of a thing that is not remembred For our owne parts let vs know that as Sathan laboureth to root out of our hearts generally all the seede of the worde that thereby keeping vs in blindnesse and ignorance hee maie make vs runne riot at his pleasure so especially he trauaileth either to hinder vs from receiuing or hauing receiued from making good vse of the sweet comfortable promises of the worde the verie matter if I may so saie and a speciall meane I am sure of our spirituall comforte For the redressing and repressing also of which enormities in vs a godly man that is in some sorte ignorant should laboure to abound in the knowledge of them as he that is forgetfull should refresh his memorie by often reading meditation and cōference in them and that not onely by and with his owne heart but euen by other men also and they that want feeling of them should looke vnto Iesus Christ in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen and should be much and often in the vse of all the meanes wherby Christ is become ours as the word sacraments praier sasting c. But aboue all they should regard and labour for the holie spirit to be shed abroad in their hearts both to make all these things before named powerfull in them and to pledge vp also the truth and certaintie of the promises themselues because it is the carnest pennie of our adoption and inheritance That so sith sathan there laboureth to assault vs most and shake our faith as in that behalfe wee might thither bring all our aides and defences as they doe that are in a besieged hold and so we better made able not onely to indure the assault but to driue our foes with their forces from our gates walles And hee or shee or they whosoeuer that can do this they maie wel assure their hearts that howsoeuer they maie now then or for a while be buffeted beaten yet they shal neuer be vanquished or ouercome because he that is in thē with them for thē by himself his blessed spirit and all other effectuall meanes of consolation and comfort is stronger greater than al. Secondly it is verie fit and meet for confutation of a conceit that riseth vp in mens minds yea is deliuered also by the mouthes of some specially our popish aduersaries who tell vs that this propounding of comfort in the promises of the Gospell acquainting the people therwith maketh mensecure carelesse But herein surely they shew themselues blinde blockish as who haue not yet learned to distinguish betweene a thing good in it selfe and mans corruption abusing that which is good They may by the selfe same reason abolish all the other parts of the word and disanull or euacuate the sacraments because infinite thousands in the world abuse them to the increase of sin and licentiousnesse in themselues yea if they will or can make frustrate Gods grace because manie turne it into wantonnes and say sith is this true that where sin hath abounded there grace hath superabounded therefore let vs continue in sinne that grace maie abound And if for or in outward things we should reason as they doe and haue it followed that so is deliuered we might easily bring all disorder and confusion into the world and ouerthrowe the whole course and rase of mankinde Some abuse drinke to drunkennes and other some meate to gluttonie and gourmandise therefore there must be no vse of meate and drinke what is this els but to starue the excellētest of Gods creatures man I meane Many abuse apparell to pride and puffing vp It were best therefore to haue men goe naked which what were it els but to become or bring in new Adamites Diuers turne magistracy authoritie into tyrannie and therefore with the Anabaptists away with all ciuill authoritie and gouerment which what were it els but to bring in Anarchie worse than tyrannie by much But to the point indeed The promises of themselues and in the seruants of GOD bring forth no such effect For as they are deliuered for the comfort and consolation of them that are afflicted and mourne in Sion as may appeare in euerie place where they are alledged namely in the two first verses of the 40. chapter of Isay and tend indeede to manifest Gods loue and mercy that so in the truth and performance of his word wee might bee well assured that nothing should put an eternall separatiō between him and vs that hath loued vs so tenderly and giuen vs such gracious promises of truth life So surely the doctrine euery where adioyned to those promises in the word doth plainely shew that God meaneth not to make men secure and carelesse thereby or would haue them to inferre anie such thing thereupon And therefore when in the latter end of the sixt chapter of the second epistle to the Corinth hee had alledged manie promises of peace goodnes he beginneth the seuenth Chapter thus Seeing thē wee haue these promises dearely beloued let vs cleanse our selues from all fi lt hines of the flesh the spirit and finish our sanctification in the feare of God And the like he doth in the second chapter of the second epistle to Timothy saying The strong foundation of God remaineth sure and hath this seale the Lord knoweth who are his but withall let euery one that calleth vpon the name of Christ depart frō iniquity And let this suffice for these wordes of the 28. vers with the rest I cannot proceed because we haue been somewhat long and as I am wearie in my selfe so am I loath to bee troublous or tedious vnto you God may be pleased hereafter to giue both occasion time and place to pursue these things and to finish the residue In the meane while it shall not bee amisse in a word or two to apply that hath been saide to our persent assemblie and causes thereof and so to shut vp this exercise The causes that haue moued vs thereto are great grieuous iniquities preuailing vpon al euery one of vs the heauie rod of penurie and scarsity that ouerfloweth the land warres and rumors of warres and the same intended and threatned against vs both outward and inward at home and abroad To diuert or turne away the punishments for our sinnes and the iudgements that wee confesse and acknowledge we haue iustly deserued therefore no outwarde thing will serue though it bee neuer so great glittering or seeme neuer so pleasant or painefull but soundnes of heart and humble walking with our God in all our waies and all the dayes of our liues To this we haue been exhorted and prouoked by manifolde good meanes and namely by propounding singular comforts and consolations which the Lord hath vouchsafed vnto vs the better to meet with our backwardnes from approching to him wee being sometimes discouraged from doing of that dutie by his almightie greatnes and excellencie and sometimes let from it by the consideration of our owne base and vnworthie estate But yet sith hee hath so louingly and fatherly called vs and for our better incouragement giuen vs gracious promises let vs drawe neere with a true heart in assurance of faith our inward parts being pure from an euill conscience and washed in our bodies with pure water And so no doubt the punishments wee presently feele shal be remooued the feare of our foes at home and abroad shall be put farre away and wee shall not need to dread the curses of that Balaam of Rome not the vaunts and attempts of that proud and persecuting notion of Spaine nor of anie other our enemies bodily or ghostly because that our consciences being quieted with the comforta blefeeling of all Gods fauours and specially of the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and the saluation of our soules wee may comfortably say as the saithfull that haue gone before vs haue done I will not bee afraid for ten thousand of the people that should beset me round about Nay though I should walke in the valley of the shadow of death I will yet feare none ill for thou art with mee thy rod and thy staffe they comforte mee Yea that wee are perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Now let vs pray that God would giue a rich and plentifull blessing in our seuerall hearts to al the good things that haue been deliuered vnto vs at this time and let vs humbly intreat him to make them profitable in vs not onely for this present but for all the daies of our liues to his glorie and our euerlasting comforte thorowe Christ FINIS
where els eyther to be sought or found but in lesus Christ onely Where I beseech you first to marke both how this doctrine ariseth from hence and then the tearmes in which I doe propound and deliuer the same It is gathered from this place because our Sauiour calleth vs vnto him yea vnto him alone which if it had not bin the will of his Father and verie truth indeede or if hee alone had not had aboundant yea infinite matter of strong and solide comfort in himselfe he would neuer haue done as we haue already heard in the beginning of this exercise And for the wordes I doe not say there is no comfort to bee founde for meate drinke sleepe friends recreation and such like are comforts I confesse but not true and sound comfort for a distressed spirit For the affliction of the mind is inward and these are but outward therefore are not fitte for a person or partie so affected and I would as soone thinke and say that bodily food were the proper and sound nourishment of the soule as suppose that these outward things were the true and sound comfort of a broken and contrite heart But that yet wee may bee the better perswaded of the trueth of this point let vs proceed vnto some further proofes of it This was not in my mind obscurely signified vnder all the sacrifices of the old law whether they were ordinarie or extraordinarie dayly or yearly generall or particular all and euery one of them in measure more or lesse tending still vnto him whom they did prefigure and signifie as the Apostle at large declareth in the Epistle to the Hebrewes And why him because he was he alone in whom God was pleased to reconcile the world vnto himselfe and to make the one and onely obiect of our faith And this is plainely propounded vnto vs and proued also by manifolde texts of Scripture both in the old and new testament I wil not trouble you with many for I like not much of that course Out of that great store let vs take two or three both playne and pregnant for this purpose In the 55. Chapter of the booke of the Prophet Isaiah a place cited before and is as we all know and confesse an euident prophecie concerning Christ and the graces that wee shall finde in him if with a liuely and stedfast fayth we labour to lay hold of him it is sayd Encline your eare and come vnto mee Oh marke how like this Euangelical Prophet our Sauiour himselfe speake let this phrase also I beseech you serue for a cōfirmation and exposition of these wordes of our text Heare and your soule shall liue and I will make an euerlasting couenant with you euen the sure mercies of Dauid Euery worde hath his waight he yea he alone will establish not a momentany but an euerlasting couenant with all his faithfull of which that wee might be the better certified hee telleth vs it shall be sure yea as sure as the mercies manifested vnto and bestowed vpon Dauid which as they were large and almost innumerable so were they irreuocable and could neuer fayle To the same purpose serueth a notable sentence of the Apostle 2. Cor. 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in vs so our consolation aboundeth thorow Christ. By sufferinges of Christ he meaneth not onely those thinges that we indure at the hands of persecuters for Christes sake for Christ did not onely suffer that way but euen those anguishes also that we haue in our soules and in our spirits Christ being as much yea farre more throwne down and humbled that way than all flesh as appeareth by his conflict in the garden and by his outcries vpon the Crosse saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee And though these haue bin were and are very good indeed as those that haue felt and doe feele thē know and confesse yet to the ende that wee might assure our selues that our ioyes shoulde match them he sayth Our consolations abound thorow him For if there were not a proportion betwixt our heauines and our comfort nay I will say more a superaboundance of our ioyes aboue our griefes then sure what by reason of Satans malice against vs and the dulnesse and hardnesse of our owne heartes to beleeue and the greatnesse of our griefes sorrows besides it would goe hard with a distressed spirit And therefore as for the comforting of vs against the hugenes and height of our sinnes we say with the Apostle where sinne hath abounded there grace hath ouerabounded So in this case of inward afflictions particularly we say our sorrowes may be sore and our griefes great yet our light affliction which is but for a moment causeth vnto vs a farre most excellent and eternall waight as of glory in the life to come so of ioy in this life raysed vp in our hearts by the comfortable feeling thereof And he that knoweth soundly and feelingly beleeueth the names natures person and offices of our Sauiour Christ together with the effects that from him in them are communicated to vs cannot chuse but see feele and confesse the trueth of this point Hee is good in him there is not or cannot be any thing but that which is absolutely good as in whose face and presence also there is the fulnes of ioy for euermore and at his right hand pleasures for euer and euer He is likewise so good that yet notwithstanding he is man like vnto vs in euery respect sinne onely excepted and one that hath bin touched with the feeling of our infirmities by meanes whereof we may the more boldly come vnto the throne of grace so receiue mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of neede Yea these two natures are so ioyned knit as we may say inseparably in one person euen from the very time of his blessed cōception in the wombe of his mother for the accomplishment of the worke of our redemption and our full comfort thereby as that they cannot be deuided or sundred hee being man that so hee might suffer and God that so hee might ouercome the perfection and full accomplishment of our redemption standing vpon these two partes suffering for sinne this is the first and then ouercomming sinne and death him that had the power of death that is the deuill And why is he called Iesus but because as it is sayd Matth. 1. He should saue his people from their sinnes For sinne and that that insueth vpon sinne as shame and confusion of face horror of heart condemnation c. is it that most stingeth mens mindes and soules Now all these beeing taken away in Christ why should they not as well and comfortably sing that tryumphant song O death where is thy sting O graue or hell where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law But thankes be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory thorow our Lord Iesus Christ as well
that bee thus throwne downe and humbled vnder Gods mighty hand for that is presumptuous against the Lord and vncharitable towards men And another vse may be made of this point as in regard of the faithfull themselues who minding too much their owne sinnes and by meanes there of miserie and vnworthinesse in themselues iudgements from God against them for the same many times make their owne mouthes meanes to expresse fearefull thinges against their owne soules as for example no man in so wofull taking as I I feare I am a castaway or els why should I thus bee tormented And these thinges I doubt not but they deliuer from a heart that feeleth as much as the mouth expresseth Howbeit I say what art thou that takest the Lords office into thy hands and deliuerest these hard and heauie things and that not against other men which were indeed vncharitable but euen thine own selfe which is vnnaturall Tell me I pray thee May blindnes so farre preiudice mens iudgements that it shall hinder them from beholding their owne and other mens states and shall it not obscure thine owne also yea and that euen concerning thy selfe and touching thine owne present state But further knowe this O man that sometimes greatnes and continuance of griefes maketh the best of Gods Saintes to say as much against themselues as thou doest and yet for all that bee in neuer a whit the worse case Dauid in the xxii Psa crieth out My God my God why hast thou forsakē me And yet euen thē he was neare vnto God yea deare vnto him also or els he coulde not haue called vpon God and that in such particular maner applying him to himselfe as hee did neither would the Lord haue so graciously graunted him his requestes And why should not this be thy state rather than the state of a damned or reprobated wretch To vphold thy heart thou hast something euen the sanctified examples of the people of God but to depresse thee so aboue measure thou hast nothing but imagination and conceit either of that which is not in God or if it bee is not in him to that ende that thou supposest or els of that which is not in thy selfe or if it be is not in that measure and quantitie or to those ends that thou imaginest Besides I beseech you consider that it is one thing what men speake of themselues according to their present feeling either of sinne in their soules or the wrath of God against them therefore which many times may be more thā is eyther meete or true another what God is in his owne nature what he himselfe saith of them God is exceedingly good merciful and is not indeede bound to ratifie euery sentence of mans mind or mouth which he vttereth either against his owne soule or against others I hope no man is sure I am no man can be rightly perswaded that any particular person is more than the whole Church And yet God no otherwise approoueth the Churches iudgement to ratifie it in heauen than they on the earth bind according to his will And why should it be otherwise as in regard of particular persons Haue they better priuiledges than the whole Church hath if it bee so let them produce a lawe not of the twelue tables amongst the Romans but of the ten commandementes amongst the people of God or else there is no credit to be giuen O my brethren it fareth in the diseases of the minde as it doth in the sicknes of the body Many a man yea skilfull Physitions take them to be at deathes doore when God giueth afterwards long life On the other side some blesse themselues in their owne heartes and thinke all is well when death sodainely seizeth vpon them leadeth them to the graue and hell Remember I beseech you what was said before out of the 28. of the Prouerbs Blessed is the man sayth the Lorde there that feareth much continually This state and condition of ours whensoeuer or wheresoeuer it pleaseth God to exercise vs therewithall is a principall argument vnto vs that God woulde not haue vs perish with this wicked world hee by this as by other meanes thorow his grace making vs able thus to iudge our selues And indeede to haue such a fearefull and checking heart of our selues for sinne past or for feare to fall into it hereafter is one plaine difference betwixt the godly and vngodly who are seldome or neuer this way touched at the least with comfortable effect And therefore let the afflicted soule gather consolation to his conscience and correct his iudgement for surely that which he taketh to be bitter as gall or wormewood is by the Lord himselfe and not by the voyce of man to be proclaymed to bee sweete as hony or the hony combe The promise specified in the last wordes of this verse commeth nowe to bee looked into Out of which gracious and sweet promise we may learne two things One that the fulnes of all spirituall ioy and comfort is to be found in Iesus Christ and no where else which because it is the same that hath bin handled heretofore wee will but onely touch and put you in mind of it not standing vpon it because it is done already And indeede though the point be excellent and would be handled againe againe yet because the time passeth away we are to come to other points we will say no more Onely let the faithfull conscience looke well vnto it and prouide his comfort this way or else let him know he shall neuer be comforted indeede The other is this that if a man will find sound cōfort indeede he must be wel acquainted with the promises of the word This doctrin as others is both gathered out of this place cōfirmed by it as may appeare by this that our Sauior Christ is here so plentiful in the promises I will refresh you yee shall finde rest vnto your soules which course also he obserueth in many other places I wil haue mercy and not sacrifice and againe I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance And most sweete is that in the third chapt of the Gospell according to S. Iohn God so loued the world that he hath giuen his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life Neyther is this his practise onlie but the spirit also in all the writings of the old and new Testament is large this way and speciallie in that euangelicall prophet Isaiah as we may see by the manifold promises contayned therein and speciallie in three or foure chapters together as 53.54.55 c. But amongst the rest how comfortable is that of chapt 41. from whence euen vnto the end of his prophecie almost hee doth nothing els but publish promises and confolations amongst which howsoeuer hee doe sometimes intermingle terrour and threatning yet he doth it to no other onde but to make the mercies of God more