A LITTLE HANDFUL OF Cordial Comforts Scattered thorowout several Answers to Sixteen Questions and Objections following Intended chiefly for the good of those that walk mournfully before God And are worthy to be gathered up and regarded of all such as wish well to their own Peace By RICHARD STANDFAST Mr. of Arts and Rector of Christ-Church in Bristol Believe and Live The Fourth Edition London Printed by T. Mabb and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in little Brittain 1665. A Little Handfull OF Cordial Comforts Scattered thorowout several Answers to certain Questions and Objections following The First Question OH wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the wrath to come for my sins are many and mine iniquity is great And if the Lord should deal with me according to his Justice and my Deserts my Portion must needs be in the Lake of Fire with the Devil and his Angels For the Scripture pronounceth every Man cursed that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 Shew me therefore I beseech you shew me what course to take to come out of this Misery shew me the way how to get the pardon of my sin and the favour of God I care for nothing but this neither is there any thing in the World that I do desire in comparison of this Answer This is that indeed which of all other things doth most concern us For upon the pardon of our sins and peace with God depends all solid comforts while we are here and the Eternal Salvation of our most precious souls hereafter And therefore for our better both direction and consolation in this behalf let us take notice of this that follows There is a way for men to come out of the misery of sin and to obtain and enjoy the mercy and favour of Almighty God and that is Faith in Christ This is the Way and there is none but this neither is there any thing in the World that can help us to the pardon of our sins to the love of God and to the salvation of our souls but only Faith in the Lord Jesus That this is the way is apparent enough by the answer which was given by Paul and Silas Acts 16.31 For when the Keeper of the Prison cryed out with trembling Sirs what must I do to be saved They made him this Answer Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved There is in Christ sufficiency enough for the obtaining of our pardon and the procuring of our peace and there is in Faith ability enough to make us partakers of Christs Sufficiency Christ is the onely way whereby we come unto Eternal Life and Faith is the onely way whereby we come to be partakers of Christ by Faith we come unto Him and through Him unto God And that we may the better know that there is in Christ sufficiency enough for the pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls let us consider a little both who Christ is and also what he hath done for the working out of our deliverance and the procuring of our peace The Lord Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God who pittying that sinfull and miserable condition whereinto we were all brought by the Disobedience of our first Parents undertook to mediate the matter betwixt God and us and to reconcile us again unto God For the better effecting of which great work He came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man yea in all things like unto other Men save only in Sin that so he might the better make us free from all Sin Being found thus in fashion as a Man he set himself in our stead and for us Men and our Salvation he became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross And by his Obedience and Death He hath perfectly alone by himself accomplished whatever was requisite for our Salvation The wretchedness of our condition is briefly this We all like Sheep have gone astray neither have we only omitted those duties which the Law requires but we have also committed those evils which the Law forbids and as the want of Righteousness doth exclude us from the favour of God and the Kingdome of Heaven so the Guiltiness of Sin doth expose us to the Wrath of God and the Damnation of Hell But the Lord Jesus Christ hath fulfilled all Righteousness For in his life He performed as much Obedience as the Law in rigour could exact and by suffering Death upon the Cross he under-went as much Punishment as could be required of sinners in the severity of Justice and so by his Death and Obedience hath he provided against our double misery For by his Sufferings upon the Cross the Justice of God is satisfied and his Wrath appeased and by his Obedience the Law is fulfilled and we are Accepted And as by his death comes the pardon of sin and deliverance from wrath so by his Obedience comes the imputation of Righteousness and Life Everlasting All which as they were done in our Nature so they were done for us and in our behalf he stood in the place of sinners that we might be numbred among the Righteous He took our sins upon him that he might put his Obedience upon us the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him that with his stripes we may be healed He was made a Curse for us that he might Redeem us from it He was made Sin for us that knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him 2 Cor. 5.22 And the better to assure us that by his Death upon the Cross there was paid a price sufficient enough for the procuring of our pardon he Arose again from the Dead which he could not have done if the Justice of God had not been satisfied to the very full in every particular For as Sin is the sting of Death and the only thing that makes Death Terrible so it is the strength of Death and it is that only that doth give Death dominion over us Sin is the Lock Bar and Bolt that makes fast the Gates of Death and as the door cannot be opened to let out a Prisoner till the Bar be removed so there is no escaping from Death until Sin be taken out of the way Christ therefore by Rising from the Dead hath mightily declared unto us that he hath paid the utmost Farthing of our Debts and that by his Death he hath fully satisfied the Justice of God So that now by virtue of his sufferings the greatest sins are made pardonable and there is a way set open for the worst sinners both to Grace and Glory I say even for the worst sinners There is no man now that can deny himself to be capable of Grace there are too many who from the greatness of Gods mercy do without any cause presume to sin But there is no man who from
the heinousness of his sins hath any just cause to despair of mercy For though our sins be many yet the mercies of God are more though they be great yet his mercies are above them He is rich in mercy yea his mercy is infinite so that though he have spent much mercy already upon our Fore-Fathers yet he hath mercy enough in store for us also with him there is plenty of forgiveness and his mercy endureth for ever And the merits of Christ are of the same nature for he is Mighty to save and he is the same for ever and through the riches of these merits of Christ there is a way set open even for the worst sinners to become partakers of the riches of the mercies of God Now if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins c. 1 John 2.1 2. And though the time of his abode upon Earth in the day of his flesh were but short though his sufferings were but for a season yet such was and is the dignity of his person being the Eternal Son of God that his Sufferings and Obedience are infinitely meritorious and his blood is able to clense us from all unrighteousness So that we may well say with the Apostle Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed or rather who is risen again and now maketh Intercession for us Rom. 8.33 34. But let no man turn this doctrine of comfort to a liberty of sinning against the greatest sins there is hopes in Christ for penitent Believers But because there is mercy with God shall we therefore go on in sin God forbid there is mercy with him and therefore he must be feared But if any man shall presume to sin because there is mercy with God through Jesus Christ instead of mercy that man is like to meet with nothing but Justice For as mercifull as God is and as all-sufficient as the Death of Christ is there is no mercy for such as go on still in their wickedness And thus you see that Christ is mighty enough to save us from all our sins and to reconcile us unto God Now that we may have benefit by this sufficiency of Christ we must lay hold upon it by a lively faith This is that which unites us unto Christ and makes us one with him This is that which gives us interest in him and makes us partakers of his merits This makes the death and obedience of Christ as verily our own and as effectual for the pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls as if they had been performed by our very selves So that if we do truly Believe in the Lord Jesus then is God well pleased with us for his sake and by virtue of his merits being made ours by faith our sins are all pardoned and our souls and bodies shall be Eternally saved And so much the Scripture doth plainly testifie in several places As John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Life Everlasting And again Acts 10.43 Through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins be they never so many never so heinous And again Acts 13.38 39. Be it known unto you that through this Man is Preached unto you the Forgiveness of Sins And by him all that believe are justified from all those things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses By the Law of Moses we could never have been acquitted either from the Guiltiness of Sin or from the Wrath of God But we are delivered from both by Faith in Christ for by it we obtain the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation of our souls And thus it is manifest That Christ is the Way by which we are to obtain the pardon of sin and peace with God and that Faith is the way whereby we are made partakers of the merits of Christ for our Justification and Salvation Proceed we now in a word to shew that nothing but Christ can reconcile us unto God and that nothing but Faith can make us partakers of Christ for our Reconciliation There is no way whereby to come unto God but onely Christ It is onely in Christ that God is well pleased neither is there salvation in any other For there is no other Name under the Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 Neither is there any other means on our part whereby to receive Christ but onely Faith And yet unless we do receive him we get no benefit by him and therefore unless we do believe in him we shall perish in our sins And to this purpose speaks our Saviour John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting Life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him See the summ of all this in that place of St. John 1 Epist 5. Chap. 11 12 and 13 Verses God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life These things have I written to you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe in the Name of the Son of God By which place it is plain that there is a way to Life that Christ is the way to it that Life is so in him that it is in no other but him that it is so in him that by believing in him we obtain Life and that it is so in him that without believing in him we get no benefit at all by him And thus you have the truth of the former Answer Enlarged and Confirmed according to it 's severall Branches by which it is manifest That Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else but onely Faith in him can help us to the pardon of sin the Love of God and the Salvation of our Souls Hereupon it may be thus replyed The Second Question IF I cannot obtain the pardon of my sins and the Favour of God without Faith in Christ I doubt my condition is woful and that I am yet in my sins and liable unto wrath For I fear that I have not this Faith in Christ and that I do not as yet believe in him Shew me therefore I pray you how I may be comforted against this fear and how I may know whether I do believe in Christ Yea or No Answer Doutless if we do not believe in Christ our condition is woful For there is no salvation in any other and without Faith in him we get no benefit by him but we are in our sins and the obligation unto wrath is in full power and force against us For though the ransome which Christ paid by his Death upon the Cross be a ransome
abundantly sufficient for the sins of the whole World yet the benefit of that Death of his is bestow'd on none but upon such conditions as God himself pleaseth which conditions for such as be of years are Faith and Repentance which if we want we shall be sure to perish in our sins not out of any defect in Christ but onely because we want those conditions whereby we come to have interest in him and to be partakers of his Merits Now that we may the better know whether we have this Faith in us yea or no and so neither be deceiv'd with vain hopes nor yet discomforted with false fears consider this which follows and see what Answer you can make to these several demands Are you sensibâ—e of the misery wherein you are by reason of your sins And do you finde that you need a Saviour Do you know who is the Saviour of the World Do you know in some good measure who Christ is and what he hath done for us and what the benefits that are to be had by him Do you know what a necessity there is of having of him and what a misery it is to be without him and what we must do if we would have any benefit by him And do you verily believe that Christ Iesus and none but he is the Saviour of the World and that he hath both done and suffered as the Scriptures Testifie of him Do you verily believe that there is no way to Heaven but Christ that there is no way to get Christ but Faith and that there is no part to be had in him but by renouncing all other Lords and all other Saviours and by adhering wholly unto him for all our Consolation and Salvation And do you now Desire from the heart to be made partaker of Christ and do you sincerely endeavour to accept of him and to embrace him And can you be content for his sake to forsake all things and to undergo any misery rather then to part with him Can you be content to take him as we say for better for worse and not onely for your Iesus to save you from your sins but also for your Lord to command and dispose of you at his pleasure And is it your care to know his Will And is it your endeavour to yield him an Universal Obedience And is it your practise in obedience unto him to exercise your self to keep a Conscience void of offence both toward God and toward Men and constantly and conscionably to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world Do you thus Accept of Christ and Submit unto him Nay is it your hearty desire and unfained endeavour so to do Then you may be sure that you have some degrees of True Faith in Iesus Christ and therefore that Christ is yours that God is yours that All is yours For this is such a qualification as hath the promise both of the Life that now is and also of that that is to come By the Questions we may examine our condition For after this manner is Faith wrought in us Such are the preparatives such is the nature and such are the effects of a True Faith as are implyed in these questions So that if we can in some good measure make understanding and affectionate answers to them all Then we may be sure that we have a True Faith in Christ But if either we know him not or desire not to accept of him or care not to obey him we have then cause to think that we do not believe in him and if we think otherwise we do but deceive our souls Now if upon examination had we finde that we want Faith we must be diligent in using the means whereby to get it which is by reading and hearing of the Word of God and conferring about it For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word If we finde that we have this Faith we must be careful to keep it and to increase it by the Word by the Sacraments and by Prayer The Third Question UPon this that hath been spoken another question may be raised to this purpose I do in some measure know who Christ is and I do believe that he is a Saviour All-sufficient and that there is no other way to Salvation but Him and that whosoever believeth in him shall not Perish and I my self would fain believe in him But how may I know that I have right to believe in him and that the invitations to Faith do concern me How may I know whether I should be welcome or not if I should be so bold as to come unto him Answer For our encouragement herein and that we may come the more boldly unto the Throne of Grace we must know that Christ is a Common Saviour he is the Saviour of the World and in regard of the All-sufficiency of his merits there is not one of those whose nature he took unto whom his merits are not communicable neither is there any one who in that respect may not truly be said to be savable The Promise is made to You and to your Children and to all that be afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Acts 2 39. Now if you desire to know whether you be one of those whom he doth call to believe in him consider then whether or no you be sensible of your misery and burdened with your sins whether your desire be to be eased of your sins and to be partaker of Christ and of those benefits and comforts that be in him For if we be thus qualified we may be confident that we are of the number of those whom he doth seriously invite to come unto him and to depend upon him And hereof you have a witness in your self and Gods own hand to shew for it to your greater comfort For these are his own words Come unto me all ye that labour and be heavy laden and I will give you rest Mat. 11.28 And again If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Iohn 7.37 Unto such thirsty souls was Christ sent he came to speak peace to such as are weary and broken-hearted and to set at liberty such as are bruised So that if we finding what a misery it is to be in sin and to want a Saviour have thereupon an earnest desire to be delivered from this misery we may be as sure that he calls upon us to come unto him as if our very Names were specified in these invitations Being thus qualified we may come boldly and upon our coming shall be sure to finde Rest But without this badge we have no warrant at all to expect a welcome They that do thus hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be filled but they that be rich in their own conceits and are not sensible of any wants these he sends empty away The Fourth Question BUt if I finde that I want this sorrow what course
Question And yet after all this I must die and when a few years are come I shall go the way whence I shall not return and the fear of Death doth much amaze me Answer Verily there is no solid reason why it should for God hath given us victory over death it self through our Lord Jesus Christ The death of Christ was the death of death Death fastning upon him to whom it was not due lost it's sting and so became less able to hurt those that had deserved it Christ hath pulled out the sting of Death by dying for sin So that now like a Bee or Snake without a sting it may buzze about us and afright us but it cannot hurt us All the hurt that death can do to such as believe in the Lord Jesus is to free them out of Prison to put an end to their dayes of Sin to carry them home to their Fathers house to let them into their Masters joy to pull down those mouldring Cottages wherein they dwell and to build them up to Immortality For if we believe that Jesus Died and rose again them also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him and they shall be for ever with the Lord. And of this Happiness the worst kinde of Death that can befall us cannot deprive us A Man may dye in Poverty he may dye with Extreamity of Torments he may dye by common Calamities and yet he may dye in Faith and so dying his End shall be Peace For Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit c. Rev. 14.13 So that if we did but throughly understand the Nature of Death and what it is to the People of God we should be so far from being afraid of it that with Saint Paul we should rather desire to be dissolved because then we should be with Christ which is the best of all To shut up this Point and so likewise the whole matter concerning Afflictions this let me adde to the rest That if we do desire to get Good by these Meditations and to be upheld with Comfort in the time of Trouble we must Continue instant in prayer This is that Receipt which the Holy Ghost prescribes to all sorts of Persons against all manner of Grievances whatsoever James 5 23. This is that Remedy that is alwayes at hand and never out of season Yea this is that Messenger which being dispatched aright was never sent empty away Believe it If a Man were in a case more desperate then Death in a place worse then Hell yet if there he could pray heartily he should find Comfort and Strength even beyond Hope for our Prayers use to be with the utmost of our Hopes if not beyond them and yet God doth use to be better to us then our Prayers The Sixteenth Question I See now that there is matter enough of solid Comfort in the Word of God But the unevenness of my walking makes me to doubt that I have no Part nor Portion in those precious Promises which God hath made unto his People Answer Promises I confesse that are misapplied can afford to the Soul no solid Comfort But from our Failings we may not presently conclude That they do not at all belong to us For God looks upon the Heart and where Ability is wanting the Will is accepted Are not your Failings your Grief are they not besides your Will are they not contrary to the current of your Desires and the main bent of your Resolutions and Endeavours Is it not your Endeavour to do the Will of God though it cost you the parting with the Sweetest Sins even your own Iniquity And is it not your Resolution that you will not wickedly Depart from God If it be so then notwithstanding your Failings you may say with David I have kept thy Word For though this be not such a measure of keeping as the Law requireth yet it is such a keeping as God accepteth For he accounteth such as keep themselves from wilfull sins upright and innocent through Christ their Strength and their Redeemer as appears by that passage Psal 19.13 And this is a true Rule whereby to proceed in the judging of our selves If a Man that believes in Christ continues in an unknown Sin that cannot hinder the uprightness of his heart so the ignorance be not wilfull but the least touch of knowledge or wilfulness mars sincerity So that if our failings be not wilful though they be many yet they cannot hinder our interest in the promises of God And what can we now object more Do we doubt the truth of all these promises Surely we need not For God is not a Man that he should lye neither the Son of Man that he should repent Hath he spoken and shall he not do it Hath he said and shall it not come to pass Was he ever yet worse then his word And have not we had experience of his Love as well upon our selves as others Is he not the Faithful and True Witness and a God that is most zealous of his own glory Why then are we disquieted And why are our hearts dejected within us Still trust in God make straight steps to your feet Pray for Faith in the Promises and stir up your self to take hold of God tarry the Lords leasure and fear not Light is Sown for the Righteous and Gladness for such as be upright in heart It may lye buried in the ground out of sight for a season it may be somewhat long in coming up and very unlikely to come to any perfection Nevertheless in due season we shall reap if we faint not And therefore cast not away your confidence For the worst is past the good is begun the best is at hand Lift up therefore the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees and run with patience the Race set before us and being partakers of such precious promises let us think upon them believe in them and live in them and in so doing we shall rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Hear the sum of all There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation and there 's our comfort The ground hereof is Christ the way unto it is by Faith to be in him the evidence of it Is to walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit In the matter of merit Christ is all in matter of interest and application Faith is all in matter of evidence and manifestation new obedience is all Nothing can free us from Condemnation but Christ nothing can give us interest in Christ but faith nothing can assure us that we do truly believe in Christ and shall be delivered from condemnation but a care to be obedient unto Christ in all things wherefore let us so believe and so live for as many as walk according to this Rule peace shall be upon them and upon the Israel of God Now the God of hope fill us with all Joy and Peace in believing that we may abound in hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost Amen and Amen In the multitude of the Thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul Psal 94.19 FINIS
should I take to bring my heart to be humbled for my sins Answer To this end let a Man examine himself by the Law of God For by the Law is the knowledge of sin And let him duly think upon that fearfull Curse of God whereunto every the least sin doth make us liable Let him diligently consider how ugly and lothsome sin doth make us in the sight of God and what a fearfull thing it is to be deprived of the Love of God and the Joyes of Heaven and what a misery it is to be exposed to the wrath of God and the torments of Hell Let him seriously ponder what a misery it is to lose the Soul Let him throughly weigh the nature of Eternity and the strictness of that Account that is to come and the severity of that sentence which in that last and dreadfull Day shall be pronounced upon all impenitent sinners when they shall be adjudged to that Everlasting Fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels All these are of singular use to wound our souls and to affect our hearts with sorrow for our sins It is the Law that makes way for the Gospel For thus John the Baptist by denouncing the judgments of God upon wicked courses prepared the way for our Blessed Saviour But especially let him consider how great things ' God hath done for him For as there is no greater obligation to obedience then the loving kindness of the Lord So there is nothing that doth more aggravate our sins and so consequently our misery And therefore nothing that can tend more to the breaking of the heart then the consideration of the bounty and long suffering of God to us-ward And this plainly appears by that course which the Prophet Nathan at the Lord's appointment took with David 2 Sam. 12. For by fetting before his eyes Gods many and wonderfull mercies vouchsafed and his own extream ingratitude and ill requital of so great goodness he was constrained to cry out with shame and sorrow I have sinned against the Lord. And amongst all the mercies of God there is none that doth more deserve to take up all our thoughts then that departure of Christ which he accomplished at Jerusalem Neither is there any thing that doth more tend either to preserve us from sin or to â—umble us for our failings then the death of our Saviour For suppose the Lord Jesus should present himself unto us when we are about to commit any sin or after we have done it as he was hanging upon the Cross with his sides scourged his face buffetted his hands and feet nailed his head crowned with Thorns his very heart pierced his whole body upon the rack and trickling down with drops of blood and speaking unto us after this or the like manner Behold if ever sorrows were like unto my sorrows And yet all this was but the punishment of thy sins It is thy sins that have brought me to all these torments and canst thou delight in that which was the cause of such misery All this have I done for thy good and is this the requital of my Love I have born thy sins that thou might'st be eased mine hands were bound that thine might be freed my sides were scourged that thine might be spared my cheeks were buffetted that thine might be kist my head was crowned with thorns that thine might be crowned with glory and is this thy kindness to thy friend thus to return me hatred for my good will Hast thou not put me to pains enough already but that thou must rake in my wounds and make a sport of my misery Or if thou wilt not pitty me yet pitty thy self For can that be light to thee which cost me so heavy Or shalt thou escape the cup that art a sinner when my beloved Father would not spare me that was but a Surety Suppose I say that the Lord Jesus should present himself and speak unto us after this or the like manner would not such a sight make our bowels to yearn and such words cut us to the very heart Doubtless it were enough to make the dryest eyes to wish for tears of blood and the hardest heart of the most obstinate sinner to become in the midst of his body like melting wax thus to hear and to look upon him whom they have pierced Yea it is impossible for any man to think on this and to go on in sin but such as could be content to Crucifie again the Lord of Glory And thus you see what are the chiefest helps to humiliation and by what means our hearts may be brought to be deeply affected with sorrow for our sins Hereupon a timorous heart will be ready to reply yet further after this manner The Fifth Question BY this course and by these and the like Meditations I confess that I have been brought in some measure to be sorry for my sins and now I would fain be eased of them And it is my desire to believe in Christ but I fear that as yet I am not enough humbled I fear I have not so great measure of sorrow as may make me capable of this invitation And my heart is so hardned that I cannot grieve and mourn for my sins so much as I should and would do and therefore I fear that as yet I have no right to the comforts of the Gospel Answer True it is that sorrow for sin makes ready an heart prepared for the Lord and as usually in the course of Nature there is no birth without some pain So in the work of Grace there is no regeneration that of Infants in Baptisme excepted without some sorrow But as there are degrees of pain in the Natural birth So in the Spiritual birth there are degrees of sorrow Some Women have a quick Dispatch others have a more tedious Travel And so it is in the New Birth all are not pained alike Some there be that go mourning all the day long yea day after day whereas unto others heaviness indures but as it were for a night and joy cometh in the morning We must know therefore and that for our comfort that it is not the quantity but the quality of sorrow that God looks after neither matters it so much how great our sorrow be as how true it is If a Youth upon due examination had be found fit for the University his Tutor never demands how long he hath been at School how harshly he hath been dealt withall how often he hath been whipt before he could come to that perfection All that he looks after is whether or no he be fit to be admitted So it fares with us The Law is our School-Master to bring us unto Christ And this it doth partly by discovering unto us our sins whereby we see that we need a Saviour and partly by threatning of us with the curse whereby we are made more carefull to look out after this Saviour and more willing to accept of him and for our
and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him The Eighth Question BUt if the Perseverance and so Salvation of such as are in deed and in truth the Saints of God be so sure and certain what mean those frequent caveats which we meet with in the Scripture What mean those frequent exhortations to Perseverance Answer The Perseverance of such is sure and certain howbeit God brings it to pass by means It is wrought in them by God and yet their own endeavours also are required And these Caveats and exhortations are the means which God hath sanctified for the exciting of their endeavours and for their preservation from Apostacy Caveats we have many and many Threatnings Exhortations many and many Promises such as are Take heed to your selves Watch in all things Be steadfast and unmovable continue faithfull unto the Death and I will give thee the Crown of Life The latter end of back-sliders shall be worse then their beginning c. By which and other like passages we are not to think either that perseverance is in our own power or that the condition of Gods Peculiar People is mutable in regard of him But they do imply how prone we are to sin in regard of our selves And they shew that our own endeavours are required for the working out of our Salvation and they are the means sanctified of God for the preventing of sin and for the exciting of our care and so for the preserving of us unto his heavenly Kingdome And whereas we are said to be kept by the power of God We may not so understand it as if we our selves might in the mean time sit still and do nothing We are kept by God and yet we also must keep our selves It is God that keepeth us and yet we also must watch and pray But we are said to be kept by God for our greater encouragement For if our endeavours be sincere though they be but weak yet they will be effectuall because we have such a mighty helper And withall it is to teach us to whom we ougth to ascribe all the glory when our endeavours become effectual It is God that must have the glory of it for it is by his power that we are kept who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Be strong therefore in the Lord and in the power of his might He that is with us is mightier then they that be against us And therefore we need not fear for neither the power nor the policy of Hell shall prevaile against the People of God And the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Mat. 16.18 The Ninth Question I Make no doubt of the power of God I know that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him but I doubt of his will I fear that he will not do it Answer Surely this is a needless fear for his love is everlasting his gifts and calling are without Repentance and whom he loveth to the End he loveth them And therefore Fear not the Lord will not forsake his People for his own Names sake because it hath pleased him to make you his People 1 Sam. 12.22 So that if once he hath loved us so well as to set us apart for himself He loveth himself better then to forsake us And though our unworthinesse deserve that God should deny us yet his Faithfulness is such that he cannot deny himself Think therefore upon his love Meditate upon his Power Call to mind his romise Forget not his Truth And commit the keeping of your soul unto him in well doing Care you to do well God will care for the rest For He preserveth the Souls of his Saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked Psal 79.10 The Tenth Question BUt seeing that mine own endeavours are required for the working out of my Salvation And seeing that my assurance of Salvation cannot be sound unless my care and diligence in the constant using of all good means tending thereunto be every way answerable Shew me I pray you by what means I may be enabled to continue patiently in well doing that so at the last I may obtain eternal life Answer Hereunto many things are useful the chiefest of which are these following 1. Labour to be sincere by considering that all our wayes are before God To walk before God is the way to be perfect and sincerity is the way to perseverance For the Righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger Iob 17.6 But he whose heart is not upright before God will start aside in the time of Tryal See 1 Iohn 2.19 Labour to overcome the World that so neither the cares and glory of it may too deeply affect us nor yet the crosses and troubles of it too much affright us For each of these are great hinderances to the practice of piety Perfecution is that heat that doth wither the word and by it some are made to deny their Master And the cares of the World are the thorns that choke the Word and a means whereby it becomes unfruitfull For the love of Money is the root of all Evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the Faith 1 Tim. 6.10 Arm your self therefore against both these and to this end consider with your self and think often upon that of our Saviour Mat. 16.26 What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul And upon that Mat. 8.38 He that is ashamed of me of him will the Son of Man be ashamed c. And upon that 2 Tim. 2.12 If we Suffer with him we shall Reign with him But if we Deny him he will also Deny us And learn to discern between those things that be seen and the things that be not seen For the things that be seen are but Temporall but the things which are not seen are Eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 3. Watch in all things for our Enemies are many and security is dangerous and sin is so deceitfull that it will quickly harden us And this is certain a Man never yields to his own corrupt disposition for the committing of any evil but he is ordinarily more willing to the second act then to the first And who then can tell how far he may go astray that doth but once give way to his own Corruption 4. Labour to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by considering that our Labour cannot be in vain in the Lord. This endeavour to grow in Grace is a special means to keep us from being drawn away with the errour of the wicked But standing still is in danger of turning back and lukewarmness is the way to grow key-cold 5. Despise not Prophecying if you would not quench the Spirit If we would not be weary of wel-doing we must wait upon
the Word For that is able to build us up and to give us an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified Acts 20.32 And lastly We must pray without ceasing that he who hath begun a good work in us would also finish it and grant that our whole Spirit Soul and Body may be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord Iesus This is the way to continue in well doing and so running we shall obtain The Eleventh Question But though my soul may be cared for yet my body may be in want I want already many things that be necessary Or at least I fear that I shall want such things as be needfull for me And this fear makes my life the more fearfull Answer Doubtless if our souls be cared for other things may the lesse trouble us Howbeit against those things also there is matter of comfort in Iesus Christ He that regards the soul will not neglect the body and he knows what we have need of And if we be of his family he will be sure to provide for us He is able enough to help us for the whole Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof And of his will we have no cause to doubt for he hath promised that if we seek first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousness all these things shall be added as it were over and above and into the bargain Mat. 6.33 And he hath said that he will withhold no good thing from them that fear him Psal 34.9 10. Whereupon we may safely conclude that if he keep any thing from us it will be good for us to be without it So that we may well say with the Prophet David The Lord is my Shepherd I cannot want Psal 23.1 For he that hath given us Christ how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 The Twelfth Question I Have been a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief I have gone through much Misery already and many are the Crosses and Troubles that are upon me at the present and I fear that there be more and worse yet to come So that sometimes I begin to think that the Lord doth not love me and I am ready to doubt what will become of me And I fear that my Patience will one day be tryed and that I shall faint in the day of Evil. Shew me therefore I pray you how I may be comforted against this fear and how I may be enabled to wade through all with Christian patience Answer True it is that the crosses and troubles which men shall meet withall in the way to Heaven are matters of offence and unto some they are very powerfull turning them back from the hope laid before them to the embracing of this present World But if we would think upon things aright in the midst of misery we should have comforts enough to refresh our souls Neither is there any trouble that can befall us in the midst of which they have not matter of strong consolation which being justified by Faith are at peace with God through Iesus Christ. Now to the end that we may be the better comforted against all crosses let us make use of these few considerations following 1. Consider that it is no new or strange thing to be exercised with Afflictions Neither are Crosses and Troubles of themselves an argument of Gods hatred but rather a token of his love and a witness of our adoption if we bear them patiently and make good use of them There is not any affliction incident to the nature of man which some one or other even of Gods own dear Servants and Children have not been exercised withall Look upon David and Jacob and Ioseph and Iob and Paul and all that cloud of Witnesses made mention of Heb. 11. And we shall finde that through many Afflictions they all entred into the Kingdome of God Nay look upon the Captain of our Salvation and we shall finde that even he himself was made perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2.10 And this must needs be a special means to enable us to bear all with the greater patience when we shall know and consider that though our afflictions be for number many and for nature grievous yet they are but the measure of our Betters 2. Consider that God hath promised never to leave us nor forsake us Heb. 13.5 And his presence alone is support sufficient even in the worst of miseries How can Iacob be afraid to go down into Egypt when God himself hath said he will go with him Gen. 46.34 God hath made the like promise unto us and therefore if he bid us go into troubles If he command us to walk even through the valley of the shadow of death yet we need fear no evil as long as he is with us For if God be with us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 3. Consider that unto such as do believe in Christ the nature of Afflictions is wholly altered for their sting is pull'd out and their bitterness is allayed They may savour of anger of wrath they do not Crosses they may be Curses they are not They may be Chastisements for our correction but they are not Iudgements for our confusion For Christ hath suffered whatever wrath was due unto us by reason of our sins And if we be once reconcised unto God by Faith in Christ there is more matter of comfort in the assurance of his Love then there can be of dejection in the greatest trouble 4. Consider that God intends nothing but good unto us in his sharpest dealings with us For it is all to humble us and to prove us and to do us good at our later end all is for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness For hereby he reforms what hath been amiss in us in times past hereby our iniquity shall be purged and this is the fruit to take away our sin Isa 27.9 Hereby he prevents sin in us for the time to come as he did St. Paul unto whom there was sent the Messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should have been exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12.7 Hereby he doth wean us from the Love of the World and Worldly vanities As long as all goes well with us we are ready to say with S. Peter It is good to be here But when once we begin to be Afflicted then presently with the Prodigal our minds are homewards Hereby he deals with us as the Husband-man doth by the Vine he pares and prunes us to make us the more fruitfull Iohn 15.2 Hereby he doth exercise our Faith and Patience and makes tryal of our sincerity as he did by Iob. And so in this he lays the ground of our greater glory For greater Afflictions require greater Patience and the greater our Patience is the greater shall be our future Happiness And the consideration of this must needs be a means to perswade us to Patience For if we can willingly endure smartingwater for the clearing