thou maist know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God as A pillar and basis of the truth 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake and be at peace among your selves LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Princes-Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. Reader THat this part and the next are Imperfect and so much only is written as I might and not as I would I need not excuse to thee if thou know me and where and when I live But some of that which is wanting if thou desire thou maist find 1. In my Universal Concord 2. In my Christian Concord 3. In our Agreement for Catechising and my Reformed Pastor 4. In the Reformed Lyturgie offered to the Commissioned Bishops at the Savoy Farewel A Christian Directory TOM III. Christian Ecclesiasticks CHAP. I. Of the Worship of God in general § 1. THAT God is to be Worshipped solemnly by man is confessed by Qui totos dies precabantur immolabant ut sui liberi sibi superstites essent Superstitiosi sunt appellati quod nomen paâ—uit postea latius Qui autem omnia quae ad cultum Deorum pertinerent diligenter pertractarent tanquam relegerent sunt dicti Religiosi ex relegendo ut elegantes ex eligendo à diligendo diligentes ex intelligendo intelligentes Superstitiosi Religiosi alterum vitii nomen alterum laudis Cicer. nat Deor. lib. 2. pag. 73 74. all that acknowledge that there is a God But about the Matter and Manner of his Worship there are no small dissensions and contentions in the world I am not now attempting a reconciliation of these contenders The sickness of mens minds and wills doth make that impossible to any but God which else were not only possible but easie the terms of reconciliation being in themselves so plain and obvious as they are But it is Directions to those that are willing to worship God aright which I am now to give § 2. Direct 1. Understand what it is to worship God aright lest you offer him Vanity and sin for Direct 1. Worship The worshipping of God is the direct acknowledging of his Being and Perfections to his honour Indirectly or consequentially he is acknowledged in every obediential act by those that truly obey and serve him And this is indirectly and participatively to worship him And therefore all things are Holy to the Holy because they are Holy in the use of all and Holiness to the Lord is as it were written upon all that they possess or do as they are Holy But this is not the worship which we are here to speak of but that which is Primarily and Directly done to glorifie him by the acknowledgement of his excellencies Thus God is worshipped either inwardly by the soul alone or also outwardly by the body expressing the worship of the soul. For that which is done by the Body alone without the concurrence of the Heart is not true worship but an Hypocritical Image or shew of it equivocally called Worship The inward worship of the Heart alone I have spoken If they that serve their God with meer word and ceremony and mimâ—ca actions were so served themselves they might be â—ilâ—â—ced with Aristâ—ppâ—â— his defence of his gallantry and sumptuâ—uâ— fare Si vituâ—â—randum ait hoc essâ—t in celebritatibus deorum profectò non fieret Laert. iâ— Aristip. So Plato allowed drunkenness only in the Feasts oâ— Baâ—châ—s of in the former Tome The outward or expressive worship
knoweth the reason of his own commands It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matth. 4. 10. If God should command us nothing how is he our Governour and our God And if he command us any thing what should he command us more fitly than to worship him And he that will not obey him in this is not like to obey him well in any thing For there is nothing that he can with less shew of Reason except against seeing all the Reason in the world must confess that worship is most due to God from his own Creatures § 12. These Reasons for the Worship of God being undenyable the Objections of the infidels and Object ungodly are unreasonable As Obj. 1. That our worship doth no good to God for he hath no need of it Answ. Answ. It pleaseth and honoureth him as the making of the world and the happiness of man doth Doth it follow that there must be no world nor no man happy because God hath no need of it or no addition of felicity by it It is sufficient that it is necessary and Good for us and pleasing unto God § 13. Obj 2. Proud men are unlikest unto God and it is the Proud that love to be honoured and Object praised Answ. Pride is the affecting of an undue honour or the undue affecting of that honour Answ. which is due Therefore it is that this affectation of honour in the Creature is a sin because all honour is due to God and none to the Creature but derivatively and subserviently For a subject to affect any of the honour of his King is disloyalty And to affect any of the honour of his follow subjects is injustice But God requireth nothing but what is absolutely his due And â—e hath commanded us even towards men to give fear and honour to whom they are due Rom. 13. 7. § 14. Direct 3. Labour for the truest knowledge of the God whom you worship Let it not be said Direct 3. of you as Christ said to the Samaritan Woman Joh. 4. 22. Ye worship ye know not what nor as it is said of the Athenians whose Altar was inscribed To the unknown God Act. 17. 23. You must know whom you worship or else you cannot worship him with the heart nor worship him sincerely and acceptably though you were at never so great labour and cost God hath no pleasure in the sacrifice of fools Eccl. 5. 1 4. Though no man know him perfectly you must know him truly And though God taketh not every man for a Blaspheamer and denier of his Attributes whom contentious pievish wranglers call so because they consequentially cross some espoused opinions of theirs yet real misunderstanding of Gods nature and attributes is dangerous and tendeth to corrupt his worship by the corrupting of the Worshippers For such as you take God to be such Worship you will offer him For your worship is but the honourable acknowledgement of his perfections And mistakingly to praise him for supposed imperfections is to dishonour him and dispraise him If to know God be your eternal life it must needs be the life of all your worship Take heed therefore of ignorance and errour about God § 15. Direct 4. Understand the office of Iesus Christ as our Great High Priest by whose Mediation Direct 4. alone we must have access to God Whether there should have been any Priesthood for sacrifice or intercession Heb. 8. 3. if there had been no sin the Scripture telleth us not expresly but we have great reason to conjecture there would have been none because there would not have been any reasons for the exercise of such an office But since the fall not only the Scriptures but the practice of the whole world doth tell us that the sinful people are unmeet immediatly thus to come to God but that they must come by the Mediation of the Priest as a Sacrificer and Intercessour So that either Nature teacheth sinners the Necessity of some Mediator or the Tradition of the Church hath dispersed the Knowledge of it through the World And certainly no other Priest but Christ can procure the acceptance of a sinful people upon his own account nor be an effectual Mediator for them to God Heb. 7. 27 28. Heb 9. 26 28. unless in subserviency to an effectual Mediator who can procure us access and acceptance for his own sake For all other Priests are sinners as well as the people and have as much need of a Mediator Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. Heb. 10. 13 14. for themselves 1. See therefore that you never appear before God but as sinners that have offended him and have deserved to be cast out of his favour for ever and such as are in absolute necessity of a Mediator to procure their access and acceptance with God Come not to God without the sense of sin and misery 2. See also that you come as those that Have a Mediator in the Heb. 6. 20. Heb. 7. 25 26. Matth. 1â— 5. Joh. 11. 42. presence of God even Jesus our High Priest who appeareth before God continually to make intercession for us Come therefore with holy boldness and confidence and joy having so sure and powerful a friend with God the beloved of the Father whom he heareth alwayes § 16. Direct 5. Look carefully to the state of thy soul that thou bring not an unholy heart to Worship Direct 5. the most Holy God Come not in the Love of sin nor in the hatred of Holiness For otherwise thou hatest God and art hated of him as bringing that before him which he cannot but hate And it 's easie to judge how unfit they are to worship God that hate him and how unlike they are to be accepted by him whom he hateth Psal. 5. 3 4 5 6 7. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man But as for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psal. 15. 1 2. Who shall abide in Gods tabernacle but he that walketh Lâ—v. 10 3. uprightly and worketh righteousness God will be sanctified in them that come nigh him and are unsanctified persons fit for this and can the unholy offer him holy worship The carnal mind is enmity against God is it fit then to serve and honour him Rom. 8. 7 8. See 2 Cor. 6. 15 16 17 18. Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from
Sedition among the people and accounting them as the filth and off-scouring of the world That zeal which murdered and destroyed many hundred thousand of the Waldenses and Albigenses and thirty thousand or forty thousand in one French Massacre and two hundred thousand in one Irish Massacre and which kindled the Marian Bonefires in England and made the Powder Mine and burnt the City of London and keepeth up the Inquisition I say that zeal will certainly think it a service to the Church that is their Sect to write the most odious lyes and slanders of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Beza and any such excellent servants of the Lord. So full of horrid impudent lyes are the writings of not one but many Sects against those that were their chief opposers that I still admonish all posterity to see good evidence for it before they believe the hard sayings of any factious Historian or Divine against those that are against his party It is only men of eminent conscience and candour and veracity and impartiality who are to be believed in their bad report of others except where notoriety or very good evidence doth command belief above their own authority and veracity A siding factious zeal which is hotter for any Sect or party than for the common Christianity and Catholick Church is alwayes a railing a lying and a slandering zeal and is notably described Iames 3. as earthly sensual and devilish causing envy strife and confusion and every evil work Direct 4. Observe well the Commonness of this sin of backbiting that it may make you the more afraid Direct 4. of falling into that which so few do scape I will not say among high and low rich and poor Court and Countrey how common is this sin but among men professing the greatest zeal and strictness in Religion how few make conscience of it Mark in all companies that you come into how common it is to take liberty to say what they think of all men yea to report what they hear though they dare not say that they believe it And how commonly the relating of other mens faults and telling what this man or that man is or did or said is part of the chatt to waste the hour in And if it be but true they think they sin not Nay nor if they did but hear that it is true For my part I must profess that my conscience having brought me to a custome of rebuking such backbiters I am ordinarily censured for it either as one that loveth contradiction or one that defendeth sin and wickedness by taking part with wicked men And all because I would stop the course of this common vice of evil-speaking and backbiting where men have no call And I must thankfully profess that among all other sins in the world the sins of SELFISHNESSE PRIDE and BACKBITING I have been most brought to hate and fear by the observation of the commonness of them even in persons seeming godly Nothing hath fixed an apprehension of their odiousness so deeply in me nor engaged my heart against them above all other sins so much as this lamentable experience of their prevalence in the world among the more Religious and not only in the prophane Direct 5. Take not the honesty of the person as sufficient cause to hear or believe a bad report of Direct 5. others It is lamentable to hear how far men otherwise honest do too often here offend Suspect evil speakers and be not over-credulous of them Charity thinketh not evil not easily and hastily believeth it Lyars are more used to evil speaking than men of truth and credit are It is no wrong to the best that you believe him not when he backbiteth without good evidence Direct 6. Rebuke backbiters and encourage them not by hearkning to their tales Prov. 25. 23. Direct 6. The north wind driveth away rain So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue It may be they think themselves religious persons and will take it for an injury to be driven away with an angry countenance But God himself who loveth his servants better than we is more offended at their sin and that which offendeth him must offend us We must not hurt their souls and displease God by drawing upon us the guilt of their sins for fear of displeasing them Tell them how God doth hate backbiting and advise them if they know any hurt by others to go to them privately and tell them of it in a way that tendeth to their repentance Direct 7. Use to make mention of the good which is in others except it be unseasonable and will Direct 7. seem to be a promoting of their sin Gods giâ—ts in every man deserve commendations And we have allowance to mention mens vertues oftner than to mention their vices Indeed when a bad man is praised in order to the disparagement of the good or to honour some wicked cause or action against truth and godliness we must not concur in such malitious praists But otherwise we must commend that which is truly commendable in all And this custome will have a double benefit against backbiting It will use your own tongues to a contrary course and it will rebuke the evil tongues of others and be an example to them of more charitable language Direct 8. Understand your selves and speak often to others of the sinfulness of evil speaking and Direct 8. backbiting Shew them the Scriptures which condemn it and the intrinsecal malignity which is in it as here followeth Direct 9. Make conscience of just reproof and exhorting finners to their faces Go tell them of Direct 9. it privately and lovingly and it will have better effects and bring you more comfort and cure the sin of backbiting Tit. 3. The Evil of Backbiting and Evil Speaking § 1. 1. IT is forbidden of God among the heinous damning sins and made the character of a notorious wicked person and the avoiding of it is made the mark of such as are accepted of God and shall be saved Rom. 1. 29 30. it is made the mark of a reprobate mind and joyned with murder and hating God viz. full of envy debate deceit malignity whisperers backbiters Psal. 15. 2 3. Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour And when Paul describeth those whom he must sharply rebuke and censure he just describeth the factious sort of Christians of our times 2 Cor. 12. 20. For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not Lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes backbitings whisperings swellings tumults Ephes. 4. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another and tender hearted § 2. 2. It is
will of that which they are most afraid of thinking As the spirits and blood will have recourse to the part that is hurt The very pain of their fears doth draw their thoughts to what they fear As he that is over-desirous to sleep and afraid lest he shall not sleep is sure to wake because his fears and desires keep him waking so do the fears and desires of the Melancholy cross themselves And withall the malice of the Devil plainly here interposeth and taketh advantage by this disease to tempt and trouble them and to shew his hatred to God and Christ and Scripture and to them For as he can much easier tempt a cholerick person to anger than another and a flegmatick fleshy person to sloth and a sanguine or hot tempered person to lust and wantonness so also a melancholy person to thoughts of blasphemy infidelity and despair And ost-times they feel a vehement urgency as if something within them urged them to speak such or such a blasphemous or foolish word and they can have no rest unless they yield in this and other such cases to what they are urged to And some are ready to yield in a temptation to be quiet and when they have done they are tempted utterly to despair because they have committed so great a sin and when the Devii hath got this advantage of them he is still setting it before them 27. Hereupon they are further tempted to think they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost not understanding what that sin is but fearing it is theirs because it is a fearful sin At least they think they shall not be forgiven not considering that a temptation is one thing and a sin another and that no man hath less cause to fear being condemned for his sin than he that is least willing of it and most hateth it And no man can be less willing of any ☞ sin than these poor souls are of the hideous blasphemous thoughts which they complain of 28. Hereupon some of them grow to think that they are possessed of Devils and if it do but enter into their fantasie how possessed persons use to act the very strength of imagination will make them do so too so that I have known those that will swear and curse and blaspheam and imitate an inward aliene voice thinking themselves that it is the Devil in them that doth all this But these that go so far are but few 29. Some of them that are near distraction verily think that they hear voices and see lights and apparitions that the Curtains are opened on them that something meets them and saith this or that to them when all is but the errour of a crazed brain and sick imagination 30. Many of them are aweary of their lives through the constant tiring perplexities of their minds and yet afraid of dying some of them resolutely famish themselves some are strongly tempted to murder themselves and they are haunted with the temptation so restlesly that they can go no whither but they feel as if somewhat within them put them on and said Do it do it so that many poor creatures yield and make away themselves 31. Many of them are restlesly vexed with fears of want and poverty and misery to their families and of imprisonment or banishment and lest some-body will kill them and every one that they see whisper they think is plotting to take away their lives 32. Some of them lay a law upon themselves that they will not speak and so live long in resolute silence 33. All of them are intractable and stiffe in their own conceits and hardly perswaded out of them be they never so irrational 34. Few of them are the better for any Reason conviction or Counsel that is given them If it seem to satisfie and quiet and rejoyce them at the present to morrow they are as bad again it being the nature of their disease to think as they do think and their thoughts are not cured while the disease is uncured 35. Yet in all this distemper few of them will believe that they are melancholy but abhor to hear men tell them so and say it is but the rational sense of their unhappiness and the forsakings and heavy wrath of God And therefore they are hardly perswaded to take any Physick or use any means for the cure of their bodies saying that they are well and being confident that it is only their souls that are distressed This is the miserable case of these poor people greatly to be pittyed and not to be despised by any I have spoken nothing but what I have often seen and known And let none despise such for men of all sorts do fall into this misery learned and unlearned high and low good and bad yea some that have lived in greatest jollity and sensuality when God hath made them feel their folly § 3. The causes of it are 1. Most commonly some worldly loss or cross or grief or care which made too deep an impression on them 2. Sometime excess of fear upon any common occasion of danger 3. Sometime over-hard and unintermitted studies or thoughts which screw up and rack the fantasie too much 4. Sometime too deep fears or too constant and serious and passionate thoughts and cares about the danger of the soul. 4. The great preparatives to it which are indeed the principal cause are a weak Head and Reason joyned with strong Passion which are oftest found in Women and those to whom it is natural 5. And in some it is brought in by some heynous sin the sight of which they cannot bear when Conscience is but once awakened § 4. When this disease is gone very far Directions to the persons themselves are vain because they have not Reason and free-will to practise them but it is their friends about them that must have the Directions But because with the most of them and at first there is some Power of Reason left I give Directions for the use of such § 5. Direct 1. See that no errour in Religion be the cause of your distress especially understand well Direct 1 the Covenant of Grace and the Riches of mercy manifested in Christ. Among others it will be useful to you to understand these following truths 1. That our thoughts of the Infinite Goodness of God should bear proportion with our thoughts Special Truths to be known for preventing causeless troubles concerning his Infinite Power and Wisdom 2. That the Mercy of God hath provided for all mankind so sufficient a Saviour that no sinner shall perish for want of a sufficient satisfaction made for his sins by Christ nor is it made the condition of any mans salvation or pardon that he satisfie for his own sins 3. That Christ hath in his Gospel-Covenant which is an Act of oblivion made over himself with pardon and salvation to all that will penitently and believingly accept the offer And that none perish that hear the Gospel but